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The Daily Digest: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 |
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March 25, 2008 |
≡ The Daily Digest ≡
 Graham: more popular than the Dodgers, Rams or the Olympics! |
= To Our Readers =
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= Tonight’s Menu =
>> Dallas, Tx.: The 21-48 Clippers are in Dallas tonight to face the 44-26 Mavericks in a game which is crucial for Dallas, now on a three-game losing streak and without Dirk Nowitzki. Tim Thomas (virus) and Brevin Knight (leg) are day-to-day for the Clippers, who are 2-7 in their last nine against the Mavericks, have lost seven in a row overall and are 2-15 in their last 17 games. Eddie Jones is also out for Dallas, but the Mavs are favored by 12, with an over-under of 190. So the sharpies have penciled a final of 101-89 for the home team.
= L.A. Stories =
>> What’s Bruin:
See our daily blog on UCLA sports at LATimes.com!
>> Lion’s Roar:
The University of San Diego was one of the lower seeds that could, defeating Gonzaga and St. Mary’s to win the West Coast Conference title for first-year coach Billy Grier and than upsetting fourth-seed Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last week. The man who actually built that team, Brad Holland, was excused after the end of the 2006-07 season and told Frank Burlison of the Long Beach Press-Telegram that he was “very interested” in the open Loyola Marymount coaching job.
Holland spent 13 seasons at San Diego and had a 200-176 record, but had only one NCAA Tournament appearance. The school bought out the last year of his contract.
>> Thinking Blue:
Although the Dodgers-Red Sox exhibition on Saturday will draw perhaps 115,000 to the Coliseum and will be the biggest crowd ever in that stadium for a sporting event, it won’t be close to an all-time attendance record there. That honor belongs to a religious service held by Billy Graham in 1963 that drew 134,254. Even the Dodgers aren’t that popular.
The largest crowd for a sporting event at the Coliseum was 102,368 who saw the Los Angeles Rams beat San Francisco, 37-24 on November 10, 1957. The Opening Ceremony for the 1932 Olympic Games drew 101,022.
>> Thinking Blue II:
Remember Paul Lo Duca and Odalis Perez? They were an effective battery for the Dodgers in 2002 and 2003 with Perez compiling 15-10 and 12-12 records for the Blue Crew and catcher Lo Duca hitting .281 and .273 in his second and third full seasons with the club. They’re together again in Washington.
The Nationals picked up Lo Duca despite being named in the Mitchell Report as a user of performance-enhancing drugs, and according to Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post,, “Lo Duca is hoping he can move on to baseball, with a little horse racing mixed in.” Lo Duca has an interest in some horses, but has also “fit in well with his teammates, immediately taking over the club’s NCAA tournament pool, complete with elaborate charts that adorn the clubhouse walls.”
He’s considering a post-baseball career as a breeder, but he also plans to be behind the plate on Opening Day, catching Perez in the Nationals’ opener on March 30 in the new Nationals Park. Back to the future.
= Panorama =
The National Pastime:
>> Tokyo, Japan: Forget Manny Ramirez’s two-run double that helped Boston defeat Oakland, 6-5, in 10 innings in the season opener played in the Tokyo Dome today. The key stat was 44,628, the attendance in the 55,000-capacity stadium that was good, but not sensational.
Still, it was exciting and Daisuke Matsuzaka became only the second Japanese pitcher – after Hideo Nomo – to pitch in a major-league-season-opening game, going five innings and giving up two runs.
College Hoopla:
>> Berkeley, Ca.: Despite the presence of two likely NBA Draft choices, forward Ryan Anderson and center DeVon Hardin, California left the NIT field quietly last night, losing 73-56 at Ohio State. The Golden Bears’ season finished at 17-16 with a 6-13 mark in Pac-10 games and the question is now raised whether coach Ben Braun is finished.
Braun has been in charge at Cal for 12 years and the Bears have missed the NCAA Tournament in four of the past five seasons, and have been 6-12 in the Pac-10 regular season in three of the past four years. According to Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News, the Bears “were without a doubt the biggest underachievers in the Pac-10 this season.
So, will Ben go? The answer is probably no. Writes Wilner:
It would cost $985,000 to fire him this spring (one year’s salary), but if Cal waits a year, it would only cost $400,000.
That’s a huge sum/significant difference for an athletic department that’s constantly cash-strapped (because of the huge number of intercollegiate sports it funds); that’s trying to raise approx. $125 million for a football training facility; and that would also have to pay Braun’s replacement.
Unless the biggest donors step forward and say, “Here a check to buy Braun out,” it’s tough for Cal to make the change financially. And it doesn’t appear the biggest donors are will to step forward on this matter.
Now you know.
NBA Hoopla:
>> Dallas, Tx.: Here’s the silver lining for Dallas in the aftermath of Dirk Nowitzki’s left leg injury that could doom the Mavericks’ season: “Dirk is hurt, and if he is out for awhile, everybody has an excuse.”
That’s the view of Jan Hubbard of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, who also notes that “with no Dirk, no one expects the Mavericks to make the playoffs. If they do, no one would expect them to get out of the first round.
“That means that Mark Cuban’s trade for [Jason] Kidd will not be judged until next season. It appears to be a very bad trade at this point, but if Dirk’s out for awhile, who can really say?
“The tension between Cuban and Avery Johnson could ease a little bit. They two had a shouting match after the Mavericks lost to the Lakers on Tuesday, but if Dirk is out, Cuban can’t get upset with Avery. That doesn’t mean that Johnson won’t resent Cuban’s meedling, but with no Dirk, there are no expectations.”
The Mavs are in seventh place in the NBA’s Western Conference with a 44-26 record, just 1 1/2 games ahead of Denver, which is in ninth place. Of Dallas’s remaining 12 games, one is against Denver – this Thursday in Colorado – and eight are against teams with winning records and only five games are at home. That’s not a promising schedule, but then there are no expectations!
Kicker:
>> Turin, Italy: Proving once again the power of one of the world’s most popular soccer teams, Juventus signed a 15-year deal with Sportfive Italia for naming rights, suite sales and VIP-section ticket sales for the team’s new stadium slated to open in 2011. The agreement is worth a minimum of 93.75 million Euro (about $146.3 million U.S.) over its term and at least 6.25 million Euro (about $9.75 million) annually for Juventus.
Rings & Things:
>> Eindoven, the Netherlands: How can a Frenchman set three world records in three days in the shortest race there is in swimming? To paraphrase Spike Lee in his commercials for Nike and the Air Jordan brand, “Got to be the suit.”
So now, the world-wide governing body of swimming, FINA, is investigating the new Speedo LZR Racer bodysuit, which has been worn by everyone from American superstar Michael Phelps to France’s Alain Bernard, who lowered the world record in the 50 m Freestyle in three consecutive races at the European Championships in Eindhoven, the Netherlands this past weekend.
In a move eerily reminiscent of an infamous, politically-charged incident from the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, FINA has raised concerns about whether the LZR Racer suit is available to everyone. According to Reuters, “coaches and officials are worried the swimming world could be split into those who have access to the $US550 suit and those who do not. The latter could miss out because the suit may not be immediately available to all or because their national federations are contracted to other manufacturers.” The initial discussions will come in April at the World Short-Court Swimming Championships in Manchester, England.
In addition to Speedo, Arena and adidas either have similar suits or will introduce them shortly.
Back in 1972, the East Germans protested to IAAF officials that they were at a disadvantage against American Bob Seagren and Sweden’s Kjell Isaksson, who had been setting world records all spring using a new style of pole made by the American firm of Pacer, because these poles weren’t available to them. In fact, the GDR’s Wolfgang Nordwig had plenty of access to these new, carbon-fiber poles, but wasn’t as proficient on them as he was on the older, fiberglass poles. In a decision which reeked of politics, Seagren was forced to use a fiberglass pole he borrowed from teammate Jan Johnson and ended up second to Nordwig, the first time in Olympic history that the U.S. had not won the pole vault competition.
So, will FINA do a repeat? Or are they smart enough to have learned from the past?
>> Berlin, Germany: Although the German Olympic Sports Union has rejected calls for a boycott of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the president of the European Parliament, German conservative Hans-Gert Poettering told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, “Beijing must decide itself, it should immediately negotiate with the Dalai Lama. If there continues to be no signals of compromise, I see boycott measures as justified.”
This isn’t over yet.
Rassle Mania:
>> Atlanta, Ga.: Another young wrestler has been found dead in his home. This time it was 34-year-old Chase Tatum, who performed on the WCW circuit, found dead on Sunday afternoon apparently because of an accidental drug overdose.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Tatum was recovering from back surgery designed to repair a degenerative disc. His father told the newspaper that his son had been fighting a longtime dependence on painkillers. He worked for less than three years as a professional wrestler, but it “left him battling severe back problems, but without health insurance to pay for the surgery.” An autopsy has been ordered by the Fulton County Medical Examiner.
~ Rich Perelman
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