THE WEEK IN SPORTS
The usual summer doldrums have seem to subsided lately with some great action in the sports world over the past week and some great action on the horizon. Tennis returns to America in full force with two tournaments this week on US soil, baseball enters a crucial phase as playoff races get tighter, news on the NFL front, and a look back at the exciting Tour de France and Lance Armstrong talks about next year. It promises to be a big week so lets get to it.
We have two exciting tournaments this week on the west coast with The Bank of the West Classic in Stanford kicking off and the LA tennis open in LA both kicking off today. There have been criticisms of the quality and depth of the Bank of the West playing field in the past years, but the Bank of the West Classic really has some top talent this year.
Maria Sharapova will headline tonight’s session at Stanford’s Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
Venus Williams will take center stage Tuesday afternoon, and Serena Williams will headline Tuesday night.
Four of the top six players in the women’s rankings are entered in the 32-player event, as are three of the four semifinalists from this year’s Wimbledon. It helps the playing field in Stanford this year that It also helps the Bank of the West that Serena Williams had a pleasant experience while finally making her Bank of the West debut last summer. Williams, 27, reached the semifinals before retiring because of a knee injury.
LA won’t be out done in the talent pool as it promises an exciting week that will have ESPN coverage beginning on Thursday. here is the schedule for the first days in LA.
Today’s schedule: noon, Chris Guccione vs. Kevin Kim, followed by Jesse Levine vs. Bobby Reynolds and Vince Spadea vs. Robert Kendrick; 7:30 p.m., Pete Sampras vs. Marat Safin, exhibition; followed by Sampras Tournament Honoree ceremony; followed by doubles match, Safin and Igor Kunitsyn vs. Marcos Baghdatis and Dudi Sela.
Evening schedules: Tuesday, 7:30, Robby Ginepri vs. Safin, followed by Denis Istomin vs. Sam Querrey. Wednesday, 7, Bob and Mike Bryan vs. Carsten Ball and Kaes Van’t Hof, followed by Tommy Haas vs. Levine or Reynolds. Thursday, 7:30, Mardy Fish vs. Guccione or Kim, followed by Michael Chang vs. Stefan Edberg, exhibition.
Prize money: $700,000.
Top-seeded players: No. 1 Tommy Haas, Germany; No. 2 Mardy Fish; No. 3, Dmitry Tursunov, Russia; No. 4, Dudi Sela, Israel.
According to press reports news out of the NFL is that Former Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, who spent nearly two years in federal custody in connection with felony charges of running an illegal dogfighting operation, was conditionally reinstated Monday by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Vick, who pleaded guilty in December, 2007 and has missed the last two NFL seasons, will not be eligible to play until Week 6 of the 2009 regular season. However, he can sign with a team immediately and can play in the final two preseason games.
In addition, former NFL head coach Tony Dungy has agreed to continue his work with Vick as an advisor and mentor. Goodell will periodically evaluate Vick’s progress under this transitional step approach and consider full reinstatement for play in regular-season games by Week 6.
In a letter to Vick today, Commissioner Goodell wrote: “My decision at that time will be based on reports from outside professionals, your probation officer, and others charged with supervising your activities, the quality of your work outside football, the absence of any further adverse involvement in law enforcement, and other concrete actions that you take that are consistent with your representations to me.”
I was really happy to see Lance Armstrongs performance in the Tour de France and judging by some comments today he should be prepared for next years race. The cyclist who came back from cancer to rule cycling’s greatest race showed with his third-place finish this year that he’s capable of another great run. At the 2010 Tour de France, in which he will be 38, Armstrong could contend for his eighth Tour victory. Some quotes from his teammates and coaches summarize the feeling about Armstrongs return. “He should be better next year,” says Johan Bruyneel, team manager for Astana, for which the Tour winner Contador and Armstrong rode this year. Never the best of teammates according to the media at least, they plan to ride for separate teams in 2010.
“He will certainly be a dangerous rival,” says Contador, 26, who also won the Tour in 2007. “He already showed this year that he will be a clear candidate.”
Finally, baseball playoff races are getting tighter and one I always love to watch is the Yankees/ Red Sox race. The Yankees awakened to the news Sunday that Brett Gardner, their starting centerfielder coming out of spring training, had broken his left thumb on a slide in the first inning of Saturday’s loss to the Athletics and will be lost until at least mid-August. The Yankees, have the best record in baseball (47-23) since May 8, the day Alex Rodriguez returned from the DL.
By now, it’s obvious that either the Yankees or Red Sox will win the AL East title and the runner-up will get the wild card. That means that – assuming both get past their first-round opponents – everything that happens between them in the course of 162 regular-season games will matter very little and it will all come down to seven playoff games in October.
That is it for the week in sports and keep an eye out for more updates from out site as the summer starts to heat up.
Cheers
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