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WEEK IN REVIEW

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In Reviews:
Feb. 23, 2000

Updated: March 1, 2000
TOP OF THE WEEK
VINCE CARTER

        Until recently the most famous Vince Carter was the name of the sergeant on the old Gomer Pyle TV series (being shown in reruns on TV Land). But there's a new Carter in town and he burst onto the national sports consciousness on Sunday.
          Carter, a 6-6 guard/forward, has been relatively unknown outside of the NBA because he plays in Toronto. Don't get us wrong: Toronto is an awesome cosmopolitan city with a vibrant gay life, clean streets and a subway that runs on time. But in the sports world (i.e., the isolationist mentality that is the U.S. sports market) Toronto might as well be Vladivostok.
          Carter got his chance to shine before a national TV audience and made the most of it, scoring 52 points and leading the Raptors over the Phoenix Suns. It was the most points scored by a player in the league this season.
          After the game, Carter said he was most worried about his mother, who was in attendance.

"It's special for (my mother) to be here and witness all 51 of them. I know she's excited, probably moreso than me. When I put the last basket in, for 51, I felt
like a little kid inside. I looked at my mom and she almost jumped right out of her seat."

BOTTOM OF THE WEEK
DARRYL STRAWBERRY
Three strikes and you're out, at least if the strikes are for cocaine use. Strawberry, the talented Yankee outfielder, was suspended for the season on Monday because of his repeated cocaine use. A sad story, which serves to remind us that addictions are tough to shake, no matter how many millions you make.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

BASEBALL

An arbitrator cut the suspension of homophobe-racist-xenophobe-jerk Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker from the first 45 days of the regular season to 14.
This means that we will only have to wait half as long to hear Rocker being booed-and worst-at every stadium in the league, including his own. If the Braves had any sense of theater they'd have a gay black man from Africa throw out the first pitch of the season-and make Rocker catch it.

NFL

         The annual scouting combine was held this weekend in Indianapolis, a chance for NFL personnel types to inspect the goods, namely the players eligible for the upcoming draft.
        As the Sporting News said:
     "The scouts and coaches get to eyeball the players in their boxers, an exercise that may be more uncomfortable than informative."
     Uncomfortable? Speak for yourself.

ARENA FOOTBALL

         The league that spawned Kurt Warner canceled its 2000 season after the players threatened to form a union.
       Thus ended one of the more clever, and homo-suggestive-billboard campaigns we've seen that has been running in Los Angeles the past month.
       "On April 9, 69 is a definite possibility."
       "On April 9 thousands of men will leave their wives for other men."
      It was all a setup to the start of the LA team's Arena League debut set for April 9 and had people guessing as to what it was all about. They'll keep guessing because the billboards are still up.
      Update: The league later reversed itself and said it will have a season after all.

BOXING

Oscar De La Hoya, about the only boxer we've seen that gets much of a rise from gay men, won easily Saturday in his first fight since suffering his lone defeat last year. Oscar photographs quite well as a huge NY Times color pre-fight pic showed. But, alas, we couldn't find any shots from the weigh-in.

JURISPRUDENCE
From Roger Phillips of the Oakland Tribune:

If he's dumb as a moose, you must reduce:

Former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe should get a reduced sentence because he was brain-damaged when he pleaded guilty to abducting his wife and five children, his attorney, Johnnie Cochran Jr., told a judge in Charlotte, N.C.

MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
OutSports' #1 team in the nation for the last three months-Stanford-is finally back atop the AP and College polls. And, it's about time. This team is so hot - with the big Collins twins, hot young freshman Casey Jacobsen, and studly Mark Madsen. This weekend, they'll match up with the hottest (well, lookswise, MAYBE) coach in the nation - Steve Lavin of UCLA.

GOLF
Huh? No-name Darren Clarke is hugging Tiger Woods. But, that's not so crazy. The surprise is that it's Tiger crying on Clarke's shoulder after Clarke beat him in the final round of the Anderson Consulting Match Play Championship, 4 and 3, last Sunday in Southern Cal.
Tiger just ain't used to getting topped, especially by a player whom he'd probably never heard of. I guess you'd call that a one-night-stand.