SB Nation Survey + Chance to donate $500 to a charity of this community's choice
by SB Nation Survey on Mar 19, 2010 8:47 PM EDT
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>> Take SB Nation Survey
Hello sports fans! We're always striving to provide you with the best experience possible and it's been quite some time since we checked in with you.
So we're rolling out this survey to learn more about you and your sports world. It should only take about 10 minutes to complete.
We really appreciate your time and this is also going to help make a donation to a good cause.
By next Thursday (3/25) at 11:59pm PST the site that has the highest percentage of their community filling out the attached survey about their sports interests and consumption will win $500 to donate to a charity of their choice. We will leave it up to the discretion of the community manager(s) of the winning blog to decide how to choose the particular charity.
You can take the survey HERE
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WYR2WQT
Thanks for your support!
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Today in Sports History: March 19th
by ZombieMonta on Mar 19, 2010 12:40 AM EDT
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3/19/1991 - Phoenix loses '93 Super Bowl
The team owners in the NFL revoke Phoenix's privilege to host the Super Bowl.
After the St. Louis Cardinals moved to Phoenix in 1988, the NFL granted the city the rights to host Super Bowl XXVII in 1993. But while the league was anxious to host the big game in its newest market, a controversy soon erupted over the state's refusal to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday. Several state politicians, such as governor Evan Meacham and senator John McCain, strongly opposed the initiative, believing that while Martin Luther King Jr. was an important civil rights leader, he was not to be revered as a national hero.
In November 1990, Arizona citizens had voted against Proposition 301, which would have enacted MLK Day as a paid state holiday. As one of the only remaining states to openly oppose the holiday, Arizona began receiving national scorn and ridicule. The controversy surrounding the issue was so great that the league lifted Phoenix's Super Bowl rights and gave them to Pasadena, California, where the game would be played at the Rose Bowl.
Faced with an increasing backlash over its refusal, Arizona finally passed a law in 1992 that established Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday. About a year later, the NFL voted to give Phoenix the rights to host Super Bowl XXX in 1996.
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Today in Sports History: March 18th
by ZombieMonta on Mar 17, 2010 11:38 PM EDT
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(Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle. Photo by Malcolm Emmons, US Presswire)
3/18/1985 - Mays, Mantle reinstated
MLB commissioner Peter Ueberroth reinstates Hall of Fame outfielders Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, who had been banned from baseball by former commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Mays was ostracized in 1979 when he signed a ten-year deal to become an associate with the Park Place Hotel in Atlantic City. Mantle, feeling that the banishment of Mays was a frivolous one, went ahead and became a greeter for the Claridge casino in Atlantic City in 1983. Not long after that, Kuhn banned him as well.
"(Bowie Kuhn) said 'Why can't you do like Reggie Jackson and do a Panasonic commercial or like Joe DiMaggio and do a Mr. Coffee commercial?' I've been out of baseball 14 years and I don't have Panasonic and Mr. Coffee knocking at my door," Mantle said.
Since the Black Sox scandal of 1919, the golden rule of baseball was that no betting or gambling would ever be tolerated, out of fear that the players could again be bribed into throwing games. Kuhn believed that any association with gamblers was reason enough to be expelled. And while the ban did not affect Mays' or Mantle's Hall of Fame status, it did forbid them from taking part in any function of Major League Baseball.
The decisions were extremely unpopular to the fans, who felt that Kuhn's decisions breached the intended purpose of the "no betting" rule. Mantle and Mays were not only two of the most popular players of their time, they had been hired to work in a city where any amount of sports betting would be 100% legal. And since both men were retired, it was also questioned why it would be wrong for either man to take part in gambling (plus both men were only assigned to PR spots).
Ueberroth stated that he found "no fault with the previous ruling," but that he was making "two exceptions for these two great players because of what they mean to the game." Kuhn expressed displeasure over the decision, stating that he felt creating exceptions was not the best way to approach the gambling issue. Both Mays and Mantle said they were thrilled to be off the permanently ineligible list.
"I can't hit, I can't run, but now I have options," said Mays, who expressed interest in becoming an ambassador of the game.
"This is one of the happiest days of my life," said Mantle. "I acted like it didn't bother me, but it did. You don't want to get kicked out of your favorite bar and you don't want to be banned from baseball."
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Today in Sports History: March 17th
by ZombieMonta on Mar 17, 2010 9:26 AM EDT
in Today in Sports History
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3/17/1999 - Jays fire manager for 'Nam fibbing
Tim Johnson had done a solid job as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. In just one season, he had improved their record to 88-74, and had them within a few games of the playoffs. Much of the team's success was attributed to his ability to fire up the team with his war stories from Vietnam. The problem was that in November of 1998, Johnson admitted that all the 'Nam stories he had told had been completely made up. As a part of the Marine Corps, he had never once taken part in the Vietnam War.
Johnson had no trouble admitting that the stories were fake, as he felt that there wouldn't be any fallout. ''Credibility, to me, is going out there and watching the game, watching the players play for you,'' he said. ''That's going to show if you have credibility or not. Nothing's going to change my way of going after the players and talking to them and when you need to get on them. Nothing's going to change.''
The players felt differently. There was a serious lack of credibility with Johnson, having lied about his service, and eventually the Blue Jays management felt it was too much of a distraction to go on. They fired Johnson in the middle of spring training and replaced him with former major leaguer Jim Fregosi. Since then, the Blue Jays have yet to have a season where they won more than 88 games.
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Tiger's back, and it all makes sense
by ZombieMonta on Mar 16, 2010 2:01 PM EDT
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It was almost 15 years ago today, on March 18, 1995, that Michael Jordan announced that he was returning to the NBA with a two-word statement that simply read: "I'm back." Jordan, who had been retired since the end of the 1993 season, suited up for the Bulls that Sunday in a nationally-televised contest against the Indiana Pacers on NBC's Game of the Week. That game remains the most watched regular season game in the history of the NBA.
How fitting is it then that Tiger Woods announced his return to his sport on almost the same day Jordan did? Is it a coincidence? Maybe (probably). But Woods is the only athlete in the last twenty or so years who you can even compare to Michael Jordan. Who else but Woods and Jordan have single-handedly carried their respected sports to the degree that they have? When LeBron James took his Cavaliers to the finals against the Spurs, the ratings for the games were three times lower than the ratings Jordan's Bulls got in the '98 championship. Similarly, the total purse money given out at PGA tour events is more than three times higher than it was before Tiger joined up in 1996. Without Jordan and without Woods, the NBA and PGA just haven't been the same, and no matter what you think of Woods, the game of golf is better with him on the tee range than it is with him in a sex clinic.
When Woods arrives at Augusta National on the first week of April, the atmosphere and coverage there will be something out of this world. And if you don't think that that played into Woods' decision-making, then you must not know Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan. After retiring from minor league baseball, Jordan could've picked any time to come back to the Chicago Bulls. It wasn't a coincidence that he came back on a game airing on NBC, back when NBC was the most-watched network in the country. It isn't a coincidence that Woods is coming back at the Masters, the biggest and most highly-covered golf tournament in the country, which also happens to draw the highest ratings. It certainly wasn't a coincidence that his first press conference since the car crash happened during the Accenture golf tournament, a decision everyone saw as a jab to the company that had dropped him as a sponsor that December.
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Today in Sports History: March 16th
by ZombieMonta on Mar 16, 2010 12:53 PM EDT
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3/16/2003 - Ricky Davis goes for a triple-double
The Cavaliers were seconds away from a 27-point victory over the Utah Jazz when Ricky Davis committed basketball sacrilege. Davis, with 26 points, 12 assists, and 9 rebounds, was well aware that he was a board away from his first career triple-double. Jumaine Jones inbounded the ball to Davis near the Jazz basket, where he was supposed to run out the clock. Ricky instead lobbed a gentle flip off the backboard, which was his attempt at a shot, and collected the ball, his attempt at a rebound. Seeing what he was doing, Utah's DeShawn Stevenson fouled Davis hard in retaliation.
"I have nothing against Ricky," Stevenson said. "But for someone to go out there and do that is not right. I'm not going to let that happen."
"[Ricky] was trying to embarrass us, and that's not how the game should be played," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. "This is not schoolyard basketball. Let him try to get it when the game means something. I was proud of DeShawn and I would have knocked him down harder. They can put me in jail for saying that, but that's the way it is."
Most agreed with Sloan's sentiments. Shooting at the other team's basket to pad his rebounding stats drew cries for a suspension (Davis was later fined an undisclosed amount). Fortunately, NBA rules safeguarded such a maneuver. Davis was not credited with a 10th rebound and triple-double because a rebound can only come from a legitimate shot at the hoop, which Davis' certainly wasn't.
An interesting side note is that the Associated Press actually got the story wrong. The ESPN recap of the game says that, "After Utah's Scott Padgett scored with six seconds left, Davis took an inbounds pass and was ready to attempt a shot at the wrong basket to get his 10th rebound. DeShawn Stevenson wrapped his arms around Davis before the attempt and was whistled for a foul. Davis made two free throws to complete the scoring."
However, anyone who watched the game could tell you that that's not what happened. Davis got his shot off before Stevenson fouled him. The AP made it sound like Stevenson prevented the triple double, when in reality it was the NBA rulebook that prevented it.
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Today in Sports History: March 14th
by ZombieMonta on Mar 14, 2010 9:48 PM EDT
in Today in Sports History
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3/14/2007 - Suns and Mavs play 2OT thriller
There was a lot of hype when the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks met in March of 2007. No two teams as good (record-wise) had played each other 60 games into the season in 37 years. Plus, the Suns and Mavs had faced each other in the postseason the previous two years, and it was a face-off between Steve Nash and ex-teammate Dirk Nowitzki -- the reigning MVP and player who would win it from him.
What followed was easily one of the greatest regular season games of all time. It shouldn't have come as a surprise; the two teams had combined for five separate ten-game winning streaks, and were two of the most exciting teams in the league to watch. Dallas was coming off a blowout in Golden State, where their 17-game winning streak was snapped (a prelude of things to come), while the Suns looked to gain ground in the conference standings.
In a game that the Suns led by 16 and the Mavericks led by 17, the game managed to equal itself out in regulation. The game went to two overtimes before the Suns finally clinched it, with a phenomenal 129-127 win. The Mavericks had a seven point lead and the ball with 1:14 left in the 4th quarter, but Steve Nash rose to the occasion, scoring ten points in less than sixty seconds, including the game-tying three-pointer, to knot it up at 111. Nash entered the final period with a mediocre 14 points and 9 assists, but the like great player he was, he finished with 32 points, 16 assists and 8 rebounds. Nowitzki had a great game as well, but he left the door open by missing two enormous free throws during that minute.
Amare Stoudemire was sensational, scoring a game-high 41 points while being more or less unstoppable down low (16-19 shooting). Of Dallas' 127 points, 109 of them came from Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse, and Jason Terry -- who hit a game-tying three to send the game to double overtime. Dallas' Erick Dampier became just the third player to ever record double-digit rebounds without a single one coming on the defensive end. The Suns were essentially a two-man show down the stretch, with Nash and Stoudemire scoring 28 straight points at one point.
In the end, Dallas still finished with the best record in the NBA while Nowitzki, and not Nash, would win the MVP.
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Today in Sports History: March 13th
by ZombieMonta on Mar 14, 2010 9:44 PM EDT
in Today in Sports History
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3/13/1930 - Robbie ball switched for fruit
At spring training, Brooklyn manager Wilbert Robinson attempts to best a cult accomplishment. In 1908, Gabby Street caught a baseball that was thrown to him from the top of the Washington Monument -- more than 500 feet from the ground. Robinson insisted that it was no big deal, and when his players asked him to back up his words, he ordered an airplane to deliver him a pitch from about the same height.
As the 51 year-old waited for the ball to arrive, Ruth Law, the plane's pilot, dropped a grapefruit instead of a baseball. She later said she had forgotten to bring a baseball, though it was always suspected that Brooklyn teammate Casey Stengel had made the switch. As the orb reached the Brookyln skipper, the fruit's red pulp splattered all over the former catcher, who believed that he had been drenched in blood. "Jesus, I'm killed!" he screamed. "I'm dead! My chest's split open! I'm covered with blood!"
He was fine, though his teammates were doubled over in laughter.
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