May 2005

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Zygi played hardball

Filed under: Vikings

Wilf unanimously approved by NFL to own Vikes

The local media have been rooting for him all along, and now the self-congratulatory orgy can begin. As a counterpoint, here's a bit on how Reggie Fowler was used and abused.

 

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at May 25, 2005 11:21 AM

 

Eastern Conference Finals Preview

Filed under: NBA

Eastern Conference Finals Preview

Trying to distill a playoff series preview down to two or three key elements is generally a foolhardy endeavor, especially for a matchup as compelling as the Pistons versus the Heat. Injuries, adjustments, and officiating (in that order) are three wild cards that can turn an initially prescient analysis logy and anachronistic. That said, I think that the longer Detroit is forced to utilize Antonio McDyess in close games, the less chance the Pistons have of besting Miami.

Everyone talks about Detroit's rugged defense, which is indeed a beautifully synchronized and synergistic display of sweat equity. It's pretty much the same bunch that dismantled Shaq and the Lakers in last year's championship series. But this season, Shaq is much lighter and quicker, hungrier in more ways than one. And his supporting cast in Miami is far more cohesive, committed, and well-defined than his rancid rival Kobe and the aging ring prospectors Malone and Payton that he left behind in L.A.

The biggest upgrade between the '04 Lakers and '05 Heat is at power forward. Last year, injuries to Malone left the Lakers with woeful Slava Medvedenko or (very briefly) Brian Cook playing the 4, or the undersized Devean George or Luke Walton when they went small. That's the main reason why the Pistons overwhelmed L.A. on the glass by plus-nine rebounds per game. By contrast, the Heat have the criminally underrated Udonis Haslem, a rebounding terror who excels at box-outs, tips, and chasing down loose balls. That's a potentially bad match-up for Pistons power forward Rasheed Wallace, who'd rather launch baseline jumpers on one end and move in for weakside blocks on the other instead of doing the dirty work down low. A huge factor in this series will be whether or not 'Sheed can hit that jumper, or, failing that, joust with Haslem near the hoop. If not, coach Larry Brown will have to call on the less mobile but more low-post oriented McDyess.

But McDyess may already be logging minutes for Ben Wallace, the undersized center who will be draw the unenviable task of containing Shaq. Pistons fans who want to take solace in the job Detroit did on Shaq last season need to be reminded that the best defense against the Big Aristotle in the '04 Finals was Kobe Bryant's ego. When Kobe deigned to get Shaq the ball, the big fella shot 63 percent. Kobe, who shot 38 percent, launched 29 more attempts in the five-game series. I think Wallace is a stellar defender (although undeserving of his multiple Defensive Player of the Year awards), but unless Shaq's thigh bruise is pretty severe, he's going to need lots of help during this series. And Eldon Campbell isn't going to cut it. Wallace's reputation will help him with officials, which is always a crucial consideration where Shaq is concerned, and if the whistles go against Shaq for charges, it obviously favors the Pistons. Shaq's backup, Alonzo Mourning, was a nice pickup for Miami, but at this stage of his career, 'Zo is no better than a poor man's Ben Wallace.

Out on the perimeter, it will be interesting to see how much and how effectively Tayshaun Prince guards the whirlwind Dwyane Wade. Although he's averaging more than five turnovers a game thus far in the playoffs, Wade's ball-handling and decision-making are superior to Kobe's, and he's far more effective without the ball. If the Pistons decide to leave Prince on Eddie Jones, Wade is far too strong for Rip Hamilton, and will tax Chauncey Billups enough to hinder Billups' ability to run the offense at the other end of the court.

The Heat are not without some matchup problems of their own, however. Hamilton's nonstop motion and clutch shooting makes him the rightful heir to Reggie Miller's legacy, and a nightmare to defend. Eddie Jones isn't young enough, Damon James won't be sufficiently dedicated to the task, and you don't want Wade wasting all his calories bouncing off the bruises picks the Pistons will deploy to free Rip for jumpers. Nothing will come easily for either team in this series, but Hamilton and Shaq should both be fairly reliable sources of offense. But can 'Sheed hit that jumper at better than 40 percent? Can Detroit create scoring opportunities in the paint enough to put Shaq, 'Zo, and Haslem in foul trouble? If not, they need to generate turnovers and transition baskets.

People who like the Pistons in this series tend to discount some lackluster efforts against Indiana, and believe they will rise to the challenge. They also think Miami, and especially Shaq, who sat out the last two games against Washington, will be rusty. Maybe so. But unless the Wallaces are performing the roles capably enough to keep McDyess on the bench, I don't see how they solve the Heat's better balanced ballclub. It could last anywhere between five and seven games. I'll split the difference.

Miami in 6.

Posted by Britt Robson at May 23, 2005 5:35 PM

 

Spurs-Suns preview, fashionably late

Filed under: NBA

My apologies for the Hangtime hiatus. With the Wolves shoved to the curb, the absolute need for a Monday post has diminished; plus there?s a new roundelay of stadium-oriented chicanery to follow. I procrastinated on my second-round choices in the NBA playoffs, then rationalized it by assuming everyone knew that all the higher seeds would be triumphant. While that turned out to be the case, I was surprised by the rough patches Detroit and San Antonio endured (versus the gutsy Pacers and the Allen-propelled Sonics, respectively), and by the relative ease of the Heat?s sweep over the Wizards even Shaq as a spectator for most of the series. The only matchup that went according to form was Phoenix-Dallas, which I figured to be an entertaining six-game affair.

Read the entire preview here.

Posted by Britt Robson at May 22, 2005 3:55 PM

 

Malibu Moonshine is a lock to win the Preakness

Filed under: Horse Racing

Following the Kentucky Derby, the Washington Post's redoubtable racing scribe Andrew Beyer wrote an extremely cranky old-man screed about what a dismal race it was. He closed the column by pretty much accusing the entire 20-horse field of doping violations. The piece came off like the rantings of a man who just couldn't handle the fact that he'd been spectacularly wrong about the Derby.

Thankfully Beyer rebounds today with a persuasively argued handicapping of the 14-horse Preakness field. He's still oozing disdain for Giacomo (and pretty much every other three-year-old thoroughbred on the planet), but he makes a compelling case for why Afleet Alex is being overhyped and why Greeley's Galaxy and Closing Argument are the two most intriguing horses in the field.

Over in the Baltimore Sun, John Eisenberg has a swell column about a new Bud Greenspan documentary premiering today on ESPN Classic at 2 p.m CST. (It will air again tomorrow at 10 a.m. CST) The film details the career of 1941 Triple Crown winner Whirlaway. The mercurial colt is best known for walking out of the gate at the start of the Preakness--only to come back and trounce the field.

Personally I'll be pulling for King Leatherbury tomorrow.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 20, 2005 2:35 PM

 

Do Moss and Culpepper need a sit-down with Dr. Phil?

Filed under: NFL

We've all had it happen. Your best buddy in elementary school moves away. There are vows to stay in touch, addresses exchanged, pictures taken. Then... bupkiss, nada, end of story. In a recent Sports Illustrated interview, former Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss bemoaned the loss of his close relationship with quarterback Daunte Culpepper. "Once you grow to love a person, a breakup is kind of hard," Moss sobbed. "I thought Culpepper was (my friend), but now that everything's happened, it seems to me I lost a friend." Culpepper countered in the press today: "My phone number hasn't changed. If you're my friend, why haven't you talked to me? Know what I'm saying?" Could a little straight talk and some tough love from Dr. Phil save this relationship? Or will the torrid decimation of this friendship continue to play out in USA Today for all the world to see?

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 18, 2005 2:57 PM

 

Favre's karma: Shock jock shocked

Filed under: NFL

Remeber Lee Mroszak, aka "Cabe?" He's the former KQRS prankster who perpetrated a 1997 radio hoax in which he purported to catch Packer quarterback Brett Favre cheating on his wife. It caused a big furor at the time, and cost Mroszak his job. After that, Mroszak faded from view. In 1999, the former Gulf War vet resurfaced briefly in a Doug Grow column. By then, according to Grow, the former shock jock was out of radio, born again, sober and--great detail!--making his living by selling ads for a publication called Sex Inc.

The good times couldn't last.

Mroszak is back in the news again--this time for tax evasion. How'd he get caught? By being an idiot. More specifically, after resurrecting his provacateur act for the Howard Stern Show, Mroszak actually boasted on air that he hadn't paid his income taxes for three years. Naturally, an IRS agent/Stern fan opened an investigation and, last week, Mroszak, who now likes to be called "Crazy Cabbie," was sentenced by a federal judge to one year in prison.

Moral: Don't brag about your crimes, don't cross Brett Favre.

Posted by Mike Mosedale at May 17, 2005 2:10 PM

 

Tour de Hell

Filed under: Cycling

Two-wheeled masochism makes its debut in White Bear Lake

 

The sport of randonneuring has been keeping a low profile recently in the national media. Let's put that another way: Pretty much no one has heard of randonneuring, and it's not going to be turning up on KFAN or ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, or ESPN593 anytime soon. Don't bother looking for it on OLN's Cyclism Sundays, either.

 

Which is just fine with the long-haul cyclists who have built a small religion around the act of self-supported, timed, marathon bicycle events. And when I say marathon, I actually mean five times that number, minimum. The ultimate accomplishment in this masochistic practice is the quadrennial "Paris-Brest-Paris" rally, which spans 1,200 km (or 746 miles) in 90 hours or less. It's an achievement managed at great cost to one's buttocks--less a sporting event than a two-wheeled vision quest.

 

One qualifies for the honor of falling asleep on two wheels in a foreign land by dint of having completed four preparatory "brevets" of 200km, 300km, 400km, and 600km, all within a season. While P-B-P isn't slated to occur again until August of 2007, an intrepid claque of Minnesota riders has begun a just-for-kicks-and-saddle-sores randonneur cycle this spring, ranging from White Bear Lake through western Wisconsin. (Previous Minnesota brevets started from Rochester). The first ride promised 6,000 feet of climbing, a number that would break the will and annihilate the quads of even the bad-assest fixed-gear bike messenger.

 

Needless to say, a Wagner Ring cycle would require both less sitting and less spiritual torment. There are no sponsors, no sag wagons, no food tents. There's no prize at the end for the first finisher. In fact, there's no particular honor for finishing first. The nominal registration fee and completion of the full circuit gets you nothing more than a medal (which you also have to pay for). If I'm not mistaken, you need to mail away to some sanctioning body in France.

 

All this is another way of saying that randonneurs are a particular breed; one assumes that these rides represent a form of penitence for sins too sordid too name. Perhaps this dynamic helps explain why the published accounts of these rides often seem to be describing pilgrimages of gruesome proportions, with semi-ecstatic endings. Kudos go to Minnesota randonneur organizer Tim McNamara, then, for his unvarnished and wryly funny report on this Saturday's debut brevet:

 

The return leg was not so kind. Around noon the temperature began to drop, the wind picked up from the northwest, and squalls dumped loads of rain, sleet and even a little hail to complicate matters. As if 63 miles into a 30 mph headwind wasn't enough of a complication! This didn't stop the first finishers from getting back to White Bear Lake in 8:19! Your humble reporter (that "humble" part is a flat-out lie according to said reporter's spouse) ambled back two hours later, having spent an hour and a half just covering the last 15 miles.

It would be disingenuous to say this was a nice ride. It wasn't. The high rate of attrition points this out. It was a battle with the elements and just a hard slog.

So who's on board for May 28's 300km follow-up?

Posted by Michael Tortorello at May 16, 2005 1:54 PM | Comments (3)

 

No Respect for the Little Giant

Filed under: Boxing

St. Paul's "Steel" Will Grigsby--the best Minnsota boxer of his generation and arguably the best in several decades--will be fighting for a world title on Saturday evening. Neither the Star Tribune nor the Pi Press has seen fit to make notice of this.

This is inexplicable.

The 108-pound Grigsby is a slick and entertaining boxer and his story makes for great copy: Coming up from the rough streets of Frogtown, Grigsby won his first world title in 1998, lost that belt in a slugfest with the legendary Ricardo Lopez, and returned to win another minor belt only to have it stripped after he tested positive for pot. (Obviously, he should have purchased a Whizzinator). Then, following arrests on dog-fighting and domestic abuse charges, Grigsby was sent to prison. His career looked to be finished.

Now, after a two-and-a-half year layoff, Grigsby is poised to make his comeback, fighting on the undercard of the long awaited Winky Wright-Felix Trinidad pay-per-view card. And no one is writing about it. Well, almost no one. Minnesotaboxing.com just published a Q and A with the former champ.

Posted by Mike Mosedale at May 12, 2005 9:14 AM

 

'Roid Report: What have we learned so far?

Filed under: MLB

In baseball's new era, steroids are mainly the province of the marginal and the desperate

1: It's not the front-line sluggers who are using steroids these days; it's the marginal talent on major league rosters and their minor league affiliates--the guys who have the least to lose and the most incentive to go for broke. And among them, there are quite a number of pitchers. So far five players from MLB's 40-man rosters have tested positive: Twins P Juan Rincon, Tampa OF Alex Sanchez, Colorado OF Jorge Piedra, Seattle OF Jamal Strong, and Texas P Agustin Montero. (Despite their roster status, only the first two were actually playing in the majors this season.) The number of minor leaguers who have tested positive so far: 47, including eight from the Seattle Mariners system.

2: The suspensions are hitting Latino players particularly hard. Is this because of a language gap, or because Latino players come through a ragged, brutal player development system that tacitly encourages such things?

3: It's probably too soon to begin to see the real impact of quitting steroids on the players who have forsworn them in the glare of baseball's new suspension policy. The most interesting comment on the matter we've seen was in Gary Smith's (generally overwrought) Sports Illustrated cover story a few weeks back. Former minor league slugger and lifelong weight-lifter Tex Warfield told Smith the real payoff from steroids isn't strength, but stamina:

"All these people who say that steroids don't help you hit a baseball, don't help hand-eye coordination, here's what they're missing: There are no dog days of summer when you're on steroids! As long as you stay on 'em, you stay strong, you have an abundance of energy every day. You feel the same in September as you did in April. Barry Bonds hasn't had dog days in four years. People don't understand the dog days. Home runs come from hitting the ball out in front, but by September, even when I'd drop from a 35-ounce bat to a 31, I'd be catching the ball a foot behind. What was a homer in May would be a can o' corn in August."

Posted by Steve Perry at May 10, 2005 9:39 AM

 

Derby Day

Filed under: Horse Racing

For the first time ever Canterbury Park's opening meet will coincide with the running of the Kentucky Derby. It should make for a fabulous day out at the track. Post time is 1:30 p.m.

Bellamy Road is obviously the beast to beat in the 20-horse Derby field. The George Steinbrenner-owned thoroughbred tied a 32-year-old course record in winning the Wood Memorial by 17 1/2 lengths last month. That monster performance (warranting a stratospheric 120 Beyer speed rating) ensured that he'll go off as the favorite, currently at odds of 5-2. Following a week of impressive workouts at Churchill Downs, everyone seems to be a Bellamy Road believer. Daily Racing Form columnists Andrew Beyer and Steven Crist both predict the frontrunner will romp through the field. (You can read Beyer's take for free in the Washington Post.) The only knock on Bellamy Road is that he hasn't raced enough, just twice this year and five times total. Only one horse in the last 57 years--Sunny's Halo in 1983--has won the Derby in his third race of the year.

Afleet Alex is the sentimental favorite, currently at odds of 9-2. He barely survived as a newborn because his mamma didn't have enough milk to nourish him. He had to be weened on a Coors Light beer bottle. The horse's breeder is sick with cancer of the colon and liver. And Afleet Alex overcame a lung infection to crush the field in the Arkansas Derby.

The only other entrant drawing much acclaim is Bandini, the rambunctious sire of Fusaichi Pegasus. He won the Blue Grass Stakes and has tremendous potential, but is unpredictable.

A couple of other horses that I'm intrigued by. Buzzard's Bay won the Santa Anita Derby (usually considered the most prestigious Derby prep race), but can't get any respect. He's currently at 20-1, probably owing to a lackluster Beyer speed rating of 98. Greeley's Galaxy topped the Illinois Derby, but still didn't have enough earnings to make the cut for Churchill Downs. His owner ponied up an extra $200,000 to get him into the race. Greeley's Galaxy has the third best Breyer rating in the field, but is still going off at odds of 15-1.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 6, 2005 3:35 PM

 

Minnesota Twins pitcher Juan Rincon suspended for drug policy violation

Filed under: Twins

It was announced today that Minnesota Twins pitcher Juan Rincon has become the fifth player to be suspended under Major League Baseball's new policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

Read the Twins press release on the subject here.

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 2, 2005 12:34 PM

 

Minnesota Twins pitcher Juan Rincon suspended for drug policy violation

Filed under: Twins

Minnesota Twins pitcher Juan Rincon suspended for drug policy violation

It was announced today that Minnesota Twins pitcher Juan Rincon has become the fifth player to be suspended under Major League Baseball's new policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

Press release from the Minnesota Twins:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 2, 2005

RINCON SUSPENDED FOR VIOLATING MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL'S DRUG POLICY
Twins will select contract of Scott Baker to replace Rincon

Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN - The Minnesota Twins have been notified by Major League Baseball and the Office of the Commissioner that righthanded pitcher Juan Rincon has tested positive for a prohibited substance listed on Major League Baseball's Drug Policy.

As the policy states, Rincon will be suspended for 10 calendar days, with the suspension beginning today and ending on May 11. He will be reinstated from the suspended list on May 12. In 12 games this season, Rincon is 2-1, 2.25 (12.0 ip, 3 er) with 5 walks and 15 strikeouts.

To replace Rincon on the active roster, the Twins will select the contract of righthanded pitcher Scott Baker from Rochester (AAA, International League). In 5 starts this season with the Red Wings, Baker is 1-0, 1.33 (27.0 ip, 4 er) with one complete game, giving up 25 hits while walking 6 and striking out 20.

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 2, 2005 12:31 PM

 

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