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AUGUST 2000
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8/31/00: While the Chicago
Cubs keep slipping, Sammy Sosa keeps slugging.
Sosa hit his league-leading 44th and 45th homeruns Wednesday
night as his Cubs beat the San Diego Padres, 5-1.
Combined with Tuesday's four hour marathon win, it was the
first time in a month that the Cubs won back-to-back games.
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8/31/00: He is being tagged
the "John Rocker of Australia" by his fellow long
jumpers. Australian jumper Jai Taurima said
earlier this week of the wet and cool weather conditions of
the upcoming Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, "you can
pretty much knock out all the dark guys." He added,
"we jumped in Salamanca (Spain) a month ago, and those
guys just couldn't compete well in bad conditions. It
was wet and cold." This, of course, set off
American jumpers Savante Stringfellow and Melvin Lister who
equated Taurima with Rocker, and who said that they don't even
consider Taurima competition for the gold. Taurima is
half indigenous Australian.
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8/30/00: In a game that saw
benches clear more than once, and eight players ejected, it
was cool-as-ice Pedro Martinez who stole the show for
the Boston Red Sox against the Tampa Ray Devil Rays. After
hitting the first batter he faced, he retired 24 in a row and
came within three outs of a no-hitter. He struck out 13 along
the way in an 8-0 shutout that kept the Red Sox a half-game
behind Cleveland in the American League wild-card race.
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8/30/00: Two big
names with high hopes fell at the U.S. Open on Tuesday.
Second-seeded Gustavo Kuerten lost to Australian
qualifier Wayne Arthur, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1).
Barely unseeded Patrick Rafter lost a 3+ hours match to
the No. 114 player in the world, Galo Blanco, 7-6 (3), 2-6,
6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (5). Blanco hadn't won a match in a Grand
Slam event this year.
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8/29/00: Clint Mathis of the MLS
New York Metrostars set an MLS record with a 5-goal performance
that helped the Metrostars clinch first in the Eastern Division.
Mathis set the records both for points and goals in a game.
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8/29/00: In the latest
chapter of the "athletes never learn" saga, Corey
Dillon was arrested Sunday for the third time in his three
years with the Cincinnati Bengals. Dillon was arrested
near Seattle, charged with assaulting his wife, who had phoned
police as she bled from the mouth. Dillon, almost
predictably, is expected to practice with the Bengals on
Tuesday.
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8/28/00: Tiger Woods. Won.
Again. By 11 strokes. With a record (for him) 72-hole score of
259. Amazing.
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8/28/00: Rashard Casey, the
Penn State quarterback facing assault charges, stunk in the
Nits' 29-5 drubbing at the hands of Southern Cal. Casey
finished 7 for 22, including an interception returned for a TD
and zero second-half completions. What's worse is that he's
clueless. He said after the game that he didn't think he was
bothered by USC's defense. Huh? The Trojans are fast and
talented and totally had Casey's number. Let's hope he has a
better defense in court.
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8/27/00: It’s only August, but
Florida State sure looked in top form as the Seminoles blasted BYU,
29-3, in Saturday’s college football opener. The 'Noles
showed some speed at receiver that may have people in
Tallahassee saying, ``Peter who?'' For a dissenting view, see
our Discussion
Board.
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8/27/00: Yawn. It’s hard to get excited by the
WNBA Finals that ended Saturday when the Houston Comets defeated the
New York Liberty. Haven’t we seen this before? The league has been in existence for four years and the
Comets have won all four titles. And New York has been their floor mat
in three of the Finals. While seeing Cynthia Cooper retire
with a clutch performance was inspiring, what the WNBA needs is a little more balance.
For a dissenting view, see our Discussion
Board.
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8/26/00: Woods and Webb continue
to dominate in the golf world. Tiger Woods, fresh off of
winning the PGA last week, leads after two rounds of the men's
NEC Invitational by 7 strokes. On the women's side, phenom
Karrie Webb Webb set the 36-hole mark at 17-under and tied the single-round record with an 11-under 61 at the Oldsmobile Classic.
Woods vs. Webb would be a match we'd pay to see.
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8/26/00: Tony Saunders
isn't our bottom, but his fate is. Saunders suffered an awful
injury 18 months ago when he broke his arm while pitching for
the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It was as ghastly a sports injury as
we've seen,as his arm broke as he released the ball. Saunders
was back on the mound Thursday in the minor leagues trying a
comeback. But in the third inning he uncorked a wild pitch and
fell to the ground screaming so loud it could be heard in the
press box. He had broken the same arm again. Doctors say that
while Saunders will regain full use of his arm, he said his pitching
days are over.
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8/25/00: When baseball went
to a wild-card format a few years ago it all but killed great
pennant races. But this year the scramble for the wild card
is truly exciting. As we get ready to head into September five
teams in the American League are within 3 1/2 games of each
other. We can only hope it gets closer.
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8/25/00: If there is
anything worse than NFL exhibition games it's the last week
of NFL exhibitions. Starters hardly are on the field, the
players don't care and neither do the fans. We can't wait
until Sept. 3.
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8/24/00: After 39 days on
an island in the China Sea, it all came down to a gay
guy. Last night, with the country watching CBS's series
"Survivor," seven former island dwellers voted for Rich
as the ultimate winner of $1 million by a 4-3 margin.
Rich was rewarded for making a plan long before going to the
island and sticking through it, no matter what.
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8/24/00: It's become
chic among fans in Cincinnati to be a critic of future
Hall-Of-Famer Ken Griffey Jr.. Since he took a huge pay
cut to come to Cincinnati, he has been booed, harassed by the
press, and made feeling less than welcome. The latest
incident was broadcaster Marty Brennaman criticizing
Griffey for jogging to first base on a hit that, Brennaman
claimed, could have been stretched into a double. It's
about time the city of Cincinnati and full-of-himself
Brennaman respected Griffey's ability and choice to play for
the Reds - lest they end up with another Bengals debacle in
Major League Baseball.
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8/23/00: Phyllis Handy
of Foxboro, Mass., was the last holdout in the trailer park set
to be the site of the New England Patriots' next stadium -
until today. Handy, who suffers of breast cancer, said
she plans to sign an agreement today with Patriots owner
Robert Kraft's Foxboro Realty Associates to vacate the
premises. Kraft presently has a lawsuit pending against Handy
claiming she owes $13,000 of back rent. Let's hope Handy got
what she deserved.
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8/23/00: You think you're
sick of Tiger Woods winning tournaments? Try watching
the WNBA. Yet again, it is the Houston Comets and
the New York Liberty playing in the Finals - for the third
time. The Comets have won both of the first two times
and are favored to win ... again.
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8/22/00: While the Atlanta
Braves were spending money, the New York Mets have
launched into the best post-All Star Game record in Major
League Baseball with a 21-7 mark and have closed the gap to 2
1/2 games back from the Braves.
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8/22/00: Sprinter Linford
Christie of England has been banned from competition for
two years for steroid use. Christie has been a standout
in the 100 and 200 for years.
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8/21/00: Wow. That's
all we were left saying after watching the final round duel
between Tiger Woods and Bob May at the PGA
Championship on Sunday. They were tied after nine
holes. They were tied after 18. And, on the first
hole of a three hole playoff in "overtime," it was
Tiger Woods again coming through in the clutch and breaking
the even play for good, winning his third major of the
year. He is the first golfer to do so since Ben Hogan in
1953.
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8/21/00: A week-and-a-half
ago the Seattle Mariners led by nine games over Oakland. After
their eighth straight loss on Sunday, the M's are staggering
and only two up on the A's and five up on the surging Angels.
It will be a wild September in the AL West.
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8/20/00: They're not the
Doublemint Twins, though their smiles would make them
naturals. Morgan and Paul Hamm are a twin pair of
17-year-old gymnasts who on Saturday made history by becoming
the first twins ever to make the U.S. gymnastics team. Read
short bios of the boys.
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8/20/00: Some guys just
don't want to give it up. Patrick Ewing, 38, the
Knicks' center who should have retired two years ago, might be
traded to Seattle, the New York Daily News reported. Ewing
claims he can play another three years. Yeah, and Shaq can
shoot free throws. Then again, if we were guaranteed to make
$14 million, like Ewing, we wouldn't mind embarrassing
ourselves almost every night.
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8/19/00: What a week for Jack
Nicklaus. On Monday he was at the bedside of his
dying mother, who was imploring him to go to Valhalla in
Louisville and play
his golf. On Tuesday, she passed away. On
Wednesday, he was flying back home to arrange for her
funeral. And on Thursday, he started probably his last
PGA Championship paired, symbolically, with Tiger Woods.
On Friday, needing an eagle on the 18th hole to make the cut,
Nicklaus hit a high pitch shot onto the green that rolled back
and missed the hole, and his eagle, by just inches. To
the cheering of the crowd, the scoreboard simply read, "37 golden years at the PGA. Thank you Bear.''
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8/19/00: Texas Rangers
outfielder Chad Curtis had a dream of playing in the Olympics
in Sydney. Those dreams were squashed on Friday by Sandy
Alderson and the MLB commissioner's office. Said
Alderson, "The rule states that any player on the 25-man roster isn't
eligible for the Olympics." What a stupid
rule. While other athletes, like Tim Duncan and Pete
Sampras, are turning down Olympic bids, Curtis has his heart
in the right place, wanting to play for his country in the
Olympic Games. Leave it to Major League Baseball to have
a rule preventing such a thing. And we wonder why
baseball is no longer "America's sport."
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8/18/00: Houston Comet Sheryl
Swoopes has done it all this season...almost. After she
was won the WNBA scoring crown this season, and won the
Defensive Player of the Year Award on Tuesday, Swoopes was
named the League's Most Valuable Player on Thursday. Crying,
Swoopes said on Thursday, "It seems like when I think
things can't get any better, they get better." Swoopes
will try to cap of the "perfect season" with her
fourth WNBA title in the next two weeks.
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8/18/00: The Field of
the PGA Tour is starting to look like a sorry bunch of
amateurs. In the first round of the PGA Championships, it was,
again, Tiger Woods taking the lead by two shots, tied with
Scott Dunlap, ranked 67th in the world, who will quickly fall
out of the running. There has been some talk of creating a
second tour - for Tiger. We're starting to think that's a good
idea.
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8/17/00: It was nice while
it lasted, but Gabe Kapler's major league season-high
hitting streak of 28 games ended on Wednesday. He set a
team record for the Texas Rangers with that hitting streak.
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8/17/00: Andre Rison,
perhaps most famous for his girlfriend Lisa "Left
Eye" Lopes of TLC burning down his house, burned all of
his bridges in Kansas City this week. Rison was cut a
week after being cited for obstructing a police officer by
giving false information after a bar fight. While there
are no charges pending, the incident put to lie Rison's claim
that he was a "changed man." He still faces a
trial next month on a charge of stealing a $1,000 tape
recorder from a business. Some guys never learn.
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8/16/00: The high schoolers
are taking over the Olympic swimming trials. This time,
it was 17-year-old Ian Crocker from Portland, Maine
breaking Matt Biondi's 12-year-old record in the 100-meter
butterfly at 52.82 seconds. Crocker, who usually trains
in a pool half the length of an Olympic-sized pool, is the
first person to qualify for the Olympic swim team from Maine.
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8/16/00: Radio sports
talk show host Papa Joe Chevalier was on a CNNSI Sunday
morning talk show about the growth of women's sports with
Donna DeVarona and Brandi Chastain and he said "women are
inferior athletes. Of course we should not spend as much time
promoting them nor will the public care about them as much as
they care about male athletes." Women may not be
able to run as fast as men, or lift as much weight as men, but
his comments, and the way in which they were delivered, didn't
ring of truth, they were simply sexist in nature and intent.
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8/15/00: Barry Bonds went 4-for-4 and scored twice
and J.T. Snow drove in three runs as the San
Francisco Giants stayed in first place in the NL West by
cooling off the hot Mets. The Giants, led by the game's best
manager Dusty Baker, have been a surprise all season. Despite
the loss the Mets have still won 16 of 20.
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8/15/00: Athletes can be
jerks even in a minor sport like sprint cycling.
Australian Ben Kersten was to file charges in Colorado after
allegedly being assaulted at a training camp by countrymen Darryn
Hill as both ready for the Olympics. The Aussies were
pissed enough at Hill that they fined him $4,000 and put him
on notice, according to the Canberra Times.
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8/14/00: Michael Phelps turned
15 on June 30. On Saturday he became the youngest male to make
the U.S. Olympic swimming team since 1932 when he finished
second in the 200-meter butterfly.
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8/14/00: One movie we won't
see is ``The Replacements,'' the Keanu Reeves, Gene
Hackman story that honors the scabs in the 1987 NFL players
strike. Anyone who watched these
guys in their three ``replacement'' games saw enough lousy
football to last a lifetime. Why pay $9 to see it glorified on
the screen? The movie had a dreadful opening week, finishing
fifth, which tells us that sports fans have long memories.
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8/13/00: He only pitched 3
2/3 innings and didn't get the win. But, the return of
pitcher Kent Mercker to the Anaheim Angels line-up
meant more than innings pitched to the team. It was
Mercker's first game since collapsing of a brain hemorrhage on
May 11 in a game against the Texas Rangers. The Angels
went on to beat the New York Yankees, 9-6. Fading in the
AL West, this may be the inspiration this team needed to make
a late-season run at the playoffs.
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8/13/00: Wow, we are
getting really tired of Fox Sports Net's Regional
Sports Report promos. You know the ones - they feature
"falling tree catching" and "bike racer lassoo".
Bottom line is: ESPN has better coverage, a better
brand, better personalities, and no gimicks are going break
Fox into the market. Besides, these promos of men
getting crushed by falling trees and perishing as they dive
100 feet onto land certainly isn't the way to do it.
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8/12/00: Roger Clemens signed
a three-year, $30 million contract that will keep him pitching
for the New York Yankees until he's 40. Clemens, unbeaten in
his last nine starts, is ``only'' making $6.35 million
this year.
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8/12/00: It's only
exhibition, but the ending of Friday's Giants-Jaguars game was
as bizarre as you'll ever see. The Giants led, 13-10, with
seconds to go when defensive back Fred Lewis intercepted a
Jonathan Quinn pass at the goal line Game over. But wait ...
Lewis stepped into the end zone and teammate Jack Golden grabbed
him to stop the play. But Golden jarred the ball loose and the
Jags' Brandon Christenson fell on the ball for the
game-winning TD.
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8/11/00: David Cone had been struggling. Jose Canseco was a
mystery. Pitcher Darryl Strawberry was in the hospital getting surgery on his cancer.
But, in one game, the magic came back to the New York
Yankees. Cone threw eight strikeouts and held the visiting Oakland Athletics to
two runs in six innings and Canseco went 2 for 2 and hit his first home run as
the Yankees beat the A's, 12-6.
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8/12/00: The Tennessee Titans were
filmed hazing rookie OG Aaron Koch from Oregon State to a field goal
post, pouring chocolate syrup on him, and spraying him with water. But, what was worse was
ESPN glorifying it and former NFL quarterbacks and
ESPN commentators Sean Salisbury and Mark Malone chuckling about it and celebrating the Titans for doing it.
Hazing is hazing whether it is a college fraternity or a professional football player
and it is wrong. The Titans are wrong for doing it and ESPN is wrong for celebrating it.
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8/10/00: With the visiting
Seattle Mariners just 1/2 game back in the race for the AL
lead, the Chicago White Sox responded with their best
offensive effort of the year. They topped the Mariners,
19-3, on Wednesday - their highest run total of the
season. Frank Thomas hit two homers and Tony Graffanino
hit the first grand slam of his career.
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8/10/00: Yes, they are just
charges. But, these same charges seem to follow certain
players around wherever they go. Retired Dallas Cowboy Michael
Irvin was arrested on Wednesday for possession of
drugs. He was in the house of a targeted raid that found
marijuana. Irvin denies the charges and on Aug. 11
police dropped them. Denver Bronco
Bill Romanowski was charged on Wednesday with illegally
using dietary pills subscribed to his wife. Romanowski
denies the charges.
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8/9/00: Four homers in a
game is an accomplishment for a team - but, in one
inning? For the L.A. Dodgers? The fact-keepers are
checking the record books in Chavez Ravine. In the
fourth inning on Tuesday night, Dodgers Kevin Elster, Shawn
Green, Darren Dreifort, and lead-leading slugger Gary
Sheffield all sent the ball out of the park as the Dodgers
posted a 7-5 win over the Chicago Cubs. Dreifort homered
twice in the game - the first Dodger pitcher to do so since
1958 when Don Drysdale did it against the Milwaukee Braves.
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8/9/00: The Oakland A's had
the New York Yankees right where they wanted them as they
carried a 1-run lead over the Yanks into the bottom of the
ninth. Enter pitcher Jason Isringhausen (say that
five times fast) who gave up a homerun on two consecutive
pitches to Bernie Williams and David Justice as the Yankees
pulled out an improbably win, 4-3.
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8/8/00: If there was ever a
legend in the front office of an NBA team, it was Jerry
West. West, who has been with the L.A. Lakers for
the better part of the last 40 years as a player, then a
coach, then General Manager, then Executive V.P, resigned from
the team on Monday. He leaves the Lakers with seven
titles as a player and executive.
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8/8/00: Before the Major
League Baseball trade deadline, the New York Yankees
approached the Tampa Bay Devil Rays about a trade for
Jose Canseco. The Rays balked at the trade. They
then waived Canseco and the Yankees claimed him off of
waivers. It was a bizarre pickup considering Canseco has
missed 46 games with injuries and has only nine HRs. Canseco
said he had no idea what his role would be and Yankee manager
Joe Torre was also at a loss.
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8/7/00: Wimbledon Champ Venus
Williams hasn't let up one bit since winning the grandest
Grand Slam event of all, winning both tournaments she's
entered since her trip to England. Her latest was the
Acura Classic which she won on Sunday by defeating Monica
Seles, 6-0, 6-7, 6-3.
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8/7/00: With the Oakland
A's trying to win the AL West pennant, pitcher Tom Hudson
picked a bad time to fall apart. Hudson was shelled on
Sunday by the Chicago White Sox as he gave up eight runs in 2
2/3 innings as the Sox topped the A's, 13-0.
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8/6/00: Ah, one of the
harbingers of fall and the football season: The release of the
AP Top 25 college football poll. We know it's
meaningless in August, but it still is fun. The pollsters tab
Nebraska as top dog, followed by Florida State. For you Notre
Dame haters rejoice--the Irish are not in the Top 25 preseason
poll for the first time since 1986.
Complete
poll.
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8/6/00: Boston Red Sox
outfielder Carl Everett came back Saturday after a
10-game suspension for bumping an ump. But before taking the
field he got in a profanity-laced argument with manager Jimy
Williams. Though Everett went 3 for 5 with a home run, the
blow-up with Williams tells us his fuse is still short.
Umpires beware.
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8/5/00: Ernie Els is tired
of finishing second - which he's done five times, three times
in majors, this year. So, Els went into Castle Rock on
Friday and, with the modified Stableford scoring system, broke
the course record for 36 holes by five strokes with a 35.
8/5/00: Last season the
critics were out in full force when Tampa Bay brought in a
rookie quarterback, Shaun King, to lead the team.
And, despite a solid performance and a trip to the NFC
Championship, the critics went on and on in the off-season
about how King was the Bucs' weak link. In their opening
pre-season game on Friday against the Washington Redskins,
King went 10 for 11 for 104 yards. And the critics still
won't shut up.
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8/5/00: The Pac 10 has
avoided having a men's and women's basketball tournament at
the end of the regular season to determine the conference
champion. But, it looks like that may come to an
end. On Wednesday, the PAC 10 athletic directors
voted to recommend 8-team men's, and 10-team women's
tournaments. These tournaments do little more than
undermine the integrity of the regular season and give bad
teams the opportunity to make the NCAA Tournament, as the
conference champ gets an automatic bid.
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8/4/00: FIFA, the
international governing body of soccer, decided today to
rotate the location of the World Cup Tournament between the
six continents, General secretary Michel Zen Ruffinen
announced on Thursday. This comes just a month after
denying South Africa's bid to host the 2006 World Cup.
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8/4/00: Former NL MVP Kevin
Mitchell has been expelled from the minor league Western
Baseball League for punching an opposing owner. Mitchell
left Solano Steelheads owner Bruce Portner with a black eye,
and Portner is considering slapping a lawsuit on
Mitchell. Portner had walked onto the field during a
disputed call - which Mitchell took exception do.
Mitchell had been the NL MVP in 1989 with the San Francisco
Giants.
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8/3/00: The Sacramento Monarchs
won their sixth game in seven tries as they beat the Miami
Sol, 73-55. This moves the Monarchs into third place in
the West with a 19-10 record.
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8/3/00: What is up with all
of these athletes declining invitations to represent the
United States in the Olympic Games? Tim Duncan and
Pete Sampras are the latest additions to a growing list of
professional athletes who have told the U.S. Olympic Committee
to look elsewhere when putting together their teams. We
know a couple of runners who might be interested in taking
their places....
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8/2/00: His team is
nowhere near a pennant race, but Mike Mussina looked
like he was headed to the playoffs. Mussina threw a
one-hitter complete game as his Baltimore Orioles topped the
Minnesota Twins, 10-0. "Moose" threw 15
strikeouts - a team record. Mussina's efforts came a day after
the O's seemingly traded their entire starting lineup.
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8/2/00: (For a body
of work.) The Cincinnati Bengals just can't catch
a break. After losing Pro Bowl WR Carl Pickens to free
agency, today they lost their top receiver from a year ago,
Darnay Scott, to a broken leg. He will be out the rest
of the season. The Bengals are still trying to sign RB Corey
Dillon, but Dillon is threatening to sit out most of the
season. Now, word comes through that the Bengals have
instituted a new clause in the contracts of recent signees.
It creates a penalty for players that bad mouth the team to
the press. The provision's name: "The Carl
Pickens Clause."
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8/01/00: On a super-busy
day at the close of baseball's trading deadline, Baltimore's B.J.
Surhoff stood out. Here he was being traded from the  mediocre
Orioles to the Atlanta Braves, a pennant contender, and he was
bawling like a baby. Surhoff talked through his tears about
how his family had established roots in Baltimore and how
tough it would be to leave. It was an honest and refreshing
moment in a pro sports world whose motto is usually ``Show me
the money."
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8/1/00: Baseball's out-of-whack
salary structure was made evident again as the trading
deadline passed. Contenders like Atlanta and St. Louis got
fatter, while bloated underachievers like the Orioles got
younger and much cheaper. Here's who the O's have dumped this
week: shortstop Mike Bordick, catcher Charles Johnson, right-hander
Mike Timlin , designated hitter Harold Baines, outfielder B.J. Surhoff and
right-handed reliever Gabe Molina and first baseman Will Clark.
For a great analysis of all the trades check
CNN/SI.
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