Starting Five
1. “You get a fine! And you get a fine! And you get a fine!” On the final day of the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, a hitting drill broke out. The problem? It took place at the Golden State Warriors-Indiana Pacers game. It began when behemoths David Lee (Warriors) and Roy Hibbert (Pacers) decided to stage a sumu wrestling match under the basket. Then Stephen Curry attempted to Van Gundy the seven-footer, Hibbert. Then David West shoved some dude in a suit. The entire incident took, like, 4.82 seconds… and it will likely cost all of those named above some $$$.
Klay Thompson (right): Willing to mix it up, but not willing to commit a turnover while doing so
2. Tourist Tragedy…. Easily the day’s most bizarre story. Nineteen tourists, nine of whom are from Hong Kong, perish in Egypt during a balloon ride when it catches fire just two to three meters (less than 12 feet) from landing. It is the deadliest balloon accident in at least two decades. The pilot and another passenger leaped out, which appears to have facilitated the basket’s imbalance, which accelerated the propulsion of the balloon hundreds of feet into the air. Burn or leap? A horrible dilemma.
3.ESPN’s Mark May hating on a Notre Dame player? I know, we were astonished, too. Here’s May on Twitter yesterday: “Any team that wastes a first-round pick on Manti Te’o should fire their GM on draft day…He’s a mid- to late-second at best.” We don’t necessarily disagree with May’s assessment of where to take Te’o in the NFL Draft –that is, if the draft were held today — but to say you should fire your GM for selecting the Butkus Award winner at, say, 29th? That’s a little caffeinated. ESPN’s latest NFL obsession, it turns out, was found by just striking two letters from the surname of their previous obsession (TEBOW to TE’O).
4. The Heat win their 12 straight, beating hapless feckless potentially homeless Sacramento by 12 points as LeBron ‘splodes for 40 points and D-Wade for 39. About what you expected, no? Until you realize it took Miami two overtimes to do so and that King sub Marcus Thornton had 36 points — off the bench. Here’s an interesting stat, courtesy of ESPN stats & info: James, Wade and Chris Bosh, all of whom missed potential game-winning shots in the fourth quarter and first overtime last night, are a combined 0-for-10 in such situations this season.
5. Ronaldo-Messi is the Magic-Bird of soccer. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) and Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) locked shinguards again yesterday at Camp Nou (the Spaniards know how to name stadiums) in Barcelona, with the visitors handing the Catalans (i.e., Messi’s squad) their first home loss since last April. Ronaldo, who has scored nine goals in these two squads’ last eight meetings, connected on two goals in the 3-1 victory. The good news for you? The two sides meet again on Saturday. The series has long been referred to as “El Clasico”, but this may just be the best rivalry in sport right now. Messi and Ronaldo are all-timers.
There was something in the air that night/The stars were bright/ Ronaldo
Reserves
A female scribe at The New Yorker, Amy Davidson, pillories Seth Davis MacFarlane for his “crudely sexist” hosting job of the Oscars. In her opinion. Ms. Davidson sounds like a lot of fun.
Say what you want about how Deadspin reported the Manti Te’o-Lennay Kekua love story, but editor-in-chief Tommy Craggs does not crack under interrogation. One smart dude.
“C-c-c-c-c-c-c-catfight.” We hear you, Cosmo. Some 15,000-plus visited the Honda Center in Anaheim to watch the first victory by a woman in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Ronda Rousey defeated Liz Carmouche with a “first-round armbar submission.” Your thoughts, Amy Davidson?
Is there any way we can do a “Wife Swap” that involves former WCBS anchor Rob Morrison and one of these women?
The No. 1 team in college hoops loses. Again. Yawn. Indiana falls at Minnesota, which is like, what, the third time the Hoosiers have fallen as No. 1 this winter? The most dominant team in college basketball this season? Outside of the Baylor women, we might go with St. Thomas, the alma mater of Day of Yore smith of words Bill Hubbell. The Division III Tommies are 26-1 and lead D-3 in both scoring margin (21.9 ppg) and field-goal percentage (52.8%).
We took this Oscar Pistorious-Reeva Steenkamp graphic from the terrific media column of SI.com’s Richard Deitsch, who took it from The National Post (Canada). Just wondering: Has anyone mentioned, or did Pistorius ever say in his statement, that Ms. Steenkamp’s –there’s no delicate way to put this — pants were down when he discovered her? It seems that police forensics would have a way to verify this, given the amount of blood.
See, Fiddy, if you give a female celebrity flowers at a sporting event first, AND THEN go in for the smooch…
Remote Patrol
History of The Eagles
Showtime Too, 8 p.m.
Calm down, Chris D’Amico, we don’t mean the Philadelphia Iggles. No, this is a rockumentary of one of the most successful rock bands of all time. Member for member, the Eagles are about as talented as any group of the rock era and they personified the California lifestyle in the 1970s. Also, because of them, nobody can pass through Winslow, Arizona, without searching for a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford.
This photograph was taken after Ron Jaworski left the band
This entire blog post was written from the comfort of my living room chaise. Suck on that, Marissa Mayer.