December 16th, 2008 - Famous Sporting Families

My final article is on Deidre Freeman, a diver at the University of Iowa. Deidre's dream is to become an Olympic diver. She's already making waves in her sport (excuse the pun). Her freshman year at Iowa she led the team in one-meter and three-meter dives and recorded eight top-five finishes. As a sophomore she ranked eighth all-time at Iowa in one-meter diving and fifth all-time in three-meter diving. She was also an academic all-Big Ten letterwinner. Needless to say, she's holding her own in her family.

Although her dream to become an Olympian is an amazing feat, it only seems natural to her because both her parents went to the Olympic trials. Her mom competed in the high jump at the Canadian Olympic trials before the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. Her dad competed in U.S. pole vaulting trials in those years as well.

In celebration of this sporting family phenomenon I'm doing my blog component on famous kids of famous athlete parents. First I'll name off some famous father-son duos, next father-daughter and last, kids of famous athlete parents.
I also added on a few athete couples who are looking to have kids in the near future.

Like father like son-
1. Felipe Alou and Moises Alou (Baseball - MLB)
2. Bobby Bonds and Barry Bonds (Baseball - MLB)
3. Ralph Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Racing - NASCAR)
4. Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. (Baseball - MLB)
5. Gordie Howe and Mark Howe (Hoceky - NHL & WHA)
6. Archie Manning, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning (Football - NFL)
7. Ken Norton and Ken Norton Jr. (Boxing)
8. Gilles Villeneuve and Jacques Villeneuve (Racing - F1)
9. Boby Hull and (Hockey - NHL)
10. Al Unser and (Racing - Indy Car)
11. Calvin Hill and Grant Hill (Football - NFL)
12. Yannick Noah and Joakim Noah (Tennis)
13. In Wright, Bradley Wright-Phillips and Shaun Wright (Soccer - PREM)
14. Yogi Berra, Dale Berra and Tim Berra (Baseball - MLB, Football - NFL)
15. Bill Walton and Luke Walton(Basketball - NBA)
16. Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti and Marco Andretti (Racing - Indy Car)
17. Lee Petty and Richard Petty (Racing - NASCAR)
18. Man o' War and War Admiral (Horse Racing)
19. Jimmy Walker and Jalen Rose (Basketball - NBA)
20. Bob Greise and Brian Greise (Football - NFL)
21. Joe Bryant and Kobe Bryant (Basketball)

Like father like daughter-
1. Muhammad Ali and Laila Ali (Boxing)
2. Nate Williams and Natalie Williams (Basketball - NBA & WNBA)
3. Valeri Liukin and Anna Kotchneva Liukin - Nastia Liukin (Gymnastics)
4. Michael Carter and Michelle Carter (Shot put)
5. Robbie Nay and Meagen Nay (Swimming)

Children of famous athletes -
1. Nancy Chaffee (Tennis) and Ralph Kiner (Baseball) - had three children before divorcing
2. Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner (Gymnastics) - had a baby boy in 2006
3. Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi (Tennis) - have two children, Jaden Gil and Jaz
4. Mia Hamm (Soccer) and Nomar Garciaparra (Baseball) - gave birth to twin girls in 2007
5. Julianne McNamara (Gymnastics) and Todd Zeile (Baseball) - have four children
6. Ann Meyers (Basketball) and Don Drysdale (Baseball)- had three children
7. Kristi Yamaguchi (Ice Skating) and Bret Hedican (Hockey) - have two daughters
8. Sara Renner (Cross Country Skiing) and Thomas Grandi (Technical Skiing) - have a baby daughter named Aria
9. Gabrielle Reece (Volleyball) and Laird Hamilton (Surfing) - have a daughter named Reece
10. Jennie Finch (Softball) and Casey Daigle (Baseball) - have a young son called Ace

Kids soon...maybe -
1. Misty May (Volleyball) and Matt Treanor (Baseball)
2. Kerri Walsh and Casey Jennings (Volleyball)

Deceber 12th, 2008 - That Time of Year Again

It's time to vote for the 2008 Players of the Year. There is a player of the year for each spot on the field and the coach, so there are 12 winners in all. The winners will round out the 2008 Team of the Year. The choices of players and coaches comes from a group of nominees picked by the uefa.com's staff writers based on their displays for club and country in 2008.

And the nominees are...

Goalkeepers: René Adler (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Igor Akinfeev (PFC CSKA Moskva), Iker Casillas (Real Madrid CF), Petr Čech (Chelsea FC), Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United FC)

Right backs: Aleksandr Anyukov (FC Zenit St. Petersburg), José Boswingwa (Chelsea FC), Maicon (FC Internazionale Milano), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid CF), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal FC)

Left Backs: Joan Capdevila (Villarreal CF), Patrice Evra (Manchester United FC), Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), Yuri Zhirkov (PFC CSKA Moskva)

Central Defenders: Jamie Carragher (Liverpool FC), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea FC), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United FC), Carlos Marchena (Valencia CF), Pepe (Real Madrid CF), Carles Puyol (FC Barcelona), John Terry (Chelsea), Tomáš Ujfaluši (Club Atlético de Madrid), Nemanja Vidić (Manchester United FC)

Central Midfielders: Mehmet Aurélio (Real Betis Balompié), Xavi Hernández (FC Barcelona), Marcos Senna (Villarreal CF), Anatoliy Tymoshchuk (FC Zenit St. Petersburg), Konstantin Zyryanov (FC Zenit St. Petersburg)

Right Midfielders: Hamit Altıntop (FC Bayern München), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool FC), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United FC), Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München), Javier Zanetti (FC Internazionale Milano)

Left Midfielders: Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona), Franck Ribéry (FC Bayern München), Arjen Robben (Real Madrid CF), David Silva (Valencia CF), Wesley Sneijder (Real Madrid CF)

Attacking Midfielders: Andrei Arshavin (FC Zenit St. Petersburg), Michael Ballack (Chelsea FC), Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal FC), Frank Lampard (Chelsea FC), Luka Modrić (Tottenham Hotspur FC)

Forwards: Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal FC), Sergio Agüero (Club Atlético de Madrid), Karim Benzema (Olympique Lyonnais), Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus), Daniel Güiza (Fenerbahçe SK), Zlatan Ibrahimović (FC Internazionale Milano), Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United FC), Fernando Torres (Liverpool FC), David Villa (Valencia CF)

Coaches: Dick Advocaat (FC Zenit St. Petersburg), Luis Aragonés (Spain/ Fenerbahçe SK), Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United FC), Temuri Ketsbaia (Anorthosis Famagusta FC), Fatih Terim (Turkey)

Manchester United FC, the European champions, have the most nominees with seven and the Champions League runners-up Chelsea have six. UEFA Cup winners FC Zenit St. Petersburg earned five nominations along with Spanish champions Real Madrid CF. There are 20 clubs have players or coaches involved, while 14 members of Spain's UEFA EURO 2008™-winning squad, including coach Luis Aragonés, have been nominated.

And the winners are...(at least what I think they should be)

Goalkeeper: Igor Akinfeev - Youngest first-choice goalkeeper at UEFA EURO 2008 and UEFA European Championship semi-finalist with Russia.

Right back: José Boswingwa - Selected for Team of the Tournament at UEFA EURO 2008.

Left back: Philipp Lahm - Had a huge leadership presence for Germany as they reach final of UEFA EURO 2008. He scored late winning goal in his first at international level since 2006 FIFA World Cup opening match. In the semi-finals he wins Man of the Match award. Selected for UEFA Team of the Tournament.

Central defender: Tomáš Ujfaluši - Captain of Czech Republic at UEFA EURO 2008™ and made his UEFA Champions League debut at 30.

Central midfielder: Anatoliy Tymoshchuk - Led FC Zenit St. Petersburg to UEFA Cup win, UEFA Super Cup winner, and reached 80 international caps for Ukraine.

Right midfielder: Cristiano Ronaldo - His awards speak for themselves. UEFA Champions League winner and top scorer, Premier League champion and top scorer and England's Footballer of the Year.

Left midfielder: Wesley Sneijder - Two-time Man of the Match winner at UEFA EURO 2008. He always come up big when his team needs him. Example clincher wins: Villarreal CF and France. Amazingly returned earlier than expected from injury to win 49th and 50th caps for Netherlands in FIFA World Cup qualifying wins against Iceland and Norway.

Attacking midfielder: Andrei Arshavin - He was the Man of the Match in UEFA Cup final and led Russia to UEFA EURO 2008 semi-finals. Was also a finalist for the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year.

Forward: Lionel Messi - He's the best in the world.

Coach: Fatih Terim Takes - He took Turkey to UEFA EURO 2008™ semi-finals and inspired Turkey to three comeback victories. He has coached this team to be unbeaten in it's quest to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Click here to actually vote for your favorite players at uefa.com. You have until January 12th to cast your real vote.

December 6, 2008 - Inspirational Indeed

I needed a little inspiration to get me through this hell week of papers and final projects. This is what I found. Needless to say I got my butt in gear after I watched this.