|
February
2002 |
| TOPS |
BOTTOMS |
| Feb.
28: The #4 Cincinnati Bearcats (26-3) ran into trouble
on the road in Louisville as they were upended by
the Cardinals (16-11), 74-71. Reece Gaines scored 26
points in the victory. |
Feb.
28: Enron Field is no more. The Houston Astros
reached an agreement with the bankrupt energy company
Wednesday that will pay Enron $2.1 million to give up the
naming rights of Houston's home field. "Astros
Field" will be used until the naming rights can be
sold to another company. |
| Feb.
27: The Los Angeles Lakers won their fourth in a row
on their five-game road trip, beating Milwaukee, 99-89.
The Lakers are 20-9 on the road this season, the league's
best mark. |
Feb.
27: Three stars in three different sports have gone on
the shelf with injuries. Michael Jordan will have surgery
on his knee, making the rest of his season with NBA's
Washington Wizards uncertain. ... In the NHL, goalie
Curtis Joseph of the Toronto Maple Leafs will miss six to
eight weeks after breaking his hand Tuesday night ... And
in baseball, Matt Williams of the champion Arizona
Diamondbacks will miss at least three months after he
broke his left leg, dislocated his left ankle and sustained ligament damage
in spring training practice. |
| Feb.
26: Now that Olympics are over we're in a bit of a
sports funk today. Baseball is just in the opening days of
spring training, the NBA and NHL are in the dog days of
their seasons and the NCAA men's and women's tournaments
are still two weeks away. So you'll have to settle for Michelle
Wie, a 12-year-old Hawaiian who qualified for the
LPGA's tour event this weekend, the $900,000 Takefuji
Classic. |
Feb.
26: Jayson Williams is an ex-NBA star who was an
up-and-coming star in the TV sports world. But all that
may be at an end as he faces a charges of manslaughter in
the shooting death of Costas Christofi, a limo driver who
was shot at Williams' mansion. Christofi was shot in what
is being called an accident involving Williams, who some
reports say was twirling a shotgun playfully when it went
off. |
| Feb.
25: Oh, Canada! The Canadian Olympic men's hockey team
ended a 50-year gold medal drought with a convincing 5-2
win over Team U.S.A. Goalie Mike Richter kept the U.S. in
the game but the Canadians never trailed from midway
through the second period. Joe Sakic (two goals) was
brilliant for Canada. These Games were a hockey sweep for
Canada, whose women also won the goal. |
Feb.
25: The Winter Olympics had some amazing performances,
but they will also be remembered for controversial
judging, some bad sportsmanship and a reminder that
performance-enhancing drugs are an integral part of the
sports landscape. Two cross country skiers had their gold
medals stripped on Sunday. |
| Feb.
24: Saturday was a day of redemption at the Winter
Olympics. The U.S. men's bobsled team won its first medals
since 1956 as Todd Hays (silver) and Brian
Shimer (bronze) led their four-man teams to glory. For
Shimer, in his fifth Olympics, it was an overwhelming
moment; he said after he would retire since he couldn't
top what he had just done. The Hays' team features Randy
Jones and Garrett Hines, who became the first
African Americans to win Winter medals. ... In short-track
speed skating, Canada's Mark Gagnon ended his
nearly 10-year individual gold medal drought by coming
from behind to win the men's 500 meters. |
Feb.
24: These Olympics have spawned an athletic Cold
War. The Russians have complained about what they see
as biased judging and a general pro-U.S. slant to the
Games. Team Russia, normally a Winter powerhouse, has only
15 medals. On Saturday, the Russians got blasted by a U.S.
Olympics official and the head of international hockey's
governing body. It's nice to know the people in charge of
all these federations are showing maturity and dignity in
dealing with each other. |
| Feb.
23: The third period of the U.S. vs. Russia
men’s Olympic hockey semifinal showed the sport at its
best--riveting, fast-paced, well-played and dramatic. It
ended with the Americans hanging on for a 3-2 win. The
Russians were comatose for the first two periods and got
down 3-0. They woke up with a flurry, getting two quick
goals early in the third. They had at least three
excellent chances to tie on a power play but U.S. goalie
Mike Richter came up clutch. The U.S. plays Canada for the
gold on Sunday. ... Croatia’s 20-year-old Janica
Kostelic established herself as perhaps the Games’ top
athlete by winning the women’s giant slalom. It gives
her three golds and one silver. ‘‘I wonder if she’s
human,’’ one competitor said. |
Feb.
23: The Associated Press called it the equivalent of
Tiger Woods missing a 3-inch putt. That’s how bad an
error it was when Canada’s Kevin Martin failed to
score on the final shot of Olympics men’s curling. His
miss gave the Norwegians a stunning 6-5 win and the gold.
‘‘It was an easy shot to win the game,’’ Martin
said. One shocked Norwegian player simply said,
‘‘It’s unbelievable.’’ |
| Feb.
22: What a day to be an underdog on the ice.
First, the Canadian women's ice hockey team upset
the United States in the gold medal game, 3-2, snapping
the Americans' 35-game win streak. Then, teenage
American Sarah Hughes topped Irina Slutskaya and Michelle Kwan in the
free program of women's figure skating to capture the
gold. Hughes had been in fourth place after the
short program. She edged out Slutskaya in a
tiebreaker, while Kwan had to settle for a bronze. |
Feb.
22: So much for goodwill and sportsmanship. First the Canadians bitched about the pairs figure skating
results. Then the Koreans whined that their short-track speed-skater was robbed. And now the
Russians are threatening to pull out these Winter Olympics and the 2004 Summer Games for good measure.
Russia told the International Olympic Committee that, in essence, it was being picked on by judges,
officials and the media. As the Associated Press’ Jim Litke so aptly put it:
"Last week, the motto on everyone’s lips in these parts was ‘Swifter, Higher,
Stronger.’ This week, it’s ‘Where’s Mine?'" |
| Feb.
21: It was impossible to not root for American Jim
Shea as he won the gold in men's skeleton. His father,
Jim Sr., and grandfather, Jack, were both Olympians
and they had planned to come to Salt Lake City as the
first three-generational Olympics family. But tragedy
struck 17 days before the opening ceremonies when Jack was
killed by a drunken-driver in Lake Placid, N.Y. Jim Shea
wore one of Jack's medals from the 1920s as he stood on
the winner's podium. |
Feb.
21: Talk about a choke job. Team Sweden, which
entered the men's Olympics hockey quarterfinals with a 3-0
record, lost to Belarus, which had been outscored 16-2 in
its last two games, Belarus won, 4-3, on a fluky 70-foot
goal with less than 3 minutes remaining in one of the most
stunning games ever in international hockey. "I don't understand how we could lose against this team,"
Swedish captain Mats Sundin said. The Swedes will get hammered
by the home folks, with one news agency calling the loss
``Sweden's worst ever Olympic fiasco." |
| Feb.
20: Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers made history in
more ways than one in winning the inaugural women's
bobsled event at the Winter Olympics. It was the
first U.S. medal in the sport since 1956 and Flowers
became the first black athlete to win a gold medal at the
Winter Games. ... Ildiko Strehli of Hungary
finished 13th in women's bobsled but felt like a million
bucks. She had twice survived breast cancer and at one
point could barely walk four years ago. She exemplifies perseverance
and determination. |
Feb.
20: Wayne Gretzky has gone from being the Great One to
the Grate One. Seems Gretzky is upset by people who
rightly point out that Team Canada has been less than
impressive in men's Olympic hockey. ``It's comical. It
almost sickens my stomach to turn on the TV. It makes me
ill to hear what's being said about Canadian hockey,''
said Gretzky. ``Am I hot? Yeah. I'm tired of people taking
shots at Canadian hockey.'' Give it a rest. People
don't hate Canada (there's nothing to hate), just sloppy,
uninspired play. |
| Feb.
19: The U.S. Olympic men's hockey team stormed into
the quarterfinals with an 8-1 drubbing of Belarus. The
Americans are a remarkable 19-0-3 in their last 22 Olympic
games on home ice since 1932. ... Martin Schmitt of
Germany on his final jump helped the Germans beat the
Finns for the gold medal in team ski jumping by one-tenth
point, the slimmest margin possible. ... Break up the
Aussies! Team Australia won its second gold as
freestyle aerialist Alisa Camplin shocked the field. She
joins speed skater Steven Bradbury, who lucked into his on
Saturday. |
Feb.
19: The Tampa Bay Bungleers finally got their coach.
The NFL team looked like it was run by the Three Stooges
the past month after firing Tony Dungy. On Monday, the
Buccaneers signed Oakland Raider coach John Gruden to a five-year, $18
million contract at a steep cost: two #1 and two #2 draft
choice and $8 million. This doesn't make a lot of sense:
Gruden's career winning percentage is 58%; Dungy's was
55%. Gruden took his team to one conference title game and
lost at home as a favorite; Dungy took his team to one and
nearly pulled off a road shocker. Sounds like the Bucs got
the same guy. Time will tell if this was a robbery by
Raiders' owner Al Davis. |
| Feb.
18: Skategate came to a conclusion when Jamie Sale
and David Pelletier joined Elena Berezhnaya
and Anton Sikharulidze on the gold medal platform
in pairs skating. It was a genuinely touching moment and
all four seemed happy and delighted. ... In men's college
basketball, third-ranked Maryland beat up on
top-ranked Duke, 87-73. |
Feb.
18: We were watching the Daytona 500 and a
short-track speed skating race broke out. In a finish
reminiscent of the men's 1,000-meter short track final,
race car driver Ward Burton got a lucky break to pull out
NASCAR's biggest race. After a crash with three laps to
go, officials stopped the race to let everyone regroup.
Leader Sterling Martin got out of his car and pulled some
metal away from a tire; officials penalized him and sent
him back to the rear. This could be one of the great
bonehead moves in recent years. Burton took advantage of the chaos a
pulled off a win even he called lucky. |
| Feb.
17: We've become hooked on Olympic short track
speed skating, which can best be described as roller
derby on ice. The men's 1,000-meter final was a great
example of why the sport is exciting and totally
unpredictable--an Australian, Steven Bradbury, won the
gold. That winter powerhouse, Australia (heck, it's summer
now Down Under). Bradbury was more lucky than good, as he
was in last place in the five-man final when the first
four got tangled up and crashed. Bradbury coasted to the
win and a mad scramble ensued for the silver and gold.
Gutsy American Apolo Anton Ohno, suffering from a nasty
gash on his leg from the crash, got up and literally
crawled across the finish line for the silver. Canada's
Mathieu Turcotte also staggered across for the bronze. It
made for great drama. ``I wasn't the fastest skater out
there tonight. I had a lot of luck on my side today,"
Bradbury said. |
Feb.
17: Another tragedy hit the sports world when
linebacker Chris Campbell, a starter on the University if
Miami's national championship team, was killed in a car
accident early Saturday. He was 21. This came a day after
San Diego Padre player Mike Darr and another person were
killed in a crash. |
| Feb.
16: Amidst a seeming lack of urgency by Ottavio
Cinquanta of the International Skaters Union, the International
Olympic Committee on Friday awarded Canadian pairs
skaters David Pelletier and Jamie Sale a gold medal and
suspended judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne of France after she
admitted she was pressured by her own federation to vote
for the Russian pair. The Russians will keep their
gold medals as well. While it was nice to see S&P
rewarded, it does raise some future concerns. Will every
Olympian who feels slighted by a judge now file a protest? |
Feb.
16: Pac-10 women's basketball may be the least
competitive conference in the country. Stanford won
the conference title yesterday, half way through February,
and is 15-0 in the conference. The closest team is
Arizona State, at 11-5. No other conference has a
five loss differential between first and second place. |
| Feb.
15: It was nice to watch the men's free skate
at the Winter Olympics. Excellent artistry and athleticism
and no judging controversy. Alexei Yagudin,
a Russian who trains in the U.S., earned four perfect
6.0's for artistry, a record, to convincingly win the
gold. Teammate and rival Evgeni Plushenko had a superb
free skate to rise from fourth to second. American Timothy
Goebel won the bronze with a solid effort to win the first
medal for a U.S. man since 1992. |
Feb.
15: Skategate seems to be nearing a conclusion and not
a moment too soon. We now know that France's figure
skating judge was pressured into voting the Russians over
the Canadians in the pairs skate. And there are
suggestions that the Canadians might be awarded a gold
while the Russians keep theirs. Like many stories in the media, this one has now gotten a
lot more attention than it deserves. We heard ``tragedy''
applied to Sale and Pelletier for being screwed. The
endorsements will roll in and they'll be set for life.
They're young, beautiful and talented. Some tragedy. Our
hearts break for them. |
| Feb.
14: Simon ``Swiss Air'' Ammann, the 20-year-old who
won his second ski jumping gold on Wednesday, may be the
most unlikely of Winter Olympics champions. With his
glasses he looks like Harry Potter or, as Bob Costas said,
``the guy who bags your groceries.'' In winning the K120
event to go with his K90 from Sunday, Ammann became only
the second athlete to win two individual ski jumping gold
in the same Olympics. He is utterly charming in his
post-match interviews. ``I'm trembling ... there are no
words for this,'' he said before yelling out a whoop. A
refreshing contrast from the chest-thumping we so often
hear. |
Feb.
14: The Miami Dolphins signed quarterback Jay Fiedler
to a five-year, $24.5 million contract, and we have one
question: Why? He's little better than a journeyman (34
TDs and 33 interceptions the past two seasons) who has led
the Dolphins to a whopping three points total in their
last two playoff games. Guess the 'Fins like being knocked
out of the first round. |
| Feb.
13: At the Winter Olympics, the men's moguls came
down to the final skier in a dramatic competition.
American Travis Mayer, the final skier, came close but
couldn't overcome Janne Lahtela of Finland, who took the
gold.
In another thriller,
American Casey FitzRandolph out-dueled defending
Olympic gold medalist Hiroyasu Shimizu to take the men's
500-meter speed skating event. |
Feb.
13: A day after the controversial ending to the
Olympics pairs figure skating (see below) the furor
would not die. Speculation has become intense that the
French and Russian judges were in cahoots to swap
favorable votes; the French judge would help the Russians
in the pairs, while the Russian would look favorably on
the French entry in the ice dancing.
As the plugged-in skating writer Christine Brennan wrote
in USA Today: ``French judge Marie Reine Le Gougne, who
voted for the Russians, told members of the International
Skating Union's prestigious technical committee, as well
as a few judges, that she was forced by her federation to
vote for the Russians in a deal that would deliver a vote
for the French team in the ice dancing competition later
in the Olympic Games."
The ISU and the Olympic
committe need to aggressively pursue these charges or the
stain will stay on the sport long after the ice has
melted. "This is the worst thing that's happened in a
long time in figure skating,'' longtime coach Frank
Carroll said. |
| Feb.
12: ``Dude, Where's My Medal?'' could be the name
of a new movie starring the U.S. mens' halfpipe
snowboard team that swept the medals on Monday. Ross
Powers (gold), Danny Kass (silver) and J.J. Thomas
(bronze) fit the snowboard stereotypes--cool, a bit spacey
and happy-go-lucky. They are also immensely talented as
they showed in pulling off the sweep. ... Germany's Georg
Hackl failed in his bid to become the first Winter
Olympian to win four consecutive gold medals in the same
event, but he went out with class. Hackl was defeated by
Italy's Armin Zoeggeler. Afterwards, Hackl was genuinely
grateful to have medaled and showed true sportsmanship.
He's the anti-Ray Lewis. |
Feb.
12: Olympic figure skating went back 20 years to the
days of the Cold War on Monday. That's about the only way
to explain how Russian pairs figure skaters Elena
Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the gold medal over Canadians
Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. To our
untrained eye and to those expert commentators on NBC it
seemed clear that the Russians, who
made at least one technical error during their long
program, were no better than second. But
when it came to awarding first place votes, five judges
inexplicably gave theirs to the Russians and only four to
the Canadians. The five were judges from Russia, Ukraine,
China and Poland, all former or current Communist states.
The fifth came from the French judge and all we can
conclude is that this judge must've had some bad snails in
Montreal one time. The four who voted for Sale and
Pelletier were
from the U.S., Canada, Germany and Japan. And you thought
the college football BCS was bad. |
| Feb
11: Kelly Clark and Frtitz Strobel had days to
remember at the Winter Olympics. Clark of the U.S. laid it
all on the line in the women's snowboarding halfpipe on
her second run to win the gold medal. Strobl of Austria
won the men's downhill with a scintillating run
down the mountain they call Grizzly. Strobl had never won
a medal at a major championship but he skied a great race
in beating out his favored teammate Stephan Eberharter,
who won the bronze. Strobl saw this omen: ``Here I had
room one-one-one and I came first. In Nagano [site of the
'98 Olympics], I had room 11 and I came 11th.'' |
Feb.
11: Let's face it, professional all-star games
are no longer once they once were. This was shown this
weekend with two unmemorable games, the NFL Pro Bowl on
Saturday and the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday. A week ago
we had the less-than-stellar NHL All-Star Game. No one can
remember what happened two days after these exhibitions
and it's obvious by all the no-shows that many of the
athletes don't care and would rather the time off. |
| Feb.
10: The world record in 5,000 meter
speedskating was set twice within 20 minutes on the first
day of competition Saturday. American Derek Parra
stunned the competition by breaking the world record with
a time of 6 minutes, 17.98 seconds - only to be beaten 20
minutes later by Jochem Uytdehaage of the
Netherlands with a time of 6:14.66. The skaters took
silver and gold, respectively. |
Feb.
10: NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympic
opening ceremonies on Friday was akin to a scrolling audio
track at the Rose Parade. Hosts Katie Couric and Bob
Costas did not stop with pedantic comments that added
little to the show and served to detract from the
beautiful pomp and pageantry of a wonderful show.
Couric even, repeatedly, told the audience what they would
be seeing before it came out and felt the need to
interpret every storypoint of the artistic skating
show. As one 7-year-old put it, why didn't they
just show what was happening? |
| Feb.
9: The Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City opened Friday
with a ceremony both hokey and moving (like any opening
ceremonies anywhere for the past 20 years). Giant cows on
skates; a lone skater being chased by what looked like
giant icicles and a Western hoedown were some of the hokey
parts (though done in good fun). The display of the World
Trade Center flag, the athletes’ march and the lighting
of the flame were all moving. Let the Games begin. |
Feb.
9: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are proving to be Team
Dysfunctional. Three weeks after firing longtime coach
Tony Dungy, the NFL team still has no idea who its next
coach will be. On Friday, the Bucs stunned everyone by
announcing that terrific Baltimore defensive coordinator
Marvin Lewis would not get the job. This came after Bucs’
general manager Rich McKay was setting up a press
conference to announce Lewis' hiting. Seems the owners
were uncomfortable with Lewis for some reason. This comes
two weeks after Bill Parcells turned down a chance to
coach the team. |
| Feb.
8: As the NBA heads into the All-Star break, Michael
Jordan has so far shown his return has paid dividends. His
Washington Wizards beat the Sacramento Kings,
108-101, Thursday ton finish with their best record at the
break since 1979. The Wizards have won five straight and
are in great position to make the playoffs. |
Feb.
8: Salt Lake City is having bad air days. The city
where the opening ceremonies are being held tonight have
had four straight days of air quality warnings as a
weather pattern has trapped fog, haze and pollution in the
area. ‘‘This is the worst,’’ Larry Dunn, the
meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service
office told the Los Angeles Times. ‘‘If you could
think of weather conditions that would give a visitor the
worst impression of Salt Lake, this is it.’’ A storm
expected this weekend should clear things up once it moves
through. |
| Feb.
7: The International Olympic Committee and the U.S.
Olympic Committee came up with a sensible compromise on
the display of an American flag found at Ground Zero after
the Sept. 11 attacks. The IOC said it will allow a group
of U.S. athletes to take part in ceremonies during the
opening of the Winter Games on Friday along with New York
City firefighters and Port Authority police. The USOC had
wanted the flag to be carried during the opening
ceremonies, while the IOC had wanted no athletes to be
involved with the flag. The compromise ensures the flag
will be on display while not becoming too political a
symbol. |
Feb.
7: Price gouging is an unofficial sport at all
Olympics and Salt Lake City is no different. For example,
one restaurant is charging $95 for a standard dinner,
triple its most expensive entree, Associated Press
reports. And one parking garage is charging $30 a day
instead of the normal $45. "It’s called Olympic
greed,'' said Michael Taylor, who runs the garage.
"It’s all about making money.'' |
| Feb.
6: The Boston/New England Patriots have been around
since 1960 and finally their fans got a chance to
celebrate. An estimated 1.2 million fans turned out in
Boston to cheer on the Patriots two days after their
stunning Super Bowl win over the Rams. Champions is an
unusual moniker for a Boston team. As one fan at the
parade said, ``We're so used to being miserable. We're
used to getting that close, then having it fall off the
table. This is much, much better.'' |
Feb.
6: Baseball commissioner Bud Selig abandoned
plans for eliminating teams this season, a dumb idea he
tried to push through a week after last year's thrilling
World Series. Selig and the owners had planned to
eliminated Montreal and Minnesota. The Expos are probably
gone after this season, while baseball now figures it can
get Minnesota taxpayers to pony up to fund a new stadium
for the Twins. Let's hope this ploy fails. |
| Feb.
5: It may be only February, but the New Jersey Nets
are showing they may be a force come NBA playoff time in
the spring. On Monday, the Nets handed Sacramento, the
team with the league's best record, its worst loss of the
season, 117-83. The Nets have the top mark in the East.
Said coach Byron Scott to the AP: `Everybody is still doubting what we're made of anyway,
people don't understand that we do have a good basketball
team. They'll have a big wow.'' |
Feb.
5: Inmates at a Riverside, Calif. detention center got
into a brawl while watching the Super Bowl. The most
serious injury was a broken nose. ``It was in a housing unit and half
of them were for the Rams and half were for the New England
Patriots,'' a deputy said ``When it was over, two inmates got to
discussing it, then they got into a fist fight and the others joined it.''
No word on whether Mike Tyson was involved. |
| Feb.
4: The New England Patriots shocked the football world
by defeating the St. Louis Rams, 20-17, in a dramatic
Super Bowl. The Patriots are the second-biggest underdogs
to ever win the game (14 points). For complete Super Bowl
analysis check
out our takes. |
Feb.
4: Can you say pratfall? The St. Louis Rams join
the 1968 Baltimore Colts as the ``invincible'' teams that
have lost the Super Bowl. Rams coach Mike Martz was
outcoached and his team played at a level much below what
they demonstrated in the regular season. It will be a long
off-season in the Gateway to the West. |
| Feb.
3: The NFL announced its Hall of Fame class on
Saturday, and the new members are Jim Kelly, John
Stallworth, Dave Casper, Dan Hampton and the late George
Allen. It was epecially great to see Kelly, Stallworth and
Casper on the list, among the best quarterbacks, wide
receivers and tight ends of their eras. |
Feb.
3: Talk about consumerism run amok. Nike has
announced a new Air Jordan shoe with a list price of $200.
Anybody who would buy such a show needs to get a life.
What possible good is a $200 sneaker. |
| Feb.
2: He may not stay there, but Pat Perez is
leading after 36 holes at the Pebble Beach golf classic.
Perez has a 4-stroke lead, the largest after 36 holes
since 1973. It's all the more remarkable because Perez is
battling the flu and a 103-degree fever. And he made the
PGA Tour by getting his card at qualifying school in
December. |
Feb.
2: For the second time in two days, a university in
the Southeastern Conference saw its football program hit
hard by NCAA penalties. Alabama was placed on five
years probation and banned from bowls for two years (along
with scholarship limits) for major violations by boosters.
The NCAA said it was close to giving the school the
``death penalty,'' meaning the elimination of the program. |
| Feb.
1: The Oregon Ducks men's college basketball
team improved to 12-0 at home this year with a 91-62
hammering of #13 UCLA. The Ducks are on pace to match
their all-time home winning record of one season which is
16-0. UCLA showed again why it's the Jekyll and Hyde of
college basketball. This is the same team that beat Kansas
a couple of weeks ago. |
Feb.
1: For the first time in seven years, the NCAA has
slapped a program with a postseason ban. Kentucky,
which was cited for more than 36 violations that occurred
under ex-coach Hal Mumme, must also cut scholarships for
the next three years. The violations all involved
recruiting, the bane of college athletics. |
