My Best of Weekly Sports 2013

My Picks for Best in Sport for the Week Ending Monday, July 29, 2013

• Joint Team of the Week: Waikato Chiefs, in defeating the Canterbury Crusaders by one point to secure their second straight home Super-15 final.
• Joint Team of the Week: US Men's Nation Soccer Team, winner of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Real Salt Lake Players Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman both showed prominently.
• Coach of the Week: Jurgen Klinsmann in taking the US Team to the championship and in making his charges better and better with each game.

My Picks for Best in Sport for the Week Ending Monday, July 22, 2013

• Joint Team of the Week: The Queensland Maroons, winners of the ARL State-of-Origin series against New South Wales, for eight years in a row.
• Joint Team of the Week:  Team Sky Racing, with Aussie Richie Porte and all the guys who helped Chris Froome become a Grand Tour winner. A total team effort.
• Athlete of the Week: Chris Froome, for his runaway victory in the grueling Tour de France by over five minutes from the next guy. He swears he is not drugs tainted, and I hope so for the sake of this much tainted sport.
• Young Gun of the Week: Nairo Quintana, Young Rider of the Tour and King of the Mountain. A young man from Colombia going places... fast!
• Event of the Week: The 100th Edition of the Tour de France by far, what a wonderful, exciting and tactical race.
• Come from Behind Victory of the Week: Phil Mickelson, for his victory at the British Open in Muirfield, Scotland.

My Picks for Best in Sport for the Week Ending Monday, July 8, 2013

• Male Athlete of the Week: Andy Murray, for his straight sets victory in the final of Wimbledon over Novak Djokovic and becoming the first male Briton (Scot) to win at the Championships for 77 years.
• Team of the Week: Mike and Bob Bryan, winning their 15th tennis Grand Slam, and the first team to hold all four major titles and the Olympic gold medal at the same time.
• Coach of the Week: Ivan Lendl for taking his charge Andy Murray to new heights at Wimbledon and to No. 2 in the world.

My Picks for Best in Sport for the Week Ending Monday, June 10, 2013

• Male Athlete of the Week: Rafael Nadal, for winning the French Open for a record eighth time. He beat compatriot and good friend David Ferrer who reached his first Grand Slam final 6–3, 6–2, 6–3.
• Female Athlete of the Week: Serena Williams, for beating Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4 in the French Open final, and completing a career Grand Slam of all four majors.
• Coach of the Week: Toni Nadal, uncle of Rafael Nadal, who has helped his nephew to be a former Woeld No. 1 and eight straight French Open titles.

My Picks for Best in Sport for the Week Ending Monday, May 27, 2013

• Team of the Week: Bayern Munich, for their 2-1 win in the UEFA Champions League Final over Borussia Dortmund (I was again, cheering for the eventual loser, Dortmund).
• Story of the Week: Germany producing both UEFA Champions League finalists.

My Picks for Best in Sport for the Week Ending Monday, April 15, 2013

• Athlete of the Week: Adam Scott, winner of the U.S. Masters in Augusta. It was Scott's first major championship and the first time an Australian won the Masters.

My Picks for Best in Sport for the Week Ending Monday, February 4, 2013

• Team of the Week: Baltimore Ravens, for their eventually nailbiting 34-31 win over the San Francisco 49ers in the Blackout Bowl. (I was supporting the Forty-Niners).
• Athlete of the Week: Joe Flacco, quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens and the Superbowl MVP.
• Fumble of the Week: Jim Harbaugh, the 49ers coach, for not letting Alex Smith get some Superbowl minutes, and orchestrate a possible come-from-behind win with his first-string QB making plenty of mistakes.