the mad sports man

Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals had one heck of an afternoon.  he went 6 for 6 at the plate, three of those hits home runs and had 10 RBI's in a 23-5 win over the N.Y. Mets.  He was the first player to get 10 RBI's since 2007.  wow.

Canada lost to Switzlerland 6-5 in the Championship game.  the Swiss got 4 in the 8th end (only 8 ends in mixed doubles) to claim the win.  both teams join China, the U.S. Russia, Norway, Finland and host South Korea for the 2018 Olympic tournament.  the first Olympics for mixed doubles. China beat the Czech Republic for bronze.

this one also went into overtime (18th this spring, broke a first round record by one).  Washington scores the series winner as they win game 6 2-1 and the series four games to two.  they will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round for the second year in a row.  along with WASH/PIT, the second round has St.Louis vs Nashville, Edmonton vs Anaheim and Ottawa vs N.Y. Rangers.  second round should start Tuesday or Wednesday.

this one went into overtime, but the Ottawa Senators eliminated the Boston Bruins 3-2 in game six and the series four games to two and will now face the New York Rangers in the second round.   just one more series left this round. will it end tonight? stay tuned.

a close finish to game 6, but the Edmonton Oilers are moving to the second round for the first time in 11 years after beating San Jose 3-1 and the series four games to two and will face the Anaheim Ducks in round two.  that should be a good series.

the New York Rangers are into the second round after winning game six 3-1 and the series four games to two.  they will face either Ottawa or Boston in the second round.  that series could be done tomorrow.

in 1970, Earth day was first established, held to demonstrate environmental protection.  today it was held in conjunction with the March for Science. and next week is the Peoples Climate Mobilization. 2.  in 1876 the first National League game was held in the Jefferson Street grounds in Philadelphia as the Athletics (not to be confused with the second incarnation that is now in Oakland) lost to the Boston Red Stockings (now the Atlanta Braves) 6-5. 3.  in 1903, the New York Highlanders (Yankees now) played their first game in New York at Hilltop Park and lost to the Washington Senators 3-1. 4. in 1976, Darryl Sittler tied an NHL record, scoring 5 goals in a playoff game as Toronto beat Philadelphia 8-5 in game six of the quarter finals in Maple Leaf Gardens.  he tied Maurice Richard's five goals in a game (Richard scored five goals on March 23 in a 5-1 win over Toronto in Montreal.  he got the first, second and third star in that game). 5. and in 1988 Pa...

it went into overtime, but Magnus Paajarvi has put the St.Louis Blues into the second round with a 4-3 win in game 5 and a four games to one series win over the Minnesota Wild.  they will now face the Nashville Predators in the second round. (division final maybe?)  second round schedule to be announced later.

this was all Nashville.  they wrap up a four game sweep with a 4-1 win in game 4. no goals for Chicago in the first two games.  Nashville awaits the winner of the Minnesota/St.Louis series.

with a 5-2 win in game 5, the Pittsburgh Penguins are into the second round after eliminating the Columbus Blue Jackets four games to one.  they will await the winner of the Washingon/Toronto series.

with a 3-1 win, the Anaheim Ducks complete a four game sweep of the Calgary Flames and will be in the second round against either Edmonton or San Jose.  first series now in the books.  stay tuned for more.

on this day in 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first player to break the color barrier (and first in 60 years), joining the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day at Ebbets Field.  he had spent the previous season on the Dodgers farm team the Montreal Royals.  Moses Fleetwood Walker was the last black player prior to Robinson, spending a season with the Toledo Blues Stockings in 1884.

the NHL post season begins Wednesday night.  the first round match ups are:  in the west - Edmonton vs San Jose, Anaheim vs Calgary, Chicago vs Nashville and Minnesota vs St. Louis.  matchups in the east are - Washington vs Toronto, Pittsburgh vs Columbus, Montreal vs N.Y. Rangers and Ottawa vs Boston.  playoff beard time.

Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant, Geoff Walker and alternate Thomas Sallows from the Bally Haly has just wrapped up a perfect run winning the championship 4-2 over Niklas Edin, Oskar Eriksson, Rasmus Wrana, Christoffer Sundgren and alternate Henrik Leek of Sweden.  10th end Canada ran Sweden out of rocks WITHOUT the hammer.  Benoit Schwarz, Claudio Patz, Peter De Cruz, Valentin Tanner and alternate Romano Meier of Switzerland finished with the bronze.  it is Canada's 36th championship.  also qualified Canada for the 2018 Olympics, along with Sweden, U.S., Switzerland, Japan, Great Britain and Norway and host South Korea.  two more teams will decide the 2018 Olympic roster in a qualification event in the Czech Republic.  there is now mixed doubles in the 2018 Olympics and the mixed doubles championship are April 22-29 in Lethbridge.

the Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, Seattle Pilots and Kansas City Royals all played their firs franchise games and all won their games.  Montreal beat the Mets 11-10, San Diego beat Houston 2-1, the Pilots beat the Angels 4-3 and Kansas City beat Minnesota 4-3 in 12 innings.  the Pilots lasted one season in Seattle before moving to Milwaukee, and the Expos later moved to Washington in 2005.

Hilary Knight scores the game winner in overtime as the U.S. beats Canada 3-2.  this was a heck of a game and a heck of an overtime.  U.S. with gold, Canada with the silver.  and that is it for this tournament.

this one was all Finland as they beat Germany 8-0 to claim bronze.  quite a tournament for both teams, with Finland beating Canada earlier and hanging in there against the U.S., and Germany winning two games in pool B (beating Sweden and Czech Rep.) the 4th is Germany's best ever result and Finland's 12th bronze.  wow.  coming up is Canada vs U.S. for gold.

game three ended. Switzerland beat Czech Republic 3-1 to finish 7th and avoid relegation.  Czech Republic will finish 8th and well be relegated to Division 1A.  coming up is Finland vs Germany for bronze.

April 6 1896.  the modern Olympics are officially kicked off.  13 nations attended the first games.  80,000 people attended the opening ceremonies, including King George I of Greece, his wife and their sons.  241 athletes participated in the games - all men.  five events were held this day - the 100m, the triple jump, the 800m, discus throw and 400m.  first major highlight was the marathon, which was won by a Greek - Spyridon Louis.  Athens was unanimously chosen to host the first games. Demitrius Vikelas was president of the IOC for these games.  below is the poster from these games.

the second semi final wasn't much of a game.  the U.S. blew out Germany 11-0.  they will be facing Canada for gold tomorrow night.  earlier Canada shut out Finland 4-0.  gold medal game is 5:30pm.  Germany will be facing Finland for bronze at 1:30pm.  in the relegation series, Switzerland beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in OT to even that series at one.  the decider is tomorrow at 10am.  the 5th place game was this after noon and Russia beat Sweden 4-3.  this one went to a shootout and Russia got the only shootout goal.  they finish 5th and Sweden finishes 6th.  just tomorrow left and it's over

Christine Girard of Canada is set to become a gold medalist in weightlifting from the2012 London Olympics.  she had originally got bronze, BUT, Maiya Maneza of Kazakhstan was stripped of her gold and Svetlana Tzarukaeva of Russia was stripped of her silver.  their results were disqualified due to doping.  proves cheaters get caught. Milka Maneva of Bulgaria gets the silver and Luz Acosta of Mexico gets bronze.  Girard may also get a bronze from 2008 due to another Kazak weightlifter got caught doping.  the London total now is 2g 5s 11b.

Germany just beat Russia in this quarterfinal game and is in the semi final game against the U.S.  irregardless of the result, Germany can finish no worse than 4th - their highest finish ever.  earlier in the other quarterfinal, Finland beat Sweden 4-0 and will face Canada in the other semi final game.  in game one of the relegation series, Czech Republic beat Swizterland 4-2 and is one win from avoiding relegation.  game two of that is Thursday at 10am.  Finland vs Canada semi final is at 1:30 and Germany vs U.S. is at 5:30.  all times Edmonton time.

some kind of game.  lots of fouls tonight.  nearly became a war of attrition.  Gonzaga was up 65-63 with 1:53 to go and never scored another.  North Carolina scored the last 8 points in winning their 6th NCAA championship, winning tonight 71-65, and now has the 3rd most titles behind UCLA (11) and Kentucky (8).  congrats to North Carolina.

the U.S hung on to beat Finland 5-3.  Finland gave the U.S. a run like the did with Canada.  earlier in group A, Canada beat out Russia 8-0. U.S. finishes first with 9 points and goes into the semis.  Canada, Finland and Russia each finished with 3 points and a win and two losses.  first tie break was head to head wins and losses.  each team won one and lost to the other.  (Canada beating Russia and losing to Finland, Finland beating C and losing to Russia, Russia beating Finland and losing to Canada).  next tie break was goals differential . Canada with a +5, Finland with a -2 and Russia with a -14.  so Canada finishes second and goes to the semi finals with the U.S.  Finland finishes 3rd and Russia 4th.  both Finland and Russia are in the quarter finals.  in pool B, Switzerland beat Germany 4-2 and Sweden beat the Czech Republic 3-1. Germany and Sweden finishes with 6 points. Germany beat Sweden earlier in the tournament and ...

North Carolina hung on to this one beating Oregon 77-76.  they missed four free throws and Oregon couldn't rebound at the end.  North Carolina faces Gonzaga for the championship on Monday night at 7:20pm Edmonton time.

big time upset.  Finland just beat Canada 4-3 and has scored their first ever win over Canada (1-20)  Canada is now 0-2 while Finland is 1-1.  earlier the U.S. beat Russia 7-0.  the U.S. is 2-0,and Russia is tied with Finland at 1-1 (U.S. 6pts, Russia and Finland 3pts and Canada 0 pts).  in group B, Germany beat Czech Republic 2-1 and goes to 2-0. while Czech Rep is at an over time loss and a regulation loss.  also Sweden beat Switzerland 2-1.  Sweden is at 1-1 and Switzerland is at an OT win and a regulation loss (Germany 6pts, Sweden 3 pts, Switzerland 2pts and Czech Rep 1pt).  next games are on Monday.

Gonzaga beat South Carolina  77-73 to make their first NCAA championship game appearance.  they will face either Oregon or North Carolina.  that game is about half an hour.