Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for May 24, 2011 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- In the NBA playoffs, Dallas now leads Oklahoma City three games to one after their 112-105 overtime win in game four.
- Chicago's Joakim Noah was fined $50,000 for his anti-gay slur at a fan. That's half of what Kobe Bryant got fined because Bryant's was aimed at a ref.
- In the NHL playoffs, Boston is one game away from the Stanley Cup finals leading Tampa Bay three games to two.
- Tiger Woods is now ranked 12th in the world. It's the first time he hasn't been in the top 10 in 14 years. It must be an interesting computer program. He's still #12 despite not winning a PGA tournament since 2009.
- Getting your money's worth. After five hours and 37 minutes, Jupiter beat Clearwater 2-1 in 23 innings in the Class-A Florida State League. Clearwater's designated hitter pitched two scoreless innings.
2. Speaking the Truth
You might want to catch the New Yorker profile of Mets owner Fred Wilpon. There's lots of financial stuff, but his honest comments about his players are making the sports pages.
*On Jose Reyes: "He thinks he's going to get Carl Crawford money, he won't get it."
*On David Wright: ""A really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar."
*On Carlos Beltran, who hit eight homers in the 2004 post season with Houston: "We had some schmuck in New York (referring to himself) who paid him based on that one series, he's sixty-five to seventy percent of what he was."
*On Ike Davis: "Shitty team -- good hitter."
Go get 'em Fred. The players might not like your candor, but your fans will.
3. Criminal Minds
As I suspected, Ray Lewis' comments stirred things up. The Baltimore Ravens linebacker says if there's no football, crime will rise.
* Warren G. "What an idiot Ray Lewis is! The world will survive without football just like it did after last Saturday's End of the World forecast. Lewis' biggest crime is that he has no brains."
* Dave P. "I would think crime would go down since people wouldn't have to come up w/$ to pay bookies."
* Michael T. on Twitter @LenBermanSports, "You have it wrong Len, he's talking about himself."
4. Crownless
When the Belmont Stakes comes along on June 11th, the best they can hope for is a "showdown" between Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom, and Preakness winner Shackleford. Once again, there is no Triple Crown winner. It's now going on 34 years, the longest drought since 1919. So what's the reason? Are three races in five weeks just too much for these fragile animals? Is there too much competition? Are the horses better? Are they worse? And my number one question: will we ever see a Triple Crown winner again? Not that he needed it, but don't Secretariat's accomplishments make him look more phenomenal by the minute?
5. Gotcha!
So how do you make a catch and a save on the same play? Check out Tiffany Goodwin thanks to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Tiffany is no slouch, she's played on many a softball team, including a coed team on the base in Louisiana where her husband was stationed. By the way, in the early days of Spanning the World a guy went to make a catch in the upper deck of the Kingdome in Seattle. Unfortunately he forgot he was holding his toddler son, and he dropped him. The kid wound up on the seat in front in tears. But the guy did catch the ball. Win some, lose some.
Happy Birthday: Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colon. 38.
Bonus Birthday: Bob Dylan. 70.
Today in Sports: The Cincinnati Reds host the Phillies in the first ever night game. FDR throws the switch. 1935.
Bonus Event: Wanna buy a bridge? The Brooklyn Bridge opens to traffic. 1883.
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