Happy Monday everyone, here's my Top 5 for May 13, 2013 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- Tiger Woods wins the Players Championship by two shots when Sergio Garcia puts two balls in the water on 17.
- NHL Playoffs: The Rangers beat Washington 1-0 forcing a 7th game tonight in Washington. Toronto beat Boston 2-1 also forcing a Game 7 tonight in Boston. Detroit beat Anaheim 3-2 in Game 7.
- NBA Playoffs: Golden State evens their series with San Antonio 2-2 with a 97-87 overtime win.
- Baseball game of the day, White Sox pitcher Chris Sale throws a one-hitter at the Angels. He took a perfect game into the seventh. 3-0 the final.
2. Food Fight
Is the PGA Tour is turning into WWE? Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods engaged in golf's version of a war of words the other day. They were paired together on Saturday and after the round Garcia blamed Woods for a bad shot. He claimed that Woods took out a club while Garcia was hitting and the crowd made noise, which affected his shot. Tiger's quotes are priceless in effect saying that Garcia is always complaining about something and that the two of them really didn't talk during their round. Too bad Garcia collapsed on the final two holes yesterday. Would have loved to have seen their handshake before the sudden death playoff.
3. Men In Blue
What's with the umps? In one game they didn't know what they were looking at. The next night they didn't know the rules. The second offense was deemed more egregious. Houston was allowed to make a pitching change, even though the pitcher hadn't faced a batter. The rules state a reliever must face one hitter. So the crew chief got suspended for two games and fined while his mates all got fined. It's rare that umpire punishment is made public. Maybe MLB was embarrassed over the "home run" fiasco in Cleveland? The umps got it wrong twice: once on the field, and again after viewing the replay. Makes you wonder what's the point of replay especially since the umps weren't punished and the call stood. Why? Because it was a judgment call. In fact a bad judgment call... twice!
4. The Plot Thickens
With great fanfare, Grey Flannel Auctions put up for bid a Mickey Mantle bat that it claimed had been tampered with. The suggestion was that the bat had been illegally corked and that Mantle may have used it in a game. That touched off a debate on whether or not the Mick had cheated. The Mantle family retained legal counsel to protect the Mantle name and image, and now, without any explanation, the item is no longer listed on the auction house's website and is not for sale. It makes you wonder about the bat's authenticity.
5. George Sauer
1943-2013
The name George Sauer is probably familiar to you. He was the wide receiver who caught eight passes from Joe Namath in the Jets stunning Super Bowl III upset of Baltimore. George died the other day at the age of 69. He quit the NFL when he was only 27 because he really didn't like being a football player. In a 1983 New York Times article he wrote, "My passion for the game was not sufficient. It both glorifies and destroys bodies. At the time, I could not reconcile the apparent inconsistency. I care even less about being a public person. You stick out too much, the world enlarges around you to dangerous proportions, and you are too evident to too many others." Required reading for anyone who dreams of being famous one day.
Happy Birthday: America's "ambassador" to North Korea, Dennis Rodman. 52.
Bonus Birthday: Singer Stevie Wonder. 63.
Today in Sports: 40 years ago today Bobby Riggs beat Margaret Court. Billie Jean King said "lemme at him." 1973.
Bonus Event: 75 years ago today, Louis Armstrong recorded When the Saints Go Marching In. 1938.
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