4th of July Sports Sunday

The Good

My San Francisco Giants pitching "freak" Tim Lincecum extended his scoreless streak to 23 innings after shutting down the Houston Astros for seven innings today. The park was lively, the weather was inviting and the Giants were dominant in a 9-0 win. Lincecum has a tasmanian delivery like no other and seeing it today made me realize how lucky I am to witness the freak in action. The Giants are 6.5 games behind division leading los angeles and their bats have come alive the past two games producing a total of 22 runs. Go Giants!


The Bad

Tragedy struck the NFL and football fans everywhere today when we learned that former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head in a downtown Nashville,Tennessee condominium. Police have no answers to the cause of this tragedy, but did say that a second victim, a female, was found along with McNair. I saw McNair play gallantly against my Oakland Raiders in the 2002 AFC Championship game in Oakland. McNair was a true gamer. The game itself is one I finished watching with tears of joy bubbling over from my eyes and heart. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family as well as the other victim.

Steve McNair
1973-2009


The Ugly

Another 4th of July Nathan's Hotdog Eating Contest goes into overtime with the two favorites, Joey "Jaws" Chestnut of San Jose,Ca. and Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi of Japan, battling to the end once again. Jaws was defending his 2008 Nathan's Championship mustard belt against a Kobayashi that was determined to dethrone the two-time champion in winning what would've been his seventh belt.

Although Kobayashi choked down 64 hot dogs, it was Joey "Jaws" who took home the belt, the trophy and the title with 68 Nathan's hot dogs in his belly in 10 minutes, a new record. When asked by espn when he thought he had the championship in hand, Jaws had this to say:

"After the second minute I knew my body was cooperating."

Most of us in sports know this type of statement as meaning the athlete was "In a Zone." We've seen Michael Jordan in it, we've seen Joe Montana in it, and we've seen a basket-full of baseball hitters and pitchers in it. Today, for those who trekked to Coney Island for their Independence Day festivities, a piece of sports history was their treat after witnessing Joey "Jaws" Chestnut zoning out on 68 Nathans hotdogs. Congratulations go out to "Jaws" for his successful eating competition three-peat.