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The Daily Digest for Tuesday, April 15, 2008 |
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April 15, 2008 |
≡ The Daily Digest ≡
 Williams: even better than his Hall of Fame numbers indicate! |
= To Our Readers =
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= Tonight’s Menu =
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: The 56-25 Lakers can wrap up the top seed in the Western Conference tonight in their final regular-season game against Sacramento (38-43) at Staples Center. Los Angeles has a 6-2 mark in its last eight against the Kings but both teams are playing well: Sacramento is 6-2 in its last eight while the Lakers are 7-1. With so much on the line for Los Angeles, they’re a 17-point favorite with an over-under of 217. That means the projected final is Lakers 117, Kings 100.
>> New Orleans, La.: The 23-57 Clippers play their penultimate game of this season tonight at the New Orleans Arena against the 55-25 Hornets, who trail the Lakers by a half-game in the West standings. The Hornets have won five straight against the Clips, who are 1-5 since the return of Elton Brand. So the home team is a 17-point choice; with an over-under of 199; translation: New Orleans 108, Clippers 91.
>> Arlington, Tx.: The 8-6 Angels started play against the 5-8 Rangers at 11 a.m. this morning (Pacific time) in Arlington with Dustin Moseley (1-1, 7.36 ERA) opposing Kevin Millwood (1-2, 1.29). Going into today’s game, the Rangers were 8-3 against the Angels in their last 11, but just 2-2 this season, but the Halos were a slight favorite.
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: After stunning Takashi Saito and the Dodgers last night, the 7-6 Pittsburgh Pirates will send Matt Morris (0-1, 5.25 ERA) to the hill tonight against Hong-Chih Kuo (0-0, 0.00). Even with the loss, the Dodgers are 14-5 against Pittsburgh in their last 19 at Dodger Stadium, but the Blue Crew has lost six of its last seven. The sharpies think the Dodgers have the edge here, and it takes $190 to try to win $100 on the home team, but the visitors are even money.
>> Dallas, Tx.: It’s almost do-or-die for the Anaheim Ducks, who play Dallas tonight down 2-0 in their best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series. The Stars are 7-3 in their last 10 against the Quack Attack and the sharpies think this game will be close: it takes $130 to try to win $100 on the Stars, but $120 to try for the same $100 on the Ducks.
= L.A. Stories =
Laker Lines:
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: With the NBA regular season almost ended, Randy Hill of FoxSports.com noted the biggest turnarounds in the league in the 2007-08 season and he listed Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak at no. 1:
As general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers, Mitch had gone from being “no Jerry West” to an alleged goof incapable of surrounding the great Kobe Bryant with enough playmates to prevent a radio tour of trade demands.
But fleecing the Memphis Grizzlies for Pau Gasol enabled the Lakers to seize a favorite’s role in the potentially deadly Western Conference playoffs, while Kupchak’s profile has risen exponentially.
In truth, he had been on the rise before Gasol suited up for Phil Jackson. A big boost for Kupchak occurred when kid center Andrew Bynum turned into what certainly appeared to be a dominant center.
Other relatively sage moves include the return of Derek Fisher (which may have had more to do with Fisher than anyone else) and the acquisition of Trevor “I’ll play defense” Ariza (a variable possibly eclipsed by the dumping of Brian Cook). Mitch also received a perception boost from the improvement of key reserves (Jordan Farmar, Vlad Radmanovic, et al).
Also on Hill’s list were Bryant and Bynum. Of Bryant, Hill noted that he “was just a few weeks removed from ‘trade me’ insanity when something marvelous happened – Kobe noticed that the majority of guys wearing the same style of uniform as him really didn’t stink as much anymore.”
>> Philadelphia, Pa.: Although there is sentiment for LeBron James as Most Valuable Player in the NBA this season, the Cavaliers’ star said last night that he’s vote for Bryant.
“I’d give it Kobe Bryant. What he has done this whole year, carrying that team to the No. 1 team in the West right now and playing probably the best basketball all-around . . . He hasn’t been named MVP, and I don’t know why. This is his year.”
= Panorama =
The National Pastime:
>> Tampa, Fl.: Slugger Alex Rodriguez cracked his 521st home run yesterday against Tampa Bay to tie him with Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for 15th place on the all-time home run list.
Now 33, Rodriguez has an excellent chance to become the all-time home run leader if he continues at his current pace of 40+ home runs a season for another six seasons. But he’s still be looking up at Williams if The Splendid Splinter didn’t take off part or all of five seasons to serve the United States in World War II and in Korea.
Williams, in his absolute prime, missed the 1943-44-45 seasons because of World War II and most of the 1952 and 1953 seasons due to service. Although never an overwhelming home run hitter – his high was only 43 in a single season – if he had maintained his annual averages in those years, he would have added 111 homers during the ‘40s and another 46 in the ‘50s for a total of 678. That would have been second all-time to Babe Ruth’s 714 when he retired and no. 4 today behind Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Ruth. It’s also worth remembering that Williams hit .344 for his entire 19-season career, a little better than Ruth’s .342 and much better than Bonds (.298), Aaron (.305), Mays (.302) . . . and Rodriguez (.306).
>> Cleveland, Oh.: Speaking of the Red Sox, fans shouldn’t be worried about the future of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, at least according to Ramirez:
“Like I told you,” he told reporters after last night’s home run that helped defeat Cleveland, 6-4, “I’m going to play six years [in Boston], David [Ortiz] is going to play six years and then we’re going to retire.”
At least that’s settled.
College Gridiron:
>> Lincoln, Nb.: Tickets for a sold-out Bruce Springsteen concert in Omaha in March were selling for $39 apiece from local ticket brokers. This week’s University of Nebraska spring football game is a much hotter ticket, selling for as much as $95 each!
It’s part of the growing mania over spring football. Nebraska has sold 65,000 of the 81,000 seats in Memorial Stadium for Saturday’s spring game with the other 16,000 for students, faculty, youngsters who will take a drug-free pledge at halftime and others. This was the first year that reserved seats were sold – at $10 each – with general admission tickets at $8.
If full, Nebraska will be the national attendance leader for spring ball, as “only” 78,200 came to this season’s Alabama spring game (they had 92,138 last year). Florida had 61,000 at The Swamp last Saturday and LSU had 33,624 and Oklahoma had 23,306 for games earlier in the month.
College Basketball:
>> The Coaching Carousel: Keno Davis was named the national coach of the year for his work at Drake, but his tenure in Des Moines lasted all of one season. He’s now on his way to Providence as the new coach of the Friars. Easy come, easy go.
In the meantime, The Stanford Daily has listed its top five candidates to take over for departed-to-LSU Trent Johnson: Mark Few of Gonzaga, Tony Bennett of Washington State, Jamie Dixon of Pittsburgh, Mark Fox of Nevada and Brad Holland, the former Bruin star who was excused after last season at San Diego. No doubt Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby appreciates the help.
NBA Hoopla:
>> Seattle, Wa.: Former Seattle SuperSonics owner Howard Schultz of Starbucks’ fame is preparing to sue Clay Bennett and his Oklahoma City-based ownership group to get the team back in his hands and keep it in Seattle.
Schultz says the new owners never seriously tried to keep the team there, but the NBA owners will meet on Friday to vote on a proposal to move the team to Oklahoma City.
If Schultz was so determined to keep the team in Seattle, why did he sell it to an out-of-town ownership group?
Rings & Things:
>> Chicago, Il.: The United States Olympic Committee brought in more than 100 of the top Olympic athletes in the country for a “media summit” this week and while there was lots of talk about China, a lot of it had nothing to do with the Olympic Games.
Columnist Greg Couch of the Chicago Sun-Times realized the pickle these young people are in when the conversation turns to Darfur and Tibet. “Basically, there is no way these athletes can win on this. Don’t speak up and they are lacking a social conscience. Speak up and . . . who cares?
“And this impossible spot isn’t going to change.”
But Couch also sees a fine hand behind all this and isn’t afraid to point fingers:
It’s clear there was censorship going on Monday. Several athletes said the U.S. Olympic Committee told them to say what they want.
I have a feeling – but no proof – that it was coming from corporate sponsors. Nike, for example, does big business in China. One athlete talked about visiting another company’s factory in China, thanks to a family connection, and having an emotional reaction to a “sweatshop” with kids doing the work.
He nervously asked me not to have his name connected to that statement.
What a spot to put these athletes in. What should we expect from them?
Just a little: Don’t say hurtful things, represent your country with class and don’t say things that make you look uncaring or completely disconnected from the world.
Agence France Presse’s story of the media event also included comments from wrestler Patricia Miranda, who won a bronze medal in Athens, who said she has considered a protest of some type on the medal stand if she gets there in Beijing. “First we have to win the gold to get that 15 minutes of fame. If we get that we’ll have to see,” she said, backing away a bit later. She did say she thought the Black Power salute of Tommie Smith and John Carlos in 1968 during the medal ceremony for the 200 m was “an effective use of their position.”
~ Rich Perelman
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