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MAY 2001
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May 31: Today we
acknowledge several people who overcame personal physical
obstacles and came out on top. Andy Roddick, 18,
the Outsports fan fav and teen sensation, beat Michael Chang
in the second round of the French Open while battling severe
cramps. He also set a French Open record of 37
aces. Philadelphia 76er Eric Snow played on a
fractured ankle on Wednesday and scored 18 points on 7-for-9
shooting in the Sixers' 89-88 victory over the Milwaukee
Bucks. And Casey Martin, the physically disabled
pro golfer, won a Supreme Court case on Tuesday that will
allow him to play in tournaments and use a necessary golf
cart.
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May 31: It is just
not getting any easier for the New York Mets, who were
swept by the Philadelphia Phillies this week and sank 12 games
back in the NL East race. Just seven months after
playing in the World Series, the Mets are a disappointing
22-31 (.415) and have the eighth worst record in baseball.
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May 30: It may have
just been the first game of the season, but the Los Angeles
Sparks' 66-63 victory over the Houston Comets on Monday
marked the beginning of a new era - one not dominated by the
four-time WNBA Champion Comets. With Cynthia Cooper
retired and Sheryl Swoopes on the sidelines with injures for
Houston, we can look forward to the most competitive season
the League has ever seen.
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May 30: 25-year-old Cedric
Kauffmann, ranked 250th in the world, was playing the #5
player in the world, Pete Sampras. Still, he should have
won. Up 5-3 in the decisive fifth set of their opening
round match in the French Open, Kauffmann squandered three
match points and eventually lost, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 8-6.
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May 29: With the
Milwaukee Bucks running around undisciplined and uncontrolled,
the Philadelphia 76ers went into Milwaukee on Monday
and regained homecourt advantage, beating the Bucks,
89-83. With an injured Allen Iverson, the Sixers rallied
together with a balanced attack and Iverson, as always,
leading the charge emotionally, and with his 28 points.
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May 29: The Sixers
had an 84-77 advantage with 1:07 left on Monday, and Glenn
Robinson melted down. The Milwaukee Bucks' leading
scorer argued a non-call vehemently long after the play was
over - he received a technical foul. He didn't stop
there, but continued to argue with the official, got a second
technical, and was ejected from the game. And, of
course, "Big Dog" didn't stop there: "What
needs to start happening is officials need to start getting
fined $400 and $500 for every mistake they make."
That ought to get him a nice fine to boot.
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May 28: Virginia prep
star Alan Webb
smashed the high school mile record on Sunday with a time of
33:53.43 at the Prefontaine Classic. He bested the
previous 35-year-old record, set by Jim Ryun, by almost two
seconds. He also broke Ryun's 1500 meter record with a
time of 3:38.26.
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May 28: No matter how
good the Los Angeles Lakers are, the San Antonio Spurs
put on a disgraceful performance in the Western Conference
Finals, losing Game 4, 111-82, and being swept in the
best-of-seven game series. The 22.25 per game point
margin of this series was the largest in NBA Conference Finals
history by more than five points.
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May 27: Joe Sakic has
his League-leading 10th and 11th playoff goals in leading his
Colorado Avalanche over the defending Stanley Cup champion New
Jersey Devils, 5-0, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
New Jersey had outscored Colorado, 12-4, in two regular season
meetings.
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May 27: The Women's
French Open is looking less like a Grand Slam and more
like Survivor. Four top players have now pulled out of
the tournament due to injury: Lindsay Davenport, Mary
Pierce, Anna Kournikova, and three-time champ Monica Seles.
Of course, the oft-injured Williams sisters are expected to
play.
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May 26: Bradley Hughes tied
a course record in setting the pace after the second day of
the Kemper Insurance Open. His 8-under 63 tied with
seven other players for the record. After wearing
sunglasses in the dark of the evening for the latter holes of
the course on Saturday, he will take a 9-under 133 and a
one-stroke lead into the third day on Saturday.
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May 26: The Class AAA
high school doubles championship in Tennessee was won on a
disqualification on Friday after a player yelled "Jesus
Christ" during the championship match. Cameron Boyd
hollered the horrible words after he lost serve in the
match. According to the Tennessee Secondary Schools
Athletic Association, you can yell "Jesus" or
"Christ" during a match, but you can't say
"Jesus Christ." Let the kids play!
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May 25: This time, it was RAY
Allen's show. Allen was masterful in leading the
Milwaukee Bucks over the Philadelphia 76ers in game 2, 92-78,
scoring 42 points on 15-for-24 shooting.
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May 25: Nice job by the Avs
for hiding it for the last two weeks, but Colorado Avalanche
forward Milan Hejduk was arrested for DUI after his
team's May 10 Game 7 victory in the NHL's Western Conference
semifinals. He faces a July 5 court appearance -
conveniently after the Stanley Cup Finals.
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May 24: In Wednesday's game
against the Yankees' most hated rival, the Red Sox, Derek
Jeter did something he had never done before:
produce five hits in a game. Those hits led New York to
a 7-3 victory over the Bo' Sox and shrank the Sox' lead over
the Yanks in the Division to just a half of a game.
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May 24: We live in the
United States where everyone has the right to challenge, in
court, whether they have been treated fairly or not. On
Wednesday, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue ripped into
Oakland Raider owner Al Davis and said that the lawsuit was
uncalled for and that he and some owners were considering
sanctions against Davis for the suit. Disgraceful.
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May 23: It's a sweep for
the Philadelphia 76ers. Not only did they rack up
the Eastern Conference's best record; see their star win the
League's MVP; their center, Dikembe Mutombo, win the Defensive
Player of the Year Award; and Aaron McKie win the Sixth Man
Award; but on Wednesday the League will announce that 6ers
coach Larry Brown is this year's Coach of the
Year. Oh, and they beat Milwaukee to take a 1-0 lead in
the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday, too.
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May 23: While Barry Bonds
is setting records for homeruns in consecutive games, the rest
of the San Francisco Giants seem to have taken the week
off. Bonds' nine homeruns in six games ties an NL record
for slugging. In those six games, the Giants are 1-5,
being outscored 44-30.
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May 22: One of the
strongest current dynasties in college sports marched on last
Sunday as the Maryland Women's Lacrosse team won their
seventh consecutive National Championship, beating
third-seeded Georgetown in double overtime, 14-13. This
is the fourth Terp team to finish the season undefeated.
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May 22: In the franchise's
biggest game in two seasons, the San Antonio Spurs' three
point shooting was non-existent for the second game in a
row. The Spurs made only four of their 16 three-point
attempts - and one of those makes was by Tim Duncan!
Terry Porter, one of the Spurs' big outside threats, shot 0-5
from downtown.
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May 21: After
trailing for the first three days of the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open,
Tiger Woods put together a Sunday that gave him a
commanding four-stroke victory. It included an eagle-2
on thirteen as his 175 yard approach shot found the hole.
May 21: While a
bunch of sports writers are attacking Vince Carter for
attending his college graduation before playing Game 7 of the
Eastern Conference Semifinals, we would like to congratulate
Carter on his accomplishment. And no, that 20-footer
would not have gone in regardless.
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May 21: This is
already raising eyebrows. The Washington Wizards were
the "lucky" winners of the NBA Draft Lottery
on Sunday. These are the same Wizards that Michael
Jordan could be playing on next year. You know:
the MJ that many say can revive the sagging league. The
same Wizards that NBC commentator Doug Collins will coach next
year. Washington's chances of winning the lottery were
15.7%, or 100%, depending on whom you ask.
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May 20: The NBA
playoffs are becoming a contest of who can outshine whom
between Vince Carter, Allen Iverson, and Kobe Bryant.
On Saturday, Bryant led his Los Angeles Lakers into San
Antonio and beat the Spurs badly, 104-90. Kobe had 45
points and 10 rebounds in the game.
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May 20: You know its
bad for the Golden State Warriors. Team owner Chris
Cohan has made arrangements to have Rev. Peter Colapietro,
his family's reverend, on hand at the NBA Draft lottery on
Sunday in hopes that a higher power will move the Warriors up
one spot from their present second pick in the draft.
Six years ago, Father Pete (as he is called) made an
appearance at the NBA Draft. That year, the Warriors
moved up from the fifth spot to the top spot, with which they
drafted Joe Smith.
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May 19: MJ, meet
VC. While Michael Jordan is considering coming out of
retirement, his heir apparent, Vince Carter, is showing
why he is so often compared to his Airness. On Friday,
Carter's 39 points led the Toronto Raptors to a 101-89 victory
over the Philadelphia 76ers forcing a decisive Game 7 on
Sunday.
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May 19: 58 high
school seniors and college underclassmen have declared
themselves eligible for the NBA Draft - a new record.
Only 57 total players will be selected in the two round draft
on June 27.
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May 18: Sam
Cassell knows how to win NBA Championships. While he
was with the Houston Rockets, he won two of them. On
Thursday night, with his team on the road and on the brink of
elimination, he came up big, scoring 33 points - his career
playoff high - in leading his Milwaukee Bucks over the
Charlotte Hornets, 104-97.
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May 18: After 19
months without a start, John Smoltz was more than a
little rusty. The Atlanta Brave pitched three innings,
giving up five runs en route to an 8-3 loss to the Colorado
Rockies. It was Smoltz's first game since having elbow
surgery in 1999.
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May 17: And that is
why he's the MVP. Maybe Shaq is the most dominant player
in the NBA, but nobody has done it like Allen Iverson,
from Game 1 all the way to Wednesday night, leading his team
this team with 52 points to a 121-88 blow-out of the Toronto
Raptors, inching to within one win of the Eastern Conference
Finals.
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May 17: Enough of
this nonsense about Randy Johnson's 20 strikeouts. In a
game last week, he threw 20 in a game that extended to extra
innings. That ties a MLB record. However, Elias
Sports Bureau, baseball's official statistician, has said
they won't list it as a record. Then they said they'd
list it with an asterisk. Now, they're just going to
list it clean. Duh - a record is a record.
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May 16: The Milwaukee
Bucks were a popular pick to represent the Eastern Conference
in the NBA Finals. Tell that to Baron Davis of
the Charlotte Hornets, who made a career-high five three-point
shots and score 19 points, and Jamal Mashburn, who
scored 24 points, in leading the Hornets over the Bucks,
94-86, Tuesday. The Hornets have now won three straight
games and lead the best-of-seven series, 3-2. The Bucks
had not lost at home in two months.
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May 17: It's tough
being Keith Olbermann these days. Actually, it
has been for about four years. The sportscaster was
formerly "The Man" at ESPN until he left in 1997 to
go to MSNBC, which he soon left to join Fox Sports.
Since his departure from ESPN, though, he has faded from
relevance and his weekly show on Fox Sports Net, "The
Keith Olbermann Evening News", simply never grabbed
ratings. He and Fox announced his departure from Fox
Sports on Tuesday - the third network he has left in four
years.
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May 15: Seventh
grader Morgan Pressel qualified for the U.S. Women's
Open by shooting a 2-under-par 70 at the qualifier on
Monday. She is the youngest person to qualify for the
Open since Beverly Klass did it at the age of 10 in
1967. The 12-year-old is 5'3" and averages 230
yards off the tee. Who needs creatine?
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May 15: It just isn't
getting any better for the New York Mets. After
being swept in three games against the San Francisco Giants
over the weekend, the team inflicted $4,000 of damage to the
clubhouse and locker room including two doors, the dugout roof,
a phone line, a clubhouse heating panel, a bathroom
stall divider and a paper-towel dispenser. The Giants
will be invoicing the Mets for reimbursement in the next few
days.
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May 14: Openly gay
tennis pro Amelie Mauresmo
became the first female player this season to win four
tournaments, beating Jennifer Capriati, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, to win
the German Open on Sunday. Mauresmo had advanced to the
finals by beating top-ranked Martina Hingis in the
semi-finals.
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May 14: We are just
loving the Mets' fall from grace. Right before the
season, our Charlie In The Trees predicted the New York
Mets would finish third in the NL East. A reader
wrote a scathing message on our discussion board saying that,
like typical gay guys, we didn't know what we were talking
about when it comes to sports and the Mets were the clear pick
to win the division. Well, the Mets aren't third -
they're in last place, 8.5 games back, with the fifth worst
record in Major League Baseball. Looks like it's another
blind Mets fan that didn't know what he was talking about.
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May 13: Once every
101 years, a pitcher throws a complete-game no-hitter while
walking nine batters. And, right on schedule, Florida
Marlin A.J. Burnett did just that on Saturday, blanking
the San Diego Padres, 3-0. It was only Burnett's second
start of the season.
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May 13: While they
did win on Saturday, we simply can't pass up another
opportunity to rip the Texas Rangers for their body of
work. There is not a team in Major League Baseball who
is in a bigger hole in their division than the Texas Rangers
who, at 13-23, share the second worst record in the League and
trail the Seattle Mariners, A-Rod's former team, by 14 games.
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May 12: Back atcha.
Just two days after Allen Iverson poured in 54 points against
the Toronto Raptors, Vince Carter went off, scoring 50
points in lifting his Raptors to a 102-78 victory over the
76ers and a 2-1 series lead. Carter became only the 16th
NBA player ever to score at least 50 points in a single
playoff game.
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May 12: North
Carolina's Joseph Forte became the latest underclassman
to declare himself eligible for the NBA Draft. At least
30 other underclassmen and high school ballers have made
themselves eligible. What ever happened to getting a
degree? We'll just continue to shake our heads.
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May 11: Charles Barkley has
really impressed us this post-season as an NBA commentator for
TNT. His very honest assessments of players'
performances and coaching tactics are a breath of fresh air
from the bland analysis usually offered by the same old
guys. We just hope Sir Charles stays on the sidelines
instead of venturing back onto the court one last time.
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May 11: It just goes
to show you: chicks in miniskirts can't sell
tickets. After just one season, the XFL has
folded. A disappointment from virtually every aspect,
the brain child of WWF owner Vince McMahon simply never
delivered on the promise: football with no rules.
The telling sign was the championship game which got lower
ratings that week than any other primetime broadcast of the
four major networks.
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May 10: Philadelphia 76er Allen
Iverson took matters into his own hands on
Wednesday. With his team down 1-0 in their series
against the Toronto Raptors, Iverson poured in 54 points to
lift his to to a win, 97-92.
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May 10: There are a
reported 121 dead after a stampede of soccer fans in
Ghana at a game between the nation's two best teams.
Accra Hearts of Oak was beating Asante Kotoko 2-1 with five
minutes left in the game when Asante supporters began throwing
objects onto the field. Police started firing tear gas
cans at the problematic fans and chaos ensued.
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May 9: Shaquille
O'Neal is looking like the unstoppable freight train we
all knew he could be. In back-to-back games against the
Sacramento Kings now, he has scored a combined 87 points and
pulled down 41 rebounds, lifting his Los Angeles Lakers to a
2-0 series lead.
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May 9: What was he
thinking? Shaquille O'Neal was on Los Angeles
radio station POWER 106-FM last week and announced that he had
had sex with Venus Williams, Cindy Crawford and rap star
Aaliyah. Venus Williams quickly retorted, saying it was
not true and that she had only met Shaq one time - at a Lakers
game. Shaq has apologized to all three.
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May 8: It's really
special to watch a potential dynasty continue to solidify its
run at history. The Baltimore Ravens, having set
a record for points allowed in a 16-game season in 2000, have
locked up all but one of their defensive starters after
locking in safety Rod Woodson to a five-year deal. What
makes the deal so special is that Baltimore is getting its
players to re-sign below their market value because, as
Woodson put it, "my main priority was to stay in
Baltimore." With the addition on offense of Elvis
Grbac and rookie tight end Todd Heap, the Ravens are ready to
make a run at the Super Bowl for years to come.
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May 8: We're all for
harsh punishments for athletes when they step outside the
rules. This time, though, Frank Robinson, Major
League Baseball's vice president in charge of discipline, may
have overstepped his bounds. Houston Astros pitcher Jose
Lima got a five game suspension for hitting New York Met Jay
Payton in a game last week. Said Lima: "I'm
human. I'm allowed to make a bad pitch and I did."
This is the same guy that did not suspend Roger Clemens for
throwing a broken bat at Mike Piazza. Huh?
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May 7: The Los
Angeles Kings are doing it again. After coming from
down 2-0 in the first round to beat Detroit, they have rallied
from down 3-1 to tie their series with the Colorado Avalanche
and force a deciding Game 7. It was the second straight
game that Felix Potvin did not allow Colorado to score, making
33 saves as his team downed the Avalanche, 1-0.
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May 7: The weekend
was a rough one for international soccer fans.
First was an unfortunate accident in Iran in which the roof of
a stadium grandstand caved in, killing several people and
injuring hundreds during a game. Then there was the
soccer game Sunday in Melbourne, Australia in which fans
attacked rival players and security guards and threw flares
onto the field. Then there's Zago, a defender for AS
Roma, who was attacked in a restaurant by fans of a rival
team. And we thought Rasheed Wallace had a bad temper.
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May 6: With the
second fastest time ever at Churchill Downs, Monarchos
was crowned the Kentucky Derby winner on Saturday. He
covered the 1 1/4 mile track in 1:59 4/5, only 2/5 of a second
off of the track record set by Secretariat in 1973.
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May 6: The Los
Angeles Dodgers had never suffered such a lopsided
defeat. Ever. But, on a spring afternoon on
Saturday, the Chicago Cubs clobbered them, 20-1, scoring 16
runs in the seventh and eighth innings alone. Darren
Dreifort, Terry Adams and Jose Nunez supplied the
pitching for the 16 runs.
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May 5: Brian Gay is
tied with Phil Mickelson as the second round leader $4 million
Compaq Classic or New Orleans. They are tied at 12-under
par.
May 5: Tie Domi's
intended injury elbow to Scott Niedermayer was a dirty play,
and the National Hockey League came down hard swiftly
on Domi on Friday, suspending him for the rest of the playoffs
and, if his Leafs are eliminated by the Devils, the first
eight games of next season. It was a tough sanction from
a League that needs to wrangle its "enforcers" a bit
more.
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May 5: The Texas
Rangers went out in the offseason and got themselves
exactly what they didn't need: more offense to the tune
of a $252 million contract with Alex Rodriguez. 11 wins
and 17 losses later, manager Johnny Oates "resigned"
before Rangers executives could fire him. Now, they are
faced with the same problem as last year: how to beef up
their pitching and find another good manager while still
over-paying A-Rod. We'll pass on that job.
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May 4: The Los Angeles Sparks of
the WNBA will do direct marketing to lesbians, perhaps a first
in team sports, the Los Angeles Times reports.
``The team, after a training camp practice at L.A. Southwest College, will board a bus bound for West
Hollywood to hold a 10 p.m. preseason pep rally with
Girl Bar/Los Angeles.,'' the paper said.
Said Joe McCormack, who has a key role in the Sparks'
marketing: ``‘‘We want to market this basketball team to fans
whoever they might be, be they an inner-city youth basketball team or someone of an alternate
lifestyle.’’
May 4: Only five
teams had won a five game series in the NBA after trailing
2-0. The Dallas Mavericks became the sixth on
Thursday, winning at Utah in the decisive game five after
erasing a 14 point fourth quarter deficit.
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May 4: Chalk one up
for another lug head in the NHL. This time it was
Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Tie Domi delivering a
vicious elbow to New Jersey defenseman Scott Niedermayer with
less than 20 seconds to go in the Leafs' 3-1 victory on
Thursday. Niedermayer was taken from the ice on a
stretcher. Domi is now indefinitely suspended from play
for the "deliberate injury" until commissioner Gary
Bettman rules on the issue. His minimum penalty is a one
game suspension.
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May 3: Vince
Carter may be coming to play for a U.S. team at some
point. But, for now, he's probably "just" the
best athlete in Canada. On Wednesday, his career playoff
high 32 points lifted his Toronto Raptors to a 100-93 victory
over the New York Knicks and a 2-2 series tie.
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May 3: OK, the
verdict is finally in: Bob Knight is an evil
man. Knight, the new head basketball coach at Texas
Tech, advised Indiana's center Kirk Haston to enter the NBA
draft this year as a junior. Haston was a third team
All-American and will be lucky if he gets drafted at
all. The advice seems motivated by Knight's dislike of
Indiana, who fired him last year after he assaulted a student.
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May 2: "We're
1-0 in Prime Time." That fittingly summed up Deion
Sanders' return to baseball after a four year
absence. "Prime Time" hit 3-for-3 with a home
run in leading his Cincinnati Reds to a 7-6 victory over the
Los Angeles Dodgers. Sanders even showed his emotional
side, tearing up as he rounded the bases of his second inning
home run that drew a standing ovation from the crowd of
30,000. "I never received an ovation like
that," Deion said. He also stole a base and
successfully completed a sacrifice bunt that moved Barry
Larkin into position to score the go-ahead run.
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May 2: The Utah Jazz
got spanked on Tuesday by a team of twenty-somethings who were
in elementary school when Stockton and Malone started playing
in the NBA. The Jazz got pounded by the likes of Dirk
Nowitzki and Steve Nash - both under 26 - to the tune of a
107-77 loss that evened their best-of-five series, 2-2.
Malone and Stockton, who are 37 and 39 respectively, played
very little of the fourth quarter. Needed to start
resting those very weary bones.
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May 1: Arizona
Diamondback's leftfielder Luis Gonzalez had quite  an
April. After 13 years in the League, the most home runs
he had mustered in a season was 31. Now, after hitting
13 in just 25 games, he's on pace for 84 this season.
Chances are he'll slow down quite a bit, but it's refreshing
to see an unfamiliar face atop the home run stats for a
change.
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May 1: It is a little
sad, actually. Here's this young team with one of the
most talented players in the NBA, and they just can't win a
playoff series. The Minnesota Timberwolves sank
to 0-5 lifetime in playoff series with their 97-84 home loss
to the San Antonio Spurs Monday night. That 0-5 series
playoff record is the worst among all NBA franchises.
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