Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for June 30, 2009 from www.LenBermanSports.com
1. Quick Hits
They are down to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Serena, Federer, Roddick and Andy Murray are all alive. Venus is the first into the semis.
The Centre Court roof was closed for for the first time yesterday because of rain during a match between Amelie Mauresmo and Dinara Safina. The roof closing received a standing ovation. I can only imagine how they'd react if they saw a Zamboni in person. Houston Rockets center Yao Ming could miss all of next season with his broken foot, and it might be career threatening. The Mets hold their breath as star outfielder Carlos Beltran goes to Vail Colorado for a 2nd opinion on his injured knee. One of the most common misspellings on the internet is, "paperview boxing" instead of pay-per-view boxing.
2. Babe-a-licious
Say it ain't so. Which women get to play on Centre Court Wimbledon? Babes, that's who. They called it the "Battle of the Babes" when Victoria Azarenka from Belarus played against Sorana Cirstea from Romania. They were seeded 8th and 28th. The second seed, Serena Williams was shuttled off to a side court. Same thing happened to the top seed Dinara Safina. If you'd like to judge for yourself if you consider Azarenka and Cirstea to be babes, click through: www.LenBermanSports.com
By the way, Azarenka has made it to the quarterfinals so she's not just a pretty face.
3. Rainbow Card
A Turkish soccer ref has been fired. Then it was leaked to the media that he was gay. So what did the ref, Halil Ibrahim Dincdag, do? He fought back. He sued and went public saying "The crowds shout 'faggot' at referees whose decisions they don't like. Well, here I am." Other refs have come to his support, fans are signing petitions on his behalf. The Turkish John Madden of soccer announcers chimed in, "I reckon would have a tendency to give more penalties to good-looking, tough footballers." Keep the ref, fire the announcer.
4. Value Ad-ed
So it's really starting to annoy me. I'm listening to the ballgame on radio and when some player is safe at home the announcer without missing a beat says "you can be safe at home too with some kind of insurance...blah blah." But in truth its always been that way. Marty Glickman's successful basketball shots were "Good, like Nedick's." And Mel Allen's Yankee home runs were Ballantine blasts. I guess I'm just getting cranky.
5. Fundamentals
In Portland Maine a man tried to run over his wife with a dump truck. He missed and crashed into some trees. He fled on foot, and was later caught. Sounds like yet another major leaguer who botched the hit and run.
Happy Birthday: Swimmer Michael Phelps. 24.
Bonus Birthday: Boxer Mike Tyson. 43.
Today in Sports: Sandy Koufax pitched the first of his 4 no-hitters
against the Mets (who else?) 1962.
Bonus Event: The first Corvette rolled off the assembly line.
Pricetag: $3250. 1953.