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Bradford sprains right shoulder in Oklahoma’s loss to BYU

Oklahoma’s 2009 season got off to a disastrous start on Saturday as the Sooners were defeated 14-13 by BYU and quarterback Sam Bradford had to leave the game early after spraining his throwing shoulder. The defending Heisman winner could miss up to a month with the injury.

The injury was announced as a sprained AC joint. He was scheduled to undergo an MRI exam on Sunday to determine the severity of the sprain. The junior was in his white football pants and a gray T-shirt as he watched his teammates play the second half.

Bradford put his left hand on his right shoulder, sending athletic trainers rushing to him. He was first checked on a sideline table, then taken into the locker room. The Sooners kicked a field goal on the next play to take a 10-7 halftime lead.

One of the concerns for the Sooners entering the season was that they would have to play with four new starters on the offensive line. Granted, injuries happen in football. But it’s interesting that the offensive line was the biggest worry for OU coming into the new season and now Bradford is out for an extended period of time because he was hurt after a blitzer came in almost unblocked.

This is the worse case scenario for Oklahoma. While the Sooners are still a good team, Bradford is the key to how far they’ll go this season and OU already has one loss. That said, if a team is going to lose a game in college football, it’s better to have it be early in the year. Maybe the Sooners can bounce back, but they need Bradford to come back soon.

Goaltender Roberto Luongo signs a 12-year contract

Luongo

Vancouver Canuck fans need not worry any longer about team captain Roberto Luongo signing with another team. The All-Star goaltender has willingly agreed to a 12-year contract extension worth $64 million.

Luongo’s new contract comes with an annual salary cap hit of just $5.33-million, which is down from the $6.75-million average of his current four-year, $27-million deal that expires at the end of the upcoming season.

Luongo’s deal includes a no-trade clause, keeping the 30-year-old Canucks captain in Vancouver until the 2021-22 season.

Luongo was 33-13-7 last season, when he became the first NHL goalie in 60 years to be selected a team captain. He finished second in the league with nine shutouts and fifth in both goals-against average (2.35) and save percentage (.920).

Considering the contract includes a no-trade clause, I think it’s plain dumb to sign a guy for this amount of time. Luongo is already 30 years-old and went through a grueling groin injury last season. I assumed this contract became the longest in NHL history, but I was wrong. In 2006, Rick DiPietro inked a 15-year, $67.5 million deal with the New York Islanders, surpassing former teammate Alexei Yashin’s contract of 10 years.

Ridiculous.

U.S. Open Update: Everything taking its course

The third round of the 2009 U.S. Open has nearly finished amidst the surprisingly welcoming weather at New York’s National Tennis Center. So far, there haven’t been many surprises. The top 16-ranked men all advanced rather seamlessly. Serena and Venus have had an easy time as well. Unfortunately, they are in the same draw and will likely meet in the semis. The other top female players are, as always, playing below their rank, as upsets and narrow victories are happening left and right.

This has been a topsy-turvy U.S. Open for the women: No. 8 Victoria Azarenka’s 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 loss to No. 26 Francesca Schiavone on Friday came a day after No. 4 Elena Dementieva and No. 5 Jelena Jankovic were upset. All told, 11 of the 20 highest-seeded women are gone, and the third round is only halfway done.

No. 1 Dinara Safina made it to Saturday’s third round, but barely. She needed more than 4 1/2 hours to get through two three-set victories.

The best men have faced no such problems: No. 3 Rafael Nadal’s 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory Friday night in the last match of Day 5 means the men seeded 1-16 all reached the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in the 41-year Open era.

Once again, the lovely Ana Ivanovic failed to perform well in a Grand Slam, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko in the first round. Maria Sharapova, however, has advanced to third round and is currently in the third set against American Melanie Oudin. It would be great to see the former No. 1-ranked star face Serena or Venus in the finals.

Mikey’s MLB power rankings

We are now in September, which means pennant races are becoming reality and every game is more meaningful. The Yankees are still red-hot, but at some point we have to wonder if they can keep it up when October rolls around—peaking in August is not necessarily what you hope for, but it has put some distance between the Yanks and Sox.
The rankings have not changed much, but have changed nonetheless:

1. New York Yankees (86-49)—Last night, Roy Halladay put out a fire that saw the Yanks win six straight after our previous rankings were released.

2. St. Louis Cardinals (80-56)—Holliday and Pujols homered again. But just like the Yanks, can those two continue their tear into October? Oh, and the Cards’ pitching staff isn’t too shabby either.

3. Los Angeles Angels (79-54)—A 3.5 game lead over Texas is not what Mike Scioscia was hoping for at this point.

4. Los Angeles Dodgers (80-56)—Can we talk about Manny Ramirez, or can we ask where he’s been since returning from suspension? In fact, Man-Ram has 16 homers in 83 games. Last year, he had 17 in 53 after coming over from Boston. Hmmmm. Oh, but how ‘bout Thome and Ramirez back in the same lineup.

5. Philadelphia Phillies (77-55)—Cliff Lee being rocked again is not a good sign, but the Phils still lead the Braves by 7.5 games.

6. Boston Red Sox (78-56)—Seven-plus behind the Yanks, and only two games ahead of Texas for the wild card. Red Sox nation must keep the Rolaids nearby.

7. Texas Rangers (76-58)—Did anyone else read that article in ESPN the Magazine about how Nolan Ryan is grooming his pitchers to be tougher? Now that’s a concept, as the complete game had become a lost art.

8. Colorado Rockies (75-60)—A sweep last weekend by the Giants put a hurtin’ on the Rockies, but they are hanging tough, leading the wild card race by a game.

9. San Francisco Giants (74-61)—You can’t count the Giants out with their pitching staff, but they have needed a slugger in the lineup ever since they released Barry Bonds.

10. Detroit Tigers (73-61)—There is now some distance between the Tigers and Twins, and even more between the Tigers and White Sox, who appear to have given up hope. The question is, can this team beat the Yankees, their most likely opponent in October, in a short series?

Saturday MMA Review: 9/5

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

– Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira conquered fellow MMA legend Randy Couture at UFC 102 last Saturday, while Nate Marquardt, Thiago Silva, and Todd Duffee scored some memorable knockouts. Despite his loss, Couture signed a new contract with the UFC that will keep him fighting in the Octagon until he’s damn near 50 years old.

– MTV “Bully Beatdown” host Jason Miller vowed to “beat the piss out of Jake Shields” when the two fighters meet, and explained his obsession with Twitter.

– We came across an MMA sponsor that’s even more embarrassing than Condom Depot.

– Former NFL player Marcus Jones will be battling for a UFC contract on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter. He credits his start in MMA to one fateful “man-cation.”

– Mike Swick dropped out of UFC 103 due to injury, Sean Sherk dropped out of UFC 104 due to “injury,” and Quinton Jackson dropped out of UFC 107 due to the demands of his movie career. Luckily, BJ Penn will fill in for Rampage as a headliner.

– Strikeforce heavyweight Brett Rogers has come up with the worst strategy possible for beating Fedor Emelianenko.

– Former UFC ring girl Edith Labelle said she was fired over a bout of food poisoning that just happened to *look* like a bad hangover.

– We watched a life-affirming MMA highlight reel, Anderson Silva’s dead-on Randy Couture impression, and a behind-the-scenes look at King Mo’s demolition of Mark Kerr.

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