Commentary and news about sports and sports teams — and media coverage of them.
NewMexiKen just doesn’t understand a culture that starts a national championship game at nearly half past nine for half the population (the Eastern time zone). Something we might actually like for kids to watch starts at 9:21 — which means it won’t be over before midnight.
Update: For the record, the game ended at 11:35 ET.
A member of the Isotopes grounds crew helps drag the tarpaulin across the field after the seventh inning of an exhibition game between the Albuquerque Isotopes and their parent club, the World Series champion Florida Marlins. The Isotopes won the rain-shortened game 9-1 Sunday at Isotopes Park, called after a 30-minute delay sent home the record crowd announced at 14,177.Photo and caption from the Albuquerque Tribune.
Long one of the premier writers covering baseball, Peter Gammons gives his picks for 2004.
From The Seattle Times: Sideline Chatter:
How big is Candace Parker becoming the first schoolgirl to win the slam-dunk contest at the McDonald’s All-American Basketball Game?
One giddy sociologist, we hear, is already calling hers history’s biggest dunk since the cop who discovered doughnuts.
In case you were wondering, the two “regular season” games played in Tokyo were Yankee road games, Tampa Bay home games. (They split the series 1-1).
The MLB season opens on this side of the Pacific on Sunday evening, Boston at Baltimore.
The incredible Gordie Howe is 76 today.
Gordie Howe is referred to as simply “Mr. Hockey”. World War II had just ended when he first entered the National Hockey League, and when he played his final NHL season 33 years later, Wayne Gretzky was playing his first. Over those five decades, Howe didn’t just survive, he was dominant – on the scoring lists, in battles in the corners, on game-winning goals and when the year-end awards were handed out. He was a big man, though by modern standards no behemoth, but what set him apart was his incredible strength.
Read more from the Hockey Hall of Fame.
A couple of items from the Los Angeles Times Morning Briefing today.
Different recollections: A number of readers e-mailed in response to an item about Bill Walton’s 21-for-22 effort against Memphis State in 1973, disputing reader Cy Bolton’s claim the one miss was actually an illegal dunk.
Some thought the one miss was because of an “offensive basket interference” call, but we’ll go with older brother Bruce Walton’s version. He and a few others said Walton did miss a shot in the first half — a tip of a lob pass from Greg Lee that rimmed out.
Added Bruce Walton, “He was called for offensive basket interference four or five times in the game. Without those ‘bad calls’ he would have been 25 for 26 or 26 for 27, which would have been even more incredible.”
A torch of irony: Regarding the status of Olympic Stadium in Athens, Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, “If everything goes smoothly, the torch relay will end at the opening ceremony when the last torch bearer runs into the stadium and welds the roof in place.”
From Nike Golf, Tiger vs. tiger. [Video]
Thanks to John D for the booger-free link.
From the Los Angeles Times: Morning Briefing —
Of Bill Walton’s 21-for-22 performance against Memphis State in the 1973 NCAA championship game, reader Cy Bolton recalled that the one miss was a made basket that was disallowed because it was ruled a dunk. Dunks were not allowed in 1973.
From The Seattle Times: Sideline Chatter —
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, on why he’s not surprised that players are dragging their feet on the steroids issue: “One side effect of steroids is that they tend to shrink the very things you need in order to stand up to a misguided union leadership.”
From Morning Briefing in the Los Angeles Times:
In a “SportsCentury” profile of John Wooden airing on ESPN Classic today at 5 and 8 p.m., Bill Walton says that he and Wooden “fought about everything” when he played for Wooden, particularly his hair.
“I’m the two-time NCAA player of the year and he says, ‘That’s not good enough. Your hair is too long,’ ” Walton says.
Says Wooden: “He said, ‘You don’t have the right to tell me how long to wear my hair.’ I said, ‘You’re right, I don’t have that right. But I do have the right to say who will play. And we will miss you.’ ”
Walton: “I jumped in the barber’s chair and said, ‘Cut it all off.’ “
If NewMexiKen were a betting man I’d have to play a hunch and put some cash on Xavier to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship. Playing Scrabble Saturday evening I found the letters X-A-V-I-E-R in my little tray.
The downside of this was, of course, that Xavier is not an acceptable Scrabble word because it is a proper noun.
It appears the Mountain and Pacific time zones need to hold their own March Madness. The final eight is 5 Eastern, 3 Central.
Michael Wilbon has a good column today about race and basketball.
From The Seattle Times: Sideline Chatter:
As added proof that soccer headers kill brain cells, The Mirror of London offered up a string of oratorical boot brilliance through the ages, including:
• Gary Lineker (Leicester): “There’s no in between — you’re either good or bad. We were in between.”
• Mark Viduka (Leeds): “I would not be bothered if we lost every game, as long as we won the league.”
• Ronnie Whelan (Liverpool): “He’s put on weight and I’ve lost it, and vice versa.”
• Stuart Pearce (Nottingham Forest): “I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel.”
• Alan Shearer (Newcastle): “I’ve never wanted to leave. I’m here for the rest of my life, and hopefully after that as well.”
• Les Ferdinand (Leicester): “I was surprised, but I always say nothing surprises me in football.”
From Morning Briefing in the Los Angeles Times:
A savvy coach: On Packer’s assignment by CBS to work the Saint Joseph’s-Wake Forest game, Martelli said, “The first thing I did was laugh out loud. Then I silently applauded CBS because they get it. This makes a good story above and beyond the game.”
*
Billy who? Of Packer, Saint Joseph’s senior guard Tyrone Barley said, “None of the guys on the team knew who he was. I was watching ESPN Classic and he was doing one of the games. It was like, ‘Is he still doing games?’ ”
*
What about 1961? Much has been made of the NCAA tournament game involving Wake Forest and Saint Joseph’s in 1962, when Packer, a guard for Wake Forest, helped the Demon Deacons win in overtime.
Reader Harry Doyle, an alumnus of Saint Joseph’s, points out that in the 1961 East Regional final, Saint Joseph’s defeated Wake Forest, 96-86, in a game in which Packer fouled out and scored only four points.
“I guess it was too much to ask Billy to retort with a reference to that game,” Doyle said in an e-mail.
*
Clean escape: The late Al McGuire once said of Packer: “Call him ‘Washroom Billy.’ When the check comes, Billy is always in the washroom.”
From The Seattle Times: Sideline Chatter:
Forget the 300 game and the 806 series Josh Garner bowled at Century Lanes in Hampton, Va., on March 15. Garner’s most amazing number is 12.
His age.
According to the local secretary of the Young American Bowling Alliance, Garner — 12 years, 8 months, 28 days, to be exact — is the third-youngest bowler to record a 300 and 800 on the same night. He rolled games of 279, 300 and needed a 10th-frame strike for the 227 that pushed him over 800.
As Josh’s cousin, Stu Blau Jr., told the Newport News Daily Press: “I was bowling on the lanes right next to him, and it was pretty cool. I couldn’t bowl because I was too busy watching him. The weird thing is he didn’t look nervous at all.
“I guess he was too young to realize what he was doing.”
Don’t be so sure.
“I told my mom that I’d get a 300 by the time I was 14,” Garner told the Daily Press, “but I never said anything about an 800. That’s a lot tougher.”
NewMexiKen has a better chance of a 300 game playing golf than bowling.
From Morning Briefing in the Los Angeles Times:
ESPN’s [Dan] Patrick…said his toughest interview was probably one he had with Mike Tyson.
“He took off his microphone and looked at me and said, ‘I don’t know you well enough to miss you after I kill you,’ ” Patrick said. “I said, ‘I guess this interview is over.’ “
From Sideline Chatter in The Seattle Times:
Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle, with a tournament update: “Sorry, can’t talk right now. There’s 16:30 left, but Billy Packer says, ‘This is a very important possession for UTEP.'”
From Sideline Chatter in The Seattle Times —
Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune, after CBS’s Billy Packer drew the ire of Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli when he said the Hawks didn’t deserve a No. 1 seed: “If I were Martelli, I would have said that the only thing in need of reseeding is Packer’s scalp.”
From the Denver Post, Arizona primed for repeat surprise.
Arizona is almost certainly the most talented team not seeded in the top half of the NCAA bracket, the type of team no top-seeded team wants to play.
Thanks to Ken for the link.
From Sideline Chatter in The Seattle Times:
New England might never have won a Super Bowl, let alone two, had not Gen. George Custer decided to leave Felix Vinatieri — his bandleader and the great-great-grandfather of Pats kicker Adam — back at the fort with his band when the troops embarked for the battle of Little Big Horn.
Added Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle: “Those guys were the luckiest musicians in the world, not counting Ringo.”
ESPN.com’s Andy Katz picks the East Rutherford Regional
First Round Winners
No. 1 Saint Joseph’s
No. 9 Charlotte
No. 5 Florida
No. 4 Wake Forest
No. 6 Wisconsin
No. 3 Pittsburgh
No. 7 Memphis
No. 2 Oklahoma State
Second Round Winners
No. 1 Saint Joseph’s
No. 4 Wake Forest
No. 3 Pittsburgh
No. 2 Oklahoma State
Sweet 16 Winners
No. 4 Wake Forest
No. 3 Pittsburgh
Elite Eight Winner
No. 3 Pittsburgh
ESPN.com’s Andy Katz picks the Atlanta Regional
First Round Winners
No. 1 Duke
No. 9 Arizona
No. 5 Illinois
No. 4 Cincinnati
No. 6 North Carolina
No. 3 Texas
No. 7 Xavier
No. 2 Mississippi State
Second Round Winners
No. 1 Duke
No. 4 Cincinnati
No. 6 North Carolina
No. 7 Xavier
Sweet 16 Winners
No. 1 Duke
No. 6 North Carolina
Elite Eight Winner
No. 6 North Carolina
ESPN.com’s Andy Katz picks the Phoenix Regional
First Round Winners
No. 1 Stanford
No. 8 Alabama
No. 5 Syracuse
No. 4 Maryland
No. 11 Western Michigan
No. 3 NC State
No. 7 DePaul
No. 2 Connecticut
Second Round Winners
No. 1 Stanford
No. 4 Maryland
No. 11 Western Michigan
No. 2 Connecticut
Sweet 16 Winners
No. 1 Stanford
No. 2 Connecticut
Elite Eight Winner
No. 1 Stanford
