Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for December 14, 2010 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
* The Philadelphia Phillies stun the baseball world and sign free agent pitcher Cliff Lee.
* The Giants beat the Vikings 21-3 in Detroit, as Brett Favre's streak of starting 297 straight games comes to an end.
* Jets assistant coach Sal Alosi was suspended the rest of the season without pay and fined $25,000 for tripping Nolan Carroll of Miami during Sunday's game.
* 2009 World Series MVP Hideki Matsui joins his 3rd team in 3 years, the Oakland A's.
* The average Major League Salary last season was above $3 million for the first time. The Yankees led the way of course. Their average was $7.6 million.
2. The South Shall Rise Again
It took nearly 150 years, but finally somebody named Lee beat down the Yankees. Wow. Cliff Lee took millions less and fewer years to sign with Philadelphia. Is there such a thing as a pitchers murderer's row? The Phillies now have Lee, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt. Everyone else is left in shambles. Texas just got worse. The Yankees don't really have a Plan B. And the rival Mets? Well they named some coaches yesterday. It's the rare athlete who doesn't jump at the biggest paycheck. Was it that Lee just didn't like New York? Was his wife's rude treatment at Yankee Stadium a contributing factor? We may never know. What we do know is money can't buy everything. And that has lots of teams around baseball rejoicing. Just not in New York or Texas.
3. Distant Replay
In light of the bush league play by the Jets assistant coach on Sunday, kneeing a Dolphins player running down the field, I thought you'd like to see one of the most famous sideline "tackles" of all time.
This one involved a ball carrier from Rice in the 1954 Cotton Bowl. The Alabama "tackle" resulted in a Rice touchdown. You can't make this stuff up.
4. Lombardi
While watching the terrific new HBO documentary Lombardi, I couldn't help but remember reading Jerry Kramer and Dick Schaap's classic Instant Replay. Travis Williams was a running back with fumble-itis, and Vince Lombardi had enough. He shouted at Williams to pick up the ball and carry it with him everywhere he goes. Lombardi barked, "Take it to the showers, take it to meals, take it to meetings... and maybe you'll learn how to hold onto the damned thing." I was wondering how that would play today? Would Williams Tweet, "This guy is nuts?" Would the Players Association protest a player being forced to carry the ball into the showers? Would Lombardi's obsessive drive for perfection be embraced by today's athlete? After hearing his players in the HBO documentary talk about how Lombardi made them better people, one would hope so.
5. Say What?
Listen to this play by play call from Washington Caps announcer Craig Laughlin. Does he curse on the air?
Many bloggers thought he announced a "shitty hockey goal." Maybe he did. But the intent was to say "shinny hockey goal." That's a term for street hockey. Then again, the goal could have been scored by Jacques Schitt... or not.
Happy Birthday: Former Major Leaguer Bill Buckner. 61.
Bonus Birthday: Nostradamus was born on this date in 1503. Who could have predicted that?
Today in Sports: Pat Summerall kicks a 49-yard field goal in the snow at Yankee Stadium to beat the Browns and force a playoff. The Giants beat the Browns again the following week, but lost to Baltimore in overtime in the Championship Game. 1958.
Bonus Event: That was some schlep. Norwegian Roald Amundsen is the first to reach the South Pole. Almost like going from Penn State to Nebraska. 99 years ago today. 1911.
Thanks to Sports Illustrated for Kids for making my book, "The 25 Greatest Baseball Players Of All Time" #1 on their "Gotta Get It" gift guide for holiday books!
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