Sports Then and Now

Roger Federer started strong in 2010.

Just as 2009 ended with Roger Federer atop both the ATP rankings and the Power Rankings, so it is after the first month of the 2010 season. With eight ATP tournaments and the opening Grand Slam in Australia now complete, there’s a certain déjà vu feel to proceedings, with Federer reasserting his dominance in the Majors with his 16th Slam title.

Thereafter, things have started to take on a slightly different look in both sets of rankings, starting at No. 2, where Andy Murray has gained ground at the expense of the injury-blighted Rafael Nadal.

Below them, a couple of the big men who imposed themselves on the top 10 last year, Fernando Verdasco and Robin Soderling, have lost ground to the fast-improving Marin Cilic and the slow-maturing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

So there’s much to play for as the Tour heads towards the bigger rewards of the 500 point tournaments in February and the first Masters events in March (more on that later). Read the rest of this entry →

Chastain's emotions did a 180 following last week's release by FC Gold

The unbridled show of human emotion following victory has rewarded the world with some of the most indelible images in sports history. As Wide World of Sports so aptly put it decades ago, “the thrill of victory” has provided sports fans with imagery that will remain forever fresh in the scrapbooks of our minds.

Be it Kirk Gibson limping around the bases following his late game heroics in 1988 or Bobby Orr diving across the goal mouth, a la super hero following “The Goal” in the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals, the unrehearsed and unedited show of absolute jubilation following success provides every fan with the forever and ever images that define sports.

There is perhaps no “victory point skyward” more familiar in the world of Women’s professional soccer than the raw show of emotion when soccer legend Brandi Chastain thrust her undergarments to the world following her game-winning penalty kick against China in the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Read the rest of this entry →