Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for August 25, 2009 from www.LenBermanSports.com
1. Quick Hits
Mets ace Johan Santana will miss tonight's start in Florida because of elbow pain. Why chance things? Just shut him down... like the rest of the team.
High rent district. San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers gets a 6 year deal for $93-million. A shade under Eli Manning.
All bets are off. An appeals court says Delaware can't conduct sports betting starting September 1st. They rule it violates federal law.
Caster Semanya the he/she track star received a hero's welcome upon returning home to South Africa. Former first lady Winnie Madikizela-Mandela told the cheering crowd, ''We are here to tell the whole world how proud we are of our little girl.''
Today is the first day of classes for the new George Steinbrenner High School outside Tampa. There is no truth to the rumor that the principal has already been fired.
2. Getting One's Goat
It's official. Brett Favre has driven people over the edge. A Minnesota Vikings fan was found with a live goat in her trunk. It was painted purple and gold and had the #4 shaved into both sides of its torso. Charges are being considered, but the insanity defense works for me.
3. Name that Tune
At Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway the other night NASCAR drivers were introduced to their favorite music. Ryan Newman, for example, chose "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy." Jeff Gordon: "Start me Up" by the Rolling Stones. Nobody selected the Beatles "Drive My Car." For that matter drivers for some reason also ignored "Here we go round the Mulberry Bush."
4. 60 Minute Man
I hope you saw the 60 Minutes tribute Sunday night to the father of 60 Minutes, the late Don Hewitt. What a giant in my industry. As an aside, one of Don's proteges, Mike Wallace, came up to me at the U.S. Open tennis tournament a few years back. He said, "I watched you the other night on TV and was wondering, my God, how long have you been doing this?" And I'm thinking, here's the guy who had an exclusive interview with Noah after the flood, and he's asking me how long I've been in the business?
5. This Just In
Yesterday's bonus event was the downgrading of Pluto to a "dwarf planet." Subscriber Frank R. sent along a website with a "Pluto Petition." Over 26,000 voted that Pluto is a planet. Only 5600
demurred. The website, PlutoPetition.com includes a "News Flash under the poll. It reads, "Scientists say the Knicks are no longer a basketball team." And I always thought scientists were a little slow to catch on.
Happy Birthday: Hall of Fame reliever and mustache possessor, Rollie Fingers. 53.
Bonus Birthdays: 007, Sean Connery. 79. And Reege, Regis Philbin. 78.
Today in Sports: 20-year old Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden becomes the youngest pitcher to win 20 games. 1985.
Bonus Event: Elsewhere in Queens, the great Arthur Ashe becomes the first (and only) black man to win the U.S. Open tennis tournament. 1968.