Category: Sports

Auburn Wins National Championship

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I’ve got a t-shirt that says, “There are three things that I can count on in life: my truck, my dog and my team.” January 10, 2011 has been a great day. From the Associated Press:

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Auburn running back Michael Dyer never heard any whistle, so he just kept running — past the tackler who thought he had him down and deep into Oregon territory.

Dyer broke stride, then took off on a once-in-a-lifetime run in the final minutes, setting up a field goal on the last play that led No. 1 Auburn over the No. 2 Ducks 22-19 in the BCS championship game Monday night.

The freshman running back upstaged Auburn’s Heisman-winning quarterback Cam Newton with a 37-yard run, in which he appeared down but wasn’t — his knee never hit the ground — as he rolled over Oregon defender Eddie Pleasant to put the Tigers in scoring position.

Three plays later, Dyer ran 16 yards to push the ball to the 1 and set up Wes Byrun’s 19-yard field goal with no time left. It was his sixth career game-winning field goal — the one that capped off a perfect, 14-0 season, brought the title back to Auburn for the first time since 1957 and left the Southeastern Conference on top for the fifth straight year.

A classic sequence to close out a wild finish — five crazy minutes of football that made up for the first 55, which were more of a bruising battle than the offensive masterpiece everyone had predicted.

The craziness began when Casey Matthews, son of the former NFL linebacker Clay, knocked the ball from Newton’s hands while the Heisman-winning quarterback was trying to ice a 19-11 lead.

Oregon’s offense, shut down by Nick Fairley and Company for most of the night, moved 45 yards over the next 2:17 and Darron Thomas threw a shovel pass to LaMichael James for a touchdown. Thomas hit Jeff Maehl for the tying 2-point conversion with 2:33 left and the game was down to one possession.

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Another World Series

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The Yankees and the Phillies are going at it this week. I am not a huge baseball fan, at least not on TV, but I’ll admit that I tune in for a few moments to see what’s happening. I discovered a little World Series information that you might use to stump your friends:

  • Although the Series began in 1903, two years went by without a World Series: 1904 (when the Pittsburgh Pirates refused to play) and 1994 (when the players’ strike shortened the season).
  • There have been 22 ejections in the history of the World Series. Thirteen of them have been a result of arguing with the umpire. No one has been ejected more than Atlanta manager Bobby Cox.
  • Each year, the winner and loser of the World Series split a revenue share from the event. In 1903, the Pittsburgh Pirates took home a winner’s share of $1,182. In 2008, the Philadelphia Phillies took home $351,504.48.
  • In 1989, as the players were warming up in San Francisco for the third game, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit. The game was postponed for 10 days as disaster relief took place.
  • The only non-U.S. team to win a World Series is the Toronto Blue Jays. They did so twice, in 1992 and 1993.
  • There have been twenty World Series sweeps in history.
    • The American League has won / swept thirteen.
    • The National League has won / swept seven.
  • Eight of the thirteen American League World Series sweeps were courtesy of the New York Yankees. In the National League only the New York Giants and Cincinnati Reds have had more than one Series sweep.

World Series Highs and Lows:

  • The New York Yankees have won 27 World Championships, the most of any team.
  • Eight franchises have not won a World Championship. This list includes the San Diego Padres, Houston Astros, Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals, and Seattle Mariners.
  • The last World Series title for the Chicago Cubs was in 1908. That’s more than 100 years ago—the longest drought in professional baseball.

From www.baseball-almanac.com

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