Must See Sports – Second Weekend of August 2012

Last week's advantage/disadvantage record: 13-2

Must See Sports 2012 record (excluding series): 68-39

Advantage/disadvantage record in series, 2012: 8-7-1 

Pennant races are heating up, the Olympics are winding to a close, and we have the return of FOOTBALL!!!

Friday, August 10

Games of the XXX Olympiad

Men’s Basketball – Semifinal Round

USA vs Argentina

Manu Ginobli and Luis Scola get another chance to show their American NBA counterparts what they’re made of. Argentina was spanked pretty badly (29 points) in Group A play. I expect no different this afternoon.

Advantage: USA

Russell Westbrook: "there's more where this came from!" 2

Sunday, August 12

Games of the XXX Olympiad

Men’s Basketball – Final

USA vs Spain

“But wait? The U.S. hasn’t even played Argentina yet. How can you be so sure they’ll win?” Psst…child please!

Spain has some ballers, including Team USA guard Kobe Bryant’s teammate Pau Gasol. Other Spanish NBA players include Pau’s brother, Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol, Toronto Raptors guard Jose Calderon, Portland Trailblazers forward Victor Claver, and forward Serge Ibaka of the defending Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Guard Rudy Fernandez played for the Denver Nuggets last season.

This, essentially, is a matchup of NBA All-Stars and future Hall of Famers against NBA All-Stars and future All-Stars. I expect team USA to win, but in professional sports, anyone can beat anyone on a given day if one team plays its best and the more talented team is not prepared. The odds of Mike Krzyzewski not having Team USA prepared for a gold medal game are almost…ZERO, but much stranger things have happened in sports.

Advantage: USA



BOOM, BOOM, PAU! 1

MLB
Oakland Athletics at Chicago White Sox
Jarrod Parker (7-6, 3.55 ERA) – Athletics vs Chris Sale (13-3, 2.59 ERA, 121 Ks) – White Sox

The A’s have a razor-thin lead in the Wild Card race while the White Sox are clinging to a one game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the A.L. Central division race. Jarrod Parker has been a solid, quality starter this season, but Chris Sale has been lights out and he’s facing an Oakland team that struggles to flip the lights on at the plate.

Oakland could still win this series if Gavin Floyd goes “Gavin Floyd” tonight and the Jekyll and Hyde Francisco Liriano goes “Hyde” tomorrow. But the ChiSox are at home and their bats are sturdy.

Advantages: Game – White Sox, Series – White Sox


Atlanta Braves at New York Mets
Ben Sheets (4-1, 1.41 ERA, 23 Ks, 32.0 IP) – Braves vs Jonathon Niese (8-6, 3.82 ERA, 116 Ks)

Ben Sheets has been in beast mode since returning to the rotation in mid July. The Mets have been in choke mode since the same time. The biggest problem for the Mets? The pop in their bats has vanished. That doesn’t bode well when facing a red hot pitcher.

Advantages: Game – Braves, Series – Braves


Monday, August 13

Texas Rangers at New York Yankees
Ryan Dempster (6-5, 2.65 ERA, 95 Ks) – Rangers vs C.C. Sabathina (12-3, 3.56 ERA, 140 Ks) – Yankees

Four words: “Game of the Week”. The two best teams in the American League and two of the best pitchers in the major leagues face off. If you like baseball, you wait and wait and wait for a game like this.

On paper, this game and this series are a toss up. There are a couple of factors that tip the scales in the Yankees’ favor. First, the Yankees are at home. Second, Dempster appears to be having a little discomfort adjusting to American League hitting, which is often more powerful and more emphasized in a manager’s gameplan than National League batting.

This is probably a preview of the American League Championship Series, so get your popcorn ready!

Advantages: Game – Yankees, Series – Yankees

Note: Sabathia was placed on the 15 day disabled list with elbow inflammation after the publication of this Must See Sports. Rookie relief pitcher David Phelps (2-3, 2.42 ERA, 56 Ks, 52.0 IP) will make his fourth start of the season in place of Sabathia. The Hat Trick is not changing its advantage/disadvantage projection for this game or series.

Ryan Dempster vs C.C. Sabathia: It's on like Donkey Kong! I mean the game is like Donkey Kong, not C.C. 3

NFL

Monday Night Football – Preseason Special

Dallas Cowboys at Oakland Raiders

If you aren’t into Major League Baseball, your alternative offering is as good as it gets for a game that doesn’t count. The NFL’s renegade franchise against America’s Team…. Tony Romo vs Carson Palmer…. Sit back, crack open a cold one and enjoy! Only four weeks until the start of the regular season!

Cue the Monday Night Football Theme!!!

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To advertise with The Daily Hat Trick, or to submit a guest column, please contact the editor at eric@thedailyhattrick.info.

The Daily Hat Trick is sponsored by Sports N Stuff. For great deals on jerseys, shirts, cologne, and other guy stuff, visit http://www.sportsnstuff.biz/.

1) Image from http://eurosport.yahoo.com
2) Image from www.mysanantonio.com
3) Image from http://joyofsox.blogspot.com
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Retweet of the Day - August 9, 2012

Today's retweet is from yours truly (@ech1997). I seldom make my own material the retweet of the day, but after last night's induced flop (via a shot to the groin) of Spanish Olympic basketball player Juan Carlos Navarro by Nicolas Batum of France, I wanted some material regarding the incident for the retweet. I couldn't find a good one, so I thought I'd offer one of my own.

Fans of the animated show, "the Boondocks" will appreciate this, but viewership is not necessary to appreciate the punchline.


"BREAKING NEWS: Otis " #Thugnificent" Jenkins to feature @nicolas88batum on the "Stomp 'Em in the Nuts" remix! #Olympics #Boondocks #Batum"

I was partial to "Booty Butt Cheeks" myself.

Image from www.oonly.com

The Dream Team – 20 Years Later

Top Row: Patrick Ewing, Christian Laettner, Magic Johnson, David Robinson
Middle Row: Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, the late Chuck Daly (Head Coach), Charles Barkley, Chris Mullin
Bottom Row: Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Clyde Drexler 1

The 1992 USA Olympic Basketball team, known as “The Dream Team”, won the gold medal in Barcelona, Spain nearly 20 years ago. They did so by running roughshod over every single opponent in their way. A documentary baring the team’s name debuts tonight at 9pm EDT/8pm CDT on NBA-TV. To describe this team as a dominant gold medal Olympic team would be the understatement of the century.

LAST NAME “EVER”, FIRST NAME “GREATEST”

The phrases “greatest ever” and “greatest of all time” are used SO much in sports media that the moniker loses its impact. Greatest – unsurpassed in excellence and quality. Ever – includes all time in history, often within the context of a subject area. The buzz in many sports media, as the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Summer Olympics approaches, has been that The Dream Team was the greatest team ever assembled in the history of sports.

“Greatest ever in the history of sports,” sounds like hyperbole, a loaded statement to grab one’s attention. There are a lot of sports, there have been a lot of teams, and a lot of those teams have been great. To describe any one team as the greatest ever in the history of sports could sound over the top.

2

THERE HAS TO BE ONE

I completely agree. The Dream Team was the greatest ever. Just because a statement is bold, includes a superlative, and is sweeping in its scope does not necessarily mean that the statement is wrong.

Let’s look at the break down of the team:


Christian Laettner, PF – Possible future Basketball Hall of Famer, 2 NCAA Tournament Championships, 1991 Final Four Most Outstanding Player, 1992 Associated Press (College) Player of the Year; many writers have argued that Christian Laettner is the greatest player in the history of college basketball, a position with which I could empathize.


David Robinson, C – Basketball Hall of Famer, 1995 NBA MVP, 2-time NBA champion (1999, 2003).


Patrick Ewing, C – Basketball Hall of Famer


Larry Bird, SF – Basketball Hall of Famer, 3-time NBA MVP (1984-1986), 3-time NBA champion (1981, 1984, 1986).

Scottie Pippen, SF – Basketball Hall of Famer, 6-time NBA champion (1991-1993, 1996-1998).


Michael Jordan, SG – Basketball Hall of Famer, 5-time NBA MVP (1988, 1991-1992, 1996, 1998), 6-time NBA champion (1991-1993, 1996-1998); greatest player in the history of the game in the opinion of many, myself included.


Clyde Drexler, SG – Basketball Hall of Famer, NBA champion (1995)


John Stockton, PG – Basketball Hall of Famer


Karl Malone, PF – Basketball Hall of Famer, 2-time NBA MVP (1997, 1999)

Chris Mullin, SF – Basketball Hall of Famer


Charles Barkley, PF – Basketball Hall of Famer, NBA MVP (1993)


Magic Johnson, PG – Basketball Hall of Famer, 3-time NBA MVP (1987, 1989-1990), 5-time NBA champion (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987-1988).


DECENT RESUMES

Twelve players…all NBA All-Stars…11 players in the Basketball Hall of Fame with one possible future Hall of Famer (the Basketball Hall of Fame includes all contributions to the sport by all people involved in the game at all levels in all leagues, not just NBA personnel)……six NBA MVPs…six NBA champions.

All of these players were on the same team at the same time. The aggregate level of fame, achievement, and athleticism on the floor at any one time is staggering. At the time, I was 17 years old and, upon learning that NBA players would be on the Olympic team, naturally assumed all of the above players except for Laettner (I expected Isiah Thomas, Hall of Famer, instead) would be on that team. It thought it would be cool to see them play together and expected them to win.

One of the few benefits of getting older is gaining wisdom and perspective. One of the disadvantages of being young is, sometimes, not being able to appreciate the profundity of an event of moment. I am happy that I was young enough to have witnessed this greatness and still be a relatively young man so many years later, yet old enough to put the special quality of this assembly of great players in proper perspective.

There will probably never, ever be an assembly of all-time great athletes together in any sport ever again. It was unprecedented in 1992. The odds of that many great players at that level of greatness being active in sports at the same time, let alone playing together, in my lifetime is not likely.

The Dream Team: a Magic time. 3

 
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To advertise with The Daily Hat Trick, or to submit a guest column, please contact the editor at eric@thedailyhattrick.info.

The Daily Hat Trick is sponsored by Sports N Stuff. For great deals on jerseys, shirts, cologne, and other guy stuff, visit http://www.sportsnstuff.biz/.

1) Image from www.warriorsworld.net

2) Image from http://hoopedia.nba.com

3) Image from http://sports.yahoo.com