Monthly Sports Round-up - June 2006
I am trying to limit the list to the top 10 sporting events of the month. I was looking at the list for last month and I found the list just too long, that even I got bored reading through the list. Hence, the above said decision. Now, to this month's list (Couple of these entries in this list are pretty outdated as I am posting this a good 5 days into July. But I still wanted to post what IMO was the major sporting events of the month of June):
June 9 - The 18th edition of the Soccer World Cup, the biggest sporting event of the world, gets off to a grand start with a colorful opening ceremony.
June 10 - Justine Henin Hardene wins the women's final of the French Open with a straight sets victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova and thus conquer her 3rd French Open title in 4 years.
June 11 - He does it again. Nadal for the 4th time this year, provides proof of the fact that Federer might be the best tennis player on the planet but when it comes to winning on clay, he is the best. After a jittery start due to which he loses the 1st set pretty badly, Nadal comes back strongly and goes on to win the French Open final in 4 sets. Thus the French Open sees the unique event of the defending champions in both the men's and women's categories successfully defend their titles.
June 15 & 16 - Tiger returns to the golf course after a 9 week lay-off following his father's death , which also happened to be the longest lay-off in his professional career. He finds the going extremely tough where he finishes a disappointing 6 over par. And the very next day, he gets eliminated from the Open, as he fails to make the cut for the first time in his professional career.
June 18 - Geoff Ogilvy wins the US Open golf championships with a 5-over par finish. The unbelievable collapse of Phil Mickelson in the final hole results in a completely unexpected victory for the Australian, who did not expect to win when he walked into the clubhouse after finishing his round. As Phil Mickelson went for his tee short on the 18th, all he had to do was to get the hole done in 4 shots, but in a collapse which nobody foresaw, he shoots his only double bogey of the tournament and ends up finishing 2nd, tied with Montgomerie, who had experienced a similar disaster in his 18th hole.
June 19 - The Carolina Hurricanes defeat the Edmonton Oilers in game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals and bring the Stanley Cup to Carolina for the first time in the franchise's history. Though I am not a big fan of ice hockey, I did take some liking to the game, after following the 2006 playoffs on TV.
June 20 - The Miami Heat are the new NBA Champs. In becoming only the 3rd team ever to come back from a 2-0 deficit in the finals, the Heat rode on some superlative performance from the finals MVP Dwayne Wade and finished off the Dallas Mavericks in 6 games, to bring the Championship to Miami for the first time in the franchise's history. I am a big time Kobe fan and so I have to hate Shaq and hence I was rooting for the Mavericks. And when they went up 2 games to nothing, I really thought that the series was as good as over. The collapse of the Mavericks in the 4th quarter of the 3rd game (where they lost the game inspite of a 11 point lead mid-way through the 4th quarter) was what IMO changed the course of the whole series. Shaq fulfills his promise to the city of Miami that he would make sure that they win the NBA championships.
June 25 - The game loses its greatest showman, as Andre Agassi announces his retirement plans from the game, after spending 21 years playing it. The US Open in September of this year would be his last professional tournament. He was one of those rare personalities who was able to successfully combine both style and substance. He was the game's ultimate showman. The best thing I liked about the guy was how much of his time & energy he spent in his charity foundation. I am sure retirement will help him spend more time with the foundation. But this US Open is going to be a tear-filled one, for sure.
June 25 - Alonso wins his 4th consecutive race and 6th overall race of the season, by winning the action-filled Canadian grand Prix and thus stretches his lead over Schumacher by a commanding 25 points. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher comes second.
June 28 – Overlooking names like Adam Morrison and Rudy Gay, the Toronto Raptors pick Andrea Bargnani from Italy, with the first overall pick of the NBA draft. The Italian star is already drawing comparisons with the other famous European star in the NBA, Dirk Nowitzki bcos of his ability to shoot from the perimeter. The draft was full of trades with as many as 4 out of the top 7 picks being traded, with the experts citing the lack of star power in the draft as the reason for the high number of trades. The Seattle Super Sonics pick up a relatively unknown Saer Sene from Senegal with their first round pick.
Best Sporting event of the month – The first test between India and the West Indies IMO that ended in an agonizing draw is the best sporting event of the month. Inspite of India applying pressure from all ends, the West Indies clung on to their last wicket, thus forcing a draw in the first of the 4 test series. With 19 balls to go and just 1 wicket to take, India did all they could but finally fell short of that elusive victory as Edwards & Collymore clung on to their wickets as they would do to their dear lives.
Best individual performance of the month - Nadal for his unbeaten run in the French Open and for stopping Federer from the unique achievement of holding all the Grand Slams at the same time. 60 continuous wins on clay court is just mind-blowing.
June 9 - The 18th edition of the Soccer World Cup, the biggest sporting event of the world, gets off to a grand start with a colorful opening ceremony.
June 10 - Justine Henin Hardene wins the women's final of the French Open with a straight sets victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova and thus conquer her 3rd French Open title in 4 years.
June 11 - He does it again. Nadal for the 4th time this year, provides proof of the fact that Federer might be the best tennis player on the planet but when it comes to winning on clay, he is the best. After a jittery start due to which he loses the 1st set pretty badly, Nadal comes back strongly and goes on to win the French Open final in 4 sets. Thus the French Open sees the unique event of the defending champions in both the men's and women's categories successfully defend their titles.
June 15 & 16 - Tiger returns to the golf course after a 9 week lay-off following his father's death , which also happened to be the longest lay-off in his professional career. He finds the going extremely tough where he finishes a disappointing 6 over par. And the very next day, he gets eliminated from the Open, as he fails to make the cut for the first time in his professional career.
June 18 - Geoff Ogilvy wins the US Open golf championships with a 5-over par finish. The unbelievable collapse of Phil Mickelson in the final hole results in a completely unexpected victory for the Australian, who did not expect to win when he walked into the clubhouse after finishing his round. As Phil Mickelson went for his tee short on the 18th, all he had to do was to get the hole done in 4 shots, but in a collapse which nobody foresaw, he shoots his only double bogey of the tournament and ends up finishing 2nd, tied with Montgomerie, who had experienced a similar disaster in his 18th hole.
June 19 - The Carolina Hurricanes defeat the Edmonton Oilers in game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals and bring the Stanley Cup to Carolina for the first time in the franchise's history. Though I am not a big fan of ice hockey, I did take some liking to the game, after following the 2006 playoffs on TV.
June 20 - The Miami Heat are the new NBA Champs. In becoming only the 3rd team ever to come back from a 2-0 deficit in the finals, the Heat rode on some superlative performance from the finals MVP Dwayne Wade and finished off the Dallas Mavericks in 6 games, to bring the Championship to Miami for the first time in the franchise's history. I am a big time Kobe fan and so I have to hate Shaq and hence I was rooting for the Mavericks. And when they went up 2 games to nothing, I really thought that the series was as good as over. The collapse of the Mavericks in the 4th quarter of the 3rd game (where they lost the game inspite of a 11 point lead mid-way through the 4th quarter) was what IMO changed the course of the whole series. Shaq fulfills his promise to the city of Miami that he would make sure that they win the NBA championships.
June 25 - The game loses its greatest showman, as Andre Agassi announces his retirement plans from the game, after spending 21 years playing it. The US Open in September of this year would be his last professional tournament. He was one of those rare personalities who was able to successfully combine both style and substance. He was the game's ultimate showman. The best thing I liked about the guy was how much of his time & energy he spent in his charity foundation. I am sure retirement will help him spend more time with the foundation. But this US Open is going to be a tear-filled one, for sure.
June 25 - Alonso wins his 4th consecutive race and 6th overall race of the season, by winning the action-filled Canadian grand Prix and thus stretches his lead over Schumacher by a commanding 25 points. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher comes second.
June 28 – Overlooking names like Adam Morrison and Rudy Gay, the Toronto Raptors pick Andrea Bargnani from Italy, with the first overall pick of the NBA draft. The Italian star is already drawing comparisons with the other famous European star in the NBA, Dirk Nowitzki bcos of his ability to shoot from the perimeter. The draft was full of trades with as many as 4 out of the top 7 picks being traded, with the experts citing the lack of star power in the draft as the reason for the high number of trades. The Seattle Super Sonics pick up a relatively unknown Saer Sene from Senegal with their first round pick.
Best Sporting event of the month – The first test between India and the West Indies IMO that ended in an agonizing draw is the best sporting event of the month. Inspite of India applying pressure from all ends, the West Indies clung on to their last wicket, thus forcing a draw in the first of the 4 test series. With 19 balls to go and just 1 wicket to take, India did all they could but finally fell short of that elusive victory as Edwards & Collymore clung on to their wickets as they would do to their dear lives.
Best individual performance of the month - Nadal for his unbeaten run in the French Open and for stopping Federer from the unique achievement of holding all the Grand Slams at the same time. 60 continuous wins on clay court is just mind-blowing.
posted by Filbert at 8:52 AM
5 Comments:
Romir, we know that the win was possible bcos of Wade, rightly adjudged as the Finals MVP. So, the primary reason for Shaq's success has been the presence of Wade & all the other Pat Riley acquisitions. I will give Shaq his due but I am sure Kobe will win a ring of his own. Just give him a couple of more years, when they get some space to explore the free agency market and get a dominant player. Dont forget that we have the Zen master coaching us :)
Prasanna, I too dont think anybody can stop Deferer at Wimbledon. Nadal is our only hope but he has struggled in the earlier rounds whereas it as been a breeze into the semifinals for Federer.
World Cup - my pick was Argentina. So, once they fell, I have kind of lost interest in the tournament but as of now, my pick would be Italy. Lets see.
Sesh, this Federer winning it all is getting so ridiculously monotonous. Somebody has to stop that guy and I would be happy if anybody is able to accomplish that. Right now, from the looks of it, Federer should win this one pretty comfortably. He has been awesome in this tournament.
Illa Sesh, the scenario was completely different when Sampras was around. We had so many epic encounters that we can remember from the Sampras era (all those Sampras-Agassi & Sampras-Ivanisevic matches). Reason being the presence of so many equally talented players, who could challenge Sampras & bring the best out of him. But this Federer guy is playing in a whole new level where others are not even remotely close to.
Great to see another Argentina fan in you, Prasanna. They were definitely unlucky - inspite of playing well, they lost the game. Another 4 year wait starts....
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