I just saw this quote from Ottawa Senators forward, Dean McAmmond, in Sports Illustrated and thought it worthy of passing on.

I don’t feel I have a concussion problem.  I have a problem with people giving me traumatic blows to the head.”

Yup.  That pretty much sums up ice hockey.

Popularity: 20% [?]

When I was a kid, my dad introduced me to tennis.  He took me to see Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall, the best players of the time.  In his day and for quite some time after, Laver was considered the greatest to have ever played the sport with Rosewall a close runner up.

Later, I got hooked on tennis again when Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl were the kings of the court.  They were all fantastic tennis players, but unlike watching Laver, none of the new leaders of tennis seemed like they were the one.  Then, of course, came Pete Sampras.  With 64 career titles, 14 of them being Grand Slam wins, he was the one.  He made the game seem easy with graceful moves and unreal court presence.  His game was a thing of beauty and a blast to watch.  Andre Agassi, a great tennis player, was always a thorn in Sampras’ side and perhaps even made him better.  But it was Sampras who was the best most often at the end of the match. 

Sampras ruled over his tennis kingdom for some time, long enough to convince the tennis experts and those of us who are mere onlookers that he was, in fact, greater than the great Rod Laver.  We had a new best.  Like with us all, though, he eventually got a little older and a little slower and had trouble keeping his place on top of the pyramid. 

As Sampras’ rule at the top of the heap waned, Roger Federer became the new king.  In a world with many good tennis players (Nadal, Blake, Roddick, Hewitt and a boatload of guys from Slavic countries to name a few), Federer has handily remained in the number one position in tennis for more time than anyone in history.

This year, at the just completed US Open, he showed why.  Federer was always composed and always in command.  That’s not to say that he was always in the lead.  Even when his serve was broken, though, he would patiently break back to get even, then either break his opponent again or dominate the tie-breaker.  At times, he did this without seeming to break a sweat.  He covers the court unbelievably well, rarely makes unforced errors and is always menacing to his opponents (earning him the moniker, Darth Federer).

When he played the hard hitting Andy Roddick in the semifinals, I watched in disbelief as Roddick, playing the best tennis of his life and having a serve and forehand like a cannon, lost to the tennis god, Federer, in three straight sets.  In the finals, Novak Djokovic had Federer down a break with three set points in the first set and then succumbed to Federer in a tie-breaker.  In the second set, he broke Federer early and looked very strong, only to lose the set to Federer again in another tie-breaker.  Federer won the third set 6-4 for his fourth straight US Open victory and 12th Grand Slam win.

As with Tiger Woods’ dominance in golf, Federer has so many weapons in his arsenal that he’s almost impossible to beat.  Even when he’s down, he has the skills, stamina and mental toughness to come back and win . . . convincingly.  As if there could have been any doubt before, we are certainly watching the new greatest tennis player of all time rising to his zenith.

Popularity: 13% [?]

A virtual cornucopia of televised sports was on display today and I was enjoying every minute of it.  After riding a half-century (50 miles) yesterday in blistering heat here in the Boston area, I was happy to kick back today and veg in front of the tube.  My laziness was rewarded with great football and baseball (it helped that both the Patriots and the Red Sox won), the final round of the BMW Championship (golf), the men’s singles finals of the US Open (tennis) and the IndyCar Series Championship (yeah, auto racing).  Without much effort, I’m sure I could have dug up a soccer game, but there was just no time.  I almost broke the buttons on the remote as it was trying not to miss any significant events.

Maybe the end of summer isn’t so bad after all . . .

Popularity: 9% [?]

A friend of mine asked me today, “how many teams have won the Super Bowl?”  It’s an interesting question that led me to plenty more.  So here’s that info, plus a couple of other tidbits that’ll help you stump your friends and win some bets at your Super Bowl XLI get together this weekend.

• 17 different teams have won the super bowl:

• The NFC has won 22/40 Super Bowls
• The AFC has won 5 of the last 7 Super Bowls
• Prior to that, the NFC had won 13 straight Super Bowls
• Buffalo lost 4 Super Bowls in a Row - 1991-1994 and have never won a Super Bowl nor appeared in any other
• No team has won 3 consecutive Super Bowls, but back-to-back wins have taken place 8 times by 7 teams: 49ers, Cowboys, Broncos, Dolphins, Packers, Patriots and Steelers (twice)
• The biggest blowout in Super Bowl history was in 1990 when the 49ers beat the Broncos by 45 points - 55-10
• The Cowboys have the most appearances in the Super Bowl with 8; the Steelers have been to 6; the Broncos, Dolphins, Patriots, Raiders and Redskins each have appeared in the big game 5 times and the Bills and Packers to 4.  These 9 teams have consumed 47 of the 80 slots in the Super Bowl in its first 40 years.

Popularity: 6% [?]