Novak Djokovic knocked off Andy Murray this morning in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 to win his second career Australian Open. The 23 year old Serbian who came into the tournament ranked 3rd in the world also won the Australian Open back in 2008. For Murray and all of Great Britain the loss was disappointing as once again the Brits fell short in a Grand Slam. Great Britain has not brought home a Slam title in 75 years now, their last winner being Fred Perry in 1936. Here's Novak's road to the championship:
W vs #42 Marcel Granollers (Spain) - 6-1, 6-3, 6-1
W vs #81 Ivan Dodig (Bosnia-Herzegovina) - 7-5, 6-7, 6-0, 6-2
W vs #27 Viktor Troicki (Serbia) - 6-2, retired
W vs #14 Nicolas Almagro (Spain) - 6-3, 6-4, 6-0
W vs #6 Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) - 6-1, 7-6, 6-1
W vs #2 Roger Federer (Switzerland) - 7-6, 7-5, 6-4
W vs #5 Andy Murray (Great Britain) - 6-4, 6-2, 6-3
HOOPS UPSETS CONTINUE ON SUNDAY
You can add another top ten team to the list of those who fell this weekend as St. John's stunned #3 Duke 93-78. The Red Storm built a 21 point lead in the first half and the Blue Devils were never able to recover falling to 19-2. For St. John's it concluded an 8 game stretch where they only played ranked opponents. They finished 3-5 over those 8 games. Senior Guard Dwight Hardy led the way with 26 points for St. John's as they improved to 12-8 with the win. Duke's Nolan Smith led all scorers with 32 points.
20 AND COUNTING
Dwight Howard had 20 points and 20 rebounds in just 26 minutes as the Orlando Magic cruised to a 103-87 win over the punchless Cavaliers who dropped their 20th in a row. Ryan Anderson added 23 points and 16 rebounds as the Magic outrebounded the Cavs 61-35. Orlando grabbed 24 offensive rebounds during the game. To put that into perspective, Cleveland had just 29 defensive rebounds. Manny Harris led Cleveland with 20 points and one was one of only two Cavaliers in double figures. Cleveland is now 8-39 overall and just 3-24 away from home. Next up, a rematch with Lebron James. The Cavaliers are just 1-28 since their last meeting.
NHL ALL STAR GAME
Team Lidstrom defeated Team Staal 11-10 in the first fantasy draft all star game. 16 different players scored including 2 goals apiece by Anze Kopitar (LID), Kris Letang (STA), Danny Briere (LID), Loui Eriksson (LID) and Eric Staal (STA). Shea Weber (LID) had a game high 4 assists, and Martin Havlat (LID) and Claude Giroux (STA) each had 3. Patrick Sharp had a goal and two assists and was named the game's MVP despite playing for the losing team. By all accounts the game was a huge success, and it's safe to say the other league's could learn something from what the NHL is done. Now, moving on to the worst all star game in professional sports...
THE PRO BOWL
I hate the PRO Bowl, and it took me a while today to figure out why exactly that is. And I came to a conclusion: because football is the only sport where players don't play both ways, and because it's such a violent sport, an exhibition game totally takes the teeth out of the defensive players. You don't get to really see what they can do. Not to mention the fact, that it's the only all star game that occurs after the season is over and so many of the stars deserving of playing in it are out with injuries. Not to mention the fact that now that it's the week BEFORE the Super Bowl, no players from either of the two Super Bowl teams can play in the game! Anyhow, the defensive players are forced to kind of go half speed and I just feel like it never ends up being a good game. Basketball, soccer, and hockey games end up being a lot higher scoring game than normal, but the players are able to go out and play hard and have fun and put on a great show for the fans. The baseball game features the league's best players in a game that actually counts for something. The PRO Bowl just kind of sucks. I mean, I love watching great linebackers like Urlacher and Ray Lewis, hard hitting safeties like Ronnie Lott or Polamalu. You can't see those guys do what they do best in a game like the PRO Bowl because the last thing you want to do is hurt someone. I almost think they'd be better suited to play flag football or something. Or basketball. Anyways, tonight was the PRO Bowl. The NFC got out to a 42-0 lead and held off an AFC rally to win 55-41. The AFC threw 5 interceptions and turned the ball over 6 times leading to two defensive scores which were actually the difference in the game. As a result it was ironically, a defensive player who won the MVP award: Atlanta's DeAngelo Hall. Touchdowns in this one were scored by household names such as fullback Ovie Mughelli, fullback Montell Owens, center Alex Mack and linebacker Jon Beason. Isn't that what everyone came to see? Not Peyton Manning or Drew Bress, right? The NFL needs to do something about the PRO Bowl because the product out there is just plain bad.
CATCHING UP ON GOLF
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods were both in action this weekend at Torry Pines for the Farmer's Insurance Open, but it was Bubba Watson who came away victorious finishing at 16 under par. Mickelson had a strong showing finishing off the lead by just a stroke while Woods finished 15 strokes back in a tie for 44th. Dustin Johnson and rookie Johnattan "Johnny" Vegas finished tied for 3rd at 13 under. Vegas won the Bob Hope Classic last week. What a great name for an athlete: Johnny Vegas. I love it.
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