The Sports Report

by Caela

Sports Events in February

NFL: The Super Bowl is on February 3rd between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens.

NHL: There are 352 hockey games in the month of February.

NBA: There are 181 basketball games in the month of February.

PGA Golf Tour: The Waste Management Phoenix Open is from Jan 31st to Feb 3rd. The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is from Feb 7th to Feb 10th. The Northern Trust Open is from Feb 14th to Feb 17th. The World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship is from Feb 20th to Feb 24th. The Honda Classic is from Feb 28th to Mar 3rd.

European Golf Tour: The Omega Dubai Desert Classic is from Jan 31st to Feb 3rd. The Joburg Open is from Feb 7th to Feb 10th. The Africa Open is from Feb 14th to Feb 17th. The World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship is from Feb 20th to Feb 24th. The Tshwane Open is from Feb 28th to Mar 3rd.

Ladies Golf Tour: The ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open is from Feb 9th to Feb 12th. The Honda LPGA Thailand is from Feb 16th to Feb 19th. The HSBC Women’s Champions is from Feb 22nd to Feb 26th.

Men’s Tennis: The ATP Open Sud de France, ATP VTR Open, and the ATP PBZ Zagerb Indoors are from Feb 4th to Feb 10th. The ATP ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, the ATP Brazil Open, and the ATP SAP Open are from Feb 11th to Feb 17th. The ATP Tour Open 13, the ATP Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, and the ATP Copa Claro are from Feb 18th to Feb 24th. The ATP Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is from Feb 25th to Mar 2nd. The ATP Delray Beach International Tennis Championship is from Feb 25th to Mar 3rd.

Women’s Tennis: The WTA OPEN GDF SUEZ and the WTA PTT Pattaya Women’s Open are from Jan 28th to Feb 3rd. The WTA Qatar Total Open is from Feb 11th to Feb 17th. The WTA Memphis International Event is from Feb 17th to Feb 23rd. The WTA Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is from Feb 18th to Feb 23rd. The WTA XIX Copa BBVA COLSANITAS is from Feb 18th to Feb 24rd. The WTA Correios Brazil is from Feb 24th to Mar 2nd. The WTA Abierto Mexicano TELCEL Presentado por HSBC is from Feb 25th to Mar 2nd. The WTA BMW Malaysian Open is from Feb 25th to Mar 3rd.

Australian Open

The 2013 Australian Open was won by both World Number Ones Novak Djokovic of Serbia for the men and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus for the women.

With this win, Novak Djokovic has won the Australian Open three years in a row. He has also won six Grand Slams, four Australian Opens (2008, 2011, 2012, and 2013), one Wimbledon (2011), and one US Open (2011). Djokovic has won only one medal, received at the 2008 Olympic Games; he won bronze in the Men’s Singles.

Victoria Azarenka has won the Australian Open two times in a row, also winning two Grand Slams; both are Australian Opens (2011 and 2012). She also won two medals at the 2012 Olympic Games: a bronze medal for Women’s Single, and gold in Mixed Doubles. She won the French Open in 2008 with Bob Bryan of the USA in Mixed Doubles, and the US Open in 2007 with Max Mirnyi of Belarus in Mixed Doubles.

Here is how both Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka made it to the finals and won:

Novak beat Paul-Henri Mathieu of France in the First Round. He beat Ryan Harrison of the USA in the Second Round. He beat Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in the Third Round. He beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the Fourth Round. He beat Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the Quarterfinals. He beat David Ferrer of Spain in the Semifinals. He beat Andy Murray in the Finals to win the Australian Open.

Victoria beat Monica Niculescu of Romania in the First Round. She beat Eleni Daniilidou of Greece in the Second Round. She beat Jamie Hampton of the USA in the Third Round. She beat Elena Vesnina of Russia in the Fourth Round. She beat Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the Quarterfinals. She beat Sloane Stephens of the USA in the Semifinals. She beat Li Na of China in the Finals to win the Australian Open.

Congrats to both Novak Djokovic on his fourth Australian Open three in a row, and to Victoria Azarenka on her second Australian Open two in a row. Good luck to them at the French Open in late May.

Hockey is Back

On January 11th the NHL owners and players finally came to an agreement to end the lockout and have the season start on January 19th for a 48 game season. Training camp was only about a week. There were 100 games in the last week and a half of January, so this season is 48 games per team. It will be over by April 27th.

So far this season, here are the top eight teams for each conference:

For the Eastern Conference: No.1 Ottawa Senators , No.2 Tampa Bay Lightning , No.3 New Jersey Devils, No.4 Boston Bruins, No.5 New York Islanders, No. 6 Montreal Canadians, No.7 Toronto Maple Leafs, and No.8 Pittsburgh Penguins.

For the Western Conference: No.1 San Jose Sharks, No.2 Chicago Blackhawks, No.3 Minnesota Wild, No.4 St. Louis Blues, No.5 Edmonton Oilers, No.6 Vancouver Canucks, No.7 Anaheim Ducks, and No.8 Detroit Red Wings.

So if the playoffs started on February 1st, the Ottawa Senators  would play the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Tampa Bay Lightning would play the Toronto Maple Leaf, the New Jersey Devils  would play the Montreal Canadians, and the Boston Bruins  would play the New York Islanders  for the Eastern Conference. For the Western Conference the San Jose Sharks would play the Detroit Red Wings, the Chicago Blackhawks would play the Anaheim Ducks, the Minnesota Wild would play the Vancouver Canucks, and the St. Louis Blues would play the Edmonton Oilers.

NFL Playoffs

The NFL Playoffs started on January 5th. The teams that made it to the playoffs for the American Football Conference (AFC) were the Cincinnati Bengals, the Houston Texans, the Indianapolis Colts, the Baltimore Ravens, the New England Patriots, and the Denver Broncos. The teams that made it for the National Football Conference (NFC) were the Minnesota Vikings, the Green Bay Packers, the Seattle Seahawks, the Washington Redskins, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Atlanta Falcons. There are three weeks in the playoffs: the first is Wild Card Weekend, the second is Divisional Weekend, and the third is the Conference Championships Weekend. The Super Bowl two weeks later.

Wild Card Weekend: There were four games that weekend, two on January 5th and two on January 6th. On January 5th, the Bengals played the Texans and the Vikings played the Packers. The Texans beat the Bengals 19 to 13 and the Packers beat the Vikings 24 to 10. On January 6th, the Colts played the Ravens and the Seahawks played the Redskins. The Ravens beat the Colts 24 to 9 and the Seahawks beat the Redskins 24 to 14. So the Texans, Packers, Ravens, and the Seahawks all advanced to the next week.

Divisional Weekend: There were four games that weekend, two on January 12th and two on January 13th. On January 12th the Ravens played the Broncos and the Packers played the 49ers. The Ravens beat the Broncos 38 to 35 and the 49ers beat the Packers 45 to 31. On January 13th the Seahawks played the Falcons and the Texans played the Patriots. The Falcons beat the Seahawks 30 to 28 and the Patriots beat the Texans 41 to 28. So the Ravens, 49ers, Falcons, and the Patriots all advanced to the next week.

Conference Championships Weekend: There were two games that weekend on January 20th. The first game was between the 49ers and the Falcons and the second was between the Ravens and the Patriots. The 49ers beat the Falcons 28 to 24 to go to the Super Bowl, and the Ravens beat the Patriots 28 to 13 to meet the 49ers in the Super Bowl. Good luck to both teams, and may the best team win.

Caela’s byline: I am the oldest of six children. I am a Christian. I love watching movies, playing on my computer, and I love watching sports. I want to go to Syracuse University, and eventually become a sports journalist. My favorite sports are hockey, football (soccer), and golf.

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