Posted on June 29th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Standing on the seventh green Friday while waiting his turn to putt, Jason Day shook his shoulder-length hair and poured water into his cap. The temperature was rising and Day’s score was threatening to do likewise.
After scoring 69 in the opening round of the AT&T National, good for a fifth-place tie, he was 2 over for the day with just three holes remaining. Meanwhile, playing partner Robert Garrigus was as hot as the weather, charging up the leader board with six birdies to three bogeys. Day went par-birdie-par to finish his round and minimize the damage, leaving him tied for 15th-place at 1 under.
“I haven’t played great, but I haven’t played that bad,” said the 24-year-old Australian, summing up his year and his week. “It’s good to be back here and last year was great. I’ve still got two more days to go, and I feel like I’m in pretty good position.”
He’s actually in better shape this year after two rounds at Congressional. Last year, when he wound up second behind runaway winner Rory McIlroy in the U.S. Open, Day sat at 1 over entering Saturday.
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Posted on June 29th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Unless you normally pose in the nude or star in porn films, it’s probably a bad idea to circulate pictures of yourself naked. And it’s a really, really bad idea if you’re a celebrity or public figure of any kind. Just ask former Rep. Anthony Weiner.
So we have to ask Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson: “What were you thinking?”
It’s one thing to have an affair. But it’s something else altogether to send your mistress naked pictures of yourself, especially when she’s a former stripper with an acquaintance who spent 12 years in prison and they decide to blackmail you.
“My family and I were the victims of an extortion scheme,” Jackson said Thursday in a statement Thursday, after Alexis Adams and Marcus Shaw were arrested on federal charges. According to an affidavit from an FBI agent, Jackson paid Shaw $5,000 earlier this year. But — surprise, surprise — Shaw later demanded more money, prompting Jackson to contact the FBI.
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Posted on June 28th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Tiger Woods was back Thursday afternoon, playing at Congressional Country Club for the first time in three years. He was back in March, winning an official PGA Tour event for the first time in 932 days. He also was back earlier this month, becoming a multiple-winner on the Tour for the first time since 2009.
Of course, none of those feats answered the humongous question that hangs over golf: “When will Tiger be back?” However, each small step makes the query less relevant.
The further we move away from Thanksgiving 2009, the more we realize that, in many ways, Woods never left.
Sure, the results in his 2010 and 2011 seasons were largely forgettable, with unheard of finishes such as tied for 78th, tied for 44th and missed cuts. But he managed to compete in three of six Grand Slam tournaments, arguably the only events that matter at this point, validating his position as ratings candy for TV networks.
His game has suffered ups and down, but interest hasn’t waned one bit.
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Posted on June 27th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Ever since last summer, New York Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire has displayed an uncanny knack for doing the wrong thing. Even worse than being a leading candidate for the Bad Judgment Award, he’s also a favorite for the Bad Timing Award.
He attempted a fancy dunk and injured his back during warmups, leading him to miss the second half of a game … in the 2011 playoffs. He punched a glass case surrounding a fire extinguisher and suffered lacerations on his left hand, leading him to miss a game … in the playoffs last month.
Now Stoudemire has caused himself more grief — and cost himself $50,000 — by unleashing a homophobic slur at a fan on Twitter … during Gay Pride weekend.
The insult wasn’t intended for public consumption, sent instead as a direct message. But the fan, Brian Ferrelli, re-tweeted a screen shot of Stoudemire’s response to a suggestion that he come back “a lot stronger and quicker” next season.
“F— you,” reads the direct message. “I don’t have to do any thing fag.”
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Posted on June 26th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
I imagine everyone has things in their past that they don’t want folks to know about. Whether it’s youthful indiscretions or regrettable choices in adulthood, we’re thankful that our lives aren’t open books for all the world to see.
Not that there’s overwhelming interest in every Tom, Dick and Harry (unless they have surnames like Cruise, Cheney and Potter). But we’d hate it if our secrets were revealed and caused disappointment among our family, friends and associates.
On the flip side, we don’t mind hearing about other people’s dirt, especially public figures. TMZ and the National Enquirer play leading roles in an industry devoted to uncovering celebrities’ veiled truths … or passing along juicy rumors.
So it’s likely that Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III is the subject of some frantic, furious research efforts at this very moment. And to be completely honest, I’m curious about what might turn up.
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Posted on June 25th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
If Venus Williams is destined to lose her battle against age, injuries and Sjogren’s syndrome, she’s determined to go down swinging. She was unable to muster much resistance Monday in an opening-round match at Wimbledon, but Williams refused to concede that her reign as a premier player has ended.
“I feel like I’m a great player,” Williams said after losing in Wimbledon’s first round for the first time since her debut appearance in 1997. “I am a great player. Unfortunately I have to deal with circumstances that people don’t have to deal with normally in a sport, but I can’t be discouraged by that. I’m up for challenges.”
Williams, 32, a five-time Wimbledon champion, hasn’t been herself for a while. She revealed in August that she suffers from an autoimmune condition that can cause fatigue and joint pain. Following a seven-month layoff, she returned to the tour in March, hoping to earn a bid on the U.S. Olympic team for the London Games.
The comeback has included measured success, such as reaching the quarterfinals in three tournaments and improving her world ranking from No. 134 to No. 58. But in her second-round defeat last month at the French Open, as well as Monday’s 6-1, 6-3 loss to Russia’s Elena Vesnina, Williams seemed to lack energy. She lost the first five games in a match that lasted just one hour and 15 minutes.
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Posted on June 22nd, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
As the clock wound down Thursday night, with the outcome clear, LeBron James let everything out. All the grief he took for leaving Cleveland. All the hate he received for going to Miami. All the criticism he endured for failing in the NBA Finals last year.
The only “crimes” were his over-the-top TV special two years ago and his reckless prediction that the Heat would win eight titles. Yet that was enough to make him Public Enemy No. 1, despised and resented like no one else in the NBA. Overnight, he went from being the league’s most popular player to its most polarizing, and it made him an angrier, less joyous player.
But all of that disappeared in the final moments of Miami’s series-clinching victory.
James jumped up and down with his teammates on the sideline. He flailed his arms and smiled widely. He displayed the unbridled joy that’s reserved for children and champions. His performance spoke for itself — a triple-double in Game 5 and the NBA Finals MVP trophy award — but he addressed his many critics afterward, especially those who called him selfish.
“That got to me a lot because I know that this is a team game,” James said. “I know the coaches that I had when I was younger always preached about team. There’s no ‘I’ in team, and to win a championship, no matter on which level, you have to do it as a team.
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Posted on June 21st, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld has been an all-or-nothing guy to an extent, engineering deals that are great or gross, but rarely in-between.
Acquiring Kevin Seraphin and Kirk Hinrich for the rights to Vladimir Veremeenko was fantastic, especially once Hinrich was traded for Jordan Crawford plus a first-round draft pick. Shipping off Kwame Brown for Caron Butler was another stroke of genius
But giving Andray Blatche a $25 million extension was as boneheaded as the player proved to be. And even with a gun in his face, Grunfeld should have passed on signing Gilbert Arenas to a $111 million contract.
Washington’s latest move — trading Rashard Lewis for Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza — doesn’t fall in either extreme category. I don’t love it, and I don’t hate it. The transaction seems like a so-so deal for a mediocre team, perhaps good enough to have a fair-to-middling impact, but not enough to make a substantial leap.
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Posted on June 20th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Linebacker Jonathan Vilma has become the face of “bountygate,” the New Orleans Saints’ alleged program that rewarded players for injurious hits. No other player has been mentioned as prominently or suffered a more severe penalty (season-long suspension). But Vilma, who last month filed a defamation lawsuitagainst NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, faces a near-impossible task in clearing his name.
He received a firsthand lesson on Monday, when Goodell heard appeals from Vilma and three other players who were penalized. Goodell shared the league’s evidence with reporters, including Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, who wrote that “all of this cannot be invented.” Vilma and his attorney, Peter Ginsberg, were unimpressed and left the proceedings early.
Vilma complained to reporters about Goodell’s role as “judge, jury and executioner,” and Ginsberg also blasted the process. “We’re not willing to participate in that kind of sham,” the attorney said. “The commissioner had legal obligations and procedural obligations. He failed in those obligations, and as far as we’re concerned, these proceedings are over.”
Unfortunately for Vilma and any player who lands in Goodell’s doghouse, the commissioner has absolute power. If they don’t like that fact, they have only themselves and their union to blame. Goodell’s power was left intact when the league and the union settled their labor dispute last summer and signed a 10-year collective bargaining agreement.
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Posted on June 19th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The verdicts are in. All that remains now are the votes. Baseball’s poster boys for the Steroid Era — Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds — have endured their government trials. They have gotten off scot-free and with a wrist slap, respectively, making a mockery of federal prosecutors. But the best pitcher and best hitter of their generation have yet to be judged by the baseball writers who elect players to the Hall of Fame.
Despite Clemens‘ victory in court Monday, several more years must pass before we finally close the book on steroids in MLB. We won’t move on completely until every potential candidate associated with that era, including the New York Yankees‘ current third baseman, has appeared on the ballot and been voted in or left out.
The cases of Clemens, Bonds and Alex Rodriguez represent three of the four categories players can fall into. There are suspects who deny using performance-enhancing drugs; suspects who claim they unknowingly used PEDs; and players who admit to usage, whether or not they were suspects.
The fourth designation is impossible to calibrate, no matter how hard Hall of Fame voters try: players who aren’t linked to PEDs and have never said a word, neither denying nor confirming usage.
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