Happy Wednesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for August 8, 2012 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- Aly Raisman from Needham, Mass. won the gold in the Olympic floor exercise.
- Unstoppable. The U.S. women's basketball team cruised into the semis trouncing Canada 91-48.
- Today's finals in women's beach volleyball will be an all-American affair.
- A group of former Penn State players is appealing to the NCAA over their vacated wins in the Sandusky scandal.
2. Roots
Aly Raisman did a lot more than just win a gold medal in the floor exercise, she thumbed her nose at the I.O.C. On the 40th anniversary of the Munich massacre, Olympic honchos refused to honor the memory of the slain Israeli athletes with a moment of silence. Aly was anything but quiet. She used "Hava Nagila" as her music in tribute to her Jewish roots, and after clinching the gold yesterday she said winning the gold on the 40th anniversary of the massacre made her accomplishment "special." Aly's just 18 years old... wise beyond her years.
3. I Used to Be a Contendah
Time for a roll call. Cassius Clay, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Floyd Patterson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar de la Hoya. Should I go on? They are some of boxing's all-time greats and every one an American Olympic gold-medal winner. And this year? Zippo. For the first time in history not one American won a medal of any color in boxing. Let me amend that. Women boxed for the first time, and a couple of American women have clinched medals saving U.S. boxing from a complete wipeout. It speaks volumes to the state of boxing these days, no?
4. Lip Reading
Here's yet another example of what makes Vin Scully the best at what he does. In a game the other night, Colorado manager Jim Tracy got ejected for arguing a call. Vin provided the sanitized transcript for the lip-reading impaired. Vin's best "translations" come at 2:25 and 2:55 into the tape. Did Vin miss his calling as a U.N. interpreter? Nah.
5. Marvin Hamlisch
1944-2012
If you were fortunate enough to run into Marvin Hamlisch at a cocktail party, you'd probably ask him about his incredible music career but he'd rather talk to you about his beloved Yankees. So when I briefly hosted a talk show on WFAN radio, I asked Marvin to call in. When he did, I didn't have his bio in front of me so I said something like "Marvin Hamlisch composed a bunch of stuff," and he calmly added "Yeah, like Chorus Line and The Way We Were." He left out the fact that he won three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony, three Golden Globes and a Pulitzer Prize. The world has lost a great Yankee fan, but his wonderful music will live forever.
Happy Birthday: The great Roger Federer. 31.
Bonus Birthday: Actor Dustin Hoffman. 75.
Today in Sports: 20 years ago today. The "Dream Team" clinched the gold medal in Barcelona beating Croatia 117-85. 1992.
Bonus Event: President Nixon announces his resignation effective noon the next day. 1974.
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