Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for March 16, 2010 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
* The NCAA play-in game is tonight in Dayton. Winthrop will play Arkansas Pine Bluff for the right be waxed by Duke.
* Soccer star David Beckham will miss 6 months after surgery for his torn Achilles tendon.
* You don't see this every day. Seattle Mariners pitcher Cliff Lee got ejected from an exhibition game for throwing pitches at Arizona catcher Chris Snyder.
* The Masters will be the first golf tournament to feature 3D coverage for a couple of hours each day. Can't wait to see how some of those goofy golf pants look with my 3D glasses.
2. What are the Odds?
If you've filled out your NCAA pool, doesn't it look nice and neat? You know the odds of doing it perfectly? 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 1. That's nine quintillion to one! That's what the mathematicians say. The truth is, those are the number of possible combinations. And since we all know that #1 never loses to # 16, the odds come way down... maybe into the quadrillion to one range. I don't know for sure. I lost my slide rule at Stuyvesant High School.
3. Flipping Out
The word is that the Giants won a "secret coin toss" held by the NFL to determine if the Giants or Jets would host the first home game at their new stadium. Supposedly, Jets owner Woody Johnson was furious that team representatives weren't present. Sounds so OIiver Stone-ish. All their bitching paid off. The Giants will open on the first Sunday, the Jets the next night, both at home. Hey, I'm outraged there were no fans there to see the "secret coin toss." Especially the ones who had to fork over personal seat licenses to help finance a new stadium that wasn't a necessity.
4. The Truest Things...
...are said in jest. Check out this charity tennis match at Indian Wells, California involving Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
If Sampras isn't really pissed at Agassi, then he's just as good an actor as he is a tennis player.
5. Rumors
Hey, if it wasn't for rumors, what fun would sports be? A rumor was floated that the Phillies were discussing a possible trade with St. Louis for Albert Pujols. Shades of Joe DiMaggio for Ted Williams, on a lesser scale. Cards manager Tony La Russa said the guy who started the rumor should be tracked down and shot. OK, he really didn't say that. I just felt like starting a rumor.
Happy Birthday: Yankee center fielder Curtis Granderson. 29.
Bonus Birthday: Hey laaaady! The great Jerry Lewis. 84.
Today in Sports: Paul Hornung and Alex Karras got reinstated by the NFL after an 11 month suspension for gambling on football games. 1964.
Bonus Event: Step right up and see the bearded lady. The Barnum and Bailey Circus debuts. 1881.