Happy Wednesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for November 11, 2009 from
www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
After all the botched umpire calls, baseball general managers don't
bother to discuss expanding the use of instant replay at their annual
meeting. I would have used replay to determine fair or foul down the
lines.
Don't you love the experts who proclaimed that Derek Jeter was among
the worst shortstops? Overrated, limited range. Yesterday he won the
Gold Glove for fielding.
Using the slower low-tech bathing suit, Michael Phelps fails to
qualify for 2 of the 3 finals at a Stockholm swim meet.
2. Crime and Punishment
Former top ranked tennis player Marat Safin says Andre Agassi should
give back the trophies and money he won by winning Grand Slam
tournaments after failing a drug test and lying about it. The tennis
people let Andre Agassi slide when he said, oops I didn't mean to do
it. Then again these same people bought Richard Gasquet's story that
he flunked a drug test because he kissed a girl who had been using
cocaine. And we know all about Serena Williams' slap on the wrist for
her behavior at the U.S. Open. If I ever break the rules, I want
tennis people as my judge and jury!
3. Role Models
On this Veterans Day, Top 5 subscriber Bill V. an Air Force veteran,
offers this poignant thought: "The Yankees championship parade up the
Canyon of Heroes on lower Broadway attracted thousands. It's a shame
that if the real heroes marched up that same canyon today very few
would come."
4. The Miracle on Ice
When I asked yesterday about which moment I might have ranked #1 in
my new kids' book The Greatest Moments in Sports, many of you correctly
guessed The Miracle on Ice. (Sorry no prizes.) I loved subscriber Phil
G.'s story.
"On that night in 1980 I was at MSG. Sha Na Na opened for Jay and the
Americans. The scoreboard kept giving updates and when they posted the
final score the place went nuts. Jay came out, did his opening song,
then said 'We haven't done this next song in years, but we just
decided to add it today because WE BEAT THOSE F***ING RUSSIANS!' They
then launched into a spirited version of "Only in America" and you can
imagine the reaction."
I guess Jay Black summed up so "eloquently" what most Americans were
thinking.
5. Code of Conduct
A New Mexico women's soccer player has been banned after punching,
kicking, and pulling the hair of a BYU player on the field. A girls
high school game in Rhode Island also degenerated into hair pulling
and brawling. That was tame compared with Australia. At a soccer game
there, police were called to quell a disturbance among the fans.
Nothing new in soccer. But some of the fans were wielding spears and
axes. What started it all? When one of the players was awarded a free
kick. They have a cheer in Australia that goes "Aussie, Aussie,
Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy."
They've got the oy part right.
Happy Birthday: Former Masters and U.S. Open champion Fuzzy Zoeller.
58.
Bonus Birthday: Actor Leonardo DiCaprio. 35.
Today in Sports: Now we're having fun. The New York Knicks played
their first game at the old Madison Square Garden. (Yes they lost.)
1946.
Bonus Event: On this date, the 11th hour, the 11th month, the 11th
day World War I effectively ended. 1918.
President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11th to be Armistice
Day. In 1954 President Eisenhower signed a bill honoring all veterans.