1. Quick Hits
- NBA Playoffs: Indiana takes a 3 games to 1 lead over the Knicks, 93-82. San Antonio now leads Golden State 3-2 after winning 109-91.
- NHL Playoffs: L.A. and Pittsburgh won their second round openers.
- The top high school basketball recruit, Andrew Wiggins from Canada, chooses Kansas.
- Former NFL running back Chuck Muncie is dead at the age of 60.
2. Bipartisan Concern
What’s the only thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on? Right, sports. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell opened Tuesday’s Senate session by sending get well wishes to Washington Nats right fielder Bryce Harper. Harper had crashed into the wall at Dodger Stadium Monday night. Harper is listed as day to day, but thank goodness our nation’s top lawmakers have solved all the other pressing issues facing our country so they can find time to suck-up to local sports fans. On a serious note a couple of Top 5 subscribers expressed the hope that Harper isn’t the next Pete Reiser. Reiser was also in his second season for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1942 when he went crashing into a wall in St. Louis fracturing his skull. He was never the same player again. But Harper tweeted yesterday, “I will keep playing this game hard for the rest of my life even if it kills me! I’ll never stop! #RespectTheGame.”
3. Liar-Liar?
It’s always something with Tiger Woods. During his dustup with Sergio Garcia on Saturday Tiger claimed that the marshals told him that Sergio had already hit. That’s why Woods pulled a club out of his bag which led to the gallery reaction which seemed to bother Garcia during his swing. Well guess what? The marshals claimed they not only didn’t say anything to Woods but they’re told not to talk to the players. It seems there’s Tiger’s world and the one the rest of us live in.
4. Award Season
When I introduced Yankees manager Joe Girardi yesterday (see #5) I called him an early candidate for Manager of the Year. He chuckled. But think about it. The Yankees are ravaged by injury and were picked to go nowhere and only St. Louis has a better record in all of baseball. Contrary to form, Yankees managers do win the award, in fact they did it three times in the 90s. Buck Showalter once and Joe Torre twice. But perhaps the reason Girardi chuckled is because he won the award in his first year with the Florida Marlins in 2006. The next month they fired him. Girardi may have a fight on his hands this year with Tampa’s Joe Maddon. Maddon’s had animals and magicians in his clubhouse and last night he brought in a merengue band for his players before the game. Cause and effect? After the concert the Rays went out and won their 6th straight.
5. A-Listers
Since I love to drop names and because a Wall Street firm raised millions for charity I thought I’d fill you in on who I talked to yesterday. The trading firm BTIG takes all of its commissions for one day and gives them to worthy causes. Last year the total was $4.5 million. So yesterday I had the pleasure of introducing Eli Manning, Tom Coughlin, Justin Tuck, David Diehl, Victor Cruz, Joe Girardi, Mariano Rivera, Mark Teixeira, Rex Ryan, Rod Gilbert, Walt Frazier, Larry Johnson, Lynn Swann, Bobby Valentine, Joe Torre, Dwight Gooden, Marty Lyons, Rick Barry, Jeremy Roenick, Steve Lavin, Eric LeGrand, Hannah Storm. Michael J. Fox, Michael Strahan, Matt Dillon, Top 5 subscriber Steve Schirripa, Miss America, and Miss Universe among others. The only bit of sports news I can report, is that when I asked Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz if he was going to sign a contract with the Giants he answered, “That’s the plan.” There you have it. You had to wade through all of my name-dropping for a little nugget of news.
Win valuable prizes! Send me the emails of 3 new subscribers and you’ll be eligible for a drawing. You can win one of three autographed books or one of five That’s Sports baseball/golf caps. And just think how your friends will thank you for enlisting them in the Top 5 family. (Of course you can send more that three if you wish!)
Happy Birthday: U.S. Open tennis winner Andy Murray. 26.
Bonus Birthday: Kansas City Royals Hall of Famer George Brett. 60.
Today in Sports: 1 down, 55 to go. Joe DiMaggio goes 1-4 thus starting his record hitting streak. 1941.
Bonus Event: Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess on a flight between Oakland and Chicago. The flight had 13 stops and 14 passengers. 1930.
Spanning the World airs on NBC’s Today Show tomorrow morning.
And on May 15th the kvetching stops. The Top 5 was opened yesterday in South Africa, Taiwan, Brazil and every single one of the 50 states even South Dakota. I’ll try to figure out something else to complain about.
The next time you need a gift for that young sports fan in your life, check out my books. And if you’d like a personally autographed copy contact the Dolphin Bookshop at 516-767-2650.
