Author: Mikesportz

Tennessee baseball reached the mountaintop of college baseball in 2024 when Tony Vitello’s squad defeated Texas A&M in Omaha, Nebraska to win the program’s first College World Series title. It’s a moment that captivated the rise of the Vols’ program under Vitello in his six years in the manager’s chair after Tennessee had come up short in previous trips to the CWS the last three years. It’s also a moment that was shown front and center at the 2024 MLB draft, as eight Vols were selected across the three-day event, including Christian Moore going No. 8 overall to the Los…

College baseball has seen its popularity grow in leaps in bounds in recent seasons. The game continues to grow thanks to a number of reasons including because more-and-more of the top high school players in the country deciding to play in college instead of going directly to professional baseball. That theme looks like it might become even more prevalent thanks to proposed rule changes that seem imminent in college basketball. According to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger, the college baseball scholarship limit is expanding. The current 11.7 college baseball scholarship limit is spread across the 40-player roster. The proposed new rule…

Join the AW team and special guest Dame Kelly Holmes to look ahead to Paris 2024 and step back in time to the game-changing LA Olympics of 1984 The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics are the first in the event’s history to be fully gender equal, with an even number of places being offered to male and female competitors. The logo for the Games is, the organisers say, “a homage a homage to female athletes and a nod to history, as it was in 1900 at the Olympic Games in Paris that women were first allowed to compete.” …

Noah Lyles intends to stamp his unique je ne sais quoi on the Paris sprint double. IF TELEVISION COMMERCIALS and magazine covers can sway you, then yes, you probably agree that Noah Lyles is the slam-dunk favorite to win the Olympic sprint double next month. Lyles, who won the 100/200 double against the odds last summer at the Worlds in Budapest, would likely agree with you.

Iwan Thomas believes British athletes can win seven medals when the track and field programme begins at the Paris Olympics a week today, but he wants those new champions to show their personality to help elevate his beloved sport. Documentaries about Daley Thompson last week and Linford Christie this week have served as a reminder of just how big those two figures loomed over British sport in the 1980s and 90s. They were dominant on the track and huge personalities off it in a golden era for British athletics. Advertisement Hide Ad Sign up to our Sports Editor’s Team Talk…

One of the biggest storylines of Tennessee basketball’s offseason was its roster movement at center. Both Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka entered the transfer portal and the Vols replaced them with Ohio State center Felix Okpara. A 6-foot-11 center, Okpara is a fantastic athlete who blocked 83 shots last season for the Buckeyes. His athleticism is also evident on the offensive end where he’s emerged as a strong partner with Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler this summer. Advertisement – Continue Reading Below “If I’m being completely honest, watching them play together, you would think they played together for years,” Tennessee…

Hulk Hogan, visiting Detroit Lionspractice, said coach Dan Campbell would have been good in the squared circle. The pro wrestling great even came up with a nickname for Campbell: “Dirty Dan.” “He probably missed his calling,” Hogan said Thursday during a visit to the Motor City to promote his new beer brand. “I would want him as my tag-team partner because I would let him do all the work.” Hogan and Campbell stood together after practice, recording a promotional video. “Campbell-mania, brother, is going to run wild this year,” Hogan said in his familiar gravelly voice. “Super Bowl. Nothing but…

Tennessee men’s basketball has a participant in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Uroš Plavšić, who played at UT from 2019-23, is on the roster for Serbia. He’s teammates with NBA superstar Nikola Jokic and will square off against Team USA on Sunday (11:15 a.m., NBC). Serbia is part of Group C and will also play South Sudan and Puerto Rico. It met Team USA in an exhibition on July 17, with Plavšić scoring four points with one rebound in 13 minutes off the bench. Team USA won 105-79. Following his final season with the Vols in 2022-23, the 7-foot-1,…

Mark Monroe, director of the four-part HBO Max docuseries ‘Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose’ calls the baseball legend “a complicated character” Pete Rose — known by fans as “Charlie Hustle” — may have admitted to betting on baseball, but it’s less clear if he regrets it After denying allegations for decades, the baseball legend, who holds the records for the most all-time hits in the MLB, admitted in 2004 to betting on the Cincinnati Reds while he was a manager for the team in the 1980s — violating a league rule that prohibits any bets on games in which a…

Rafael Nadal has returned to singles action with victory over Bjorn Borg’s son Leo at the Nordea Open in Sweden. The pairing of the names of the two best men’s clay-courters of the Open era provoked excitement within tennis, although 21-year-old Leo appears unlikely to have a career anything like that of his father. Ranked 461, Leo was given a wild card for the tournament in Bastad and competed well against his illustrious opponent – who also received a wild card – before succumbing to a 6-3 6-4 defeat. “Great feelings,” said Nadal in his on-court interview. “For me it…