Welcome to the March sports blog, where this month we hit the hardwood, tackle the pitch, and offer up a bit of record potpourri from an eclectic sports calendar page of 2014.
On this April 1, we start with a basketball team basically pulling a season-long April Fool's frank on its fans.
BASKETBALL JONES
Normally, we tend to celebrate the best in record-breaking – “Officially Amazing”/higher, faster, stronger; that whole thing.
But sometimes you have to acknowledge records broken the other way. Enter the Philadelphia 76ers.
Losers of 26 straight before surprisingly destroying the Pistons by 25 on Saturday, the Sixers tied the 2010-11 Clevaland Cavaliers’ record for most consecutive losses by an NBA team. That Cavs team was reeling after the loss of LeBron James, while this Sixers team is unabashedly taking its roster back to square one. All this for a chance - at best only a 25% chance - to score the No. 1 pick in this year's draft. Good thing Philadelphia sports fans are traditionally known for patience and mild manners...
SOCCER SAMPLER
Luis Suarez continues to rampage through the Barclays Premier League. His Liverpool are top of the table and the Uruguayan owns 29 goals in 27 games - after missing five on suspension, don't forget. With six matches left, he now stands just two goals behind the Premier League record 31 in one season by Alan Shearer and Cristiano Ronaldo, in 38-game seasons. And, remarkably, Suarez is only five goals behind the record 34 set by Andy Cole and Shearer again in the old 42-game seasons.
Kicking it around elsewhere: Bayern Munich - not a bad year. The German superpower just saw one impressive streak come to an end, while another continued: their 19 straight wins is the most ever in a Bundesliga season, ended by a 3-3 draw over the weekend. Still, the champs remain unbeaten for another Bundesliga-record 53 games.
And we guess Alejandro Bernal had a hot date March 11. That night, he set the record for the fastest time to be sent off in a Copa Libertadores match. The Atletico Nacional man saw red after just 27 seconds against Nacional de Uruguay, breaking a 40-year-old record that had stood at 40 seconds by Rosario Central's Jorge José Gonzalez.
AROUND THE WORLD
Miguel Cabrera can hit. And now he can pick up the dinner check for the rest of his life. The Detroit Tigers third baseman and first MLB triple crown winner since 1967 inked an 8-year contract extension this month to his existing 2-year deal, taking his total contract to a 10-year pact worth $292 million (£175.4 million). It surpasses Alex Rodriguez's 10-year, $275 million contract signed in 2007 as the largest in baseball history. Chicks dig the long ball.
On the good side of the NBA, Kyle Korver continued his own streak into March. The Atlanta Hawks sharpshooter took the NBA record for most consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 127 before finally going blank from deep on March 6.
Dallas Seaveymade history in Alaska's bitter cold, winning the 2014 Iditarod in the fastest time ever. The two-time champ and his dogs mushed the 1,000-mile course in 8 days, 14 hr, 4 min, 19 sec.
And we don't often talk chess around here, but special recognition should go out to Judit Polgar. She surpassed a silver anniversary this month as t he longest time a female player has been consecutively ranked chess world number one - 25 years and 1 month.
That does it for March! With April on the way, we have baseball returning, a couple of great soccer league races coming down to the wire and, thankfully, warm weather around the corner. See you next month!
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