On this day, 9th Spetember 2008, the fastest man on no legs has his first gold medal in the bag at the Beijing Paralympics.

That leaves two to go for amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius. Despite a slow start on a wet track, the South African won the most difficult of his three races, clocking 11,17 seconds yesterday to take gold in the 100 metres final.

Pistorius is a strong favourite to add the 200m and 400m titles.

The double amputee, known as the “Blade Runner” because of his prosthetic legs, won a legal battle in May for the right to run in the Olympics. However, subsequently he failed to meet the qualifying standard.

“I had a tough start and a slow first 30m,” Pistorius said of the 100m. “I really just pulled out all the stops.”

Pistorius still has his sights set on qualifying for the Olympics. “I‘m looking forward to London 2012,” he said.

Labels: Amputee, Beijing, Oscar Pistorius, Paralympics, South Africa, sport, sprinting

On November 28th 2007, St. Louis Cardinals manager, Tony La Russa pleaded guilty to DUI charges and Jupiter Police Department in Florida released the following arrest video.



On August 22, 2007, he passed Bucky Harris to become the third-highest manager of all-time in total games managed in baseball history in his 4,409th game; behind only John McGraw and Connie Mack.

Labels: baseball, celebrity, sport

Amos Alonzo Stagg, 1862-1965, American football coach, b. West Orange, N.J., grad. Yale, 1888, announced his retirement after 71 years of coaching on this day, 16th September 1960.

Stagg played end on the Yale football team and began his career as a coach (1889-91) at Springfield (Mass.) College. In 1892 he became athletic director at the Univ. of Chicago, coaching football there until 1933. In these 41 years he five times (1899, 1905, 1908, 1913, and 1924) coached undefeated teams. An authority on football, Stagg served (1904-32) on the football rules committee. Because of his age, he was compelled to resign his post at the Univ. of Chicago, but the "grand old man of football" later coached (1933-46) at the College of the Pacific and was (1947-52) assistant coach to his son at Susquehanna Univ. He collaborated in writing several books on football and is credited with the invention of numerous innovations in football play.

Labels: American Football, human achievement, sport

American tennis player Jimmy Connors was born on this day, 2nd September, 1952 in East St. Louis, Ill.

A volatile, controversial, and fiercely competitive player, Connors was known for his theatrical conduct on the court as well as for his powerful two-handed backhand, strong return of service, accurate baseline play, and agility. He remains the all-time leader in men's tournament victories with 109 and held the men's number one ranking for 160 weeks (1974-77), a record that was not broken until 2007 by Roger Federer. He won five U.S. Open titles, two Wimbledon singles titles and one Australian Open.

Apart from the epic battles he had with the greats of the game over his career, arguably the greatest memory fans will hold is his amazing performance of reaching the US Open Semi Finals in 1991 at 39 years of age.

Labels: Jimmy Connors, sport, Tennis, US Open, World Champion

Michael Gerard Tyson, (Mike Tyson) was born on this day, June 30th, 1966. He is a former American World Heavyweight boxing Champion. Tyson, the youngest man to have won a heavyweight title belt, was rated in 1999 by Ring magazine as the fourteenth greatest heavyweight of all time.

At the height of his fame and career in the late 80s and throughout the 90s, Tyson was one of the most recognized sports personalities in the world. Apart from his many sporting accomplishments, his numerous outrageous and controversial behavior both in the boxing ring and in his private life has kept him constantly in the public eye.







Produced in 1988, before Tyson turned himself into a joke, it highlights Tyson during the brief period the great sporstman he was shone through.




10 years and 2 days ago today, during a boxing match between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield on June 28, 1997, Mike Tyson bit off a portion of Holyfield's ear. (twice)

The fight was billed as "Holyfield-Tyson II, The Sound And The Fury". The fight began with Holyfield dominating the smaller Tyson but doing no real damage. Tyson seemed slow in the first two rounds and lost both.

In addition, Holyfield was headbutting Tyson above his right eye, and by the beginning of the third round had swelled the eye to grotesque proportions. Tyson complained to Mills Lane about the butting (which was also a problem in their first fight, which Holyfield won by TKO in the 11th round), but Lane ruled the butts unintentional.

At one point in the third round, Tyson and Holyfield were clenched, with Tyson holding Holyfield's arms at his sides. Then, out of nowhere, Tyson sought out Holyfield's right ear and bit it hard, causing Holyfield to yelp in pain and jump away. Tyson had actually bit part of the ear off, and spat it across the ring shortly thereafter.

Referee Mills Lane called time and examined Holyfield. Meanwhile, Tyson went to his corner and waited. After seeing the damage Tyson had caused, he went to ringside and told Nevada state athletic commissioner Bruce Ratner that he was going to disqualify Tyson immediately. However, Lane stopped himself and checked with ringside doctor Flip Homansky, who assured him that Holyfield could continue the fight. With that bit of information, Lane deducted two points from Tyson for the bite, and ordered the fight to continue.

After a few more seconds, Tyson sought out Holyfield's left ear and bit it, though not with as much force as the other ear. Lane immediately disqualified Tyson, who went ballistic in the ring, fighting off anyone who tried to control him. He even went as far as to shove Holyfield from behind, touching off a melee that the police had to be called in to control.

As a result of this and other behavior, Tyson was banned from boxing for one year and fined $3 million for biting Evander Holyfield on both ears. It also shocked the 16,000 people at ringside and the millions watching. Tyson's excuse was that Holyfield was headbutting and Tyson was retaliating. One of Tyson's former trainers, Teddy Atlas had actually predicted before the fight that Tyson would deliberately get himself disqualified.

Labels: boxing, celebrity, Mike Tyson, sport, usa

Sport is able to conjure magic. In the capital of South Korea, on Friday 1st June 2002, Senegal, at its first World Cup, beat France, the champion of the world and Senegal's former colonial master, 1-0. The solitary goal, scored by a big midfielder, Pape Bouba Diop., is featured as one of the best 10 of the tournament!

Labels: france, japan, senegal, soccer, south korea, sport

On the 28th of May 1957, the National League gave permission for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team to move to Los Angeles.

Labels: sport, usa