Nadal Dominates in Madrid Open Finals

On Sunday, Rafael Nadal defeated Stanislas Wawrinka and won the Madrid Open. Spain native, Nadal, was able to beat Wawrinka by using a heavy topspin which kept Wawrinka far behind the baseline. Nadal returned only three months earlier due to a knee injury. However, his injury did not keep him from being successful in the sport of tennis. He has made it to seven consecutive finals and won five. This is Nadal's third Madrid title. Nadal's competitor, Wawrinka, has been in the shadow of Roger Federer, but has become a strong competitor. However, Wawrinka had a tough schedule and played in a match that ended after 1 a.m. the night before. Nadal was one of the critics that complained about the playing conditions of a blue clay court. However, after the organizers switched back to a regular clay surface, Nadal thanked them. He has won a total of 40 titles on regular clay surface courts.        

Chicago Bulls Defeat Miami Heat

The Miami Heat has the best record in the NBA with 66 wins and 16 loses. In fifth place are the Chicago Bulls with 45 wins and 37 loses. The Miami Heat's longest win streak was 27 games and their second longest was 12 games. Out of the last 44 games, the Heat have beat the bulls two out of four times and 39 out of 40 times against everyone else. So what do the Chicago Bulls have that make them able to defeat the Miami Heat during the latest play off game? Chicago's bull's coach, Tom Thibodeau, has a three-point defense which is a strong key against the Heat. Only about 16% of the Heat's points scored against the Bull's were three pointers. The Heat score the lowest amount of 3 pointers against the Bulls (4.9 average). Also, the Bulls do well on preventing the Heat from getting rebounds. Even with this loss however, the Heat still have more than a 72% chance of winning this series.          

Pablo Sandoval: A San Francisco Giant with Big Talent

26 year old, Pablo Sandoval, also know as Kung Fu Panda to his teammates, is San Francisco Giants' third baseman and one of their top hitters. Some of his many accomplishments include playing in two All-Star seasons, M.V.P. awards, and he is currently hitting with a .316 average. He is also apart of the National League leaders with 19 runs batted in. Even with his great success, Sandoval, or rather his body weight, has been ridiculed recently. But this doesn't change how Sandoval feels about his weight and says, "I'm at the weight that I feel great to play at. If you feel good, you're going to play good. And I feel great." His weight doesn't even seem to affect his playing. During a postseason game last year against Detroit, he hit three home runs. Another reason Sandoval stands out is the fact that he can bat and throw with both hands. Some people say that his weight is a problem while others believe that it helps him have more power. Pablo Sandoval knows however that he won't be able to stay at this weight for good. He's getting old (for a baseball player) and his heavyweight my just start changing how he changes.  
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/sports/baseball/pablo-sandovals-heavyweight-game-for-giants.html?ref=sports

Red Sox Honor Boston Marathon Victims

On Saturday April 20th, the Boston Red Sox played, and won for the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings. This was the first home game since the two explosions. Before the Red Sox began their game against the Kansas City Royals, the team held a pregame ceremony. This event honored the 3 victims, the 170 wounded, and everyone else who was affected. The ceremony included videos of scenes from the race. Red Sox player, David Ortiz stood on the field and told everyone in the stadium to "stay strong." Later, after the successful win for the Red Sox, Ortiz also stated, "You give people hope. We wanted to let them know we're here for them." Daniel Nava hit a three-run homer in the eight inning giving the Red Sox a lead and a 4-3 victory.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/sports/baseball/after-an-emotional-ceremony-boston-beats-kansas-city.html?ref=baseball&_r=0

Afghan Cricket's Big Dreams

The sport of cricket is the only approved sport by the Taliban and it plays a big role in uniting the country of Afghanistan. Mohammad Nabi Eisakhill, who was once a war refugee, learned to play cricket as a young child and came to respect the sport greatly. Afghanistan's government is currently trying to form a democracy and is in a war. However, cricket is supported by Afghanistan's opposing factions. The chief executive of cricket's national association, Noor Muhammad, says, "this is a game that can bring Afghanistan together and be very good tool for peace and stability." A large amount of the land has been used to build cricket grounds. Since 70% of the population is under 30, the people are focusing on teaching young people the sport of cricket. The goal is for cricket to be taught in schools. Cricket in Afghanistan has only officially been a sport for six years, but it has been played by British soldiers since the 19th century. Afghan's cricket team has played twice in the World Twenty20 finals. Afghanistan's dream is to be officially recognized to the International Cricket Council and participate in the Cricket World Cup.  

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/03/sport/mohammad-nabi-afghanistan-cricket/index.html?hpt=isp_bn9  

Louisville Wins NCAA Title

Rick Pinito and the 13 Louisville players won the NCCA championship title on Monday April 8th. They played Michigan and won 82-76. One of the Louisville players, Luck Hancock, scored 22 points. At one point during the first half, Michigan was ahead by 12 points, but that doesn't discourage the team. The coach said, "this team is one of the most together, toughest and hard-nosed teams. Being down never bothers us. They just come back." The coach, Pinito, was also entered into the latest Hall of Fame class and promised that he would get a tattoo to honor the team if they won. For those who do not know, Louisville is the team of Kevin Ware, the person who broke his leg in a previous March Madness game. To show their support, the team came out wearing their warm up suits with a number five on it (Ware's number) and the slogan "Ri5e to the Occasion."

http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens-basketball/2013/04/09/louisville-beats-michigan-for-ncaa-title/pGJsK5TsGLgXZxIzX07vDI/story.html

*NEW* Gibraltar Female Football League

After realizing that she had very little interest in critiquing and creating art anymore, acclaimed artist, Art, has left the art scene and moved to athletics. Art officially announced her resignation from the well known and respected art section of the GeoCon Blogger last month. Her position goes to the semi-talented art critic, Ben Anderson who claims to know a lot about "art" (aka a wooden chair). Art recently claimed, "I don't want to just report about sports anymore. It has become boring...I want to participate in the art of sport." Instead of going the simple route of joining an already existing team, Art has presented the Gibraltar School Board with the idea of starting a female football team. The school board responded with encouraging words, but made the point that the small school probably would not have enough interest since most females are already participating in extracurriculars throughout the school year. But Art is not discouraged! She has already started advertising for a summer female football league. Art says, "I haven't gotten any people interested yet, but it's still early, and I'm still hopeful!"