The Rundown
Nascar at Martinsville
Denny Hamlin rallies to lead the most laps and win at Martinsville for the second time. His third win of the season. Johnson was second and collected bonus points for leading a lap as well extended his lead over Mark Martin by another 28 points for a total of 118 point lead going into Talledaga next weekend. Martin took advantage of a late race caution to get 4 fresh tires and gained several spots in the last 11 laps to finish in 8th. In his post race interview he explained that he spent most of the day spinning his tires on restarts. With 5 races to go it is still the same players in the hunt as last week. On track today the most exciting to watch was the 42 of Montoya and the 24 car, who found each other several times during the race to trade paint and positions on the track. Montoya finished 3rd and Jeff Gordon finished 5th. Other notables were Dale Jr. finished 29th position one lap down after blowing a right front tire and hitting the wall, Kasey Kahne 6 laps down in 32nd after a dismal day of being involved in several on-track incidents.
Mark McGwire in a Cardinal Uniform Again?
Rumors started late last week of the posibilty of Mark McGwire replacing the current Cardinal hitting coach Hal McRae. The deal started to become visible after Cardinals Manager Tony LaRussa and Pitching Coach Dave Duncan both signed multi-year extentions to their contracts. LaRussa 8.5 million dollar contract was set to expire at the end of this month. ESPN first broke this story and Sunday Night were confirming McGwires hiring as well as the firing of Hal McRae. McRae reportedly has offers from other teams that range from Batting Coach to Manager. St. Louis Fans will be very pleased with the return of their hard hitting hero returning to Busch Stadium.
NCAA Football
In the Top 25 Alabama ranked #1 barely escaped unranked Tennessee with a blocked feild goal in the last moments of the game to win 12 to 10. #2 Florida Gators rallied late in the 4th quarter to put distance between themselves and Mississippi State who stay with the Gators through 3 quarters and have had a history of upsetting Florida in the past decade. Florida wins 29-19. Texas ranked #3 in the nation embarrassed Missouri 41-7, and for what it matters with Alabama and Florida both squeeking past unranked opponents, Texas is showing the way to the BCS Championship Game and should be ranked #1. But thats my opinion. Boise State and Iowa both won and continue to remain in the Top 10 polls. Neither have really played anybody and it stands to reason they will both be overlooked in a BCS Championship game regardless of their record. The upset of the week was Miami losing to Clemson, I would have missed this call, I was sure Miami would win the remainder of their schedule, and in the “who cares” game of the week #10 TCU beat #16 BYU 38 to 7. The Razorbacks lost to Ole Miss this weekend in a game that I was wanting to go Arkansas’ way in a meeting with their former coach Mr. Nutt. Last but not least LSU over Auburn 31-10 in a game that I thought would be much closer with Auburn scoring their only touchdown in the final minute of the game. Rankings used are those of the AP and may not reflect the rankings of the BCS who shows Florida as #1 and Alabama as #2.
Let’s Talk About HOCKEY
After a 3-1 win over the Minnisota Wild on Friday night at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis the Blues looked to improve on their record when the Dallas Stars come to town for a visit. The Blues were in for a surprise when Saturday morning Blues young star T.J. Oshie was admitted to the hospital for appendectomy surgery. This was announced by Blues President Mr. John Davidson with the surgery being performed by Dr. Brunt of Barnes Jewish Hospital. Get well T.J., we will miss you. Oshie is expected to miss 2 weeks. Saturday nights game was also the return of D.J. King after a year long absence from injuries. King electrified the crowd with a head-thumping of Dallas Star player Barch in a game that was filled with a few good fights and plenty of scrums in front of the net. Most believe this was a carry-over from the two preseason games with Dallas, so this will make for interesting watching when we meet again. Blues avoid being shut out with a goal by Alex Pietrangelo, his first NHL goal in a 4-1 Blues loss.
The Sports Rundown is submitted by Clayton Williams