the mad sports man

quaker state 400 brad keselowski just put the wraps on his third win of the year owning the last third of the race.  i think the win almost put him in the chase.  he killed it tonight.  jimmie johnson finished 6th and is up  to third in the points.  points leader matt kenseth finished 7th and leads dale earnhard jr by 11 pts.  defending champ tony stewart had a sick sounding engine early and managed to finis 32nd.  he falls to ninth in the points.  next race is the coke zero 400 in daytona next saturday night.  that puts a wrap to june as well.

two cycles within two weeks by one hill 11 days after ggetting his first cycle (single, double, triple and home run in same game),  aaron hill of the arizona diamondbacks picked up another one tonight.  wow.  cycles happen,  not often does a player get two in  teh same year.  last time a player got two cycles was in 1931 when babe herman of the brooklyn robins (yes, those dodgers) pulled the feat.  herbert hoover was president then.

euro 2012 semi final part two no penalty kicks today.  italy won it ourright 2-1 over germany.  they will face spain for the championship on sunday.  that ought to be a good one.  so who will win it?  find out sunday.

euro 2012 semi final part one this one went to penalty kicks.  spain and portugal went through the 90 minutes scoreless, went through the extra time scoreless.  spain pulled it out in penalty kicks winning the shootout 4-2.  spain will defend their title against either germany or italy.  that semi final is tomorrow.

save mart 350 in sonoma clint bowyer just wrapped up a g ood day as he wins in wine country.  tony stewart finished second, kurt busch third, mark martin 4th and jimmie johnson 5th. clint from what i hear owned this one.  matt kenseth, finished 12th and still leads the points by 15 over dale earnhardt jr.  johnson is still fourth and defending champ stewart moved up to 6th in the points.  next race is saturday night in kentucky.

euro 2012 quarter final part 4 this one went to penalty kicks.  the game went through 90 minutes and extra time scoreless.  england and italy went to penalty kicks and italy wins in penalty kicks 4-2.  italy will face germany in the semi-finals on june 28th.  portugal plays spain on the 27th.

euro 2012 quarter final part three spain just beat france 2-0.  spain controlled most of the game.  france played sloppy i thought.  xadi alonso got both goals, including a penalty kick in the 90th minute.  spain will play portugal in one semi final on june 27th.  tomorrow has england vs italy to round out the quarter finals

euro 2012 quarter final part two. i heard about this one.  germany won 4-2.  greece had a 2-1 lead but they ended up two players short due to red cards handed out.  don't know why.  too bad that happened.  greece i think could have won it.  germany is in the semi finals and will play either england or italy.

euro 2012 quarter final part one the first of four quarter finals had portugal defeat czech republic 1-0.  they will play either spain or france on june 27th.  tomorrow has germany vs greece.

euro 2012 group D wrap up the round robin is now done.  england beat ukraine 1-0 to take group D while eliminating ukranie.  even though france lost to sweden 2-0, they still finish second and will join england in the quarters.  england finished with 7 pts, france with 4 and ukraine and sweden finished third and 4th with 3 pts each.  england will now play italy in the quarters on sunday while france plays spain on saturday.  the quarter finals start thursday with the czech rep vs portugal and germany plays greece on friday. the winners go to the semis while the losers go home.

euro 2012 group C finale. group C wrapped up with spain bating croatia 1-0 and italy defeating ireland 2-0.  group C finishes with spain first with 7 points, italy second with 5, croatia with 4 and ireland with 0.  spain and italy are in the quarter finals and await the finish of group D tomorrow for the last qf matchups.  tomorrow is england vs ukraine and france vs sweden.

quicken loans 400 it took four years and 143 races, but dale earnhard jr FINALLY won a race running away from tony stewart to take it.  his last win was also at this track in michigan.  stewart is still 8th in the points even after finishing second.  jr is four points behind matt kenseth, who still leads.  he finished 3rd.  mr 5x jimmie johnson finished 5th and is now fourth in the points.  next race is next sunday in wine country in sonoma california.  going road racing.

euro 2012 group B wrap up two more close one.  germany ran the table by beating denmark 2-1 and will finish first with 9 points.  denmark will finish third with 3 points and is out.  meanwhile portugal beat netherlands 2-1.  portugal will finish second with 6 points and will join germany in the quarterfinals, while netherlands finshed with no points and is out.  in the quarters, germany will face greece on friday and portugal will face czech rep on thursday.  tomorrow to wrap up group C has croatia vs spain and italy vs ireland.  both games are at 12:45pm

what a wrap up to group A both games just ended and quite a turn here.  czech rep. beat poland 1-0 and won group A.  here's the turn - greece beat out russia 1-0 and joined the czech rep into the knockout round.  czech rep finishes with 6 pts, greece and russia ended with 4 (greece moves on by beating russia as noted here) and poland finishes with two points and are out as is russia.  tomorrow is group B featuring portugal vs netherlands and denmark vs germany.

euro 2012 group D game two in group D, england defeated sweden 3-2 while france beat ukraine 2-0.  that leaves france and england tied for top spot with 4 points, ukraine is third 2ith three and sweden has none.  with their second loss, sweden is eliminated from playing in the knockou stage.  back to group A tomorrow to round out the round robin stages with czech rep vs poland and greece vs russia..  both games will decide group A.

euro 2012 group C game two in the first game italy and croatia played to a one all draw, while in the second game, spain beat ireland 4-0.  that puts spain and croatia tied for first with four points each, italy is third at two points and ireland has none and is eliminated from the knockout round.  spain and croatia will play for top spot on monday.  tomorrow in group D has sweden vs england and ukraine vs france.

giants cain gtes perfect san francisco giant pitcher matt cain became the 22nd pitcher to throw a perfect game in a 10-0 win over the houston astros.  surprisingly it's the first ever perfect game in the giants history, even when they were in new york.  quite an accomplishment.  congrats.

euro 2012 group B game two in the first game portugal beat denmark 3-2 while in the second germany beat the netherlands 2-1.  that leaves germany leading group B with  points, portugal and denmark have 3 each and netherlands with none.  tomorrow in group C its  italy playing croatia and spain vs ireland.

euro 2012 group A game two group A played their second games today.  the czech rep beat greece 2-1 while poland and russia drew to a one all tie.  as a result, russia leads group A with 4 points, czech rep has three, poland has two and greece has one.  group B tomorrow has  denmark vs portugal and netherlands vs germany.

stanley cup los angeles bound the los angeles kings just put an impressive wrap on winning the cup, winning game six 6-1 and the series four games to two.  the kings have put on an imressive run.  winning 10 games out of 11 on the road was awesome as well.  i believe the kings are the first 8th seeded team to win the cup.  jonathon quick has been named conn smythe trophy winner as playoff MVP.  congrats to the los angeles kings - stanley cup shampions.

euro 2012 group D action the first game had france and england finish to a draw at 1-1.  the second game had co-host ukraine beat sweden 2-1.  mustve been good games.  had to work through them.  anyways ukraine leads group D with three points, france and england have one each and sweden have none.  tomorrow is back to group A action where greece plays portugal and cohost poland plays russia.

pocono 400 joey logano wins on the tricky triangle after nudging mark martin from the lead with four laps to go.  defending champ tony stewart finished third.  he needed a good run and got it.  jimmie johnson wound up fourth after getting caught speeding TWICE and going a lap down.  11 or 12 other drivers got caught speeding as well.  greg biffle finished 24th and fell to third in the point.  matt kenseth is the new points leader with a 7th place finish, leading dale earnhardt jr by 10 points.  stewart is still 8th, 75 points back and johnson still sitd 5th, 30 points back.  next race is next sunday in michigan and the quicken loans 400

euro 2012 group C action group C is in full swing today with spain and italy playiong to a one all draw.  prety good game this one with chances on both sides.  italy got the first goal in the 61st minute only to have spain score three minutes later.  both teams got a point.  next up to round out group C is ireland vs croatia. update:  croatia 3 ireland 1.  interesting game and a couple of questionable calls  croatia leads group C with three points, italy and spain with one each and ireland with none.  tomorrow is group D action featuring france vs england and ukraine vs sweden.

nw jersey takes game 5 the devils hung on and won game 5 2-1 over the kings.  very good one tonight.  the winning goal went off a kings defenceman.  game six is monday night in los angeles at 6pm here.

144th belmont stakes union rags has just won the belmont stakes beating out paynter by a head.  union rags was third coming out onto the final homestretch, came back and beat out paynter.  winning time wsa 2:30.42  quite a finish indeed.

euro 2012 day two yesterday the euro 2012 soccer tournament began with poland and greece drawing at one a piece.  poland got the first goal of the tournament.  the other group A game had russia beat the czech rep. 4-1.  so russia has three points, poland and greece have one each and czech rep has zero.  today in group B, cominh up in a few minutes its the netherlands vs denmark and at 12:45 has germany vs portugal.  the euro tournament is co-hosted by poland and ukraine, with group A and C in poland and group B and D in ukraine. update:  denmark 1 netherlands 0   wow netherlands had the majority of the play yet denmark got their goal on one of the few chances they had.  next up i an hour is germany vs portugal. update 2:  germany 1 portugal 0.  tight one here as well.  denmark and germany have three points while netherlands and portugal have none

mariners combo no-hit dodgers six different seattle mariners pitchers combined to no hit the dodgers in a 1-0 victory at safeco field in seattle.  kevin milwood, charlie furbash, steven pryor, lucas luetge, brandon league and tom wilhelmson all combined in it.  steven pryor got the win and wilhelmson got the save.  congrats to all.

i'll have another won't have another i'll have another will not be in the belmont stakes after a left front tendon was on the tender side.  it was discovered after a morning run today.  instead of risking further injury, it will not race anymore.  so the belmont stakes tomorrow is wide open.  and no triple crown winner this year.  about next year?  we will see.

devils spared,  play saturday the new jersey devils sparedthemselves a sweep by winning game four 3-1.  boy they needed a complete game tonight.  the kings still lead the series three games to one.  game five is saturday night in new jersey.  will the devils make it a series or will the kings win it all?  find out saturday.

game three in the books the kings killed it in game three with a convincing 4-0 win in game three and take a commanding three games to none lead in the series.  jonathon quick got the shut out in the game.  will the kings win it wednesday night.  we will find out then.  game four is in los angeles.

fedex 400 benefitting autism speaks jimmie johnson DOMINATED this race leading 289 of 400 laps and won it walking away.  had a cool car promoting madagasgar 3 - the movie coming out.  kevin harvick finished second.  greg biffle finished 18th and leads the points by five over denny hamlin and matt kenseth.  johnson is fifth in points.  defending champ tony stewart finished 25th and is 8th in points.  this race is dick bergeren's last race as pit reporter.  classiest reporter in the business.  happy retirement to him.  next race is next week in pocono and the pocono 400.

kings in overtime AGAIN the kings win in overtime for the second game in a row.  tonight, jeff carter scores to give the kings a 2-1 win and goes up two games to none in the series.  they have won 10 games in a row on the road.  they are also the 12th team to take the first two games on the road.  9 of the previous 11 won the cup.  game three is monday night in los angeles.

johan santana no-no's cardinals johan santana threw the new york mets first ever no hitter, throwing 134 pitches, walking five and striking out 8 in an 8-0 win over the st.louis cardinals.  the no hitter was a first at citi field - home of the mets.  congrats to santana.