Sports Smash

Air Jordan

Slammin' Sammy

Get ready to see #23 doing his high-flying dunks and taking those amazing fade away jump shots once again. That's right, Michael Jordan is returning to the NBA. MJ will be playing for the Washington Wizards this year - the team he partly owns. Because of NBA regulations, he'll have to sell his ownership in order to play. He'll be donating his entire NBA paycheque to the victims of the World Trade Center attacks - nice work, Mike. Michael's comeback will be tough too. The Wizards don't have much talent and haven't won a playoff game in 13 years. But if there's a man who can give the Wizards a real chance, it's MJ.
Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez all hit record-breaking homeruns on September 23, 2001. Barry smacked two homers against the San Diego Padres. He now has 66 - the second highest total ever. The record is the 70 hit by Mark McGwire in 1998. Sammy hit three homeruns against the Houston Astros to become the first player to hit three dingers in one game, three times in a season. A-Rod hit his 48th homerun to break the record for most homeruns by a shortstop.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Cal Ripken Jr. 400 on September 23, 2001. It was the first time NASCAR had raced since the terrorist attacks. The race was in honor of Cal, who is retiring from baseball at the end of this season. After waving the green flag to start the race, Cal took a chopper to Oriole Park for Baltimore's game against the New York Yankees.
The NFL also started playing again on September 23rd. The big upset of the week was the Cincinnati Bengals knocking off the champs - the Baltimore Ravens. Emmitt Smith became the second leading rusher of all time when he ran for 85 yards in the Cowboys' loss to the Chargers. The NFL took a week off because of the terrorist attacks, so the Super Bowl will now be played February 3rd in New Orleans, instead of January 27th.

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