Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Sports Round-Up. Giddy up!

Morning!

Big happenin's in the world of sports:

Tennis at Wimbledon
> This is the tennis tournament that is often considered the most prestigious. It's at the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The Queen and royalty show up. People eat strawberries and cream. Players can only wear clothing that is more white in color than not. Anyway...enough with the formalities.

Here's why Wimbledon has been epic this year:
> The longest tennis match ever recorded happened here this year. Nicolas Mahut and John Isner slugged it out for 183 games over the course of 11 hours and 5 minutes. Folks, this was a first round match! These guys were playing tennis for 11 hours. A marathon lasts 2 - 5 hours. Amazing stuff. Talk that up!

> Upsets: the US's Andy Roddick is out as is Venus Williams, who's won the women's title 5 times there. Serena Williams and Roger Federer keep rolling as does Spain's Rafael Nadal. Talk up what another clash between those two rivals, Federer and Nadal, would mean. Last year was an epic showdown!

Baseball
> Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs unleashed a tirade in the Cubs dugout last week. One target - first baseman, Derek Lee, who Zambrano didn't think hustled enough that inning. Zambrano was after for 4 runs in the first inning against the White Sox, their crosstown rival . The Cub's manager pulled him from the game immediately and the GM immediately suspended him.
> Zambrano has NOT had a good year. He's started the season as the Cub's ace and ended up being demoted to the bullpen after a few starts.
> Zambrano is going into treatment and will be placed on a restrictive list, meaning he's no longer suspended.
> Talk about the impact of Zambrano's behavior. How does it impact the team? Can they rally in the second half of the season despite him? Can he ever come back and be accepted? Would you trust him as a teammate? Stay tuned. This one will be interesting.

World Cup
> The U.S. lost a heartbreaker to Ghana on Saturday so they're out of the Cup.
> However, there are big surprises. Italy, the defending champ, was upset. Japan and Paraguay have been (as ESPN puts it) overachievers. They're each hoping to get into the quarterfinal round (top four spots) for the first time.

Enjoy and talk it up!

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