|
January
2002 |
| TOPS |
BOTTOMS |
| Jan.
31: The Detroit Red Wings are burning up the NHL with
80 points, but for some reason the .500 Calgary Flames seem
to have their number. The Flames beat the Wings, 4-3, for
their third win this season over Detroit. |
Jan.
31: The biggest non-story in recent Super Bowl
history ended when New England Patriots coach Bill
Belichick named Tom Brady his starting quarterback over
Drew Bledsoe. It was absurd that this ``story'' got so
much coverage. It was obvious that Brady would start if
his sore ankle had healed sufficiently. Brady is
Belichick's guy and only injury would have allowed Bledsoe
to start. |
| Jan.
30: Brace yourselves - the Nevada Athletic
Commission has stood up for something. Yes, the
NAC voted, by a 4-1 margin, to refuse Mike Tyson's request
to get his boxing license back. This is a major
setback for the Lewis-Tyson fight scheduled for April
6. Furthermore, Lennox Lewis issued a statement
today saying that he is considering refusing to fight
Tyson after he was bit through his pants by Tyson in a
brawl last week. |
Jan.
30: What's up at Georgia Tech? First,
George O'Leary, Tech's former football coach, loses a job
at Notre Dame for lying on his resume. Then, new
coach Chan Gailey's defensive coordinator, Rick Smith,
admitted he never played baseball or football at Florida
State, as his bio said. Now, it's been revealed that
receivers coach Tommie Robinson did not earn a masters
degree from Troy State in 1987, as the school originally
said in its press release. |
| Jan.
29: The San Diego Chargers made a sensible choice when
they tabbed Marty Schottenheimer as their new
coach. Schottenheimer may have troubles in the playoffs,
but he knows how to get there, something a Charger team
hasn't accomplished since 1995. |
Jan.
29: Win a Stanley Cup, get fired. It happened Monday
to Larry Robinson of the New Jersey Devils, who was
sacked. Robinson took the Devils to the Cup title in 2000
and to within a game of a repeat in 2001. But he was
considered to much of a nice guy as the Devils have
struggled this year. His replacement is Kevin Constantine,
a noted tough guy. . Ken Hitchcock, who led the Dallas
Stars to the finals in 1999 (where he won) and 2000,
was fired last week. |
| Jan.
28: While the winning quarterbacks are getting all of
the attention, it was Troy Brown who stole the show
on Sunday. Brown jumpstarted the Patriots' scoring
with a TD on a punt return in the first quarter.
Then, in the third quarter, New England scored again on
special teams as Troy Brown picked up a blocked field goal
and lateralled to Antwan Harris who ran into the endzone.
Throw in eight catches for 121 yards and you've got
yourself one hell of a performance. |
Jan.
28: Bill
Cowher is trying to do his best Marty Schottenheimer
impression. Cower's Steelers have hosted four AFC
Championships. After losing to the New England
Patriots on Sunday, Coweher is only 25% in AFC
Championships AT HOME. Two of those losses came after
being favored by more than a touchdown (Sunday and to the
Chargers in '94). Schottenheimer's playoff woes are legendary. |
| Jan.
27: It may not have been pretty, but it was
unanimous. Vernon Forrest upset undefeated
WBC Welterweight champ "Sugar" Shane Mosley
Saturday night in a unanimous decision. Forrest, a
7-1 underdog, said after the match, "They call him
the Michael Jordan of boxing, and I beat him. Am I going
to be Michael Jordan?" |
Jan.
27: It was a tough day to be one of the Top
25 teams in men's college basketball, as nine of them
fell to lower ranked, or unranked, opponents. #4
Florida, #6 Oklahoma, #8 Illinois, #9 Kentucky, #12
Arizona, #14 Stanford, #17 Georgia, #23 Ohio State, and
#24 Iowa all fell short on Saturday. |
| Jan.
26: Jennifer Capriati fought off four
match points by Martina Hingis to win her second
consecutive Australian Open, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2.
After squandering those four match points, Hingis seemed
to melt in the extreme Melbourne heat in the third
set. This was Capriati's third Grand Slam title in
her last five tries. Discuss. |
Jan.
26: The St. Louis Rams are the
overwhelming favorites to win the Super Bowl. They
have been for the last two or three months. Yet, the
team, particularly the defense, continues to whine about
getting "no respect." How can they
complain about a lack of respect when virtually everyone
in the country is saying that their offense is one of the
"greatest ever" and that their defense is one of
the best in the League. To the Rams: stop
whining and play. Discuss. |
| Jan.
25: Martina Hingis and Jennifer
Capriati will meet in the finals of the Australian
Open for the second consecutive year after winning their
semifinal matches against Monica Seles and Kim Clijsters,
respectively. Last year, Capriati solidified her
comeback by winning the Grand Slam tournament. |
Jan.
25: UCLA's men's basketball had never lost five straight times at
home to a team until Thursday night when Stanford came in
and put the hurt on them, 86-76. Same old story for
Bruins coach Steve Lavin: take good talent
and a close game to the locker room, fail to adjust, and
get beaten down the stretch. How is this guy still
the coach in Westwood? Discuss. |
| Jan.
24: North Carolina State men's basketball is off to
its best start in conference play in 1989, and continued
its hot play with a 77-59 win over woeful North Carolina.
It was NC State's biggest margin of victory over North
Carolina since 1962 and improved the Wolfpack to 15-2. |
Jan.
24: If the Philadelphia Eagles keep winning in the
playoffs, defensive end Hugh Douglas might go
broke. Douglas, fined $5,000 for a hit in the wild card
round, was socked with a $35,000 fine by the NFL for
knocking Chicago Bear quarterback Jim Miller to the ground
last weekend. Miller separated his shoulder on the play,
which came after an interception. "I'm a scapegoat,'' said
Douglas, who noted that no penalty was called on the play.
The NFL said, in effect, that Douglas took a cheap shot,
hitting Miller 20 yards away from where the action was occurring. |
| Jan.
23: When the Denver Nuggets came to Los
Angeles this morning, they had a .300 winning percentage
and were tied for last place in the conference; the Lakers
were third in the conference at .737. "Yes
Virginia, there is a Santa Claus": the Nuggets
miraculously toppled the two-time defending champion
Lakers, 107-91, Tuesday night, despite Shaq scoring 40
points. It was only the Lakers' fourth home loss of
the season. |
Jan.
23: Mike Tyson is like Robin Williams:
he's been using the same material for so long, we're
nearly numb to it. Tuesday was typical Tyson,
attacking Lennox Lewis and his managers during the first
press conference to promote their April 6 fight.
With reports swirling that Tyson actually bit Lewis in the
melee, Iron Mike has potentially thwarted efforts to get
the fight to take place in Nevada - where Tyson is banned
from fighting. |
| Jan.
22: The United States soccer team locked
up the #1 spot in their pool in the CONCACAF Gold Cup
after beating Cuba, 1-0. Their next game will be a
quarterfinal game Sunday at the Rose Bowl against the
second place team in the pool that includes includes
Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador. It was only the
second time the U.S. has played Cuba in soccer since Fidel
Castro took control on the island nation. |
Jan.
22: Just weeks after New Yorkers celebrated the
departure of coach Van Gundy, the New York Knicks
suffered their worst home defeat in the team's history,
losing 111-68 to the Charlotte Hornets. The loss was
their eighth straight defeat. |
| Jan.
21: After a five month hiatus, Phil Mickelson
came back to the PGA Tour a winner. At the Bob Hope
Chrysler Classic in Palm Springs, he birdied the final
three holes of regulation then won a playoff on the first
hole. Mickelson will take home $720,000 for the win. |
Jan.
21: It was a tough day to be a visiting
quarterback in the NFL. In the morning, Elvis
Grbac threw for under 50% and three interceptions in
leading his Baltimore Ravens offense to only a field
goal. In the afternoon, Brett Favre tied an
NFL playoff record with six interceptions in being blown
out by the St. Louis Rams, 45-17. While both
quarterbacks were hurt by bad play from their wide
receivers, they both also made bad decisions early in the
game that put their teams in holes they couldn't climb out
from. |
| Jan.
20: New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick
came in second for the AP Coach of the Year Award.
He should have been first, as witnessed by a fantastic
coaching job in leading his team to a victory over the
Oakland Raiders on Saturday. The play-calling at
times seemed overly conservative, yet it was tailor-made
for a victory over the Raiders - lots of passing by Tom
Brady, lots of different looks, lots of different
plays. In the second half and overtime, before the
Patriots got within field goal range, the Patriots called
five running plays to 41 passing plays - with 32
consecutive passing plays in the fourth quarter and
overtime. In the end, Belichick and Brady eked out
the 16-13 win. |
Jan.
20: The Associated Press named their NFL Coach
of the Year today: the Chicago Bears' Dick Jauron.
24 of the 50 voters voted for him, winning him the
crown. Those 24 voters obviously didn't watch many
Bears games this season. The play-calling virtually
every game was suspect, and the Bears won on random,
"miracle" plays and tough play on defense.
His coaching in their first round playoff game against the
Philadelphia Eagles was par for the course:
uninspired, dull, and unpredictably
unproductive. |
| Jan.
19: Just as members of the Outsports discussion
board were about to anoint Gonzaga as the national
champions, they fall prey to the Pepperdine Waves,
88-79. The Waves have now knocked off three Top 25
teams, including USC and UCLA. |
Jan.
19: Bill Parcells has long been known to play
head games. We just wish he'd stop doing it.
His latest is indecisiveness regarding the head coaching
position with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then telling them
he wasn't interested - after they fired their head
coach. While he was a great coach, we're glad to
hear that Parcells is, finally, officially, once and
for all, done coaching. |
| Jan.
18: Duke won the battle of the ACC big boys, running
away from Maryland in the second half for a 99-78 college
basketball win. Duke's Jason Williams scored 34 for the
top-ranked Blue Devils. |
Jan.
18: Another franchise is on the move in pro sports as
the Charlotte Hornets announced they were moving
next season to New Orleans. The reason why is what always
happens in these things--the smart citizens of Charlotte
refused to vote for a publicly funded arena for a
multimillionaire. So George Shinn found a suitor willing
to sweeten the pot and is taking his ball and leaving.
Louisiana will provide up to $15 million in stadium
improvements. |
| Jan.
17: Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks
put his mouth where his money was. Cuban was fined
$500,000 by the league for saying NBA supervisor of
officials Ed Rush couldn't manage a Dairy Queen. On
Wednesday, Cuban spent two hours managing a Dallas-area DQ.
As customer Tony Newpower said of the one-hour wait to be
served by Cuban: ``It was worth the wait. It's not often
you see a billionaire serving burgers.'' |
Jan.
17: Green Bay Packers defensive back Tyrone
Williams showed up on the team's injury report in an
unusual way--he has a cut forearm suffered in an apparent
domestic dispute with his wife, Shantel. Details are
sketchy but Williams told police his wife attacked him
with pepper way after he came home and he got the cut in
an ensuing scuffle. Shantel was arrested and later
released. |
| Jan.
16: Allen Iverson put up 42 shots, made half of them
plus 14 free throws and it added up to 58, most in an NBA
game in two years. Iverson's performance helped the
Philadelphia 76ers over the Houston Rockets in overtime. |
Jan.
16: The Los Angeles Dodgers traded pain-in-the-ass but
very talented GarySheffield to the Atlanta Braves for the
dependable but often-injured Brian Jordan and pitcher
Odalis Perez. The Braves would seem to have gotten the
best of the deal as it seemed the Dodgers were
anxious to dump Sheffield. |
| Jan.
15: The Australian Open has lost a lot of its luster
with Andre Agassi, Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport
out with injuries. But it was nice to see Jennifer
Capriati and Pete Sampras win their matches Down Under as
the 2002 season got underway with the first tourney of
each year anyone cares about. |
Jan.
15: Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal
was fined $15,000 and suspended three games after throwing
two punches at Chicago Bulls center Brad Miller on
Saturday. O'Neal was rightly pissed that Miller was
hacking him all night but in the NBA if you do the crime
you must do the time. |
| Jan.
14: A big round of applause to Michelle Kwan,
who won her sixth U.S. women's figure skating title this
weekend with a free-skate performance that got her a loud
standing ovation. Kwan had two perfect marks and set her
up for a gold medal run at the Winter Olympics. |
Jan.
14: Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder cemented
his reputation as the worst owner in pro sports when he
fired coach Marty Schottenheimer after only one season.
Schottenheimer started 0-5 but went 8-3 down the stretch
in a great display of coaching. But it was apparently too
dull a brand of ball, and Snyder will now hire flashy
former University of Florida coach Steve Spurrier as his
new guy. Schottenheimer is the third coach fired by Snyder
in 13 months and will walk away with $7.5 million left on
his contract. |
| Jan.
13: Jerry Rice of the Oakland Raiders, 39, became the
oldest player to ever score a postseason NFL touchdown in
the Raiders' 38-24 shootout win over the New York Jets.
Rice, a certain Hall of Fame player, was awesome, catching
nine passes for 183 yards. |
Jan.
13: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were awful in Saturday's
31-9 playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Quarterback
Brad Johnson threw four interceptions and the defense
played tired. The Bucs set a record they just as soon
forget: they have not scored a touchdown in three straight
playoff games (12 quarters). All they have to show in this
streak are field goals and a safety. |
| Jan.
12: An NBA team that has it all going now is the Minnesota
Timberwolves. The T’wolves went up against the
league’s best, the Lakers, and won easily, 120-102.
Studs Kevin Garnett (32 points) and Wally Szczerbiak (34)
led the way as Minnesota won its seventh straight. It
would be nice if someone could give the Lakers a fight in
the playoffs and maybe the Wolves will be it. |
Jan.
12: The Minnesota Vikings hired the resume-enhancer George
O’Leary as its new offensive line coach. O’Leary
is the guy who was forced to quit as Notre Dame’s
football coach a week after getting the job when it was
discovered he lied on his resume about having an advanced
degree. While we don’t think O’Leary should be exiled
for life, we also didn’t think it right he landed back
on his feet so quickly. |
| Jan.
11: Todd Eldredge won his sixth U.S. men’s figure
skating title on Thursday, and with it an Olympic berth.
Eldredge broke a tie with second-place finisher Tim Goebel
with an artistic display at the long program, held in Los
Angeles. Michael Weiss came back from a weak short program
to edge out Matt Savoie for the third and final spot on
the Olympic team. |
Jan.
11: University of Cincinnati men’s basketball coach Bob
Huggins needs to learn new methods of motivation.
Huggins, whose 14-1 Bearcats are a Top 10 team, has come
under criticism for ripping the fans for not selling out
the games. When told Thursday’s game against Charlotte
was not a sellout, he told the Cincinnati Post: ‘‘If
they don’t want to come, (bleep) ’em. Really. (Bleep)
’em.’’ The lack of a sellout didn’t bother the
players, who had a 13-point win over Charlotte. |
| Jan.
10: Kurt Warner of the St. Louis Rams won the NFL's
Most Valuable Player Award for the second time in three
years. It's always hard to pick most valuable anything,
but Warner is certainly worthy. He led the league in the
following categories: yards passing, touchdown passes ,
yards per attempt, completions, completion
percentage and overall rating. |
Jan.
10: How the mighty have fallen. The University of North
Carolina men's college basketball team gave up a
record 112 points Wednesday in a blowout loss to Maryland.
The Tar Heels' 33-point margin of defeat is two
points shy of a record and dropped their mark to
5-7. Terrapin guard Steve Blake was dismissive of the
once-powerful Tar Heels: ``Who are those guys? They're
just another team. Carolina's no special thing.'' Ouch. |
| Jan.
9: Ozzie Smith turned playing shortstop into an
acrobatics exhibition during a 15-year major league
baseball career. Named the ``Wizard'' for his amazing
plays, Smith was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame. It is
an honor justly deserved. |
Jan.
9: Talk about excessive--the NBA has fined
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban $500,000 for negative
comments he made about Ed Rush, the supervisor of league
officials. ``Ed Rush might have been a great ref, but I
wouldn't hire him to manage a Dairy Queen,'' Cuban said in
a story in The Dallas Morning News. ``His interest is not
in the integrity of the game or improving the
officiating.''
We like Cuban, an owner who
has the best interests of his players and fans at heart,
and think the fine was incredibly out of line with what
Cuban said. The league could care less about owners of perpetual
losers, such as the L.A. Clippers' Donald T. Sterling, but
it seems to have a real bug up its butt over Cuban, who
has been fined more than $1 million in the past year.
Cuban will match the fine with contributions to charity,
earmarking $375,000 to fight breast cancer. |
| Jan.
8: University of Oklahoma football fans were thrilled
by the news that coach Bob Stoops is staying put
and not going to Florida to replace the departing Steve
Spurrier. Whatever the reason, it was nice to see Stoops
stay and honor the commitment he made to the players he
recruited. |
Jan.
8: For pro football fans, Monday Night Football
has been must-see TV for 30 years. But this season has
been the worst schedule of games in memory and it
continued Monday night with Baltimore's ultra-boring 19-3
win over Minnesota. The only touchdown was scored by
Baltimore's defense on a fumble recovery with less than
two minutes to go. Both quarterbacks--Elvis Grbac of
Baltimore and Spergon Wynn of Minnesota--were dreadful;
Wynn is easily the worst NFL quarterback we've ever seen.
Let's hope the playoffs are more exciting. |
| Jan.
7: Florida State upset top-ranked Duke, 77-76,
in men’s college basketball, capping a weekend of
upsets. The loss ended the Blue Devils’ 22-game win
streak. After the win, delirious Florida State fans mobbed
the floor. In contrast to college football, where a loss
can end any title chances, Sunday’s game will be long
forgotten by the time we reach the NCAA tournament in
March. |
Jan.
7: The NFL’s Carolina Panthers reached a
nightmarish milestone Sunday in losing 38-6 to the New
England Patriots. The Panthers, who started the season
with a win, lost their last 15 to set a record for
consecutive losses in a season. After being competitive in
most of their games, the Panthers flat-lined the last two
weeks at home, losing by a combined 68-13. |
Jan.
6: The weather is cold in much of the U.S., but college
basketball is heating up on the first Saturday of the
new year.
We had a big match in women's ball, with No. 1 Connecticut
outclassing No. 2 Tennessee, 86-72, behind Diana Taurasi's
32 points. The Lady Huskies are now 16-0.
On the men's side, an
amazing nine Top 25 teams fell: #4 Virginia, #5 Oklahoma
State, #7 Illinoise, #8 Kentucky, #9 Iowa, #12 Boston
College, #17 Michigan State, #21 Miami and #25 Marquette. |
Jan.
6: Kenyon Martin of the NBA's New Jersey Nets should
learn the difference between a hard foul and a dirty foul.
The latter will get you suspended for two games and fined $15,000
by the NBA. Martin got this punishment after knocking
Orlando's Tracy McGrady to the ground Friday with his
forearm. McGrady was fined $5,000 for a retaliatory shove.
This is Martin's second suspension of the season. |
| Jan.
5: Steve Spurrier did it his way, as usual. The
arrogant yet highly successful football coach of the
University of Florida resigned after a 12-year career that
included one national title and seven Southeast Conference
crowns. Spurrier, whose teams were very fun to watch,
rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. He seemed to love
running up the score and delighted in taking digs at
fellow coaches. But he added a lot of spice to a coaching
profession that often as dull as cold oatmeal. Look for
Spurrier to take an NFL job and look for that team to be a
contender in a short time. |
Jan.
5: Dennis Green was fired as coach of the Minnesota
Vikings, a year too late. Green took a $5 million buyout
to leave the Vikings, who have one game to play. Green
took the Vikings to two NFC title games, so he can coach.
But the 2001 Vikings are 5-10 and it seems the inmates are
running the asylum. Talented yet easily bored receiver
Randy Moss says ‘‘I play when I want to play,’’
and Green has never said a word. Another receiver, Cris
Carter, has spent more time this year yapping at teammates
than playing; all this is Green’s fault. He should have
been canned after last year’s 41-0 NFC Championship game
loss to the New York Giants. His team was disgracefully
prepared and Green never took responsibility. Viking fans
say good riddance. |
| Jan.
4: Hats off to the University of Miami Hurricanes,
who demolished the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 37-14 in the Rose
Bowl, to win college football's mythical national
championship. The 'Canes finish the season as the nation's
only unbeaten team, so they deserve to be called champs.
But their convincing win does nothing to dispel the
reality that the Bowl Championship Series is a joke. A
game pitting Miami against Oregon would have clearly meant
the two best teams in college football were playing.
Nebraska never belonged and it showed. In their last two
games, both blowout losses, the Huskers lost 99-50. The
team that gave Nebraska its first loss, Colorado, was
itself blown out by Oregon on New Year's Day. So, this
season ends like almost all others in college football,
inconclusive and ultimately unsatisfying. |
Jan.
3: The NFL Pro Bowl teams were announced, and while
there were the usual puzzling omissions (how could
linebacker Takeo Spikes be left off the AFC team?) there
were two names we were thrilled to see: Kordell Stewart
and Garrison Hearst.
Two years ago the fans in Pittsburgh were ready to run
Stewart out of town. The quarterback was struggling with
erratic play at quarterback and a fair amount of talk
about his sexuality (to this day we still haven’t
figured out what side Kordell is on). Now, after an
awesome 2001 season, Stewart has the Steelers as
legitimate Super Bowl contenders. As for Hearst, the San
Francisco 49ers running back, his ankle was so messed up
that few doubted he could play again. But he came back
strong this year, rushing for 1,149 yards. Nice guys can
finish first. |
Jan.
3: Darrell Russell of the Oakland Raiders was
suspended for a year by the NFL for testing positive for ecstasy.
Russell, a repeat drug offender, will sit out the rest of
this season and all of next. He’s an often dominating
presence for the Raider defense but in the end, he
couldn’t defeat his worst opponent, his drug addiction. |
Jan.
2: Oregon showed that Tuesday that it, not Nebraska or
Colorado, should be playing for the national college
football championship. The Ducks, behind a stifling
defense and four touchdown passes from the brilliant Joey
Harrington routed Colorado, 38-16, in the Fiesta Bowl.
We couldn't believe those who were arguing beforehand that
a two-loss Colorado team deserved to play for the title
vs. a one-loss Oregon. The Buffaloes turned out be full of
nothing but hot air and showed maybe the Big 12 wasn't all
that hot this year. It's just a shame that Harrington--the
best QB in the country--and teammates couldn't play Miami
in Thursday's Rose Bowl. |
Jan.
2. Yes, by now we're use to the crass
commercialization of all things in sports, but it was
still disgusting to see how much product placement there
was in Tuesday's college bowl games. Company logos were
everywhere and the announcers made sure they reminded us
who the game sponsor was on a regular basis (like every
other play). The lowest was the cloying sideline reporter
Jack Arute at the Fiesta Bowl ... oops, we mean, the
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Arute told us where Oregon
quarterback Joey Harrington would be watching Thursday's
Rose Bowl. ``He won't be watching the Rose: Bowl sponsored
by AT&T on ABC Thursday night, he'll be at the game.''
Can we get Dr. Kevorkian to sponsor Arute's reports,
because he'd drive anyone to suicide? |
| Jan.
1: They may have screwed up the first time, but
the second time was the charm. Notre Dame has
selected Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham as their
next head football coach. Willingham has been sought
after by NFL teams, but always preferred the college
ranks. Willingham, the first black head coach of any
sport at Notre Dame, will make an immediate impact in
coaching and you can expect Notre Dame back in the
national spotlight within two years. Count on it. |
Jan.
1: Remember the years when New Year's Day was
full of great bowl games, as several would have an
implication on the National Championship? Not any
more. The BCS and NCAA Football have
seen to it that the bowls are empty and meaningless.
There isn't even a National Championship game on New
Year's Day. The old system was broken, but not as
broken as this one. And at least the former was fun. |
