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April 2002 |
| TOPS |
BOTTOMS |
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April 30: The Habs are
back. The Montreal Canadiens, in the NHL playoffs for
the first time in four years, stunned the top-seeded Boston
Bruins to win their series in six games. The victory came
against the backdrop of the cheap shot in Game 4 by Boston's
Kyle McLaren, who viciously checked Richard Zednik, knocking
him from the playoffs. |
April 30: Being a Major
League Baseball manager has about as much job security these
days as PR man for Enron. Tony Muser of the Kansas
City Royals became the fourth manager fired in the season's
first month, after leading the Royals to a dismal 8-15
start. Muser is the
losingest manager in franchise history with a 317-431
record. |
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April 29: 26-year-old
rookie Jimmie Johnson got his first Winston Cup win
after only 10 starts on Sunday, winning the NAPA Auto Parts
500 in Fontana, Calif. Newcomer Kurt Busch, only
23-years-old, finished second. |
April 29: Billie Jean King
has made Outsports history, as the first person to be named
a bottom three days in a row. The captain of the U.S.
Fed Cup team kicked Jennifer Capriati off the team on
Friday, and the team is now out of the Fed Cup competition
after an embarrassing loss to Austria. Billie Jean
added after the competition that, as long as she's captain,
Capriati probably won't play for the U.S. team.
Apparently, Billie Jean's ego is a bit bigger than the Fed
Cup trophy. |
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April 28: Boston Red Sox
pitcher Derek Lowe pitched only the 16th no-hitter in
Red Sox history, and the first one in Fenway Park since
1965, in leading his team to a 10-0 victory over the Tampa
Bay Devil Rays. Lowe's 2001 record with the Red Sox was a
lowly 5-10. |
April 28: OK, more on Billie
Jean King. After her ridiculous "team rules"
forced Jennifer Capriati off the U.S. Fed Cup team, her
other top singles player, Monica Seles, lost her match to
Austria's Barbara Schwartz, 6-7 (7-9), 2-6, and her team now
faces elimination from the tournament. A lot of good
sticking to her team rules has done - now leaving her team
one loss away from being done for the year. Maybe Billie
Jean should leave tennis, and the coaching of it, to those
who really know how to lead a team to victory.
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April 27: Randy Johnson
tied his own record for most victories in April at six with
a 5-3 victory over the Florida Marlins on Friday. His
record this season is now 6-0 with an ERA of 1.37. He
also won six games in April in 2000. Only Dave Stewart
and Vida Blue join Johnson in that accomplishment. |
April 27: Billie Jean King,
the captain of the U.S. Fed Cup team, dismissed Jennifer
Capriati from the team for scheduling a private practice
that was against King's team rules. Maybe it's King
and her rules that need to be dismissed. These
professional athletes have more than one event to practice
for. King said that "the Fed Cup competition is
comprised of team play, and our team's rules apply to all
players to ensure a team concept." Mind you,
Capriati attended the team practice then opted for a second,
individual practice, which Billie Jean decided was against
her rules. Earth to Billie Jean: whether the Fed
Cup is a team event or not, tennis is an individual sport -
each athlete's ability to help her team depends on her
ability to win as an individual. A stupid policy and
an even more stupid dismissal of the #2 player in the world. |
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April 26: Many thought
that the defending Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia
76ers would steal a first round upset over the Boston
Celtics. Rather, it's been the Paul Pierce-led
Celtics who are up 2-0 and the 76ers who are on the verge of
elimination. Pierce scored 25 points in leading the
Celts to their 93-85 victory on Thursday. |
April 26: Atlanta Braves
ace pitcher Greg Maddux had possibly the worst outing
of his professional career on Thursday, surrendering 10 runs
to the Arizona Diamondbacks - the most in any single game of
his career. |
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April 25: With most of
the favored teams in the NBA playoffs giving up homecourt
advantage, Jerry Stackhouse is leading the Detroit
Pistons to the second round in style. His 31 points
led the Pistons over the Toronto Raptors, 96-91, to take a
2-0 series lead. |
April 25: No matter how
badly the team and the fans may want to beat Jason Giambi
and the New York Yankees, the Oakland A's simply
can't get the job done, losing two straight at home, 2-1 and
8-5, to the former Athletic. Giambi left the A's in
the offseason to pursue more money, and a World Series, in
New York. |
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April 24: How good is the
1-2 punch of Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitchers, Randy
Johnson and Curt Shilling? They are a
combined 9-1; the rest of the team is 4-6. Randy
Johnson's ERA is 1.38; Shilling's is a lowly 2.68.
They have combined for 99 strikeouts in just nine
starts. |
April 24: Sacramento
Kings center Vlade Divac called the Utah Jazz
"done" after beating them in Game 1.
Apparently, the Jazz disagreed - holding the Kings to 30
percent shooting in the first three quarters, then coasting
to a 93-86 victory, taking homecourt advantage from the
Kings. |
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April 23: You've got to
give it to the competitiveness of the NBA and NHL
playoffs. Twelve of the 32 games so far have been
won by the visiting team, just four games away from being
even. In fact, three of the four top seeds between the
conferences of the two leagues have already given up home
court or home ice advantage. |
April 23: The Philadelphia
Flyers haven't been able to score a goal the last two
playoff games against the Ottawa Senators, and time is now
running out. Having given up home ice advantage in
Game 2, they got blanked in Ottawa, 3-0, to go down in the
series, 2-1. |
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April 22: Atlanta Braves
shortstop Rafael Furcal did something against the
Florida Marlins that only six other Braves have ever
done. With his third triple in the seventh inning, he
tied the Major League record for most triples in a
game. |
April 22: While this
isn't necessarily a "bottom," every NFL draft has
one, and this year he's a defensive tackle from UNLC.
"Mr. Irrelevant", the final pick in the NFL draft,
Ahmad Miller, went to the Houston Texans with their
supplemental pick - the 261st of the draft, in the seventh
round. |
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April 21: Jennifer
Capriati not only lost her semi-final match to an unranked
player, Patty Schnyder, in the Family Circle Cup, but
Schnyder knocker her out of the #1 world ranking. With
Schnyder's 6-4, 6-3 victory, she also set up an all-unranked
final between herself and Iva Majoli: he first
top-tier WTA Tour final between unseeded players. |
April 21: Every year
after the draft, NFL experts like Len Pasquerelli and
John Clayton decide what teams did well by giving out
grades. This is just a waste of space, as the quality
of a draft can't be known for several years - and these guys
almost never get it right. Perfect example: last
year's New England Patriots, who went 5-11 the year before,
got a "D". |
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April 20: The Texas
Rangers finally stood in the path of the Seattle
Mariners. After running out to the best record in the
Major Leagues (13-3), and an early 10 game winning streak,
Seattle lost badly at home to the Rangers, 9-0. |
April 20: After donning
the cover of ESPN The Magazine as "the best team
ever," the Detroit Red Wings now find themselves
in a tough position, down 2-0 in their best-of-seven against
the Vancouver Canucks. Only five times before has a #8
seed taken a series from a #1 seed. Detroit was the
first ever #1 seed to fall victim, losing four games to
three to San Jose in 1994. |
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April 19: For all the bad
rap Bonds has taken in recent years, you've got to love a
guy who puts it on the line like he is doing. Despite
a tear in his hamstring, Barry Bonds continues to
play and drive the offense of the San Francisco
Giants. And, as anyone who has had a hamstring injury
can tell you - running, or even walking, with one is a
challenge. That Bonds is playing in the Major Leagues
with that injury is impressive. |
April 19: After spending
nine consecutive years below .500, and failing to finish
better than third in the AL Central, the Milwaukee Brewers
canned their latest manager, Davey Lopes. Lopes
has managed the Brewers to their worst start in franchise
history through 16 games - a dismal 4-12. Lopes is the
second manager to get fired in the Major Leagues in the
season's first three weeks (see bottom, April 9). |
|
April 18: The best team
in the NHL continues to face late-season woes, and the Vancouver
Canucks were there to take advantage of it. Their
4-3 overtime win in Game 1 of their first round series with
the Detroit Red Wings now gives the eighth-seeded Canucks
home ice advantage. |
April 18: It was only a
few weeks ago that the Milwaukee Bucks were headed to
a decent seed in the NBA Playoffs. After losing 16 of
their last 22 games, they will be watching the playoffs
from their collective living rooms. They were
officially knocked out of the playoffs with a 34-point
blowout loss to the Detroit Pistons in their final game on
Wednesday. |
|
April 17: In one of the
few remaining meaningful games in the NBA, the Milwaukee
Bucks prevented the Toronto Raptors from clinching a
playoff spot, thus improving their own chances of being in
the playoffs. The Bucks' scoring was led by a balanced
attack of Sam Cassell (24), Ray Allen (23) and Glenn
Robinson (22). A win in their final game, or a loss by
Toronto or Indiana, puts the Bucks in the playoffs. |
April 17: Top-seeded Lleyton
Hewitt hit a bump in the road at the Monte Carlo
Masters, falling in straight sets to unranked Carlos Moya,
6-4, 6-3. Just six weeks before the French Open, this
clay court match didn't hold good tidings for Hewitt heading
into the second Major of the year. |
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April 16: Kenya was back
on top of the men's Boston Marathon Monday as Rodgers Rop
won the event by three seconds in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 2
seconds. Margaret Okayo won the women's
race in a course record 2:20:43 |
April 16: The best team
in hockey chose a bad time to take a skid. Entering
the NHL playoffs as the #1 seed in the West, the Detroit
Red Wings have lost seven straight games, capped off by
a 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues at home. |
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April 15: He is quickly
becoming the greatest champion of our time. Tiger
Woods won his third Masters title on Sunday, beating
Retief Goosen by three strokes while watching the rest of
the field wilt under Tiger's pressure. He is only the
third man to win back-to-back Masters titles, and has won
his third title faster than anyone else in history. |
April 15: While Tiger
played a solid -1 round, it was the collapse of the players
around him on the leaderboard that won him the green
jacket. The four top contenders entering Sunday, other
than Tiger, all shot over par in the final round: Vijay
Singh (+4), Sergio Garcia (+3), Retief Goosen
(+2), and Ernie Els (+1). |
|
April 14: The Cleveland
Indians have come out of the gate on a tear, posting an
11-1 record on their tenth consecutive victory. Their
latest was an 8-7 win over the Kansas City Royals after
trailing 7-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth. |
April 14: Vijay Singh
entered the third round of the Masters with a two shot lead;
he left it facing a two shot deficit. While he was
able to take advantage of good weather on Friday before the
rains hit, he was troubled by the mud left by the rains all
day Saturday, shooting a 72 while Woods and Goosen shot a 66
and 69 respectively to take the lead. |
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April 13: As many top
contenders got caught in the rain, Vijay Singh raced
out of the pack to build a three-stroke lead at the Master's
on Saturday. The 2000 Master's champion's second round
of 65 brought him to a total of 9-under after two
days. Over 30 players still have to finish their second round, slated for Saturday morning. |
April 13: After six games
they overhauled their front-of-house management. Now,
three games later, it's only gotten worse as the Detroit
Tigers lost their ninth straight game - the team's worst
start (0-9) since starting 0-13 in 1920. |
|
April 12: "This is
officially the dumbest news conference I've ever been a part
of." Those were the words of Arizona's Luis
Gonzalez, after a ceremonial chewing of a piece of gum,
putting it in a plastic bottle, and signing the
bottle. The gum-chewing came in response to a story
about a Minnesota man who claimed to have a piece of gum
chewed by Gonzalez (see Bottom, April 10). It's great
to see a good sense of humor come out of him. |
April 12: Thank the golf
Gods. Arnold Palmer has finally decided that
this will be his last Masters. The guy is one of the
great champions of all time but, unlike other great
champions, he just hasn't known enough to go away. You
know that last time he made the cut at Augusta? It was
1985. Reagan was President. His 89 on Thursday
apparently was enough for a quick announcement: Friday
will be this 72-year-old's last Masters round. And if
you can get odds on what he'll shoot, bet the over -
whatever it is. |
|
April 11: Seven months
after being diagnosed with abdominal cancer, Montreal
Canadiens captain Saku Koivu retook the ice Tuesday
to an eight minute standing ovation that even had the Ottawa
Senators applauding. The Canadiens went on to win the
game, 4-3, and clinch their first play-off berth in four
seasons. |
April 11: Ten games ago,
the Milwaukee Bucks were alone in fifth place in the
East, trailing Orlando by just a half game for the fourth
seed. Now, they are tied for seventh place, just one
game out of the playoffs entirely. The Bucks have also
lost their last ten road games, the latest a 106-81 drubbing
at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers. |
|
April 10: For the
first time since joining the NBA in 1976, the New Jersey
Nets are champions. Division champions, that is,
which will have to suffice for now, as they will ride the #1
seed in the East toward the NBA Finals. In beating the
Washington Wizards and locking up the title, Jason Kidd
scored 21 points with 12 assists. |
April 10: Chock this up
to the insanity of some sports fans. Jason Gabbert, a
man from Minnesota is claiming that he got a piece of gum,
chewed by Luis Gonzalez, at a spring training game March
7. However, the security guard, known as Ponytail
John, who the fan apparently had asked to help get the gum
after Gonzalez tossed it into the dirt during the game, said
the fan never acquired the correct piece of gum. |
|
April 9: The last time
the Detroit Pistons win their division, it was 1990
and they were led by Bill Lambier and Dennis Rodman.
Twelve years later, they have done it again, led by Jerry
Stackhouse. The Pistons are presently seeded second in
the East, two games behind the New Jersey Nets. |
April 9: The Detroit
Tigers fired manager Phil Garner and general manager Randy
Smith, after the team started the season 0-6.
Garner was only the second manager to be fired after just
the first six games of a season in the last 100 years.
Smith has never been the general manager of a winning team,
batting 0-for-10 in his career. |
|
April 8: South African Retief
Goosen is one of the hottest players in golf, finishing
in the top 30 of each of his last five tournaments and
winning the BellSouth Classic on Sunday. His season
winnings so far total $319,995. He
won the BellSouth Classic in dramatic fashion, bogeying and
double-bogeying the first two holes of the final round, then
pulling ahead of the pack to win by four strokes. |
April 8: Ten games ago,
the Indiana Pacers held a comfortable four game
cushion on their eighth-seeded playoff spot. After
losing seven of their last ten, and watching the Raptors go
on a franchise record eight game win streak, they now sit
one game out of that playoff spot, despite solid play from
perennial All Star, Reggie Miller. |
|
April 7: It took an
extra 16:58, but the Minnesota hockey team won its
first NCAA title in 23 years, beating Maine, 4-3 in the
finals on Saturday. It was the fourth overtime
championship game in the last five years. Grant
Potulny scored the game-winning goal. |
April 7: It seems almost
cliche these days. Police arrested 25 people in
Minneapolis, hours after the Golden Gophers won the NCAA
hockey championship. Police were attempting to clear
the Minnesota celebrants blocking an intersection
when the crowd began throwing rocks and bottles, starting
fires, and smashing window fronts. |
|
April 6: It may have been
the Shaq-less Lakers, but the Boston Celtics handled
their storied rivals from Los Angeles like they haven't in
15 years, beating the Lakers, 99-81, in a playoff
primer. Kobe Bryant shot 5-25 while Paul Pierce hit 12
of 21 for 33 points. |
April 6: Playing Spain on
home turf in Houston should have been a slam dunk for Pete
Sampras in Davis Cup singles play. Instead,
Sampras faltered against Alex Corretja (who has a losing
record on grass), 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-4, giving Spain a
surprising 1-1 tie after the first day of matches.
Earlier in the day, Andy Roddick beat Tommy Robredo 6-3,
7-5, 7-6 (7). |
|
April 5: Shaquille O'Neal's
wrist is sprained, not broken, and that's great news for NBA
fans. A broken wrist would have sidelined the Laker center
for weeks and cheapened the upcoming playoffs. With O'Neal
back and Sacramento, Dallas, San Antonio and Portland all on
their heels, the Lakers will have to fight to win their
third straight title. |
April 5: The Los Angeles
Dodgers better hope April isn't a harbinger for the rest
of their baseball season. After being swept by the San
Francisco Giants the Dodgers have nothing positive to point
to, having been outscored 24-2 in the series. |
April 4: The NFL draft is
not until April 20, but the expansion Houston Texans have
already announced they are taking Fresno State stud
quarterback David Carr with the top pick. Carr looks
like he has the tools to be an All-Pro. ...
On the baseball front, Barry Bonds hit two more home
runs and now has four in his first two games, on pace for
324. |
April 4: Perhaps the most
competitive race in the NBA is that for the league's
worst team. The Memphis Grizzlies did their part by
losing again on Wednesday to bring their record to 19-55,
tied with Golden State for the second-worst mark. Both teams
are within shouting distance of the 17-57 Chicago Bulls. |
April 3:
Barry Bonds picked up
right where he left off last season, by hitting two home
runs in the San Francisco Giants’ 9-2 opening day win over
the Los Angeles Dodgers. Bonds, who set a mark with 73
homers last year, hit one on his second pitch of the game
off of Kevin Brown. |
April 3:
We're listing this item since it's so sad.
Umer Rashid, a star on the
cricket circuit in England, drowned in Grenada while trying
to save his younger brother Burhan, who also drowned. Umer,
26, jumped into Concord Falls (which gets as deep as 50
feet) after Burhan, 18, had trouble in the current. Both
soon disappeared. |
|
April 2: The University of
Maryland won the NCAA men's basketball championship by
beating Indiana, 64-52, in one of the worst finals in
memory. Kudos go to the Terps for winning the title and they
were clearly the nation's best team. But the game Monday was
dull, sloppy, tedious and uninteresting. It was the
lowest-scoring final in 19 years (and they didn't have a
shot clock back then). This would be a good reason to
re-seed the Final 4. Maryland and Kansas were the two best
Final Four teams and they were forced to play in the semis
(in what was a high-scoring affair). Indiana had a great
tourney run, but in the end they were no match for the
talented Terps. Monday's game will only be remembered by
diehard Maryland fans. |
|
April 1:
The University of Connecticut women's basketball team
completed their perfect season with a hard-fought 82-70 win
over Oklahoma in the championship game. The Huskies
committed 20 turnovers and did not make a 3-pointer, but
they were still able to hold off the game Sooners to finish
the season 39-0. |
April 1:
It's unclear whether the Los Angeles Lakers got away
with one in their dramatic 96-95 NBA win over San Antonio on
Sunday, but their postgame comments were less than classy.
With the Lakers up by one and seven seconds left, the Spurs'
Tim Duncan put up a shot and was defended by Shaquille
O'Neal. Duncan thought he was fouled and replay seemed to
indicate it, but no foul was called. Fair enough, it was
close. O'Neal, though, had very juvenile comments after,
saying, ``That was all ball. Even if it wasn't all ball,
they owe me that call. There was no foul. I've been getting
beat up for 10 years, I've only complained twice in that
time. If they don't like it, too bad.''' Nice justification,
big guy. |
