The High Five is the place to find the top 5 most important news stories in the world of sports, shrunken down into a size to fit your busy schedule. I encourage you to comment on any stories you find interesting and hopefully this blog can be a place to discuss sports and not just read about them.
Friday, June 24, 2011
5) NCAAF – Former USC Trojan wide receiver Lonnie White admits he took about $14,000 in illegal money while a Trojan. White played for the Trojans in the 80′s and said he made the money by selling tickets allotted to scholarship players.
4) TENNIS – Caroline Wozniacki wins her second round match against Virginie Razzano 6-1, 6-3. Serena Williams complains about not being on Centre Court as much as players like Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic.
3) NHL – The Philadelphia Flyers sign goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to a 9-year, $51 million deal. Trade their captain Mike Richards and their leading goal scorer, Jeff Carter.
2)NBA – The Bucks, Bobcats, and Kings complete a three team trade. Milwaukee receives Stephen Jackson, Shaun Livingston, Beno Udrih, and the rights to the 19th pick (Tobias Harris). Charlotte gets the rights to the 7th pick (Bismack Biyombo), and Correy Maggette. Sacramento gets the rights to the 10th pick (Jimmer Fredette), and John Salmons.
1) NBA DRAFT – The Cleveland Cavaliers take Duke point guard Kyrie Irving with the number one pick, Derrick Williams goes number two to the Minnesota Timberwolves. See the rest of the picks here.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
5) NBA – Minnesota Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis will reportedly be fired soon. For more on this story check out www.howlintwolf.com, a Minnesota Timberwolves blog.
4) NBA – The 2011 NBA draft is tonight at 7/6 central. We will find out where Irving, Williams, Walker and others will go, but more importantly find out how accurate my mock draft was.
3) SOCCER – The U.S. Men’s soccer team wins 1-0 against Panama in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, with a goal from Clint Dempsey. They face Mexico in the finals on Sunday.
2) TENNIS – In day 3 of Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal and Venus Williams win their second round matches. Serena Williams looses the first set 3-6, in her second round match versus Simona Halep, but comes back to beat Halep 3-6, 6-2, 6-0.
1) NHL – The Anaheim Duck’s Corey Perry wins the Hart Trophy as the league MVP. Red Wing Nicklas Lidstrom takes home his 7th Norris Trophy as the leagues top defender. Boston Bruin goalie Tim Thomas adds to his trophy collection for the year by winning the Vezina Trophy, the best goalie in the NHL
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
5) NHL – The 2011 NHL awards take place tonight. Nicklas Lidstrom looks to take his 8th Norris Trophy and Thomas looks to add to his trophy collection of the year with a Vezina Trophy.
4) NBA – The San Antonino Spurs are reportedly shopping around point guard Tony Parker looking to trade him for a lottery pick. The Kings and Raptors have been mentioned.
3) The Phoenix Suns and the Minnesota Timberwolves are also talking trades, possibly moving Steve Nash to the Timberwolves for the number 2 pick.
2) TENNIS – Serena Williams goes 3 sets and advances in her first match back since all her ailments. Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, and Caroline Wozniacki also advance.
1) NCAAF – The NCAA sends a notice of allegations to the University of North Carolina accusing them of “unethical conduct”. The assistant coach John Blake is at the center of this controversy and is accused of getting paid to steer players towards a certain NFL agent.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
5) NHL – The Detroit Red Wings bring back Nicklas Lidstrom to a 1-year, $6.2 million dollar deal. The Captain, though 41-years-old, remains one of, if not the best defenseman in the league. He is a finalist for the Norris trophy again this year, if he wins it would be his 7th.
4) Both the NBA, and the NFL and their respective players meet in separate negotiations to try and resolve each of their labor disputes. Sources say a deal with the NFL is about 2-3 weeks away.
3) MLB – Commissioner Bud Selig rejects a proposed television deal between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Fox Sports, making the sale of the team more likely. Dodgers owner Frank McCourt cannot afford the club, and according to Selig was mortgaging the future of the Dodgers in order to keep control.
2) TENNIS – Wimbledon continues today with Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, and Novak Djokovic in action. Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams won their first round matches yesterday.
1) MLB – Albert Pujols is out 4-6 weeks with a fractured wrist. The Cardinals will surely suffer without one of the best players in the league in the very close National League Central Division.
Monday, June 20, 2011
5) SOCCER – The United States beats Jamaica 2-0 to move to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The U.S. was helped by goals from Clint Dempsey, and Jermaine Jones.
4) MLB – The Milwaukee Brewers get destroyed by the Boston Red Sox 12-3 and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the K.C. Royals to move into a first place tie with the Brewers. Pujols injures his wrist during the game.
3) MLB – Florida Marlins manager Edwin Jackson resigns as manager unexpectedly amid a 1-18 June. The Marlins will replace him with 80-year old Jack McKeon as interim manager. McKeon will become the second oldest manager in baseball history.
2) TENNIS – The action at Wimbledon begins today. Rafael Nadal and Venus Williams kick off the tournament with matches this morning.
1) GOLF – Rory McIlroy wins the 111th U.S. Open at The Congressional in record breaking fashion. McIlroy became the youngest player to win the tournament and set or tied 12 U.S. Open records. For more on Mcilroy’s win: http://www.1minutesports.com/?p=239
Sunday, June 21, 2011
5) Soccer – The United States plays Jamaica in the quarterfinals in the Conacaf Golf Cup at 3 eastern. U.S. coach Bob Bradley may be on the hot seat with a loss.
4) MLB – The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Boston Red Sox 4-2 despite 8 strong innings from Jon Lester. Red Sox also announce they have put Carl Crawford on the 15-day disabled list.
3) NHL – The Boston Bruins return to Boston and continue their Stanley Cup celebration with a parade. This is Boston’s seventh championship parade in the last ten seasons.
2) MLB – The surging Washington Nationals beat their closest rival the Baltimore Orioles 4-2 to win their 8th straight game. Michael Morris and Ryan Zimmerman both hit a home run.
1) GOLF – Rory McIlroy continues his dominance at the U.S. Open and leads by an astounding 8 shots. The 22-year old golfer set the 54-hole record a 14 under 199. But will he pull a LeBron (and himself at the Masters) and choke on the last day?
Saturday, June 18, 2011
5) TENNIS – The 2011 Wimbledon draws were announced today and the most notable first round match is American John Isner vs. Nicolas Mahut. You may remember last year at Wimbledon the two played the longest match in tennis history at over 11 hours.
4) NFL – New York Giant’s defensive lineman Osi Umenyiora referes to Philadelphia Eagle LeSean McCoy as “Lady Gaga” and “she”, a day after McCoy tweeted that Umenyiora is soft, and overrated.
3) MLB – The Minnesota Twins beat the San Diego Padres to win their 5th in a row, and their 12th out of the last 14. Injured All Star catcher Joe Mauer returned to play for the first time since injuring his legs and drove in the game’s first run.
2) MLB – The Boston offense erupts as the Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-4. The Colorado Rockies also had a great offensive day as they beat the Tigers 13-6, to keep the Tigers winless in a N.L. ballpark since ’08.
1) GOLF – Rory McIlroy sets a U.S. Open 36 hole record at -11 and leads after day two by 6 strokes. The 87th ranked player in the world shot a 5 under, 66. In second place, is Y.E. Yang who is -5 through 36 holes.
Friday, June 17, 2011
5) NHL – The Minnesota Wild to hire Mike Yeo as their new head coach. Yeo was the coach of the Wild’s minor league team and led them to the AHL finals this year.
4) NBA – Minnesota Timberwolves 2009 first round draft pick Rick Rubio to finally join the team after a clause in his contract forced him to play in Spain for two more years after being drafted. Rubio only averaged 6.5 ppg last season and lost his starting job halfway through the season.
3) NFL – Sources say that several NFL owners are keeping a new collective bargaining agreement from being reached because they do not believe the proposed deal adequately addresses the original reasons for the lock out.
2) MLB – The Philadelphia Phillies win their seventh straight game, 3-0 over the Florida Marlins on the back of Cliff Lee. Lee pitched a complete game, 2-hit, shutout of the Marlins.
1) GOLF – Rory McIlroy, the golfer most famous for blowing a four shot lead in the final round of the masters, is in the lead after one day at the U.S. Open. Charl Schwartzel is tied for second with Y.E. Yang two shots behind McIlroy.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
5) MLB – Josh Beckett throws a one-hitter against the Tampa Bay Rays, as the Boston Red Sox continue to roll and win 3-0. Ricky Weeks homered and hit two doubles to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 9-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs to recapture the NL Central Division lead.
4) NCAAF – UPDATE: Here’s an update on a story we brought you two days ago. Oregon CB Cliff Harris was cited for driving 118 mph on a suspended license and now his coach Chip Kelly announces that Harris is suspended indefinitely.
3) NHL – Fires and riots erupt in Vancouver after the Canuck’s game 7 loss in the stanley cup finals. Over 100,000 fans flocked to an viewing area outside the rink to watch the game and after they lost they flipped cars, broke into stores, and set fires around the city.
2) GOLF – The 111th U.S. Open tees off today at the Congressional. The world’s number one Luke Donald is an (really) early leader, tied at -2 with Stewart Cink. Tigers Woods is not playing in the tournament due to an injury.
1) NHL – The Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 in game 7 of the finals to win the Stanley Cup, their first since 1972. Bruin’s goalie Tim Thomas made 37 saves to shut out the Canucks at home, and win the Conn Smythe trophy.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
5) MLB – NY Yankees short stop Derek Jeter’s quest for 3,000 hits is put on hold as he is put on the 15-day disabled list by the team. The Yankees beat the Texas Rangers without their captain last night 12-4.
4) Soccer – The United States soccer team beat Guadeloupe 1-0 off a Jozy Altidore goal in the 2011 Gold Cup. They will play Jamaica next in the quarterfinals.
3) MLB – Detroit Tiger’s pitcher Justin Verlander brings a no hitter into 8th inning and ends up 2-hitting the Cleveland Indians in 9 innings to put the Tigers alone in first place. Verlander struck out 12 batters to improve to 8-3.
2) NFL – Reports say that the NFL owners and players are moving closer to having an agreement in place to end the lock out. A source familiar with the situation says an agreement should be in place by June 30 or July 4. YESSS!!!!
1) NHL – The Boston Bruins face the Vancouver Canucks in game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals tonight at 8pm in Vancouver. The home team has won every game this series, we’ll see if the trend continues.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
5) NCAAF – Oregon cornerback Cliff Harris was pulled over early Sunday morning and cited with driving with a suspended license and exceeding 100 mph (he was going 118). The fine for driving over 100 mph is $1,148. Harris is a an important part of Oregon’s secondary and punt returning.
4) MLB – Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins both win to stay tied for first in AL Central. Surging Brewers who have won 8 of their last 12 lose to Cubs but remain in first place, tied with St. Louis in the NL Central.
3) NCAAF – Luke Fickell introduced as the interim head coach for Ohio State. Fickell is a former OSU football player and has been on the coaching staff for ten season. Fickell says he didn’t know about any of the NCAA violations.
2) MLB – NY Yankee Derek Jeter gets another hit to move to just 6 away from 3,000 but also gets injured. Jeter suffered an injury to his right calf in the 5th inning and had to leave the game. The Yankees ended up losing the game to the Minnesota Twins 1-0.
1) NHL – The Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 to force a game 7 in Vancouver on Wednesday. Bruins goalie Tim Thomas saved 38 shots to help the Bruins win their 6th straight home playoff game. The Bruins scored 4 goals in a 4 minute and 14 second stretch in the first period to jump ahead and never looked back.
Monday, June 13, 2011
5) NCAAF – Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee calls the current scandal a “temporary condition”, and says the university will move past it quickly. He’s right that they’ll move past this quickly unless even more comes out about Pryor and Tressel’s iniquities.
4) MLB – Minnesota Twins Pitcher Francisco Liriano takes a no hitter into the 8th innning against the Texas Rangers. But after a rain delay of 30 minutes Liriano went out again and Adrian Beltre killed the no hitter with a single up the middle. The Twins ended up winning 6-1.
3) MLB – New York Yankee Derek Jeter pulls within 7 hits of 3,000 with a 2-hit performance against the struggling Cleveland Indians who have given up first place to the surging Detroit Tigers. The Yankees have 4 home games in a row so theres a good chance Jeter will get his 3000th in friendly confines.
2) NHL – The Boston Bruins face the Vancouver Canucks in Game 6 of the NHL finals tonight at 8 pm, with the Canucks leading the series 3-2. Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, says Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo’s claim that he would have saved the game winning shot that Thomas failed to, won’t be any extra motivation for him.
1) NBA FINALS – The Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat 105-95 to win their first NBA Championship. Dirk Nowitzki was named the finals MVP despite a poor shooting night. Jason Terry added 27 points off the bench. James, Wade score 21 and 17 respectively and fail to live up to their hype. For more on this story click here.
Sunday – June 12, 2011
5) Soccer – US continues its slide back to the bottom of the world in soccer by following up last week’s embarrassing 4-0 loss to Spain with another humiliating loss of 2 goals to 1 to a Panama team who they should have beat.
4) MLB – Detroit Tigers, and Boston Red Sox rolling. Tigers have won 10 of last 13 and moved into first place in the AL Central with a dominating 8-1 victory against Seattle last night. The Red Sox after their abysmal start have won 10 in a row and lead the competitive AL East by 2 games over injury plagued New York (They put SP Bartolo Colon on the 15-day DL with a hamstring injury today).
3) MLB – The MLB considers realignment, making the number of National League and American League teams equal at 15 a piece (its 16 NL and 14 AL currently). The Houston Astros and Florida Marlins seem to be the most likely candidates to change leagues. Whether or not this will happen, it should. It seems like a common sense thing for the two leagues to be even, but in sports it often seems there is not such thing as common sense.
2) NHL – Canuck’s Luongo claims he would have stopped the shot that beat Bruin’s goalie to give Vancouver a 1-0 win, and a 3-2 series lead. It’s funny that the guy who let in 8 goals during game 3 would call his netminding counterpart out for letting in just one goal. But we’ve seen what happens when the Bruins get some extra motivation (the 8-1 domination in game 3).
1) NBA FINALS – Dirk Nowitzki, Mavs look to close out the Heat and win the NBA Championship tonight at 8pm. For all the talk about Lebron and his lack of clutchness (probably made that word up) in the fourth quarter, he has one chance to redeem himself and thats tonight in the biggest game of his career.