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The Daily Digest for Friday, February 29, 2008 |
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February 29, 2008 |
≡ The Daily Digest ≡
 Does Chuck have you in his Five? |
= To Our Readers =
We will be off next week, but back with a new twist to the format of the The Sports Examiner on Monday, March 10. We will see you then!
= Tonight’s Menu =
>> The 40-17 Lakers are in Portland tonight to play the 30-28 TrailBlazers again after beating them 96-83 on Tuesday at Staples Center. Los Angeles has won 10 straight games and is first in the Western Conference while Portland is 10th, five games back of eighth-place Golden State. Vladimir Radmanovic is doubtful again for the Lakers and All-Star Brandon Roy is doubtful for Portland. The Blazers have defeated the Lakers at home four straight times, but in their 10-game streak, the average margin of victory for the Lakers is 15.1 points! The sharpies have Los Angeles as an eight-point favorite tonight with the over-under at 196. Translation: Lakers 102, Blazers, 94.
>> The 19-36 Clippers are in Denver for a loss to the 34-23 Nuggets, who sit in ninth place in the Western Conference, just a half-game out of the last playoff spot. Chris Kaman is questionable for the Clippers due to back problems and Nene and Eduardo Najera are out for Denver. Even though the Clips are 6-4 in their last 10 against the meetings, the home team is favored by 13 1/2 tonight, with an over-under of 209. That means the sharpies have penciled in the final as Denver 111, Clippers 98.
>> The Calgary Flames (33-22-9) are in Anaheim tonight to face the 36-23-7 Ducks, who have won nine of their last ten. Calgary has won four of five, but the Ducks have a 6-3 edge in the last nine between the teams, so the Quack Attack is favored: it takes $170 to try to win $100 on the Ducks, but $125 on the Flames could return the same $100.
= L.A. Stories =
>> What’s Bruin: See our daily blog on UCLA sports at LATimes.com!
>> The Clip Joint: Now ex-Clipper Sam Cassell won’t automatically join the Celtics. He has to clear waivers – which could be an issue – but if he is not claimed by 6 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, he will be a free agent with Boston and Dallas the leading contenders to sign him. According to Marc Spears of the Boston Globe, Cassell expects to sign with the Celtics and wear either no, 91 or no. 28. In the meantime, the Clips are expected to sign guard Flip Murray to replace Cassell at considerably less money.
>> Thinking Blue: Jeff Kent, who played with Barry Bonds in San Francisco from 1997-2002, and Roger Clemens in Houston in 2004, spoke with clarity today to the Associated Press today about baseball and doping:
“We need to say baseball players will get caught if they use performance-enhancing drugs. We’re almost there. I’m proud of it. It’s taken Congress to get there, unfortunately. It’s taken [commissioner] Bud Selig to put his foot down, unfortunately. It’s taken a few players to be thrown under the bus, unfortunately. I like the position we’re in a heck of a lot better than I did a few years ago.”
= Panorama =
>> The National Pastime: Billy Wagner of the Mets isn’t interested in extending himself during spring training.
According to a story in the Detroit Free Press, the Mets’ closer got visibly upset with a bunt try by outfielder Kevin Cislo during an exhibition game between New York and the University of Michigan.
Wagner shook his head at Cislo after the bunt went foul and Cislo swung on the next pitch and grounded out. “If he got that bunt down, I would have drilled the next guy,” Wagner told reporter David Lennon. “Play to win against Villanova.”
Don’t be surprised if an opposing manager remembers this story later in the season.
>> NFL Ticker: “As cutting edge as the NFL may be in some ways, its methods of determining speed remain located somewhere back in the dark ages.”
That’s David Coulson, writing on SportsNetwork.com about the completely antiquated – and incorrect – way that football players are timed in the 40-yard dash at events like the NFL Combine. “National Scouting, which runs the combine, releases three times for each athlete’s performance - two hand-held and one with the electronic finish - and the players run twice, meaning that you have up to six different times. You also have to know that nearly every coach and scout from every team is sitting there with his own stopwatch.
“When sprinter Maurice Greene participated in the 2001 World Track & Field Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, he reportedly covered the first 40 yards of a 100-meter dash in a time of 4.24 seconds – the same time allegedly run by East Carolina running back Chris Johnson this week at the combine.
“Why do I think that the two-time gold medalist Greene, a former 100-meter world-record holder, was actually a little faster than the relatively unknown Johnson?”
And Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune has some advice for those who get too excited about fake 40-yard times and Wonderlic tests. “Finding football players isn’t that hard. Watch them play. Cones and stopwatches do not block and tackle.”
>> College Roundball: Retired Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight will make his debut on ESPN as a studio analyst on March 12 and continue through the end of the NCAA Tournament. Writes USA Today’s Michael Hiestand:
“Knight’s recruitment is a coup for ESPN, which doesn’t even carry NCAA men’s tournament games – CBS does – but now will get the TV buzz. Knight has fabulous potential for live TV because he’s perceived as polarizing, unpredictable and unconcerned with getting the approval of others.” In other words, a Caucasian, college version of Charles Barkley on TNT.
>> NBA Hoopla: Peter Vecsey’s latest tirade in the New York Post against New York Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas is a classic:
To his everlasting credit, Thomas has managed to expertly bungle both positions yet somehow get munificently rewarded.
To his everlasting discredit, every player excepting Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson (David Lee managed to maintain equilibrium despite frequently getting shorted minutes) either has regressed or retained statistically pleasing (losing) characteristics under his tutelage.”
>> NBA Reaction: From Spurs guard Tony Parker as reported in the San Antonio Express News:
“To be honest with you, I’m really happy for that trade. [DeSagana] Diop was doing a good job on us, and Devin Harris, most of the time, he played good against us. So I thought it would be good for us. No disrepect to Jason Kidd, he’s a great point guard, but those guys that left always gave us trouble.”
>> Kicker: British club Chelsea will meet Olympiakos from Greece on Wednesday in London during the second round of the Champions League, but don’t plan on buying tickets if you have a Greek surname!
The Associated Press reported that Chelsea “has banned supporters with Greek names from buying home tickets” for the match. The club is placing supporters of the Greek team in one area of the Stamford Bridge stadium and reserving the rest for Chelsea supporters. That’s a long-standing crowd control concept designed to maintain peace during matches, at least in and around the stadium. But, predictably, someone isn’t happy.
The AP quoted Peter Pakos, who bought two tickets for the match online, but then was sent an e-mail canceling the order! “It’s incredible discrimination. It’s shortsighted and clumsy. We may have a Greek background, but we’re Chelsea fans through and through.” The London police told the news service that “Chelsea Football Club has discretion to put measures in place to ensure segregation.”
>> Keeping Track: There was a time when track & field was an important sport on the world stage. Not today and a review of the situation in the Sydney Morning Herald gives some of the reasons. Remembering the excitement in the sports in the 1980s, when – among others – Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett were battling each other for world supremacy in the 800 m and 1500 m, Philip Derriman writes:
Today, athletics isn’t the big attraction in Britain it was then, especially on television, for the simple reason there aren’t any Coes or Ovetts to wow the viewers. As England’s Guardian noted before the last Olympics: “This is an age of performance-driven rewards. Failure – or what is regarded as failure – is not tolerated by television executives who demand stars for their ratings.
It’s the same in the U.S. Not long ago USA Today asked why track and field championships had largely disappeared from American television. A CBS broadcaster, Carol Lewis (Carl’s sister), offered an explanation. “It’s because America hasn’t been able to develop athletes that America can embrace,” she said.
“People like Edwin Moses, Evelyn Ashford, Jackie Joyner and Carl Lewis touched America. I go with Carl all over the world, and people still think he’s the world’s fastest man. There’s something wrong when people are still talking about Carl or Edwin Moses.”
In Australia, the country’s Olympic Trials are being held now in Brisbane, but there is no live television coverage, only highlights. But then, there’s no Coe or Ovett, so who cares, right?
~ Rich Perelman
>> Have an opinion? You can send it using the “Comment” button below!
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