Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for May 1, 2012 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com. 1. Quick Hits
- The Knicks lost to Miami 104-94 and trail two games to none. Afterwards, Amar'e Stoudemire takes it out on a fire extinguisher and could be lost for the series.
- Elsewhere in the NBA playoffs, Oklahoma leads champion Dallas 2-games to none. Indianapolis tied up Orlando at a game apiece.
- NHL Playoffs: Washington evened their series with the Rangers at a game apiece. L.A. leads St. Louis two games to none.
- The NBA suspended Celtics guard Rajon Rondo for tonight's game after he bumped a ref in Boston's game one loss.
- Paul Silas (not his fault) is out as Charlotte Bobcats coach.
- Tigers outfielder Delmon Young was suspended seven days without pay for his altercation where police say he yelled anti-semitic epithets.
- Manchester City beat Manchester United 1-0 in soccer yesterday to move into first place in the Premier League. I'm guessing that's a big deal over there.
2. Knuckle-Head So after the Knicks lost last night, Amar'e Stoudemire took out his frustration on the glass casing for a fire extinguisher. Bad move. Like the Heat, the glass won out. Stoudemire cut his left hand and needed stitches. He's expected to miss game three at the very least. He took to Twitter last night. First he tweeted, "I am so mad at myself right now, I want to apologize to the fans and my team, not proud of my actions, headed home for a new start." And then around 3:00 am, "We all have done thing out of anger that we regret. That makes us human. Bad timing on my part. Sorry guys. This to shall pass." Of course this being Twitter, the fire extinguisher also has a Twitter account. No really. It boasts "More playoff wins in 2012 than the New York Knicks." The fire extinguisher, with nearly 1,000 followers as of this morning, tweeted "Where's my apology?" And later, "I busted my glass to get where I'm at." 3. Go Figure The NFL draft averaged a 2.0 rating on ESPN. Factor in the NFL Network, which also carried the draft, and the number comes to around 2.5. Game 1 of the Rangers-Washington playoff did a 1.5 rating. So to summarize, more fans watched players walking on a stage than skating competitively on ice. Whatever floats your boat. 4. Not Unanimous
When I promoted 95-year-old Marvin Miller, the former players chief for the Hall of Fame, many of you didn't agree.
From E.T. As a fan, what did Marvin Miller ever do for me? The players love him because he made mediocre ballplayers millionaires, but he priced the average fan out the ballpark.
D.S. I look no further than my 11-year-old daughter. She told me that none of her friends ever talk about baseball. The sport is in secular decline. At least arguably, that decline is partly attributable to payroll disparity between big and small market teams and escalating ticket prices, which free agency and the efforts of Marvin Miller has wrought.
H.K. I prefer people in the Hall who do things FOR the game rather than TO the game. Branch Rickey made the game better, Miller simply made it more lucrative.
5. Name Game The Jets drafted a football player named Robert Griffin from Baylor in the sixth round. And you thought the Washington Redskins drafted him with the #2 pick? Actually there are two Robert Griffins from Baylor. One's the quarterback, the other is a 6'6" 330 pound guard. The Jets, with their love of quarterbacks, knew that, right? Happy Birthday: Football Hall of Famer, Patriots and Jets running back Curtis Martin. 39.
Bonus Birthday: Singer Tim McGraw (Tug's son). 45.
Today in Sports: Rickey Henderson steals his 939th base breaking Lou Brock's all time record. Rickey proclaims "Today, I'm the greatest of all time." 1991.
Bonus Event: The longest baseball game is played in Major League history. The Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves play a 1-1 26 inning tie. Leon Cadore (Brooklyn) and Joe Oeschger (Boston) pitched the entire game which was called because of darkness. 1920.
To sign up for Len's free daily Top 5 email click here.