Wallenda Walk

You may know about the topic of this article considering this event was broad casted around the whole world last week and over 16 Million people watched as Nik Wallenda, a 7th generation tightrope walker, made a famous walk across the world wonder Niagara Falls. The Falls separates the border between the United States and Canada and the water from 4 of the 5 Great Lakes flow into the Falls. This daring stunt has never happened. In the past, people have crossed the gorge but never directly over Niagara Falls. Nik Wallenda completed the unthinkable on June 15, 2012. 

Wallenda has always dreamed of being able to walk the high wire over Niagara Falls since he was a little 6 year old. Nik has accomplished and owns 6 different World Records. He isn't just known for his stunts on the high wire, he attempts many dangerous stunts, others wouldn't dare attempt. Nik Wallenda is a direct descendant of Karl Wallenda, whom he calls his role model and his "biggest hero in life." Wallenda enjoys the family business. "I like to mix it up," he says. "It keeps [our family] on our toes and gives the public something new to see every year." The whole family is involved in the preforming business, including his young children who also plan on preforming in the future. Stunts have been in his family since the 1700s. His great grand father, Karl Wallenda, was the founder of the world famous flying Wallendas. Tragically, Karl lost his life doing what he loved and during every event, the family make sure to honor him in some way. Wallenda even has his shoes made by his mom. It's always been a family tradition that his mom made the shoes.

What made this daredevil cross the Falls? His heart and desire. Wallenda has a strong faith in god and loves what he does. He doesn't do it for the fame and fortune, he does it because he enjoys it, wants to continue on the family legacy, and entertain the fans. Wallenda spent more then 2 years pleading with the government officials from both sides of the border in order to make this walk happen. The daredevil was denied multiple times, yet he wasn't giving up without a fight. Finally the date was set. June 15, Wallenda would walk Niagara Falls. Wallenda's practices began. Wallenda did a walk across Baltimore Harbor. People were scared after this as he almost fell from the high wire and he hadn't even fasted the major conditions of Falls. Wallenda claimed to have been talking to his friend in the bucket when he almost fell and it caused him to lose concentration. 

                     
Wallenda then started to prepare for the real thing at practices outside the Seneca Niagara Casino for almost 2 weeks. He had fire hoses and a jet from a boat that helped him get the feel for the elements of the Falls. At his last practice Wallenda stated, " We gained a huge amount of experience here, we learned a lot about how the cable will react." Nik felt very confident and tired following his final practice and was ready to return home to relax before his big day.

June 15 came and there was little change in plans. His major sponsor, ABC, made Nik wear a harness. Nik felt this would lose a lot of value to the event. Making the event less dangerous but did the stunt anyways. Before his walk, him and his family prayed and said their final good byes. During the walk Wallenda was talking to his dad. Also, Nik was was very connected with god and continuously prayed through the whole walk. He was not nervous at all during the walk and was very confident. Nik made across way faster then predicted. It took a little more then 25 mins. Nik accomplished his life long dream.

“It’s exciting to know that I was part of history,” Wallenda, 33, said, looking back on his stunning accomplishment Friday night.  “What a blessing, the life that I’ve had so far. To be able to complete something that no one in the world ever has is quite an honor.” “Mentally, your mind goes, ‘What are you doing?’ That’s where I tell myself you’re on a wire. The wire is the same whether you’re over land or over water or over the moon, it’s still the same so focus on the wire and, again, focus on the other side,” he said.
Wallenda will never forget his trip over the high wire. He already has plans to return to Niagara Falls very soon. Also, he already received the permit to cross the Grand Canyon.

By: Josh  Josh's Hockey Articles

                        

                      

LT Calls it Quits

LaDanian Tomlinson, is, and will probably forever be looked at as one of the greatest running backs in NFL history. Tomlinson finally decided to call it quits this monday. Tomlinson spent 11 seasons in the NFL, nine of them with the San Diego Chargers, an his final two with the New York Jets.  And on monday he made it official, that he wuld be retiring from the game of football, after signing a one day contract with the team in which he spent most of his career with, the San Diego Chargers.  He is second on the running backs all-time touchdown scoring list, only behind Emmitt Smith. And third all-time on the touchdown scoring list behind only Smith and Jerry Rice. LT was a running back who was looked at by most as he entered the league as an overrated college running back, because he had played at a lower level college in TCU. The San Diego Chargers took him fifth overall in the 2001 NFL entry draft. When he was just starting out in the NFL, fans had started to call him by his initials, LT. At the time the only LT was former New York Giant linebacker and Hall of Famer, Lawrence Taylor. By the end of his career, though, he was the only player that anyone would think of when you would say LT.   He had started his career out with each of his first eight seasons being the first runningback in NFL history to rush for at least 1,000 yards in each of those years.  He peaked in the 2006 season, when he rushed for 1,815 yards and 31 touchdowns, to go along with 508 recieving yards, three touchdowns and two passing touchdowns.  He was at the time, the best back in the game.


Tomlinson will never be looked at as great as he really was for one reason;  the fact that he never won a superbowl.  He actually never even played in one.  But you can't judge an NFL runningback's career on the fact that he never won a superbowl.  It's not lik he was a superstar player in the NBA.  Football is the ultimate team sport, and when your teams only great player at the time is LaDanian Tomlinson, and there are teams out there with more stacked lineups, it's not going to be easy to win championships. 

LaDanian Tomlinson will be and should be forever looked at, as one of the greatest runningbacks, or even one of the greatest offensive players of all time.  Without a doubt, five years from now, Tomlinson will be forever enshrined in Canton, and join the other players of his caliber in the Professional Football Hal of Fame.

LA Kings, Stanley Cup Champs

The Los Angelas Kings are the 2011-2012 Stanley Cup Champions.  The team had to knock off the New Jersey Devils, who were the sixth seeded team in the Eastern Conference.  The Kings were by far the most dominant playoff team in a long time, after entering the playoffs as the eigth seeded team in the Western Conference.  They were looked at as a team that would be easily walked over once the playoffs had started.  But they shocked the world. 


In the first round of the playoffs they had to face the top seeded, presidents trophy winner, Vancouver Canucks.  The Canucks entered the playoffs on a hot streak, and thought ever so lowley of the eigth seeded Kings.  But the Kings took that as a challenge, and took a quich 3-0 lead in the series.  The Canucks, and the rest of the hockey world were shocked, and mostly on the bandwagon already.  They lost the next game, but went on to win the next, and take the series, 4-1.  They would face the second seeded St. Louis Blues in the second round of the playoffs.  They still were looked at as a weak team, compared to the rest of the west.  But, they clearly knew that they were a better team than the Blues, and won it with a clean sweep, 4-0.  They were ooked at as a serious threat now, and were ready to face the third seeded Phoenix Coyotes.  They had been solid for the entire playoffs so far, taking out the both Chicago Blackhawks, and the Nashville Predators.  They were still no match for the Kings though, losing the first three games of the series.  They went on to lose the next game, but win the next, and clinch the series. 


The Kings were ready to win their first Stanley Cup.  They would face the red-hot New Jersey Devils in the Cup Final.  The New Jersey Devils had beat the Florida Panthers, Philadelphia Flyers, and the top seeded New York Rangers.  Their Goaltender, Martin Brodeur, was playing outstanding in the previous series, and showed no signs of letting up.  As the series had started in New Jersey, the Kings were ready.  The Kings goaltender, Jonathan Quick, and winger Anze Kopitar, had led the team throughout the entire playoffs.  They were ready to go.  They went into New Jersey, and took both games from the Devils in the Prudental Centre.  Up 2-0, they were rady to protect their home-ice advantage.  They went up 3-0, and honestly it looked easy.  The next two games, though, went to the Devils.  They had a pair of 3-1 wins and the series was headed back to LA 3-2.  The Kings knew that they were going to end it right then and there in front of their home crowd for the first time.  They got up early in the second, and were not letting up.  They would eventutlly make that lead to a 6-1 win in game six, and a 4-2 series win.  The Los Angelas Kings were the Stanley Cup Champions, for the first time in franchise history.  They were the first eigth seed ever, to make it to the cup finals, let alone winning it. 

The Conn Smythe Trophy was awarded to the most dominant playoff goalie, arguably since Brodeur, himself.  Jonathan Quickplayed phoenominally throughout thier entire playoff run, and was well deserving to be called the MVP of this years playoffs.

Santanas No-No, and Yet Another Stupid Fan

For the first time in the history of the New York Mets, they have a pitcher who has thrown a no-hitter in a Mets uniform. Johan Santana started the Mets game on Saturday night against the St. Louis Cardinals looking for a win, and he got a little bit more than that. He went out there and had himself one of the longest nights of his career.

Johan Santana threw a no-hitter. Santana is just the first pitcher in Mets history to throw a no hitter. The Mets have been around for 50 years. Throughout there time in the league though, they haven't had many of the best pitchers. They've had young pitchers like Nolan Ryan, and David Cone. And a ton of good relief pitchers, but whenever a future great pitcher becomes a Met, they leave as soon as they become a free agent. Santana stayed, and even though he is on a bad team, he made it happen against a mediocre team.

But don't look at it like that. Santana was a beast. Completely dominant throwing nine innings of no-hit baseball. He threw 134 pitches and was still dominant at the end of the game. When he was going into the eighth inning with already a ton of pitches, I thought it was going to end right there. But he was just heating up. He stepped up and made it a final two innings of no-hit baseball.

As the last pitch was thrown, and the players ran out of the dugout to celebrate a completely dominant performance with there dominant pitcher, an idiot fan ran out onto the field to join the team in the celebration of the no-hitter. He made it all the way to the celebration when the Citi Field security realized, and chased down the fan and removed him from the stadium. He spent two days in jail, and had to miss his sons first birthday.

Although, I can't blame him. He has been a fan of the Mets for his entire life, and he has never seen his team throw a no-hitter. Or do anything else that was even noticeable.

Dominik Hasek: Comeback?

The NHL Finals haven't even started yet and we are already starting with the free agent rumors. The 47-year old former NHL goaltender Dominik Hasek is looking for a new team, preferably an NHL team. Hasek spent time with the Chicago Blackhawks, Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings during his years in the NHL, before leaving to play in the KHL. Hasek is rumored to be in talks with a few teams already. There are some teams who are interested, and could use him.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS-

After their seventh straight year missing the playoffs, the Maple Leafs are almost there. They have a solid veteran-led team. But they are missing one thing, a solid guy between the pipes. There goalies consist of Gustavssonn and Scrivens. Yeah, not much. Hasek, as old as he is, would be able to walk into Leafs camp, day one, and be their starter. If he hasn't lost it, he could make the Leafs into a legitimate threat in the east.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING-

The Tampa Bay Lightning are a lot like the Leafs. Solid core of the team, but not much in goal. Their goaltenders were 41-year old Dwayne Roloson, and Mathieu Garon. Both are quality backups, but thats it. As long as they are in net, the Lightning are nothing. He could also win the role of their starter very easily.

DETROIT RED WINGS-

Detroit is a very improbable spot for Hasek to land. They have quite a few young talented goalies, and if he made it with them, he would be a backup. He wouldn't be better than Jimmy Howard. But he says that he would be happy just making it back into the NHL. Even though he would be a backup, he would have a solid team even though Lidstrom has retired.




BUFFALO SABRES-

There are actually serious talks between the Buffalo Sabres and Dominik Hasek. He has been in town a lot over the past week, and owner, Terry Pegula, has mentioned how he was a huge fan of the dominator when he was a Sabre the first time. Why would that work for him? Because he has a very good squad around him. But he would be backing up Ryan Miller. No question. And the Sabres would have three solid goalies. Miller, Hasek, and Enroth. That raises questions like, would we go to three goalies, or would Enroth get sent back down to Rochester? I guess we will have to wait and see.

This drama has actually been fun to watch so far. All of the teams listed above would be great landing spots for Hasek in their own ways. And there are plenty of other teams out there that can offer similar situations, but these are the teams that he has been rumored to be talking to.

Howard Says He Had No Say In SVG Firing

Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard says that he ha nothing to do with the firing of former Magic coach, Stan Van Gundy. Throughout his time as a member of the Magic, Howard has looked to be 'taking offers' for when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. As Howard was looking, the Magic were doing everything and anything that they could to keep him as a member of the team, bringing in players like Vince Carter, Hedu Turkoglu, Gilbert Arenas, and Glen Davis. But it seemed that everything they did, just didn't work. The players that they had brought in couldn't play as well with Howard. The management had been doing everything they could to keep Howard, so they probably thought, hey, maybe it's the coach. And maybe their right. SVG and Dwight have need trying to make it work since 2008-2009 when they made it to the NBA Finals, and lost to the LA Lakers. And they didn't start having any type of public conflicts, until this season. Over this season they had been repeatedly calling each other out. It looks to me like the Magic are ready to make one last attempt to keep their star center in town for a few more years.

Or it could be looked at as the Magic finally realizing that the Dwight Howard era in Orlando is finally over. That it is finally time to start rebuilding. They could have realized that Van Gundy just isn't their guy. And that it's time to rebuild. They're going to lose Howard to free agency, and they feel like they need to rebuild the team. They need a better offense. They could bring in a point guard like the Nets Deron Williams. They need a new group of guys that will be able to get it done. With unrestricted free agents like Williams, and Chris Paul, they have options.

So did Howard play a part in Van Gundys firing? Yes he was a factor, but I do not think he was the guy who made the final decision. The Magic management definitely thought that the firing of coach Van Gundy would make Orlando look like a more attractive spot for both Howard, and another possible free agent to come in. And, I agree with the Magic management. If I were a free agent superstar like Williams or Paul, I would look for a team that didn't have a coach that calls out his players. Or that just can't discipline his players enough to not call him out in an interview. And I especially wouldn't want a coach that let's the team get completely out of hand and let's the drama of the teams fighting be a distraction.

So yes, I do believe Howard when he says that he had no say in the firing of his former coach Van Gundy. But we all pretty much have to believe that he played a part in the Orlando management's decision to fire the coach.

NHL Finals Are Set

Well, that's it. The New Jersey Devils have knocked off the 1-seeded New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals to secure their spot in the NHL finals against the Los Angeles Kings. Both teams with a unique story that got them to the finals:

Overlook

The New Jersey Devils started out the playoffs as the sixth seeded team in the Eastern Conference.  In the first round of the playoffs they had to play the third seeded Florida Panthers.  A team that was looked at as 'overrated' and that 'shouldn't have been seeded as highly'  proved their critics right.  The Devils defeated the young Panthers team in seven games.  In the second round theyhad to play the fifth seeded Philadelphia Flyers.  They dominated their first round series against their rival Pittsburgh Penguins, and looked heavily, as the favorite to defeat the Devils.  But Devils veteran goaltender Martin Brodeur, stepped up, and was like a brick wall between the pipes.  While Brodeur played phenomenally, Philadelphia goaltender, Ilya Bryzgalov, couldn't stop a beach ball from going in.  New Jersey ended up taking the series quickly, 4-1.  The Devils would next play the top seeded New York Rangers in the Eastern Coference Final.  The Rangers had previously played, and defeated, the eigth seeded Ottawa Senators in the first round (winning the series in seven games), and the seventh seeded Washington Capitals (also winning the series in seven games).  But when it came time for the Rangers to take on the Devils, Brodeur was still on fire, and couldn't be stopped.  The Devils offense got hot too, making them very hard to stop as a unit.  The teams split the first two games in New York, and also split the firs two games in New Jersey.  When they went back to Madison Square Garden, the Devils took the lead in the series 3-2.  They were one win away from winning the series, and the fact that they were headed back home for game six made them feel that much closer to the Stanley Cup Finals.  They were tied at two early in game six, and the score stayed the same until overtime.  Just 1:03 into the first overtime period, there was a lose puck hanging around the net, and Adam Henrique came up big for New Jersey, to jam in the rebound, and send his team to the Stanley Cup Finals.





The Los Angeles Kings started out the playoffs as the lowest seed in the Western Conference.  They had to play the top seeded Vancouver Canucks in the first round.  Very few gave them a chance to win two, even one game against the Canucks.  When the series started, Vancouver goalie, Roberto Luongo, had ended the regular season on a hot streak.  But come palyoff time, simply put, he choked.  The Kings scorers were dominating Luongo, and his scorers were doing nothing to help him out.  The Kings won the first three games of the series.  The Canucks, facing elimination, needed to win game four.  And they did.  They went bac to Vancouver though for game five.  And that was it.  They lost their third gan last game of the playoffs in front of their home crowd.  The Kings picked up quite a few bandwagoners after that series.  The Kings would then go on to face the second seeded St. Louis Blues, who had previously defeated the San Jose Sharks.  The Kings were still facing a lot of criticism.  People were sayign that the only reason that they won their first series was because Luongo choked.  They still had to prov themseves to the haters.  And that they did, sweeping the St. Louis Blues 4-0.  The Blues just were no match for the Kings.  And the Kings were headed to the Western Conference Finals.  They would have to play the third seeded Phoenix Coyotes, who had previously defeated the Chicago Blackhawks (winning the series 4-2) and the Nashville Predators (winning the series 4-1).  They had looked like a legitimate threat.  Until they actually played.  The Kings would win the first three games to this series too.  The  3-0 lead made it look like it was over.  And it pretty much was.  The Kings lost the last game at home, but won on the road to take the series.  The eight seeded Los Angelas Kings were headed to the Stanley Cup Finals.  The eigth seeded Los Anglas Kings are going to the Stanley Cup Finals, with only two playoff losses to their names.





The Finals start on Wednesday May 30th in New Jersey.  The scedule goes as follows:

• Game 1: Kings at Rangers/Devils on Wednesday, May 30 (NBC/CBC)

• Game 2: Kings at Rangers/Devils on Saturday, June 2 (NBC/CBC)

• Game 3: Rangers/Devils at Kings on Monday, June 4 (NBC Sports Network/CBC)

• Game 4: Rangers/Devils at Kings on Wednesday, June 6 (NBC Sports Network/CBC)

• Game 5 (if necessary): Kings at Rangers/Devils on Saturday, June 9 (NBC/CBC)

• Game 6 (if necessary): Rangers/Devils at Kings on Monday, June 11 (NBC/CBC)

• Game 7 (if necessary): Kings at Rangers/Devils on Wednesday, June 13 (NBC/CBC)

Biggest Factors

Los Angelas Kings-  Jonathan Quick, Dustin Brown, and Anze Kopitar

New Jersey Devils- Martin Brodeur, Adam Henrique, Zach Parise

Mike's Pick
The series is probably the most evenly matched series that we could have asked for.  If Brodeur stays hot, and the Kings keep doing what they're doing, we are in for a long, exciting series.  I would be shocked if it doesn't take all seven games.  I will have to go with New Jersey winning the finals in an exciting seven game series.

Be sure to watch those games, and feel free to leave your predictions in the comment box below.