1. Quick Hits

• LeBron James’ lefty layup at the buzzer won the opening game for Miami over Indiana in overtime 103-102. Said James, “I mean, I made a layup. It’s not like I made something from half court. I made a layup. I’ve been doing that since I was 8 years old.”
• NHL Playoffs: Pittsburgh crushed Ottawa 7-3. The Penguins lead 3 games to one.
• Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher announces his retirement.
• San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree tore his Achilles. He’ll likely miss the season.
• The NFL is still considering cutting the preseason from four games to 2. They would then either expand the playoffs or add two games to the regular season.

2. Enough!

Too bad Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia aren’t boxers. They can’t stop the sniping. The other day Garcia was asked if he’d have dinner with Woods during the U.S. Open and Garcia quipped “We’ll have him ’round every night. We will serve fried chicken.” Garcia later apologized saying “I answered a question that was clearly made towards me as a joke with a silly remark, but in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner.” End of story? Nah. Woods took to twitter to rip Garcia: “The comment that was made wasn’t silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate.” And yesterday, before the tweet, Garcia told the media, “I feel sick about it. I’m truly, truly sorry. And I hope we can kind of settle things down and hopefully move on.” Doesn’t look likely. So how about boxing gloves? Maybe a steel cage?

3. Gifting

If you’re a multi-millionaire loved by millions of sports fans maybe you shouldn’t register for wedding gifts. RGIII (Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III) is getting married to Rebecca Liddicoat. Want to send them a gift? Here’s their registry at Bed Bath and Beyond. Lots of people already found it and have sent RGIII stuff like vegetable peelers for $7.99. Hey, when you’re in the middle of a two-year $21-million contract you need all the help you can get. Wanna bet the next pro star publicly registers at Tiffany.

4. Thursday eMailbag

Several Top 5 subscribers weren’t impressed with Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp. The Oklahoma City native pledged $1,000 to tornado victims for every homer he hits before the All Star break. One subscriber wrote, “Wow. This guy makes 20 million dollars a year. Can’t this cheapo write a check for $100,000 leave alone a million for the city which has given him a start?” My response to the critics is to cut Kemp some slack. At least he’s doing something. Now comes word that Kemp will give $250,000 in addition to his home run tally. Perhaps all the critics will pipe down now.

It seems Angels fans don’t think that Mike Trout gets the acclaim he deserves nationally. J.H. writes, “If Trout played in New York he would go by one last name MANTLE!”

In regards to Phil Jackson’s new book Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success, D.J. says “The title of the book should be Thirteen Rings. Wonder why he has conveniently forgotten the two he got as a player with the Knicks?”

And you guys couldn’t resist when golfer Nicolas Colsaerts hit his drive into a bathroom. From W.W. “You’d think the course had been in Flushing.” And from H.K. “What iron did he use for that shot? A number 1 or a number 2?”
Editor’s Note: Stop yanking my chain.

5. Bobble Head Night

And tonight is a bobblehead night at the Florence (Kentucky) Freedom’s minor league game against the Schaumburg (Illinois) Boomers in the Frontier League. Actually, you won’t get a bobblehead. The first 1,000 fans will get an empty bobblehead box courtesy of a local radio station. It’s “Manti Te’o Girlfriend Bobblehead Night,” thus the empty box. Tonight’s promotions will feature “An air guitar contest, a pretend kiss cam, an imaginary food fight, and fans with imaginary friends, girlfriends/boyfriends or spouses are encouraged to sit in section 115, the section furthest down the left field line.” All that, and as usual at Freedom games, free parking!

Happy Birthday: Baltimore manager Buck Showalter. 57.
Bonus Birthday: Drew Carey. 55.

Today in Sports: The NBA approved the move of the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco. 1962.
Bonus Event: The end of the line for bank-robbers Bonnie and Clyde. They are shot by police while driving a stolen car, of course, in Louisiana. 1934.

LAST DAY to 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 than three if you wish!) The deadline is TODAY.

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.

The Top 5 resumes Tuesday. Have a great holiday weekend everyone.

1. Quick Hits

• NBA Playoffs: San Antonio leads Memphis 2-0 after last nights 93-89 overtime win. Miami hosts Indiana tonight in the Eastern Conference Finals.
• Cleveland won the NBA draft lottery and owns the #1 pick for the second time in three years.
• After their best season in years the L.A. Clippers fire coach Vinny Del Negro.
• Subject to NBA approval, the Charlotte Bobcats are changing their name to Hornets after New Orleans went from Hornets to Pelicans.
• NHL Playoffs: Boston now leads the Rangers 3-0. L.A. and San Jose are 2-2.
• 21-year old Mike Trout became the youngest American Leaguer to hit for the cycle in the Angels 12-0 rout of Seattle.
• An L of a game. Super Bowl L (as is 50) will be played at the new home of the 49ers, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California in 2016. Houston gets Super Bowl LI the following year.
• Even with opposition from the PGA tour, golf’s ruling bodies have banned the use of anchored putters starting in 2016.

2. Stepping Up

Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant immediately gave $1-million to aid tornado victims after the devastating tornadoes that hit in nearby Moore. The NBA, the players union and the Thunder all made sizable donations. Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp is from Oklahoma City and pledged $1000 for every homer he hits before the All-Star break. The foundation of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari will make a donation to help those affected. And there will be many many more. You can always count on the sports world when tragedy strikes. If you’d like to help, text “REDCROSS” to 90999. You’ll be making a $10 contribution to the Red Cross.

3. Anchors Away

They used to “Ban the Bomb,” now its much more serious, belly-putters. Actually, the long putters will be legal in 2016, it’s just that can’t be anchored to the body creating a hinge. This of course creates quite a conundrum for PGA tour players particularly the ones who recently won Majors with the anchors. Masters winner Adam Scott, British Open champ Ernie Els and U.S. Open champ Webb Simpson all won with their putters anchored. So did Keegan Bradley in the 2011 PGA Championship. So on December 31, 2015 I can anchor my putter but the next day I can’t. Either way my putting will still be an adventure. But for the guys who do this for a living, this is huge.

4. Vanilla Spurs

Clearly the San Antonio Spurs are NOT America’s team. All they do is win but sports fans want more. They find the Spurs lacking in color. You can see it in the TV ratings for their games and the collective yawn that greets their yearly success. Too bad. They’ve got a great coach in Gregg Popovich and they play terrific team basketball. I guess they need some crazy-selfish quotes and look-at-me dunks not to mention nose rings and tattoos before they’ll get some love. By the way, if you’re wondering about the Top 5 NBA Contest, 19 of you predicted a Miami/San Antonio final. I guess the Spurs do get some love from our ultra-smart collection of Top 5 subscribers.

5. The Mick

As you know, no fair ball has ever been hit clear out of Yankee Stadium, either the old Stadium or the new. (Legend has it that Josh Gibson might have done it in the Negro Leagues.) Mickey Mantle came the closest. His shot to right rattled off the facade. Mickey said it was the hardest ball he ever hit. He hit the ball off Kansas City’s Bill Fischer in the bottom of the 11th. It won the game for the Yankees 8-7, 50 years ago today.

Happy Birthday: #1 in the tennis world, Novak Djokovic. 26.
Bonus Birthday: Coincidentally, he was the first player to undergo Tommy John surgery. Tommy John. 70.

Today in Sports: 10 years ago today Annika Sorenstam became the first woman to play on the PGA tour in nearly 50 years. She shot a one-over par 71 at the Colonial in Fort Worth. But she wound up missing the cut. 2003.
Bonus Event: The end of an era. Johnny Carson hosted his last Tonight Show. 1992.

Two days left to 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 than three if you wish!) The deadline is tomorrow.

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.

1. Quick Hits

• San Antonio beat Memphis 105-83 in the opener of the NBA Western Conference Finals.
• Miami will face Indiana in the Eastern Conference finals starting Wednesday night.
• In hockey, Boston now leads the Rangers 2 games to none after yesterday’s 5-2 win. Ottawa beat Pittsburgh 2-1 in double overtime. Pittsburgh leads that series 2-1.
• No Triple Crown in horse racing, but we could have back-to-back Crowns by Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers. He hit three homers in last night’s 11-8 loss to Texas. He leads the majors in hitting and RBIs. He’s one off the league lead in homers. No player has ever won back to back Triple Crowns in baseball.

2. O What a Race

So yet another year without a horse racing Triple Crown winner. Orb, the overwhelming favorite to win the Preakness, finished out of the money in 4th. Oxbow with 50-year old Gary Stevens aboard with the wire-to-wire win at Pimlico. (Let’s hear it for old guys!) So it’s 35 years and counting. And again you have to wonder with the way horse racing has evolved if we’ll ever see another Triple Crown winner? And since Orb and Oxbow both start with “O” you must be wondering if that’s happened before? After extensive research: Barbaro and Bernardini in 2006 and before that Thunder Gulch and Timber Country in 1995. Pretty useless information, eh?

3. Now We Know

Sports fans love a good argument. Willie, Mickey or the Duke? Wilt or Russell? I don’t recall Michael vs. Kobe reaching that level, but now we have the definitive answer. Phil Jackson, who coached both of them, picks Michael Jordan. No big surprise. He is quite specific in his new book, Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success which is officially out tomorrow. The L.A. Times quoted from the book: “Michael was masterful at controlling the emotional climate of the team with the power of his presence. Kobe had a long way to go before he could make that claim. He talked a good game, but he’d yet to experience the cold truth of leadership in his bones, as Michael had in his bones.” Nice reading. Kobe reacted on twitter: “The comparisons are #apples2oranges Wonder what the perception would be if M played wit @shaq instead”
I’m not a huge fan of these discussions. They tend to diminish the “second place finisher.” Michael and Kobe are two of the NBA’s All-Time greats. That’s good enough for me. Now about Wilt…

4. Water Hazard

Nicolas Colsaerts hit his drive on the 10th hole into an unusual place on Saturday, a bathroom. Gives new meaning to a hole-in-one. It happened at the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Bulgaria. Viewers tuning in might have been confused when they saw the toilet and heard the announcers talking about the “nearest point of relief.” By the way, after the “pause” Colsaerts lost his match to Graeme McDowell.

5. Ken Venturi
1931-2013

I’ll never forget watching TV the weekend of June 20-21 1964. On Saturday, in the last U.S. Open to be played with 36 holes the last day, Ken Venturi went staggering up the fairway in extreme heat to win the U.S. Open. It was riveting television as you wondered if he’d make it? He did, winning by 4 shots. The next day, Father’s Day, Jim Bunning pitched a perfect game for the Phillies at Shea, the first National League perfect game in 84 years. Bunning went on to become a U.S. Senator, Venturi a CBS golf announcer. Two remarkable achievements within 24 hours one weekend nearly 50 years ago with both athletes landing in the Hall of Fame Venturi 11 days before his death the other day at the age of 82. That 1964 U.S. Open at Congressional will long be remembered wherever golfers gather to reminisce about the great moments in sports.

Happy Birthday: NASCAR driver Tony Stewart. 42.
Bonus Birthday: Cher. 67.

Today in Sports: Police don disguises and raid the Wrigley Field bleachers arresting 24 fans for gambling. 1920.
Bonus Event: Twenty years ago today. Say cheers to Cheers. The final episode. 1993.

Last 3 days only! 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 than three if you wish!) The deadline is Wednesday.

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.

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.

1. Quick Hits

• Tiger Woods wins the Players Championship by two shots when Sergio Garcia puts two balls in the water on 17.
• NHL Playoffs: The Rangers beat Washington 1-0 forcing a 7th game tonight in Washington. Toronto beat Boston 2-1 also forcing a Game 7 tonight in Boston. Detroit beat Anaheim 3-2 in Game 7.
• NBA Playoffs: Golden State evens their series with San Antonio 2-2 with a 97-87 overtime win.
• Baseball game of the day, White Sox pitcher Chris Sale throws a 1-hitter at the Angels. He took a perfect game into the 7th. 3-0 the final.

2. Food Fight

Is the PGA Tour is turning into WWE? Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods engaged in golf’s version of a war of words the other day. They were paired together on Saturday and after the round Garcia blamed Woods for a bad shot. He claimed that Woods took out a club while Garcia was hitting and the crowd made noise which affected his shot. Tiger’s quotes are priceless in effect saying that Garcia is always complaining about something and that the two of them really didn’t talk during their round. Too bad Garcia collapsed on the final two holes yesterday. Would have loved to have seen their handshake before the sudden death playoff.

3. Men In Blue

What’s with the umps? In one game they didn’t know what they were looking at. The next night they didn’t know the rules. The second offense was deemed more egregious. Houston was allowed to make a pitching change, even though the pitcher hadn’t faced a batter. The rules state a reliever must face one hitter. So the crew chief got suspended for two games and fined while his mates all got fined. It’s rare that umpire punishment is made public. Maybe MLB was embarrassed over the “home run” fiasco in Cleveland? The umps got it wrong twice: once on the field, and again after viewing the replay. Makes you wonder what’s the point of replay especially since the umps weren’t punished and the call stood. Why? Because it was a judgment call. In fact a bad judgment call…twice!

4. The Plot Thickens

With great fanfare, Grey Flannel Auctions put up for bid a Mickey Mantle bat that it claimed had been tampered with. The suggestion was that the bat had been illegally corked and that Mantle may have used it in a game. That touched off a debate on whether or not the Mick had cheated. The Mantle family retained legal counsel to protect the Mantle name and image, and now, without any explanation, the item is no longer listed on the auction house’s website and is not for sale. It makes you wonder about the bat’s authenticity.

5. George Sauer
1943-2013

The name George Sauer is probably familiar to you. He was the wide receiver who caught 8 passes from Joe Namath in the Jets stunning Super Bowl III upset of Baltimore. George died the other day at the age of 69. He quit the NFL when he was only 27 because he really didn’t like being a football player. In a 1983 New York Times article he wrote, “My passion for the game was not sufficient. It both glorifies and destroys bodies. At the time, I could not reconcile the apparent inconsistency. I care even less about being a public person. You stick out too much, the world enlarges around you to dangerous proportions, and you are too evident to too many others.” Required reading for anyone who dreams of being famous one day.

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: America’s “ambassador” to North Korea, Dennis Rodman. 52.
Bonus Birthday: Singer Stevie Wonder. 63.

Today in Sports: 40 years ago today Bobby Riggs beat Margaret Court. Billie Jean King said “lemme at him.” 1973.
Bonus Event: 75 years ago today, Louis Armstrong recorded When the Saints Go Marching In. 1938.

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.