Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for February 23, 2010 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
* The U.S. women's hockey team will play Canada for the gold medal after thrashing Sweden 9-1.
* The legendary Sandy Koufax visited Mets camp and gave some advice to pitchers John Maine and Oliver Perez. Very cool.
* Manny Ramirez showed up at Dodgers spring training and promptly announced he won't be back next year. Did anybody ask him?
* The San Diego Chargers released long time running back LaDainian Tomlinson.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves, with a terrible record, are doing something to juice the fan base. Half-price tickets next season. Based on their respective records, the Nets might consider quarter-price.
2. U-S-A U-S-A
I noticed that the New York Times yesterday took NBC to ask for being too pro-American in its coverage. There were three Olympic pictures on the first page of the Times sports section yesterday. All were Americans.
3. Sportscasting Down Under
A couple of Australian Olympic announcers got in hot water over their male figure-skating play-by-play. Like everyone watching on TV, they wondered about the outfits these guys wear. One announcer said "don't leave anything in the locker room these blokes, do they?" The other responded "They don't leave anything in the closet either, do they?'" Then they made a reference to Brokeback Mountain, the movie about gay cowboys. They received flak, but they kept their jobs. I can't imagine that would be the case here in the States.
4. Ancient History
They honored the 1969-70 champion New York Knicks last night at Madison Square Garden. Talk about bittersweet. 40 years later, coach Red Holzman and Dave DeBusschere are gone. So is PA announcer John Condon, whose voice was as much a part of MSG as anything else. In his 1989 obit, the New York Times quoted Condon as saying game 7 in 1970 was the "greatest game he had ever seen." That was the night Willis Reed limped out and the Knicks beat the Lakers. It's nice to remember. Sadly, it also reminds us of how dysfunctional the Knicks organization has become. How typical. They scored their season low in an embarrassing 83-67 loss to Milwaukee.
5. Who Dat?
When Tiger Woods announced that he was a Buddhist, they asked one of the world's most famous Buddhists what he thought of Tiger's transgressions. He answered he never heard of Woods. What? The Dalai Lama is spending too much time on world peace. He really needs to get out more.
Happy Birthday: Former Met Bobby Bonilla. 47.
Bonus Birthday: Actress Dakota Fanning. Sweet 16.
Today in Sports: They take the wrecking ball to Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. 1960.
Bonus Event: Remember the Alamo. The battle begins. (I was a big Davy Crockett fan.) 1836.