Best Nicknames in Sports - Volume IV

And now for the 4th installment of our 'Best Nicknames in Sports' column. We'll keep doing these until we run out of good nicknames.

In case you missed them, check out the links to Volume I, Volume II, and Volume III.

Now, Volume IV:

Ernie Davis - Running Back, 1961 Heisman Trophy Winner

"The Elmira Express"

Photo Credit: insidesocal.com

Rubin Carter - Professional Boxer, 1961-1966

"The Hurricane"

Photo Credit: members.shaw.ca

Chris Andersen - NBA Forward, 2001-Present

"Birdman"

Photo Credit: thenablog.com

Phil Mickelson - Professional Golfer, 1992-Present

"Lefty"

Photo Credit: worldsportsstars.blogspot.com

Robert Traylor - NBA Center, 1998-2005

"Tractor Traylor"

Photo Credit: sportsnola.com

Casey Hampton - NFL Defensive Tackle, 2001-Present

"Big Snack"

Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com

Nate Newton - NFL Offensive Lineman, 1986-1999

"The Kitchen"

Photo Credit: messageboards.aol.com

Toni Kukoč - NBA Forward, 1993-2006

"The Croatian Sensation"

Photo Credit: foros.acb.com

Shane Victorino - Major League Outfielder, 2003-Present

"The Pineapple Express"

Photo Credit: content.usatoday.com

Javier Hernandez - Professional Soccer Player, 2006-Present

"Chicharito"

Photo Credit: redmanchester.com

Joe DiMaggio - Major League Outfielder, 1936-1951

"The Yankee Clipper"

Photo Credit: redsoxvyankees.com

Bernard Hopkins - Professional Boxer, 1988-Present

"The Executioner"

Photo Credit: granthestonfitness.com

Marco Etcheverry - Professional Soccer Player, 1986-2004

"El Diablo"

Photo Credit: o10legionnaire.blogspot.com

Billy Johnson - NFL Wide Receiver, 1974-1988

"White Shoes"

Photo Credit: sikids.com

Ed Jones - NFL Defensive End, 1974-1989

"Too Tall"

Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com

Gilbert Arenas - NBA Guard, 2001-Present

"Agent Zero"

Photo Credit: everyjoe.com

Tim Duncan - NBA Forward, 1997-Present

"The Big Fundamental"

Photo Credit: futureramblings.wordpress.com

Sam Perkins - NBA Forward/Center, 1984-2001

"Big Smooth"

Photo Credit: ultimatenba.com

Kobe Bryant - NBA Guard, 1996-Present

"The Black Mamba"

Photo Credit: celebritiess.tk

Carnell Williams - NFL Running Back, 2005-Present

"Cadillac"

Photo Credit: fantasyknuckleheads.com

And from our readers:

Trajan Langdon - NBA Guard, 1999-2002

"The Alaskan Assassin"

Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com

Ryan Braun - Major League Outfielder, 2007-Present

"The Hebrew Hammer"

Photo Credit: fantasyknuckleheads.com

Marvin Webster - ABA/NBA Center, 1975-1987

"The Human Eraser"

Photo Credit: dipity.com

Charles Barkley - NBA Forward, 1984-2000

"The Round Mound of Rebound"

Photo Credit: archivosnba.com

Ted Williams - Major League Outfielder, 1939-1960

"The Splendid Splinter"

Photo Credit: boston.com

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The Fantasy Hockey Experiment - Week 3

Well, we've made it another week and we're still in first place. Our lead is certainly dwindling though. I suppose when your goalie gives up 7 goals in a single game, that'll set you back a little bit.

The biggest concern I have right now is Eric Staal. The guy has only 5 points on the year and a plus/minus of negative 13. That's not good at all, and it's really hurting us. Staal had 76 points last year, so hopefully he can get back on track soon... Still keeping an eye on Cam Fowler and Brent Seabrook as well. Would certainly like to see a few more points out of the back.

Division Leaders

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

Atlantic - Pittsburgh Penguins - 8-3-2 - 18 points

Northeast - Toronto Maple Leafs - 7-2-1 - 15 points

Southeast - Washington Capitals - 7-2-0 - 14 points

Central - Chicago Blackhawks - 6-2-2 - 14 points

Northwest - Edmonton Oilers - 6-2-2 - 14 points

Pacific - Dallas Stars - 8-3-0 - 16 points

League Leaders

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

Points - Phil Kessel - Toronto - 18

Goals - Phil Kessel - Toronto -10

Assists - Erik Karlsson - Ottawa -11

Goals Against Average - Nikolai Khabibulin - Edmonton - 0.97

Save Percentage - Nikolai Khabibulin - Edmonton - 96.4%


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NFL Week 8 Picks

Spending the weekend with the wife and the in-laws out in Oregon so gonna keep this short and sweet.

Cardinals at Ravens - Baltimore will bounce back from Monday's debacle. Pick: Ravens

Vikings at Panthers - In a battle between rookie quarterbacks, I'm taking Cam Newton over Christian Ponder. Pick: Panthers

Jaguars at Texans - The Jags aren't as good as they showed on Monday night. Pick: Texans

Dolphins at Giants - Miami has all kinds of issues, Giants should roll. Pick: Giants

Saints at Rams - C'mon Man! Pick: Saints

Colts at Titans - Indy is coming off a demoralizing 62-7 loss and Tennessee is better than they showed against Houston. Pick: Titans.

Lions at Broncos - Tebow doesn't win two in a row. Not yet. Pick: Lions

Redskins at Bills - Washington is banged up with injuries to Hightower and Moss. Pick: Bills

Bengals at Seahawks - I like the Red Rifle over the struggling Seahawks. Pick: Bengals

Browns at 49ers - San Francisco is a complete team. The Browns are not. Pick: 49ers

Patriots at Steelers - It doesn't seem like Pittsburgh EVER beats New England. Pick: Patriots

Cowboys at Eagles - This one is a toss-up so I'm going with the home team. Pick: Eagles

Chargers at Chiefs - Antonio Gates is back so San Diego should win. Pick: Chargers


Last Week: 8-5
Season: 72-31


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Quick Hits - 10/29/11

USA FALLS TO MEXICO IN SEMIS, TO PLAY FOR BRONZE ON SUNDAY - The U.S. hasn't won a gold medal at the PanAm games since Michael Jordan's U.S.A. team did it back in 1983 and they're going to have to wait at least four years more. Taking on host nation Mexico in the semifinals, the U.S. played their worst game of the tournament shooting just 32.7% (18 of 55) from the field  and turning the ball over 17 times as they fell 71-55. Leo Lyons led the USA with 13 points in defeat.The loss forces the U.S. into the bronze medal game on Sunday where they will get a rematch with the Dominican Republic. The U.S. opened the tournament with a 77-76 win over the Dominicans.

Photo Credit: usabasketball.com

CASE KEENUM FIRES NINE TOUCHDOWN PASSES IN ROUTE - The Houston Cougars improved to 8-0 this season following Thursday's 73-34 video game-esque route of rival Rice. Cougar Senior Quarterback Case Keenum threw 9 touchdown passes as he passed Hawaii's Colt Brennan (131) and Texas Tech's Graham Harrell (134) to move into first place with the most career touchdown passes in Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) history with 139. Keenum finished 24 for 37 with 534 yards and the nine touchdowns. The game marked the 4th one this season in which Keenum has eclipsed 400 passing yards, but the nine touchdowns was a career high. On the year Keenum has thrown for 3219 yards and 32 touchdowns with just 3 interceptions in 8 games.

Photo Credit: usatoday.com

17 GOALS IN ONE HOCKEY GAME??? - Before Thursday night's wild 9-8 game between the Winnipeg Jets and the Philadelphia Flyers, there hadn't been a regular season game in which 17 goals were scored since 1996 when the Sharks beat the Penguins 10-8. To put into perspective how long ago that was, in 1996 the old Winniepg Jets were still in Canada and Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky were both still in the league. Equally remarkable about this 17 goal outburst, was that 15 different players scored goals and no player scored more than twice. The 9 goals were also the most scored by any NHL franchise based out of Winnipeg.

Photo Credit: timesonline.com

DEMPSEY SCORES AS FULHAM DEFEATS WIGAN - The 28 year old Texan scored his 3rd goal of the Premier League season today as he helped Fulham to a 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic. Dempsey got on the end of a Bobby Zamora cross and beat Wigan keeper Ali Al Habsi late in the first half and that was all the Cottagers would need. The win snapped a 3-game losing streak across all competitions for Fulham.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

MLS PLAYOFFS - Real Salt Lake made a statement tonight with a 3-0 thrashing of the U.S. Open Cup Champion Seattle Sounders in the first leg of their semifinal matchup. Costa Rican Alvaro Saborío scored once on each side of halftime and substitute Ned Grabavoy added a late insurance goal as Salt Lake took a commanding lead in the series at Rio Tinto Stadium. The second leg will be played in Seattle on Wednesday with the Sounders needing at least a 3-goal victory over Nick Rimando and Salt Lake just to stay alive. The remaining three semifinal matchups will be played tomorrow.

Photo Credit: realsaltlake.com

HAT TRICK FOR MESSI AS BARCELONA ROLLS - Lionel Messi was add it again striking three times in the first half today against Mallorca as Barcelona cruised to a 5-0 win. The 24 year old Argentinian now has three hat tricks on the season and leads La Liga with 13 goals. Barcelona remains undefeated on the year with a record of 7-0-3 and sits one point behind Real Madrid atop the table.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

JOE PA WINS #409 - SETS DIVISION I RECORD - Derek Dimke's 42-yard field goal attempt struck the upright as time expired giving Penn State a 10-7 over Illinois. The win was head coach Joe Paterno's 409th of his career moving him ahead of Grambling's Eddie Robinson and into first place on the all-time list. The 84 year old Paterno, who has been the head coach of the Nittany Lions since 1965, trails only Division III Coach John Gagliardi (St. John's, Minnesota) across all NCAA Divisions. Gagliardi, also 84, has won 481 games and it still active as coach of the Johnnies.

Photo Credit: sports.yahoo.com

New York, Colorado Advance to MLS Conference Semifinals

NEW YORK RED BULLS 2 FC DALLAS 0

Photo Credit: mlssoccer.com

New York lives to fight another day. Thanks to second half goals from Joel Lindpere and Thierry Henry, the Red Bulls season gets extended for at least two more matches. Lindpere forced Kevin Hartman to make a diving save on a shot from distance in the 61st minute, but New York was able to control the rebound and Mehdi Ballouchy found a cutting Lindpere who beat Hartman for the game winner. Henry, who scored 14 goals during the regular season would add a late insurance goal in stoppage time and Red Bull keeper Frank Rost made 8 saves in securing the 2-0 shutout win. The win by New York sets up a very intriguing semifinal matchup between the Red Bulls and the Los Angeles Galaxy. Several interesting dynamics in that matchup as two of the league's most well known international talents, Henry and David Beckham will square off against one another. And there's also the face of American soccer, Landon Donovan, taking on the potential future of American soccer, Juan Agudelo. Not to mention the natural rivalry between the league's two biggest markets. New York hosts the first leg on Sunday.

COLORADO RAPIDS 1 COLUMBUS CREW 0

Photo Credit: mlssoccer.com

The defending champs are going to stick around a little bit longer it seems. A year after winning the MLS Cup, the Rapids needed to beat the Crew just to qualify for the Conference Semis. They were up to the task though as veteran Jamaican striker Omar Cummings scored just before halftime and Matt Pickens and the Colorado defense were able to handle everything Columbus threw at them as the Rapids held on for a 1-0 win. Colorado will now face the Eastern Conference Regular Season Champs, Sporting Kansas City in the Conference Semifinals. The first leg is set for Sunday in Colorado.

Cardinals Win World Series

It's funny. I talked earlier this month about how the Tampa Bay Rays seemed like a team of destiny following their improbable run into the American League playoffs. Apparently I should've been paying attention to the other league. The St. Louis Cardinals were 10 1/2 games out of the Wild Card Race in late August and yet were able to clinch a playoff berth on the last day of the season and then knock off the team with the best record in baseball (the Phillies), the team that it finished behind in the NL Central (the Brewers) and now after twice coming within one strike of defeat in Game 6 have beaten the Texas Rangers and are World Series Champions. Oh, and by the way, they went the entire year with arguably their best pitcher on the disabled list. It was very reminiscent of what the Packers just did to win last year's Super Bowl. Dealing with injuries, sneaking into the playoffs, and then being the hottest team in the league when it mattered most.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

I honestly wanted the Rangers to win this one. I like Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz, etc. Plus, the Rangers franchise has never won the World Series. I should be clear though, I'm not UPSET that St. Louis won though. Albert Pujols, arguably the best player in the game right now, may never play another game in a Cardinals uniform so what better way for him to finish his tenure in St. Louis (if that's the case). Plus, you had the hometown hero David Freese winning both the NLCS and World Series MVP awards. The St. Louis native hit .397 in his first postseason emerging from a pack of much bigger names (Berkman, Pujols, Holliday) to shine on the biggest of stages. How cool is that? His game 6 heroics are going to be talked about in baseball circles for years. And speaking of Berkman, I'm really happy for him. The Big Puma has always been one of my favorite players and since he was never able to win a title in Houston, it's nice to see him get one in St. Louis.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

The Rangers, who have now lost back-to-back World Series, are undoubtedly discouraged, but there's no reason to think their window is closing. Texas is budding with young talent or players in their primes. Neftali Feliz is 23, Derek Holland is 25, Matt Harrison is 26, Elvis Andrus 23, Ian Kinsler 29, Mitch Moreland 26, Nelson Cruz 31, Josh Hamilton 30, C.J. Wilson 30, Alexi Ogando 28, Mike Napoli 29... Really, of their core group, only Michael Young is getting up in years. And Young just wrapped up a season in which if you include the playoffs he had 229 hits. So while for the next two days, this loss is really going to sting, especially considering just how close they were, this isn't going to be a franchise-crushing defeat that sends Texas back into mediocrity. We certainly haven't seen the last of these guys.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

So, final thoughts on the 2011 World Series. Despite the lack of a marquee matchup, this was a highly entertaining series that had seven highly entertaining games. We saw the stars deliver (Pujols, Berkman, Carpenter), but we also saw a bunch of lesser names really rise to the occasion. For Texas, Mike Napoli and Derek Holland, for the Cardinals Freese and Allen Craig... Just great stuff. So Congratulations St. Louis. And for the rest of us, time to get excited about 2012. Hey, the Astros are technically tied for first again. I know I'm pumped.

Best Nicknames in Sports, Volume III

Back with more nicknames today. At some point, I'm sure we'll run out of good ones, but in the meantime...

In case you missed them, check out the links to Volume I and Volume II.

Now, Volume III:

Reggie Jackson - Major League Outfielder, 1967-1987

"Mr. October"

Photo Credit: bcsportsevents.com

Andy Dalton - NFL Quarterback, 2011-Present

"The Red Rifle"

Photo Credit: bengals.gearupforsports.com

Trent Edwards - NFL Quarterback, 2007-Present

"Captain Checkdown"

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

Craig Heyward - NFL Running Back, 1988-1998

"Ironhead"

Photo Credit: cgi.ebay.com

Jimmy Wynn - Major League Outfielder, 1963-1977

"The Toy Cannon"

Photo Credit: espn.go.com

Bobby Hebert - NFL Quarterback, 1985-1996

"The Cajun Cannon"

Photo Credit: espn1420.com

Dick Lane - NFL Defensive Back, 1952-1965

"Night Train"

Photo Credit: blog.detroitathletic.com

Ken Stabler - NFL Quarterback, 1968-1984

"The Snake"

Photo Credit: netbrawl.com

Tom Gordon - Major League Pitcher, 1988-2009

"Flash Gordon"

Photo Credit: baseballsblackheritage.com

Kenny Smith - NBA Guard, 1987-1997

"The Jet"

Photo Credit: thebiglead.com

B.J. Raji - NFL Defensive Tackle, 2009-Present

"The Freezer"

Jevon Kearse - NFL Defensive End, 1999-2009

"The Freak"

Photo Credit: prosportsblogging.com

Chuck Bednarik - NFL Linebacker, 1949-1962

"Concrete Charlie"

Photo Credit: realclearsports.com

Red Grange - NFL Halfback, 1925-1934

"The Galloping Ghost"

Photo Credit: sportsfixchicago.com

Robert Parish - NBA Center, 1976-1997

"The Chief"

Photo Credit: nba.com

And lots of good stuff from our readers after Volume II, here's a few of the best ones:

Marvin Barnes - NBA Forward/Center, 1976-1980

"Bad News"

Photo Credit: nba.com

Vinnie Johnson - NBA Guard, 1979-1992

"The Microwave"

Photo Credit: sportsillustrated.cnn.com

Andres Galarraga - Major League First Baseman, 1985-2004

"The Big Cat"

Photo Credit: sportsillustrated.cnn.com

Lenny Dykstra - Major League Outfielder, 1985-1996

"Nails"

Photo Credit: content.usatoday.com

Walter Johnson - Major League Pitcher, 1907-1927

"The Big Train"

Photo Credit: kshs.org

Wilt Chamberlain - NBA Center, 1959-1973

"The Big Dipper"

Photo Credit: mentalfloss.com

Glen Davis - NBA Forward, 2007-Present

"Big Baby"

Photo Credit: comeupking.blogspot.com

Earl Monroe - NBA Guard, 1967-1980

"The Pearl"

Photo Credit: detroitbadboys.com

Dominique Wilkins - NBA Forward, 1982-1999

"The Human Highlight Film"

Photo Credit: wannadunk.com

Sorry Cory, until Wayne Rooney actually earns the nickname "The White Pele" there's no way he makes the list. But, as promised here's one of his former Man U teammates:

Paul Scholes - Professional Soccer Player, 1994-2011

"The Ginger Prince"

Photo Credit: topnews.in

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