By Hot Rod! The Rowdy One

Once again it’s on!!! We’re back for another week of Out of Bounds here on Planet Ill.

Each week, we strive to give you the best highlights from the world of sports. Hopefully in the coming months, we will be able to provide more sports coverage in terms of breaking news and interviews with some of the biggest names from the world of sports.

We also hope to have more reader participation with your opinions and thoughts about on how to make this section and any other section of Planet Ill more enjoyable for you, the reader. With all that said, let’s look at some of the highlights from this past week in sports.

On Sunday we saw the crowning of the 2009-10 NFL Champion when the New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV.  Although the score was 31-17, the game was a lot closer than the score indicates. In the end, it was Louisiana native, Tracy Porter, who intercepted Louisiana native, Peyton Manning, to bring a Super Bowl title to the state of Louisiana and the people of New Orleans.

Congrats go out to the New Orleans Saints and their fans.

Friday night was the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The games began tragically when 21 year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili, a luger from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, died in the hospital from injuries he sustained in a crash training for the Olympic games.

Our hearts and prayers go out to this young man’s family and teammates.

The Olympics, summer or winter, is always a hot bed for upsets, or miracles, similar to what we saw in the Super Bowl. You can always expect the unexpected when it comes to the big game and this year is the 30th Anniversary of one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history. I have just one question for you, “Do you believe in miracles?”

Finally, Friday night was the start of the 2010 NBA All-Star Weekend. The weekend’s festivities began with highlights from the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and the Rookies vs. Sophomore Challenge.

Saturday Night was the big night before the All-Star Game with a series of competitions and challenges. The evening began with the NBA’s H.O.R.S.E Competition.

The night’s festivities continued with Team Texas winning the Haier Shooting Stars Competition and the Phoenix Sun’s Steve Nash winning the Taco Bell Skills Competition.

NBA All-Star Saturday Night concluded with Boston Celtic’s Paul Pierce winning the Foot Locker 3-Point Contest and the New York Knicks’ Nate Robinson winning the Sprite Slam Dunk Competition and becoming the first three-time winner of the event.

Last night’s festivities were a little lack luster for my taste, so I had to go back and look at my favorite All-Star Weekend moments. Here are some of my favorite moments for All-Star Weekends of past.

First off, they say that 1988 was the “Golden Age” of Hip-Hop; well it also gave us a magnificent display of skills by Larry Bird during the 1988 3-point shoot-out and arguably the best Slam Dunk competition in the history of the NBA between Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan.

My next favorite moment would be the return of Magic Johnson in the 1992 All-Star game and the shot 3 pointer he makes in the final moments of the game that clinched the MVP award for that year’s game.

Finally, my favorite moment is arguably the greatest Slam Dunk performance in the history of the Slam Dunk Competition; Vince Carter in 2000.

So I hope you all enjoyed my favorite All-Star Weekend moments and I hope you also enjoy your Valentine’s Day as well as your President’s Day weekend. Until next week, be easy. 1.

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