Cody's Blog

Carrying the nickname Shrek and golf head covers to match (until his caddie convinced him to ditch them). 27 year-old South African golfer Louis Oosthuizen provided British Open spectators with the most boring final round of golf. Coming into the final round with a 4 shot lead over Paul Casey, Oosthuizen proceeded to shoot a solid 1 under 71 in the final round and took a 7 shot win in the Open Championship over Lee Westwood. In that his first major tournament win if his career, Oosthuizen was one of the only constants in a tournament that provided some of the best players with some of the worst days. Louis missed the cut in the event just before the Open, and came in to St. Andrews rearing to go, and it showed, as he shot a 16 under for the tournament to take home the $1.3 million purse.

After a walk and a lollipop throw to first base from Hong-Chih Kuo on a Joe Mauer grounder in the fifth inning, the National League looked like they were well on their way to a 14th straight loss in the Midsummer Classic. Robinson Cano hit a sac fly that scored Evan Longoria, and the American League took a 1-0 lead. Then, along came Scott Rolen. After a single to center, the 35 year old Cincinnati third baseman went first to third on a Matt Holiday single so that Rolen could possibly score on a ground ball on the infield. After a walk to Marlon Byrd, Brian McCann unloaded on an inside fastball, sending a bases clearing double skirting toward the right field wall. For the NL, it is their first win in 14 years, and they now hold an all time series lead 41-38-1 over the American League all stars. (Photo Courtesy of Lisa Blumenfield/Getty Images.)

With a fire in his eyes and a humongous smile on his face, the lovable Boston Red Sock designated hitter David Ortiz sauntered to the plate in the final round of the 2010 Home Run Derby. He pulled up just short of the batter’s box, and then proceeded to perform the most famous pre at-bat ritual in baseball today. With the bat between his arms, Big Papi spat in his batting gloves, clapped twice, un-strapped and then strapped each of his batting gloves, donned a smile and then proceeded to tie the record for most home runs in the final round of a Derby with 11 bombs, all soaring over right field fence. Those 11 bombs gave him the Derby win, as he belted 32 total homers, beating former Red Sock prospect Hanley Ramirez by six homers to take home the trophy. Ortiz then promptly dedicated his effort to fellow Dominican and long time friend Jose Lima, a former All-Star major league pitcher who passed away earlier this year at the age of 37. Left for dead the past two years because of his horrendous performances in the first couple months of the season, Ortiz showed everyone that he still has some life in the bat, as is seen by his performance this year. After hitting .143 with a homer and four RBI in the first month, Ortiz has raised his batting average 120 points to .263, and has also belted 17 homers and knocked in 53 since the first month of the season. With his notable batting ritual, big smile, and unique follow through, David Ortiz is primed for a big second half as the Red Sox will look to catch the Yankees and earn a playoff berth. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters/ Danny Woloshok.)

San Antonio has Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli. Boston has Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. The Lakers have Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. And now, Miami has added the NBA’s newest “Big Three” in LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh. Albeit for a slight pay cut of about 15 million less over their respective contracts’ lives, the three superstars signed contracts worth upwards of 325 million dollars. The three NBA superstars were introduced sporting their pearly white home Miami Heat jerseys on Friday complete with number changes and a new hair style from newcomer Chris Bosh. The move is the largest splash in the NBA since Boston formulated its Big Three in the 2007-2008 season, but leaves Miami in a tight spot. With all the cap room clearing and trade transactions that the Heat made to land Wade, Bosh and James, Miami now only technically has one player on their roster under contract in Mario Chalmers until the big three sign, and have only 6 total players on the roster. Even though the Heat acquired possibly the three of the biggest players in the NBA, the Heat are left with nary a remotely decent role player beside Chalmers. There are rumors flying around that the Heat are also talking to the Wizards’ sharp-shooter Mike Miller. The deal leaves them with 15 million dollars to fill out a supporting cast and as many as 6 roster spots, and in a tight spot to fill out a possible championship contending roster before the 2010-2011 season gets under way. (Photo Courtesy of ESPN)

The South Carolina Gamecocks and right fielder Whit Merrifield provided the perfect send off to Omaha, Nebraska’s Johnny Rosenblatt stadium. In its final year hosting the College World Series, the Gamecocks provided a fantastic, 11 inning final contest to capture the school’s second national title, and first in the sport of baseball. After SC pitcher Blake Cooper threw eight innings of one run ball while striking out 10, the Gamecocks headed into game 2 with a one game cushion in the three game set. This time, the Gamecocks threw another great arm onto the mound for the possible series clincher, only this time it came from an unusual place. Gamecock middle reliever Michael Roth, who had not thrown more than 3 and 1/2 innings all year. Instead, Roth turned in the performance of the tourney, going nine innings in an elimination game against the Clemson Tigers. Roth proved again dynamite for Carolina going 5 innings while only allowing 1 run and striking out three, but the Gamecocks found themselves down 1-0 heading into the bottom of the eight inning. After a lead off single from Brady Thomas, pinch runner Robert Beary scored from second on a botched ball by UCLA first baseman Dean Espy. After scoreless frames by both team in the ninth and 10 innings, the Gamecocks found themselves with a chance to win the game in the bottom of the 11th inning with Scott Wingo on third with only one man out. Carolina’s Whit Merrifield then laced a 2-0 pitch into right field that fell in for a base hit, giving the South Carolina Gamecocks their first baseball national title in the school’s history. The Gamecocks captured a somewhat poetic championship, grabbing their first title in the last game at Rosenblatt, as the world series shifts to the new, TD Ameritrade field next year as the Gamecocks look to repeat in the 2011 College World Series. (Photo: Whit Merrifield reacts on his trot to first pace after smacking the game winning hit in the bottom of the 11th inning. Courtesy of Christian Peterson of Getty Images.)

The first five picks in the 2010 NBA draft went pretty much according to plan. The desperate Washington Wizards took John Wall at number 1, and Evan Turner was taken number 2 by the Philadelphia 76er’s. At 3, the Nets took Derrick Favors, at 4 the Timberwolves took Syracuse’s Wesley Johnson and Kentucky’s raw center DeMarcus Cousins was taken fifth by the Kings. After that, the shakeups and trades came in huge waves. One of the biggest surprises was Baylor’s Ekpe Udoh, the self made center who was taken at number 6 by the Warriors. After transferring into Baylor, which was a much more run an gun type offense, Udoh played with a high motor and made himself a great rebounding, shot blocking beast down low. Another surprise was Butler’s Gordon Hayward, who cracked the top ten when he was taken ninth by the Utah Jazz making him the highest Butler player ever taken in the NBA Draft. The trades during draft night were also innumerable, with deals taking place left and right, sending draft picks and cash all over the place. Some of these notable deals saw Kentucky’s Eric Bledsoe go to the Clippers from the Thunder. Another trade  saw Kirk Hinrich and the 17th draft pick go to the Wizards so as to free up cap space for the Bulls for the summer’s high price free agents. Another move saw the Hornets get Quincy Pondexter and Craig Brackens for Cole Aldrich and Morris Peterson. With a draft chalk full of underclassmen, only time will tell how this draft will rank among recent drafts. (Photo: David Stern congratulates #1 pick John Wall. Courtesy of Lucas Jackson/ Reuters.)

Fueled by a comeback led by Kobe Byrant and Ron Artest, the Los Angeles Lakers captured the 16th title in franchise history, while Laker standouts Bryant and Derek Fisher grabbed their fifth NBA titles, and first against the Celtics. Bryant shot a dismal 6 of 24 from the field, but his 23 points, coupled with Artest’s 20 and Gasol’s quiet 19 point, 18 rebound performance led the Lakers out from their early first half deficit and on to victory for the second time in as many years. For Laker head coach Phil Jackson, it was titled number 11 in his career, tying him for the most titles as a coach with longtime USC baseball coach Rod Dedeaux. The Lakers also turned the tide on what had been a lopsided NBA finals series favoring the Celtics, as they had taken 9 of their 12 meetings from L.A. in the finals, but the kicker was that they did it the Celtic way. The Lakers played a tough defensive minded, low scoring affair Friday night in game seven, which is usually the Celtics fortay. For coach Phil, this title may well have been his last, as the grind of an NBA season is wearing on his 65 year old body, and a pay cut looms in the extremely near future. However, the Lakers may still be able to sell Phil the idea to stick around to try and chase down and capture and unprecedented fourth threepeat next year in what would most likely be his final season if he does not retire this year.

The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers have been the two premiere franchises in the NBA since the very beginning. However, after last night’s game, you would think Boston did not deserve to be. With a chance to clinch the series and defeat the Lakers in the finals for the second time in three years, a newly energized Kobe Bryant and a revitalized supporting cast blasted the Celtics from the opening tip. The Lakers used 11 points from Kobe to jump out to a ten point 28-18 lead in the first period, and never looked back. Kobe Bryant finished the game with 26 points and 11 rebounds, while Pau Gasol flirted with a triple double, posting a line of 17 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists to go along with 3 blocked shots. Ron Artest also contributed 15 points to the Lakers’ cause while Lamar Odom also got in on the action with 8 points, but also grabbed 10 rebounds, with 9 being on the defensive end of the floor. Besides Kendrick Perkins, who did injure his knee and is probably out for the decisive game 7, all other Lakers starters scored in double figures, but not one scored over 20 points, and the Celtics futile offense only managed 67 points, their lowest output of these playoffs. The Celtics came out very flat in what could have been a clincher game for them, and will look to shake that off as they attempt to steal game 7 from the Lakers on their home floor on Thursday night.

The 2010 NBA Finals are shaping up in a similar to the 2008 NBA Finals, with Paul Pierce carrying the Boston Celtics then as well as now. Pierce poured in his best finals performance of the year, turning in 27 points on 57% shooting, while Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett each contributed 18, and Ray Allen added 12 more as the Celtics defeated the Lakers in game 5 92-86 and seized a 3-2 series lead with game 6 and game 7 (if needed)  left to play in Los Angeles. The Celtics were able to overcome Kobe Bryant’s 38 point barrage by holding all other Lakers but Pau Gasol to under double digits, and Gasol only had 12 for the second time in this series. Boston used a combination of solid scoring and great defense for the second game in a row, and now head to Los Angeles in the hope of closing out the series with a game 6 victory on the Lakers home court.

Being a bench player can be a difficult job in the NBA. Many times you don’t get into games, and if you do, you are merely giving the starters a rest and end up back on the bench in just a few minutes. That was not the story for the Celtics bench in game 4 of the NBA Finals. The C’s bench scored 21 of Boston’s 36 points, with Glen “Big Baby” Davis putting up 9 of his 18 total points in the final stanza. Another major contributor was back up point guard Nate Robinson, who scored 6 of his 12 points in the final quarter. After battling back to cut the game two  three points at 45-42 in favor of the Lakers at the half, Boston came out in the second half with a new found energy, with most of it being provided by backups Rasheed Wallace (3 points), Glen Davis (18 points), Tony Allen (3 points, and Nate Robinson (12 points), even to the point where Rasheed Wallace picked up a technical for overzealous celebration, and Robinson grabbed one for taunting the much taller LaMar Odom and getting in his grill. The defense by the Celtics was extremely sound, as they held the Lakers to just 89 points, and only allowed three Lakers to barely get in double figures, as Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol held their end of the bargain, but Odom barely eked out  10 points. The bench was the reason that the Celtics won the game, and the C’s now move to 14-2 this postseason when holding an opponent under 100 total points. (Photos: Glen Davis and Nate Robinson react after stifling the Lakers in the fourth quarter. Photos courtesy of Jim Rogash and Ronald Martinez, both of Getty Images)