Phelps Unbelievable

Michael Phelps is now six for six in Olympic competition. He has competed in six races, won six gold medals, and set six world records. Watching Phelps swim is simply amazing, he is already the most awarded Olympian of all time, but now many are asking the question is he the best athlete of all time? I would argue that he is in the top five, right up there with Tiger Woods. Stayed tuned to waybacksports.co.nr to get continued updates on Phelps's quest for 8, as well as other breaking news stories.

Pats Sign Lynch

Espn.com is reporting that the New England Patriots have signed safety John Lynch to a one year contract worth 1.5 million. Lynch became a free agent earlier this week after being cut by the Denver Broncos in a cap dump.

Lynch flew to New England on Wednesday to meet with Patriots' coach Bill Belichick.

Reports say that it was Lynch who orchestrated his release from Denver due to a reduced role planned for him in the team's up coming season. It will be interesting to see how he handles only playing 20 or so snaps a game in Foxborough. Having a chance to win the Super Bowl will certainly lessen the blow.

Redeem Team Passes First Test

The United States mens basketball team had been looking forward to this one for a while. Two years ago, Greece stunned the US at the basketball world championship, making this the first true test that the team has faced in the Olympics.

Well, it was supposed to be.

Up by only 4 after the first quarter, the red, white, and blue stepped on the throttle to beat the Greeks, 92-69. Kobe Bryant and Chris Bosh led the way with 18 points a piece, with Dwayne Wade just behind the leaders with 17, to go along with 5 assists. LeBron James chipped in with 13, along with 6 rebounds and 6 assists. He also had 3 blocked shots.

The only concern with the US team, as in previous games, is their performance from beyond the arc. They went 7-20 from deep, a number that needs to change if the US plans on dominating the field.

Hank Isn't Happy

Hank Steinbrenner has expressed his feelings about the Yankees many times this season, yesterday being no exception. Though he says he "isn't writing off this season", Hank seems to be using the injury card to blame the Yanks recent slide. He was quoted as saying "I think it's very simple, we've been devastated by injuries. No team I've ever seen in baseball has been decimated like this. It would kill any team." He finished off his statement by saying "We're going to win it next year, if we need to add a top veteran pitcher, we'll do that. We'll do whatever we need to do. Next year we'll be extremely dangerous."

CC Sabathia is going to be a well paid man this off-season. Though he says he isn't, it sure sounds a lot like Hank is waiving the white flag. It seems like the Yankees are saying something that Boston fans knew all too well, "wait till' next year".

Football At Fenway?

The New England Patriots have defeated the Dallas Cowboys, thanks to a late field goal by Kevin Youkilis, by the score of 19-17.

Wait...Wrong sport? Could Have fooled me.

It was a slugfest to say the least in Boston on Tuesday night. The Red Sox, who scored ten runs in the bottom of the first inning, saw their huge lead vanish before the man they call "YUUUK" saved the day with a three run bomb in the bottom of the eight to lead Boston to victory.

Youkilis and David Ortiz each homered twice in the winning effort.

Every starter on both teams, except for Red Sox catcher Kevin Cash,had at least one hit in the game. The two teams combine for 36 runs on 37 hits. Certainly not a good night to be a pitcher.

Tigers Shuffle Roster

The Detroit Tigers made a pair of moves on Tuesday as they signed free agent right handed pitcher Freddy Garcia and placed DH/OF Gary Sheffield on waivers.

Garcia, who was coveted by several teams, has been out of the game since early 2007 when he was a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. It is expected that Garcia will be assigned to AAA for a few starts for conditioning purposes. Last week Garcia held a workout for major league teams where he was clocked in the 84-87mph range with his fastball. As many as eleven teams reportedly had scouts at the workout.

Sheffield, who is batting .219/10/33 in 76 games with season, has been beginning to show signs that age is starting to catch up with him. The former all-star outfielder had been known for his great power numbers which have declined greatly this season.

Best Olympian of All-Time

Michael Phelps has become the Olympian with the most gold medals (10) in a career. The thing is, the best is yet to come. Phelps still has four events left to hopefully take home gold medals in and break Mark Spitz's record of seven in one Olympics. Phelps earned this feat by securing the gold and a new world record in the 200 meter breast stroke.

Phelps is an incredible athlete, and will now be in the record books for one more thing. It is always fun to watch this man compete, and it should be very interesting to see if he can break Spitz's record.

Byrd Flying to Boston

The right-handed starting pitcher Paul Byrd has been traded from the Cleveland Indians to the Boston Red Sox. The Sox will give up a player to be named later or cash. Byrd, the Louisiana State graduate has had a pretty productive year. He has gone 7-10 with a 4.53 ERA through this season so far. He has been hot as of late, going 4-0 with a 1.24 ERA since the All-Star Break.

Byrd's name came up last year with the steroids controversy and the Mitchell Report. It should be very interesting to see how the Red Sox Nation and Boston media take to him. He will, however, be a much needed lift to this Red Sox team if all goes well.

Redeem Team Tunes Up For Tougher Contests

Team USA defeated Angola 97-76 earlier today in Beijing. Dwayne Wade lead the way for the red white and blue scoring 19 points in 16 minutes.Dwight Howard added another 14, going 6-6 from the floor in 15 minutes of play. All 12 Americans got in the game for at least 11 minutes against an over matched Angola team that never stood a chance. The one red flag that comes up is the 3-point shooting of the US, only going 5 of 21 from beyond the arc. In the Olympic opener against China, the US went only 7 of 24.

The United States needs to step up its long range shooting when they take on Greece, the only team to defeat the current USA team. Greece beat the Americans two years ago, 101-95 in the semifinals of the World Championship in Japan. If Team USA wants to prove that they aren't like Olympic teams from years past, knocking off Greece seems like the most obvious place to start. So far it's been easy for Team USA, now we really get to see what they're made of.

Bubble Burst?

For weeks and even months now people have been waiting and waiting, patiently, for the Tampa Bay Rays to come back down to earth. They have just been playing too well to be the same team that you could pencil in annually for about 100 loses.

"They will cool down after the all-star break."

"They will fall behind the Red Sox when Ortiz comes back."

"They won't stand a chance once the big guns restock at the trade deadline."

Well, here we are, mid August. Don't look now but those same Rays have a 4.5 game lead over the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. They have rode excellent pitching and youthful pop at the plate all the way to one of the best records in all of baseball to this point.

The one thing the Rays have not faced, however, is adversity. Sure, a guy may miss a couple games here or there with some minor stuff, but they have not had that major injury to really set them back. That is until now.

The Ray placed two time all-star left fielder Carl Crawford and rookie of the year favorite Evan Longoria on the DL Monday. For the first time this season the Rays will have two gaping holes in their line-up for a minimum of 15 days, in the case of Crawford likely many more.

It will be interesting to see just how they handle this setback. All year they have gotten little contributions from their "role players" but never before have they been put in the position where they were going to be relied upon to help carry the offense. Guys like Eric Hinske, Gabe Gross, and Rocco Baldelli are going to have some big shoes to fill if the Rays are going to hold their ground on top of the AL East.

Can they do it? I have been one of the many counting them out all year but for some reason they just refuse to lay down. This the real test. It is time for the Rays to stand up and show the world whether they are going to be a true contender or just a team that put together one hell of a start to a season but couldn't finish.