Theresa Earnhardt Has To Have It Her Way posted by The Sports Point
http://thesportspoint.blogspot.com/2008/02/theresa-earnhardt-has-to-have-it-her.html

Texas Motor Speedway is running an marketing campaign to promote its April race, but Theresa Earnhardt made them change part of it. The campaign focuses on drivers numbers and reasons why you should attend the race, but Dale Earnhardt, Jr's stepmother took offense to the reason given next to the popular driver: "Reason #88: Step-Mom."

Theresa already ran Junior off to Hendrick Motorsports from his late father's team, where he will drive the #88 Mountain Dew Amp Chevrolet. Now she can't even laugh at a humorous billboard. Junior was entertained when he heard about it, but had his sister, who also acts as his business manager, file a complaint to suffice Theresa.

Boogity, Boogity, Boogity! NASCAR has to be loving the storylines heading into this season, so much so that they've neglected updating the driver section of their website. This must be where we make the point that NASCAR fans don't have access to the internet, so it doesn't really matter right?  ... [read more]

After 2 Year Anti-Doping Ban , Sesil Karatancheva Storms Through The ITF Circuit, Now On Verge Of Returning To WTA posted by Justin Horowitz

On January 11th, Bulgarian Teen Sesil Karatancheva was once again eligible by the ITF for competition . Wasting no time to get back on track, she entered a $25k ITF tournament in Arizona and won 3 matches (in a day!!) to qualify into the main draw. She won the tournament and entered another 25k tournament in La Quinta, California the following week, and once again won 3 matches to qualify for the tournament and eventually going onto win as well. After only 2 weeks back in tennis with a 16-0 record already , she has recieved legal pressure from the Bulgarian Sports Federation for not reporting to national duty for Bulgaria in their Fed Cup tie against Hungary . That would have been heroic of her to have played and won the tie for her nation but it is understandable that she needed to re gain rankings and earnings. 

Although Karatacheva plays in a 75k tournament in Michigan this week which will yield tougher competition with players like Hsu Su Sweih of Taiwan and German up and comer Sabine Lisciki, a return to the WTA is almost inevitable for her. Everyone deserves a second chance in life and we wish her the best of luck.... [read more]

Unappealing Behavior posted by Macklen Jackson
Andy Roddick is a fun player to watch and I was rooting for him as much as anybody in the Australian Open, but I was disappointed to see him sink to the level he reached when he taunted the umpire during his match with Philipp Kohlschreiber in today’s effort. Despite dishing out a career best 42 aces, Roddick fell to the German 6-4 3-6 7-6 6-7 8-6. 

After his shot was originally called out, 29th seed Kohlschreiber challenged the ruling and it was overturned, prompting an irate Roddick to argue that he would have attempted a return, but didn’t due to the stoppage in play. When his appeal went unfulfilled, he proceeded to ridicule the umpire’s intelligence, shouting insinuation that he was never educated after the second grade. He made one final dig by yelling out: “You’re an idiot! Stay in school kids or you’ll end up being an umpire.” Roddick’s juvenile behavior aside, he makes a valid point. It is this very reason that some things are not reviewable in NFL football. Once the whistle blows a play dead, that’s it. If forward progress is ruled to have been stopped, but a running back breaks free and scores a touchdown, it’s called back because the whistle blew. If a runner is whistled down even though he has simultaneously fumbled the football, the runner will retain possession because the whistle supersedes all ensuing action. And rightfully so. Whether the whistle was correct or incorrect in the first place, the point is: when the whistle blows, people stop trying and you can’t let a game change ... [read more]

Who's the Greatest Men's Player of the Open Era? posted by Gene Desrochers
The Greatest Open Era Men's Tennis Player
By Gene Desrochers


Since we have the 2008 Australian Open coming up in January, I've decided to ask, who's the greatest male tennis player of the Open Era (1968-Present)?  I ask this question of an individual sport that I know a little something about.  Although I will not be very scientific, I will begin the debate and hopefully the rest of you will continue it.  Let's get started.

Let’s start with the obvious stat of who's won the most majors in his career.  Here is a list of contenders.  By my standards, if you are not on this short list, you get no consideration.  Sure, there are guys who were immensely talented, who only won one, or two, or zero titles, but we are not discussing talent.  We are discussing the actualization of work ethic plus talent plus mental fortitude, and career achievements.  To that end, I offer in order, with the number of grand slam singles titles to their name the following:

John McEnroe, 7
Mats Wilander
Jimmy Connors, 8
Ivan Lendl, 8
Andre Agassi, 8
Rod Laver, 11**
Bjorn Borg, 11
Roger Federer, 12*
Pete Sampras, 14

I know, there are names not on the list that you might feel have been slighted, such as Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Arthur Ashe, Jim Courier (you should be ashamed of yourself), Gustavo Kuerten, Guillermo Vilas, etc. However, as great as these men were, they are not worthy.  Furthermore, you might ask, where the heck is Roy Emerson, with twelve grand slams? ... [read more]

Is Nascar Headed In The Right Direction? posted by Kenneth Watkins

Over the last few years of watching Nascar racing I'm beginning to wonder if they are headed in the right directon. It seems that Nascaris always changing and trying to reinvent themselves and in the process has done nothing but drive fans, sponsors, and even drivers away from the sport. Let's address some of these issues first starting with the drivers who are the backbone of the sport.

Over the past few years some drivers have retired from the sport and many have cited the direction Nascar is headed for their early departure. Nascar has decided to promote their younger drivers which is fine, but you can't forget the people that paved the way for these younger drivers. People like Bill Elliott, Ricky Rudd, Dale Jarrett, Harry Gant, Dave Marcis have all been basically not applauded or recognized for the contribution they have made to the sport. This doesn't sit very well with the fans and believe me they do take notice.

Sponsors are another issue that Nascar in recent years have had a hard time keeping it seems. After a long time Winston decided it was time to leave the sport. Busch has also exited and now the Truck Series only sponsor Craftsman is leaving. Now many still have a small hand in Nascar, but the big dollars they provided are gone. The main reason in my eyes is the direction that Nascar is going. Gone our the days when Nascar would remember their roots as now it's coming more to the mighty dollar over the fans, and the drivers.

Last are the fans who for a number of years have seen the shift and aren't happy with it... [read more]

Is Roger Federer the greatest tennis player ever? posted by Sports Fan

Taken a step futher, this questions usually boils down to "is Roger Federer better than Pete Sampras?"

Federer is far and away more consistent than Sampras ever was. Since winning his first Grand Slam title (Wimbledon 2003) he's been in the finals of every Grand Slam event except four. And even more impressive, at the time of this writing (October 2007) Federer has been in the finals in twelve of the last twelve Grand Slam events! If we define Sampras' prime as 1993 thru 2000 when he won seven out of eight Wimbledon titles, he never came close to accomplishing anything like this-- and Federer's streak isn't even over yet. If you look at Sampras' results during his prime, he lost early in the French Open numerous times, had several early round losses in the Australian and US Open, and many late round losses, too. Since Federer started rolling at Wimbledon 2003 he's pretty much dominated like no other player in recent history. If Federer can hold even some of his current form for the next 3 years that will give him the same eight year prime that I've defined for Sampras, and would give us a slightly better view of the two careers side by side, but right now, it's hard to imagine Federer not continuing to dominate in Grand Slam events.

One argument could be made that Sampras had stiffer competition than Federer has. Maybe. Maybe not. This is perhaps an argument for another day, but one thing appears clear-- Federer doesn't lose to lower ranked players in Grand Slam events. Sampras did. If you look at Sampras' losses... [read more] (1 comment)

Venus, Serena to clash in Wimbledon final

It'll be Williams vs. Williams at Wimbledon. Venus and Serena sealed the deal with easy semifinal wins Thursday. [read full article]

Posted Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:56:45 GMT - via FOXSports.com News for TENNIS

Federer, Nadal may meet again in finals (AP)

Roger Federer is back to his old self on the Wimbledon grass, and Rafael Nadal is moving ever closer to a new level of success at the All England Club. The top two players in men's tennis are on course to meet in their third straight Wimbledon final, but both have to get through the semifinals first. [read full article]

Posted Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:41:16 PDT - via Yahoo! Sports

Venus, Serena to meet in Wimbledon final (AP)

[read full article]

Posted Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:38:17 PDT - via Yahoo! Sports

Singled out: Mauresmo to skip Olympics

Amelie Mauresmo withdrew from the Olympic tennis tournament Thursday because she was not chosen to compete in singles.The former top-ranked Frenchwoman, who won the silver medal in singles at the 2004 Olympics, was only selected to compete in doubles in Beijing."Because I was not picked by the French federation to compete for a medal in singles, and because I need to maintain my fitness ... [read full article]

Posted Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:21:22 GMT - via FOXSports.com News for TENNIS

Venus reaches seventh Wimbledon final

Venus cruised into the final in straight sets, leaving it to Serena to seal the deal on a Williams sisters Wimbledon final. [read full article]

Posted Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:44:35 GMT - via FOXSports.com News for TENNIS