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JUNE 2000
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6/30/00: After spending the
last six months on our shit list, John Rocker finally
did something right. Preceding his return to New York
since his racist
and homophobic remarks in December about New Yorkers, he
spoke at a press conference apologizing for his words (who's
his acting coach?). Then, he threw 18 pitches in the
eighth, retiring the only three batters he faced in the
Braves' 6-4 win over the Mets.
A reader rebuttal:
You put Rocker on the wrong side of the ledger. What did he do right, other than pitch well? Months ago, in his first
insincere statement he mentioned specific groups that he offended, but
not gays (he apologized to people with AIDS but said nothing about the
"queer" portion of the remark). Last night's apology was another insincere
statement, and another attempt to pass the buck ("I'm just a baseball
player"). He then asked that the media only ask baseball questions from
now on. So after the game, did he talk about the game when asked? Here's
his
quote (as seen on CNN): "No, I told you already I'm not talking about
anything..."
--Joe in
Philly
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6/30/00: Following the
brawl that sent 20 L.A. Dodgers into the stands attacking
fans, the league handed down its stiffest penalties in history
- with good cause. But, Major League Baseball has
backed down, reducing or eliminating the suspensions of 12
players and coaches.
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6/29/00: The L.A.
Clippers shocked the world on Wednesday and had a great
draft! They took advantage of the Orlando Magic's salary
problems and picked up three of the first 18 draft
picks: Missouri pointguard Keyon Dooling, East St. Louis
high school standout Darius Miles, and DePaul shooting guard
Quentin Richardson.
6/29/00: Martina Navratilova
made a successful return to Wimbledon as she and doubles
partner Mariaan de Swardt won a straight-set first round
victory.
The match was the first since 1996 at Wimbledon for Navratilova, 43.
An overflow crowd lustily applauded Martina as she took the
court.
When asked what motivated her to play, Martina joked: ``Giving the old people
hope. I didn't have anything
planned for a couple of months. I thought, `Ah, I'll play
Wimbledon.' ''
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6/29/00: 21 years later,
things have certainly changed. In 1979, the Boston
Celtics and L.A. Lakers drafted two of the greatest
players ever. This year, they grabbed the two busts of
the first round. Boston took UCLA center Jerome Moiso
while the Lakers picked Stanford power forward Mark Madsen.
6/29/00: Cuban style. We
know this isn't sports, but we couldn't resist. Regardless of the politics of the situation, we were appalled when Elian Gonzalez returned to Havana for the first time in seven months. No, not the cheering crowds or rinky-dink looking airport. But that car they drove Elian and his family away in. What was that?! It looked like a Cuban Yugo. You would think that after the international sensation Elian had become that Castro could've sprung for a late-model Mercedes. Or at least something with air conditioning.
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6/28/00: Jan-Michael Gambill,
a previous Outsports
Picture This focus, pulled off the biggest upset in the
first two days of Wimbledon, beating seventh-seed Lleyton
Hewitt in straight sets - 6-3, 6-2, 7-5. Hewitt, who
beat Pete Sampras in the Wimbledon grass-court warm-up last
week, had been considered a potential dark-horse in the
tournament. |
6/28/00: So much for the old
guard of baseball: Orel Hershiser got waived by the
L.A. Dodgers, Cal Ripken Jr.'s on the disable list for the
Baltimore Orioles and Tony Gwynn is out for about three months
with an injured knee. |
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6/27/00: PETA (People for
the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has gone too
far. They asked the Green Bay Packers to change
their name because it promoted animal abuse. "We've
been the Packers since 1919, and this is the first time anyone
has suggested that we change our name," Packers President
Bob Harlan said in reply. "We like our name, our
tradition. We want to save the name like we want to save the
name of Lambeau Field." |
6/27/00: Mike Tyson just
can't leave bad enough alone. He had to start mouthing off.
Again. After his victory on Saturday, Tyson had this to say:
"I am the most ruthless, brutal champion ever. I am Sonny
Liston and Jack Dempsey. There is no one who can match
me." Of Lennox Lewis, he said: "I want your
heart," he said in comments aimed at Lewis. "I want
to eat your children" and "I will rip out his heart
and feed it to him." |
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6/26/00: Openly gay diver David
Pichler, 31, qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics in
Sydney by finishing second in the 10-meter platform at the
U.S. diving trials on Sunday. A bad final dive in the
springboard cost him a berth in that event three days ago. ``I
got in there and fought the whole way. I kind of sabotaged
myself the other day," Pichler said. "Today I wasn't
going to let that happen." Read a profile
of Pichler from U.S. diving. |
6/26/00: The National League
Central looked like baseball's glamour division prior to
the start of the season: McGwire, Sosa, Griffey, and quality
teams like St. Louis, Cincinnati and Houston. But after Sunday
there is only one team-St. Louis- above .500. |
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6/25/00: For the last
decade, Major League Baseball has been pretty predictable: you
just spend a lot of money and you'll win your division.
While we're still 15 weeks from the playoffs, it is nice to
see the Toronto Blue Jays, the Chicago White Sox, and the
Oakland A's, all of whom were expected to finish closer to
last than first, are atop the three AL divisions. |
6/25/00: In the latest
installment of the cartoon career of boxer Mike Tyson, we have
one of the shortest boxing matches of all time. On
Saturday night in Glasgow, Scotland, Mike Tyson knocked
out Lou Savarese in 38 seconds. Knocked
out. Cold. Can't this guy just have ONE
"normal" match? |
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6/24/00: The U.S. women's
national soccer team certainly started the Gold Cup
tournament in fine fashion, routing Trinadad and Tobago, 11-0. |
6/24/00: Juan Gonzalez to
the Yankees? Samy Sosa to the Blue Jays? Both trades might
happen and it illustrates the problems with Major League
Baseball. In no other sport do superstars get traded with
the frequency of baseball. The star pitcher winding up on a
pennant contender in August is a regular occurrence. It makes
it hard for fans to stay loyal to teams whose rosters change
constantly. |
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6/23/00: ABC's ``20/20
Downtown'' told the coming out story of gay football
captain Corey Johnson with style and empathy. Most effective
were segments where his mom recounting Corey breaking the
news, and his teammates and coaches admitted Corey has made
their attitudes more positive toward gays. |
6/23/00: We don't even have to see this one to know how it's
gonna turn out. Today, ABC picked comedian Dennis Miller and Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts
to join Al Michaels in the Monday Night Football booth. Huh? Dennis
Miller? We guess the only solace is in the fact that he'll only be talking 1/3 of the time instead of his
usual one-man standup ranting routines. This either a
brilliant move or the Hindenburg II. |
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6/22/00: Debbie Johnson scored
on Tuesday what is thought to be the first scored by a woman
in a major or minor league men's game. The 40-year-old mother
of three had won a contest making her an honorary
member of the Eastern Division All-Stars of the Southern
League. She never expected to be called in to pinch run in the
eight inning of the game in Greenville, SC. Standing on second
base, Johnson was a bit startled when the next batter smashed
a double. She then took off, rounded third and made it home
without needing to slide. The players high-fived her and all
signed autographs afterward. Her name won't appear in the
record books, however, because she wasn't officially on the
roster. |
6/22/00: Reggie White, the
Bible-thumping homophobe with the bizarre racial theories, is
threatening to make a comeback in the NFL. The 38-year-old,
who retired after the 1998 season, is talking to the Tennessee
Titans about playing this year. While no one can deny White's
on-field abilities, his rabid and public denunciations of
homosexuality make this one comeback we hope is stillborn. |
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6/21/00: Larry Bird is one
of the class acts in sports. Refreshingly honest and
accessible he did a terrific coaching job in getting a team
without a center to the NBA Finals. It's a shame he'll retire,
but playing golf is a lot less stressful than dealing with temperamental
millionaires. |
6/21/00: The ``fans'' who
rioted in LA after Game 6 of the NBA Finals. It's become
commonplace to see this type of behavior after a championship
but disgraceful nonetheless. |
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6/20/00: Game 6 of the NBA
Finals. It's the reason we love sports: two teams fighting for
48 minutes, clutch shots, lead changes and high drama. Lakers
beat the Pacers, 116-111. This series turned out better than
anyone expected so let's make it a best of 13. |
6/20/00: Rik Smits. The
Indiana center played like he was 80, being so thoroughly
dominated that he wasn't even on the court in the game's final
stretch. Smits finished with two points, only 39 less than
Shaquille O'Neal. |
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6/19/00: He's the first
person to win back-to-back Tops honors. Just look what
records 24-year-old Tiger Woods broke this weekend (he also
tied 4 other records), and you'll see why:
- Largest Major Championship
winning margin - 15.
- Largest U.S. Open winning
margin - 15.
- Largest 36 hole lead in the
U.S. Open - 6 strokes.
- Largest 54 hole lead in the
U.S. Open - 10 strokes.
- Lowest winning score in
relation to par - 12 under.
6/19/00: Mike Lansing
of the Colorado Rockies hit for the cycle on Sunday. And
that was big news, in the Rockies' 19-2 dismantling of the
Arizona Diamondbacks. But, what was more impressive was
that he did it in the first four innings of the game. |
6/19/00: After English
fans rioted in Amsterdam during Euro 2000, an incident in
which police said 56 people were injured and some 850 detained
for deportation, nearly all Britons, the UEFA is threatening
to ban England from membership. "[The fans] are a
disgrace to their country and a blight on the national
team," said UEFA chief executive Gerhard Aigner.
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6/18/00: What can you say
about Tiger Woods? He leads the U.S. Open, considered
the most demanding of majors, by a ridiculous 10 strokes,
tying the record for a third-round lead. Must be the new Nike
balls. |
6/18/00: Texas major league
baseball. The Rangers and Astros are each in last place,
and it's not officially summer. Can't wait to see the crowds
when it hits 105 in August. |
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6/17/00: Russian Olympic
swimmer and lust object Alexander
Popov set a new world record in the 50-meter freestyle
in the Russian summer national championships. He
finished with a time of 21.64, which is .17 seconds faster
than the previous record. |
6/17/00: If you exclude
Shaquille O'Neal, the L.A. Lakers shot 19-63 (.301) in
losing Game 5 and being forced back home, up now only one game
over the Pacers. For the sixth time in seven tries, the
Lakers lost a game when they didn't face elimination, yet
could eliminate their opponents. |
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6/16/00: In this era of
commercialized sports, the tradition of "the love of
sports" has a new champion. Stanford University
has removed all commercial ads from its football stadium and
basketball arena, Maples Pavilion. Says lame duck
University President Gerhard Casper, "We have to remember the emphasis is on students, and not athletes
in this context." Oh, Stanford also advanced to the
College World Series Finals today, too. That's karma for
you. |
6/16/00: John Daly once
was the biggest name on the golf tour with his monstrous
drives and outsized personality. But then alcohol did him in
and he's never been the same. Daly had an awful day at the
U.S. Open on Thursday: He shot a 14 on the final hole —
hitting one shot in a backyard and two more in the Pacific Ocean.
Daly withdrew from the tournament. |
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6/15/00: Kobe Bryant showed
flashes of brilliance and, dare we say, Michael Jordan in Game
4 of the NBA Finals. After spraining his ankle five days
ago and missing most of Game 2 and Game 3, Bryant came back on
Wednesday and shot 14-27 for 28 points, scoring 8 points in
overtime and winning the game, 120-118. Bryant's Lakers
are now up on the Indiana Pacers, 3 games to 1. |
6/15/00: Your teams
up 120-117 with 5.9 seconds left in overtime. What do
you do. If you're Lakers forward Rick Fox, you
flagrantly foul one of the opposing players, reducing your
lead to two - and that's exactly what he did on Wednesday in
Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Luckily for the Lakers, and
for Fox, Reggie Miller missed a last-second three and L.A.
held on for the win. |
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6/14/00: The Toronto Raptors
may have taken six weeks to do it, but they finally took care
of business. After being swept out of the playoffs in
the first round by the New York Knicks, they canned head coach
Butch "Bitch" Carter. Carter caused turmoil on
the team by complaining and whining throughout much of the end
of the regular season and the playoffs. |
6/14/00: After watching her
husband get benched in the fourth quarter of Sunday's
Lakers-Pacers Game 3, Glen Rice's wife went off. Christina
Fernandez Rice said that if she were her husband,
"I would have already been Latrell Sprewell
II." She was referring to the incident when
Sprewell choked then-Golden State head coach PJ Carlissimo.
That's like your boyfriend calling and cussing out your boss
because he sent you home early one day. After that, he'd
probably tell you to not show up the next day.... |
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6/13/00: There's no denying
Steve Young's brilliance on an NFL field. So it's sad
to see him retire from that standpoint, but understandable
given his history of concussions. We could see why Young
wouldn't want to be using a drool cup when he's 50. |
6/13/00: Only Randy Moss
could provide as much entertainment off the field as on it.
Who can forget him squirting a ref with a water battle after
not getting a PI call against the Rams in the playoffs? And
passengers on a US Air flight in West Virginia won't forget
the sight of Moss being tossed from a flight for alleging
being verbally abusive to a flight attendant. |
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6/12/00: Mark McGwire hit a
home run in Detroit's new ballpark and has now homered in his
37th different stadium to set a major league record.
Of course, there has been a stadium-building boom in recent
years which has helped McGwire considerably. |
6/12/00: Can someone please
teach Shaquille O'Neal to shoot free throws? In
Sunday's Game 3 NBA Finals loss to the Pacers, the Laker
center went 3 for 13. This follows his 13-for-39 effort in
Game 2. We could better that blindfolded. |
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6/11/00: The Stanley Cup
Finals. The New Jersey Devils are the new champs, winning
a nail-biter, 2-1, in double OT in Game 6. It was the second
consecutive multi-OT game between the Devils and Dallas Stars
and showed that for building drama very little can beat an NHL
playoff overtime game. |
6/11/00: NHL fashion.. A
lot of these guys are quite good-looking, but they need to
spend some time getting a bit more style. Most of them look
like they get their hair done at Joe's Chop Shop in Moose Jaw,
and haven't realized that goatees are over. |
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6/10/00: The San Francisco
49ers have long been called a "classy"
organization. They showed that again this week.
After signing long-term veteran Jerry Rice to a 5-year
contract, the Niners opted to keep Steve Young, who will
announce his retirement on Monday, on the roster through
Saturday. Doing that will pay Young $1 million.
"That is a reflection of our appreciation for Steve and
what he's contributed to the 49ers," said general manager
Bill Walsh. |
6/10/00: While it isn't
cool to beat a guy while he's down...hey, this is
sports. Former Cy Young winner Roger Clemens just
isn't himself lately. On Friday, it showed.
Clemens allowed nine runs against the New York Mets, the most
he's allowed in any game in his career, falling to the team
that drafted him in 1981 for the fourth time in five tries,
12-2. Clemens is now 4-6 with an ERA over 5. |
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6/9/00: Two guys got big
shut-outs tonight. Eddie Belfour stopped every
one of the New Jersey Devils' shots in a 1-0 three overtime
game to pull within 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Finals. Pedro
Martinez struck out 10 in a one-hit eight-inning
performance that led the Red Sox over the Indians, 3-0.
Pedro is 9-2 this season. |
6/9/00: The family of great
Victorian cricketer W. G. Grace have expressed outrage
after a gay cricket team named themselves "The
Graces." Said Graces captain Ian Crossland,
``People think we are just a load of old queens who think they
look good in white but actually we can and do play well." |
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6/8/00: Welcome to the
Playoffs, Mr. MVP. After quietly scoring enough points
to keep the Lakers afloat while teammate Kobe Bryant led the
team, Shaquille O'Neal led his team into the NBA Finals
with a strong showing in Game 1 on Wednesday, shooting 21 for
31, scoring 43 points, and pulling down 19 rebounds. |
6/8/00: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
may have let this season slip through their
fingers. After courting QB Randall Cunningham in
anticipation of his release from division rival Minnesota, the
Bucs failed to close the deal when it counted - Cunningham is
signing with the Dallas Cowboys. Now, the Bucs must
contend in an improved NFC with second year man Shaun King as
their best hope at quarterback. Getting Cunningham would
have given them a strong insurance policy. |
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6/7/00: In this era of free agency, it is refreshing to see
a team and a player stick together. The San Francisco 49ers and Wide Receiver
Jerry Rice came to a 5-year agreement on Tuesday worth $31.3 million. The deal will allow Rice to retire in San Francisco, where he has played his entire career. |
6/7/00: Deion Sanders, despite his Born Again lifestyle, is still a bit of a clown, but at his press conference announcing his signing to the Washington Redskins, he committed a fashion crime that should have him doing at least 20 years in Fashion Prison. In "honor" of the Redskins colors, he wore a bright burgundy suit and had pocket hankies in a blinding
gold It was sort of like looking directly in to the sun. Also, the shoulders made him look like David Byrne in "Stop Talking Sense". Overall, the overall mockery of good taste is enough for a conviction. Hideous!! |
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6/6/00: The New Jersey Devils are
making a mockery of home-ice advantage. The Devils won their
second straight at Dallas in the Stanley Cup Finals to go up
in the best-of-seven series, 3-1. The Devils, with Game 4
goals from Sergei Brylin, John Madden and
Brian Rafalski, are 9-2 on the road in the
playoffs. |
6/6/00: The Atlanta Braves
sent whacko relief pitcher John "I Hate Everyone Who
Isn't a Redneck Like Me'' Rocker to the minors. That's
good, but what took the Braves so long? And why deny that
Rocker's demotion wasn't related to his verbal abuse of Sports
Illustrated reporter Jeff Pearlman the day before? If it is
just performance-based then the Braves deserve no applause.
They've mishandled this case from the start. |
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6/5/00: Last year's Winston
Cup Rookie of the Year doesn't have to explain anything
anymore. After a stellar rookie season in 1999, Tony
Stewart had failed to win a race this season, having
failed to even finish any of his last three. On Sunday,
that all ended as he won the MBNA Platinum 400.
"We've had some ups and downs lately," Stewart said.
"We need to have more days like this, but I'll trade wins
for consistency."
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6/5/00: They were down 3
games to 1 a week ago. Then, on Sunday, in the decisive
Game 7, they were up by 15 with 11:30 left. But, 6 1/2
minutes later, after missing 13 consecutive shots, the game
was tied and the Portland Trail Blazers had let the NBA
Western Conference Finals slip through their fingers. The
Lakers won the game, 89-84. Afterward, Blazer Forward
Scottie Pippen had this to say: "We realize we sort
of made cowards of ourselves in the fourth quarter."
6/5/00: John Rocker
is at it again. Five months after an article
articulating Rocker's homophobic, sexist and racist views were
published in Sports Illustrated, Rocker verbally assaulted the
writer, Jeff Pearlman, in Atlanta before their game against
the Yankees on Sunday. Said Braves teammate Brian
Jordan, "You've got one guy being a cancer time and time
again. Eventually, it's going to have an effect on the
team." |
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6/4/00: Our first reader to
be a "Top Of The Day" is Tim
Lonergan. In response to our June 2 bashing of
the upset-prone French Open, Tim called us on the mat:
"Mats Wilander was not a nobody, he was a No. 1-ranked player that also won the U.S. Open. His Davis
Cup Match with John McEnroe has been touted as one of the
greatest matches ever played." We hear you, Tim.
6/4/00: It's not every
day that professional athletes, much less an NFL superstar,
shows his emotions off the field. Today, after hearing
that he was being released by the Green Bay Packers, TE Mark
Chmura let the tears flow, thanking the Packers owner for
giving him the opportunity that "every American kid
dreams of." |
6/4/00: In Game 5,
commentator Bob Costas called Shaquille O'Neal a "20,000
pound gorilla," referring to the old adage that a
"700 pound gorilla can sit wherever he wants."
Costas got flack for making what some took as a racial
slur. On Saturday, after an exchange of words in Game 6
between Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy and Laker Rick Fox, Laker John
Salley was asked if he could read Dunleavy's lips.
Salley's response: "you know, while folks has thin
lips." Of course, no flack for Salley - only a
double standard. |
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6/3/00:
In the biggest victory in Indiana Pacers history, Reggie
Miller came up big. Tied at the end of the 3rd
quarter in Game 6 at New York, Reggie lit up the Knicks in the
fourth quarter, scoring 17 of his 34 game points.
"The skinny bald guy" shot 5-7 from downtown in the
game and won Cyd a naked picture of Mike in New York. |
6/3/00:
They have the league's MVP. They had the league's best
record. They have the coach-of-the-year runner up.
But, when it has counted most, the L.A. Lakers have
stunk it up. They are now 2-5 in games when they could
eliminate their opponents in the playoffs after blowing a 3-1
series lead against the Portland Trailblazers. Now they
must host a do-or-die Game 7 on Sunday. |
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6/02/00:
In the 117-year history of the International League, there
had only been two perfect games pitched. On Thursday,
there was a third. Tomo Ohka, a 24-year-old
Japanese right-hander, did it on just 77 pitches for the
Pawtucket (RI) Paw Sox in a 2-0 victory over the Charlotte
Knights. |
6/02/00:
Carlos Moya. Gustavo Kuerten. Andres Gomez.
Mats Wilander. What does these guys all have in
common? They were nobody's who managed to win the French
Open. The only Grand Slam played on clay, it has
become the annual joke-fest - see who can manage to stay alive
and win this slow-down, boring tournament. With Agassi
now gone, the 2000 installment is more of the same. |
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6/01/00:
The Arizona Diamondbacks have baseball's second-best
record and one reason is defense. On Wednesday, pitcher Randy
Johnson was his overpowering self in striking out 10 St. Louis
Cardinals. And for good measure, the D'Backs turned a triple
play, the fourth in the majors this year. |
6/01/00:
The New York Knicks apparently thought the NBA had gone to
games lasting only one quarter. How else to explain their
baffling performance in Game 5 of the their Eastern finals
series with Indiana. The Knicks were brilliant in the
first and took an 18-point lead early in the second. But then
they took the night off, scoring only eight points in the
second en route to a nine-point loss. |