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World, get to know Luca Toni! The star Italian striker could have a very big say in who ends up World Cup Champions when France and Italy battle it out on Sunday evening in Germany. Toni has risen quickly to stardom in Italy after years milling in the Serie B and later Serie A.
Fully utilizing his tall build (6’4”), he burst onto the stage this year scoring 31 goals for Fiorentina (Florence’s squad) in the Italian Serie A. Fiorentina, after many dismal years, rode Toni to a 4th place finish and a qualification for the Champions League next season. Toni won the European Golden Boot, scoring the most goals in any of the European Leagues.
Toni scored his first goal of the World Cup against the Ukraine in the Round of 8, and then added another later on in the same match.
If Italy is going to beat France they will need a stellar performace from both Toni and Francesco Totti up front, and continued tough defense. Through six games, the Italian defense has yet to yield a goal (other than the own goal they spotted the USA in the first round).
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The Miami Heat completed an impressive NBA Finals run on Tuesday, winning the series 4 games to 2. The series was appropriately packed with storylines and great games; a fitting end to a fantastic two months of NBA playoffs.
In my opinion, the best storyline of this whole series was not Dwyane Wade carrying the Heat, or Shaq winning his 4th ring, or Pat Riley coaching his 5th champion, or Mark Cuban running out onto the floor and making the series all about him. This series, ending on the last day of spring, was a tribute to the Alonzo Mourning.
The once super star center out from Georgetown was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2000, and his minutes have been limited ever since.
Tonight, he played a critical role pouring in 8 points, 6 boards, and 5 blocks. The energy that he brought to the team during his 14 minutes with Shaq on the bench and in foul trouble was inspiring. He has been an inspiration to many throughout his illness, transplant, and recovery.
Congratulations Heat, and Alonzo Mourning.
Miami Heat - NBA Champions!
Posted by Dennis Velasco Categories: Championship, Kudos, NBA, Playoffs, Scoreboard,
In what seemed impossible, the Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks in Game Six of the NBA Finals, 95-92, to claim the franchise’s first championship. It’s not that the Heat were huge underdogs to win tonight’s game, but in the fact that they won four straight games after going down two games to none at the beginning of the series.
But, before I go any further, I have to give props to the Dallas Mavericks who easily could have been the world champions instead. The only problem was that they had to defend the Heat’s Dwyane Wade, who was simply off-the-charts the last four games. In any case, the Mavs will probably sign Jason Terry, who shined during the postseason, and keep this team together to contend the next few seasons. Kudos to them.
At the opening of tonight’s game, it looked like the Mavs were going to run away with the game early, but thanks to Wade scoring seven points in under two minutes for the Heat, the end of the first quarter wasn’t as bad as it could have been. In the second quarter, the Heat just continued to pour it on, outscoring the Mavs for the quarter, 26-18 and taking a one point lead into the half.
But, the second half of the game couldn’t have been played any more tightly.
Click to continue reading Miami Heat - NBA Champions!
Carolina Hurricanes Win The Stanley Cup
Posted by Dennis Velasco Categories: Athletes, Championship, Kudos, NHL, Playoffs,
The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals and almost like the 1996 World Series Champion New York Yankees, the Hurricanes have to thank a rookie. I say almost because Derek Jeter’s impact wasn’t as much as goalie, Cam Ward’s. Ward who filled in at goal for the struggling Martin Gerber at the beginning of the playoffs and was simply amazing. So amazing, in fact, he won the Conn Smythe Trophy that goes to the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
After leading the series 3-1, it looked like the Oilers would fold, but they came back in Game Five with a well-fought overtime win and a 4-0 blowout in Game Six. However, they never looked like they were in control in Game Seven as Ward simply wouldn’t let them, blocking 22 shots of the Oilers’ 23 for the night.
This is the first Stanley Cup for the Carolina Hurricanes. Congratulations!
Miami Heat Make The NBA Finals For The First Time
Posted by Dennis Velasco Categories: Athletes, Championship, NBA, Playoffs, Scoreboard,
Thanks to a dominant 95-78 win over the Detroit Pistons, the Miami Heat took the Eastern Conference Championship and a ticket to the franchise’s first ever appearance in the NBA Finals. The Heat entered the league during the 1988-89 season along with the Orlando Magic, who made the NBA Finals during the 1994-95 season. It took a little longer, but the Heat finally joins its Florida neighbor in getting to play on the biggest stage in basketball.
A pivotal player, part of dynamic duo with Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway for that 94-95 Magic team that eventually lost to the Houston Rockets who were led by Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon and Clyde “The Glide” Drexler was Shaquille O’Neal. Funny enough, 11 years later, after getting three rings with the Los Angeles Lakers, O’Neal, again a part of a dynamic duo, this time with Dwyane Wade, helps bring another Florida team to the Finals for the first time. If O’Neal ran for governor, he’d likely win at this point.
Tonight, O’Neal played like he was 11 years younger, scoring 28 points on 12-for-14 shooting from the floor, grabbing 16 boards, and blocking five shots. It’s safe to say that “The Diesel” showed up, and when he does, he’s simply unstoppable. How about O’Neal’s current partner-in-crime? Wade only scored 14 points, having a poor shooting night, but did dish out 10 assists. His scoring wasn’t needed as much as Jason Williams was the perimeter version of O’Neal, shooting 10-for-12 from the field, finishing with 21 points.
For the Pistons, Richard Hamilton dropped 33 points, but it wasn’t enough to lead Detroit to victory as the other scorers couldn’t hit their shots. Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, and Tayshaun Prince shot a combined 10-for-35 for only 29 points. Even Hamilton’s points are a bit skewed when you consider he shot 12-for-28. The team as a whole only shot 33.3% from the floor, which is obviously not a formula for winning.
The Miami Heat await the winner of the Western Conference Finals between the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks, who play Game Six tomorrow night. The Mavs lead the series three games to two and can get to their first trip to the NBA Finals with a win in Phoenix.
Masked Gunmen Attempt To Rob Championship Game Soccer Tickets
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Championship, News, Soccer,
Earlier today in Paris, France, two masked gunmen stormed a suburban city hall seeking to steal soccer tickets for the Champions Leagues final. Luckily, no one was injured. The original plan for the thieves was to rob the mayor of the city, because the mayor usually receives extra guest tickets for special events. The hot ticket is for a match-up between the Ronaldinho of Barcelona and Thierry Henry of Arsenal. The Champions League is organized by the UEFA (Union of European Football Association) and is regarded as one of the most prestigious club competition in soccer - basically the yearly Finals of Soccer in Europe. This event is red-hot, black market tickets have reached as high as $2,580. Even with a stadium capacity of 80,000 seats, the supply still is not high enough. These turn of events have French-joke-material written all over it for comedians to use.
Read More 
| ESPN
Rafael Nadal Wins Tournament and Ties a Clay Court Record
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Athletes, Championship, Kudos, Tennis,
In a grueling five-hour, five-set match, Rafael Nadal defeated the number one seeded Roger Federer for the third time this season. This match has so many interesting tidbits to digest - not only did Nadal fight off two match points, this match also featured three tie-breaker sets. This was the championship match for the Rome Masters tournament, and the win gave the 19 year old Nadal his 16th title for his career, tying him with Bjorn Borg. Oh, Nadal tied a Men’s record with 53 straight clay court victories as well. Nadal has won nine straight tournaments on clay court. The loss by Federer gives him three for the 2006 year, all at the hands of Nadal. The clay court for non-tennis fanatics makes the ball move a bit slower which gives the faster players more of a chance to succeed against the hard-smashing, ace-serving big guys of tennis.
Read More | ESPN
Phil Mickelson Wins The Masters
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Athletes, Championship, Golf, Kudos,
Phil Mickelson won his third major (2 Masters ‘04, ‘06, PGA ‘05) of his career, firmly putting to rest the notion of being the solid player who can’t win the big one. After his dramatic ‘04 Masters win, where it seemed like everyone was pulling for Mickelson, this year’s Masters was more about not making mistakes and not letting anyone else catch up with Micekelson, another words it was a snooze-fest. Mickelson can now be known as the guy who is 3-9 in majors since 2004, opposed to being the guy who was 0-42 prior to his win in ‘04.
Read More | Travel Golf
South Carolina Wins the NIT Championship
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Championship, NCAA, College Basketball,
The South Carolina Gamecocks did their job in making the SEC conference proud by taking home their second NIT Championship in a row. South Carolina defeated Michigan 76-64. SEC can hope for a LSU versus Florida match-up in the finals to make a SEC sweep. Ironically this match-up featured the past two NIT winners. In 2005 South Carolina defeated St. Josephs and in 2004 Michigan defeated Rutgers. The Gamecocks were close to joining the big dance themselves by receiving an automatic bid by winning the SEC title but loss to Florida in the championship game 49-47. Renaldo Balkman was named Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament.
Read More | ESPN
Final Four Predictions
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Championship, Editorial, NCAA, College Basketball,
All the experts and analysts are just dumb-founded, no one wants to go out on a limb and make a stance anymore now that Duke, UConn, and Villanova are out of the picture. Although there are plenty of smug people that are now claiming that they foresaw UConn losing ever since their uninspired play in the first round - mainly this guy, Stewart Mandel. No one wants to hear how smart you think you are, fans get enough of that crap from Woody Paige, Skip Bayless, Jim Nantz, Billy Packer and the rest of the lot.
Me, I haven’t have the slightest clue of who is going to win. George Mason beat the best in UConn so are they now favorite? Mostly everyone else is going with Florida because they too were a high-ranking team throughout the season. This Florida Gator team reminds some people of the young Arizona Wildcats team that won it all with Mike Bibby, Miles Simon and Michael Dickerson back in 1997. Although LSU looks like they have an inside combo of Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas that looks too strong for teams to handle. Finally, there is UCLA, who I’ll admit I haven’t seen play much, but sometimes you get that feeling that there are no basketball gods, and UCLA alumnus Bill Walton will get his way.
Read More | Stewart Mandel
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