|
|
|
The Daily Digest for Friday, June 1, 2007 |
|
June 01, 2007 |
≡ Heading for Home ≡
 Vick: grounded |
= L.A. Stories =
>> Laker Lines: The well-connected Broderick Turner of the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported that in addition to talks with Indiana about Jermaine O’Neal, the Lakers have also had brief discussions with Denver about center Marcus Camby, who was the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year. He will make $9 million next season and has three years left on his contract for a total of $26.65 million. In comparison, O’Neal – a much better scorer – has three years and $64.1 million left on his existing agreement with the Pacers.
>> What’s Bruin: While great things are expected from quarterback Ben Olson this season for UCLA, former quarterback Drew Olson is doing well with the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe.
He ranks fifth in the league in passing, completing 55.6% of his passes for 1,276 yards (third in the league) with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions. He’s on loan to the Admirals (3-4, fourth place in a six-team league) from the Baltimore Ravens, where he will compete during the summer for the third spot on the roster with Ohio State’s Heisman Trophy winner from last season, Troy Smith.
>> Around the Galaxy: Future Galaxy star David Beckham played well for England in its friendly against Brazil at new Wembley Stadium, where 88,745 saw John Terry score for England off of a Beckham free kick for a 1-0 lead.
The home team couldn’t hold the lead, however, as Diego scored in the first minute of injury time to tie the game, which ended 1-1.
Beckham was one of the stars of the game with the assist to Terry, three passes to set up Michael Owen shots and a free kick that just missed from 25 meters out. “I brought him back because he was playing well,” said England’s coach Steve McClaren. “David Beckham is a player who, when he’s playing well, there is no better right-sided player in the world. He showed that tonight.”
The game was a tune-up for a crucial European Championship qualifying match against Estonia on Wednesday that England desperately needs to win.
= Panorama =
>> The National Pastime: Remember when Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs said he wanted a Barry Zito-like contract or he was going to leave Chicago as a free agent?
The Cubs might not care that much. Zambrano’s record dropped to 5-5 and his ERA ballooned to 5.62 as he gave up seven runs to Atlanta as the Cubs fell behind, 7-1 and lost, 8-5. Adding insult to injury, he slapped his catcher, Michael Barrett, in the face in the dugout and the two had to be separated by manager Lou Piniella and others. Both will face disciplinary action from the team. Chicago is 2-9 in its last 11 games and resides in fourth place in the National League Central with a 22-30 record.
>> NBA Fantasm: Although not widely reported as such, the television ratings for last Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 on ABC during the long rain delay (4.3) were higher than those for the San Antonio-Utah game (3.8) on the day before. Who would have thought that?
>> NBA Hero Worship: Many comparisons were made last night between LeBron James’s remarkable 48-point effort in which he scored 29 of his team’s last 30 points and the last 25 in a row, and Michael Jordan’s stunning 63-point effort against the Boston Celtics in Boston on April 20, 1986. But there are important differences.
One is that although both were double-overtime games, the Cavaliers won theirs to give them a 3-2 edge in the Eastern Conference finals, 109-107. Jordan’s Bulls lost to Larry Bird and the Celtics, 131-131, on their way to being swept in their first-round series against Boston. “If I did everything I did tonight and we lost, it means nothing,” said James, and Jordan would likely concur. Winning, in the playoffs, is everything.
>> NFL Ticker: The first public fallout from the Michael Vick dog-fighting affair came when his endorsement deal with the discount airline AirTran was not renewed.
“Michael’s contract expired May 8 and we decided to go in another direction,” said AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Hutcheson noted that the airline still had “lots of football endorsers like Warrick Dunn and Brian Finneran and Peyton Manning.” So there was no need – or want – for Vick, who had been an AirTran endorser since 2004.
>> Counting the House: San Diego State’s athletic department absorbed a minor slap on the wrist today when a state university audit cited issues with inventory control in the Aztec equipment room and with controls on tickets. Translation: people are stealing things from the equipment room and tickets to sports no one cares about are left lying around. Comment: Call us when there’s some news to report.
>> No greater love: The Associated Press reported that Oregon State offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf donated a kidney to the wife of Beavers offensive live coach Mike Cavanaugh. Both coaches are in their third year with the team.
Mike Cavanaugh said of his fellow coach, “I guess you could say this is the ultimate in friendship.” No doubt.
≡ Morning Gazette ≡
 Alcatraz: next proposed 49er home? |
= Tonight’s Menu =
>> The 31-22 Dodgers, now in a three-way tie for first, head to Pittsburgh to face old manager Jim Tracy and the 23-30 Pirates. Surprisingly effective Randy Wolf (6-3, 3.41 ERA) will pitch for Los Angeles against Zach Duke (2-5, 5.55) for the Pirates, so the Dodgers are a heavy favorite. It takes $115 on the Dodgers to try to win $100 but $100 placed on the Pirates could return $135.
>> In Anaheim, the 33-22 Angels will try again against 27-27 Baltimore tonight. Staff ace John Lackey goes for the Halos (8-3, 2.36 ERA) against Daniel Cabrera (4-5, 4.78) of Baltimore, so the Angels are favored, even though Baltimore is on a six-game winning streak. It takes $210 to try to win $100 on the Halos while a wager on the Orioles requires only $110 to try to win the same $100.
>> The Anaheim Ducks will try to take a 3-0 stranglehold on the Stanley Cup Finals in Ottawa on Saturday in a game the whole country will be able to see on NBC. However, the Senators are a big favorite at home on the money line: it takes $170 to try to win $100 on the Senators while only $115 is required to win $100 on the Ducks.
>> In the suddenly-intriguing Cavaliers-Pistons series, Cleveland will host game six on Saturday with a chance to close out the Pistons and move on to the NBA Finals against San Antonio. The Cavs are a one-point favorite to win with an over-under of 173, so the final is projected as LeBron James 87, Pistons 86!
= L.A. Stories =
>> Laker Lines: The Kobe Bryant delirium appears to have calmed down for the time being, but the next timed explosion should be in about four weeks with the NBA Draft set for Thursday, June 28.
But that didn’t stop Peter Vecsey of the New York Post from scolding Bryant, the Lakers management and the L.A. news media in five paragraphs:
[H]ere are a few sobering thoughts:
Once [Jerry] Buss comes to his senses, why would he turn over his franchise to such an unstable entity?
Why go out of your way to appease Kobe by importing Jermaine O’Neal (exceedingly doable), giving the Pacers at least two solid players?
Why not trade Kobe now, because in reality, you’ll probably be obliged to trade him a season from now when he’s a year away from exercising an out, or because the Lakers haven’t gotten past the first round again without Shaquille O’Neal, or because of some other evil lurking in his soul?
My understanding is [Phil] Jackson, Jerry Buss and Jim Buss – not Jeanie Buss, who continues to offer Kobe her unconditional support – have reached the inescapable conclusion; though, obviously, it’s unofficial until the L.A. media confirms it.
>> Talk of Troy: The college coaching carousel is heating up in Florida after the departure of Billy Donovan. Even though former Florida assistant Anthony Grant, now at Virginia Commonwealth, is odds-on to take the job, what if Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley decides to shoot for the moon? Current whispers are that he could be looking at Memphis coach John Calipari or even USC head coach Tim Floyd? Could Floyd come in a package deal with O.J. Mayo, who could go to Florida if he got a release from USC? Makes sense to those who still think Mayo will never put on a Trojan uniform.
>> Food Fight: The newest celebrity restaurant owner in Los Angeles will be Eva Longoria, soon to be Mrs. Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs. No less of an authority than the National Inquirer reports that Longoria is investing $250,000 with club promoter Jonas Lowrance to open a restaurant to be called Beso later this summer.
= Panorama =
>> The National Pastime: Although the Mets are in first place, the New York Post is all about Alex Rodriguez, running a 31-paragraph story today with five reporters contributing to reveal the name and life story of the blond stripper who has been keeping Rodriguez company in Las Vegas, Toronto and other places. Joslyn Morse, age 30, was a high school cheerleader in Iowa who started working in strip clubs after high school.
But with Rodriguez spending time with Morse instead of his wife Cynthia, Peter Vecsey of the New York Post noted: “Wednesday’s New York Post front page gave Yankees fans some hope, reports column contributor Bardia Shah-Rais. ‘Good to see A-Rod is hitting something!’
“To assuage his guilt, Alex Rodriguez bought Vanessa Bryant a ring.”
>> Pucked up: IS IT TRUE that the NHL may seriously consider expanding the size of the net, perhaps as early as next season? A report by columnist Marty York of Metronews Canada quoted a league source who said, “We can’t keep going on like this. Tradition doesn’t matter any more. What matters is making hockey appealing to the masses. Fans want goals. Research shows that. We have to satisfy them.”
How are the Stanley Cup finals doing? The first two games were on Versus and earned a national 0.7 rating for the opening game, which was down 22% from the 0.9 for last season’s Carolina-Edmonton series opener! And that was followed up with a 0.6 rating for the second game!
>> Football frenzy: Remember Eric Crouch, the do-it-all Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback for Nebraska from 2001? He didn’t get anywhere in the NFL, so he took his skills to the Canadian Football League, where the wider field should help him.
Playing for Toronto last season, he was in a lot of pain and went to several Canadian doctors who told him he had a pulled muscle. He finished the season, then had the doctors at the University of Nebraska take a look at him and they found he had an abdominal hernia! He had surgery last November and is now in training camp with the Argonauts, feeling much better. Comment: Remember this the next time someone on CNN advocates that the U.S. adopt the Canadian approach to health care!
>> NFL Ticker: The San Francisco 49ers are out making friends again, saying that if its new stadium isn’t built in Santa Clara – with $160 million of city funding – they will probably move their headquarters and practice facility out of the area to be close to wherever their new stadium is. Comment: The 49ers have already shown strong disinterest in a site in the city of San Francisco and the Santa Clara site is a good one with the Great American Amusement Park and lots of parking already there. Where are they going to find another site? Alcatraz?
>> Rings & Things: The International Olympic Committee has set up a three-member disciplinary commission to look into doping violations at previous Olympic Games, prompted by admissions from cyclists of their own doping activities going back to the 1990s.
Question: Does this mean that while the catalyst for the inquiry group was the admission of former Tour de France champion Bjarne Riis of Denmark and others, will the IOC finally visit the massive doping programs that led to scores of East German and Soviet medals in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s? Answer: No!
~ Rich Perelman
>> Have an opinion? You can send it using the “Comment” button below!
>> Don’t forget to register for our drawing for free sports memorabilia! Just click on the “Register & Win” tab at left; enter today!
|
|
