Sportsman of the Week Ending 8/25/2024

College Football is back and what may end up being a Top 10 game of the year was the first game of what is like 2000.  2023 undefeated and playoff snubbed Florida State entered the season reloaded and with playoff hopes abound.  As ten-point favorites against Georgia Tech in a Week 0 kickoff game in Ireland, seemed like a great warm up and easy conference win.  Not so fast.  Georgia Tech has a new attitude and that is tough.  Led by Jamal Haynes, the Rambling Wreck controlled the football and most importantly, the final possession to defeat the number ten Seminoles.  Haynes produced gutsy runs totaling 75 yards on 11 carries, with two TDs.  Toss in a couple of catches for 16 yards for over 90.  No these aren't Heisman type numbers but numbers the team needed in a run first approach with variable weather against a good team.  Haynes and the Yellow Jackets received 0 AP or AFCA votes in the first poll.  Less than Texas State, Texas San Antonio, and Air Force among others.  They'll get votes this week thanks to Haynes the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 8/18/2024

We've plowed through most of the international sports scene (Olympics, Tour de France, Wimbledon, British Open) and so it's time for baseball.  One of the most unusual feats in baseball is the "cycle" in which a batter gets a single, double, triple, and home run in the same game.  Four hit games are rare enough, the cycle makes it even more so.  No hitter type rare.  This week, an unsung hero accomplished the feat.  29-year-old rookie Weston Wilson of the Philadelphia Phillies went 4-5 against the Washington Nationals on Thursday with a double in the eighth to get his cycle.  Not a prospect by any means at that age, he has turned in some pretty good numbers, including 4 HR and over a 1.000 OPS through his first 29 games while batting .333!  Will he likely continue this?  No.  Will he always be in the Philadelphia Phillies record book with just the 10th Cycle in franchise history (like one ever 15 years)?  Absolutely.  Weston Wilson is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 8/11/2024

What a week for the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, more commonly known as the Paris 2024 Olympics.  Fast feet lit up the track under the lights with amazing finishes nightly and new superstars being born.  One of those superstars is the United States megastar Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.  The girl brought speed.  World Record Speed.  She started with a completely dominant victory over favored World Champion Dutch star Femke Bol and it wasn't close.  McLaughlin-Levrone torched the field in 50.37s with fellow American Anna Cockrell also outpacing Bol who looked defeated down the back stretch as McLaughlin-Levrone left her in the dust.  But the 25-year-old American legend (who celebrated a birthday in Paris) followed up this performance as part of a completely dominant women's 4x400 relay that set an American Record and beat the rest of the world by four full seconds in 3:15.27.  The distance between 2nd and 7th was more than 1st and second.  McLaughlin-Levrone did it all and is a worthy Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 8/4/2024

The "Greatest of All Time" (a.k.a. "GOAT") can be thrown around loosely at times without perspective.  Current best player.  Your favorite player on your team.  But in Women's Gymnastics the debate is over.  Simone Biles cemented her legacy in the sport and Olympic history leading the women's team Gold Medal then following it up with her own All Around.  The level of difficulty.  Execution.  The sub-5 footer jumps like 11 feet in the air.  Speaking of 11, we're talking 11 Olympics medals, 7 Gold (all 2016 and 2024), in each case most of all time.  Not to mention her issues with mental challenges in the 2020 Olympics and what she overcame at age 27 (ancient for a gymnast).  GOAT.  Of Gymnastics.  An inspiration.  And great Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!