Happy Thursday everyone, here's my Top 5 for February 24, 2011 from Len Berman at ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
* Carmelo Anthony scored 27 in his debut as the Knicks beat Milwaukee 114-108.
* The New Jersey Nets acquire all star point guard Deron Williams from Utah.
* Tough blow for the St. Louis Cardinals. Ace pitcher Adam Wainwright has a "significant" elbow injury.
* Tiger Woods continues to struggle. He is eliminated in the first round of the Match Play Championship by Thomas Bjorn of Denmark.
* The New Orleans Saints cut tight end Jeremy Shockey.
2. Garden Party
Some random thoughts about Carmelo Anthony's Madison Square Garden debut. Owner James Dolan swore that Isiah Thomas had nothing whatsoever to do with the deal. As usual, Dolan took no questions. Also of note during the pre-game news conference, the word defense was actually uttered twice. And when Anthony talked about "bringing his talent" to New York, you wondered if that was a subtle dig at LeBron James who "took his talents" to South Beach? As for the game. The Knicks beat an inferior opponent in Milwaukee. For long suffering Knicks fans, it was refreshing to see the Knicks with so many options in the 4th quarter. Amar'e Stoudemire said the other day, "the Knicks are back." Maybe they really are.
3. The Other Kid From Brooklyn
I can only smile at the news that former St. John's star Chris Mullin is a finalist for the Hall of Fame. I had the good fortune of being the first TV voice of the Big East Conference when it formed in 1979. The great part about those years was that the players stayed in college for four years. So Mullin, Patrick Ewing, Ed Pinckney and the rest built up rivalries. And as a broadcaster, it made things easy. One memorable night at St. John's, after Mullin scored a basket, I was writing it down on my scorecard when the crowd roared. I didn't see what happened. My colorman, Bill Raftery, motioned with his hand at Mullin. So I announced something like "Mullin with the steal, and the assist." I really had no idea, but I had nailed it. It was easy to do, when you were calling the action of a future Hall of Famer.
4. The Scene of the Crime
Jets coach Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum taped an episode of CSI yesterday. I'm guessing it was a morgue scene with Rex affixing a toe tag on a corpse. Too easy.
5. Channel Surfing
When friends of mine would work on air at ratings-challenged TV stations, I used to joke that there were in the "witness protection program." Not so fast. A guy in Romania has been wanted for fraud for a decade. Where could be possibly be? Turns out he was anchoring a prime time television program. Just a wild guess here... he probably wasn't winning his time slot.
Happy Birthday: Baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Murray. 55.
Bonus Birthday: Tessio in The Godfather. (I appeared in a skit with him on Conan O'Brien.) Abe Vigoda. 90.
Today in Sports: The U.S. completes its stunning gold medal win in hockey by beating Finland 4-2 at the Lake Placid Olympics. 1980.
Bonus Event: 30 years ago today. Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of Prince Charles to Lady Di. 1981.
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