Monthly Sports Round-up - April 2006
I have been planning to do this kind of a round-up for a while now. I was even contemplating on starting a new blog just for writing about the various sports stuff that I watch. But then I thought it would be too much and hence decided to start this monthly round-up here. Apart from including all the important sporting events that happened during the month, the round-up would also include IMHO, the Best Sporting event of the month and the Best Individual performance of the month. The only other criteria that I set for myself is that the post would not contain more than 10 entries in the list. So, from now on, (hopefully) would be posting this monthly sports round-up regularly and here is the first one for April.
April 2 - The 2006 MLB season starts with the game between the White Sox and the Indians. The defending champs win it handsomely. On the home front, the Seattle Mariners start their season campaign with a loss (what else?) against the LA Angels.
April 3 - The Florida Gators win their first NCAA tournament in their school history. The final was a drag to say the least, with Florida leading UCLA by as many as 20 points at one point. And a day later, Maryland followed suite by prevailing over Duke in the women's tournament to set up their school's first ever NCAA tournament title. The women's final was a treat to watch, particularly so bcos Maryland came back from 13 points to take the game into overtime and thus more than made up for the disappointment of the men’s final.
April 4 - Australia complete their whitewash of the Proteas in the test series, sweeping the series 3-0. Damien Martyn comes good with a determined century in the 4th innings to lead Australia to their 5th victory over the Proteas in 6 tests. The joy of chasing a record 434 runs is short-lived and quickly dissipates into thin air.
April 9 - Phil Mickelson wins his second Masters in 3 years. After going so many years without a major, he now has won 3 majors in his last 9 appearances. The final day of the Masters was gripping, to say the least, as almost all of the top 5 players in the world were in with a chance of winning it. It was only in the last 3 holes that it became clear that Mickelson is safe, so safe that he could even afford a bogey in the 18th hole. As for Tiger, he left the course with his head held high, finishing a respectable 3rd. Having come into the tournament in an emotional turmoil of his father's cancer, he did very well and but for his putting in the final round, he would have almost won it.
April 9 - The old warhorse does it again, helping India overcome the Pakistanis in the 5th match of their Davis Cup tie. Though it was an inconsequential tie, I was simply blown away by this latest heroic display by Leander Paes, just amazed on how he has been able to step up his game whenever he is playing for the country. How I wish he & Mahesh Bhupathi had continued their dream run in doubles putting their egos and personal clashes behind :(
April 15 - India wins the 7th ODI and complete their domination over England in the ODI series. If not for two sessions of madness in Bombay resulting in a rare home test match loss, this would have been a truly memorable series for India. It is really amazing to see the way the youngsters have put their hands up and have come up with unbelievable performances in every single match of the series. Winning 16 consecutive matches while chasing down targets tells a lot about the mental make-up of this Indian team. After the 2 mindless games in Dubai, the boys get a well-deserved rest ahead of the crucial WI tour.
April 19 - Kobe becomes the 5th player ever in NBA history to average more than 35 points a game over the course of a complete season and thus bringing an end to the glorious season he has had, which also included claiming the record of the most ever points in a single season by a Laker and also the 81 point game against the Raptors. What a way to come back after all the rape allegations that clouded him the last 2 seasons.
April 23 - Nadal proves he is the clay court nemesis of Federer as he defeated him in the finals of the Monte Carlo Masters clay court tournament and thus defended his title successfully. Federer has lost only twice during this entire year and both the occasions, it has been to Nadal. All this sets up an intriguing French Open next month, with Nadal being the clear favorite to win it again.
April 23 - Schumacher is back to winning ways, as he wins the San Marino Grand Prix.
April 29 - In a decision that surprised many pundits, the Houston Texans selected Mario Williams, DE from NCSU as the overall number 1 pick in the NFL draft. Reggie Bush went to the Saints, which should give them a major boost in ticket sales & attendance while Vince Young was selected as the 3rd pick by the Tennessee Titans while Matt Leinart had to wait till the 10th overall pick before the Arizona Cardinals picked him as their first round pick. The Seahawks played it safe and drafted Corner Back Kelly Jennings from the University of Miami with their first round pick.
Best Individual Performance - This was a close call between my favorite Kobe and Gillespie, who scored, in what is now part of folklore, a double century. Then, finally I have to give this to Gillespie mainly bcos Kobe scoring points for the Shaq-less Lakers is no surprise but Gillespie scoring a double century is just unbelievable. So, there goes the winner :)
Best Sporting Event - The 1st test match between Bangladesh & Australia is clearly the best sporting event of this month. If only the Bangladeshis had batted with a little bit more purpose in the 2nd innings, we would have seen the cricketing equivalent of David upstaging Goliath. Though the miracle did not happen, to me, it still was the sporting event of the month.
April 2 - The 2006 MLB season starts with the game between the White Sox and the Indians. The defending champs win it handsomely. On the home front, the Seattle Mariners start their season campaign with a loss (what else?) against the LA Angels.
April 3 - The Florida Gators win their first NCAA tournament in their school history. The final was a drag to say the least, with Florida leading UCLA by as many as 20 points at one point. And a day later, Maryland followed suite by prevailing over Duke in the women's tournament to set up their school's first ever NCAA tournament title. The women's final was a treat to watch, particularly so bcos Maryland came back from 13 points to take the game into overtime and thus more than made up for the disappointment of the men’s final.
April 4 - Australia complete their whitewash of the Proteas in the test series, sweeping the series 3-0. Damien Martyn comes good with a determined century in the 4th innings to lead Australia to their 5th victory over the Proteas in 6 tests. The joy of chasing a record 434 runs is short-lived and quickly dissipates into thin air.
April 9 - Phil Mickelson wins his second Masters in 3 years. After going so many years without a major, he now has won 3 majors in his last 9 appearances. The final day of the Masters was gripping, to say the least, as almost all of the top 5 players in the world were in with a chance of winning it. It was only in the last 3 holes that it became clear that Mickelson is safe, so safe that he could even afford a bogey in the 18th hole. As for Tiger, he left the course with his head held high, finishing a respectable 3rd. Having come into the tournament in an emotional turmoil of his father's cancer, he did very well and but for his putting in the final round, he would have almost won it.
April 9 - The old warhorse does it again, helping India overcome the Pakistanis in the 5th match of their Davis Cup tie. Though it was an inconsequential tie, I was simply blown away by this latest heroic display by Leander Paes, just amazed on how he has been able to step up his game whenever he is playing for the country. How I wish he & Mahesh Bhupathi had continued their dream run in doubles putting their egos and personal clashes behind :(
April 15 - India wins the 7th ODI and complete their domination over England in the ODI series. If not for two sessions of madness in Bombay resulting in a rare home test match loss, this would have been a truly memorable series for India. It is really amazing to see the way the youngsters have put their hands up and have come up with unbelievable performances in every single match of the series. Winning 16 consecutive matches while chasing down targets tells a lot about the mental make-up of this Indian team. After the 2 mindless games in Dubai, the boys get a well-deserved rest ahead of the crucial WI tour.
April 19 - Kobe becomes the 5th player ever in NBA history to average more than 35 points a game over the course of a complete season and thus bringing an end to the glorious season he has had, which also included claiming the record of the most ever points in a single season by a Laker and also the 81 point game against the Raptors. What a way to come back after all the rape allegations that clouded him the last 2 seasons.
April 23 - Nadal proves he is the clay court nemesis of Federer as he defeated him in the finals of the Monte Carlo Masters clay court tournament and thus defended his title successfully. Federer has lost only twice during this entire year and both the occasions, it has been to Nadal. All this sets up an intriguing French Open next month, with Nadal being the clear favorite to win it again.
April 23 - Schumacher is back to winning ways, as he wins the San Marino Grand Prix.
April 29 - In a decision that surprised many pundits, the Houston Texans selected Mario Williams, DE from NCSU as the overall number 1 pick in the NFL draft. Reggie Bush went to the Saints, which should give them a major boost in ticket sales & attendance while Vince Young was selected as the 3rd pick by the Tennessee Titans while Matt Leinart had to wait till the 10th overall pick before the Arizona Cardinals picked him as their first round pick. The Seahawks played it safe and drafted Corner Back Kelly Jennings from the University of Miami with their first round pick.
Best Individual Performance - This was a close call between my favorite Kobe and Gillespie, who scored, in what is now part of folklore, a double century. Then, finally I have to give this to Gillespie mainly bcos Kobe scoring points for the Shaq-less Lakers is no surprise but Gillespie scoring a double century is just unbelievable. So, there goes the winner :)
Best Sporting Event - The 1st test match between Bangladesh & Australia is clearly the best sporting event of this month. If only the Bangladeshis had batted with a little bit more purpose in the 2nd innings, we would have seen the cricketing equivalent of David upstaging Goliath. Though the miracle did not happen, to me, it still was the sporting event of the month.
posted by Filbert at 7:41 AM
1 Comments:
Yeah Sesh, read about it somewhere. But that is one sport that I just dont follow (there is already a long list of sports to follow :)). May be next time around, I will do something about it.
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