Filed under: Extras • Sports • Viral Video of the Day • YouTube

You have got to see this video... Para-gliding is an extreme sport where daredevils use just the wind and a specially modified parachute to glide wherever they want to go. It's the closest thing to flying you're ever gonna see!! Jean-Baptiste Chandelier has been paragliding since 2004... Take a look at one of his amazing videos below:

Urban Side from Jean-Baptiste Chandelier JB prod on Vimeo.

Follow Morning Express sports anchor Carlos Diaz on twitter: @CarlosHLN

Posted by: Sports Anchor Carlos Diaz
Filed under: Sports

Players are calling last night’s Game 6 the best World Series game ever! The Cardinals were down to the final strike of their season… not once, but twice!! The Rangers had the champagne chilling in the clubhouse, ready for a bubbly celebration… But there would be no toasting for Texas because a local St. Louis hero came through to win the game for the Cardinals!

David Freese grew up going to Cardinals games as a kid, dreaming about having a night like last night, but it started out like a nightmare him.

In the 5th inning, Freese camped under a pop-up at 3rd base, but the ball doinked off of his mit and then his head. That eventually allowed the Rangers to take the lead. Fast forward to the 9th, Freese at the plate, the Cardinals are down to their last strike, and Freese has the hopes of his hometown St. Louis on his shoulders… And comes through with a clutch triple to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Then in the 11th inning, Freese hit the game winning home run!!

It’s a story right off of the silver screen!

So now the Cardinals are riding a huge high going into Game 7 tonight.

Can the Rangers pick themselves up to capture their first World Series title ever? Or does this Hollywood story-line continue for St. Louis? The Cards squeezed into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season, and now on the final day of the entire season, they try to become World Champions.

Follow Morning Express with Robin Meade sports anchor Carlos Diaz on Twitter: @CarlosHLN

Posted by: Sports Anchor Carlos Diaz
Filed under: Baseball • Sports • St. Louis Cardinals • Texas Rangers • World Series

Carlos Diaz talks to Milwaukee Brewers Center Fielder Nyjer Morgan and Nyjer's alter ego "Tony Plush" about being in the National League Championship Series, his role as an entertainer, "Beast Mode," Twitter & "The Options for Life Foundation."

Sales of Morgan's "T-Plush" t-shirts (available at NyjerMorgan2.com) benefit Options for Life which provides resources for alternative and complementary medicine to those facing life threatening disease.

Filed under: Baseball • Brewers • Nyjer Morgan • Sports • T. Plush

It’s Tiger Woods vs. a hot dog!

Yesterday at the Frys.com Open, Tiger was getting ready to putt for birdie on the 7th green when a man ran onto the green yelling “Tiger!” The man then threw a hot dog in Tiger’s direction!!

Relax… The wiener didn’t get anywhere near the most famous golfer on the planet.

The man was down on the ground with his hands behind his back before security even got to him, so he knew was busted the minute he stepped foot on the green. I have got to give Tiger credit, when the guy was yelling “Tiger!”, Woods didn’t even flinch!

And Tiger laughed about it afterward–even though he finished tied for 30th in the event. Ouch!

By the way… you won’t see the footage of Tiger’s newest wiener scandal because The Golf Channel owns the domestic rights to the video, and they don’t want to inspire copycats. Bummer.

Posted by: Sports Anchor Carlos Diaz
Filed under: Sports

More on the pink ice down below... but first:

Happy Friday (unless you’re a Yankees fan…)!!!

The American League Championship Series is now set: The Rangers will take on the Tigers after Detroit knocked off New York last night at Yankee Stadium in front of a record crowd of more than 50,000 fans. The Tigers started the game with back-to-back home runs in the first inning, and the Yankees were trying to play catch-up the rest of the game... New York's Alex Rodriguez strikes out for the final out of the Yankees season. The Tigers celebrate, the Yanks and their fans, not so much.

In the National League, there are 2 Game Five's tonight: First the Brewers host the Diamondbacks, then it's the Phillies battling the Cardinals.... You can catch both games on TBS.

One of the best pitchers in baseball is being sued for trashing his apartment. The Giants' Tim Lincecum is accused of stealing and destroying 200-thousand dollars worth household items from a San Francisco apartment that he moved out of in May. The lawyer for Lincecum’s landlord thinks the Giants pitcher had a wild party that left the entire apartment in total disarray. The Giants and Lincecum haven’t commented on the lawsuit.

You won’t be seeing Hank Williams Jr. asking “Are You Ready for Some Football” before Monday Night Football games on ESPN anymore. But was he fired or did he quit? That depends on whose statement you believe. Yesterday, ESPN released a statement saying “We have decided to part ways with Hank Williams, Jr. We appreciate his contributions over the past years.” But then you’ve got this statement from Williams, “After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It’s been a great run.” Bottom line, after 20 years on Monday Night Football, Hank’s gone.

MVP quarterback Peyton Manning says he wants to come back to play for his Colts this season, and he’s slowly working his way back into the team’s day-to-day schedule. This Sunday, Manning will be on the sidelines for the first time this regular season, not in pads of course, as the win-less Colts take on the Chiefs. Manning, who is still recovering from neck surgery, says of his return to the field: "The good Lord is calling my plays and I'm not allowed to be audible at this point, so I have to listen to the doctors.”

From the weird injury report file: Cleveland Browns center Alex Mack played Sunday against the Titans… with appendicitis!! He thought he just had the flu!! In fact, he showed up for practice on Monday ready to go, but the team doctors evaluated him and told him he needed emergency surgery… and they pulled out his appendix! His Browns teammates noticed Mack was a little queasy during Sunday’s game, but he thought it was something he ate. The Browns have a bye this week, and Mack is currently listed as “uncertain” to play against the Raiders in 11 days… but one teammate says he’ll play.

Hockey season is back, and Breast Cancer Awareness Month is hitting the ice. The hockey rink at Missouri State now features some very cool pink ice (video at the top of this post)! The Missouri State Ice Bears players will also be wearing black jerseys trimmed in pink and the jerseys will be auctioned at Saturday’s game with proceeds going to fund cancer research.

Now take that kind of optimism into your weekend!! We’ll see ya on Monday!!

Posted by: Sports Anchor Carlos Diaz
Filed under: Baseball • College • MLB • Sports

Today’s True Champion is an amazingly inspirational story. Soccer phenom Bree McMahon’s lower body was crushed by a car in high school 2 years ago. She lost her left leg and her right leg is incredibly scarred. But she’s back on the soccer field at Brevard College in North Carolina with her running leg, and she’s dealing with every obstacle that comes her way with incredible optimism! Bree says she is still figuring out how to adjust her body movements, but she says knowing that she’s getting closer to her goal of playing soccer competitively makes her want to work twice as hard.

Posted by: Sports Anchor Carlos Diaz
Filed under: Breakthrough Women • Soccer

We’re one day away from Friday! Coming up: We've got with some Tiger on… and off… the course, an NHL tribute, an amazing high school football field goal and a squirrel on twitter... but first:

ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue” is here… let the controversy begin! It is extremely revealing… Extremely! There are four different covers featuring soccer star Hope Solo, Olympic Snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, NBA rookie-of-the-year Blake Griffin and New York Met Jose Reyes. Along with those 4, there are 18 other athletes who pose very nude, with their naughty parts barely covered in the “Bodies We Want” section. The difference between the Body Issue and Sports Illustrated’s annual “Swimsuit Issue” is that this issue is said to celebrate athletes, not models. And you probably never thought you’d hear this: SI’s Swimsuit Issue features much more clothing than The Body Issue.

Tiger Woods has signed his first major endorsement deal since his marriage scandal… and this one is a biggie! Rolex has announced a partnership with the embattled golfer. Citing Tiger’s “exceptional stature," the folks at Rolex believe Tiger “still has a long career ahead of him.” They also say they are committed to accompanying Tiger “in his new challenges.” Watchmaker Tag Heuer dropped Woods 2 months ago. Golfers like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus have been associated with Rolex, so Tiger’s in good company. Tiger’s agent says more new endorsements are to come. Tiger tees off today at 3:10pm Eastern Time in the Frys.com Open in Northern California.

Two NHL teams are raising money for the families of the Russian hockey players killed in a plane crash last month. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals will auction off the jerseys they'll wear in their pre-season match-up on October 13. The teams will also sell remembrance bracelets to benefit the families of the 28 Russian players who died when the plane carrying their team crashed after take-off in Western Russia.

A high school player has accomplished something no NFL player has ever done: kicking a 64-yard field goal in a game! Austin Pacheco hit this unbelievable field goal for Carson High School in Nevada on Friday. It probably would have been good from 70 yards. Carson High’s head coach told Austin before the game that anything within 65-yards was in his range. This is actually just the second longest high school football field goal. In 1985, another player in Nevada hit a 68-yard field goal.

If you thought the Super Bowl’s media day couldn’t get any crazier, think again! Because now fans will be allowed in!! 5,000 people will be allowed into Lucas Oil Stadium on January 31 when the two Super Bowl teams face the press on the field. They'll get special personal radios so that they can listen to the interviews taking place. Media Day has always been a circus. This season, it will be even more outrageous.

And we've got a varmint sighting in St. Louis… In the 5th inning, a squirrel ran across home plate in the middle of the Cardinals-Phillies playoff game… Phillies manager Charlie Manual says he could have taken care of the squirrel. He says he's "from the south" and he's "a squirrel hunter" and he's "a pretty good shot." The squirrel shot back on its Twitter account (yes, the squirrel is on Twitter) @BuschSquirrel, "Charlie Manuel is too old to shoot me or have a gun." By the way, the Cardinals won to force a decisive Game 5 tomorrow night in Philly.

Now go out there and make this the best Thursday ever!! See ya tomorrow!

Posted by: Sports Anchor Carlos Diaz
Filed under: Baseball • Golf • High School • MLB • NHL • Sports • Super Bowl • Tiger Woods

Did you know that Robin Meade is a proud 'band geek?' Flute, marching bells, piccolo, oboe, french horn... she played them all AND she was a majorette. Which is why she was so pleased to see this clip:

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: College • Extras • Sports

Good morning sports fans! Here are some of the most interesting sports stories we have for ya on this Hump Day!!

First... watch the clip above... Oh man... every dad knows the look this guy is going to get! This baseball fan in Taiwan goes for a foul ball and completely forgets that his daughter is sitting on his lap, and she lands in the row in front of him… The little girl is okay, which is more than I can say for dad… Check out the look mom is giving him… when he gets home, he's gonna get an ear full!! We found the video which has gone viral on SI.com's Extra Mustard.

Talk about a really bad computer error. Just hours after manager Ozzie Guillen was let out of his contract as the skipper of the Chicago White Sox on Monday night, a blog post appeared on Guillen’s website which said he was thrilled to become the new manager of the Florida Marlins. The only problem: Guillen had not yet reached an official agreement to manage the Florida Marlins. A league source told ESPN that a "raw" version of Guillen's post, which was "not intended for public consumption," was mistakenly posted by an employee who simply "hit the wrong button." So the post was immediately taken down. Oops!! But then outspoken Guillen tweeted on Tuesday, “Weird to be in Miami in this time but very happy ready to go." The Marlins are moving into a brand new ballpark next season, so having a World Series champion manager like Guillen is a big get for the team.

Some of the biggest names in the NBA will get together in near Miami next week to play a game for charity. The Miami Heat’s Big 3 of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh will host and play in “The South Florida All-Star Classic,” on October 8th at Florida International University. All-Stars like Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, Chris PaulRajon Rondo and several other big named players will compete to raise money for the educational community of South Florida.

Brian Stow went outside for the first time in almost 6 months, and when his sister asked him how the sun felt, he responded, “It’s magical.” Stow is the Giants fan who was beaten into a coma outside of Dodger stadium on Opening Day. Since speaking some of his first words last week since the March attack, the father of 2 is now making jokes, recalling childhood memories and recognizing members of his family. Doctors are encouraged by Stow’s improvement, but they warn that he still has a long road of recovery ahead.

The Philadelphia Flyers Wayne Simmonds will not be disciplined for making an alleged homophobic slur toward the New York Rangers Sean Avery earlier this week in a preseason hockey game. The league says it was unable to take action because of conflicting reports about what was actually said. Simmonds strongly denied using a homophobic slur. All this drama comes just days after Simmonds was the subject of an apparent racial taunt from a fan during a different preseason NHL game in Ontario.

This has got to be the toughest par 3 in the history of golf. The PGA set up a tee box on the 16th floor terrace of a Chicago hotel, and the green is 220 yards away on a floating barge!! Golfers Davis Love III and Jose Maria Olazabal then had to hit a ball between the opened draw-bridge and onto the green. Both golfers hit the green, and both balls rolled off into the Chicago River. The event raised 100-thousand dollars for charity.

Just remember on this Wednesday… every minute that goes by gets you further from Monday and closer to Friday!!! See ya tomorrow!!

*Follow Carlos Diaz on Twitter: @CarlosHLN

Posted by: Sports Anchor Carlos Diaz
Filed under: Basketball • Golf • Miami • Miami Heat • MLB • NBA • NHL • Sports