Weekend winners
Si Woo Kim. He became the youngest winner of The Players Championship and adds another name to the global youth movement in the game. He's 21 and he just made roughly $2 million for a weekend of golf. That's pretty sweet. (Seriously, at 21, we were lucky to be out of bed and to the Waffle House by noon. Ah, college.) More importunely for S.W. Kim, his demeanor and poise down the stretch Sunday was impressive. His short game - he hit only seven of 18 greens and managed to get up and down from seemingly everywhere - was other worldly.
John Wall. The growing and emerging Washington Wizards star delivered a true moment with a game-winner in a lose-or-go-home Game 6 Friday night. Washington at Boston in Game 7 tonight. (Side note: The home team is 10-0 between those two in the regular and postseason.)
Bryce Harper. It's good to be the king. Harper gets more than $20 million - the largest one-year payday for an arbitration-eligible player - and maybe the Nationals get a little good faith before he hits the open market after the 2018 season. Or maybe not. Considering the following factors: a) his agent is Scott Boras; b) because he entered the league so you, Harper will be 26 when he hits free agency, meaning he's just hitting his prime rather than just passing it; and c) the New York Yankees will be in full "win-now-mode" after 2018, here's betting Harper's starting point is around that 10-year, $450 million neighborhood. And friends, that's a very nice neighborhood.
Mitchell Trubisky. Hey, we all hated the trade the Bears made to move one spot for a guy who they almost assuredly would have had if they stayed put. That's bad drafting because of the loss of value. But if Trubisky becomes a legit NFL starting QB, that's still relative value. And, while this has nothing to do with his pocket presence, his ability to go to his third or fourth read or whether he can throw a 35-yard out before his receiver breaks into the wind in November in Chicago, we thought this was a cool story. And a great way to get off on the right foot inside the organization and with a reluctant fan base. Trubisky, when interviewed by the Bears, promised the brass he'd show up in grandmother's used Camry, which has more than 170,000 miles when he reported for mini-camp. And he did.
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San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard warms up before Game 1 of the NBA basketball Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, May 14, 2017. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) Weekend losers
The Spurs. That was gross. And unfortunate. And series altering. San Antonio dominated the first two and half quarters of Sunday's Game 1 at heavily favored Golden State. Then Kawhi Leonard rolled his left ankle - again - and it vanished. How big was Kawhi? Well, he played 24 minutes Sunday, and when he was on the floor, the Spurs were plus-21; in the 24 minutes he didn't play the Spurs were minus-23. Leonard is getting an MRI this morning, and if he can't return, this will be a four-game series. It was the first time in 317 career games as the coach of the Spurs that a Gregg Popovich team had led by 25 points and lost.
Chris Iannetta. The picture was brutal, but the Arizona catcher took a 90-plus mph fastball in the mouth. This is cringe-worthy.
Everyone other than Sergio Garcia and Kyle Stanley who challenged the famous 17th at Sawgrass. Oh the carnage. Garcia did make a 1 and Kyle Stanley became only the second player ever to make 2s in each of the four rounds. Then there was this group led by Zac Blair, who dropped three in the drink on his way to a nine.(Side note: Prop bettors who reached on Yes - +350 - on an ace on 17 and over 61 balls in the water - +2500 - cashed big this weekend. Maybe Blair had money on the over, in which case he's in the wrong category today.)
Doug DeCinces. DeCinces, for those of us who remember the taste of the gum in the pack of baseball cards, was a pretty good major league third baseman for more than a decade with the Orioles and Angels. He also was convicted Friday on 13 counts of insider trading on tips he passed on to friends and family members - who also found themselves in hot water in which DeCinces netted $1.3 million. A sentencing date was not announced, but each count could potentially carry a 20-year sentence in federal prison.
And this trend. Yep, there is a calculated effort from a Marlins fan to distract players on opposing baseball teams by having women flash the pitcher from behind home plate. Something tells us that the MLB will not think this is very cute or humorous.
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Retired New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, right, looks around during a pregame ceremony after his No. 2 was retired in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium in New York, Sunday, May 14, 2017. The plaque is a replica of the one in Monument Park. (AP Photo/Pool, Kathy Willens)Speaking of baseball
There likely is not another sport that loves its numbers like baseball does.
There are benchmark numbers for a career (3,000 hits, 300 wins, etc.), there are benchmark numbers for a season (.300, 20 wins, etc.) and there are benchmark numbers for a game (4-for-4, 10 Ks, 4 homers, etc.).
It's a mathematical puzzle with a sliding key of diverse meaning and magnitude.
We also are fascinated with the numbers on the back, and no franchise has had more meaning with those numbers than the New York Yankees.
The Yankees were among the first teams to put numbers on the back of the uniform, and they handed them out by where you hit in the batting order at first. That's why Babe Ruth wore 3 and Lou Gehrig wore 4. (Wonder how they handed the numbers to the reserves and the pitchers? Alas.)
All told, there have been 22 Yankees to have their jersey number retired. There are no single numbers left after Derek Jeter's No. 2 was retired in a pretty cools ceremony Sunday night.
The list of stars and Hall of Famers lend credence to the century of dominance the Yankees have enjoyed since trading for Ruth. The Yankees have won 27 World Series titles since 1923. That's staggering.
There also are the mystifying and magic numbers that will never be duplicated. Or at least we think that they won't, because at one time Gehrig's 2,130 consecutive game streak was on that list and we never thought that was going anywhere. Then Cal Ripken came along and played everyday for roughly 17 years.
There are still a few others: Cy Young's 511 win total will only be broken by a pitcher riding to the mound on a unicorn for a team managed by Sasquatch. Pete Rose's hit total of 4,256 also has a mind-blowing amount of per-year perplexity that it seems safe. Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak - which started on this day 76 years ago - is also on that list.
The numbers ESPN.com posted about the details of DiMaggio's famous streak are pretty eye-popping. Here are some of the highlights:
He extended the streak in his final at-bat of the game 10 times;
After the streak ended against Cleveland, DiMaggio then had a 16-game hitting streak, meaning that if Indians third baseman Ken Keltner had not made two great plays against him, it would have been a 73-game hitting streak.
DiMaggio faced 54 pitchers during the streak. For comparison sake and the differences in today's game, during his 29-game hitting streak last year, Jackie Bradley faced 65 pitchers.
The Yankees were 41-13-2 during DiMaggio's streak.
Finally, the streak captured so much attention, it catapulted DiMaggio, who finished with 30 homers, 125 RBIs and a .357 average to the MVP over some guy named Williams in Boston, who only hit .406 with 37 homers, 120 RBIs and an on-base percentage of a mind-blowing .553.
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Nashville Predators' Mattias Ekholm (14) collides with Anaheim Ducks' Ondrej Kase (86) as they battle for the puck by the goal during the first period of Game 2 of the Western Conference final in the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs, Sunday, May 14, 2017, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) This and that
* Nashville went to Anaheim and accomplished the goal of every lower-seeded professional sports team in the postseason. The Predators return to Nashville this week with the series even at 1. Yes, the Game 2 blown lead hurts, but still, mission accomplished.
* We've seen more and more stories like this for it to be ignored. Here is the NFL investing in Madden Championships, as in video game tournaments. People, eSports is going to continue to grow.
* Speaking of Madden, we thought this was kind of a fun story. Tom Brady, the cover-boy for Madden 18, apparently plays Madden with his 9-year-old. Young Brady uses the Pats, forcing Tom to pick elsewhere. According to the story, Brady normally uses the Packers or the Seahawks.
* Braves took two of three from Miami, which stinks only slightly less than the Braves. Or maybe slightly more. That said, Dansby Swanson just completed his most productive week of the season. In his last seven days, Swanson is 5-for-15 with four walks. Yes, they were all singles, but a .333 week when you are hitting .174 on the season is at least progress.
* We watched the first season of "This is Us." It's an emotional roller coaster. And it was enjoyable. Now comes big news - as some of the big shows are worried about another season - for season two. "This is Us is doing a Christmas Special and gets the TV slot behind the Super Bowl. That is a huge platform.
* Amid these reports that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is in line to be fired, https://www.yahoo.com/news/sean-spicer-likely-fired-reports-092403927.html we wonder if he was more undone by his sometimes puzzling public gaffes or more by humiliation of Melissa McCarthey's SNL impressions that turned a guy that needs to be trusted and taken seriously into a laughing stock? (And yes, there could be answer c) all of the above on that one.)
* Longtime "That guy" actor Powers Boothe died over the weekend. His name may not be instantly recognizable, but his face was. In fact, if you are wondering "Powers Boothe" and can't place him, he played Curly Bill - the chief bad dude of the outlaws in "Tombstone" - as well as roles in Deadwood and Nashville on TV. He forever to us will be the Lt. Colonel who crashed and helped the Wolverines get mobilized and aggressive in "Red Dawn." 'Merica.
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Today's questions
Weekend winners? There were a few.
Weekend losers? Ah yes, those too.
Did you know McDonald's opened its first restaurant on this day in 1940.
Mickey Mouse made his film debut in the silent movie "Plane Crazy" on this day in 1928.
A pretty strong collection of Hall of Fame athletes celebrating birthdays today as George Brett (64), Emmitt Smith (48), Ray Lewis (42) and Andy Murray (30) were born today.
If we're going to Rushmore today, let's do this. Rushmore of most well-known sports stats: Does Joe D's 56 make it? Does Wilt's 100?
Nominations please and we're always up for weekend winners and losers.