Author: tobygriff

By the Deputy Beast of Sport

Russia is dominating the women’s rhythmic and artistic gymnastics at the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan that started with the opening ceremony on June 12. Aliya Mustafena, who won several gold medals in the 2012 Olympics is doing very well, although she had some wobbles in her floor routine, and landed outside of the square and got a red flag! The Russians won gold in both team artistic gymnastics (which includes the floor, beam, uneven bars and vault) and in group rhythmic gymnastics. The Russian group was a bit sloppy in their routine using hoops and batons, but their ribbon routine was outstanding and was enough to keep the lead and win it for them. Individual competitions are up next, with the women’s all-around final tomorrow. Meanwhile, in another gymnastic discipline called acrobatics, which is also group work, Belgium may end up beating Russia. Check out this link and stay tuned! 
http://www.baku2015.com/news/article/belgium-women-team-pole-for-acrobatic-gymnastics-gold.html

The Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers gave us an extraordinary series in which both teams played their hearts out. With the Series tied at 2-2 (largely because of Lebron James) the Warriors hoped to get an important win as they would then have a series clinching game 6 in San Francisco (the home of the Warriors.) The Cavs were yet again fueled by James but if it is one man v the other team it is quite hard to win the NBA championship. The Warriors played great team basketball and steamrolled the Cavaliers 91-104. The result was great for the Warriors and devastating for the Cavaliers as they had had a 2-1 lead in the series going into game 4. The Cavaliers now had to play an elimination game away from home (which puts on extra pressure). The Cavs fell behind early in game 6 and never really found their way back. Again, the only reason the Cavs got close was that Lebron James played his heart out, pouring all his remaining energy into game 6. Despite James’s magic, the Cavs could not come up with the clutch win necessary and the Warriors beat them for the third time in a row. The sad truth is that James was the only reason that the Cavaliers were such a formidable force this year and he will be hoping to have another astonishing year next year. The Warriors played so well this year and this is no less than they deserve as they played quality basketball all year long. This is the end of a great year in the NBA and I’m sure that we all hope that next year will be just as good.

Bonjour!  The Beast of Sport is coming to you from France for now and so to a story with a French flavor.  Last Saturday Stade Français from Paris beat Clermont Auvergne 12-6 in the final of the Top 14.  This was heartbreaking for Clermont as it was the second final it lost this year having lost the Champions Cup final a few weeks ago to Toulon.  It was also the 11th defeat for Clermont in 12 visits to the final.  They are known as the eternal bridesmaids of French rugby.  On the bright side of things, Clermont are only a small town from central France and they have gotten to the final an incredible 12 times and done really well in Europe.  They should be proud of that tradition and keep trying.  Also on the bright side of things it was great to see Italian legend Sergio Parisse lift the trophy for Stade Français.
Le Bête du Sport.

On June 10, the Golden State Warriors took the Cleveland Cavaliers with the series split at one game each. It was a gritty battle and in the end Lebron James’s dominant performance prevailed and Stephen Curry continued to struggle. James posted 40 points and has been very dominant during the finals. The final score was 96-91 to Cleveland and the Warriors were devastated at the end because they had a inspiring run just before the buzzer. The Cavs went into game 4 feeling confident. That was quickly wiped away and the Warriors creamed the Cavaliers 103-82.  Despite Curry continuing to disappoint, the Warriors found help from different players and played great team basketball. Both teams managed to subdue their best players as James and Curry combined for only 42 points, Lebron had 44 points in game 1. Game 5 is tomorrow at three in the morning so stay in touch for the results later this week. 
The Beast of Sport

On June 26 2014, during the group stages of the World Cup, Germany beat USA 1-0 in a hard fought battle. Despite the loss, USA advanced to the knock out stages of the World Cup only to be eliminated by Belgium. 

This week, USA and Germany played a friendly match once again but this time for fun. Germany came out of the gates strong and got their reward with a great team goal finished perfectly by Mario Götze. USA trailed Germany 1-0 for the majority of the first half. Then Mix Diskerud scored a beautiful goal to get the USA level. The two teams battled for most of the second half and it looked like it was going to be a gritty draw. But Bobby Wood had other ideas as he shimmied past one defender and then struck a perfect daisy cutter (a daisy cutter is when the ball skims across the top of grass and would chop off the head of a daisy) into the bottom left hand corner. The goal was scored with just three minutes remaining and the USA managed to hold on for the 2-1 win. It was the second straight time that these two teams have played a gutsy and gritty battle that was inspiring to watch. Both teams played their hearts out and in the end the team that played better on the day won. The victory shocked everybody and I am sure that the Americans will go into the next World Cup qualifiers with heaps of confidence.

On Tuesday, Giants rookie Chris Heston went up against a hot Mets lineup and amazingly pitched a no hitter! A no hitter is when the pitcher doesn’t allow any hits through the regular nine innings.  It is called a “no no” because there are no hits and no runs.

It is very rare to see a no hitter let alone when a rookie does it! Heston was only the third Giants rookie to ever pitch a no hitter. The last time a Giants rookie did that was back in 1912. Heston is a truly gifted pitcher and I hope that we will see him in the big leagues for many more seasons!

http://espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=350609121

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Here is the Beast of Sport’s first ever video interview with Mike Goldberg, super lawyer for the Houston Rockets!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DTjkZk4D6FM  

The NBA is big business, which is why the Houston Rockets turn to international lawyer Mike Goldberg of the international law firm Baker Botts for its key deals. We were lucky enough to learn that Mike Goldberg was on a business trip to London and we took the opportunity to ask him for an interview. Fortunately, he managed to carve out just enough time for an exclusive interview with the Beast of Sport. We met on a sunny afternoon in June at the Waldorf Hotel in Central London where he was speaking at a conference.

To get the ball rolling, I asked Mr Goldberg what he liked best about his job for the Rockets? He said that one of the best things was being able to give Rockets t-shirts to good young bloggers/vloggers/reporters like me. (He then gave me an awesome Rockets t-shirt.)

We also asked him if he plays Basketball himself? He said that he did and that he loves to play. In fact he told us that the last shot he took was a three pointer at Toyota Center (The home of the Rockets), but then he said he just walked off the court because there was no way he was taking another shot in case he missed!

We then got down to the serious questions and I asked him if he gets any special perks (like good seats, talking to players and stuff like that).  He responded that he did. One of the cool things is that he gets to park his car were the players park their cars. He also gets to have front row seats so that he can get up close to the players and listen to the manager’s team talk (which is extremely  cool).

I was curious to find out what was the most exciting thing he ever did as a lawyer for the Rockets, so that was my next question. The answer was really interesting. Mr Goldberg was involved in the the signings of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. The Yao Ming deal was especially interesting because, although it was not a trade, he had to go to China and conduct negotiations with the Chinese Government. Even here at the Beast of Sport HQ we think that must have been so cool!  Here is some press from the time about Mr Goldberg’s role in the signing:  http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/story?id=1399417

Next I asked him what was the most the Rockets had ever agreed to pay a player?  He told me that the salary cap was $20 million, meaning that 1 player could cost at most 20 million a year, but he added that the salary cap was going up somewhere along the lines of $50 million.

We were then curious to learn what the difference was between a lawyer and an agent. He said that he usually negotiated with the players’ agents, so they are on the other side of the negotiations.

Then to cap it off, we asked if the players’ contracts are secret or can everybody read them? He told me that everybody cannot read them but, most of the time, the information leaks out one way or another. It is normally the player’s agent that leak the salary information. You also have to give the contracts to the NBA so they can approve them.

Mike Goldberg is a big part of the Rockets organization and we are so grateful that he gave us an interview (and a cool t-shirt).

The Beast of Sport

From the Deputy Beast of Sport

The women’s FIFA World Cup continued yesterday in Winnipeg, Canada. In the first game, Nigeria played Sweden and the awesome game ended in a 3-3 draw. The U.S. and Australia went head to head in the second game. The U.S. girls were victorious with a 3-1 win. Coming up today, England will play France, Spain face Costa Rica and Columbia battle Mexico. Stay tuned for more about this exciting tournament from DBOS. I love soccer and play on the Eagles team in London!

Last week, I told you about Game 1 of the NBA Championship series and (as you would know if you read the blog post) Golden State won Game 1. Game 2 took place in San Francisco, Golden State’s home court, so Cleveland was playing away again. Lebron James notched his second straight triple double in Game 2 and the fifth of his career. James had 39 points, 11 assists and 16 rebounds in Game 2 as the Cavaliers overcame the Warriors 95-93. It was an amazing game and, like Game 1 before it, went into overtime. Only this time, the Cavaliers managed to hold off the Warriors and tie the series at one game apiece. Curry struggled in Game 2 posting only 19 points in the total game. Lebron was totally in control and the Cavs managed to gut out a crucial Game 2 win.