The Sports Thread #1 For 1/8/14: Mazniel, The Baseball Hall of Fame, and More (Multiple Versions)

Co-Lead Story: Manziel Declares  

Photo from USA Today

It's official, Johnny Manziel will have more times to party with Drake and work with LeBron, and not have to worry about suspension from the corrupt NCAA. He has declared for the NFL, to the surprise of not a single soul.

Co-Lead Story: The Baseball Hall of Fame Story 

Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas have been elected into Cooperstown this year, the only three to get elected into the Hall of Fame.

Craig Biggio missed entering the Hall of Fame (like he should have) by just two votes:

Agonizing for him and made more pathetic by who somehow got votes by the non-transparent baseball writers, who are so gutless that they won't have the courage and reveal who they voted for (more on that later). Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens went down while Piazza went up. Bagwell also went down, while McGwire looks like he will never come close to.

And who in the hell voted for J.T Snow, Jacque Jones, and Armando Benitez? 

If their names were made public on who they voted for, then these gutless baseball writers wouldn't make the stupid votes they do. The power of anonymity, where some cowards can easily hide.  

Jack Morris, in his final turn on the ballot, will not make it sadly and will have to rely on the veteran's committee.

Lee Smith and Curt Schilling's numbers show how it does not look good for them, and especially for Mike Mussina.

Sammy Sosa was almost off the ballot for good (maybe next year), while Rafael Palmeiro is now gone for good.

The Miscellaneous 

Good effort from Donald Young to take a set over the pugnacious David Ferrer, showing how he maybe back to his summer 2011 that showed that he still can be at least a solid player in the ATP. But the Top 10 ace showed once again how he is the true definition of mental stability and toughness, something that Young still has to get:



After a dreadful 2013 where it seemed he just wasn't motivated to fulfill his potential, Alexandr Dolgopolov seems determined to be a dangerous factor in ATP Tennis this season, thrashing Jerzy Janowicz 6-2, 6-2 at the Apia International.

On the WTA front, Marion Bartoli has vowed again that she will not return to tennis. We'll see, but Marion is a person who when she says something, she differently does do.

Add two more early season injuries to the WTA tour in just its first two weeks of the new year. After Sara Errani's back injuries hampered her against Tsvetana Pironkova, later in the day in Sydney saw Bethanie Mattek-Stands seem to suffer another injury (right hamstring) just when it seemed she was back being a serious threat.

(More on the WTA injury woes in a bit).

The class former German international, Thomas Hitzlsperger, announced that he was gay today. He was a fine player whose career was cut short because of injuries after announcing his retirement last May with Everton.

You can see why Hitzlsperger was reluctant to come out during his career, when you see a response from fading PSG and Brazilian centerback Alex.

(More to come).