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The South African born 14-year veteran played all but the last year of his career with the Washington Capitals. He was a quiet, low key player. Enjoy your retirement Olie.
Veteran goaltender Olaf Kolzig is retiring after 14 seasons in the NHL.
The 39-year-old former Vezina Trophy winner — known as “Olie the Goalie” — spent most of his career with the Washington Capitals.
He says he plans to spend time with his family but wants to remain involved in hockey.
His 303 career wins rank 21st in the NHL. He finishes his career with a 2.71 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage. He posted 35 shutouts in 719 games.
He broke the previous mark of 204 set by…..himself in 2008. From ESPN-
Arizona third baseman Mark Reynolds broke his major league strikeout record by fanning for the 205th time this season in the fourth inning of the Diamondbacks’ game against San Francisco.
Reynolds struck out for the second time Tuesday night to break the record he established last season. After doubling in a run for his career-high 100th RBI in the first, he struck out against Matt Cain in the third and rookie left-hander Madison Bumgarner in the fourth.
Reynolds added another strikeout in the sixth to up his total to 206.
“So what?” Reynolds said when asked about the strikeouts. “So what?”
Reynolds is the only player in major league history to strike out at least 200 times in a season.
Striking out excessively isn’t necessarily a liability. It prevents a player from hitting into a double play, and many right handed sluggers are slow to say the least. Just like with all baseball statistics, you have to look at the big picture to properly evaluate a player’s worth.
Reynolds is hitting .266 with 43 homers, second to St. Louis’ Albert Pujols, who has 47.
He also has a .359 On Base Percentage this year. Reynolds is a significant offensive force, in spite of his high strikeout rate. He isn’t exactly Rob Deer.
He becomes the 4th manager to lose his job during the 2009 MLB season. From AP-
The Houston Astros fired manager Cecil Cooper on Monday with 13 games left in another disappointing season.
Third-base coach Dave Clark was named interim manager. The Astros were 70-79 headed into Monday’s home against St. Louis.
Cecil Cooper took over as manager of the Astros on Aug. 27, 2007. Houston went 171-170 under him.
General manager Ed Wade said the change couldn’t wait until the end of the season. He added that more changes could be coming for a franchise just four years removed from its only World Series appearance.
“We’re tasked with evaluating all aspects of our situation,” Wade said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to try to address those off-field issues that exist. We’re not walking away from it. The issue we had to address here, in the short term, was the managerial issue and that’s why we moved forward today.”
The 59-year-old Cooper was hired on Aug. 27, 2007, to replace Phil Garner. Houston went 171-170 under Cooper, who was the bench coach under Garner between 2005-07.
Clark will supposedly be given consideration for the permanent job of managing the Astros. I will be greatly surprised if Houston goes in that direction. As for firing Cooper now, I don’t understand why the team couldn’t wait till the end of the season. Clark isn’t going to change the team’s fortunes, but maybe the team’s management is using these games as test for Clark. Again I think that is unlikely.
The 21-year-old South Korean finished one shot ahead of Japan’s Ai Miyazato. It was Choi’s first ever win on the LPGA Tour.
Before today, Choi was best known for her steady but winless play since beginning play on the LPGA in 2008. Choi’s best ever finish was a playoff loss to Helen Alfredsson at the 2008 Evian Masters. She was also runner-up to Yani Tseng in last year’s Rookie of the Year race.
Before Samsung, Choi had won over $700,000 in 2009. She had two third place finishes early in the year and eight top-10 finishes. Also Choi has never missed a cut in over 45 LPGA events in 2008 and 2009.
Choi began Sunday with a two-shot lead over Jiyai Shin. Shin who had a four-shot lead herself at one point on Saturday, continued to struggle today and finished in solo third place.
After six holes, Choi looked headed to a easy win. She had built her lead to seven shots. By the time Choi teed off 15, she stood one shot behind Miyazato. A 8-shot swing taking place over a period of eight holes. The opportunity to get her first win appeared to have gotten Choi out of sync. She would admit in press interviews after the tournaments she would admit to becoming mentally weak during the round.
Miyazato remained ahead by one till the 18th hole. This year’s Samsung Championship was played at the famed Torrey Pines golf course. The same place Tiger Woods won the dramatic 2008 U.S. Open in a playoff against Rocco Mediate. Torrey Pines 18th hole is a drivable par-5. Woods had to make birdie on 18 to both tie Mediate at the end of regulation play and to during the playoff to keep his championship hopes alive.
While 18 provides a chance for a closing birdie, it doesn’t come without risk. A large pond fronts the final green. Miyazato decided to go for the green in two but found the water instead. She finished with a closing bogey and suddenly Choi again had a piece of the lead.
Choi hit a perfect drive on 18. She too went for the green, using a fairway wood for the approach shot. While her 2nd shot caused Choi to grimace, the result was far from bad. Her approach finished short right but not in the water. Choi hit her chip shot to five feet and drained the putt for her first ever LPGA win.
The win was worth $250,000 to Choi and moved her to ninth on the money list for 2009. Choi’s win today was a breakthrough for this golfer. Much like wins for Eun-Hee Ji and In-Kyung Kim in 2008 were. Ji and Kim built on those victories and solid play overall to have even more successful 2009 campaigns. Ji won the U.S. Open, and Kim has been in the mix of golfers for both Player of the year and leading money winner for 2009. I think Choi could do similarly in 2010.
Jiyai Shin is still at the top of the lists for money and Player of the Year. She however has one very serious challenger closing on her. It is Ai Miyazato. Going back to last July’s U.S. Open where she finished 6th, it is impossible to find a LPGA golfer who has played better than Miyazato. In her last 6 tournaments, she has a win, two seconds, a third, a fourth, and her worst finish a 10th. If anyone is to stop Shin, I’m betting it is Miyazato. At this point, I’m not predicting either Shin or Miyazato or anyone else to be the LPGA’s top player in 2009. All I’ll do is sit back and continue to watch the great displays of golf these two ladies keep putting on every week. With all due respect to Tiger Woods, it may be the best show in golf at this time.
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OTB Sports linked with Na Yeon Choi wins the Hana Bank Colon Championship...
This scandal is barely getting attention in the American press(Newspapers or ESPN television). From ESPN-
Renault parted company with flamboyant Formula One team boss Flavio Briatore and his deputy Pat Symonds on Wednesday after accepting allegations that last year’s Singapore Grand Prix was fixed.
The two men were due to appear before the governing FIA in Paris on Monday to face charges, unprecedented even in a sport often mired in controversy, that the team ordered Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash deliberately to help Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso win.
Renault said in a statement it would not dispute the allegations.
“[Renault] also wishes to state that its managing director, Flavio Briatore, and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, have left the team,” the team added.
Italian Briatore led the team to two Formula One constructors’ and drivers’ championships with Alonso in 2005 and 2006 after also winning titles with Benetton and Michael Schumacher in 1994 and 1995.
To maintain the integrity of their sport, Formula One will need to still come down on Renault. Renault admits they took actions to alter the outcome of a race. In other sports, people have gotten lifetime bans for such actions. If Formula One doesn’t want lose the confidence and trust of racing fans and its sponsors, they need to punish Renault very harshly.
He was also one of Don Shula’s assistants during their undefeated season.The AP article fails to note that Clark was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers for one season. This isn’t the first such omission involving AP’s sports obituaries in recent history. Does the wire service ever think about checking a football reference book or wikipedia? RIP Coach Clark.
Former Detroit Lions coach Monte Clark has died at 72.
The Lions said Clark died Wednesday night at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He had a bone marrow malignancy associated with lung and liver disease.
Clark coached the Lions for seven seasons and was an assistant on the Miami Dolphins team that went 17-0 in 1972. He was the coach of Detroit from 1978 to 1984 and had a 63-61-1 record in the regular season.
He led the Lions to the playoffs in 1982 and 1983, the first time the club made consecutive postseason appearances since its three straight playoff runs from 1952 to 1954.
He was a tackle who spent 11 years in the league with San Francisco, Dallas and Cleveland. His last season as a player was 1969.
He took the Gators to three SEC Championships and was even a assistant football coach. RIP.
Dave Fuller, the winningest baseball coach in University of Florida history, has died. He was 94.
Fuller died Tuesday at North Florida Regional Hospital in Gainesville.
Fuller guided the Florida baseball program from 1948 to 1975, compiling a 557-354-6 record and winning three Southeastern Conference championships (1952, 1956, 1962).
He was also a member of the football staff for 29 years (1948-76), the longest run of any assistant coach in school history. Fuller served in many capacities as head freshman coach, varsity assistant, head scout and a key recruiter under head coaches Bob Woodruff, Ray Graves and Doug Dickey.
He was a journeyman reliever for six teams. I remember Collum’s name well from my playing of Strat-O-Matic Baseball past seasons. RIP.
Collum, who was born in Victor and lived in Grinnell for much of his life, pitched in the 1950s and 1960s.
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He died Saturday at Mayflower Health Care Center in Grinnell. Memorial services were held Thursday.
Collum served in the U.S. Army in World War II in the Philippines. He returned home to pursue his major-league dreams.
As a minor leaguer in St. Joseph, Mo., in 1948, he had a 24-2 record.
Collum reached the majors in 1951 and compiled a 32-28 record and a 4.15 ERA with six teams: St. Louis, Cincinnati, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota, Cleveland and the Chicago Cubs.
Collum played alongside Hall of Famers such as Stan Musial, Sandy Koufax and Ernie Banks.
He pitched until 1958, then had stints with the Twins and Indians in 1962. He was known as a good hitter, too, with a .246 career batting average.
He won a career-best nine games in 1955 with the Reds.
Did you know it is less than 3 weeks to the start of the 2009-10 NHL season? From the Miami Herald-
The Florida Panthers picked up some defensive help Monday after signing defenseman Dennis Seidenberg to a one-year deal.
Last season with Carolina, Seidenberg scored five goals and picked up 25 assists in 70 games.
He is a German citizen who still has to get a visa to play for Florida, but he is expected to join the team later this week — most likely Wednesday in Ottawa.
In six years, Seidenberg has 14 career goals and 70 assists while playing in 295 games.
Seidenberg, who played for Philadelphia and Phoenix before coming to Carolina, is a serviceable defensemen no more. If Florida management thinks this guy and Jordan Leopold will fill the void created by the departure of Jay Bouwmeester, this NHL will continue to miss the playoffs every year far into the future.
Two male students have already pled guilty to charges arising from hazings that took place in August 2008. From the Las Vegas Optic-
Charges have been dropped against school officials and coaches accused of not reporting a series of attacks at a football camp last year — and at least one victim’s parents, as well as the prosecutor who initially filed the charges, aren’t a bit happy about it.
Superintendent Rick Romero, Athletic Director Michael Yara, former head football coach Ray Woods and former assistant coach Adam Alvarez were each facing a misdemeanor count of failure to report child abuse or neglect. Eighth Judicial District Attorney Donald Gallegos said he dropped the charges after determining that the case would not likely hold up on appeal, even if he could get a conviction.
“The duty-to-report statute did not fit this particular aspect of this crime,†Gallegos said Friday.
The legal sticking point was in the state’s definition of an abused child, Gallegos said. In the Children’s Code, a person is required to report suspected abuse, but it goes on to define such abuse as coming from a “parent, guardian or custodian†— not another child.
Gallegos added that legislative intent may have been to require reporting child abuse regardless of the age of the person doing the abuse, but the law doesn’t state this.
At least one of these animals men facilitated rape(One assistant coach walked into a cabin while the sodomizing of a student took place and took no action other than to tell the boys to stop it.) and they will face no criminal punishment? This is just outrageous.
I am not the only one holding that viewpoint.
The parents went further in suggesting the ramifications to such a decision:
“What District Attorney Donald Gallegos and Prosecutor Leslie Fernandez are saying is that if a teacher knows that a female student is forcibly held down by several male students and sodomized, then they have no legal responsibility to report the crime because it was not committed by adults.
“We allege that the only reason this is different is because these are sexual assaults committed by boys against boys,†the parents said. “It is an unpleasant topic that nobody obviously wants to deal with, (but) deal with it! We are!â€
If it had been a case of a girl being raped and a school official had turned a blind eye to it, the outrage would have resounded a lot further than New Mexico and it would have increased in volume when the prosecutor dropped the charges. The boys who were being sodomized were allowed to remain in the company of their tormentors. How about charging at least one of these people as being an accessory? What a spineless jellyfish of a criminal prosecutor Donald Gallegos is.
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