What’s the buzz from the world of sports? Here are some items that will have people talking:
1
Remember back in July when Pablo Sandoval and Melky Cabrera made the All-Star Game in Kansas City their personal playground?
It was Cabrera who was honored as MVP that night after an 8-0 National League victory in what turned out to be giving the Giants home-field advantage for the World Series.
You know the rest of the story: Cabrera was busted for performance-enhancing drugs and didn’t play from mid-August on. But he did help the NL get home-field for the World Series, he did help the Giants win games, and it just so happened the Giants made it to the World Series — and WON!
The naysayers will be coming out of the woodwork today and beyond, but it took more than just Melky Cabrera for the Giants to win this title.
2
As Associated Press writer Jeff Latzke put it: “The first big dose of small-market reality has hit the Oklahoma City Thunder.”
The Thunder couldn’t give James Harden the money he was seeking, so Harden is now a member of the Houston Rockets.
One key piece to OKC’s run to last season’s NBA Finals will get his dough 445 miles to the south.
To OKC’s credit, general manager Sam Presti has taken the high road after trading the Sixth Man of the Year. However, he must know that this may very well be the beginning of the end.
In the long run, the OKC’s of the NBA world are not likely to be able to outspend the likes of Miami, L.A. and Boston for prime talent.
3
Serena Williams won the WTA Championship tournament on Sunday, but didn’t finish 2012 as the No. 1 female tennis player in the world.
A sluggish start to the season kept her points lower than Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova.
Still, Williams showed in Istanbul that even though she will have a rank of No. 3, she might as well be called the best in the world.
After all, she did just beat both Azarenka and Sharapova at the elite eight year-end tournament.
Williams finished the year with a 59-4 record and seven titles.
Since her first-round loss at the French Open, she is 31-1, winning Wimbledon, the Olympic gold medal and the U.S. Open.
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