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5434. wabbit - 4/3/2007 2:08:54 PM  The Florida Gators took a chomp out of NCAA history with the repeat they simply had to have. Now they want more. They want to be called one of the best teams of all time. The Gators made their case Monday night with an 84-75 victory over Ohio State to capture the second straight national championship that was their only reasonable goal this season. They became the first team to go back-to-back since Duke in 1992 and the first ever to repeat with the same starting five.
Al Horford had 18 points and 12 rebounds, Taurean Green had 16 points and Greg Oden's 25 points and 12 rebounds weren't enough for Ohio State (35-4) to stop the Gators (35-5) from completing the quest they set upon when all the starters delayed their NBA plans for a try at another title.
This win completes a 2007 championship-game sweep of the Buckeyes in the two biggest college sports -- men's hoops and football. Florida, a 41-14 winner in the football title game in January, remains the only program in history to hold both championships at the same time. While the debate about the best teams of all time can truly begin, there is no denying that Florida's overall athletic program is the best in the nation. I wonder how the chess team is doing.
NCAA Basketball - Mens
5435. wabbit - 4/3/2007 2:09:19 PM  Felix Hernandez might not be back to being a star after just one outing. He is back enough to reach the levels of Dwight Gooden, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. Hernandez, the 20-year-old would-be phenom who has lost 20 pounds since a disappointing 2006 season, thoroughly dominated the defending AL West champion Oakland Athletics in a 4-0 victory Monday. The major leagues' youngest opening day pitcher in 22 years allowed three hits and struck out a career-high 12 in eight innings. Hernandez tamed the same team that won 17 of 19 games last season against Seattle, crushing the Mariners back to the bottom of the division for the third consecutive year.
More than 41,000 fans got on their feet and gave Gil Meche a standing ovation. Very few of them would probably ever admit to being among the many critics who accused Kansas City of paying too much for the 28-year-old right-hander. The big deal paid off, for one outing at least. In his first start since the Royals gave him a club-record five-year, $55 million contract, Meche went 7 1-3 solid innings and led his new team to a 7-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox and an ineffective Curt Schilling. Settling down after a shaky first inning, Meche gave up six hits and one run. He struck out six and walked only one in the longest outing by a Kansas City starter on opening day since 1988.
On an emotional opening day, the New York Yankees honored Cory Lidle, welcomed back Bobby Murcer and beat Tampa Bay for a satisfying start. Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez came through with big hits and the Yankees even got a few encouraging innings from Carl Pavano in a 9-5 victory Monday over the baby-faced Devil Rays. Giambi, who hit a go-ahead single in the seventh for his third RBI, was a big part of the poignant pregame ceremonies. After a touching video tribute to Lidle, Giambi escorted the pitcher's wife, Melanie, and 6-year-old son, Christopher, toward the mound before they threw out first pitches. Lidle and Giambi were old friends and high school teammates. The 34-year-old right-hander was killed in a plane crash Oct. 11 in New York after finishing last season with the Yankees. His locker at Yankee Stadium will remain unoccupied all season, and the team is wearing black armbands on their jerseys in memory of him.
MLB scores
5436. arkymalarky - 4/3/2007 3:48:07 PM AR fired Stan Heath and hired Dana Altman, from Creighton. The big Razorback news is Frank Broyles finally leaving after the fall football season. It will be interesting to see what happens to Houston Nutt. 5437. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:19:28 AM Well that didn't last long. 5438. wabbit - 4/4/2007 3:19:16 PM 26 hour turnaround, sheesh. Who do you think AR will try next? 5439. wabbit - 4/4/2007 3:20:07 PM  Eddie Robinson, who sent more than 200 players to the NFL and won 408 games during a 57-year career, has died. He was 88. He had been suffering from Alzheimer's, which was diagnosed shortly after he was forced to retire following the 1997 season, in which he won only three games. His health had been declining for years and he had been in and out of a nursing home during the last year. Super Bowl MVP quarterback Doug Williams, one of Robinson's former players, said the former Grambling State University coach died about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Robinson had been admitted to Lincoln General Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
Robinson's was a career that spanned 11 presidents, several wars and the civil-rights movement. His older records were what people remembered: in 57 years, Robinson set the standard for victories, going 408-165-15. John Gagliardi of St. John's, Minn., passed Robinson in 2003 and has 443 wins. Robinson said he tried to coach each player as if he wanted him to marry his daughter. You gotta like that.
5440. wabbit - 4/4/2007 3:20:36 PM  Before the Tennessee Lady Vols took the court for Tuesday's NCAA title game against Rutgers, they heard a poem from assistant coach and frustrated English major Dean Lockwood about the importance of embracing the warrior mentality. When Lockwood had finished his recital, he picked up a baseball bat and smashed to pieces a videotape of Rutgers' semifinal game, in which the Scarlet Knights embarrassed SEC runner-up LSU 59-35.
In the days leading up to Tuesday night, the Lady Vols had been insisting that there was more to their team than the Candace Parker show. Their 59-46 victory over Rutgers proved that point. To win coach Pat Summitt's seventh national title in 20 years, the Lady Vols needed contributions from all precincts: A barrage of four three-pointers from diminutive junior point guard Shannon Bobbitt. Sixteen rebounds, including 10 off the offensive glass, from junor forward Nicky Anosike. Ten points, five rebounds and a critical steal from reserve Alberta Auguste.
NCAA Women's Basketball
5441. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 7:08:28 PM I don't know, Wabbit. Our local bunch were always fair-weather round-ball hawg fans, and that was in our younger days when it was easy to gather up a round table of booze, cigarettes and poker, with the tv placed and rabbit ears adjusted so everyone could see it. Those really were the good old days. When the game wasn't televised in prime-time, channel 7 would show it at 10:30, and woe to the soul who divulged the score, or even any major plays, at any time during that day. This was a state-wide rule.
Nolan Richardson changed the dynamic somewhat, but I think the bottom line (football is having problems as well), is that Frank Broyles lost his mojo some years ago and no one has dared tell him. Now he's finally going, but he's waiting until the end of football season. Like everything else, Northwest AR runs the show and treats the rest of the state like red-headed step-children, and they can't maintain broad support doing that. That may not be it, but I get the feeling the head-coach is more micro-managed than most candidates would accept. If they could draw a big name that might not be the case, but they can't draw one now. Not without a lot more money, anyway. And when they do have a successful coach the lame Little Rock media (Democrat-Gazette, mostly) can be a regular, royal pain if the coach doesn't either suck up to or successfully ignore them.
Also, an interesting side-note is that Springdale, the richest public school in the state (or one of), had several football players and one of their coaches move up to the UofA team. That coach and those players left in disgust after this past season, and I don't know the details on that either, but I will be very interested to see how the football team does in the fall. I wouldn't be surprised to see Houston Nutt get kicked out the door ahead of Broyles' retirement, but again, I'm just a peanut-gallery spectator with little knowledge or understanding of the situation. I just know the program's decline has taken away some free fun for the po' folks.
Any Razorback fans (or anyone else) who can fill in or correct any of this post, please do. 5442. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 7:09:39 PM Cool women's basketball story. 5443. jexster - 4/7/2007 10:59:09 PM The triennial Little League International Congress is being held this coming week in Houston. As part of the opening festivities, they have a parade of kids carrying flags.
My "Dream League" nephew and possibly his younger brother,the Little Leaguer, will carry flags Friday.
5444. wabbit - 4/10/2007 3:54:40 PM Is Don Imus a complete idiot or what? Did he learn nothing from the Mel Gibson/Michael Richards/Tim Hardaway comments? Not that Jesse Jackson has any point to make, after saying that Imus' remark about "nappy-headed hos" is the same as if Brian Williams said it on the evening news. Huh? I don't think so. However, I'm not buying the "this is comedy, I'm an entertainer, not a news person" crap. He may not be Brian Williams, but neither is he Howard Stern. He manages to get a lot of politicos and movers and shakers on his show, and they aren't there for entertainment value. And only Michele Moore, senior vice president of the Urban League, has made the point that this is as sexist as it is racist. Imus would not have made a similar comment about the mens' team. Yes, I know he called the New York Knicks a group of "chest-thumping pimps", but they are professional athletes making millions off playing a game, not college kids. And don't even get me started about the vast differences between womens' and mens' college sports. Imus has always been an ignornant dickwad to the few women who have worked with/for him, and if he was really feeling bad about what he said, he'd have apologized before there was a backlash in the press. I'm really sick and tired of the meanness and cruelty that is passed off as humor, and how women are supposed to smile and pretend it's all funny or be told they have no sense of humor. It's a con and we fell for it, but enough already. I hope the women at Rutgers show Imus what class really is, but I'm not sure he'd get the point. 5445. wabbit - 4/10/2007 3:54:59 PM  Unheralded Zach Johnson won the Masters' green jacket and had to beat Tiger Woods to get it. Johnson pulled away from Woods and the rest of the pack with three birdies in a crucial four-hole stretch along the back nine of Augusta National, closing with a 69 for a two-shot victory and only the second of his career. The 31-year-old self-described "normal guy" from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the least accomplished Masters champion since Larry Mize chipped in to beat Greg Norman in a playoff 20 years ago, but this was no fluke. Even as some of the thrills returned in the final round, Johnson kept his calm. And there wasn't anything Woods could do about it. Johnson shot 71-73-76-69 for a total of 289, which tied the record for the highest winning score set by Jack Burke in 1956.
To win the Masters, Johnson beat some of the world's top-ranked golfers. Now he's one of them. Johnson tamed a tough Augusta National and shot a 3-under 69 Sunday for his first major championship and only his second win on the PGA Tour, moving up 41 places to No. 15 in the latest Official World Golf Ranking. He was the first player ranked outside the world top 50 to win the Masters since the world rankings began 21 years ago. Among the players Johnson beat out Sunday was Tiger Woods, who tied for second place and, of course, retained his position at the No. 1-ranked golfer. Woods was followed again by Jim Furyk, Australian Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, South African Ernie Els, Henrik Stenson of Sweden and Vijay Singh of Fiji in positions 2-7. Retief Goosen of South Africa also tied for second place and moved up one place to No. 8, bumping Australian Geoff Ogilvy from his position last week. Ogilvy dropped to ninth, while Padraig Harrington of Ireland and Luke Donald of England, remained 10th and 11th respectively. Trevor Immelman of South Africa and Paul Casey of England parlayed nice showings at Augusta into one-spot bumps in the rankings to 12th and 13th respectively, knocking Spaniard Sergio Garcia two places to 14th. Johnson was followed by Charles Howell III and Australian Nick O'Hern, who both lost one spot to dip to 16th and 17th. Australian Stuart Appleby and David Toms were up one place apiece to 18th and 19th, while Australian Robert Allenby and David Love III both lost three spots to drop to 20th and 21st this week.
5446. wabbit - 4/10/2007 3:55:16 PM  Beating the odds again, Michigan State won its first NCAA hockey championship in 21 years. Justin Abdelkader snapped a tie with 18.9 seconds to go, seconds after ringing a shot off the post in the Spartans' 3-1 victory over Boston College on Saturday night. Jeff Lerg made 29 saves, and Chris Mueller added an empty-net goal with 1.2 seconds left to clinch it for the Spartans (26-13-3), a lightly regarded No. 3 seed in the Midwest Regional when the tournament began. Tim Kennedy tied it midway through the third period, and set up the go-ahead goal from behind the net when he spun off his man and passed the puck in front. Abdelkader, the MVP of the finals, beat Cory Schneider for his 15th goal and first in nine games.
Bridgewater State set NCAA Division III records for runs, hits, RBIs and victory margin Monday, routing Newbury 57-1 in seven innings. Bridgewater State also broke the NCAA all-divisions record for RBIs and tied the mark for hits, finishing with 54 RBIs and 44 hits. Steve Smith had seven hits, 10 RBIs and scored seven times to help Bridgewater State break the Division III records for runs and margin of victory set in Marietta's 48-0 victory over La Roche in 1999. Smith tied the record for hits in a game. The 54 RBIs broke the all-divisions mark of 53 set by Division II St. Francis of Illinois in a 1996 victory over Robert Morris. The 44 hits tied the record set by St. Francis in that 1996 game. Suffolk set the previous Division III RBI mark of 43 in a 2005 victory over Southern Vermont, and Baldwin-Wallace set the old Division III hits record of 42 in a 2002 win over Lake Erie.
5447. wabbit - 4/10/2007 3:55:30 PM  Tiago, a half brother to 2005 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Giacomo, earned a chance to match a victory previously achieved by his sibling in the first leg of the Triple Crown by rallying to score half-length win in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (G1) on Saturday at Santa Anita Park. Racing without blinkers for the first time, Tiago and jockey Mike Smith powered past runner-up King of the Roxy with an explosive stretch run. Jerry and Ann Moss bred and owned Giacomo and Tiago, both of whom were trained by John Shirreffs. Smith guided Giacomo to a fourth-place finish in the 2005 Santa Anita Derby prior to winning the Kentucky Derby. Giacomo, by Holy Bull, and Tiago, by Pleasant Tap, are out of multiple stakes winner Set Them Free, by Stop the Music.
Nobiz Like Shobiz solidified his status as a leading contender for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) with a determined half-length score in the $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Aqueduct. Wearing blinkers for the first time, the Albert the Great colt delivered a much more professional performance in the stretch to rebound from a disappointing third-place finish in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) on March 3.
Cowtown Cat made another giant step forward in his now inexorable march towards the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) when he soundly defeated eight challengers in a 2 ¼-length victory in the $500,000 Illinois Derby (G2) on Saturday at Hawthorne Race Course. A race that was billed as a two-horse match race between Cowtown Cat and Cobalt Blue turned into a tour de force for Cowtown Cat, who under jockey Fernando Jara took the lead out of the gate in the 1 1/8-mile race and never relinquished it, drawing away nearing the finish and crossing the line in 1:51.21 on a fast track. Late-running Reporting for Duty closed to outgame third-place finisher Bold Start by three-quarters of a length. Cobalt Blue raced in fourth, not far off the lead early, but never menaced, fading to seventh in the lane while racing wide.
5448. wonkers2 - 4/12/2007 3:56:13 AM wabbit, you got it right on Imus. I've never been a fan and now I know why. Maybe Jexter can take his place. 5449. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 4/12/2007 4:18:50 AM I relish wabb's indignation; she's a righteous and insightful force to admire.
Imus has always played to the locker-room wannabes and the macho assholes. Cheap, mean shots are his stock and trade and he's always needed a comeuppance--so let's hope this will bring it about. 5450. wabbit - 4/14/2007 8:01:03 PM I liked Sally Jenkins take on this (thanks for the heads-up, Anhaga!).
I don't want Don Imus fired. Instead, I want him to buy season tickets to Rutgers women's basketball and sit in the front row wearing a sweat shirt with a big letter R on it at every home game.
It serves no purpose to call for Imus's job; that's mere harsh vengeance and we've had enough undue harshness. If you shut down Imus's show, silence him, the conversation ends there. What's needed in the Rutgers-Imus affair, and on the subjects of racism and sexism in general, is not silence but talk, lots of it, and what's needed in women's basketball is a promoter. I know just the guy for the job... 5451. wabbit - 4/14/2007 8:02:44 PM On a lighter note, eat your heart, Joey Fatone - this is dancing with a star!
5452. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 4/14/2007 8:36:23 PM In January 2005, on the day of Bush’s second inaugaration, Cheney and his wife, Lynne, granted Imus a lengthy, exclusive interview, in which Mrs. Cheney affectionately referred to Imus as “the I-man.”
Asked to explain why Cheney chose Imus’ show for the big inaugaration day interview, long-time Cheney adviser Mary Matalin, who negotiated the appearance for the vice president, told the New York Times:
The vice president, she said, has a wry sense of humor.
He has the same sense of humor that Imus has. He thinks Imus is funny. He gets good guests on. And he asks good questions. It’s not really strategic or complicated. Not everything we do has to work on 50 different levels.”
Vice President Cheney has not yet been asked to comment on the Imus controversy, but given his past relationship with Imus, it might be worth some reporter asking if he still shares Imus’ sense of humor. 5453. wabbit - 4/14/2007 9:15:23 PM Imus did have good guests (which is why he can't claim shock-jock status anymore just because it would be convenient), and unlike a lot of tv/radio people who are only interested in the sound of their own voice and those who are in complete agreement with them, he let people speak. I used to get a kick out of the guy who did the impersonations. However, all the good guests in the world, and the charity work he never let anyone forget he was doing, don't excuse him. I believe he is sincerely embarrassed, and he should be. I hope when he lands on satellite radio, and we all know that day can't be far off, that he shows a bit of the class that he was shown by the women of Rutgers.
And now, I'm done talking about Imus. How about those Red Sox!!
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