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07/28/2008: "Son Of Sports Rant"
If you couldn't find something interesting in this weekend's sports lineup, you just don't get sports ...
- Hard to believe, but the Tour de France peleton rolled across the cobblestones in Paris Sunday for the third time since Lance Armstrong retired. Despite the controversy, there is no greater sight in sport - and probably no greater thrill for a sportsman. In the maillot jaune at the finish was Spaniard Carlos Sastre of Team CSC Saxo Bank, who won the event with a bold climb up L'Alpe d'Huez on Wednesday, then cemented it with a strong ride in the time trial on Saturday. Last year's runner up, Cadel Evans, had to settle for second once again, having failed in his attempt to run down Sastre in the time trial. The leading American, Christian Vandevelde of Team Garmin Chipotle, placed sixth. Unfortunately, the end was marred by yet another rider caught doping, as Dmitry Fofonov joins Riccardo Ricco, Manuel Beltran and Moises Duenas Nevado in disgrace. Every year, we hear the organizers say they've stopped the doping problem, and every year we see that the dopers are smarter than the testers - or at least think they are. But nothing can mar the beauty of the event.
- What would happen if a car race was scheduled and a parade broke out instead? That's exactly what happened yesterday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the running of the Brickyard ... er, Allstate at the Brickyard ... 400. Because of tire wear issues, and the concern for driver safety, NASCAR officials said that they'd throw a "competition yellow" - a preplanned caution period - 10 laps into the race to evaluate the tires. They didn't like what they saw, so they threw another - and another. In the end, the longest green-flag period during the 160 lap event was only 12 laps. Several cars still had tire failures - most notably Matt Kenseth, who had an exploding right rear tire tear off the corner of the car. Jimmie Johnson ended up with the win only because his pit crew got him back out first during the final caution with 6 laps to go. A pretty pathetic spectacle for the home of the greatest race. IMS really needs to look into why the track is so hard on tires - recall that the 2004 US Grand Prix Formula One race was marred by similar issues.
- The boys and girls of the AVP made one of their periodic visits to SoCal this weekend, playing next to the Downtown Shoreline Marina in Long Beach. This and next week's event in San Diego are the last ones before the tour takes a break to let their leading teams head to Bejing for the Olympics. Defending gold medalists Misty May-Trainor and Kerri Walsh held true to form, taking out Boss/Ross in the finals, but Men's #1 Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser were soundly thumped by Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal 21-14, 21-14. After the match, Rogers indicated they might skip next week to get some rest before heading to China, but I'd hate to go out on such a sour note. As for May/Walsh, you might as well start engraving those gold medals now.
- It was impressive to watch Rich "Goose" Gossage stand at the podium yesterday during his induction speech to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Thirty years removed his heyday of 1978, there's a little more grey in the Fu Manchu and a lot less hair on the head, but he looks just as intimidating. The guys who should really be intimidated are those closers today who think they can compare favorably with the Goose. While it's great to see the men who defined the closer role getting their due, today's closer bears little resemblance. Guys like Goose, Lee Smith and Rollie Fingers were workhorses who carried the load for their teams - not the fragile, spoiled shells that pass for a reliever today. In 1978, Goose had 27 saves and nearly 135 innings pitches. That tells you that either he pitched in a lot of non-save situations or had a lot of multi-inning saves - and the answer is probably both. Compare that to today's hot reliever, Frankie Rodriguez of the Angels. There's a lot of talk that K-Rod will break the single season save record, and he has 43 saves already this year - but only 46 1/3 innings pitched. Talk about your show pony. The other night, he recorded a one-pitch save - he ought to be ashamed to accept the save. But I'm sure he still pounded his chest, pumped his fist and pointed to the sky. That's fine, but just don't pull that crap in the Goose's presence, 'cause you're not even in the same class.
