I've combined the morning links and the Friday afternoon roundup. Think of it as Friday brunch as we clean out our desks before this afternoon's live texter:
One Two last read(s): It has to be Turin, right? Yes! Sort of. Juventus beat Inter in a fine Serie A game on Sunday, aging Del Piero coming on as a sub and scoring the winner on a swerving free kick.
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| ALBERTO RAMELLA/ASSOCIATED PRESS |
| Del Piero and Mutu: Nothing like a good soccer cuddle to end the week. |
"It was a touch of class that left the Inter goalkeeper, Julio Cesar, dumbstruck, and left little doubt that The Old Lady of Turin, as Juventus is known, would retain her crown as champion of Italy.
Del Piero made it look as if he were shelling peas."
And the other: why do Olympic athletes bite their medals? (and I have one for 'em - is it true that these Turin medals can be popped into a CD player?)
One Two last look(s): With baseball starting up, these two -- Autograph and Dodgers -- fit the times perfectly, and besides, if you've hung around here for any length of time at all you know that bobbleheads are kind of our thing (From the delightful archive of PES, link via Beware of the Blog).
One last listen: Saudi Arabia's team song for this summer's World Cup.
Breaking news: Italian newspapers report that Juve manager Fabio Capello has been offered the England job. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me, although frankly, the England FA doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Not so breaking news: Not exactly breaking, but a couple of lists, 'cuz I like lists: First, Slam Magazine is revisiting the 1996 draft in their latest issue -- and redrafting it "based on the player's career to date". Here's their version of how one of the best drafts ever should have gone with the actual '96 draft slot in brackets (I can't begin to sort out the chicken wings and beer arguments this one could provoke, starting from the basic premise that '96 was the best -- I'll take '84 -- and their complete dissing of Moochie Norris, a steal at 33rd overall):
1. Allen Iverson (Taken 1st overall)
2. Kobe Bryant (13th)
3. Ray Allen (5th)
4. Stephon Marbury (4th)
5. Steve Nash (15th)
6. Jermaine O’Neal (17th)
7. Antoine Walker (6th)
8. Shareef Abdur-Rahim (3rd)
9. Peja Stojakovic (14th)
10. Marcus Camby (2nd)
The other list comes from Sports Illustrated's Ian Thomsen: Team-by-team cost per victory in the NBA this season, and here is one place where the Knicks can truly be said to be in a league of their own. Thanks to Mark Freedman for stopping by with this link.
Sports around town: At 19-3 in league play, York's women's team shares the OUA's best record with Brock, are 10th ranked in the country and open their playoff season Tuesday night at home (8 p.m.). (U of T men close out their regular seasons tonight at the Sports Gym against dear old Rye High, while the Blues women have a home playoff on Wednesday next week.)
Watching: NBA Rookies vs Sophomores game, Friday, 9 p.m., Sportsnet. I've said this before, at the late (*sniff*, *choked sob*) Hockey Page -- when the NHL gets back to playing all-star games, they could do a lot worse than copying this format, which actually can make for a real game (okay, almost). I mean, who wants to lose to the rookies? And if you're a rook, how often do you get a chance like this?
Not watching: Daytona 500, Sunday, 1:30 p.m., NBC. After the Olympics got slaughtered by American Idol, how much are the rings going to lose to this one by? My approach to auto racing: PVR it, then watch it at triple speed. Like the real thing, only slightly blurrier.
CY, we need the sport for that CIS action there — hockey, volleyball and basketball are all about to bask in playoff action. Oh, there's more than hoops.
Posted by: James Mirtle | February 17, 2006 at 03:46 PM
Why the *F-BOMB* is Marbury ranked higher than Nash? That makes no sense!
I guess the NBA players are right: Marbury is overrated...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/players/02/14/poll.0214/
Posted by: J.E. Skeets | February 17, 2006 at 03:53 PM
Skeets, there's a certain type of player -- NYC guards, mainly -- who get huge attention as high schoolers from the NYC media. (Now they all get it, no thanks to the growth of AAU, street agents and publications like Dime mag). The group I'm thinking of include Kenny Anderson and Marbury, right off the top of my head, both of whom have have skills, but they're not players who make teams better. Marbury is perhaps the most overrated player in the game today, and that is saying something.
And James, hey, I hear ya. I'll try and do a better job, it's just that -- I like the hoops, I really do! Especially the bobbleheads.
Posted by: cy | February 17, 2006 at 06:11 PM