Bears Go In New Direction

Lovie Smith has said it many times before. "Rex Grossman is our quarterback."

Well, now he isn't.

Kyle Orton has won the job of starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears in the 2008-2009 season, letting Rex handle clipboard duty. "I feel good about Kyle leading our team" Coach Smith said to reporters. Orton, a Purdue graduate, started 15 games in his rookie season and another 3 games at the end of last season.

The Bears have had questions about the starter since Grossman has been behind center, making coach Lovie Smith sound like a broken record defending his former starter. Orton and Grossman have fought each other for the starting job since May mini-camp, and now Orton has his chance as the starter. Will this make the Bears a better team? Probably not. A better question-will Orton be the starter at the end of the season?

Mets Make Move

The New York Mets made a move on Sunday to acquire right handed reliever Luis Ayala from the Washington Nationals in exchange for a player to be named later.

The Mets, who are without closer Billy Wagner, have had their struggles closing out games ever since the all star lefty went on the disabled list. The addition of the veteran Ayala should help solidify the later innings.

Ayala's stats for 2008 thus far are 1-8 with a 5.77 ERA in 62 appearances. Those numbers are misleading however as the 30 year old Ayala has a career ERA of just 3.33. A change of scenery and a change of team attitude towards winning will surely only help his season totals.

Phelps Makes History

Michael Phelps received his eighth and final gold medal of this year's Olympic games, going eight for eight and setting yet another world record, this one in the 4x100 medley relay. This officially puts Phelps past Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in one year's Olympic games. American Aaron Peirsol led off with the backstroke for the foursome. Brendan Hansen, considered by many to be the "wildcard" of the bunch (no one was really sure how he was going to do), was the second swimmer for the US with the breaststroke. Phelps swam the third leg with the butterfly, and Jason Lezak once again brought up the rear for Team USA with the freestyle.

Lezak deserves a lot of credit, as he was a solid anchor in both relays that Michael Phelps was involved in. Without Lezak, Phelps would probably have six or seven gold medals right now.

The most amazing thing about this is Michael Phelps' age. He is 23 years old. That means he has many more Olympic games that he can potentially compete in. After all, look at Dara Torres, who at 41 just earned two silver medals in this years games. It will surely be interesting to see what the future holds for this young phenom.

Half Way To Gold!

Team USA Basketball made yet another loud statement on Saturday as they defeated Spain, the 2006 World Champions, 119-82. That is the second time that USA has defeated a team who was considered to be on the same playing field by 20+.

Leading the way once again at both ends of the floor was Lebron James who led all Americans in scoring with 18 points. Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony each chipped in with 16 points. Chris Paul recorded 14 points while Kobe Bryant and Deron Williams each had 11. Every USA player who played scored, an impressive stat in itself.

Perhaps the best news for the United States in this game was the final stat line for both 3-point percentage and free-throw percentage. Team USA was 45% from behind the arc and 80% from the line, both major improvements over their previous three games.

The win, team USA's fourth, puts them half way to the gold metal. It also solidifies USA as the #1 ranking in pool A.

Could This Be The End?

Saturday marks what could be the end for sure fire first ballot Hall-of-Famer. The Atlanta Braves have placed Tom Glavine on the 60-day disabled list meaning that he will miss the remainder of the 2008 season. The 42 year old Glavine has suffered a torn flexor tendon in his left (throwing) arm.

Glavine, who will travel to Alabama to see world class elbow specialist Dr. James Andrews next week, will likely receive one of two prognosis. Either he will just need a minor operation to repair the tendon, which would allow him to pitch next season, or he will be forced to have Tommy John surgery (a ligament replacement) which would likely end his career.

You hate to see someone like Glavine possibly be forced to go out like this. An athlete of his caliber, who has accomplished so much in professional baseball, should be able to go out on his terms.

"By no means do I want to go through another year with what I'm going through now. But at the same time, I don't think I want my career to end this way, either. I think that lends me to think I want to pitch next year. I think it's easier to walk away if you can honestly tell yourself, you know what, I can't do it anymore. And I don't know that I can answer that question right now because my body hasn't allowed me to do it this year as much I wanted to."

Glavine, who is 2-4 with a 5.54 era in 13 games this season, has 305 career wins.

Here's to hoping that Tom has one more season left in that arm of his. He is one of the truly good guys in sports and deserves to be able to decide when he is done, not be forced into it.

WAY Back Hits 1,000!

On behalf of the WAY Back Sports staff I would just like to thank everyone, as we have just reached 1,000 hits. Thanks to everyone who has visited, and don't be afraid to tell people about us!

Did I Just See That!

This just in, Michael Phelps is not human. Well, one may actually be able to argue that. He just pulled off the win in the 100 meter butterfly. He was down the whole race, and managed to pull even with Milorad Cavic of Serbia. Somehow Michael was able to touch the wall 1/100th of a second quicker than Cavic.

Watching this race was breathtaking. With the victory Mr. Phelps notched his seventh gold medal of this years Olympics, tying the record for the most one in one year's games by fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz. This was the first event that Michael Phelps did not set the world record in, he did however set an Olympic record. A protest is being filed on behalf of Milorad Cavic questioning the results of the race. The petition was not accepted, however. Stay tuned to WAY Back Sports to see if Phelps can complete his race for eight.

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.