[Posted 11:30 PM ET, Sunday…just a ton going on in the sports world, while I try to keep some semblance of a life….]
NBA Quiz: Name the seven players in the postseason rotation for the 2010-2011 Champion Dallas Mavericks, who defeated the Miami Heat 4-2 in the Finals. [Caron Butler was injured and didn’t play.] Answer below.
Indy 500
Pretty remarkable…the 100th running of the race and a total sellout…350,000 tickets, which meant the race was televised locally for only the third time ever.
And I’m getting a kick out of some of the early post-race commentary saying how boring it was compared to the great finishes of the last few years.
Hey, a 24-year-old rookie, a guy none of us had ever heard of, Alexander Rossi, of California, won it! What’s so boring about that?!
I watched the entire race. I’ve been to Indy and I love the 500. I also, as you have known for years, respect the [crap] out of auto racers. If you don’t, just go to one race and you’ll see what I mean.
I learned about the sport from the best, my brother, and I was incredibly lucky as a ten-year-old, yes, ten, to attend the British Grand Prix (Bro and I went to a practice session), and in my office is a picture of me and the great Denny Hulme taken from there. For real.
And long-time readers know I have an autographed photo of 1972 Indy winner Mark Donohue, who is buried less than a mile from where I live.
Today, yes, it was more about strategy and team owner Michael Andretti (the Trumbore family of course loves anything Andretti…just wish Marco would win once…), who had the smarts to bring in one-car team owner and former racer, Bryan Herta, into the fold and Herta and Andretti gave Rossi the ride and whaddya know…the freakin’ kid won it!
And that’s boring?! Whatever. Unless you go to a race (at my Indy, I saw Mario spin out right in front of me and it’s terrifying), you just can’t appreciate it.
So congrats to Alexander and the Andretti family…and Herta. You had a few accidents that 25 years ago would have been major stories but these days, thankfully, these cars are so well-built and engineered from a safety standpoint that everyone basically walked away without a scratch. [Sage Karam has a sore knee from an accident that would have killed him in the ‘70s.]
–Meanwhile, at the Coca-Cola 600, New Jersey’s Martin Truex Jr. dominated unlike any other driver color commentators Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip had ever seen…leading a stupendous 392 of 400 laps in NASCAR’s longest race of the year. [I just saw it was the most dominating performance in a race of this magnitude ever.]
—Benny Parsons and Mark Martin were among those selected for NASCAR’s Hall of Fame, the announcement made Wednesday. Car owners Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress and Raymond Parks were also voted in.
Parsons won 21 times on the NASCAR circuit, including the 1973 premier series championship, and he was the first to hit 200mph at Talladega Superspeedway. His biggest victory was the 1975 Daytona 500. Parsons was a longtime television commentator until he died at age 65 in 2007.
Mark Martin will forever be known as the best driver to never win a championship, capturing 40 wins at the Sprint Cup level. I’ll remember him as much for being as physically fit as any athlete I ever saw. Poor guy, never won the Daytona 500 either.
Hendrick won 14 owner championships and Childress 11 across NASCAR’s three series. Hendrick won with Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte. Childress’ name is synonymous with Dale Earnhardt.
–In Monaco today, Lewis Hamilton won in a race that they say will be talked about for a long time but I frankly missed it.
NBA Playoffs
–So it’s on to Monday night at Oracle Arena, named after Mr. Stock Option’s company, Larry Ellison’s Oracle Corp. [Ellison became a mega-billionaire through a total options scam. If Bernie Sanders had half a brain, which is doubtful, he’d spend his whole pitch focusing on Ellison…seriously…Ellison created Top 50 in the world wealth out of thin air…] The Golden State Warriors will attempt to do the virtually impossible, come back from a 3-1 series deficit to win a Game 7 following Saturday night’s 108-101 win over the Thunder in Oklahoma City.
Golden State’s Klay Thompson poured in 41 points, with an NBA playoff-record 11 three-pointers. Steph Curry had 29 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists (but boy his mouthpiece bit gets more irritating by the moment).
For the Thunder, Kevin Durant had 29, but was just 10-of-31 from the field and after a 6-for-19 performance in the first half, Charles Barkley called his play “awful.” [Which is why we like Sir Charles.]
Golden State will thus attempt to become only the tenth team out of 233 to come back from down 3-1. [For the record, the Warriors won Game 5 120-111.]
–So much for Toronto tying the series up at 2-2 with Cleveland. The Cavs proceeded to destroy the Raptors in Games 5 and 6, 116-78 and 113-87, respectively. Such scintillating action is just great for the sport.
At least in the last two games Cleveland can truly say their Big Three, LeBron, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, emerged in a big way. Love had 25 points in Game 5 on 8-of-10 shooting from the field, while in Game 6, the three were the complete package. LeBron had 33 points and 11 rebounds, Love had 20 and 12, and Irving had 30 points and 9 assists.
As for Toronto, at least they gave their fans two series wins, a major step up for the franchise, but they are missing some key elements. They also should have played James Johnson more, but then I’m biased about this fellow Demon Deacon.
It is pretty amazing that LeBron is headed to his sixth straight NBA Finals, joining some Celtics greats as the only players to do so.
James actually got emotional Friday night at the conclusion.
“The man above has given me an unbelievable ability, and I just try to take full advantage of it,” he said. “I get to do what I love to do every single night, and that’s to play the game of basketball. That’s my life. It’s everything, and I give everything to the game.”
–In other NBA News….Houston hired Mike D’Antoni to be its new head coach. Boy, that was really thinking outside the box! D’Antoni, who was last an associate head coach with the highly successful Philadelphia 76ers, has coached the Lakers, Knicks, Suns and Nuggets, with a career record of 455-426.
D’Antoni replaces interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who had taken over after Kevin McHale was fired 11 games into the season.
–New Orleans Pelicans guard Bryce Dejean-Jones was shot to death after he “kicked open the front door” to a Dallas apartment and the man sleeping inside woke up and shot him, as reported in the Dallas Morning News.
Dejean-Jones, 23, ran out of the apartment and collapsed.
Management at the apartment complex sent out a notice to residents that said “an individual who believed to be breaking into the apartment of an estranged acquaintance inadvertently broke into the wrong apartment.” [It was 3:20 a.m.]
The resident did call out for the individual and apparently received no answer.
Dejean-Jones, who bounced around at a number of colleges, started 11 of 14 games with the Pelicans in his rookie season before undergoing season-ending surgery. What a waste.
–Finally, as the WNBA’s 20th season gets underway, the New York Times’ Richard Sandomir had some thoughts on the league and women’s sports in general.
“The WNBA’s modest attendance and television viewership (just below 200,000 on ESPN networks last season) illuminate a stubborn imbalance between men’s and women’s professional leagues, adding to the expanding debate about the place of women’s sports in society.
“These anxieties have increased more than 40 years after the federal law known as Title IX opened the way for millions of girls to play sports. The women’s professional leagues they move on to are still struggling to develop and hold lasting public interest.
“The Women’s World Cup, the play of Serena and Venus Williams on the tennis circuit, and some professional women’s golf events do generate a broad following. But those tend to be exceptions. There has yet to be a financially viable women’s mainstream sports league in the United States….
“Half of the WNBA’s 12 teams lose money, and they benefit from revenue generated by the NBA’s national television and sponsorship deals. This season, the $25 million the WNBA is getting from its primary broadcaster, ESPN, is a tiny fraction of the NBA’s average $930 million payment from ESPN and TNT, which will rise to about $2.6 billion next season.
“In a rare and candid moment last year, James L. Dolan, who owns the WNBA’s Liberty and the NBA’s Knicks, told HBO’s ‘Real Sports’ that he came close to handing the franchise back to the league in 2015.
“ ‘It hasn’t made money,’ he said. ‘Its prospects of making money, at that time and even today, are still slim.’”
Attendance, by the way, has fallen to an average of 7,318 a game last season in the WNBA, almost two decades after reaching its peak of 10,864 in 1998, the league’s second season.
You couldn’t pay me to go to a WNBA game.
But give me a good women’s only track meet and I’d be all over it. And you know my bias towards women on the World Cup Ski circuit.
One figure that could help change the face of women’s sports in general has been AWOL…golfer Michelle Wie.
And that’s a memo…Allyson Felix is here…Allyson, what say you?
Ball Bits
—Lots of action in Metsland…Friday night the Mets spoiled the major league debut of 19-year-old Julio Urias of the Dodgers; as Urias gave up 3 earned on 5 hits and 4 walks in just 2 2/3, though the Mets needed a Curtis Granderson walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to win 6-5, after closer Jeurys Familia blew a 5-1 lead in the ninth, a situation he never should have been in. Incredibly stupid use of the pen by manager Terry Collins, but I digress.
[Urias was sent back to the minors the next day. He was the first 19-year-old to pitch for the Dodgers since Fernando Valenzuela in Sept. 1980. The kid will be back, perhaps soon.]
Then Saturday, on an evening where the great 1986 World Champion Mets team was feted, Noah Syndergaard, aka “Thor,” took the mound for the Metropolitans and with the pregame ceremonies and the sellout crowd getting to see virtually all of their heroes from yesteryear, the fans were stoked.
But in the third inning, with the hated Chase Utley at the plate, Thor threw a fastball behind Utley’s back and umpire Adam Hamari immediately ejected Thor without warning. Manager Terry Collins came out, furious, as were all Mets fans (I was beyond incredulous and super pissed), and Collins was tossed. What was a 0-0 contest turned into a 9-1 rout for L.A. What started as a celebration and a hoped for passing of the torch from 1986 to 2016, was snuffed out by a freakin’ bush-league decision by Hamari, and by extension, Major League Baseball.
True, baseball warned the Mets and Dodgers not to go too far after Utley broke shortstop Ruben Tejada’s leg in last year’s postseason on a dirty slide, and, true, Collins had told his team that “it was over.” Time to move on.
And, true, Thor, who has rapidly become a folk-hero in these parts because of both his performance and his persona, didn’t need to play Macho Man at that time.
But he shouldn’t have been kicked out! A warning, instead, was appropriate.
After the game, crew chief Tom Hallion answered several questions from a pool reporter about Hamari’s decision.
“The ruling was that he intentionally threw at the batter, and with that, we have a judgement of whether we thought it was intentional, and if it was, we can either warn or eject. And with what happened in that situation, we felt the ejection was warranted.”
Q: Why was it warranted?
“Because the pitch was thrown behind Utley.”
Q: On whether the playoffs played a role.
“We handle our games separately for all individual games….
“We have to make a snap decision.”
Pathetic.
Former Mets star pitcher Dwight Gooden was there and he decided to leave the park in support of Thor.
“That’s weak,” Gooden told the New York Post. “He didn’t hit the guy. He didn’t try to hurt him. Issue a warning, let ‘em continue playing. What he did was right.”
The 1986 Mets were a fightin’, brawlin’ team, led by hard-nose players such as Ray Knight, Gary Carter, Wally Backman and Lenny Dykstra.
Backman, long-time Mets AAA manager, said, “I think there definitely would have been retaliation (for what Utley did to Tejada). It would have been handled on the field.”
The problem for the Mets was, yes, last night wasn’t the time to retaliate if it was going to result in a key player getting thrown out, with the team having to face Clayton Kershaw on Sunday. There is also the chance that Syndergaard could get suspended.
Meanwhile, all Chase Utley did after the incident was homer twice, including a grand slam; so going back to Friday night’s bases-loaded double and sac fly, he had nine RBI in two games! [He has 38 career home runs against the Mets.] I can’t imagine what it will be like should these teams match up again in the playoffs. [They are finished for the regular season.]
As for Matt Harvey and his 3-7, 6.08 ERA, he is slated to hit the mound again on Monday, weather permitting, as the Mets opted not to send him to the minors, which is where he belongs.
And as I noted last time, Harvey hasn’t been endearing himself with his teammates as he has once again swung into full diva mode in refusing to talk to the press, leaving his teammates left to speak for him.
Captain David Wright was pretty harsh the other day. “You want to be known as an accountable player. Accountability is big and I think [Harvey] just had a bit of a lapse in judgement.”
One other Mets note since I last posted, Wednesday. Steven Matz, still technically a rookie though he had some starts last year, including in the postseason, defeated Washington 2-0, throwing seven scoreless. After getting shelled in his opening start, he has now won 7 straight, allowing 2 earned or less in each outing. Amazingly, he is only the fifth rookie since 1920 to have such a stretch of excellence.
For his brief career, he is 11-1 in 14 starts. [7-1, 2.36 this season.]
Drat! Just watched Familia suck wind a second time tonight, Sunday, as the Mets lost 4-2 after tying it against Kershaw in the eighth. This blows!
–What are the Yankees going to do with Michael Pinada? The guy has great stuff, but after getting shelled on Saturday in the Yanks’ 9-5 loss at Tampa Bay, Pinada is 2-6, 6.92 ERA! Good gawd, that’s Harvey-esque!
Sunday, though, they Yanks pulled off something they apparently haven’t done in 100 years; win a game with just one hit. The Rays’ Jake Odorizzi had a no-hitter threw 6 1/3 when Starlin Castro hit a two-run homer and New York’s three-headed monster of a pen – Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman – backed up Nate Eovaldi’s one run ball with three innings, 7 strikeouts. Yanks win 2-1.
–It’s easy to forget just how dominant Texas right-hander Yu Darvish used to be, because it’s been so long since he last pitched…22 months. The man who fanned 277 in 209 innings in 2013, returned to the mound after Tommy John surgery on Saturday night and struck out seven in five strong innings as the Rangers defeated the Pirates 5-2 in Arlington. Good for Darvish. The more great pitchers the better for the game.
In the same contest, Texas’ Adrian Beltre had a two-run homer in the first inning to become the fourth third baseman with at least 1,500 RBIs, finishing with 1,501. Talk about a sleeper Hall of Famer.
–It’s never easy repeating as World Series champions. No one has since the 1998-2000 Yankees. And in the case of the current champion Kansas City Royals their road back hit a major speedbump when on a single play, they lost both third baseman Mike Moustakas and left fielder Alex Gordon as the two collided, with Moustakas tearing the ACL in his right knee (out for the season), and Gordon fracturing his right wrist (out at least a month).
Granted, neither was having a good season, and I’m on record as saying the Royals were fools to give Gordon a big contract when he hit free agency, but, still, you would expect both to turn it around in the second half.
Saturday, though, as if the Royals didn’t already have enough problems, All-Star catcher Salvador Perez was injured on a collision with teammate Cheslor Cuthbert, playing third for Moustakas. Perez has a deep thigh bruise, at last report.
But…down 7-1 in the bottom of the ninth against the Tigers, the Royals staged an improbable, franchise-record comeback by scoring 7 to win 8-7. They are just the fifth team since 2010 to win when trailing by six runs entering the bottom of the ninth.
–Boston’s Jackie Bradley Jr. had his 29-game hitting streak ended on Friday by Colorado, during an 8-2 win over the Red Sox. But Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts now has a 22-game streak after Sunday’s action.
–Last Wednesday, the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta finally had a poor outing, 4 earned in 5 innings, but Chicago beat St. Louis 9-8 and Arrieta got the win, so he’s now 9-0, 1.72 ERA. The Cubs have won his last 23 starts.
–Thursday, the Astros completed a three-game sweep of the Orioles, with Baltimore going down in historic fashion, striking out 52 times in the three contests, easily a major league record.
–Today, Washington’s Stephen Strasburg went to 9-0 with a 10-2 win over the Cardinals. What a year for pitchers.
–Atlanta lost outfielder Hector Olivera for 82 games, retroactive to April 30. That is his suspension by Major League Baseball for a domestic violence incident. Olivera was arrested at a hotel outside Washington, D.C., on April 13 and immediately placed on leave while baseball did an investigation. MLB then agreed with a police report filed in Arlington, Va., that Olivera was responsible for bruises on the woman’s body.
–Update on the national anthem mishap that prevented the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus from performing. I called for the firing of the person responsible, which the Padres then did, DJ Art Romero.
But the Gay Men’s Chorus said they didn’t want anyone fired and Major League Baseball’s investigation revealed it was simply human error and there was no malicious intent. So Romero has been rehired. He issued an apology on Facebook. All good.
But I’m still appalled that as the humiliated chorus left the field, members were heckled by the Padres’ crowd. What jerks.
–The Boston Red Sox honored the 1986 team that lost to the Mets last Wednesday night and Wade Boggs showed up wearing a rather gaudy ring…his 1996 World Series ring from his time with the Yankees! What was he thinking?
–I watched Wake Forest lose a distressing game, 5-4, to Clemson in the ACC tournament on Saturday, eliminating the Deacs. But I see in USA TODAY Sports that Steve Garrity of DraftSite.com, in ranking college prospects for the June 9-11 draft, has Wake’s Will Craig, a tremendous hitter (and relief pitcher) at No. 7 among all college players and a probable first-rounder.
Kyle Lewis of Mercer is the No. 1 college pick on this guy’s list. I’ve seen others tab Louisville outfielder Corey Ray as No. 1 (Garrity has him 5).
T.J. Zeuch, a 6-7, 225 right-hander out of Pitt is No. 9. Kid throws 97. Never heard of him.
For you Boston College fans, at No. 13 is the Eagles’ Justin Dunn, RHP.
*Clemson ended up winning the championship, 18-13 over Florida State.
Golf Balls
—I owe Team Spieth an apology. It’s not that I thought Jordan Spieth’s Masters’ debacle was going to ruin him for years to come, I just thought Jordan’s personality was such that he would have an issue with caddie Michael Greller (though I also said after Greller’s Facebook posting following my initial thoughts that I was probably wrong).
What we learned this weekend, though, with Spieth’s spectacular birdies on #s 16, 17 and 18, Sunday, is that we have one intriguing tournament coming up next weekend.
Spieth won at Colonial in just his third tournament since Augusta, his eighth win of his career at age 22, more than Tiger at that stage, and now Jason Day, Rory McIlroy and Spieth head to Jack’s tournament at The Memorial with wins in their last events.
Man, it doesn’t get any better than that.
I do have to note, though, that two Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Webb Simpson and the suddenly highly competitive Kyle Reifers, both finished in the top five.
–I’ve read a lot of articles on the Phil Mickelson situation and the insider trading case that nailed the gambler Billy Walters and former Dean Foods chairman Thomas Davis, and the bottom line is that if there hadn’t been a December 2014 appeals court ruling that made it far tougher to prosecute such cases, Mickelson is facing serious time, or at best he is crying for his mother and plea bargaining away his wife and kids.
Because of the ruling, it’s OK to trade on questionable information as long as you don’t know too much about how it was obtained. So in the case of Phil’s buddy, Walters, he told him about an upcoming Dean Foods spinoff that would cause the stock to pop, a tip Walters obtained from Davis, a board member at the time, but the Feds couldn’t prove Mickelson knew the specifics on how the information was obtained.
Separately, Michael Rothfeld and Alexandra Berzon had some of the following in the Wall Street Journal the other day:
“Between October 2000 and June 2003, Mr. Mickelson lost nearly $2.5 million gambling in Las Vegas casinos, according to a gambling credit report used by casinos to evaluate their customers and being reported for the first time by the Wall Street Journal. He also gambled heavily there between 1995 and 1997, the records show.
“The report indicates that all the debts were settled and that Mr. Mickelson was a ‘preferred’ customer, who on occasion was allowed to – and did – exceed his credit lines by hundreds of thousands of dollars. The report was created in 2003 and so wouldn’t reflect any gambling Mr. Mickelson may have done afterward….
“When he was younger, Mr. Mickelson’s bets became a source of public amusement and fascination.
“In the summer of 2000, while on a visit to Las Vegas, Mr. Mickelson bet that the Baltimore Ravens would win the Super Bowl. The $20,000 bet netted $540,000 the following January. Mr. Mickelson is reported to have told a USA TODAY reporter that he let friends and family members participate in the bet.”
Mickelson also once got in trouble with the PGA Tour when he bet another golfer that Jim Furyk would hole out a bunker shot for par against Tiger Woods in a tournament. The bet won Mickelson $500, according to Golf World.
And there was a major case involving a California man “who pleaded guilty to money laundering last year for agreeing to send $2.75 million of Mr. Mickelson’s money to an offshore gambling company for betting, court documents show.
“Mr. Mickelson paid the gambling debts in 2010 with a wire transfer through Gregory Silveira, a man described by prosecutors as a bookmaker.”
Silveira pleaded guilty last year to money-laundering charges brought by federal prosecutors.
Futbol
–I watched the Champions League final between Real Madrid and rival Atletico Madrid and Real won the biggest club trophy in Europe for a record 11th time by defeating Atletico 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 finish.
Yannick Carrasco had evened it for Atletico in the 79th minutes, but neither team could find a winner in 120 minutes. As I told a friend of mine, I know a lot of people don’t like ending a big game like this on penalty kicks, but unlike hockey, soccer is one sport where at a certain point you just have to end it. Say in the 150th minute, the game would literally end because all the players would be dead of exhaustion, which would be kind of gruesome.
So in the shootout, the goat who will be forever associated with this game was Atletico’s Juanfran, who hit the post, and then for Real, Cristiano Ronaldo delivered the clincher, giving them their second Champions League title in three years.
Now next year I want a friggin’ Premier League team in the finals. [Chelsea is the last P.L. club to win it, four years ago.]
–Sports Illustrated’s cover story this week is on the Copa America tournament which I have to admit I wasn’t focusing on at all. But this is actually a very cool event involving 16 teams from countries in the Americas, including the U.S., Mexico, Jamaica and Haiti, as well as the big Central and South American nations. Lionel Messi, for example, will be playing for his native Argentina.
The U.S. kicks thing off June 3 in Santa Clara vs. Colombia.
The finals are at the Meadowlands June 26.
Just think of this as a mini-World Cup and get into it.
My focus has really been on Euro 2016, which starts Fri. June 10. All 51 matches are being held in France and I’ve been writing of it in that other column I do because it is a security nightmare. No one should be surprised if some of the matches are played to empty stadiums for this reason.
There are 24 nations in this one and I’ve picked out four I hope do well…Rep. of Ireland, England, Slovakia and Ukraine. [Iceland and Wales are in it, too, which are pretty cool stories.]
ESPN’s ranking of the participants has:
1. France
2. Germany
3. Spain
4. England
Ireland, Slovakia and Ukraine reaching the semis would be a gigantic upset.
Dream final: Ukraine vs. Russia.
NFL
–So it turns out the New York Jets made an offer to quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick way back in March that was more substantial than we were led to believe…$12 million guaranteed in the first year of a three-year contract, when talk had been of a two-year deal at $7-$8 million per.
So why didn’t Fitzpatrick grab it? He is looking for $15 million per, and better guarantees in at least year two than the Jets apparently are willing to give; that’s the sticking point.
The Jets have said Fitzpatrick would be the starter if he’d ink the deal, but he keeps looking at the $18 million per average deals that Sam Bradford and Brock Osweiler got.
–Former NFL standout Peyton Manning was upset when a report late last year by Al Jazeera America tied him to human growth hormone shipped to his house. At one point he said he would probably file a lawsuit against the network, which no longer exists.
But now USA TODAY Sports’ Christine Brennan has reported that Manning won’t be taking any legal action. Filing a suit “would make public the personal records and private lives of both he and his wife Ashley,” Brennan wrote Thursday.
I forgot that four other NFL players were named in the report: Clay Matthews, James Harrison, Julius Peppers and Mike Neal. As Christine Brennan reports, none of the five, including Manning, have been questioned by the NFL. A league spokesman, however, told Brennan that “extensive forensic” work was being carried out on the case and it was being taken very seriously.
Meanwhile, baseball’s Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Howard, who were also tied to the report, both sued the network and two of its reporters for libel in January.
CFB
—Ole Miss self-imposed a double-digit reduction in scholarships for football as part of its response to an NCAA notice of allegations that was released Friday morning. Ole Miss said it will give up 11 total scholarships in football over a four-year period from 2015-18, including a reduction of three initial scholarships in each of its next three recruiting classes, which would allow the school to sign a maximum of 22 players in each class.
Ole Miss also asked the NCAA to give it more time to investigate whether Miami Dolphins rookie Laremy Tunsil received additional improper benefits while playing for the Rebels than have already been reported.
The school has also been accused of numerous NCAA rules violations in women’s basketball and track and field, including 16 at the most severe level.
The NCAA previously suspended Tunsil for the first seven games of the 2015 season for his use of three loaner vehicles at no cost during a six-month period, along with an interest-free loan from the same auto dealer for a down payment on a used car.
Separately, a former assistant football coach arranged for fraudulent ACT scores for three prospects and there is all kinds of other stuff involving this dirty program.
–And then there is the situation at Baylor University. Head football coach Art Briles was fired and university president Kenneth Starr was demoted to chancellor, after an internal investigation found “fundamental failure” by the school in its handling of accusations of sexual assault against football players.
Briles ran a highly successful program that brought in millions of dollars in revenue, but it seemed to be one case after another of assault by the players.
Critics claimed Baylor, an outstanding academic institution, had sacrificed moral consideration – and the safety of other students – for the sake of its terrific football team.
As for Starr, the same man who pursued former President Bill Clinton over allegations of sexual transgression, he was accused of looking the other way when Baylor football players were accused of sex crimes, and sometimes convicted of them.
French Open
Just what the sport didn’t need. A major that began with Roger Federer having pulled out due to injury, and then nine-time winner Rafael Nadal was forced to withdraw with a wrist injury after advancing to the third round.
Nadal is confident he’ll be ready for Wimbledon, which starts on June 27. He was broken up by having to withdraw because he has his heart set on becoming the only man to win 10 singles titles at a grand slam. Had he reached the final, it would have likely been against Novak Djokovic on Nadal’s 30th birthday.]
So this leaves a greatly weakened and far less attractive field wide open for Djokovic, who is seeking his first French Open title, and Andy Murray, the only two names average followers of the sport would still recognize; 99% of Americans, for example, not knowing who defending champion Stan Wawrinka is…no offense to the Wawrinka family.
And then you have the situation with American men’s tennis, where John Isner, seeded 15th, is once again the top American left, and this is not an accomplishment.
Isner reached a career-best ranking of No. 9 in 2012 and has won 10 career singles titles, but these were all minor events. The last American man to win a major tournament was Andy Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open!
I mean this is the worst stretch ever for men’s tennis in the U.S.
Consider this. If Isner is the best we have, this is a guy who is 1-5* in the round of 16 at Grand Slam tournaments.
*Make that 1-6. He lost to Andy Murray today.
As for the women, sorry, ran out of time.
Stuff
–Sorry, I just can’t get into the Stanley Cup playoffs with my Rangers not involved at this point. But Pittsburgh and San Jose drop the puck on Monday night in the finals, the first time the Sharks have qualified for the finals in their 25-year history. Pittsburgh’s last title was in 2009.
I feel sorry for St. Louis Blues fans (the Blues having just lost to San Jose) because they still haven’t been to the Cup finals themselves since 1970.
—Russia’s Olympic Committee conceded eight of its athletes tested positive in doping retests for the 2012 London Games, out of 23 the International Olympic Committee has identified. Russia only said the eight came from three sports.
The IOC has been reanalyzing samples from 2012 and a source told ESPN.com that there are no U.S. athletes out of the 23, which the IOC said come from five sports and six countries.
The retests are taking place because of improved techniques. The program targeted athletes who could be eligible for Rio.
–What a tragedy at the Cincinnati Zoo, as a four-year-old boy somehow fell into the gorilla exhibit moat, was picked up by a 400-pound-plus 17-year-old male silverback lowland gorilla named Harambe, dragged for about 10 minutes, before a dangerous animal response team was forced to kill the gorilla because the boy was in “a life-threatening situation.”
I’m not going onto social media to read the inevitable garbage blaming zoo officials. It was a terrible choice to make but the right one. [I saw the videos tonight…one minute Harambe was gentle, the next a 400-lb. bully that appeared ready to smash the kid’s head on the ground.]
The boy was alert when transported to the hospital and will recover, at least physically.
Harambe came to Cincinnati last year from the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas. The Cincinnati Zoo prides itself for its work in protecting endangered species and has been part of successful captive breeding efforts in recent years in the effort to save the endangered Sumatran rhino. [Irish Independent]
The zoo director, by the way, said tranquilizing the gorilla wouldn’t have knocked it out immediately, leaving the boy in danger. [AP]
–The International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida, which I’ve feuded with over the years because they drastically undercount the number of shark attack victims worldwide, said this year’s total will surpass 2015’s 98 attacks, including six fatalities. [Bar Chat puts the death toll at closer to 4,000.]
ISAF Director George Burgess said shark populations are slowly recovering from historic lows in the 1990s, plus rising temperatures mean more people in the water.
This summer, by the way, marks the 100th anniversary of the shark attacks in New Jersey that killed four swimmers. We will celebrate this (err, honor their memory) come July.
–Some stories normally reserved for this space are too awful to comment on. But I can’t help but note the death of a 23-year-old Louisiana man who died after being attacked by bees Thursday while hiking in Usery Mountain Park in Mesa, Arizona. He was stung more than 1,000 times, officials said.
The victim was with a friend when the swarm appeared without warning. The friend was able to find shelter in a restroom but the victim didn’t make it. When another hiker and park employees approached him, he was covered in bees. They couldn’t go further. Finally two firefighters were able to get him onto an all-terrain vehicle. He died in the hospital.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio (yes, that Joe Arpaio) said, “These attacks are becoming more frequent and I urge the public to be aware of their surroundings when out in these areas.”
I’m thinking carrying some sort of mesh covering for your head would be an easy thing to incorporate into your hiking gear.
–A new trail is being opened up June 4; a 67-mile stretch in the Santa Monica Mountains called the Backbone Trail, between Point Mugu State Park and Will Rogers State Historic Park, stitched together over many years with the help of public funding, private donations and land acquisitions. It’s supposed to be the best hiking trail in California.
As noted in the Los Angeles Times:
“For more than 50 years, hikers, equestrians and mountain bikers have dreamed of following an uninterrupted trail among the sycamore canyons and sandstone peaks of the Santa Monica Mountains.”
Ron Webster, 82, who helped build at least a third of it, said: “You don’t feel totally isolated out there. Mountain lions and rattlers are watching you, but you’ll meet a lot of people and still have a reasonably wild wilderness experience.”
Mountain lions?! Run for your lives!!!
Of course your editor is salivating over future Bar Chat coming from here.
—A cow killed an 80-year-old woman in Norway as she helped the cow give birth for the first time. Local authorities in Nordland said the cow must be killed.
A veterinarian said, “It is natural to go on the attack because it wants to defend itself and its calf.” [New York Post]
–So last time I wrote you may want to check out the going-out-of-business sale at the Sports Authority’s stores around the country, but the Star-Ledger newspaper here in New Jersey (NJ.com) did a little survey of prices and their advice was don’t bother. Any savings are minimal.
Well, I’m taking that advice, but I may check them out in a few weeks to see if the prices have come down any further.
—Dr. Henry Heimlich, 96, will certainly receive some kind of yearend Bar Chat award for finally having a real-life opportunity to test out his ‘Heimlich maneuver’ when one of the residents at his senior living center, an 87-year-old woman, was choking on her dinner. Dr. Heimlich, who has been living at the Cincinnati home for six years and still regularly works out at the swimming pool, jumped out of his seat and hustled over to the woman.
Another staffer was rushing to the woman’s aid, too, but backed off when he saw Dr. Heimlich springing into action.
So the woman hacked up the hamburger she was eating and you can imagine the pride on Heimlich’s face.
Again, he’s 96!
–Sports Illustrated reports 42 condoms per athlete will be available at the Rio Olympics, a record. 450,000 condoms will be distributed in the athlete villages, three times more than the London Games in 2012. Now discuss amongst yourselves.
—SI’s “Sign of the Apocalypse”: According to TMZ Sports, Floyd Mayweather Jr., who shaves his head, sees a hair stylist two or three times a week and pays $1,000 a pop.
Top 3 songs for the week 5/28/66: #1 “When A Man Loves A Woman” (Percy Sledge) #2 “A Groovy Kind Of Love” (The Mindbenders) #3 “Monday, Monday” (The Mamas and the Papas)…and…#4 “Paint It Black” (The Rolling Stones…would be #1 two weeks later…) #5 “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” (Bob Dylan) #6 “I Am A Rock” (Simon & Garfunkel) #7 “Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?” (The Lovin’ Spoonful) #8 “Good Lovin’” (The Young Rascals) #9 “Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart” (The Supremes) #10 “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World” (James Brown)
NBA Quiz Answer: Seven in rotation for the 2010-11 Champion Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, Tyson Chandler, J.J. Berea, and DeShawn Stevenson. [All averaged at least 7 ppg. in the series.]
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
