Commentary and news about sports and sports teams — and media coverage of them.
From The Seattle Times: Sideline Chatter:
Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman wasn’t among the neighsayers when golf phenom Michelle Wie announced she was turning pro at age 15.
“I’ve always felt like she’s Secretariat,” Lehman told The Associated Press. “You can give her minor adjustments — adjust the bit in her mouth — but it’s like, ‘Let her go.’ She’s that good.”
Sports Curmudgeon puts some perspective on the Nats:
This [Washington, DC] is the city they describe as having been starved for baseball for the last 35 years. This is the city that has a high level of disposable income and a burgeoning metropolitan area. This is the city that sold 2.7 million tickets.
Compare that to Denver Colorado in the first year that baseball was there. Denver was vilified by these local baseball poets when it got an expansion franchise and Washington did not. But Denver sold 4.4 million tickets in its first year — and most if not all of those seats had people in them.
This from Dwight Perry’s Sideline Chatter:
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel spotted this placard posted by a Green Bay fan at Lambeau Field:
“Wedding, 25K.
“House, 250K.
“Divorce, 30K.
“Ex-husband’s front-row Packers tickets: Priceless.”
… of Jim Henson. The creator of the Muppets was born on this date in 1936.
… of Jim McKay. The Wide World of Sports host is 84.
… of “Mean” Joe Greene. The Hall-of-Fame defensive tackle is 59.
… of Joseph Kennedy II. Robert Kennedy’s son, the former congressman, is 53.
From 1946 through 2004 there have been 59 Division I-A Football “National Championships.” According to the NCAA Record Book (page 89), 77 teams from 30 schools have won or shared in the 59 championships (14 times there have been co-champions, twice there have been three teams named).
Fourteen schools have won or shared the title more than once:
Oklahoma (6 outright, 1 tie)
Notre Dame (5 outright, 3 ties)
USC (4 outright, 3 ties)
Miami (4 outright, 1 tie)
Nebraska (3 outright, 2 ties)
Alabama (2 outright, 5 ties)
Ohio State (2 outright, 4 ties)
Texas (2 outright, 1 tie)
Penn State, Florida State, Tennessee (2 outright each)
Michigan State (1 outright, 2 ties)
Michigan (1 outright, 1 tie)
LSU (2 ties)
These 14 schools account for 61 out of 77 championship teams (79%).
I would argue that to win a national championship you have to schedule (and beat) at least one of the 14.
Seven schools have won the championship once. They are Maryland (1953), Syracuse (1959), Pittsburgh (1976), Georgia (1980), Clemson (1981), BYU (1984) and Florida (1996).
Nine schools have been co-champion once, but have never won the title outright. They are UCLA (1954), Auburn (1957), Iowa (1958), Minnesota (1960), Mississippi (1960), Arkansas (1964), Colorado (1990), Georgia Tech (1990) and Washington (1991).
… of Tommy Lasorda. The former Dodgers manager is 78 today.
… of Lute Olson. The University of Arizona’s Hall-of-Fame basketball coach is 71.
… of semi-famous daughters of very famous fathers. Shari Belafonte is 51. Debby Boone is 49.
… of Joan Jett. The rocker is 47. Hey Joan, send me a digital copy of I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll.
… of Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima. The Brazilian football star is 29.
And it’s also the birthday of John, official youngest brother of NewMexiKen. John is a multi-talented guy — photography (as you can see), black belt, racing cyclist, actor and world traveler.
Bill Medley is 65 today. Medley is the Righteous Brother with the deep voice. It was he who sang the opening verse in the great, great classic “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.” It was the late Bobby Hatfield, the tenor , who generally took the lead on Righteous Brother songs. Cynthia Weil, who wrote “Lovin’ Feelin’,” told this story:
After Phil [Spector], Barry [co-writer Barry Mann] and I finished the song, we took it over to The Righteous Brothers. Bill Medley, who has the low voice, seemed to like the song. I remember Bobby Hatfield saying, “But what do I do while he’s singing the whole first verse???? and Phil said, “You can go directly to the bank!???
Hall of Fame ballplayers Duke Snider and Joe Morgan were born on this date — Snider is 79, Morgan 62. When I think of Morgan I think of an interview during a World Series in the early 1970s. Howard Cossell asked Morgan, “What does it feel like to know you are the best person in the world at what you do?”
Roger Angell, the wonderful writer known foremost for his essays on baseball in The New Yorker, is 85 today.
Actor Adam West, TV’s Batman, is 75. David McCallum, TV’s Illya Kuryakin, is 72.
And the Mary Tyler Show debuted on this date 35 years ago.
As previously, USATODAY.com posts Jeff Sagarin’s computer rankings for college football. Here’s his top 10 through yesterday’s games. A little different from the opinion polls of ESPN/USA Today and AP. (Includes team rank, rating and won-loss record.)
1 Southern California = 98.64 2-0
2 Florida State = 98.44 3-0
3 LSU = 97.78 1-0
4 Miami-Florida = 97.34 1-1
5 Texas = 91.32 3-0
6 Wisconsin = 90.58 3-0
7 Virginia Tech = 89.78 3-0
8 Georgia Tech = 89.43 3-0
9 Florida = 89.36 3-0
10 Louisville = 88.96 2-0
Sagarin rates all 239 Division I teams, 1-to-239.
[Update: Sagarin link is to current week, not to the week this was written.]
It was the quickest 18 holes in the history of golf. A 67 under par. A round-in-one.
Peter Barron, playing last weekend at the Blackwell Grange golf club in Darlington, England, hit his opening tee shot so badly that it looped over several trees and spectators and plopped into the cup on the 18th hole — about 160 yards away.
As Barron told The Guardian of London: “I am so bad at golf that I will never get a real hole-in-one, so I will settle for this happily.”
… but the attendance of 111,386 at Michigan Stadium Saturday does not even rank among the top ten largest crowds ever at “The Big House.”
The last game at Michigan with fewer than 100,000 in attendance was in 1975.
… of Arnold Palmer. Arnie is 76 today.
… of Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Bob Lanier. He’s 57.
… of future Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Randy Johnson. He’s 42.
And it’s the birthday of Roger Maris, born on this date in 1934. The following is from The Official Roger Maris Web Site:
Roger and teammate Mickey Mantle entertained baseball fans throughout the summer of ’61 as the two New York Yankee sluggers chased the record many called the most cherished in all of sports. Mickey dropped out of the home run race early due to an illness, but finished with a career high 54 home runs. Roger tied Ruth on September 26, hitting his 60th home run. He then hit his 61st home run on the final day of the season, October 1, 1961, against the Boston Red Sox to set a new record. The Yankees won the game, 1 to 0, and later went on to win the World Series.
Roger was voted the Most Valuable Player in the American league for the second straight year, as he led the league in home runs and RBI’s. He was also named the 1961 Associated Press’ Male Athlete of the Year.
During his career, Roger Maris played in seven World Series and seven All-Star games. He hit 275 career home runs and won the Gold Glove Award for outstanding defensive play. The New York Yankees retired his number “9” in 1984.
Ted Williams is 87 today. He’s planning to spend the day hanging out and just chillin’.
Not counting games when he only pinch hit (i.e., only one at bat), there were just eight instances in Williams’s career that he went consecutive games without getting on base — seven times he failed to get on for two games, once it was for three.
It’s also the birthday
… of Warren Buffet. The billionaire “uncle” of Jimmy Buffet is 75. (Actually distant cousins.)
… of Jerry Tarkanian. The Shark is also 75.
… of John Phillips. The Papa is 70. (The other Papa was Denny Doherty.)
… of Molly Ivins. The columnist is 61.
… of Peggy Lipton. The Mod Squad member is 58.
… of Lewis Black. The comedian, and regular on The Daily Show, is 57.
… of Cameron Diaz. Princess Fiona is 33.
From Morning Briefing in the Los Angeles Times:
As much as fans want to believe Lance Armstrong, who denied a report this week in a French newspaper that he’d used a banned substance before winning his first Tour de France, they may have doubts, thanks to a troubling theme resonating through the world of sports.
“It should fill us with righteous anger when a French newspaper calls Lance Armstrong, bona fide American hero, a cheater,” writes Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “[But] the sad truth is that we can’t get angry for Armstrong because we simply can’t trust anyone anymore. We’ve heard every sort of excuse. … We’ve watched superstars lie to Congress. We’ve heard all the carefully worded alibis and explanations”.
“If we can’t simply accept Armstrong’s word, blame Marion Jones and Rafael Palmeiro and Bill Romanowski and Kelli White and Jason Giambi and Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds.”
The trouble with trying to believe Armstrong, Sheridan concludes, “is that everything he’s saying, we’ve heard before.”
There was never any doubt where the Seminole Tribe of Florida stood on Florida State University’s nickname. The tribe helped university boosters create the costume for the Chief Osceola mascot, approving the face paint, flaming spear and Appaloosa horse that have no connection to Seminole history.
[Tuesday], the National Collegiate Athletic Association agreed with the 3,100-member tribe and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, which had also endorsed the nickname. The N.C.A.A. removed Florida State from the list of universities banned from using what it called “hostile and abusive” mascots and nicknames during postseason play.
Columnist Dave Fairbank of the Daily Press in Hampton Roads, Virginia:
In that incubator for radicals and educated malcontents tucked into the colonial capital, otherwise known as the College of William and Mary, there is a buzz of activity – and not just because parking spaces are as valued as a final-grade mulligan. …
But the most intriguing athletic issue on campus these days has nothing to do with fields and buildings, and everything to do with perception.
William and Mary is in the process of assembling a report to the NCAA about its nickname – Tribe – and why it should not be judged “hostile and abusive” to Native-Americans.
Thirty-two of the 33 NCAA member schools with Native-American nicknames and mascots recently learned if they were acceptable. W&M received an extension because it was between administrations.
Any school that produced four U.S. presidents and that was judged “hottest small state school” by Newsweek needs no outside help to argue its case, but part of its report will go something like this:
“Tribe” is about as innocuous a reference to Native-Americans as it gets. The closest thing to a mascot the school has is a green, fuzzy creature called Colonel Ebirt (“Tribe” spelled backwards), who obviously was named on a day when all the clever kids slept late.
Area Indian tribes have not protested the school nickname as hostile or insensitive. The only visible Native-American references are a couple of green-and-gold feathers on the school logo.
In the rare instances when inclined, William and Mary fans perform maybe the nation’s most pitiful, half-hearted “Tomahawk Chop.”
Naturally, all of this guarantees that the NCAA will deem “Tribe” hostile and abusive.
A couple of items from this morning’s Sideline Chatter in The Seattle Times:
- The police box score from this year’s annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota reads 388 arrests — 188 for drunken driving, 162 for drug misdemeanors and 38 for drug felonies — and 1,250 citations, AP reported.
“In other words,” wrote Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press, “it’s like a Portland Trail Blazers season, only with Harley Davidsons.”
- Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun, on Rafael Palmeiro’s dwindling credibility: “Right about now, Raffy could tell us Roger Clemens has a good fastball, Alex Rodriguez can hit for power and the outfield grass is green — and we’d have to go for a second opinion.”
NewMexiKen realizes that I’m now at an awkward age for golf. My 60-year-old body still occasionally lets me hit the ball farther than my 60-year-old eyes can follow.
Encouraged by the NCAA’s crackdown on Native American-themed sports teams, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has launched a campaign against the “Gamecocks” of Jacksonville State and the University of South Carolina. “Our problem with “Gamecocks” is it promotes cockfighting,” said PETA’s Dan Shannon. “With the NCAA decision about Native American nicknames, we hope that might spur them on—no pun intended—to adopt a nickname more respectful to animals.”
Next:
Jose Canseco wrote the steroid exposé “Juiced,” and in response his ex-wife Jessica is giving him the needle with “Juicy: Confessions of a Former Baseball Wife.”
It’s a move she might come to regret.
Rumor has it Jose just might be miffed enough to pen yet another tell-all tome: “I Loved Juicy.”
Dwight Perry at Sideline Chatter in The Seattle Times.
“I have never used steroids. Period.”
Rafael Palmeiro before Congress March 17. Palmeiro has tested positive for steroids and is suspended for ten days.
In other baseball news, Barry Bonds’ return to baseball has been postponed again. He says he does not expect to be back this season.
For all you Armstrong fans, some yellow journalism.
Well, so much for NewMexiKen’s attempt at initiating a discussion about Tiger Woods. One comment. (Thank you, Emily.)
Here are excerpts from contrasting opinions by sportswriters — both columns merit reading in full.
First, John Feinstein:
Woods already holds many records. One of them, which is unofficial, is that he has been fined for using profanity publicly more than any player in history. While using profanity in the crucible of competition is hardly a great crime, it is indicative of Woods’s attitude that, rather than try to curb his use of language, he has complained that he is being treated unfairly since there are always microphones following him when he plays. Last month, during the U.S. Open, Woods missed a putt and childishly dragged his putter across the green, damaging it as he did so. When he was asked about the incident later, he shrugged and said, “I was frustrated,” (no apology) as if he was the only player among 156 dealing with frustration. In recent years he has allowed his caddie, Steve Williams, to frequently treat spectators and members of the media rudely, not only defending him but also appearing to sanction his misbehavior.
Woods is extremely popular with the golfing public, in part because of his extraordinary play and in part because of a carefully crafted image built around a series of commercials that show him to be a funny and friendly guy. Sadly, that’s not the Woods most people encounter. He is the master of the TV sound bite, but he rarely shares any of his real thoughts with the public.
Second, Michael Wilbon:
Feinstein criticizes Woods for not trying to curb his language, which can get pretty foul when he misses a putt or hits a bad shot, just like most of us. And because Feinstein is a golf historian, I know he knows that Nicklaus, whom he justifiably praises to the high heavens, could have cursed up a storm if he wanted in 1962 or thereabouts without it reaching the television because he wasn’t followed everywhere with sound men holding frighteningly high-tech boom microphones so close they can pick up the sound of his stomach churning. So, apparently, to Feinstein and Plaschke (and I know they are joined by a great many) it’s not enough to win major championships, to win so much and with such style it revolutionizes the entire game and elevates the profile of the profession — no, he’s got to smile the way they want him to smile, accept only as much money from Coke and Nike as they want him to accept.
They both say he isn’t beloved, which to me is clearly ignoring mountains of evidence to the contrary. They and lots of others may not find Tiger beloved. But millions of people, perhaps people who don’t register with Plaschke and Feinstein, adore Tiger.
…
Tiger may not strike you (or them) as a typical black man in America because his mother is Thai and he’s rich beyond most people’s wildest dreams. But Tiger, as he explained the day we talked, knows his father Earl played baseball at Kansas State but couldn’t stay with the team when it traveled to Norman, Okla., because the hotel was “whites only.” Tiger was called “nigger” at the Navy golf club when he was a little kid.
On his first day of kindergarten at a school where he was the only child of color, Tiger was confronted by a group of sixth-graders who tied him to a tree and spray painted “Nigger” on him and threw rocks at him. I bring this up because the things that shaped Tiger Woods, that cross his mind, that make him angry when he wakes up, didn’t shape Nicklaus or Ernie Els or Phil Mickelson or Colin Montgomerie, or for that matter, Feinstein or Plaschke.
He doesn’t need to wave like Jack or be like Jack. Tiger Woods is 29, a champion already and an icon. Can you imagine how the game of golf would be reduced without him?
The Bill Plaschke column mentioned by Wilbon: He’s Too Good to Be Truly Loved, and That’s Too Bad.
Friday, an appellate court put new life into the legal challenge to the trademark of the Washington professional football team. According to The Washington Post:
The appellate ruling hinged on the question of whether the Native Americans waited too long to file their challenge. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled in October 2003 that the seven plaintiffs had no standing to complain because they did not formally object until 25 years had elapsed since the date of the first trademark.
But the appellate judges found that one plaintiff still could have standing because he was only 1 year old in 1967. They sent the case back to Kollar-Kotelly for review.
NewMexiKen has long thought the Washington football franchise was insensitive about this; even more I think they are being financially short-sighted. If they change their name, alas every item of merchandise with the current logo will sell in an instant to collectors. Then, all the fans will rush to get current with the new name and the new merchandise will have a boom.
Do the right thing and make a fortune. This is a no-brainer. But then the owner of the team is a no-brainer in many ways, too.
Do Tiger Woods’ grimaces and curses — even when making shots us mere mortals would die for — harm his image? Or does his billion-dollar smile overcome all?
Before the 134th British Open began, one of Tiger Woods’s advisers mentioned to him that if he were to win here on the Old Course, his 10 victories in pro majors and his three U.S. Amateur titles would match Bobby Jones’s total of 13 majors won from 1923 to 1930.
With that boyish smile, Woods said, “Apples to apples.”
Jones, playing before there was a Masters and never in the PGA (he was an amateur), won five U.S. and one British amateur championships, as well as four U.S. and three British opens. Jack Nicklaus won two U.S. Amateur championships. If included as majors, that would bring Nicklaus’ total to 20.
