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The Daily Digest for Tuesday, June 26, 2007 |
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June 26, 2007 |
≡ Afternoon Bell ≡
 Andre: left us too soon |
= L.A. Stories =
>> Laker Lines: Want to know one reason why the Lakers are going to have a really hard time getting a deal for Kevin Garnett done? Look at the general managers who are involved.
In the proposed four-team trade that fell apart yesterday, the players were Mitch Kupchak of the Lakers, Danny Ainge of Boston, Larry Bird of Indianapolis and Kevin McHale of the Timberwolves. Three ex-Celtics and a Tar Heel. Think any of the last three want to help the Lakers?
The only way Garnett comes to the Lakers is if Minnesota owner Glen Taylor decides he’s rather move Garnett and get Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum instead of potentially getting nothing when he becomes a free agent at the end of the upcoming season. But he can shop Garnett at the trade deadline . . . but will he get the same value?
>> Draft Daze: The omnipresent Frank Burlison, writing on Scout.com, projects the relevant NBA Draft selections as follows:
Greg Oden to Portland and Kevin Durant to Seattle to get things started.
Local players Nick Young of USC to New Orleans at no. 13 and teammate Gabe Pruitt to Philadelphia at no. 21. Burlison does not project UCLA’s Aaron Afflalo in the first round.
The L.A. Clippers to take 6-2 guard Acie Law IV of Texas A&M with the 14th pick, noting “Get ready for a new edition of L.A. Law.”
The Lakers to take 6-5 3/4 shooting guard Thaddeus Young of Georgia Tech ahead of “[a]ny of the other wings/two guards listed a few slots below” such as Pruitt, Morris Almond from Rice, Daequan Cook of Ohio State or Aaron Brooks of Oregon.
>> What’s Bruin: The excitement from some Bruin fans over a verbal commitment from Birmingham running back and All-City Player of the Year Milton Knox is getting to be a little much. One commented., “Milton plans to turn Westwood into Knox-ville.” Has anyone told Philip Fulmer?
>> Olympic Memories: Sad news from Houston, where J. Fred Duckett passed away at age 74 after a long illness. Duckett was the famed public address announcer for the Astros from 1969-92 who was known for his introduction of “Jose Cruuuuuuuz”!
He was also an enormous track & field enthusiast and was the lead moderator in the formal interview complex for track at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles at the Memorial Coliseum. A very large man at well over 300 pounds, Duckett was one of the gentlest and nicest people you could ever hope to meet and was as fastidious about keeping the interview areas clean and presentable as he was about calming athletes down and making sure that everyone who wanted to ask a question got an opportunity. And there was no mistaking that voice, that even in a small interview tent commanded the respect and attention of both athlete and journalist. He will be missed.
= Panorama =
>> NBA Hoopla: FoxSports.com’s NBA analyst Charlie Rosen noted the growth of the Utah Jazz combo of Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, especially during their playoff battles into the Western Conference finals:
Several long-time Jazz fans have taken me to task for claiming that Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer have “a chance” of being a better combo than John Stockton and Karl Malone of sainted memory.
It should be remembered that Williams has just completed his second season in the NBA. Let’s compare the numbers posted by Williams and Stockton in their sophomore seasons.
Stockton: 7.7 ppg and 7.4 assists in the regular season; 6.8 ppg and 3.5 assists in the playoffs.
Williams: 16.2 ppg and 9.3 assists in the regular season; 19.2 ppg and 8.6 assists in the playoffs.
Williams is already stronger, more athletic, a better finisher, and more able to create his own shots than Stockton ever was. Stockton was smarter, a craftier passer and had a harder edge.
As for Malone – he was a notorious choker, a pitiful free-throw shooter, and an overrated defender. In addition, Malone lacked explosiveness and could be depended upon to take poor shots (usually baseline-turning fadeaway jumpers from the left box) in clutch situations.
On the other hand, Boozer is a much better shooter, is more explosive with the ball, rarely takes bad shots and has a much better left hand.
As you can see, Rosen thinks Williams and Boozer have much more than “a chance” to be the best duo in Utah history.
>> Keeping Track: Despite all the hoopla over the greatest sprint double in history by Tyson Gay at the USA Track & Field National Championships in Indianapolis last weekend, the best performance in the meet might have been the sixth-place finish in the women’s discus.
Three-time national champion Aretha Thurmond (nee Hill) gave birth to a son on June 4 and then threw a very respectable 180-4 to place sixth in the discus 18 days later!
>> Wrestlemania: The stunning death of Chris Benoit, who murdered his wife and seven-year-old son before hanging himself, brings to an amazing 38 the number of professional wrestlers who have died at age 40 or less since 1985 and 63 who died before age 50!
In any other sport, this would be grounds for Federal control and possible jail terms for those running the league. But Vince McMahon soldiers on.
Those who have passed include many well-known performers such as Kerry Von Erich at 33 years old, Owen Hart (33), Adrian Adonis (34), Eddie Guerrero (38), Rick Rude (41), Bruiser Brody (42), Miss Elizabeth (43), the Big Boss Man (42). Curt Henning (44), Bam Bam Bigelow (44), the Junkyard Dog (45), Hawk of the Road Warriors (46), Big John Studd (46) and, of course, Andre the Giant (46).
≡ Morning Recess ≡
 Dorrell: recruiting almost done . . . in June! |
= Tonight’s Menu =
>> The 43-33 Dodgers are in Arizona to face the 44-33 Diamondbacks again tonight. Chad Billingsley (4-0, 3.26 ERA) will make his second start of the year for Los Angeles against Edgar Gonzalez (3-2, 4.35). Arizona is a slight favorite, having scored only three runs in its last three games against the Dodgers, all losses. You have to put up $105 on the D-backs to try to win $100 while the Dodgers are even money.
>> The 49-28 Angels will try to rebound from last night’s embarrassing loss to 31-46 Kansas City. Ervin Santana (5-7, 5.06) will pitch for Los Angeles against Gil Meche (4-6, 3.21) of the Royals. Even though K.C. has three straight wins over the Angels, the home team is favored: it takes $175 to try to win $100 on the Halos while $110 on the Royals could return the same $100.
= L.A. Stories =
>> What’s Bruin: It’s barely summer and UCLA’s Karl Dorrell has verbal commitments from 21 high school players for the incoming class of 2008. The Bruins can award about 25 scholarships and Scout.com just noted two recent commitments from L.A. City Section champion Birmingham: running back Milton Knox and linebacker Donovan Carter.
Although high ratings in high school don’t always guarantee college stardom, UCLA’s haul has been impressive not only in terms of quantity, but also in quality. Of the Scout.com list of the 150 top players in the western states, the Bruin “verbals” include 15 of the top 80 and 19 of the top 150. And that does not include highly-regarded running back Aundre Dean of Katy, Texas.
Of the 21 verbal commitments listed by Scout.com, 11 are “four-star” and nine are “three-star.” There are 11 offensive players and 10 defenders, including well-regarded quarterback Nick Crissman of Edison, fullback Derrick Coleman of Fullerton Troy and wide receivers Kemonte Bateman of Crenshaw and Jerry Johnson of Venice.
None of this will be official until National Signing Day on Wednesday, February 6, 2008. But it’s a good start for the Bruins, who – if you believe the national rankings in the pre-season lists and magazines – are “better” than every one of their first 11 opponents this coming season.
= Panorama =
>> The West is Best: Stanford will win the Director’s Cup, symbolic of the top all-around collegiate sports program, for the nation-leading 13th time for the 2006-07 academic year and the Pac-10 again leads the nation with eight NCAA Division I championships.
The strength of the conference is underscored by the probable finish of Pac-10 schools in four of the top six spots in the Director’s Cup standings. The SEC finished with eight titles as well and the Big Ten had seven.
Ted Miller of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer points out that Florida (of the SEC) won the football and basketball national titles and carried away a load of cash for the conference. However, the Pac-10 also had two of the final eight in basketball and a Final Four team in UCLA. And its prospects for two teams in BCS games in January 2008 look promising.
That’s important as Miller noted that despite Title IX, it’s men’s basketball and football which pay the bills. The football-mad SEC collected $122 million to be divided among its member; Miller reported that the Pac-10 distributed $84 million.
In the 2007-08 academic year, a second BCS bowl berth could be worth another $4.5 million to the conference and if guesses that each NCAA Tournament win by a conference team is worth about $1 million over the course of the averaged, multi-year payouts, the Pac-10 could be well positioned to celebrate all the way to the bank.
>> The National Pastime: It was one thing for Boston Red Sox fans to listen to pitcher Bronson Arroyo when he played a little music on the side. Now, EMI Music Marketing is selling a compilation of Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka’s favorite songs in a CD called “Music from the Mound.” Why? The Boston Globe reports, “We can’t say whose bright idea this is, but the CD’s being produced in part by Dice-K’s agent, Scott Boras, and will benefit the Red Sox Foundation.”
>> Star Search: Harris Interactive has been asking people who their favorite sports star is since 1993 and the results of its 2007 poll look a lot like its 2006 survey.
Tiger Woods remains no. 1 as he was in 2006, with Derek Jeter of the Yankees moving up to no. 2 (fourth last year) and Michael Jordan falling from no. 2 in 2006 to no. 3 this year.
The remainder of the top ten include Brett Favre of the Packers, LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers), driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Tim Duncan (Spurs), Peyton Manning (Colts), Kobe Bryant of the Lakers and Tom Brady of the Patriots.
Dropping out of the top ten were Shaquille O’Neal (sixth last year), Jeff Gordon and Barry Bonds.
Among the women, tennis star Serena Williams was tops, followed by driver Danica Patrick, Venus Williams, ex-soccer star Mia Hamm, then Maria Sharapova (tennis), Annika Sorenstam (golf), Layla Ali (boxing), Michelle Wie (golf), Anna Kournikova (?) and skater Michelle Kwan. Dropping out of the top ten was skater Sasha Cohen, tenth last year.
>> Rings & Things: The 2008 Olympic torch relay will be largest ever with 21,880 torchbearers covering 85,000 miles over 130 days. It will begin in Greece at Olympia on March 25, arrive in China on March 31 and move on from there. Of the 21,880 torchbearers, 19,400 will run in China and 624 in Beijing itself.
~ Rich Perelman
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