|
Aug.
2001 |
| TOPS |
BOTTOMS |
| Aug.
31: Thursday night, Team Seattle Hockey scored
a 6-2 victory over Team 1072 to take the Greater Seattle
Hockey League Division 4 Championship. Team Seattle
is the Gay/Lesbian sports organization for metro Seattle
and the hockey team plays in a "straight
league".....and is OUT. |
Aug.
31: Just two days before the Marshall Thundering
Herd open their season at No. 1 Florida, two players
were suspended for one game and 10 more were suspended for
two games; plus, two men's basketball players must miss 30
percent of the season. All of these are sanctions
levied by the NCAA for improperly receiving extra work
benefits. |
| Aug.
30: Going, going, Gonzo. No, Luis Gonzalez
won't go away. While Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa are
making great cases for their second MVP Awards, the
Arizona Diamondback with 50 home runs and a .342 batting
average is making some noise himself. His homerun
Wednesday night helped lift the D'backs over Bonds' San
Francisco Giants, 2-0. |
Aug.
30: Where do you begin to point the fingers
here? At the adults. Bronx Little
League pitching sensation Danny Almonte is, allegedly, 14
years old - two years too old to play Little League.
Where did this problem start, and where does it end?
With the parents who lied about his age? With the
Little League officials who didn't explore thorough
background checks? With Disney, who had the absurd
notion to broadcast nationally games on ESPN leading up to
a primetime slot on ABC? All the kids want to do is
play baseball. Let them. |
| Aug.
29: It was a good day at the U.S. Open for young hot
American tennis stars. Mr. Sixpack, Jan-Michael
Gambill, beat Cedric Pioline of France, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4,
while the kid with the backwards baseball cap, Andy
Roddick, beat Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic,
6-4, 6-1, 6-2. Now THAT would be a final to watch. |
Aug.
29: Nicole J. Foster, David Justice's former fiancee,
and the mother of his son, David Jr., tried to have a
subpoena served to Justice during the New York Yankees'
game against the Anaheim Angels on Sunday. Said
Justice, "I don't put anything past her or anything
past her lawyer." |
| Aug.
28: Lisa Leslie showed why she was named the
MVP of the WNBA as she dominated the Sacramento Monarchs
in the third and deciding game of their Western Conference
Final, 93-62. Leslie put up a career-high 35 points,
16 rebounds and seven shot blocks. Leslie's LA
Sparks will face the Charlotte Sting starting Thursday for
the WNBA Championship. |
Aug.
28: We're not sure quite who to point the finger at
here, but this is alarming. A new study by the
Healthy Competition Foundation has found that 390,000
children in the U.S. between the ages of 10-14 have used
performance-enhancing supplements. That is in
contrast to a similar survey in 1999 that found not a
single child under 14 took supplements. |
| Aug.
27: He did it again. Tiger Woods got back
into the win column with the longest PGA Tour playoff in
10 years. Woods defeated Jim Furyk on the
seventh extra hole of the NEC Invitational after
exchanging pars for the first six. Said Woods after
the tournament, "it was fun to compete like that,
where you were tested to absolute utmost." Both
men can be proud of a hard-fought battle. |
Aug.
27: The Little League World Series has provided
plenty of heart-warming stories and good games. But,
we're bothered by all of the attention it has
gotten. These are 12-year-olds playing Little League
baseball. Let them be 12. Let them play Little
League. There's no need to broadcast it in primetime
on ABC. With all of this media hype for a
simple sandlot game, we need wonder no more why more and
more kids are skipping college and going right into the
pros. |
| Aug.
26: Gary Crowton replaced the legendary LaVell Edwards
as BYU football coach and his debut was smashing, The
Cougars routed Tulane, 70-35, in the season opener for
both teams. BYU rushed for 437 yards and passed for 207. |
Aug.
26: Now we’ve seen everything--major league benches
clear over a player’s earring. In the ninth
inning of Saturday’s game, the Cleveland Indians’ Omar
Vizquel complained to the umpire that he was being blinded
by sunlight reflecting off the right earring of Seattle
Mariner reliever Arthur Rhodes. The pitcher started
yelling at Vizquel and both benches cleared before order
was restored. Rhodes was ejected and the Mariners went on
to win in 11 innings. |
| Aug.
25: Former Dallas Cowboys Troy Aikman and Daryl
Johnston welcomed the arrival of their daughter on
Friday. The couple . . . oh, their wives gave
birth. Ohhhhh. OK, well, they each welcomed a
new daughter - Jordan Ashley Aikman and Evan Elizabeth
Johnston. Sorry - it's an easy mistake. |
Aug.
25: Freddie Prinze Jr. is, according to many, a total
hottie. I'm definitely in that camp. But, the
guy needs acting classes, as witnessed in his new movie, Summer
Catch, about the Cape Cod Summer Baseball
League. There is some fun in watching these college
boys chase after balls, and chase after women, but the
story is bad, the acting is bad, and the ending is ...
bad. |
| Aug.
24: Danny Almonte, nicknamed "Little Unit,"
struck out 16 in tossing a one-hitter for his Bronx, NY
team that beat Oceanside, CA to advance to the Little
League World Series finals, 1-0. |
Aug.
24: A cloud lingers over the Bronx's 1-0 victory over
Oceanside in the Little League World Series
semifinals. Bronx's only run came off of a blown
call by the LLWS officiating crew that didn't see
Bronx runner Reynaldo Guava entirely miss second
base. Despite a protest from the Oceanside team, the
second-base umpire ruled Guava safe, resulting in his
team's lone winning run. |
| Aug.
23: Atlanta Braves pitcher Greg Maddux became
the first pitcher since 1983 to record 200 hits in his
career. With two hits against the San Diego Padres
Wednesday night, he recorded his 200th and 201st.
The Braves won the game, 6-3, and Maddux got his 17th win
of the season. |
Aug.
23: A group in Arizona has announced plans to build a
men-only golf course. PGA Tour player Fred
Couples has been hired to help design the
course. Brian Curley, a partner in the design
firm, told ESPN, "we are creating a men-only pure
golf experience that caters to a certain segment of
golfers." Ten bucks says the 400-500 members
happen to be all straight and white, too. |
| Aug.
22: The San Diego Chargers took another step
toward the playoffs Tuesday when they agreed to terms with
their #1 draft pick, RB LaDainian Tomlinson.
Tomlinson, the fifth pick in the draft, is the two-time
NCAA rushing champion. He will get $38 million over
six years and a $10.5 million signing bonus. |
Aug.
22: The Denver Broncos defense was shameful in
their Monday Night game against the Green Bay
Packers. Not only did cornerback Eric Brown lay a
dangerous helmet-to-helmet hit on Packer receiver Antonio
Freeman, but LB Bill Romanowski was said to have laid a
couple nasty hits on players and even spit on one. |
| Aug.
21: For all of the jeering, for all of the boos, for
all of the rumors about him retiring, Ken Griffey Jr.
still packs a wallop. With his Cincinnati Reds tied
with the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-4, Griffey smacked an
in-the-park homerun that ended his club's eight game
losing streak and ended the Cards' 11 game win streak. |
Aug.
21: Since June, four Nebraska Cornhusker
football players have been arrested. The latest
incident saw I-back Dahrran Diedrick and backup middle
linebacker Tony Tata both being arrested Saturday night
after being charged with disturbing the peace. |
| Aug.
20: Fair is fair. Two days ago we lauded the Yankees
for taking the first game in their three-game series with
the Mariners. After Seattle routed New York, 10-2,
Sunday to capture the last two maybe the road to the World
Series will go through the Northwest instead of the Bronx.
Two good statement games by the M's. |
Aug.
20: Phil Mickelson continued to be the best golfer to
not win a major, as he finished 1 shot behind David Toms
at the PGA. Mickelson didn't do anything particularly
wrong, but for some reason he never seems to elevate his
game when he needs it most. |
| Aug.
19: David Toms is not a household name, but the golfer
leads the PGA by 2 shots going into the final round. The
Louisiana native had an awesome hole-in-one on 15, and his
196 after 54 holes in a record low score for a major. The
big question: Can he hold on? |
Aug.
19: We love pro football, but not even we can sit and
watch much more than 15 minutes of exhibition action.
Sloppy play, a bunch of no-names and the realization that
none of it counts. We have better things to do. |
| Aug.
18: The New York Yankees served notice that they are
still the team to beat in the American League. Derek Jeter
smacked a leadoff homer and Mike Mussina pitched a shutout
as the Yankees blanked the Seattle Mariners, 4-0. The
M’s have gotten the accolades for their gaudy record,
but Friday reminded us that to make the World Series some
team will still need to knock off the Yankees. |
Aug.
18: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have the worst record in
baseball. So what does that make the Minnesota Twins,
who are 0-5 against them this season? The Twins have now
lost eight straight and their once-bright playoff chances
are fading faster than a Siberian summer tan. |
| Aug.
17: Jackie Stiles capped a great individual season by
being named the WNBA's rookie of the year. She started every game
for Portland this season, though she struggled at the end
with injuries. As a collegian Stiles led Southwest
Missouri State on an impressive run and broke the NCAA's
career scoring record. |
Aug.
17: The Boston Red Sox, hit with a zillion injuries
yet still in the pennant race, dumped manager Jimy
Williams. and replaced him with pitching coach Joe
Kerrigan. It's a move that smacks of desperation, though
Williams wasn't exactly the most popular sports figure in
Boston. The players and fans griped that he changed
lineups as often as a circuit boy does clothes. Looks like
the Curse of the Bambino will live another year. |
| Aug.
16: Yes, it's mid-August, and the Chicago Cubs
have something to cheer about. After falling behind
the Houston Astros by 1/2 game on Monday, they have taken
two in a row at Houston and now lead the NL Central by 1
1/2 games. Wasn't the jinx supposed to end at the
turn of the millennium anyway? |
Aug.
16: On the morning of Aug. 5, the Minnesota Twins
were 1 1/2 games up in the AL Central. Just 11 days
later, they are 3 1/2 games behind the Cleveland Indians
after an 8-2 loss to those same Indians on Wednesday. |
| Aug.
15: After the Florida Marlins walked San Francisco
Giant Barry Bonds three times, Bonds sent his one
hit of the game over the wall for a grand slam, lifting
his Giants over the Marlins, 13-7. Bonds hit his
51st homer in the 119th game of the season - two games
faster than anyone else in history. |
Aug.
15: Who did whom to what isn't exactly clear, but one
thing is now very clear: Terry Glenn will not
play football this season. The New England Patriots,
already strapped at the wide receiver position, have
suspended him for the season and took back his $11.5
million signing bonus. |
| Aug.
14: Despite not having three of their top 100-meter
sprinters, the men's American relay teams
swept the World Championships on Sunday, taking the 400m
and 1600m relays - the latter with the fastest time posted
this year, 2:57.54. |
Aug.
14: For years now, the field at Veterans Stadium
in Philadelphia has been the worst in the NFL. On
Monday night, it was deemed unplayable and a preseason
game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Baltimore
Ravens was cancelled. Even Eagles President Joe
Banner admitted, "It was completely unanimous from
everybody's perspective. The field is not suitable
to playing." With just four weeks before the
regular season starts, they'd better fix it fast. |
| Aug.
13: Billy Mayfair set the PGA Tour record for a nine
hole score with a 9-under 27 at the Buick Open in Grand
Blanc, Michigan. He also set a new PGA Tour record
with eight consecutive holes under par. However,
Mayfair failed to finish in the top 10 for the tournament,
finishing with a 17-under 271, eight shots behind the
leader. |
Aug.
13: After finishing four of eight for just 32
yards in his Bears' exhibition loss to the Titans on
Saturday, Chicago's Cade McNown fell to 3rd on the
depth charts and the team is now seeking to trade
him. The 12th overall pick in the 1999 draft has a
3-12 record as a starter including 1-8 last season.
Though, we've heard his ban from the Playboy mansion has
been lifted .... |
| Aug.
12: Preseason NFL football was designed to give
certain guys "on the bubble" an opportunity to
earn a spot on the team. Last night, San Diego
Chargers wide receiver Patrick Batteaux likely did
just that. His four receptions for 78 yards,
including a 20-yard reception on fourth down in the waning
minutes, and a catch for a two-point conversion, lifted
the Chargers over the San Francisco 49ers, 25-24. |
Aug.
12: Billboards have been popping up all over Los
Angeles promoting UCLA football. The
billboards say "The Race For The Roses."
This is an example of blatant false advertising.
UCLA is not in any race for the roses. Oregon
is. Oregon State is. Even Washington is.
Cal is not. Stanford is not. UCLA is
not. Maybe they should have put "The Race For
The Liberty Bowl." |
| Aug.
11: Who's the best team in baseball? A lot of
people are saying the Oakland A's. After talk
of dismantling the team before the All-Star break, they
have been on a tear, posting a League-leading post-break
record of 22-7 (.759). Presently, the A's have a
nine game winning streak in which they swept two of the
AL's five best teams and have outscored their opponents
64-14. |
Aug.
11: Three players were ejected during last night's
Tigers-Royals game as Kansas City's Mike Sweeney
charged Detroit
pitcher Jeff Weaver after he refused to move a resin bag on the
pitching mound. Sweeney waited until Weaver's back
was turned and then rushed him, throwing punches and a
scrum broke out. Benches
cleared, yadda yadda yadda. Another day at a
professional baseball game. |
| Aug.
10: After finishing a disappointing fourth in
the Olympic Games last year, Allen Johnson
re-established himself as the top 110-meter hurdler in the
world by winning the event at the World Track and Field
Championships. His time of 13.04 was the best in the
world this year. |
Aug.
10: Now we know what 19-year-olds do with their
ATP winnings. Serena Williams says she has
been addicted to online shopping. In fact, at the
French Open, she said "I wasn't able to stop and I
bought, bought, bought, bought, bought." She
said she originally got hooked because she started
shopping online to avoid being recognized in public. |
| Aug.
9: Call this exhibit #3 as to why
Davey Lopes is lame. Tied with the Texas
Rangers, 6-6, heading into the ninth inning, the Detroit
Tigers, with the fourth worst record in the AL, tied a
modern Major League record by scoring 13 runs in the final
frame and winning the game, 19-6. Only one other
time, the California Angels in 1978, has a team scored
that many runs in the ninth inning in the last century. |
Aug.
9: Some dumbass minor league baseball player
challenged Zippy Chippy, the losingest thoroughbred in
North America, to a 50-yard dash and lost. Rochester
Red Wing Darnell McDonald was outpaced by a length
and said after the race, "I might have got him at 40
yards, but that extra 10 yards put him over the
hump." Chippy currently has an 89 game losing
streak against other horses. |
| Aug.
8: Atlanta Braves pitcher Greg Maddux set a new
National League record for most consecutive innings
without a walk in his team's 6-5 win over the Houston
Astros. His 70 1/3 innings without a walk bests the
68 set by Christy Mathewson in 1913 and matched by Randy
Jones in 1976 |
Aug.
8: Tied with the Seattle Mariners at 4 in the 14th
inning, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Matt DeWitt
allowed a single by Stan Javier off DeWitt's glove.
Javier then stole second and went to third when catcher
Alberto Castillo's throw sailed into the outfield.
After DeWitt struck out Ed Sprague, the Blue Jays
intentionally walked the next two batters to load the
bases. With a 3-2 count and Mike Cameron at bat,
DeWitt walked Cameron and the Seattle Mariners won, 5-4. |
| Aug.
7: What's this? It's Aug. and the Boston
Red Sox are playing well? What's going on?
While it looked just two weeks ago like the Yankees were
going to pull away in the AL East, the Bo'Sox put together
a string of four wins against the Texas Rangers that have
kept pace with the streaking Yanks and given hope to fans
on Boston that the Sox will stay in it 'til the end. |
Aug.
7: Pete Rose again splashed the covers of sports
sections across the country today as details of new
allegations in next month's Vanity Fair start seeping
out. Former friend Tommy Gioiosa levies allegations
that include Rose using a corked bat, selling cocaine, and
that Gioiosa helped Rose bet on baseball. Rose has
denied the allegations. |
| Aug.
6: Yet another lesson as to the stupidity of the "unwritten
rules of baseball." The Cleveland
Indians became just the third team in history to rally
from 12 runs down to win a game as they erased a 14-2
seventh inning deficit against the Seattle Mariners on
Sunday to win in the 11th inning, 15-14. It was the
first time a 12 run deficit had been overcome in 76 years. |
Aug.
6: New England Patriots wide receiver Terry Glenn
has seen better days. Not only is he on trial for
assault-and-battery and witness intimidation, and not only
was he suspended by the NFL for four games for violating
the league's drug policy, but Terry Glenn failed to show
up for practice on Sunday - an unexcused absence according
to team spokesman Stacey James. |
| Aug.
5: Se Ri Pak became
the first winner of the newest women's major, the Women's
British Open. Pak, who has won three other LPGA titles
this season, finished with an 11-under 277.
|
Aug.
5: Ian Woosnam's
caddie, Miles Byrne, has done it again. Byrne,
who just two weeks ago left a 15th club in Woosnam's bag that
cost him a shot at the British Open title, failed to show up
for Woosnam's tee time of the final round of the Scandanavian
Masters Tournament on Sunday. Sorry - make that Ian
Woosnam's FORMER caddie, Miles Byrne. |
|
Aug.
4: Olympic
marathon champion Gezahegne Abera won the marathon at
the World Track & Field Championships in exciting
fashion. The Ethiopian was running neck-and-neck with
Kenya's Simon Biwott and, with just 200 meters to go, pulled
away and finished with a time of 2:12:42.
|
Aug.
4: Something
suddenly seems to be terribly wrong with football training
camp. On Friday, Northwestern's starting safety Rashidi
Wheeler, 22, became the third college or pro football
player to die in the last two weeks at a football training
camp. Wheeler, who suffered from asthma, was having
trouble breathing and eventually collapsed after performing
agility drills.
|
| Aug.
3: We at Outsports
have been incredibly impressed with how the Minnesota
Vikings have responded to the tragedy of Korey Stringer's
death. While we're not ready to point fingers, we have
watched Vikings coaches and team leaders reach out with their
hearts and let their emotions pour across the airwaves like we
have rarely seen professional athletes do. As Coach
Denny Green said, Wednesday was not a time to focus on
football - it was time to focus on their fallen leader.
On Thursday, just as they had to eventually, the Vikings were
back at practice, still with somber hearts and somber words,
but back at the task at hand because, as Moss quoted Stringer
on Wednesday, "the show must go on."
|
Aug.
3: Yep, it's Aug. - and the East Coast bias is alive and well. After
seeing four teams ranked in the Top 5 at some point last
season, and two in the final poll, the Pac-10 sees none in the
pre-season ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, with Oregon the
highest at #8.
|
| Aug.
2: The Utah
Starzz won their fifth straight game, a franchise record,
by beating the defending WNBA Champion Houston Comets, 71-63,
on the road. Natalie Williams and Adrienne Goodson led
the way for the Starzz with 18 and 15 points
respectively.
|
Aug.
2: What was ESPN
bracketologist Joe Lunardi thinking when he put
together his projections for the brackets
for the men's NCAA basketball tournament NEXT March?
That's seven and a half months away. Nonetheless, he put
it out on July 20. His four number one seeds:
Duke, Maryland, Kentucky, and Florida. Of course, he
only had one Pac-10 team with a top 5 seed. Lunardi
didn't go to an ACC or SEC school by any coincidence, did he?
|
| Aug.
1: The
Colombian futbol team won the Copa America in historic
fashion on Tuesday, beating Mexico, 1-0 on a header by Ivan
Ramiro Cordoba in minute 65. Colombia went 6-0 in the
tournament and did not allow a single goal. It was
Colombia's first Copa America championship in the tournament's
85 year history.
|
Aug.
1: Agassi was
surely tired after a tough Mercedes-Benz championship, but
anytime a player ranked No. 58 beats third-seeded Andre
Agassi, it's a great feat. Ivan Ljubicic did just
that on Tuesday, topping Andre Agassi in the first round of
Tennis Masters Series-Canada in Montreal. And, he did it
in surprising fashion, outsing Agassi 6-2, 6-4. In the
first two days, the players seeded No. 2, No. 3, No. 6, No. 8,
No. 12 and No. 15 are all out due to a loss or injury.
|
