Jimmie Johnson will officially pick up his fourth straight NASCAR Cup title when the Sprint Cup series comes to a close at Homestead Sunday.
Winning consecutive championships is hard enough, but winning four in a row is an amazing feat.
So why isn’t anyone making a fuss over Johnson’s reign?
NASCAR, despite breaking into the mainstream in the past 15 years, is still considered a secondary sport when compared to football, baseball and basketball – especially with sports bettors. But we haven’t seen anything close to Johnson’s consistent excellence in any of those sports.
The only other active athletes that compare to the No. 48 in terms of winning in their respective sports are names like Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Michael Phelps – household names that will go down in history among the greatest athletes ever.
A lot of people discount Johnson – and all motor sports - because they think the car does all the work. Those doubters have never been to a NASCAR race or held onto the steering wheel of a vehicle going upwards of 200 miles per hour. And if they have, they've never been just inches from other cars in front, to the sides and in the rear.
As the New Year gets closer and we wave goodbye to the aughts, there will be plenty of Top 10 lists for the decade being compiled. And if Johnson's name isn’t among the Top 5 Best Athletes of the Last 10 Years, it’s a crime.
There are a lot of pissed off Cleveland Cavaliers fans out there. And all that animosity is directed toward reigning NBA MVP LeBron James.
No, it’s not the LeBron-to-Los Angeles rumors or the red carpet awaiting him in New York. It’s the fact that Cavs fans might have to shell out another $50-plus for a James jersey next year – depending on if the All-Star sticks around.
The Chosen One told TNT Thursday that he is switching his jersey number from 23 to 6 at the end of this year in honor of Michael Jordan and all the Hall of Famer has done for the game of basketball.
"He can't get the logo [Hall of Famer Jerry West's silhouette adorns the NBA's logo], and if he can't, something has to be done. I feel like no NBA player should wear 23. I'm starting a petition, and I've got to get everyone in the NBA to sign it. Now, if I'm not going to wear No. 23, then nobody else should be able to wear it."
According to ESPN, there are currently 12 other players sporting 23 on their backs this season. Some notables included Marcus Camby, Jason Richardson and Kevin Martin.
We’ve seen players make the jersey jump in recent years including Kobe Bryant, who went from No. 8 to No. 24, which was his high school jersey number.
Even MJ did the switch when he came out of retirement the first time, wearing No. 45 instead so that his father, who was murdered the following offseason would have seen his son’s last game in the No. 23 Bulls jersey. Jordan eventually switched back to his famous number in the playoffs and wore it until he finally retired as a Washington Wizard in 2003.
When Bryant made the switch to No. 24, his jersey jumped past LeBron and Dwyane Wade in terms of the best selling NBA jerseys. Which leaves some to wonder, how much of this change in digits is a true statement or a cunning ploy (whether it be by the player or league) to bring in more cash?
I guess we’ll see in a few years. James says choosing No. 6 is a tribute to his second-favorite player, Julius Erving. Perhaps when those No. 6 jerseys get a little long in the tooth, LeBron will switch it up again – you know, to honor Dr. J.
Betjamaica.com currently has the Cavaliers set at +175 to win the Eastern Conference title.
There's always a lot of chatter surrounding the Dallas Cowboys. You can add Super Bowl talk to that roaring chorus.
The Cowboys just walked into the Philadelphia and took control of the NFC East with a hard-fought 20-16 win over the Eagles. Dallas has now won four straight games and has done so with what many considered to be its biggest weaknesses.
The questionable secondary has been anything but in recent weeks. The Cowboys pass rush is helping keep things breezy for the defensive backfield, which picked off Donovan McNabb twice in Sunday night's victory.
The other so-called weakness was the Dallas' pass attack, which hung over 300 yards on the Eagles ninth-ranked pass defense. Tony Romo is playing the best football of his short career and should be considered among MVP candidates this season.
Not only does the win over Philadelphia put them on top of the division, it is also a building block. The Cowboys do have ho-hum wins over teams like Kansas City, Tampa Bay and Seattle. But taking a win from the Eagles – in Lincoln Financial is no easy task for even the elite NFL clubs.
The big, prime-time victory on the road is something that has eluded Dallas squads of the past. The Cowboys are always considered among the best teams “on paper” just about every season. Now, with this W in their win column, they are among the best teams on the field.
Dallas has another tough test on the road next week, heading to Lambeau Field. Then has two should-win game against Washington and Oakland at home. The Cowboys could easily be 9-2 heading into a rematch with the crumbling New York Giants in Week 13.
Where do we go from here?
Fedor Emelianenko, like Vegas odds predicted, scored a victory over Brett Rogers at Strikeforce's prime-time event on CBS Saturday night.
Early in the second round, he landed a thunderous right hand that floored the bigger Rogers and finished him off with strikes on the ground, forcing referee John McCarthy to stop the fight. But up until that split-second shot, a lot of MMA experts would have scored the first round to Rogers.
The American began the fight with a snap jab which broke Emelianenko's nose and then took the fight to the ground, landing punches on the bloodied Russian. Rogers also showed some solid defense, using his brute strength to slip out of would-be arm bars and kimuras.
The rematch talk was thrown around during the post-fight interviews, but is that what mixed martial arts fans really want to see?
Emelianenko still has two fights left on his contract with Strikeforce and, pending a rematch with Rogers, will be fed a couple more tomato cans.
He's 33 years old and appears to be on the decline. He looked soft and fatter Saturday than I have ever seen. He's never been the model physic but it looks like he was hitting the buffet more than the gym.
And how motivated can you be to train for guys who were changing tires at Sam's Club a year before stepping into the cage with you?
Eventually, one of two things will happen:
Fedor's slumming eventually catches up with him. Whether it's against Rogers again or another fighter. If he continues to slide like I suspect, he will tarnish his legacy – which will always have the lack of an UFC resume.
Or, Fedor rolls his next two opponents and calls it quits. Takes the money and runs back to Russian with MMA fans left daydreaming about what could have been.
Neither of these situations involve The Last Emperor making the jump to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Fight fans won't get to see Fedor vs. Lesnar or Fedor vs. whoever.
With every fight, he gets another battle older, another battle fatter and another battle further from the UFC.
Our loss.
PS: For a card many fans poo-pooed, there were some good fights tonight. Kudos to Strikeforce. Competition makes everyone better.
UFC 104 was a night of surprises for me.
For one, I actually did well with my picks going 4-for-5 after feeling like a Madden curse for MMA fighters the last couple events.
Second, Maurico Rua surprised me with the way he controlled the pace of the bout and had Lyoto Machida on the defense all night.
But the biggest surprise came when ring announcer Bruce Buffer announced Machida was the winner by unanimous decision after taking a beating for five rounds. Sure, I'm happy I cashed my ticket and that my column on Machida winning the light heavyweight title fight wasn't thrown in my face.
But Shogun Rua was screwed.
I know it. You know it. Rua knows it. Even Machida knows it.
Joe Rogan nearly bit through his tongue he was holding it so hard in the post-fight interviews. The judges did such a bad job of scoring the fight – if they really did score it – they make Golden Boy Promotions panel look good. Fight fans haven't seen a screw job this raw since Vince McMahon pulled the plug on Brett Hart back in '97. The fight was fake but the outcome was very, very real.
It makes you think that maybe Dana White and his big-money buddies had some heavy action on "The Dragon" at -500. The claws of Las Vegas can stretch as far as Los Angeles.
But whether Saturday night's decision was an honest mistake or call made from up on top, this controversial finish would hopefully spawn a rematch. However, with the UFC's recent push for superbouts and a guy like Anderson Silva calling the shots, MMA fans are more likely to see Silva-Rua than Machida-Rua 2. Rua may never get another shot at the 205-pound title - which should be his after handling one of the sports' top fighters.
Sorry, Shogun. In a sport as primitive and natural as MMA, politics have reared their ugly head. Mixed martial arts has battled hard to become a “real” sport in the eyes of doubters. And just like other “real” sports, sometimes the outcome of the game doesn't always happen on the field – or this case the cage. Sometimes the final decision comes from a front office desk or a ring-side seat.