Happy Monday everyone, here's my Top 5 for April 22, 2013 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- The Jets trade star cornerback Darrelle Revis to Tampa Bay for draft picks.
- Yesterday's NBA playoff winners were Miami, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Indiana.
- The Golden State Warriors have lost David Lee for the remainder of the playoffs with a torn hip flexor.
- The long-suffering rabid fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs finally see their team make the NHL playoffs for the first time in nine years.
- Remember when the Red Sox and Yankees were supposed to battle for last place this season? Boston's in first, New York is in second.
2. Home Cooking
The NBA Playoffs began Saturday with the home team winning all four games. Your reaction might be that the home team is favored in all the series, but on Saturday there were much-needed playoff wins for Knicks, Clippers, Nuggets and Nets fans, four groups who haven't known much post-season success recently. And then on Sunday all the home teams won again to make it 8-0. None of this is surprising of course. In last year's NBA Playoffs, the home team went 55-29. That's a winning percentage of 65.4 percent and it's been even higher than that in recent years.
3. Revis Island
The Jets traded their best player, Darrelle Revis to Tampa Bay. It makes sense. He's coming off a knee injury and wanted tons of money. Tampa Bay gave it to him, $96 million over six years, although none of it guaranteed. But that's beside the point. Before the Jets take a victory lap, trading your best player means you're not a legitimate contender. The truth is the Jets are much closer to getting the first round draft pick next season than they are to winning a championship. And that should sit real well with their fan base who shelled out big bucks for those "valuable PSLs." Wonder what they're worth?
4. Expletive Undeleted
David Ortiz of the Red Sox addressed the crowd before Saturday's game in Boston. He went uncensored proclaiming loudly "This is our F***ing City and nobody going to dictate our freedom." OK, it wasn't quite "Give me liberty or give me death," but he made his point and the FCC was OK with it. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski tweeted, "David Ortiz spoke from the heart at today's Red Sox game. I stand with Big Papi and the people of Boston - Julius." Was that the first government official sanction of an f-bomb?
5. Boston Strong
Sometimes you just have to believe there's a higher authority watching over sports. In the first New York sports event after 9/11 Mike Piazza's game winning homer for the Mets will never be forgotten. And when the Red Sox played their first game after a nightmare week in Boston, the game went to the bottom of the eighth inning with Kansas City leading 2-1. That's when the Red Sox play Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline. Neil paid his own way to Boston and surprised the Fenway crowd on Saturday for an emotional live rendition. And of course in the bottom of the eighth, Daniel Nava blasted a three-run homer and the Red Sox won 4-3. As the song says, "Good times never seemed so good." Or so perfectly timed.
Happy Birthday: Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona. 54.
Bonus Birthday: Jack Nicholson. 76.
Today in Sports: The New York Yankees wore pinstripes for the first time. 1915.
Bonus Event: Anyone remember the 99-cent waffles? The New York World's Fair opens in Flushing Meadows. 1964.
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