Category: Sports

From Morning Briefing in the Los Angeles Times:

Another recent Morning Briefing item mentioned that no woman had run a marathon under three hours until Adrienne Beames’ 2:46:30 in 1971.

Chuck DeBus, former coach of the Los Angeles Track Club, called to say that until 1969, women weren’t even allowed to run a race of more than five miles without written permission from the national chairman of women’s track and field.

DeBus said he wrote the legislation that changed the rule.

Arizona sophomore All-American Alicia Hallowell has thrown consecutive no-hitters. Saturday she threw a seven-inning perfect game, striking out 20 (of a possible 21). Today (Friday) she no-hit Missouri, striking out 14 — two Missouri batters reached base. She is 16-0 on the season.

The UA softball team is 26-0

Report from Arizona Athletics.com.

Via Open Season in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Lexus leaper: Joey Gathright, an outfield prospect with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, could be the fastest player in the big leagues if he makes the team. He stole 69 bases in the minors last year and is so athletic that he had to promise the Rays to stop jumping over cars — yep, he can do it front to back. “It’s in my contract,” he told the St. Petersburg Times. “I’m not allowed to jump over cars anymore. Can’t jump fences, either.”

From Sideline Chatter:

It’s the anti-“Hoosiers” — “Loosiers,” if you will — but an Indiana high-school basketball player has been kicked off his team for passing the ball to a teammate.

Just one problem: That teammate was sitting on the bench at the time.

A little background: Some players and parents at Indian Creek High School in Trafalgar, Ind., have chafed against coach Larry Angle, who they believe has promoted the play of his son — 6-foot-7 Iowa recruit J.R. Angle — at the team’s expense. A 5-15 record this season only turned up the tension.

So, a few possessions after J.R. broke the Johnson County scoring record and then retired to the bench, junior Justin Ray — who’d been put up to it by teammates and adults — facetiously did what he felt his coach had programmed him to do and delivered the shocking pass.

Word circulated around town that hundreds of dollars had been raised to pay Ray for the dirty deed, the Indianapolis Star reported, though the actual amount was $45. The coach’s car has also been vandalized.

“Indian Creek is a nightmare,” Garry Donna, publisher of Hoosier Basketball magazine, told the Star. “I’ve been doing this for 35 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this happen. Nothing even close.”

“The University of Colorado football team has signed a big TV deal,” says Jay Leno. “All their games will be on Court TV next year.”

Via Morning Briefing

From Morning Briefing in the Los Angeles Times:

Tatyana Pozdnyakova’s performance in the Los Angeles Marathon was unbelievable. After inspecting the results, reader Ken Feldman of Granada Hills made these points about the 49-year-old Ukrainian:

• Her time of 2:30:17 was faster than all men 40 and over.

• Only 15 men had better times.

• The next-closest woman to her who was at least 40 finished nearly an hour behind her in a time of 3:18.27.

• When she is 50 next year, she might beat the next-closest female 50-year-old by more than one hour. On Sunday, the best female age 50-54 had a time of 3:33.07.

Go Tatyana Go!

Via Sideline Chatter in The Seattle Times:

Among the 20 multiple-choice questions on the final exam in the “Coaching Principles and Strategies of Basketball” course taught by since-fired Jim Harrick Jr. at Georgia in the fall of 2001:

• How many goals are on a basketball court?
• How many halves are in a college basketball game?
• How many quarters are in a high-school basketball game?
• How many points does a three-point field goal account for in a basketball game?

Record your score in Comments.

T.J. Simers’ column in the Los Angeles Times sports section is about as caustic — and funny — as anything going. Today he reviews his mail. A couple of choice exchanges:

“Do you go into any of the L.A.-based sports locker rooms anymore? Do players threaten to kick your butt?”

I’ve had the feeling on occasion that a few Dodgers would like to take a poke at me, but I’ve just taken for granted they’d swing and miss.

” … Our only son is named after [Davis Love]. I’m insulted by your article. You have neglected the talent on the PGA Tour. This isn’t WWF or some stupid reality show. Concentration actually matters. Before you write about something you know nothing about, do some homework.”

You’re right, I just took it for granted no one named their kid after a wimp. Do you have any other kids named after athletes that I should know about?

“You get hate mail from Kato Kaelin? Classic.”
Better than getting it from O.J. Simpson.

Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle on Bonds and steroids.

It’s going to be such an exciting baseball season! The wild home-run race will captivate fans. Imagine steaming into September, Bonds and Sosa neck- and-neck, with six apiece.

No, Barry Bonds won’t be the only guy under the microscope, but it’s going to be a rough season for him. Fortunately, I can help.

All Bonds has to do is avoid visiting hotbeds of anti-steroid sentiment. My research staff has identified the two places in America where performance- enhancing drugs are truly frowned upon.

One, the Oval Office, unless Halliburton gets into the steroid business.

Two, whatever ballpark the Giants are visiting.

Everywhere else, ‘roids are cool.

Money quote: “All of this assumes Bonds cares what the general public thinks of him. This guy marches not only to a different drummer, but to a different band in a different parade.”

was born in Newark, New Jersey, on this date in 1972.

Read the Shaquille O’Neal Bio from NBA.com.

From Morning Briefing in the Los Angeles Times:

Kobe Bryant’s father, Joe, is the coach of the Las Vegas Rattlers of the American Basketball Assn., but on Tuesday night, he was forced to put on a uniform because of his team’s injuries.

In a 142-122 loss to the Long Beach Jam, Bryant scored 18 points while wearing No. 8, his son’s number with the Lakers.

Before the game, the elder Bryant spoke with his son.

“He said I had to get 30 [points] when I called,” said the 49-year-old Bryant, who missed 16 of 23 shots.

who apparently scored often, did particularly well on this date in 1962, when he scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors vs. the Knicks. The game was played in Hershey, Pennsylvania, before 4,124 witnesses. Wilt was 36 for 63 from the field and 28 for 32 from the line.

The Warriors won the game 169-147.

According to Collegiate Times

An agreement between Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia allowing the sale of merchandise disparaging one another will not be made official, according to Tech administration.

“It’s a slippery slope, and we’re just not going to do it,” said Larry Hincker, university spokesman.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Finally, fans of the University of Virginia can buy bumper stickers that boldly broadcast exactly what they think of their cross-state cow-college competitor, Virginia Tech.

At last, Virginia Tech supporters can sport T-shirts that trumpet their true views of those pretentious pantywaists in blue blazers at the University of Virginia.

Yes, in these difficult financial times, licensing officials at both schools have agreed to exploit their storied rivalry for money, to allow the sale of products that, within the bounds of good taste, disparage each other. Coming soon to a store near you: clothes, pennants, posters and key chains that give either a black eye to the Blacksburg school or a jolt to the jaw of Mr. Jefferson’s University.

As one shirt soon to go on sale in Charlottesville puts it: “Friends don’t let friends go to Virginia Tech.”

As one soon to be on the shelves in Blacksburg replies: “Friends don’t let friends go to U.Va.”

Sure, they’re polite. For now. But you can see where this might end up.

The coming intercollegiate mockery coincides with Tech’s preparations to bolt the Big East sports conference to join the Wahoos in the Atlantic Coast Conference, making their rivalry more real, and heated, than ever.

“We’re definitely beholden to them for their help in getting us into the ACC,” said Tech licensing director Locke White. “But now that we’re in, the gloves are coming off and we’re enemies again.”

This could get good.

From Morning Briefing in the Los Angeles Times:

Bob Knight’s former 4,660-square-foot home, located on five acres in Bloomington, Ind., is for sale on EBay for $397,000. Says Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “To spice up the deal, rumor has it that they’ll throw in a folding chair.”

David Letterman, noting that Alex Rodriguez had already become involved in charity activities in New York, said, “What he decided to do was pay a visit to the less fortunate, and so he drove past Shea Stadium.”

Arizona 100 Oregon 87 at the most hostile venue west of Durham. Stoudamire scored a career-best 37 to overcome serious Arizona foul trouble and Oregon’s great all-American Luke Jackson, who had a career-high 42. The ‘Cats have been solid since the second half at Stanford.

Amusing—almost—to see Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson get T’d up.

Arizona plays Oregon State at Corvallis Saturday, then the Washington schools and ASU in Tucson before the Pac 10 tournament.

Those Arizona athletes are great fun to watch.