We’re going streaking:
One of the
most improbably, amazing streaks in the history of American sports continued on
yesterday. It took an amazing
performance on the 18th hole, but yes, Tiger Woods’ win streak hit 7
tournaments in a row. What, you thought
I was talking about the Rockets’ 22-game winning streak? That’s impressive, too.
But Tiger
Woods dominance is truly once in a lifetime.
Sure, there will be always be a Roger Federer to replace Pete Sampras,
and let’s not forget that before Tiger there were legends like Jack Nicklaus
and Arnold Palmer (whose tournament it was Tiger won yesterday). But Tiger’s dominance is amazing in any
historical analysis. I’ve written this
before, but what makes Tiger so amazing is that you stop what you are doing,
and watch him play, and root (or at least I do) for the favorite! Or really, you are rooting for history to be
accomplished. Yesterday was another one
of those Tiger moments, when a playoff seems certain on the 18th hole,
but instead Tiger somehow sunk a 24 foot birdie putt. With 6 feet of break. That’s a mix of focus and confidence that can
rarely be seen in sports on any level….
As for the
Rockets, their streak is pretty damn impressive, too. And like Tiger, we find ourselves rooting for
history in the making. Although it might
also have to do with the fact that we do have some money invested in the
Rockets. We bet on them to win the NBA
Championship at 10-1 at the beginning of the season (along with the Jazz at
12-1), and we bet on them again not six weeks ago when the Rockets were
swimming along at slightly above .500, seemingly in trouble of even making the
playoffs. The odds were really good at
that time (20-1), and so we took a longshot wager on them (we even wrote about
it at the time). They have ripped off this
22-game winning streak since. So yeah, I
feel somewhat responsible for their streak.
Plus the over/under on wins for the Rockets this year (before the season
began) was 49.5, and they are this close to topping that and earning me some
dough. Which will help offset the loss
on my bet that the Knicks would exceed their under/over of 36.5 (yeah, right).
The PSAL
Title Game was held at MSG yesterday. The
PSAL is NYC’s public high school basketball league, and last year there were
some high profile incidents during the game, which lead to speculation that the
Garden might not host the game again. We
wrote at the time that there are always “incidents” at these games (I can
recall that a couple of friends of mine, including perhaps The Greek Professor,
went to check out the quarter-final game that actually involved Bx Science one
year. And after our “nerd” school pulled
off the shocking upset over the other team involved, there was almost a riot in
there). There was one year – 1993 – that
I went with my basketball buddies from LaSalle to check out PSAL Championship
at the Garden. The title was won by a Lincoln team lead by Stephon Marbury. The crowd was full of Brooklyn and Bronx heads (the other team was from the Bronx), and it was quite raucous in
there. You take that many teens, from any environment, and sh*t is going
to be uncivilized! It’s no different
than one of those high school football games in the suburbs, you know? (As a matter of fact, I’m almost positive I
wrote that same sentence last year, too).
Well,
whatever reason there was for making news out of stuff that happens every year
at these games last year, yesterday’s game was apparently not newsworthy.
The
Lincoln team won again (shades of 1993), this time being lead by junior Lance
Stephenson, who has now won titles in all three years he’s been on the team. The 6’5, 200 superstar is already one of the
top two high school players in country, and is Sebastian Telfair’s protégé. The difference between Stephenson and
Telfair? One, size – Lance is already
much bigger at 16 years old than Telfair is at 22 years old. And Lance has a much better jumper already,
with range. Add in a nice finish touch at
the basket and a smooth crossover, and Stephenson seems the likeliest candidate
to be the next OJ Mayo. Speaking of
which, as a freshman Lance went one on one against the then junior Mayo at a
Reebok camp, and won respect for himself. He seems an almost certain lottery pick in 2011.
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I (as is typical of these back-in-the-day tales) can verify that violence did indeed mar the science-chelsea quarterfinal game played at martin luther king h.s. in '94.
Beef erupted following a game-winning fast break dunk by science: chelsea fans, along with their gangstafied mlk compatriots, stormed the court from the bleachers attacking the players and their friends while security shuttled the team behind a locked door adjacent to the gym. the only sciencites left in the gym were me, my boy the angry jamaican, and pete, one of our schools security guards who was attending the game in his civilian gear.
as my boy and i quickly bounced, my lasting images were of security guard pete getting bodyslammed against the bleachers and of some random dude getting stomped down a stairwell.
one of the many reasons why a 600 school -- those not from nyc, google it -- shouldn't be involved in extracurriculars with a school whose students have to pass entrance exams...
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speaking of lasalle, when are we getting an entry devoted to shammgod?