Posted on May 8th, 2015
By DERON SNYDER
If the number seven represents completion, Tiger Woods has about 18 months until his roller-coaster comes to an end.
Considering all that has occurred since that fateful Thanksgiving in 2009 – when then-wife Elin Nordegren chased Woods out the house and he crashed his Escalade into a fire hydrant – you might think the last year-and-a-half of his season would be drama-free.
For one thing, the period has been relatively free of victories. Prior to being outed as a serial adulterer, Woods could point to three years when won at least eight tournaments. But he has won just eight times total since 2009.
That must not be enough suffering to please the penance police. In addition to not winning on the golf course, Woods is losing when he’s off it.
The latest indignity arrived last Sunday when his girlfriend, Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, broke up with him after three years. Making life worse, the relationship ended around the same time his father died (May 3) in 2006.
“This three-day window is really hard,” Woods told reporters Tuesday as he practiced for this weekend’s Players Championship. “I haven’t slept. These three days, May 3rd through the 5th, is just brutal on me. And then with obviously what happened on Sunday, it just adds to it.”
Woods could lament everything he has lost. The No.1 ranking. His wife and kids. A chance to tie Jack Nicklaus’ record for major championships. Millions of dollars in endorsements.
But a funny thing happened during his fall. No longer the world’s best golfer, he’s arguably become a better man.
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Posted on May 6th, 2015
By DERON SNYDER
With John Wall sidelined in a dark suit with matching soft cast Tuesday night, the Washington Wizards lost their mojo and first playoff game this season. An excellent chance to return home with a 2-0 series lead died a slow death in the Atlanta Hawks’ 106-90 victory.
Whether the Hawks played better because it was inevitable, because they were desperate or because Wall was absent, they reminded us how they won 60 games to become the East’s No.1 seed. Atlanta flashed the San Antonian ways that second-year coach Mike Budenholzer instilled after spending 19 years under coach Gregg Popovich.
The Hawks were labeled “Spurs of the East” for good reason and they showed why with unselfish play and 30 assistss on 37 field goals.
“If we keep moving the ball, keep attacking and keep finding the open man,” Budenholzer told reporters after the game, “good things will happen.”
On a team with four All-Stars and no superstars, the coach might be the brightest luminary. The task in Game 2 was easier without worrying about Wall pushing on offense and pestering on defense, but Budenholzer got his team to play the beautiful style that has become a San Antonio trademark.
The Wizards also have displayed stretches of alluring basketball in the playoffs, but they’ve accomplished it one of the league’s top point guards. Wall’s breathtaking speed and breakneck forays on the rim are unique, impossible to duplicate and difficult to replicate.
His backup, Ramon Sessions, had an outstanding outing. He scored 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting with four assists and just two turnovers in 40 minutes of action. With Sessions running the point, Washington stayed close throughout, trailing by three points with 8:17 remaining in the game.
But the Hawks’ aesthetically pleasing play went up a notch the rest of the way, as they shot 53 percent from the floor and recorded six assists on eight field goals. Atlanta closed the contest with a 22-9 run.
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Posted on May 5th, 2015
By DERON SNYDER
Hearts stopped for Washington Wizards fans at two points during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, once in the second quarter and again in the fourth.
First point guard John Wall writhed in pain as he held his left wrist after an awkward fall. Then shooting guard Bradley Beal pounded the floor in agony, pain consuming his right ankle, after he stepped on Al Horford’s foot.
Wall and Beal, the Wizards’ twin building blocks, returned in Washington’s 104-98 victory against the Atlanta Hawks, allowing fans to breathe again. The dynamic duo also helped the team’s growing identity take root. It’s a team persona that’s surprising to many observers, but forward Paul Pierce said there were no new revelations for him Sunday.
“Those guys have as much as heart as anybody in the building,” Pierce told reporters after Washington became the first NBA team win four consecutive series-openers on the road. “Both suffered pretty good injuries and were able to bounce back. I take my hat off to them. They showed a lot of grit.”
We’re still growing accustomed to associating the Wizards with terms such as gritty, resilient and tough. Those weren’t the dominant traits a few weeks ago as they limped down the stretch with a 6-8 record to end a disappointing second half of the regular season.
But the lesson they taught everyone last year is being repeated and reinforced this year: Pay no attention to the first 82 games. Those are merely the prelims for these Wizards, who have won more playoff games in the last two seasons than the previous 27 combined.
That wouldn’t be the case without Wall and Beal, who experienced their maiden postseasons last year and now play like crusty regulars. Beal scored a game-high 28 points against the Hawks, bumping his career playoff average to 20.1 ppg. Wall added 18 points and a game-high 13 assists, essentially matching his averages through five playoff games this year (17.4 points and 12.6 assists).
Imagining the Wizards without either is a horrific mental image, but it flashed through minds as they laid on the court. Beal’s scare was particularly frightful considering his history of leg injuries. A post-game X-ray on his ankle was negative and his status for Game 2 is uncertain.
“That’s probably the worst I ever turned it ,” Beal told reporters after the game. He vowed to contribute Tuesday, regardless. “I can’t let the team down,” he said. “Even if I’m not a threat, I can be a decoy. Just have to have the will and mentality to do whatever it takes to win.”
Youth isn’t wasted on this young backcourt.
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Posted on May 4th, 2015
By DERON SNYDER
Where was Public Enemy when we needed them?
In the heavily promoted run-up to a bout that was five years in the making and 10 years late, we would’ve been better served if Chuck D, Flavor Flav and Terminator X formed a reunion tour to sound the alarm and warn the masses about Saturday night’s so-called megafight.
“Don’t … don’t, don’t, don’t believe the hype!”
Never have so many been so disappointed after paying so much for a boxing match. And that’s a fact, because the pay-per-view for Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao cost a record-high $90 for standard definition and $100 for HD. Viewers at home paid around $8 per round to (finally) watch a bout that had maybe four compelling moments in Mayweather’s 12-round unanimous decision.
History suggested that the fight wouldn’t live up to its billing. But the general public sucks at history, which is why it’s so often repeated. “Disappointing” is the default setting for big-time boxing matches, which only rarely venture into “thrilling” and “exciting.”
Mayweather in particular isn’t known for producing scintillating action, rather technically brilliant but aesthetically boring fights. He’s a masterful strategist who methodically outpoints opponents while seldom putting himself at risk. His defensive tactics, counter-punching and ring generalship are marvels to behold for boxing’s cognoscenti.
But those skills are snooze-inducing for casual observers who want to see, you know, a fight!
It was a great night for star-gazing, The red-carpet A-listers were more interesting than the fight itself. A 19-year-old Bronx native sang the Philippine national anthem (after someone inexplicably sang the Mexican national anthem) and Jamie Foxx butchered the American national anthem. Then it was on.
Or so we thought.
If this was the fight to bring boxing back, cancel the resurrection. MayPac did more harm than good, causing millions to wonder why they ever clicked that button on the remote. Pacquiao was game, trying his best to get inside and mix things up. But Mayweather didn’t enter the ring at 47-0 by accident.
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Posted on May 1st, 2015
By DERON SNYDER
The long-awaited Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao bout is a fight of differences. Of excess and access. Of past and present. Of crime and punishment (or lack thereof).
Of the loved and the hated.
It’s a fight that ultimately exposes gaps in how we think, how we feel and how we live. It underscores cultural chasms that are evident in and outside the sports arena.
Let’s start with income equality, as Mayweather prepares to make around $4 million per minute Saturday night if the fight goes the distance. Meanwhile, everyone else who can make a buck is wringing it for every last cent.
Las Vegas hotel rooms are going for $400 to $900 a night or more. Promoters have charged admission for Friday’s weigh-in – an unprecedented move – and those $10 face-value tickets are fetching $200 to $500 on the secondary market. The MGM Grand released just 500 measly tickets for the general public to watch the match in person, which costs a cool $10,000 per on average.
For folks who aren’t balling on that level, the pay-per-view merely costs $100, a record price.
However, this clash accentuates more than the sharp divide in our financial wherewithal. It also highlights the glaring difference between what’s acceptable from boxers (at least THIS boxer) and what’s tolerated from other pro athletes.
Only Bill Cosby-truthers believe that Mayweather is not guilty of serial domestic abuse. The fact that his violence against women hasn’t reached a crescendo, like the uproar after Ray punched Janay in the elevator, is baffling to some and troubling to others.
An exquisite defensive boxer, Mayweather’s slickest maneuvers have been avoiding repercussions … aside from serving 60 days of a 90-day sentence in 2012.
His history is well documented but most journalists until recently have ignored it, downplayed it or lobbed softball questions about it. When pressed on the issue, Mayweather has resorted to the rope-a-dope, blaming his accusers (“I’m black, I’m rich and I’m outspoken”) or misappropriating Scripture (“Only God can judge me”).
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Posted on April 30th, 2015
By DERON SNYDER
The Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox played in an empty stadium Wednesday for no good reason.
An MLB game with no spectators was unprecedented. It also was totally unnecessary and easily avoidable. A simple solution stared the O’s in the face, an obvious remedy that would’ve accommodated fans who wished to escape the civic unrest roiling Baltimore.
Many of those same fans could’ve returned for the Orioles’ games this weekend against Tampa Bay. But that series was moved to Tropicana Field, nearly 1,000 miles away from Charm City.
Meanwhile, perfectly fine Nationals Park sits perfectly empty, a mere 40 miles south of Camden Yards.
If the O’s really cared about their fans and citizens, really wanted to offer some temporary relief through the distraction of a ballgame, the team would’ve played the White Sox and the Rays in Washington.
Commissioner Rob Manfred, in Baltimore Monday on a previously-scheduled trip, spoke to reporters after violent protests led officials to postpone the series-opener and eventually Tuesday’s game. He suggested the O’s homestand might continue in other venues and he didn’t rule out Nationals Park, which will remain dark through the weekend.
“We’re looking at every possible alternative in terms of completing the schedule in a timely way and making sure the games are played in a secured situation that’s safe for the fans,” he told reporters Monday night. “We’re going to look at every alternative at this point.”
But they didn’t choose the one under their nose.
Instead of playing nice and working with the Nats for a change, the O’s let the teams’ ongoing legal dispute get in the way. The Baltimore Sun reported that Nationals Park was considered for the relocated games but the Nats weren’t approached. The Washington Post reported that the Nats didn’t offer and MLB didn’t try to force the issue.
That’s a shame.
The Orioles should’ve put aside their differences with the Nationals. Co-owners of the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, the teams are fighting over how to divide revenue and they’re nearly $300 million apart. A trial in New York Supreme Court is scheduled for May 18.
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Posted on April 28th, 2015
By DERON SNYDER
We live in a sports era where you’re supposed to have “a take” – preferably a hot one – on every issue that arises.
Steph Curry or James Harden for MVP? Top 16 or eight teams per conference for playoffs? Cutting-edge boldness or flat-out weirdness for certain players’ fashions?
But every now and then, it’s OK to admit you’re not 100 percent one way or the other. It’s acceptable to acknowledge mixed emotions that cause an opinion to ping-pong. Saying “I don’t know” isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s a confession that smart people aren’t afraid to make.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver is a pretty sharp guy. And he’s as conflicted as yours truly on the controversy over “Hack-a-Shaq,” or more aptly, in honor of the Spurs-Clippers playoff series, “Hack-a-D.J.”
The Spurs employed the intentional-foul strategy to send brick-laying DeAndre Jordan to the free throw line 29 times in the first two games. He converted 38 percent and San Antonio came away with a split.
Silver once favored a rule change that would eliminate the foul-a-thons some teams employ when facing notoriously bad free-throw shooters like Jordan (.412 for his career) or Houston’s Dwight Howard (.573).
But now the commish is in the middle.
“I’ve gone back and forth,” Silver told the Associated Press recently. “I’ve sat in meetings with some of the greatest players like Michael Jordan and Larry Bird who said that players should learn to make their free throws and it’s part of the game.
“At the same time, it doesn’t make for great television. So I’m on the fence right now.”
A slew of whistles followed by tortured free throws makes for painful viewing. And whether it makes for brilliant strategy is debatable.
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Posted on April 27th, 2015
By DERON SNYDER
Grizzled veteran Paul Pierce reached the playoffs in 11 of 15 NBA campaigns entering this season, his first with the Wizards.
In his previous postseason trips, Pierce’s team managed just one sweep, whisking the Knicks in 2011. He twice was on the broom’s wrong end, as New Jersey swept his Celtics in 2003 and Indiana did likewise in 2004.
After the Wizards beat Toronto Friday for a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven series, Pierce told his teammates that closing out to complete the sweep would be their hardest contest yet.
Turns out that was far from the truth.
The last game was a laugher as they throttled Toronto, 125-94, for the first 4-0 sweep in franchise history. The Wizards jumped on them from the start, extinguishing the Raptors’ hope and choking their competitive spirit.
Washington stepped on their back, punched them in the throat and snatched their heart. From Paul Pierce’s block on the game’s first shot, to Bradley Beal’s three free throws that produced a 102-70 lead at the end of three quarters, the Wizards displayed a killer spirit heretofore unseen on Verizon Center hardwood (or ice).
That Wizards team that limped down the stretch? Nowhere to be found. The outfit that blew big leads and fumbled away victories? Just a bad memory. The Wizards we saw throughout this series were better than the pre-All Star version and Sunday night’s performance was the best all year.
“We just came out ready to play,” forward Marcin Gortat said after another strong outing (21 points and a game-high 11 rebounds). “Everyone contributed and we were really focused from the first minute to the last minute.”
Gortat was 8-for-9 from the floor to pace his torrid teammates. The Wizards connected on 55 percent of their field goals overall and a ridiculous 58 percent on 3-pointers (15 of 26). Every player who attempted at least one 3-pointer shot 50 percent or better except for Rasual Butler, who was 0-for-1 in garbage time.
“I’m really proud of our group,” coach Randy Wittman said. “They’ve been locked in and in tune with what we had to do. Very business-like. I challenged them the last two games that I needed to see us play like we were the desperate, come out like our backs were against the all and lay it on the line. These guys did it right from the start.”
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Posted on April 25th, 2015
By DERON SNYDER
When Wizards coach Randy Wittman talked about the difficult task of winning four games in a seven-game series, he wasn’t spouting an old coaching cliché.
He knew the Toronto Raptors would come out Friday with a sense of desperation they didn’t exhibit during the first two games at Air Canada Centre. He also remembered last season, when the Wizards returned from Chicago after winning a pair of series-opening contests and promptly dropped Game 3 at Verizon Center.
“(This) is going to be harder to play than the first two games (in Toronto),” Wittman warned prior to the Wizards’ 106-99 nail-biter in front of a frenzied sellout crowd. “It just gets that way as the series moves on.”
Moving on was at the forefront of everyone’s mind – except the Raptors – as fans streamed into the arena, where they found either a red, white or blue shirt draped over their back. But the visitors weren’t ready to face the brink of elimination just yet.
The Raptors had everything to lose, yet it was the Wizards who seemingly faced more pressure, the burden of playing as if they weren’t up 2-0. Because winning the first two games at Toronto was great, but it wouldn’t mean nearly as much if the Raptors ensured a return trip at their first opportunity.
A loss would only increase the intensity on Sunday. The scenario worked out fine against the Bulls last season, but taking unnecessary backward steps is a nerve-wracking way to make progress.
As long as Toronto kept the game close, the Wizards would be unable to relax. And the Raptors did just that, leading by two points after the first quarter and trailing by two points entering the final quarter.
“We knew they were going to come in and try to knock us out,” Wittman said. “I told the guys I’m proud that we took some punches. We stayed focused and did what we wanted to do.”
If the Wizards were going to fold they had the perfect opportunity. The crowd was pumped and had numerous opportunities to roar all night thanks to the exploits of Marcin Gortat (24 points and 13 rebounds) and John Wall (19 points and 15 assists).
But the Raptors were down by a mere three points when Paul Pierce hit a three-pointer as the shot clock expired with 16.3 seconds left in the game.
“That’s why I’m here,” Pierce mouthed to the crowd as he walked toward the opposite baseline and soaked in the adulation with arms raised overhead. “Give it to me.”
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Posted on April 23rd, 2015
By DERON SNYDER
All of the sudden, the Washington Wizards have gone from nice guys to Bad Boys II.
Clean-cut and soft-spoken figures such as Bradley Beal and Otto Porter Jr., have morphed into snarling, flexing and trash-talking players who draw energy from boos on the road. John Wall has added another level of nastiness to his toolbox.
Nene has never been stingy with his scowls, but we’re seeing more sneers from Kevin Seraphin, too. Martin Gortat is hammering the opposition in machine-like fashion, while Drew Gooden is getting on Toronto’s nerves with his pesky ways and Ramon Sessions is proudly wearing the chip he brought to town in February.
The Wizards’ insolence was so evident in Tuesday’s 117-106 victory at Toronto, their ringleader could take a backseat and marvel at what he instigated.
“I think a lot of the stuff y’all see coming out, it’s always been there,” Paul Pierce laughed as he told reporters after the game. “I just think, I kind of manifest it to another level.”
Ain’t that the truth.
Two games into the Wizards’ second consecutive playoff appearance – and NBA history with two road victories to open postseason play in back-to-back years – Pierce has been exactly what team president Ernie Grunfeld ordered last summer. The veteran leadership and pressure-packed production in championship moments has coated the Wizards with a swagger that was nonexistent last year.
He was simply being honest before the playoffs began when he told ESPN that Toronto lacked “the ‘It’ that makes you worry.” He said the same thing about would-be second-round opponent Atlanta: “As good as they are, they just don’t give off that aura where we’re afraid of them.”
It should be noted that Washington was 0-3 against Toronto and 1-3 against Atlanta in the regular season. The Wizards also were 1-3 against the Cavaliers, who could await in the Eastern Conference finals. But that doesn’t faze Pierce.
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