Sportsman of the Week Ending 8/29/2021

Football and tennis are kicking up for the fall, but baseball is still the National Pastime of summer.  And one of the greats of the game in a small market is getting the attention he deserves as one of the greatest at this position.  Not just this year.  But of all time.  Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals is rewriting the record books for a catcher right in front of our eyes.  We should open them and see.  He had as good a week as anyone in baseball this year.  Seven games, with home runs in six of them, 14 RBI, only 5 K, with 5 BB, and 10 hits in 28 AB.  Oh, and he led his young Royals team to a 4-3 record on the road against 2 playoff contenders over .500.  All adds up to a strong Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 8/22/2021

There may not be a more appropriate 500th Sportsman of the Week than to look to a man who hit his 500th Home Run this week.  You can't make this up.  Miguel Cabrera etched his name next to baseball elite when he clobbered his milestone home run.  He was a hero in 2003 when he emerged as a post season phenom in securing a world Series for the Florida Marlins, and now he puts another stamp on his Cooperstown passport in getting 500 home runs.  Cabrera clobbered number 500 against Toronto Blue Jays hurler Steven Matz in a game in which the Tigers won in a resurgent season as they rebuild.  Next up. 3000 hits hoping to become the (Aaron, Mays, Palmeiro, Murray, Rodriguez, Pujols, and two of those have some PED issues.)

Sportsman of the Week Ending 8/15/2021

It's been a while since we've featured a No Hitter in the Blog, but here we are again.  This time the rub is, there was no way to expect it.  The Arizona Diamondbacks are the worst team in baseball.  They have been in rebuild mode for a few years and this second half is just the dog days of summer.  So all the better to have something to reward their patient fans.  And Tyler Gilbert did just that.  In his first career start, he tossed a no hitter against playoff contending San Diego Padres.  It was the first pitcher to throw a no hitter in his first career start since 1953.  And with eight no hitters, the season with the most no hitters since 1900.  Without overpowering stuff, walking two, but no hits.  What a day for the Diamondbacks and for Gilbert and what a great day for Baseball.  Tyler Gilbert is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 8/8/2021

What a fortnight in Tokyo as the world came together despite a global pandemic to celebrate the 2020 Olympics.  In 2021.  It's hard to nail down a single star, but one great athlete achieved something no American had done before.  Win 11 Olympic Medals in Track and Field.  Veteran Track superstar Allyson Felix, at her fifth Olympic games dating back to her 18 year-old debut in Athens in 2004 when she won a silver medal in the 200.  Felix snatched a bronze in the 400m individual, and gold in the 400m relay to leave Tokyo as the most decorated track athlete in American history.  The 400m relay represented a passing of the torch (no pun intended) as the anchor leg was ran by rising superstar Athing Mu, a 19 year-old who (do the math) was a two year old baby when Felix debuted in Athens.  Felix will go down as one of the greatest track athletes in what has been one of the greatest eras of women's track, and is a worthy Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 8/1/2021

The first week of the Olympics is usually defined by swimming greatness, and the United States is historically a big player.  The Tokyo 2021 (err 2020) Olympics did not disappoint.  Caeleb Dressel led the American charge with a five Gold Medals across his myriad of events.  Exceeded in one Games only by American swimming legends Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps.  The best freestyle swimmer in the World, he won the 50m and 100m, while also collecting a Gold on the 4x100 freestyle relay.  Butterfly his next best stroke, winning the 100m and contributing to the epic medley relay Gold in which the United States has never lost but is facing larger and larger challenges.  Dressel won every event he entered besides the 4x100 mixed medley, a new event in which the United States finished a disappointing fifth.  In any event, Dressel has etched his name in United States Olympic history and is a worthy Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!