Happy Wednesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for July 27, 2011 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- Plaxico Burress says he'll talk with Giants coach Tom Coughlin about a possible return.
- Reports say Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck will land in Tennessee.
- The Cincinnati Bengals have called quarterback Carson Palmer's bluff. Palmer had said if the Bengals didn't trade him, he'd retire. So the Bengals consider him retired, and won't pay him the $50 million left on his contract.
- The Seattle Mariners lost their 17th straight game, but they did strike out 18 times.
- The champion San Francisco Giants, along with Willie Mays, visited the White House yesterday.
2. Mixed News
NFL players were all rejoicing that they could go back to work. One problem. Many of them got fired. OK, not fired, but cut. Teams all over the NFL will be getting rid of players to clear salary cap room, and many of the players are familiar names like running Dallas running back Marion Barber and wide receiver Roy Williams, and Giants linemen Shaun O'Hara and Rich Seubert both coming off surgery. They could all surface again, probably at lower salaries. In other words despite the billions in revenue, the economy is hitting NFL players as if they worked in the real world. I'm guessing they might not have seen it coming.
3. Highway Robbery?
If you're a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, and who isn't these days, this was tough to take. They lost in Atlanta around 2 a.m. this morning, 4-3 in 19 innings, on a controversial call for sure. Check it out. Are you sure the runner was tagged? Absolutely sure? Would TV replay nail that play? The veteran umpire Jerry Meals said he didn't see a tag at the time it happened, but after watching replays he said "I'm guessing he might have got him." Credit the ump with being a standup guy, but the truth is if you watch a bunch of replays it's not 100 percent certain.
4. One Year Out
One year from today the 2012 London Olympics will begin. Three years ago Michael Phelps dominated the Beijing Olympics. He won't dominate again. Heck, before he lost the 200 meters at the World Swimming Championships he had to borrow a pair of trunks from an Australian competitor because he forgot his own. He redeemed himself by winning his first gold this morning in the 200 meter butterfly. But which name will emerge as the star of the 2012 games? And which underage Chinese athlete will garner the most attention? By the way, should an English athlete win a gold medal, his time on the podium will be a tad shorter than others. Britain's Lewis Hamilton won the German Grand Prix last weekend and he mused that "God Save the Queen" is much shorter than national anthems of his competitors. He said he was being cheated out of podium time. His solution? The UK should make its anthem much longer. Patriotism now equates to face time!
5. Winning
Dodgers owner Charlie Sheen? According to the National Enquirer, "Baseball fanatic Charlie Sheen's making frantic calls to rich pals in a heartfelt bid to forge an investment group that'll buy the in-bankruptcy Los Angeles Dodgers."
I don't know where to begin.
Happy Birthday: A-Rod. 36.
Bonus Birthday: Maya Rudolph of SNL fame. 39.
Today in Sports: And so it begins. William Shea announces that he plans to bring a National League baseball team to New York City. 1959.
Bonus Event: I heard it from my hotel room. The infamous pipe bomb explosion at the Atlanta Olympics. 1996.
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