Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for June 15, 2010 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
* Game 6 of the NBA Finals is tonight in L.A. with the Celtics leading the Lakers 3 games to 2.
* An earthquake hit the Padres/Blue Jays game last night in San Diego. Actually, it was minor. One batter stepped out of the batter's box for a few seconds, and the right field foul pole swayed. That's about it.
* The Big 12 lives! Texas turned down an invitation to join the Pac-10, and Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M all vowed to stay put as well.
2. Sound Advice
The vuvuzela is here to stay. Soccer officials will not ban the annoying horns during the World Cup, nor should they. There have been online petitions to cut it out. There are sites to help you alter the audio on your TV to cut down on the noise. The vuvuzela even has its own Twitter account, twitter.com/the_vuvuzela. Although its tweets are all the same, "Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz."
I say, make the noise louder. In fact, here's a link. Click on "play vuvuzela sound" on the right.
Turn it up in your office today. Great background sounds for your workday!
3. Market Watch
Don't you just love those sports/financial tie-ins? Last week's big story, if England wins a World Cup game, buy stocks on the FTSE 100, on the London Stock Exchange. If England loses or ties, sell. They've studied the market from 1984 to 2009, and the largest gains and drops have occurred after English World Cup soccer games. So, after England's tie on Saturday, the FTSE gained 38 points yesterday. Never mind.
4. More Dollars and Sense
I think subscriber Peter M. is onto something. In regards to the over-commercialization of sports. He writes, "As a teacher for 36 years, I often wondered why I couldn't get a sponsor like NASCAR and PGA guys do. I gladly would have accepted a bunch of cash for wearing a shirt with the CRAYOLA logo. Alas, it never happened. Only the rich get richer."
Hey, we should all go through life as walking billboards. Anyone wanna wear the Top 5 on his sleeve?
5. In the Mood
This just in. After South Korea beat Greece in World Cup soccer, condom sales in Korea jumped five-fold. More proof that scoring translates the same in any language.
Happy Birthday: Yankees Pitcher Andy Pettitte. 38.
Bonus Birthday: Friends star Courteney Cox-Arquette. 46.
Today in Sports: Brilliant! The Mets trade Tom Seaver to the Reds. 1977.
Bonus Event: (Quite similar in nature.) Napoleon goes down at the Battle of Waterloo. 1815.