Sportsman of the Week Ending 10/23/2022

October is one of the great sports months on the calendar.  NBA/NHL starting.  NFL in midseason.  Golf and motor sports with big end of year action.  But it's Major League Baseball that is synonomous with October.  And we have a surprise team and hero.  The Philadelphia Phillies have basically been bracket busting (a la March Madness style) in surging toward the National League pennant.  With several heroes, it was Rhys Hoskins that gave the power to push them to the flag.  Hoskins went 3-7 with 3 HR and 6 RBI over the National League Championship series final two games to seal the deal for the Phillies against the San Diego Padres and punch their ticket to the World Series.  His fourth hit in the series also a HR.  The hits were clutch as well, right when the team needed it.  Cutting a lead to 4-2.  Tying up a game at 6.  Giving his team a 2-run lead.  Never a bad time for a HR, but Hoskins was dialed in, and is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 10/16/2022

In one of the best October weekends of college football in recent memory, a traditional power rising back to glory got their biggest win in a decade or more.  In what is one of the biggest rivalries in college football, the Tennessee Volunteers finally overcame 15 years of frustration and adversity in a thrilling defeat of the perennial power Alabama Crimson Tide 52-49 in front of a raucous home crowd.  The Vols were led by senior QB Hendon Hooker who was nothing short of spectacular.  Against a perennially strong Alabama defense, Hooker lit them up for 21-30, 385 yards, and 5 TD.  He also kept 14 times for another 56 yards ending at 441 total yards for the game out of his team's 567.  The Vols have surged to the Top 5, and will have many more big games left including a showdown with Georgia and an SEC title game.  But Hooker and the Vols got it done, and he is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 10/9/2022

After an action-packed weekend of Major League Baseball Wild Card Playoffs, four teams emerged.  Surprisingly, 3 of the 4 visiting teams pulled off series wins to advance to the League Division Series.  One of the most watched and intense series were the San Diego Padres visiting the New York Mets.  The 101-win Mets finished tied with the Division Champion Atlanta Braves but did not own the tiebreaker and were relegated to fight for their lives.  But it was the talented and plucky San Diego Padres that proved victorious.  Facing two of the most-feared pitchers in the National League in Jacob DeGrom and Max Scherzer (the latter a two-time former Sportsman of the Week), the Padres were able to get ahead early in Games 1 and 3 and put away the frustrated Mets.  The Padres were led but a surprising weapon in Trent Grisham.  Grisham notched 4 hits in 8 AB and added two walks for an OBP of .600.  Two of the hits were HR, including a big one early in Game 1 off of Scherzer to push the Padres lead to 3.  He also had a rally killing catch in CF in Game 3, robbing an extra base hit which would have tightened up the elimination game.  And he scored 5 of the teams 16 runs in the series.  The Padres are loaded with superstars, but it was an unsung hero who stole the stage and is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 10/2/2022

The final stretch, really the last 100m of the 2022 Major League Baseball playoff horse race unfolded before us and the defending World Series Champions showed us they are ready to defend their title.  The Atlanta Braves entered the week just behind the rival National League East New York Mets, and left it front with a magic number of one to clinch.  Led by key offseason acquisition Matt Olson, the Braves won 5 out of 6, including a sweep against the Mets to take a two-game lead.  Olson pounded the Nationals and Mets at a 9-18 clip with an astounding 5 HR and 9 RBI.  Including 3 HR and 5 RBI in what is probalby the deciding series in the NL East.  Olson has been a star for the underpublicized A's but now may get his chance in the postseason to show his star ability.  Matt Olson is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!