Anybody happen to see the new Nike commercial with Rory and Tiger? Now that they are Nike buddies, and both out of the tournament in Abu Dhabi…anyhow, caught a glimpse of it on SportsNation from LA (again, a part of me just died inside)! This commercial is an instant classic…look for it!
Getting back to the kind of things one can reasonably make sense of, results from the Australian Open! Last night, Djokovic, Berdych and Ferrer all advanced with ease. Wawrinka (Federer’s Swiss buddy) took out Sam Querrey, the last remaining American man in the draw. In women’s action, Sharapova rolled over Venus Williams in the marque match. Also advancing, Kerber, Li Na, and Ivanovic.
Tonight, the highlight will be 2 Federer taking on the brash young Australian star, Tomic, who has seen fit to use very poor judgement and run his mouth. Here’s to hoping Roger “schools” him on the tennis court tonight!
I really hate this time difference, hard to stay up that late, have to wait til the next day and/or DVR the matches.
Reportedly Al Pacino is set to play Joe Paterno in a movie based on the book about “Joe Pa”. Gee, wonder if the next movie out will be about Lance Armstrong, then Manti Te’o? Seriously, I did not watch the Oprah interview, I already had my say on Lance (see earlier post). As far as this Manti Te’o girlfriend hoax, I just don’t have a comment. Seems crazy, sad and all together too weird to me!
Reportedly Al Pacino is set to play Joe Paterno in a movie based on the book about “Joe Pa”. Gee, wonder if the next movie out will be about Lance Armstrong, then Manti Te’o? Seriously, I did not watch the Oprah interview, I already had my say on Lance (see earlier post). As far as this Manti Te’o girlfriend hoax, I just don’t have a comment. Seems crazy, sad and all together too weird to me!
Georgia Tech visited 3 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium last night and lost, 73 – 57. In typical fashion, GT played a very competitive first half and led at the midway point, 28 – 27. Then as has been the case in ACC action so far this year, the Jackets could not sustain it and Duke made one of their patented runs, 14 – 3 and surged ahead never to trail again. Perhaps the highlight of the game was the flying hug Coach K greeted star Mason Plumlee with when he headed to the bench during a time out. GT never looked bad, they were just not able to keep up with the Blue Devils once they got rolling in the second half. GT falls to 0 -4 in ACC play, Duke is now at 2- 1.
The NBA all star roster, based on fan voting, has been announced. Kobe Bryant was the top vote getter and is on the all star game roster for a record 15th time! Of course, there will be additions based on coaching selections, but the fans have spoken and they are listed in order of votes received:
Western Conference: 1 Kobe Bryant, 2 Kevin Durant, 3 Chris Paul, 4 Dwight Howard and 5 Blake Griffin
Eastern Conference: 1 LeBron James, 2 Carmelo Anthony, 3 Dwyane Wade, 4 Rajon Rondo, and 5 Kevin Garnett
Speaking of LeBron and Kobe, the Heat defeated the Lakers last night in LA 99 – 90. The game was quite close and it took a second half surge by LeBron to carry the Heat to victory. LeBron finished with 39 points and became the youngest player in NBA history (age 28) to reach the 20,000 career points milestone. Kobe finished with 22 points. Lakers had both Gasol and Howard in action and are just about back to being at full strength.
In other NBA action, the Knicks defeated the Pistons, 102-87. Bynum played for the Pistons and scored 22 points. Iman Shumpert (former GT star) returned for the first time for the Knicks, coming off the bench to score 8 points.
Tiger Woods and Rory Mcilroy both missed the cut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Rory had a miserable two days and finished at +6. Tiger received a two shot penalty on the 5th hole on day two (was his ball an imbedded sand ball or not?) and thus finished at +3, missing the cut by one stroke. Justin Rose is currently the leader at -8.
#1 and #2 go out together!
The Jacksonville Jaguars have hired a new head coach, Gus Bradley. He has spent the past three years as the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks.
Ken Whisenhunt, fired as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, has been named the offensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers.
Norv Turner, fired as head coach of the Sand Diego Chargers, has been hired as offensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns.
The last NFL head coaching vacancy was filled when the Cardinals hired Bruce Arians from the Colts. Arians was interim head coach while Pagano underwent successful treatment for leukemia.
This crazy coaching carousel never stop turning!
ABC hit drama Nashville returned last night! To summarize, Gunnar has a brother who served eight years for armed robbery. Kind of thought he had a “family secret”. He takes Scarlett to see her uncle Deacon perform while on his way to greet his brother who is getting released and the lead singer in the band hits on her and Deacon blows a fuse. He was looking for a reason to escape from this tour anyway.
Juliette finally agrees to an annulment of her “marriage” to her football star boyfriend/hubby. He tells her that she once told him that if he ever really got to know her, he would not like her, and he tells her she was right. OK, guess that drama has come to an end for now. (or not?)
Teddy is elected mayor. I am not sure if he won on his own accord, of if Lamar bought him the election. None the less, he is in and Peggy (his partner in crime in the money laundering crime who overdosed on pills) comes to congratulate him. They almost kiss, but refrain. Um…wander if something is going to happen here?
Rayna is trying to get on with her tour in spite of missing Deacon as her guitarist and accompanist. She finds the replacement she is looking for in the guy who helped her develop her new sound, writing her own songs and emerging from the past of “greatest hits” non relevance. Will this be a problem relationship waiting to happen? She does fly home to be with Teddy and the girls as the election results are announced but all is not well. I also think her path and Deacon’s are bound to cross.
Stay tuned…this saga of southern family dysfunction, control, and manipulation, etc. is just going to get better! Very impressed with both Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere and the fact that they really do their own singing, they are performing themselves without voice over!
Apologies to everyone, I am really late to the party tonight. One of those days, you guys know, we all have them, some worse then others. OK. let’s see what is going on!
Australian Open: Roger Federer defeats Davydenko, 6- 2, 6- 4, 6-4 Not at his best but good enough. When you can win when you are not at your best, the mark of a Champion. Next up for Roger is the young Australian, Tomic, who has made some rather brash comments this week. Big mistake, I hope Roger schools him on Saturday!
Serena Williams seemed to have recovered from the ankle injuryshe suffered in her opening match, advancing in an easy two set win. 7 Tsonga advances as does Monfils of France (in five sets) and Raonic of Canada moves on (he is also in Federer’s bracket). A couple of young American women are lighting it up, most specifically Sloane Stephens! Way to go USA!
In other tennis news, Rafael Nada is set to return to action in the Chile Open on February 4th.
In golf: Tiger and Rory Neither of them exactly lit it up on the first day of action in Abu Dhabi. They were playing together and Rory finished at +3 and is tied for 83rd. Tiger is even and is in 32nd place, 5 strokes behind the leader. Coverage continues tonight at 10:45 pm EST on Golf Channel.
Australian Open coverage will continue tonight at 11:00 pm EST with Djokovic in action. Also, 25 Venus Williams vs. Sharapova (I am pulling for Venus!) Also, 4 Ferrer will take on Baghdatis. The time change is tough, almost easier to either DVR and/or watch replay the next afternoon.
In basketball action tonight, Georgia Tech travels to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on 3 Duke (yikes, this could get ugly but as a GT fan I hope not!) This game is on at 9:00 pm EST.
NBA action will feature the “resurgent” LA Lakers hosting LeBron and the Miami Heat. This game is at 10:30 pm EST. I hope the Lakers have gotten it together and can pull this one out!
