True Pioneers in Sports History: Larry Doby

Happy Birthday Raymond Berry

This Day in Sports History - 2/24/1982

Wayne Gretzky sets a new NHL season goal-scoring record during a 6 - 3 Oilers victory over the Sabres in Buffalo. Gretzky came into the contest with 76 goals on the season, tied with Phil Esposito's 76 for the Boston Bruins in 1970-71. He gets his 77th with the score 3 - 3 at 13:24 of the third period on an unassisted goal past Buffalo netminder Don Edwards. Before the night is done, he adds two more goals, at 18:16 and 19:43, as Esposito stands by to hand him the game puck.

Andy Pettitte & Trevor Hoffman

The final two players on my 25 Free Agents to watch are Andy Pettitte and Trevor Hoffman. Both players decided to retire instead of returning for another season. Pettitte has a career record of 240 - 138 and 2,251 strikeouts. He also has the most postseason wins with 19. Hoffman, who started as a SS in the Minor-Leagues, had 601 career saves. Included in that were nine seasons of 40 or more saves. Hoffman is known for his change-up like Bruce Sutter is known for his splitter or Mariano Rivera is known for his cutter.

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Orlando Cabrera

The Cleveland Indians signed Orlando Cabrera to a one year contract. He'll move from SS to 2B to allow Asdrubal Cabrera (no relation) to stay at SS. Cabrera has 1,948 career hits and has won 2 Gold Gloves. From 2007-2010 Cabrera has played for 4 different teams and have helped each of them make the playoffs.

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Happy Birthday Jim Brown

Greatest Coaches Countdown - #34 Tom Osborne

Sport: College Football

Stops: Nebraska (1973 - 1997)

Record: 255 - 49 - 3 (.836 Winning Percentage)

Championships: 3

Fun Facts

1. Osborne ended his career in style, from 1994 - 1997 Nebraska went 49-2 and won 3 National Championships
2. He is the only coach to retire as the reigning national champion
3. From 2001 - 2007 Osborne was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Nebraska's 3rd district

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Johnny Damon

The Tampa Bay Rays signed Johnny Damon. He re-joins former Boston teammate Manny Ramirez who was also signed by the Rays. Damon will spend time in LF, DH and perhaps even a little at 1B. Damon has 385 career stolen bases and is a career .287 hitter. More than the statistics that Damon has accumulated over his career, he has shown to be a team leader which is something the Rays need with a very young team.

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Happy Birthday Darrell Green

Vladimir Guerrero

The Baltimore Orioles signed DH Vlad Guerrero to a one year contract. Last season he helped lead the Texas Rangers to the World Series as he batted .300with 29 HRs and 115 RBIs. He joins a team that has already added 1B Derrek Lee, SS J.J. Hardy and 3B Mark Reynolds this off-season. The Orioles also have good young players like C Matt Wieters, OFs Adam Jones and Nick Markakis. This mix of young and old should help the Orioles offense throughout this season.

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My Four Favorite Commercials from Super Bowl XLV

One week ago, like many other people I was watching Super Bowl 45 between the Packers and Steelers. I was at a Super Bowl party with about 30 people and I was probably the only one there who actually cared about watching the game. As much as I enjoy watching the game I do love the commercials. Here are my favorite four from this year's Super Bowl, why four?, because that's all I liked.


The first one was an NFL commercial. It combined two of my favorite things: TV shows and football.



Next is this Volkswagon commercial. It's just super-cute, simple and has some humor.



The next one is a Budweiser commercial. I haven't liked a Budweiser commercial since the "Budweiser Frogs", but this was funny and I like the song "Tiny Dancer"


The final one that I liked was this Chrysler commercial. It makes a clear point, you know what they're selling (which is more of an issue in some ads than you'd think) and it uses Eminem and one of his excellent songs.

Adam Kennedy

The Seattle Mariners signed 2B Adam Kennedy this off-season. Kennedy is 35 years old and has seen his numbers decline. He was a member of the 2002 Anaheim Angels who won the World Series. Kennedy joins a team that has veterans like Ichiro, Chone Figgins and Jack Wilson as well as youngsters like Franklin Gutierrez and Dustin Ackley. Kennedy may be a bench player for this team; but he should help bring some professionalism and a winning attitude to a team that desperately needs it.

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