B is for Bad. And Bobcats. And the Bobcats are very bad right now. We're talking like historically bad. Last night's 95-64 loss to Chicago was Charlotte's 13th in a row as they dropped to 3-23 on the year, the worst record in the NBA. The Bobcats have won just 11.5% of their games which means they're in contention for the worst winning percentage in NBA history. The 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers currently hold that dubious distinction when they went 9-73 (11%). The Bobcats, who were actually 1-0 at one point this season, haven't won since January 14th against the Warriors and host the Clippers tonight.
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| Photo Credit: sports.yahoo.com |
C is for Chauncey Billups. The Clippers guard suffered a torn Achilles on Monday night and will miss the rest of the season. The 35 year old Billups had been a perfect complement to Chris Paul in the Clippers' back court this season and has been a big part in changing the culture in the Clippers locker room since coming over from New York. But now the Clippers, who own a 2 1/2 game lead atop the Pacific Division, must move on without him. Randy Foye will take Billups' spot in the starting lineup with Mo Williams continuing to come off the bench and running the second unit.
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| Photo Credit: aldland.wordpress.com |
D is for Dwight Howard. The Magic center, who has made it no secret that he wants out of Orlando, had another monster game against the Miami Heat on Wednesday going for 25 points and 24 rebounds in a 102-89 win. It marked the 7th time this year that Howard has pulled down at least 20 rebounds in a game.
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| Photo Credit: zimbio.com |
E is for Everton. Landon Donovan continued his stellar run overseas adding another assist and Tim Howard made 4 saves as Everton shut out Chelsea 2-0. Donovan now has six assists in nine games since his loan started last month. Steven Pienaar and Denis Stracqualursi scored for the victors.
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| Photo Credit: examiner.com |
F is for Fulham. Clint Dempsey was at it again today for Fulham helping them to a 2-1 win over Stoke City. The 28 year old Nacogdoches, Texas hit a blistering shot off the bar from long range that deflected off the back of the keeper and into the goal. While it's technically scored an own goal denying him his 11th goal of the year, it's great to see Dempsey continuing to punish opponents in 2012. Since the 1st of the year, Dempsey has scored 7 times for Fulham.
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| Photo Credit: soccernet.espn.go.com |
G is for Ghana. The Black Stars suffered their second upset of the week after first getting stunned by Zambia in the semifinals of the African Cup of Nations and then following that up today with a 2-0 loss to Mali in the Consolation Game. Ghana entered the tournament as the second highest ranked team in Africa per the latest FIFA rankings, but suffered losses to Zambia (16th/71st overall) and Mali (15th/69th overall) in the span of just a few days. 23 year old striker Cheick Diabaté scored both goals for the Malians.
H is for Henry. Thierry Henry may have just saved Arsenal's season by scoring a stoppage time winner against Sunderland today. Arsenal was down 1-0 with less than 20 minutes remaining, but Aaron Ramsey equalized and that set the stage for the New York Red Bull striker's heroics. It was Henry's third goal since the start of his loan and second in Premier League action in the last 8 days. Henry has been used exclusively as a substitute since his arrival. Arsenal's win, couple with Chelsea's loss moves the Gunners into 4th place in the Premier League.
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| Photo Credit: mirror.co.uk |
I is for Isner. John Isner, who stands 6'9", is best known for his part in an epic match at Wimbledon in 2010 when he needed 3 days to dispatch Nicolas Mahut 6–4, 3–6, 6–7, 7–6, 70–68. Yesterday Isner gave folks another reason to remember him as he stunned Roger Federer, the number 3 men's player in the world, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2 in the first round of the Davis Cup. The U.S., who got a singles win from Mardy Fish yesterday as well, completed their sweep of the Swiss today when Fish and Mike Bryan upset the reigning Olympic doubles champions Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka in 4 sets. The U.S. now advances to the next round to take on either France or Canada in early April.
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| Photo Credit: sportsillustrated.cnn.com |
J is for Jozy Altidore. The American striker came off the bench Wednesday for AZ Alkmaar against ADO Den Haag and scored a pair of goals in under 15 minutes giving him 7 on the year in league play and 11 across all competitions. AZ cruised to a comfortable 6-0 win and currently sit in first place in the Dutch Eredivisie leading PSV Eindhoven, who plays tomorrow, by 3 points.
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| Photo Credit: watchsocceronline.blogspot.com |
K is for Kobe. The 33 year old Bryant passed former teammate Shaquille O'Neal for fifth place on the NBA's all-time scoring list on Monday night. Bryant, who enters play tonight with 28662 career points trails only Wilt Chamberlain (31419), Michael Jordan (32292), Karl Malone (36928) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (39387).
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| Photo Credit: thegrio.com |
L is for Linsanity. What other way to describe what's happening in New York right now? Harvard graduate and point guard Jeremy Lin is taking the NBA by storm and has the Knicks on a serious roll. The undrafted Lin spent last season with Golden State, and had been with the Rockets entering the preseason, but Houston cut him to make room for Samuel Dalembert on their roster. The Knicks, dealing with injuries at the point guard position picked Lin up off waivers, but until recently he was stuck on the back end of the bench and was even relegated to the NBA Developmental League. Over the last week though he's finally gotten onto the court, and the way he's playing, he may never leave it.
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| Photo Credit: sportsillustrated.cnn.com |
M is for Maurice Edu. The American midfielder and his American teammate Carlos Bocanegra each had assists this morning as Rangers cruised to a 4-1 win over Dunfermline Athletic. Edu, the 2007 MLS Rookie of the Year, has 3 goals and 2 assists on the year for 2nd place Rangers. Rangers trails Celtic by 4 points through 26 matches.
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| Photo Credit: mlssoccer.com |
N is for NBA All Star Rosters. A lot of big names missing from the All Star Game this year as we touched on a little bit yesterday. In addition to Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan being omitted from this year's rosters, Ray Allen, Pau Gasol, Amare Stoudemire and Rajon Rondo will also all be watching the game from home. Here's a look at who did make this years squads:
O is for Osasuna. Back in September Osasuna was blasted by Barcelona by a score of 8-0. Today Osasuna was able to exact some revenge in a big way. Dejan Lekic, who started the day with just one goal in league play on the year, struck twice in the first 25 minutes to give the hosts a 2-0 lead that they would not relinquish. Twice Barcelona would cut the deficit to one goal, but they couldn't find an equalizer as Osasuna held on for a 3-2 victory. Barcelona now runs the risk of falling 10 points behind first place Real Madrid if Cristiano Ronaldo and company are able to beat Levante tomorrow. The loss was just the second of the year for Barcelona.
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| Photo Credit: zimbio.com |
P is for Peyton Manning. The saga continues. Still no word on whether the Colts will resign him or send him on his way. While Manning has been cleared to resume football activities, early reports are that his arm lacks the zip it had before the surgeries. Stay tuned on this one, as this doesn't appear to be going away any time soon.
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| Photo Credit: sports.popcrunch.com |
Q is for Quote. While the phenomenon that is Jeremy Lin was blowing up the twitterverse yesterday, this was the best tweet I came across: "If Jeremy Lin got on his knee and Tebowed the world would implode." Courtesy of Eric Stangel.
R is for Ryan Giggs. 38 year old Ryan Giggs has signed a one year contract extension with Manchester United meaning he'll be back for a 23rd straight season. To put that into perspective, Giggs has been with Manchester United longer than the Premier League has even been around (it started in 1992). Giggs is also the only player to score in every Premier League season since its inception. Giggs was in the starting lineup today as Manchester United defeated Liverpool 2-1 behind a pair of goals from Wayne Rooney.
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| Photo Credit: breakingfootballnews.com |
S is for Steven Stamkos. The Tampa Bay center who turned 22 on Tuesday has 36 goals this season through 53 games putting him on pace for 56. If he continues the pace he's on he'll become just the 6th player in NHL history to score 50+ goals twice before turning 23. The other five? Oh just, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Alex Ovechkin, Joe Nieuwendyk and Mike Bossy. Not bad company.
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| Photo Credit: palmbeachpost.com |
T is for the Tennessee State Tigers. Tennessee State dealt Murray State their first loss of the season on Thursday night as the last of the unbeatens have fallen. The win was the Tigers' first against a team ranked in the Top 10 since moving to Division I for the 1977-78 season. Junior guard Isaiah Canaan had 31 points for Murray State in a losing effort.
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| Photo Credit: espn.go.com |
U is for USA. The U.S. Women snatched victory from the jaws of defeat today stealing a 2-1 win from New Zealand. The U.S. trailed 1-0 in the 88th minute before Alex Morgan finally broke through for the equalizer. Morgan would strike again in the 94th minute when her header bounced off the inside of the post and went in to keep the U.S. perfect in 2012. The U.S. women hadn't been scored on this year before today and are now 6-0 on the year outscoring their opponents 40-1.
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| Photo Credit: ctpost.com |
V is for Varejao. Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao has a broken right wrist and is out indefinitely. Varejao is having the best season of his eight-year career, averaging 10.8 points and ranks 4th in the league with 11.5 rebounds a game. Cleveland is currently in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, just a game and a half out of the 8th and final playoff spot. The injury likely means increased playing time for rookie Tristan Thompson.
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| Photo Credit: blog.cleveland.com |
W is for Wainwright. The Cardinals may not have Albert Pujols any more, but it looks like they'll be returning a familiar face to their starting rotation. After missing all of 2011 with Tommy John surgery, Wainwright appears to be on track to make the opening day roster. A 20-game winner in 2010, Wainwright will be a huge boost the St. Louis staff if he's able to return to form.
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| Photo Credit: youjivinmeturkey.com |
X is for Xander Bogaerts. The 19 year old shortstop is the Red Sox top rated prospect this year according to ESPN analyst Keith Law. Bogaerts, who like me was born in Aruba, hit .260 with 16 home runs in the South Atlantic League (Class A) last year.
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| Photo Credit: pbase.com |
Y is for Yoenis Cespedes. The bidding for the Cuban outfielder officially opened last week when he was declared a free agent by Major League Baseball after securing residency in the Dominican Republic. Cespedes has been linked to the Marlins, Tigers, Cubs, White Sox and Orioles so far and it's been speculated he may be able to sign a deal in the vicinity of 6 years and $60M.
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| Photo Credit: rumorsandrants.com |
Z is for Zak Whitbread. The injury-proned American defender suffered another setback last weekend when he sustained a hamstring strain against Bolton. While the initial prognosis was positive, Whitbread was unavailable in today's match against Swansea City. Still, the Canaries overcame an early deficit and went on to win 3-2. They've lost just once in their last seven matches while climbing into 8th place in the Premier League.
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| Photo Credit: eveningnews24.co.uk |
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