This past week had its share of sports highlights and moments that we found to be both outstanding and entertaining. The Penguins advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals and wait for a winner to emerge from what has turned out to be an exciting Western Conference Finals. The Pistons finally broke the playoff trend of home team dominance and will play the Celtics, who beat Cleveland in a thrilling Game 7, in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Lakers also advanced and will play the winner of what promises to be another exciting Game 7 between San Antonio and New Orleans. The Reds fought their way out of the basement with six straight wins. Big Brown won the Preakness in convincing fashion and kept Triple Crown dreams alive. Lance Berkman continued to be smoking hot, while Alfonso Soriano hit seven home runs in six games. Nadal continued his domination on clay and Bonnie Richardson, a track athlete in Texas, won the title by herself! Without further ado, here are this week’s award winners.
Paul Pierce: RootZoo Athlete of the Week
Some may argue that an athlete’s performance in a single game should not count in a weekly vote. However, considering the magnitude of Sunday’s Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, and Paul Pierce’s performance in leading the Celtics to a win over Cleveland, Pierce is well-deserving of this award. With Ray Allen struggling and Kevin Garnett quieted, Pierce stepped up and took over the game with 41 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. He also put up 29 points and 7 rebounds in Boston’s Game 5 victory on Wednesday. Congratulations Paul Pierce!
Cincinnati Reds: RootZoo Team of the Week
***A special thanks to several RootZoo members this week for the following writeups about the RootZoo Team of the Week:
Appaloosas stated that, “After a horrible start, the Reds bats have come alive. The pitching is the best they've had in years as a whole. They have completed a sweep of the Indians and won their last 6 games.” Mariners5 pointed out that they defeated “the division leaders Florida Marlins and Cleveland Indians. That includes a victory over ERA leader Cliff Lee and a walk-off homerun by Adam Dunn in yesterday's game. The Reds also showed that they can win in close games, winning all six games by 1 or 2 runs.” Siegert4 summarized it with the following: “They began last Sunday with a 15-23 record, after today they are 21-23. They swept the NL East leading Florida Marlins (and last weeks winner) and swept the Cleveland Indians (knocking them out of 1st in the AL Central). Not to mention they handed the untouchable Cliff Lee his first loss, scoring more runs (5) and hitting more HR's (2) off of him in 5.67 IP than he had given up the entire season (53.67 IP).”
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WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS
RootOff of the Week
Gold Medal (+500 points): Tie (35 Voting Points)
TheDude and jeffmac30 I The Bigs South Region-Elite 8-Who has the best 3-4-5 in baseball (batting lineup)? I
Coach Ron and davelongnecker I The Mets trade for Ryan Church was the biggest steal of the year so far in the NL I
Silver Medal (+250 points): 30 Voting Points
davelongnecker and BuckeyeBaller I The Cleveland Indians will win the AL Central I
Bronze Medal (+100 points): PhantomBalla21 and VThokie5 I Best Big Man in Last 15 Years I 25 Voting Points
Honorable mention to other top nominees: McDoogZie and eggrolleater920 (10)_____________________________________________________________________________________
Poll of the Week
Gold Medal (+500 points): rrileybc I Which of these is the worst thing you can do as a RootZooer I 55 Voting Points
Silver Medal (+250 points): Naulz I Your biggest worry while at the gym is... I 45 Voting Points
Bronze Medal (+100 points): Tie (40 Voting Points)
wpm 5587 I Biggest heartbreaker in sports I
jeffmac30 I If your significant other gives you this ultimatum, him/her or RootZoo, what do you choose? I
Honorable mention to other top nominees: Sketch (15)_____________________________________________________________________________________
Thread of the Week
Gold Medal (+500 points): reliv1908 I Top 25 Sports Rivalries I 65 Voting Points
Silver Medal (+250 points): wpm5587 I Your happiest and your most disappointing sports moment I 50 Voting Points
Bronze Medal (+100 points): HoustonTexansPride I Who is the best player on the _____ besides _____? I 45 Voting Points
Honorable mention to other top nominees: wpm5587 (15), rrileybc (10), Blazzter (10), Joe (0)_____________________________________________________________________________________
Article of the Week
Gold Medal (+500 points): Tie (55 Voting Points)
Coach Ron I Meeting-The Man Behind The Curtain-Jesse Boskoff-What You Did Not Know About RootZoo I
rrileybc I The Bionic Super RootZoo Addict: The Perfect Zooer I
Silver Medal (+250 points): AgentZer00 I RootZoo Articles & Article Contribution Power I (45 Voting Points)
Bronze Medal (+100 points): Tie (25 Voting Points)
volfan_brian I SpyGate For Dummies I
Philguard I Five Promo Ideas For Pro Sports Teams I
Honorable mention to other top nominees: hantsche (20)
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Some RootZoo News
1. Thanks to all of you for helping to contribute to the videos section since our launch next week. We already have hundreds of great videos in our library thanks to you all and it continues to grow with great sports content that we'll enjoy indefinitely. Feel free to share all feedback if you see any room for improvement.
2. A quick congratulations to our most recent Daily Pick 'Em Challenge first place finisher. In case you didn't see it, the daily first place finisher now wins a free RootZoo Store t-shirt for beating out the rest of RootZoo. Pats4ever came the closest to the free plasma that anyone's come yet, as he answered 13 out of 15 questions correctly Sunday. Nice job, and I look forward to congratulating the next person to get even closer, or perhaps win it all.
3. Our Trivia section is near the very end of development, but our site designer is on vacation this week...so things will pick back up after Memorial Day as we get nearer to its launch.
4. Another new section will follow shortly after Trivia that I have a feeling we'll all enjoy. Details in a week or two.
