TGIF everyone here's my Top 5 for November 16, 2012 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- The baseball MVP's are Detroit's Miguel Cabrera in the American League and Giants catcher Buster Posey in the National.
- Time to hold a benefit. Derek Jeter finished 7th in the MVP voting. He needed to finish 6th to get a $2 million bonus in 2014.
- Commissioner Bud Selig says he'll review the 12 player trade between Miami and Toronto.
- Thursday night football: Buffalo beat Miami 19-14 leaving the Jets in sole possession of last place in the AFC East.
- San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh went to the hospital for a procedure for an irregular heartbeat.
- The Knicks go to 6-0 after rallying to beat the Spurs in San Antonio.
- NHL talks are going nowhere. The league suggests a two-week break in negotiations and accuses the players of having "zero interest" in making a deal.
2. M.V.P.
Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers won the Triple Crown this year therefore he's the MVP. End of story. I know some of you, especially on the left coast, are going to bombard me with Mike Trout stats like base running and defense. Don't bother. I'm old school, and winning the Triple Crown is truly special. In fact it's MVP-worthy. If you email me otherwise my delete button is rarin' to go.
3. G-O-O-O-A-L
Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored on a wild bicycle kick against England the other day, and pundits are trying to figure out where it ranks in the pantheon of great goals. Check out the replay at about the 1:00 mark. Here's the irony, it might be one of the greatest goals ever, but it won't be one of the top 10 goals of 2012. Just hours before the goal, FIFA had already announced the 10 candidates for goal of the year.
4. Friday eMailbag
In regards to the Feds dropping their child sexual abuse case against Bernie Fine, R.W. writes, "Jim Boeheim was proven to be right in the way he initially defended his friend and colleague... The way this guy was treated is just awful. It ruined his life and now he's a footnote. Terrible."
But from J.D. on Facebook at "Len Berman's Top 5,"Don't forget that two of the credible accusers couldn't have their cases proceed because the statute of limitations had expired. Granted, there were also false accusers, but let's not pretend Fine's been cleared of anything. He's only been deemed not prosecutable."
As for the big NASCAR brawl last weekend, D.M. found a silver lining: "It's the closest thing we'll see to hockey for a long time apparently!"
And from Top 5 subscriber George Kalinsky, the great sports photographer, after R.A Dickey won the Cy Young Award. "Love Dickey... He gave us joy!" And he included this picture that he took.
5. Spanning the World
This week's Spanning the World highlight comes from a fifth division basketball game in Belgium. A player somehow misses four wide open easy layups, and that's a good thing. He was shooting at the wrong basket!
Spanning the World airs monthly on NBC's Today Show. Next up: Thursday, November 29 in the 8:30 a.m. half hour.
Happy Birthday: The Knicks Amar'e Stoudemire. 30.
Bonus Birthday: Former Mets and Yankees pitcher Dwight Gooden. 48.
Today in Sports: The first NFL regular season players strike comes to an end. 1982.
Bonus Event: Ensuring that a future Broadway musical would make sense, Oklahoma becomes the 46th state. 1907.
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