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Is Sports Ever More Than A Game?
Sports is only a game. One miss, one strikeout, one interception, one own-goal should never put any athlete in jeopardy.
Is It Just Me Or…? NBA Edition
Will Pat Riley replace Erik Spolestra as coach of the Miami Heat by Christmas?
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My article about Man U reached over five thousand views on The Bleacher Report!
Update
Hey everyone. Sorry I have not plateful the blog in a few weeks. I just graduated high school and have been busy with my summer job. As of now, I am working on three articles for the week: one on NBA free agency, one on Michael Bradley, and one on MLB Trade Deadline. Stay tuned for these and more exciting articles.
Also be sure to follow The Sports Slant on Twitter (@thesportsslant)
America's Love Affair With Soccer
It was only a matter of time before the United States would become a soccer nation.
After hosting the World Cup in 1994, creating the MLS in 1996, and making it to the quarterfinals in 2002, it was inevitable that soccer would grow tremendously in the United States.
Finally, on June 28th, 2010, American Soccer has reached its highest level of popularity ever.
With ties against England and Slovenia and a victory against Algeria, the United States has won its group for the first time since 1950. Its path to the semifinals is as easy as it has ever been.
All Landon Donovan and Company have to do to ensure a spot in the semifinals is defeat Ghana today and beat the winner of Uruguay and South Korea. Although defeating these three teams is no easy task, the US is ranked ahead of all of them according to FIFA.
Uruguay has looked very good so far in the World Cup, lead by striker Diego Forlan. At least, the United States won’t have to face Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands: you get the picture.
American fans have been abuzz about the team’s recent success. All three group games the United States played in reached record levels of television viewers. Bars are reporting packed houses, movie theaters have gotten into showing the games, and it seems like every city is showing it outside on a large screen.
Even the game between the US and Algeria broke the tweets per second record.
The fans are excited, the team is resilient, and soccer has finally broken the ceiling in the United States. The further the team advances, the quicker soccer develops.
Maybe the 2010 project was actually fufilled.
Absolutely Incredible
Never Ending: The Five Longest Games In Sports History
On June 24th, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut finally finished the longest game in tennis history. Their match lasted three days and over eleven hours.
The first four sets looked like any typical tennis match but the fifth set is what put this game in the record books. Isner finally beat Mahut 70-68.
Below are five of the longest games in sports history, including Isner’s victory over Mahut. Some of these are obvious to the average sports fan and others will be very surprising.
Baseball: Pawtucket Red Sox vs. Rochester Red Wings
On April 18th, 1981, the Pawtucket Red Sox played the Rochester Red Wings at the Red Sox stadium in Pawtucket Rhode Island.
The game began at 7pm and lasted thirty two innings until 4:07am. After thirty two innings, the game was stopped and resumed two months later.
When the game was resumed, it only took the Pawtucket Red Sox one more inning to win the game. In the bottom of the 33rd inning, Dave Koza drove in Marty Barrett to score the winning run.
Pawtucket won 3-2.
This game broke many records in professional baseball. Besides being the longest game ever played (33 innings and 8:23), this game set the record for total strikeouts (60), total at bats (219), and at bats by one player in a game (14).
In addition, this game featured Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs, two hall of fame players.
There will never be another game like this in the history of professional baseball
Basketball: Indianapolis Olympians vs. Rochester Royals
On January 6th 1951, the Indianapolis Olympians beat the Rochester Royals 75 to 73.
From this score, no one would guess that this was the longest game in NBA history. In reality, the game featured six overtimes and lasted seventy eight minutes, almost the equivalent of two basketball games.
The two teams combined only had twenty three shot attempts in overtime, less than the average team takes in a quarter. When this game was played, there was no shot clock, thus slowing the scoring possibilities.
Hockey: Montreal Maroons vs. Detroit Red Wings.
On March 24, 1936, the Detroit Red Wings played the Montreal Maroons in the semifinal round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In the first game of the series, the score was tied at zero leading into overtime.
In the playoffs, hockey games cannot end in a tie so the teams have to play until their is a winner.
In the case of the Maroon’s and Red Wings, they had to play for a whopping six overtimes.
Their game lasted over 176 minutes, almost three times a regulation hockey game. It finally ended when Detroit’s Mud Bruneteau scored the game’s only goal in the 177th minute.
On March 24, 1936, the Detroit Red Wings played the Montreal Maroons in the semifinal round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In the first game of the series, the score was tied at zero leading into overtime.
In the playoffs, hockey games cannot end in a tie so the teams have to play until their is a winner.
In the case of the Maroon’s and Red Wings, they had to play for a whopping six overtimes.
Their game lasted over 176 minutes, almost three times a regulation hockey game. It finally ended when Detroit’s Mud Bruneteau scored the game’s only goal in the 177th minute.
Football: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Miami Dolphins
On Christmas Day, 1971, the Kansas City Chiefs played the Miami Dolphins in the longest game in NFL History. The game was also the first round of the AFC divisional playoff.
At the end of regulation, the score was tied at 24. The Chiefs had the chance to score a game winning field goal with 35 seconds remaining but the team’s kicker, Jan Stenerud, missed the posts.
The first overtime ended scoreless. In the second overtime, the Dolphin kicker, Garo Yepremian, scored a field goal, with 7:20 remaining on the clock. It had finally ended with a 27-24 victory for the Dolphins.
Overall, the game lasted for 82:40, seven minutes longer than any other NFL game played.
Tennis: Nicolas Mahut vs. John Isner
Tennis fans witnessed perhaps the greatest match in tennis history at the 2010 Wimbledon.
In the first round of the tournament, John Isner played Nicolas Mahut. The first four sets of the match were like any other 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), and 7-6 (3) but the fifth set is where history was made.
After suspending the fifth set twice, Isner finally beat Mahut 70-68 on the 980th point of the match. The fifth set alone lasted well over eight hours.
The previous longest tennis match was six and a half hours, four and a half hours shorter than Isner vs. Mahut.
Over the course of the match, Isner finished with 112 aces and Mahut had 103 of his own. Both men broke the previous record for aces in a match which was 73.
Although Isner will be moving on and Mahut won’t, both of these players will go down in history not only for the length of their match but also for the grit and determination they showed throughout.
Correction
In the vuvuzela article, the mets promotion was a hoax. The team did not give out vuvuzelas that night. The Tampa Bay Rays did have a similar promotion
