Sportsman of the Week Ending 4/20/2025

While everyone presumed the Los Angeles Dodgers would coast to the NL West Championship, if not the NL Pennant.  The San Diego Padres are reloaded and ready to challenge.  There may not be a better all-around player on the planet, if not the hottest, than Fernando Tatis Jr.  FTJ is playing high level MVP ball if not Triple Crown.  This week he was 9-24, 9 runs, 7 RBI, 4 HR and walked 5 times.  He's a problem for opponents leading off with artillery behind him.  It's crazy he just turned 26.  By now twice Top 5 MVPs, two silver sluggers, and a gold glove.  With the COVID year, he's only played 130 games or more twice.  What does this look like for 150 games for a few years in a row?  We'll find out, but Fernando Tatis Jr. is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 4/13/2025

One of the greatest feats in golf is the career grand slam.  Only five golfers have every done it since World War II and it's a who's who of modern golf.  Actually, many before the more competitive era.  Nicklaus.  Hogan.  Player.  And more recently, Woods.  But most recently, Rory McIlroy.  After a decade of trying to win his first green jacket at The Masters, McIlroy finished the job.  Coasting with a comfortable lead most of Sunday (which he earned with near flawless play the first 54 holes), things got sticky when fellow Briton Justin Rose posted a 66 including six Birdies.  Meanwhile, McIlroy flubbed three holes for bogeys plus a double.  On the 72nd hole, McIlroy just needed a par, but bogeyed.  As criticisms of "can't finish the job" echoed over Augusta National, the Northern Irishmen nailed his second shot on the 73rd hold in easy birdie range.  Rose couldn't hole the birdie and Rory won it.  The Masters.  The Career Grand Slam.  And Legend.  Rory McIlroy is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

This is the second Sportsman of the Week for Rory McIlroy the last coming over 10 years ago (which is probably a record).

Sportsman of the Week Ending 4/6/2025

He is.  The Greatest.  Of All Time.  Goal scorers at least.  Washington Capitals sniper/winger Alex Ovechkin defied father time and the history of the National Hockey League in scoring his career goal number 895, breaking what many thought was an unbreakable record held by "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky.  This may finally be unbreakable, to average 45 goals for 20 years is just something hard to do, especially as physical as the game is in the 2020s and beyond.  He broke the record on Sunday with a national audience tuned in, but overall, for the week he scored 5 goals in 4 games (scoring at least one in all four).  He's actually scored a goal in 5 straight games and sits fourth in the league in goals despite missing five weeks due to a knee injury.  The Soviet Superstar has gas left in the tank, and is a deserving Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!