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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

San Francisco Giants history

The San Francisco have a rich and storied history that is filled with many great moments and players, as they have five World Championships to their credit and have had such greats as Carl Hubbell, Bobby Thomson, Wille McCovey, and Juan Marichal.

The San Francisco Giants can arguably say that they have had the two best all around players to ever play the game with the great Willie Mays and the incomparable Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants, Mays belted 660 home runs in his illustrious career and is thought of by many to be the best player to ever play due to his ability to be able to play every aspect of the game at a high level and possessing no weaknesses, as for Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants all hes done is his award winning career is win the National League Most Valuable Player award seven times, win eight gold gloves, twelve silver slugger awards, be voted to the National League all-star team thirteen times, and belt 708 home runs which is only 47 shy of Henry Aaron's all time mark of 755.

In the 1930s the San Francisco Giants would participate in three World Series, winning the 1933 World Championship, with NL MVP Carl Hubbell of the San Francisco Giants leading the way in an upset of the powerful Washington Senators, the San Francisco Giants pitching staff totally thwart the Washington Senators vaunted offense as they allow only eight earned runs all series long en route to a four games to one rout.

It would take until 1951 for the San Francisco Giants to return to prominence, as they qualified for the fall classic again but were denied by New York Yankees, but in 1954 against the Cleveland Indians the San Francisco Giants with Willie Mays of the San Francisco returning from his tour of duty with the US Army rout the heavily favored Clevealand Indians who won 111 games in the regular season, one play perhaps changed the entire complexion of the '54 World Series, as Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants made perhaps the greatest defensive play ever, tied with the Cleveland Indians a 2 in the eighth inning of Game 1 at the Polo Grounds and two Indians runners on base, the Hall of Fame center fielder made an over-the-shoulder catch of a 460-foot smash off the bat of the Cleveland Indians Vic Wertz, the San Francisco Giants went on to win 5-2 in ten innings, and the series turned into a runaway for the San Francisco Giants.

The San Francisco Giants made a World Series appearance in 1962 but were defeated by the New York Yankees in six games, and would not make the playoffs again until 1971 a year in which the San Francisco Giants did not have a pitcher who won 20 games or batter with a .300 average and were eliminated by the Pittsburgh Pirates, their would be a drought of 16 years before the San Francisco Giants would again make the playoffs, in 1987 they took the St.Louis Cardinals to a seventh game in the National League Championship series before succumbing, in 1989 the San Francisco Giants had a powerhouse squad led by NL MVP Kevin Mitchell who belted 47 HRS and 125 RBI and powered the San Francisco Giants past the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS and into the World Series against Bay Area rival the Oakland Athletics, who boasted a virtual all-star with AL MVP Jose Canseco and slugger Mark McGwire to go along with an award winning pitching staff, the San Francisco Giants were no match for the Oakland Athletics and were beaten in four straight games.

The San Francisco Giants would make the playoffs in 1997 and 2000 but lose in the opening round to the Florida Marlins and New York Mets respectively,in 2002 they would once again qualify for the National League playoffs, this time behind the mighty bat of Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants who batted .370 with 46 home runs, 110 runs batted in, 198 walks, and a on base percentage of .582, the San Francisco Giants defeated the Atlanta Braves three games to two in the divisonal playoffs and went on to defeat the St.Louis Cardinals in the NLCS and earn the right to face the upstart Anaheim Angels.

The 2002 World Series was one for the ages as the San Francisco Giants and Anaheim Angels dueled and battled to a seventh game, where the Anaheim Angels narrowly defeated the San Francisco Giants to win their World Series.

The 2006 San Francisco Giants will be a National League powerhouse with Barry Bonds and pitcher Jason Schmidt returning to health and newcomer OF Steve Finley adding punch to an already potent lineup, the off-season acqusition of P Matt Morris from the St.Louis Cardinals will be a major boost, one that could give the San Francisco Giants the dege in the National League West with many san francisco giants tickets being sold.

Great moment in team history

After trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers by 13 1/2 games on Aug. 11, manager Leo Durocher's troops rattled off 16 straight victories and won 37 of their final 44 regular-season contests to force a tie with Brooklyn. The two teams met in a three game elimination to see who go on to the playoffs, the San Francisco Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers split the first two games setting a winner take all game 3 at the polo grounds, the San Francisco Ginats trailed the Brooklyn Dodgers 4-2 with two on and one out in the ninth inning when Bobby Thomson of the San Francisco Giants stepped to the plate, the rest is history, Thomson drilled an 0-1 pitch off reliever Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers to left field and jumped onto home plate to put an exclamation on "The Miracle of Coogan's Bluff," as called by legendary Giants announcer Russ Hodges.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Sports Trivia

Who is the only athlete to win multiple medals at both the summer and winter Olympics?

Answer: Clara Hughes

Clara Hughes was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on the 27th of September 1972. Clara won her first two Olympic medals in Atlanta Georgia. She competed in the individual cycling road race and the individual time trial event. She was able to win bronze in both events.

Clara then turned her attention to the winter Olympics. She competed in the 5000m speed skating event in the games in Salt Lake City in 2002. She won a bronze medal for her efforts. Clara then continued and competed in the games held in Torino where she captured gold in the 5000m speed skating event. She also won a silver medal at the games in the team pursuit.

In 2010 at the Vancouver Olympic games Clara achieved a bronze medal in the ladies 5000m speed skating.

Clara is not only a decorated athlete but is a big supporter of the charity, "Right to Play". She has also been awarded the Order of Canada and the order of Manitoba. Clara Hughes is truly one of the great Olympians.

Who holds the record for the most gold medals at an Olympic games?

Answer: Michael Phelps

In 2008 at the games held in Beijing Michael was able to win eight gold medals. All his medals were in the pool. Michael won the 100m fly, 200m free, 200m fly, 200 m individual medley, 400m individual medley, 4x 100m freestyle relay, 4x100 medley relay and the 4x 200m freestyle relay.

Michael added these eight gold to the six gold and two bronze medals that he won in the games in 2004. Michael has won more gold medals than any other athlete in the history of the modern Olympics. His Olympic medal total is second only to the 18 medals that were won by Larissa Latynina the famous Russian gymnast.

Michael was born in Baltimore, Maryland on the 30th of June 1985. Michael was diagnosed at the age of seven with ADD. To help him burn off energy he was put into swimming.

Michael has founded the Michael Phelps Foundation, which is a charity that advocates swimming and water safety for children. He is also a co-founder of the Swim with the Stars program.

Who holds the record in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most versatile female athlete?

Answer: "Babe" Mildred Ella Didrikson Zaharias

Mildred was born in Port Arthur, Texas on the 26th of June 1911. She was one of seven children born to Ole and Hannah Didriksen. She would change the spelling of her last name when she was older. The name 'Babe' was a childhood nickname that stayed with her all her life.

Mildred was truly one of the greatest athletes of all time. In 1932, she went to the Amateur Athletic Union Championships. She won eight of the ten events that she competed in and won the team championship. Babe was the only person on her team.

In 1932, Babe went to the Olympics in Los Angeles. She won two gold medals and one silver. She won gold in the 80m hurdles and the javelin. Her silver medal came in the sport of high jump.

Babe's most recognized sports achievements would be in golf. In what was truly an amazing career Babe won 82 golf tournaments. She won the ladies Grand Slam of golf in 1950. Some of her records in golf have never been broken.

Sadly, Babe was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1953. She underwent surgery and continued to play golf, although she limited the number of tournaments that she competed in. In 1955, the cancer returned and Babe died at the age of 45 in Galveston, Texas.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

How to Learn Golf Fast!

This is one of the most commonly used keywords of people who would like to dabble in the sport called golf. This could begin as a mere curiosity to know facts and trivia about golf. But soon, these people become fully-interested in this sport, that they even go to the extent of dreaming of venturing into competitive golf, much like their idol, Tiger Woods. But of course, you will never learn how to play golf without actual experience in holding golf clubs and hitting balls. So you need to take lessons on how to learn golf.


Learning golf is relatively easy once you are able to find an excellent country club that offers golf lessons to the general public. But before you go on buying your golf paraphernalia, you need first to attend the first sessions for these golf classes. But why? Because the primary discussion on the very first meeting of these classes do not only focus on golf history, but also in the introduction about the main golf equipment and the materials from which golf clubs are made.


Knowing this will help you decide on what particular golf club material you will purchase so that you could be assured that it will be the most appropriate for your grip and stature, as well as your budget. Yes, golf equipment are very much expensive, thus you need to be guided properly by the lessons you will take on you how to learn golf classes, so that you could find the most economical clubs and apparel for your golfing needs.


The next important things you need to know are the goals, rules of the game, and rules of etiquette that golf players need to adhere to. These things dictate the proper conduct you should display while playing golf. Also knowing these things is important since they will guide you in understanding the do's and don'ts in golf, for you to be successful player in this sport. Yes, by undertaking lessons from how to learn golf classes, you could soon learn the right golfing tips and techniques really fast!


 



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