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Posts concerning sports

Nadal’s 13th: US Open 2013

20:17 22 Sep 2013

Just under two weeks ago[1], Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic in the US Open Men’s Final, winning his second US Open and bringing his Grand Slam title count to 13. After two sets it looked like it might be another classic match, but became a relatively straightforward four-set win.
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Murray Wins Wimbledon

18:52 07 Jul 2013

With a 6–4, 7–5, 6–4 victory over world number one Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray became the first Scotsman to win Wimbledon in 117 years (Harold Mahony won it in 1896[1]). It is his second Grand Slam title and his second consecutive win at Wimbledon, as he won his Olympic gold medal there last year.
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Eight is Great: Nadal wins French Open

22:25 09 Jun 2013

By beating David Ferrer 6–3, 6–2, 6–3, Rafael Nadal became the first man in tennis history to win one of the four Grand Slam events eight times. Since his debut in 2005, Nadal has won eight of nine possible titles at Roland Garros, missing out only in 2009. His record there is an astonishing 59–1. He now has 12 Grand Slam titles overall, putting him behind only Federer (17) and Sampras (14).
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Heartbreaker in New Orleans

23:38 03 Feb 2013. Updated: 00:41 04 Feb 2013

When I moved to Ireland from the US as a kid, I had never gone to a football game. I don’t really remember watching any football on television either, and was mostly aware of the sport via playing it—the two-hand touch version—on the street[1]. As a result of this, I had no defined pro football allegiance[2].

I was still attracted to the game as a spectator, and was able to see short snippets of it on Channel Four, a British television station that did a weekly hour-long highlight show covering the NFL. In the absence of regional holds on my loyalty, I gravitated towards teams for stylistic reasons. This was the MontanaRice era, and I completely fell for the precision passing attack of the San Francisco 49ers. They’ve been my favorite football team since.
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Novak Djokovic Wins 3rd Consecutive Australian Open

22:42 27 Jan 2013

Today Novak Djovokic won his sixth Grand Slam title, defeating Andy Murray 6–7 (2), 7–6 (3), 6–3, 6–2 in the Australian Open men’s final. In doing so he became the only male player in the Open era to win three consecutive Australian Opens.
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A Joke Explained

19:06 23 Dec 2012

Sometimes, jokes need explanation; TV Tropes says you’re not supposed to explain the punchline, just the context, but in the case of this joke the two aren’t really separable. Furthermore, this one requires a great deal of broad knowledge in order to make sense; more breadth of knowledge than any other joke I’ve encountered so far. This became clear to me in my relating it to American friends; I didn’t notice the amount you need to know for it while I was living in Ireland[1].
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Djokovic Wins 2012 Tennis YEC

19:37 18 Nov 2012

Last Monday Novak Djokovic won his second ATP World Tour Finals title, defeating Federer in straight sets, 7–6 (6), 7–5. Although it had spectacular moments, the match wasn’t spectacular throughout, and the performance of both players was uneven. It was Federer’s second loss in the YEC final match, but this one didn’t have the drama of his classic five-set loss to Nalbandian in 2005[1].
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Andy Murray Finally Wins a Grand Slam

16:04 16 Sep 2012

The US Open overran its schedule for the fifth year in a row, and once again the men’s final was on a Monday. It was also Andy Murray’s fifth chance to win a Grand Slam final, and this time he took it, defeating defending champion Novak Djokovic 7–6 (10), 7–5, 2–6, 3–6, 6–2.

Further, it was the first time a player from the United Kingdom has won a Grand Slam title since Fred Perry’s US Open win in 1936[1]. More significantly for modern men’s tennis, it meant that for the first time since 2003, all of the Grand Slams have different champions, with the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon having gone to Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer respectively[2].
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Murray Beats Federer for Olympics Singles Gold

22:12 05 Aug 2012

Andy Murray beat Roger Federer in a best-of-five-sets match for the first time today, comprehensively defeating him 6–2, 6–1, 6–4. That is Britain’s first men’s singles tennis gold medal in over a century, although that gap is less meaningful given that tennis was absent from the Olympics for an extended period. It was certainly an impressive feat for Murray, who went through both of the top two players in the world in order to win.
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7, 17, & 286: Federer Wins Wimbledon 2012

18:36 08 Jul 2012

Nadal stumbled early, Djokovic managed a set, Murray did the same, and today, atop the men’s game once more, is Roger Federer.

By beating Andy Murray 4–6, 7–5, 6–3, 6–4 today, Federer tied the record for most men’s singles Wimbledon titles (sharing it with Pete Sampras and William Renshaw)[1], extended his record number of total men’s singles Grand Slam titles to 17, and reclaimed the number one ranking for a record-tying 286th week.[2] Those are phenomenal numbers, and none of them looked likely to become fact during the first set.
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Nadal Hits 7-11

22:49 11 Jun 2012

Today, one day behind schedule[1], Rafael Nadal won his record[2] seventh French Open, breaking a tie with Björn Borg. He also gained his 11th Grand Slam title, tying Borg and Laver. He also got back on track in his pursuit of Federer for the all-time Grand Slam record—and at the moment it looks as if he could catch him simply competing at Roland Garros alone[3].

He defeated Novak Djokovic in the final, halting a couple of streaks in their rivalry: Djokovic had won seven straight finals against Nadal, and had defeated Nadal in the previous three Grand Slam finals. Perhaps more significantly, he prevented Djokovic from becoming the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four Grand Slam titles at once, and from completing his own career Grand Slam.
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Rain Delay

23:43 10 Jun 2012

Yes, really: this week’s post is on the French Open, and rain delayed the men’s final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The post will show up after the tournament is actually over.

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Jeter’s Flip

23:54 25 Mar 2012

Unlike the previous one, this “transcendent sports moment” is one I watched live on television. 13 October 2001, I was in San Francisco, and it happened not that far away, in Oakland[1].

It stands on its own merits, but has additional cultural relevance because it’s likely that without it the book Moneyball would never have been written.
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Giants Versus Patriots II: Better Lucky Than Good?

20:44 05 Feb 2012

Since moving back to the US, I’ve only missed one Super Bowl: XLII in 2008. I was quite down at the time, didn’t have much faith in the Giants, and couldn’t stand the thought of witnessing a Patriots win and their subsequent enshrinement as the best team in history[1].

Oops. I missed one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, and one of the most dramatic game-winning drives.
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Djokovic Wins Longest-Ever Grand Slam Final

18:28 29 Jan 2012

Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2, 6–7 (5), 7–5, in 5 hours and 53 minutes. It was an incredible final, one in which both players exhibited astonishing speed, endurance, and resilience. Djokovic was not quite at his best, but still had enough—eventually—to overcome Nadal. I rank it among the best matches I’ve seen, probably just behind the 2008 Wimbledon final.
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49ers Defeat Saints in Classic

15:47 15 Jan 2012. Updated: 10:55 17 Jan 2012

Football is a very complicated game. I can’t think of another sport as demanding for participants on an intellectual level. Soccer, basketball, and many other team sports often involve specific philosophies or systems that players need to learn, but none involve the level of complexity of football.
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49ers Clinch NFC West

22:18 04 Dec 2011. Updated: 10:15 06 Dec 2011

I’ve been a 49ers fan since about 1986, just before their late 80s period of dominance. They were already an excellent team, and although I didn’t become a Jerry Rice fan until later, it’s probably not a coincidence that I liked their offensive style so much shortly after Rice’s arrival in 1985. I was in Ireland at the time, and watched them have success after success from afar. From 1983 to 1998, they had 16 consecutive winning seasons.

In 1999, I moved to California, and coincidentally the 49ers went 4–12; Steve Young (another favorite player of mine) also retired that year.
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Federer wins 2011 Year-End Championships

16:25 27 Nov 2011

Roger Federer added yet another record to his list by beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6–3, 6–7 (6), 6–3 to win the ATP World Tour Finals. Federer has now won it six times, more than any other player in history (Sampras and Lendl both won it 5 times), with three sets of back-to-back victories, 2003–2004, 2006–2007, and 2010–2011. It was also his 100th final appearance, his 70th tournament victory, and his 807th match win.
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One Wednesday in Baseball History

23:44 02 Oct 2011

Crazy things happen in sports. What happened in baseball last Wednesday was a big bag of the insane, the dramatic, and the historic, strongly spiced with the unprecedented.

At the end of the baseball regular season, eight teams (of 32) qualify for the playoffs. The regular season is 162 games long, and usually those eight teams separate themselves from the rest quite a while before it’s over.

But not always. Sometimes every game matters for a team. Last Wednesday, four teams entered the final night of play facing critical games, and for two of those teams not only a playoff spot but the avoidance of an ignominious record was at stake.

It’s been described as the best night in regular season baseball history.
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Djokovic Wins US Open

09:07 18 Sep 2011

Last Monday (the final having been delayed for the fourth consecutive year), Novak Djokovic continued his remarkable year, winning in New York for the first time and extending his 2011 record to a ridiculous 64–2—with one of those losses from a retirement due to injury.
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Derek Jeter Passes 3000 Hits

09:05 10 Jul 2011. Updated: 17:13 10 Jul 2011

I wasn’t going to write about this milestone, but the manner in which Jeter achieved it left me little choice.
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Djokovic Wins Wimbledon

14:24 03 Jul 2011. Updated: 11:35 04 Jul 2011

The men’s final was the dream matchup, the players ranked number one and two in the world, defending champion Nadal against a Wimbledon final newcomer, Novak Djokovic. Unfortunately, while not a bad match, it didn’t quite live up to that billing.
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Wimbledon 2011 Midpoint Notes

16:53 26 Jun 2011

On the men’s side, it hasn’t been an eventful tournament so far, with the Big Four all through to the second week and looking like they’ll meet in the semis. The only other major threat is Juan Martin del Potro, who has looked strong, and who plays Nadal in the fourth round.
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