Jagr's NHL Career Appearing To Be Over

With the Rangers recent signing of F Markus Naslund, it became pretty clear that the Rangers were not going to re-sign F Jaromir Jagr. Even though there was interest from other teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins and Edmonton Oilers, Jagr has decided to take his career to Russia. Jagr will accept a 2 year $20 million deal with Avangard Omsk, which he played for during the 2004-2005 lockout season, with a third year option included.

"I'm thankful for the three years I had in New York. They were great years. I understand that I'm older and the team decided to go in a different direction because they couldn't get the deal done," said Jagr regarding why the Rangers did not re-sign him.

"Don't forget I'm from Europe. Russia is nothing new for me. It's close to the Czech Republic. It would be different for American or Canadian players but for me, I enjoy it. The people love hockey and I had a great time out there," said Jagr.

The 36 year old from the Czech Republic was an 8-time NHL all-star and was awarded the Hart trophy as NHL's MVP in 1999. Jagr has also won the Art Ross trophy 4 times for being the NHL's leading scorer and of course 2 Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 91' and 92'.

In his 17 NHL seasons Jagr has played 1,273 games with stints in Pittsburgh, Washington and New York. Jagr has scored 646 goals and 943 assists for a grand total of 1,599 career NHL points.

Joey Chestnut Defends Hot-Dog Eating Title

Today is the 4th of July, and Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York has just hosted another fantastic Nathan's International July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest. Since 2001, Takeru Kobayashi had been dominating the competition: eating at least 49 hot dogs in 12 minutes in each year. However, Kobayashi had some tough competition starting in 2006 by the name of Joey Chestnut. Chestnut, a 24-year old competitive eater from San Jose, California, emerged into the hot dog contest looking to bring the hot dog title back to the United States.

In 2006, Kobayashi defeated chestnut 53.5 to 52. The year after that, Chestnut emerged on top by downing 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes, a new world record. This year, the time limit was changed to ten minutes.

With less than a minute to go, Kobayashi held a two-dog lead, but Joey Chestnut made a fabulous comeback to end up tying Kobayashi in the end with 59 hot dogs in ten minutes. This was the first ever tie in Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest history, so they ended up going to a 5-dog eatoff, which Chestnut won. Joey Chestnut has successfully defended his title in dramatic fashion. Who knows what will happen in next year's contest?

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal Advance to Wimbledon Finals

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will meet once again in Wimbledon, England in the finale of the men's singles tournament. This marks the third consecutive time a Wimbledon men's final will feature these two superstars.

Both finalists defeated their respective opponents in straight sets in the semifinals. Federer defeated Marat Safin 6-3, 7-6, 6-4, which gave Roger his 65th consecutive win on grass. Nadal defeated 94th-ranked Rainer Schuettler 6-1, 7-6, 6-4.

Although Nadal has lost to Federer in the last two Wimbledon finals, he did beat Roger in last month's French Open in straight sets.

The final game will be played on Sunday.

In the women's bracket, the Williams sisters Venus and Serena will face off against one another in the Wimbledon final. Serena defeated Zheng Jie 6-2, 5-7, 6-1, while Venus defeated Elena Dementieva 6-1, 6-7, 6-3.

Especially noteworthy about Zheng Jie was that she hailed from the Sichuan province in China, where an earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck on May 12, 2008. 69,185 people, which included 68,636 in Sichuan province alone, died as a result of this earthquake. Zheng Jie plans to donate some of her winnings to help the earthquake cause in China.

Tiger-Cats and Eskimos Get their First Wins of Season

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeated their Ontario rivals, the Toronto Argonauts, at Rogers Centre to spoil the home opener for Argos fans. The 30,822 who attended that game witnessed Jesse Lumsden rushing for 189 yards on 20 carries, of which two ended up in the Argos' goal area. QB Casey Printers also had a strong day for the Tiger-Cats that day: 16-for-23 passes for 171 yards to go along with his 8 rushes for 32 yards.

This win for the Ti-Cats was only their second win in 19 meetings with the Argos; Hamilton had lost 9 straight battle-of-Ontario games before finally getting their first win of the 2008 CFL season.

In the battle of Alberta, the Edmonton Eskimos emerged victorious as they edged past the Calgary Stampeders 34 to 31. After a 21-7 Eskimo lead at the half, Calgary stormed back, taking the lead on a Henry Burris 20-yard touchdown pass to Nikolas Lewis with 1:42 left in regulation. Although Burris threw for 330 yards in that game, the day belonged to Eskimos QB Ricky Ray. Ray finished the game with 448 yards passing, but none were bigger than his 36 yards to Jason Tucker that put Edmonton out in the lead for good.

While Hamilton gets a bye next week, the Stampeders will play at Montreal next Thursday at 7 PM EST. The Argonauts and Eskimos will both try to attain 2-1 records when they face off against each other later that day at 10 PM EST in Edmonton.