Happy Thursday everyone, here's my Top 5 for June 24, 2010 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
* The U.S. advances in the World Cup with a 1-0 win over Algeria. They'll play Ghana in single elimination Saturday.
* They'll complete the longest tennis match in world history today at Wimbledon, maybe.
* The NBA draft is tonight.
* Lakers coach Phil Jackson says he's "leaning towards retiring."
* Giants great Lawrence Taylor is indicted by a grand jury for rape in Rockland County.
* Mets pitcher Johan Santana reportedly was accused of sexual battery in Fort Myers last October, but police closed the case for lack of evidence.
* The Florida Marlins fire manager Fredi Gonzalez. Is Bobby Valentine on deck?
2. U-S-A, U-S-A
OK, it wasn't exactly Mike Eruzione and the Miracle on Ice, but Landon Donovan's late goal against Algeria was one of the biggest goals in U.S. history. You should have seen Twitter light up when Donovan scored that goal. It means of the 16 countries left in the World Cup, the U.S. is one of them. Not only that, they won their group over England. Not bad for a country that supposedly doesn't care about soccer. This should move the needle just a tad, don't you think?
3. Let's Play Three
The Queen of England makes a rare appearance at Wimbledon today, but even that will pale in comparison with what happened yesterday. John Isner of the U.S. and Nicolas Mahut of France were tied 2 sets apiece Tuesday when it got dark. So they took to the court yesterday to play the fifth set. Unlike the U.S. Open, they don't use the tiebreaker in the 5th set at Wimbledon. So they just keep playing until somebody wins by 2 full games. They played that 5th set for 7 hours and 6 minutes yesterday and still nobody won. Tied at a stupefying 59 games apiece it was again suspended by darkness. So they'll try again to end it today if either of them can stand up. By the way, tied at 58 games, Mahut dove full out for a ball, crashing to the ground. Contrast that with baseball players who don't even bother hustling out of the batters box.
4. Half Full
I love the rosy outlook that my subscribers consistently take. Michael W. points out the following about tonight's NBA draft. "The good news about the draft for the Knicks is they won't have to worry about first round flops."
The Knicks don't have a first round pick. It just keeps getting better and better for Knicks fans.
5. Yadda Yadda Yadda
Jerry Seinfeld was in the Mets broadcast booth last night. As you undoubtedly know, Lady Gaga made a fool of herself in Seinfeld's suite at Citi Field last week. Here's what Jerry had to say about Lady Gag-Me last night on the telecast.
Who else but Jerry can affectionately refer to himself and the Mets announcers as "lame, out of it white guys in their mid-50's?
Happy Birthday: Celtics hall of famer Sam Jones. 77.
Bonus Birthday: Derek Jeter's girlfriend, actress Minka Kelly. 30.
Today in Sports: The beginning of a seismic change in the NBA. Players can be drafted before 4 years of college if they can prove "hardship." 1971.
Bonus Event: Paving the way for that highbrow TV show, Jersey Shore, New Jersey is founded. 1664.