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Fun & Games for Thursday, July 10, 2008 |
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July 10, 2008 |
≡ Fun & Games ≡
 Giant: Michael Beasley is ready for you! |
= To Our Readers =
You can now find us in two different places on the Web: in addition to The Sports Examiner, we now write three times a week on Olympic sports for the World Championship Sports Network site, WCSN.com in a column called “Inside the Rings.”
Here at The Sports Examiner, we have changed our format to include a weekly intelligence briefing, with commentary, for the astute sports fan called “7 Days” on Mondays and a bonus posting called “Fun & Games” during the week. Thanks again for your continued support; please ask your friends to sign up for the Tip Sheet and the free newsletter.
= The Top Story =
>> Eugene, Or.: If anyone dares to tell you that the United States is no longer the melting pot of the world, check out the American trio who will run the 1,500 meters in Beijing:
Bernard Lagat, a naturalized American citizen who ran and won Olympic medals for his native Kenya, but attended Washington State well before he was any kind of a star runner. He’s coached by James Li, a native Chinese who also ran for WSU and is now the head coach at the University of Arizona.
Leonel Manzano, born in Mexico, but who now attends the University of Texas, for whom he won the NCAA 1,500 this season. He emigrated to the U.S. at the age of four, after his father gained legal residency in 1987.
Lopez Lomong, born in Sudan and moved to the U.S. by a relief agency after being kidnapped at age 6 and spending 10 years in relief camps. One of the so-called “Lost Boys,” he eventually ended up at Northern Arizona University and is now an American Olympian. “This is America, this is the land of everybody,” he said after the Trials 1,500.
Really, where else could this happen, not once, but three times in the same event? Really, only in America.
= The National Pastime =
>> Arlington, Tx.: Lowest shot of the week, from SI.com’s Jon Heyman: “Several Rangers players are said to have congratulated management when Sidney Ponson was released.” He had a 4-1 record and 3.88 earned-run average and was picked up by the pitching-starved Yankees. According to the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Rangers general manager John Daniels said "We don't feel Sidney deserves to be here or wants to be here. We're not going to get into details other than to say we're clearly trying to put together a team here, in a true sense of the word. Based on some recent comments and other such things, it was pretty clear that he did not want to be part of that, and it's something we're not going to tolerate.”
≡ ¶ ≡
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: Although the Brewers agreed to a trade that lets them rent C.C. Sabathia for the remainder of this season, look for the Dodgers to be a player for him in the off-season.
The Dodgers have Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, probably Clayton Kershaw and possibly Eric Stults and/or Chan Ho Park as possible starters next season. Maybe Jason Schmidt could be available. But both Brad Penny (30 years old, $9.25 million) and Derek Lowe (35, $10 million) will be free agents and the combination of those two salaries might (?) be enough to bring the 27-year-old Sabathia to Chavez Ravine.
= The NBA =
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: The Clippers seemed to be on the way up when they signed Baron Davis from the Warriors. Now they’re down because Elton Brand decided to move to Philadelphia in free agency, which Marty Burns of SI.com noted “gives him a chance to play for a playoff team closer to his New York roots.”
Clippers fans will say that Brand changed uniforms after making every signal that he wanted to re-sign and stay in Los Angeles. But Burns notes that “It certainly appears now as he if wanted to get out of L.A. all along.
One sign that was dismissed along the way: with the free-agent discussion period scheduled to open on July 1, Brand put his multi-million dollar house on the market June 5. It will likely sell for a little less now.
≡ ¶ ≡
>> Orlando, Fl.: The never-ending NBA season is now in summer league mode in Orlando:
Reports from the games have focused on the big first day by Miami’s just-selected Michael Beasley, who just happened to be playing Chicago and its top pick, Derrick Rose. Beasley had 28 points in 23 minutes. The Associated Press reported that “The Bulls couldn’t stop him from scoring, and they couldn’t even stop him from singing during stoppages of play, either (Yes, they did ask.)”
Beasley was just happy to be playing. “You can put the Jolly Green Giant out there,” he said. “I’m still going to play, man.”
Not to be missed, however, was reporter Steve Kyfer's note on the second day that “the ‘Big Three’ of Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook looked outstanding together” for Oklahoma City.
Of Westbrook, Kyfer’s report noted “Westbrook was by far the best rooke on Day 2, showing consistency in his game and again proving he was deserving of the 4th pick. He notched 19 points on 8 of 10 shooting.”
= On Campus =
>> Gainesville, Fl.: This is how the “haves” live. The St. Petersburg Times reported that while the University of Florida is cutting 150 staff and $47 million from its budget, the University Athletic Association, a wholly-separate body from the university, will oversee a record budget of $84.5 million.
That’s up more than $44.6 million from the 2003-04 budget, the last before Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was expanded to its current capacity of 88,548. Now, the Gators earn revenue including:
$29.9 million from the Gator Boosters organization, which includes donations which accompany purchases of football tickets.
$17.3 million from football ticket sales.
$8.6 million from the SEC, including bowl shares.
$4.4 million from licensing and merchandising.
$2.8 million from basketball ticket sales.
Expenses include $8.1 million in scholarship costs ($.5 million for men and $3.6 million for women), $6.2 million in football costs, $1.7 million for men’s basketball, $1.1 million for women’s basketball and so on.
Said Florida executive senior associate athletic director Greg McGarity, “I know we’ve vastly different from some other schools. We have our own little world and how we manage things, and that’s all by design. It was set up this way where it wouldn’t be a drag on the university and no funds would be used to supplement athletics.”
Before you get too upset, one more figure: the University Athletic Association has donated some $46 million to a general (non-athletic) scholarship fund since 1990.
= College Basketball =
>> Kansas City, Mo.: Jason Whitlock, writing on FoxSports.com, has no regrets about basketball players’ decision to skip the one-and-done year of college and play in Europe while preparing for the NBA:
O.J. Mayo isn’t the bad guy. Neither is Brandon Jennings, or the other five-star recruits wise enough to follow him for a year of basketball study abroad. Rich kids do it all the time. They take a semester or two, party, study and broaden their perspective.
A 19-year-old from Europe can join the NBA without anyone objecting. But a teenager from the states who hasn’t spent a year masquerading as a college student and justifying CBS’s billion-dollar NCAA basketball package is forbidden from joining the NBA.
Why?
The NCAA needs to be blown up. It pimps mostly black basketball and football players to provide welfare to sports played by mostly white athletes. In exchange, the football and basketball players get a half-baked shot at an education that they’re not prepared for upon arrival and a long-shot audition for pro scouts.
It’s a bad deal, flawed from top to bottom. The Yankees just gave a 16-year-old Venezuelan catcher a $2 million contract. Children play professional golf and tennis and sing for the approval of Simon, Paula and Randy.
Comment: Whitlock doesn’t go far enough. Although U.S. labor laws will likely make it impossible to implement, what’s fairer is to make schools commit four or five years of a scholarship to a player (a long-term contract) and the player has to stay for all four or five years. That will weed out those who really don’t want to be in college and the blue-chippers can play in the D-League, Europe or wherever. Same for football. Fans – who are mostly white at the bigger schools – will cheer for whoever wears the school colors . . . as they as they’re winning, regardless if they go on to play in the NFL or NBA.
By the way, if that day ever comes, let’s not hear a word about how college athletics is there is give kids “who need a break” a semester or two of maturity. If you get drafted by the pros, they own you for 4-6 years depending on the league rules. Why not do the same for collegians . . . and make sure they have to go to college.
≡ ¶ ≡
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: USC signed 6-6 Demar DeRozan to be the replacement at shooting guard for departed O.J. Mayo. But he isn’t likely to be around long: ESPN has him rated as the no. 2 prospect in the 2009 NBA Draft behind only 6-10 power forward Blake Griffin of Oklahoma.
No problem for Trojan coach Tim Floyd, however. He’s in the running for 6-10 forward Renardo Sidney of Fairfax (Los Angeles) High, along with Arizona State, Texas, Memphis and Texas A&M. According to the Philadelpia Inquirer, however, “His stay in college could be short, though. Sidney does not hide his desire to enter the NBA Draft in 2010.
“‘If I just go to college and do what I’m supposed to do, I’ll be out of there in one year,’ he said. ‘That’s my goal.’”
Guess he doesn’t have to worry about figuring out what he’ll major in?
= College Football =
>> Atlanta, Ga.: From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
“If you’re a decision-maker with Georgia’s football program, and if you wish to give your talented Bulldogs their best shot at winning a national championship this season, you just can’t spend the offseason having two, three or four of your players arrested.
You just can’t.
The Bulldogs have had seven and counting, by the way.
Georgia coach Mark Richt commented that it’s a small portion of the team that’s gotten in trouble and that he routinely doubled penalties. The Georgia fan base – judging by the 273 comments the story got in less than a day (!) – went mostly like this:
“We’re not running THUG U like Dade County Prison . . . Miami.”
The same comment-maker noted that except for “the OL incidents, everyone else was 2nd or 3rd string.” That makes a difference?
≡ ¶ ≡
>> Nashville, Tn.: Even though Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer has had his contract extended through 2014, it doesn’t mean he’s off the hot seat. From The Tennessean:
“Not all eight-win football seasons are created equal.
“This comes to mind because of an odd clause that [athletic director Mike] Hamilton inserted into the new contract for Vols coach Philip Fulmer. The seven-year extension, which averages $2.99 million annually, automatically will be extended for one year if UT wins eight games in the regular season.
“In other words, the bar has been set at 8-4.”
Is this good? Not for 2008: “For argument’s sake, let’s say the Vols sweep their four nonconference games this season against UCLA, UAB, Northern Illinois and Wyoming, and then claim SEC wins against Mississippi State, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Kentucky.
Voila! There are your eight victories. Extend the man’s contract by a year.
Never mind that those nonconference opponents were a combined 15-34 last season while the four SEC teams went 12-20 in the league in ‘07.”
And we’re only in July!
≡ ¶ ≡
>> New York, N.Y.: ABC is expected to make a hard and expensive run at regaining the BCS Championship Series telecasts this fall if Fox doesn’t reach an agreement in its 30-day window for exclusive negotiations. The Sports Business Journal reported that the current deal was for four years and $330 million for the rights to the BCS championship game and the Fiesta, Sugar and Orange Bowls. The Rose Bowl is under a separate contract with ABC through the 2014 game.
One of the problems for Fox is that it does not have a regular-season national college football package, although its regional networks televise hundreds of games each year. ABC (and ESPN) televise games all season long and have almost every bowl that’s not part of the BCS. Something has to give, especially when the championship game ratings have been good in the first two years of deal: a 17.4 for Florida-Ohio State in 2007 and 14.4 for LSU-Ohio State this year.
= The Five-Ring Circus =
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: After the swimming and track & field Olympic Trials over the past two weeks, we’re taking the week off. The Olympic Village in Beijing opens July 27.
= Potpourri =
>> Malibu, Ca.: There’s nothing like the Fourth of July on the California coast. The New York Daily News reported that Kid Rock showed up for a party at the home of surfing star Laird Hamilton and volleyballer and model Gabrielle Reece “with a retinue of leggy, cleavage-bearing, slightly-past-their-prime party favors.” Reece was reported as furious, but the newspaper added:
“We’ll tell you who wasn’t complaining: Kid’s Detroit buddies from the Red Wings, who brought the Stanley Cup with them. Maybe they were distracted by Kid’s blond-tourage, or maybe the ice warriors were disoriented by the throbbing sun, but they forgot the Cup out on the beach. At least for a while. ‘People mistook the trophy for an ashtray,’ says our source.”
~ Rich Perelman
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