1/24/15
Sad news last night for Chicago Cubs fans as “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks passed away at the age of 83. Banks’ catch phrase “Let’s play two” suggesting a doubleheader was always better than just a single game in one day; showed his love for the game of baseball. Banks started his career in the Negro League playing with the Kansas City Monarchs before being signed by the Cubs as a free agent in 1953. Banks got into 10 games for the Cubs in that 1953 season and after that spent the next 18 seasons in a Cubs uniform. Banks won the National League MVP award in back to back season, 1958 and 1959. He also finished in the Top 10 of M.V.P. voting in three other seasons. Banks was also an 11 time All-Star and won the Gold Glove at shortstop for the 1960 season. Banks is a member of the 500 home run club; with 512 home runs for his career. He led the N.L. in home runs with 47 in 1958 and then again with 41 in 1960. Banks had a career batting average of .274 with an on base percentage of .330 and a .500 slugging percentage. Banks totaled 2583 hits in his career with 407 doubles, 90 triples and added 50 stolen bases all with the Cubs. Banks ended his 19 year Cubs career on September 26th 1971 going 1 for 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 5-1 Cubs loss. In 1977 Banks received 83.8% of the votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America and was enshrined in the baseball Hall of Fame. In 1982, Banks had his No. 14 jersey retired, the first Cubs player to receive such an honor. In 2008, the Cubs unveiled a statue outside Wrigley Field that honored him. Then in November 2013, Banks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, joining the likes of Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Stan Musial in gaining this honor. With his out going personality and the obvious love for baseball that Banks had he became an ambassador for the Cubs fans and the game of baseball itself after his playing career ended. While it may be January in Chicagoland, but “Let’s play two”.
While I’m looking forward to the Super Bowl featuring the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots I’m already tired of the side stories coming into the game. It’s to the point here I don’t care if New England deflated the football in their game against the Indianapolis Colts. Would a fully inflated football have changed the outcome of the game; I seriously doubt it. Even if the Patriots are guilty of this do you think Tom Brady or Bill Belichick where the guys taking the air out of the football. On the Seattle side is there any chance the mainstream media will leave Marshawn Lynch alone this week. Everyone knows that Lynch isn’t a big fan of talking to the media which will put a huge target on his back for every moron who’ll want to be the one that thinks they can get a quote from Lynch. Believe it or not there are players that don’t want to be media superstars; I know that’s hard to believe, but Lynch seems to be one of these guys. While I fully agree with Lynch being fined for his crotch grab end zone celebration I don’t think he should be forced to speak to the media. I’m not a big fan if what the NFL calls media week and the game can’t get here soon enough for me.
I really hope you’ve been listening to the Sports Time Radio podcast. Just last night (Friday) alone we had three interviews. Now these aren’t the type of interviews you’ll hear on your radio where the person is on for five minutes and they answer two or three questions. We keep guys up to 30 minutes; so they can answer all of the questions that need to be answered. Starting off the Friday night show we had Ian St. Clair from PredominatlyOrange.com to talk Denver Broncos football. After that it was Nick Hjeltness from GoldenGateSports.com joining us to discuss the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders. We ended the podcast by having Mike Marteny from FantasyCPR.com to talk about early fantasy baseball rankings along with who to look out for this upcoming season. Next week is shaping up as another big interview week for Sports Time Radio as will have guest on every show and even three more interviews on Friday the 30th show. Starting off with the January 26th show (Monday) we’ll have Eric Huysman from ClimbingTalsHill.com to talk about what the Houston Astros will look like in the 2015 baseball season.
Jeff Gordon’s 23rd season in NASCAR will be his last full-time season. Gordon is 3rd all time with 92 wins, has made 689 consecutive starts and is a four-time champion, but at 43 he’ll step away from his full-time ride #24 with Hendrick Motorsports. Gordon won’t use the word retire as he plans to stay involved with NASCAR and may even get behind the wheel at selected races; just not full-time. Hendrick Motorsports hasn’t made any announcements on who might take over Gordon’s ride for the 2016 NASCAR season, but it appears that Chase Elliot will be their choice.
You could say Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors had a night with 52 points in 126-101 victory over the Sacramento Kings, but to be more specific he had a quarter. In the 3rd quarter alone Thompson went 13 for 13 from the floor including a NBA record nine 3-point shots in the quarter. The 37 points Thompson ut up in the quarter was an NBA record as well. Thompson surpassed the 33-point mark set by George Gervin in 1978 and matched by Carmelo Anthony in 2008 for the most points in a quarter. Michael Redd and Joe Johnson shared the previous mark for most 3-point shots made in a quarter with eight. Thompson scored 19 consecutive points during one stretch, which ended with him making a left-handed pass to Draymond Green for a lay up. Thompson helped make sure the Warriors equaled the franchise’s highest win total before the All-Star game. The defending champion 1975-76 Warriors went 35-13 before the break and finished with a team-best record of 59-23.
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and remember you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com
So how was your week?
Sports Time Radio 