1. Quick Hits
- St. Louis beat Stanley Cup champ Chicago 4-3 in triple-overtime in their series opener. The Rangers, San Jose and Colorado won their openers.
- The NBA playoffs begin tomorrow.
- One and done. Duke Freshman Jabari Parker, as expected, is jumping to the NBA.
- The Yankees pulled off the first triple play of the season in their 10-2 win over Tampa Bay.
- Wide receiver Ochocinco (Chad Johnson), out of the NFL for two years, signs with the CFL Montreal Alouettes.
- The Masters TV rating was the worst since 1993.
2. Match Point
Move over eHarmony and Christian Mingle, there’s a new dating web site on the map. Packers Backers. Yup. Now you don’t have to waste your time on a date only to find out, horror of horrors, that he or she is a Minnesota Vikings fan. Now Green Bay Packers fans can date each other, fall in love and mate. And they can populate the world with little Packers fans. Let’s all Lambeau leap for joy.
3. Fish Story
So the PAOK soccer team was hosting Olympiakos the other day in a Greek Cup semifinal. There were brawls galore, and that was on the field. Fans set off thousands of flares in the stands throwing some of them on the field. There were 6 arrests including the fan who delayed the game for an hour. How did he do it? Olympiakos’ supporters are nicknamed “anchovies,” so one genius covered the Olympiakos bench with a crate of anchovies delaying the proceedings. I’m just glad Kaka doesn’t play for Olympiakos. (He plays for Milan.) PAOK won the game 1-0.
4. Friday eMailbag
While the vast majority of you agreed with me that Pete Rose deserves to be in Cooperstown, G.H. asks, “Peter Rose lied more often than Richard Nixon. Therefore how can you say definitively he never bet on baseball as a player?”
Editor’s Note: I can’t say anything definitive about any player in the Hall.
Even with all we know about head injuries, the NHL continues to sell “violence.” R.S. writes, “I’m a big hockey fan. However, I just don’t get some of the marketing tools. When there is a feature on ‘Big Hits of the Week’ many of the ‘hits’ were, or should be, penalties. I don’t get that.”
And from J.B. “The NHL still does not get it…fighting is to be punished, not glorified.”
And D. R. asks this question about Jackie Robinson: “Why is it that #42 gets 99.9% of the attention year after year for his pioneering role in breaking the color barrier in baseball, yet Larry Doby, who did the same thing shortly after in the American League for Cleveland, is almost unknown? Is it that Doby was in Cleveland, while Robinson was in NYC, and the New York journalists set the agenda?”
Editor’s Note: I think it’s because Jackie was the first. Much like the second man to walk on the moon, after Neil Armstrong, doesn’t get much attention. (Buzz Aldrin)
5. Spanning the World
This week’s Spanning the Worldhighlight comes from the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Florida. Are open cockpits such a good idea? And at the :28 mark, don’t forget to duck. Yes, that was a tire that came whizzing by his head. And nobody got hurt!
Spanning the World airs on NBC’s Today Show. Next Up: Friday April 25th.
Happy Birthday: Detroit Tigers star Miguel Cabrera. 31.
Bonus Birthday: Conan O’Brien. 51.
Today in Sports: Bill Russell becomes the NBA’s first black coach when he’s named player-coach of the Boston Celtics. 1966.
Also on this date: The Great San Francisco Earthquake. 1906.
If you struck out in the NCAA and Masters contests here’s an even better chance to win autographed books and That’s Sports hats. Just send me the names of 3 new subscribers to the Top 5. That’s it. You’ll be entered in a drawing to win lots of prizes. The deadline is April 25th. Get cracking!
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.
