Monday’s Water Cooler – February 8, 2010
Here we go with today’s sports water cooler talk. Here, you won’t just find the straight news; you’ll find the stuff everyone is talking about – the ice breakers, the Twitter Sports Picks and topics…well, basically all the stuff you discuss at the water cooler.
Enjoy!
I think somebody may have played some kind of football game yesterday…hmm. More on that in a separate article later today. For now, let’s focus on any other news happening in the sporting world.
NFL news: Dancing With the Stars vets Rice, Smith, Sapp all go to special places
Never before have our moms, wives and daughters been so excited about Hall-of-Fame inductions. Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith, the all-time statistical giants of their respective offensive positions, got the call to Canton on Friday and tearily accepted the invites.
Rice and Smith were, of course, Dancing with the Stars alumni. Another DWTS cast member going somewhere special on the weekend: Warren Sapp. The former All-Pro defensive tackle went to jail. He was arrested Saturday for allegedly choking a woman in his hotel room. Needless to say, the NFL network pulled him from Super Bowl XLIV coverage.
NHL news: Capitals’ winning streak hits 14
It seems nothing can keep the Washington Capitals down. Not a devastating snowstorm, not a date with the defending Stanley Cup champions and not even a two-goal deficit in the third period. Led by Alexander Ovechkin’s ninth career hat-trick, the Caps surged back to tie the Pens in the third period on Sunday and won in overtime, extending their franchise-record winning streak to 14 games. The NHL record is 17, held by the 1993 Pittsburgh Penguins. The Caps visit Montreal, Ottawa and St. Louis this week and can tie the record entering the Olympic break if they win out.
Golf news: Steve Stricker surpasses Lefty for World No. 2 rank
Imagine that. Steve Stricker, who lost his Tour Card and fell to 337th in the world four years ago, is now the second-ranked golfer on Earth behind only Tiger Woods. After winning the Northern Trust Open on Sunday, he now has four tournament victories in his last 15 attempts.
As for defending Northern Trust Open Phil Mickelson, the week wasn’t so hot. He finished 14 shots back and fell behind Stricker to third in the world.
NASCAR news: Danica Patrick impresses in stock car debut
Danica Patrick’s stock-car career began this past weekend and she did nothing to temper expectations about her possible NASCAR success. She stayed around the top 10 for most of the ARCA race at Daytona International Speedway and even fought back from a spinout to finish sixth. She certainly didn’t look out of place, meaning expectations will be reasonably high when she makes her Nationwide debut this weekend at Daytona, driving the No. 7 Chevy for JR Motorsports.
MMA news: Couture, Sonnen No. 1 contenders after UFC 109 victories?
It was quite the weekend for Greco-Roman wrestlers. Randy Couture and Chael Sonnen, two fighters with very similar styles and backgrounds, both dominated at UFC 109. Couture was heavily favored over fellow UFC Hall-of-Famer Mark Coleman and lived up to his billing, treating Coleman as a personal punching bag before choking him out. Sonnen, however, was as much as a five-to-one underdog to beat Nate Marquardt. After dominating Marquardt with his wrestling and ground-and-pound, Sonnen now meets the winner of Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort for the UFC Middleweight title. That’s for certain.
Randy Couture’s next fight isn’t set in stone but it could very well be the winner of Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua’s light heavyweight title bout, as Machida expressed interest in fighting Couture in the past.
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