TGIF everyone, here's my Top 5 for July 22, 2011 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- It takes two to tango. The owners vote to end the lockout, the players have not voted on the proposed new deal.
- The first casualty. The NFL cancels the August 7th Hall of Fame exhibition game between Chicago and St. Louis.
- Police have arrested two new suspects in the opening day beating of Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium. The man originally arrested is no longer considered a suspect. Meanwhile, Stow remains in serious condition.
- Word is former Nets coach Lawrence Frank will get the Detroit Pistons coaching job.
- Best of everything to Mike "Doc" Emrick, stepping down as Devils play-by-play man after 21 years.
2. Lowering the Boom
After Tiger Woods fired his long time caddie Steve Williams, Williams fired back saying he wasted the last two years of his life, and calling Tiger disloyal. Shocking, eh?
3. Hall of Fame
It's Hall of Fame weekend in Cooperstown. This year's player inductees are Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven. Rather than getting into whether or not they're deserving -- I'm one of those who thinks that anyone short of Ty Cobb doesn't belong -- let's focus on someone who won't be there. Gary Carter. He's finishing up six weeks of radiation for his brain tumors. They'll take an MRI in a few weeks to see if it helped. Keep fighting, Kid!
4. Friday eMailbag
R.E. has a theory. "I'm just wondering if the federal prosecutors in the Clemens case threw it intentionally just to get out from under a case that nobody wanted tried?"
Editor's Note: If you're scoring at home, that would be an intentional pass.
As for Japan's soccer win helping to heal a nation, subscriber S.B. writes, "Another triumph over tragedy ... Columbine beat Cherry Creek for the Colorado State Varsity Football title on December 4, 1999. It was emotional then ... and even now for me. We lived 5 miles from Columbine."
Trying to figure out why Northern Ireland has three golfers who have won recent Majors, and the U.S. has none, M.W. writes, "I guess our guys are not drinking enough Guinness."
And subscriber G.L. who attended Paul McCartney's concert at Yankee Stadium, quoted Paul as saying, "Who is this Derek Jeter? He has more hits than me?!"
5. Spanning the World
This week's Spanning the World highlight comes from basketball. Since you might not see NBA guys playing in this country for awhile, enjoy Milwaukee's Brandon Jennings with the alley oop pass to himself in Baltimore the other night. OK, so it might have been traveling. Picky picky.
My next Spanning the World appearance on NBC's Today Show will be Wednesday, August 10th in the 8:30 half hour.
Happy Birthday: Former NFL wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson. 39.
Bonus Birthday: Actress/singer Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber's older girlfriend. 19.
Today in Sports: Sonny Liston knocks out Floyd Patterson in the first round to defend his heavyweight championship. 1963.
Bonus Event: Babe Ruth caught a baseball dropped 250 feet from an airplane over Mitchell Field on Long Island. 1926.