The Sports Truth

As a Yankees fan, I know I can only ask for so much pity. Those in Kansas City and Pittsburgh probably don’t feel too much sympathy for a guy who’s struggled through seasons with players such as Randy Johnson, Gary Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez dominating his favorite team’s lineup card.

But it hasn’t been fun.

I may be writing a different article if Joe Torre had simply used Mariano Rivera in Game Five of the 2003 World Series and New York had gone on to defeat the Marlins. Or if Dave Roberts had torn an ACL during his infamous stolen base attempt in the 2004 ALCS and the Yankees had rightfully triumphed that season.

Point being, I know the collection of All-Stars and MVPs Brian Cashman and George Steinbrenner put together did come very close to winning it all a few times. But it didn’t happen - and it’s not difficult to see why.

A team comprised solely of aging veterans, most overpaid, few used to the spotlight of New York, is wound too tightly. The pressure is enormous. It’s felt during every at bat. No wonder the most impressive players in 2006 joined the team with little fanfare:

• Chien-Ming Wang: Second in Cy Young voting
• Robinson Cano: An All-Star
• Melky Cabrera: Has a cool name

These youngsters faced no expectations - and then stormed through the competition. Fortunately, it looks as though Cashman has finally learned the lesson.
“Wang and Cano and Cabrera all basically came up, and the expectation from the press wasn’t there to impede their efforts,” the general manager said. “And so, all of a sudden, before you know it, you have a guy (Wang) who finished second in the Cy Young award voting. And you have a guy (Cano) who made the All-Star team.”

Which brings me to the main point of this article: Phil Hughes is gonna be awesome!!! The 20-year old is considered to be the top pitching prospect in baseball … and he’s actually on the Yankees. He’s not being traded to the Rangers for Sammy Sosa. It’s a whole new era in the Bronx.

And it’s a lot of fun as a fan. Of course I understand why the Yanks traded for A-Rod three years ago, but Alfonso Soriano was pretty darn good, too. And he was a homegrown talent. So is Derek Jeter, Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams (God rest his baseball-playing soul). The one advantage fans in Milwaukee had over us in New York was the thrill of watching players from your own farm system make it in the big leagues.

But along with Hughes comes a piece of news that will make small market teams hate Yankee supporters even more: we have a chance to enjoy that once again.

Damn Yankees, I know.

If the Bears continue along this path, teams will soon be lining up to acquire Brian Urlacher.

After all, Chicago just traded its best offensive player for chump change - why not its defensive standout next?

We know the defending NFC champions have been at odds with Thomas Jones ever since they drafted Cedric Benson in the first round two years ago - but the guy ran for over 1,200 yards last season. Oh, and Rex Grossman is a worse quarterback than Evander Holyfield is a ghost name chooser.

You’d think the Bears would wish to pad their running attack as strongly as possible to guard against Grossman sucking. But you’d be wrong, apparently.

Meanwhile, the Jets landed a top running back in exchange for their second round pick (37th overall) acquired in a trade with Washington last season. New York still own two picks in the second round: their own (No. 59) and now the Bears’ original selection.

As reported by Sports Illustrated, Evan Fields picked up three vials of testosterone in June 2004 from a doctor in Georgia. The transaction was documened through SI.com’s probe into The Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center.

Later that month Fields also obtained five vials of Saizen and three months later returned for treatment of hypogonadism, a condition whereby sex glands produce little or no hormones. Now, here’s the truly shocking part:

Investigators noted that Fields shares both the birth date and home address of former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield. Moreover,, when SI called a phone number on a Post-It note attached to the Fields patient file, Holyfield answered.

The staff at The Sports Truth isn’t shocked that Holyfield uses steroids - at this point, we’d only be shocked if Tim McCarver was busted for HGH - but we’re aghast at the moniker he chose to use.

Evan Field?!? Come on, Evander. We knew you weren’t the sharpest glove in the ring by the fact that you’re still fighting in it at age 44, but you couldn’t have asked Michael Vick (aka Ron Mexico) for nickname advice?

In less surprising new, John Rocker is also accused of using HGH. He doesn’t like gay people.

A minor league hockey team in upstate New York is offering Britney Spears an all-expense paid trip to come and watch the team play … and escape the trials and tribulations of celebrity life.

If she does, the Syracuse Crunch is prepared to offer a free ticket to any woman that comes to the War Memorial Box Office with a shaved head! That’s a lot of sexy, bald women!

The Syracuse, N.Y., American Hockey League franchise hopes that Britney will make it up to the Salt City in time for the team’s February 24 game against the Manitoba Moose.

“The team and community want to provide Britney Spears with a stress-free environment and the chance to experience a high level of hockey,” Crunch President and CEO Howard Dolgon says on the team’s website.

“In addition to being 3,000 miles away from Hollywood, Syracuse is light years away from that pretentious environment. There won’t be paparazzi within a 100 miles.”

C’mon, Brit. Don’t puck around. If Spears accepts the invite, the team’s entire front office pledged to shave their heads as well! Wow. Aside from compulsive gambling, we can’t think of a better way to make hockey interesting than a troubled pop star taking in the scene.

Another option would be to assign Terry Tate to follow Britney around and whip her into shape the next time she tries to neglect her kids (or drop one of them on the sidewalk).

It’s gotta be a drag when your NFL quarterback boyfriend dumps you after three years and takes up with a Victoria’s Secret supermodel … and then you find you’re three months pregnant!

That’s the situation faced by actress Bridget Moynahan of Six Degrees fame, and her former beau, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, says his knocked-up ex is trying to make him “look like a jerk.”

That shouldn’t be too challenging!

Since announcing his split with Bridget, Tom has taken up with a Brazilian bombshell, supermodel Gisele Bundchen (who used to date Leonardo DiCaprio).

While the two were vacationing in Paris, Bridget dropped the baby bomb to the New York Post’s Liz Smith - catching Brady off guard with a revelation that surely didn’t please his staunchly Catholic family.

Sources close to TMZ.com say that Moynahan was trying to embarass Gisele and make her look bad.

Which would be very challenging.

Reports say that Gisele has never been hotter happier, despite Tom’s lil’ bun in Bridget’s oven. Sorry. We can’t believe we used that analogy.

A friend of Gisele’s says Bundchen is smitten with her man and that the two will probably marry. For the moment, GB and her QB are headed to Milan so G can appear in the D&G show there.

The three-time Super Bowl champ may have let Peyton Manning get the best of him this year, but at least he can take solace in a nice offseason prize. Oh, and the birth of his first child by someone else.

Remember Terry Tate, the “office linebacker” from the Reebok ad campaign, whose bone-jarring hits on corporate workers who failed to exhibit proper workplace protocol?

Tate is actually Lester “The Mighty Rasta” Speight (right) a 44-year-old Baltimore native and actor.

According to the Balitmore Sun, he’s beginning to establish himself in the profession, with a role in Eddie Murphy’s new comedy, Norbit, an episode of Fox’s “Prison Break,” a voiceover of the Xbox game “Gears of War” and numerous other projects in the works.

“It feels like you’re in demand, and at the same time you have to be humble,” says Speight, a 6-foot-6-inch, 305-pound former All-America football player at Morgan State University, who coined his own nickname “Mighty Rasta,” during a stint in pro wrestling.

“As an actor, I’ve gotten to where once you establish yourself, it’s a snowball; success begets success,” he says. “People see you and they keep calling because they see you as helping to make their projects successful. You feel busy and that you have a sense of security.”

Here’s Speight’s breakthrough role as Tate, the office enforcer who made his debut in a wildly popular Reebok commercial during the 2003 Super Bowl…

The 2008 NBA Draft is supposed to be one of the best draft classes in history… or at least since 2003.

Ohio State’s Greg Oden, Texas’ Kevin Durant, Florida’s Joakim Noah (pictured), Al Horford and Corey Brewer, Kansas’ Julian Wright and Duke’s Josh McRoberts all look like tremendous NBA talents who will immediately pay huge dividends to the team smart enough to select them.

There’s only one problem: The NBA Draft is not an exact science. There is a better than average chance at least two or three of those guys listed will be a completely bust. Yeah, I’m thinking it will be McRoberts as well.

So in the coming weeks, the Sports Truth will take a look at some of the drafts from the past 10 years. We’ll start today with 1997.

We all remember this one. Well, at least Celtics fans do.

At the beginning of the 1996 season, the Spurs’ David Robinson suffered a minor foot injury, but he missed 20 games and the Spurs were miserable. Instead of rushing Mr. Robinson back into the lineup, they told him to rest for the season.

Smart move! By tanking the season, the Spurs ended up with the first pick in the draft: Tim Duncan, the man who would eventually lead them to three championships; a three-time NBA Finals MVP and the face of the franchise.

Clearly, this was the beginning of a great draft. Or so you’d think. After Duncan (pictured below), the 1997 NBA Draft has to be one of the worst in the history of professional basketball.

Here’s the remainder of the top 10:

2. Keith Van Horn, Philadelphia
3. Chauncey Billups, Boston
4. Antonio Daniels, Vancouver
5. Tony Battie, Denver
6. Ron Mercer, Boston
7. Tim Thomas, New Jersey
8. Adonal Foyle, Golden State
9. Tracy McGrady, Toronto
10. Danny Fortson, Milwaukee

Let’s re-rank the top 10 in terms of how their careers shaped out:

1. Duncan … obviously.
2. Billups … took a few teams, but he’s a star.
3. McGrady … great talent when he’s on the floor, but he’s with his third team now.

Should I keep going?

4. Van Horn … he isn’t half the player most people thought he would be.
5. Daniels … nice player for Washington, but not exactly an All-Star.
6. Thomas … bust.
7. Fortson … good rebounder, barely a first round selection.
8. Mercer … mediocre at best.
9. Battie … tall stiff, not very productive.
10. Foyle … highly overpaid bum who probably hurt the draft position of talented players from smaller schools.

I know what you are thinking: “The rest of the first round must have been strong, right?” Nope! Here is a list of serviceable NBA players from the remainder of this draft:

First Round
12. Austin Croshere, Indiana
15. Kelvin Cato, Dallas
16. Brevin Knight, Cleveland
19. Scot Pollard, Detroit
21. Anthony Parker, New Jersey
23. Bobby Jackson, Seattle

Second Round
9. Marc Jackson, Golden State
14. Stephen Jackson, Phoenix
26. Mark Blount, Seattle

Think about this: If you re-ranked all of the players I just listed, that would put Bobby Jackson (right) and Mark Blount in the lottery. Most of these guys have spent a bulk of their careers on the bench, Anthony Parker played in Europe for years before getting a call from Toronto and Stephen Jackson has been arrested more times than he’s been named to the All-Star team.

Quick Quiz: What do these players have in common: Serge Zwikker, Chris Antsey, Kebu Stewart, God Shammgod and Marko Milic?

Answer: They were all selected in this draft. Do any of you have any clue who these guys are? Yeah, I remember Serge playing for North Carolina and God at Providence, but do you really remember any of them? Antsey was a seven-footer selected by Portland with the 19th pick, Stewart played 110 minutes in his career for Philly and Marko Milic is not related to Darko Milicic, but did play 216 career minutes for Phoenix.

Let’s summarize the 1997 Draft:

Best Player: Clearly it is (and was) Tim Duncan.
Lottery Worthy: Duncan, Billups and McGrady.
Best Second Rounder: Mark Blount, and that’s saying something, barely ahead of Stephen Jackson.
Best Non-Lottery Player: Bobby Jackson. He was an excellent sixth-man and one of the keys to Sacramento’s success.
Busts: Too many to list. Besides the top 10 busts, here are a few more: Maurice Taylor, 14th, Clippers. Scot Pollard, 19th, Detroit. Ed Gray, 22nd, Atlanta (he averaged 24.8 points per game for California in 1997). Jacque Vaughn, 27th, Utah.
Worst Draft: Philadelphia had four picks in the top 36. They came away with Van Horn, Milic, Kebu Stewart and James Collins. Amazingly, they also had four picks in the 1996 draft: Allen Iverson (first pick overall), and then Mark Hendrickson, Ryan Minor (best known for replacing Cal Ripken, Jr., in the lineup when his consecutive game streak ended), and Jamie Feick. Nice work, Philly. No wonder they’ve been so bad.
Notable Undrafted Players: Fabricio Oberto, who’s now with Spurs after several years in Europe. Oberto was available in this draft and he was certainly better than Antsey or Zwikker. Damon Jones is a good shooter, probably should have been drafted. Troy Hudson, remember him? He signed that huge deal with Minnesota, grew dreadlocks and started sucking.

NEXT UP: The 1998 NBA Draft. Michael Olowokandi goes number one. Did it get any better?

1. (1) Dallas (43-9). The Mavs have won eight straight and 29 of their last 31 games. Clearly, this is the best all-around team in the NBA.
2. (2) Phoenix (39-12). Anyone who thinks Steve Nash is not the MVP, just watch the Suns flounder without him.
3. (7) Utah (34-17). Won five straight without Carlos Boozer. Who knew Mehmet Okur was this good?
4. (8) Detroit (32-18). Starting to pull away a little in the East. Chris Webber’s been a nice fit.
5. (3) San Antonio (34-18). Looked bad against Miami, just 3-4 on their current 8-game road trip which ends in Detroit on Valentine’s Day.
6. (5) Houston (33-18). 8-2 in their last ten. Who needs Yao Ming?
7. (10) Cleveland (30-21). Good win against the Lakers, even though Larry Hughes certainly fouled Kobe on the most important play of the game.
8. (4) Washington (28-21). Great run, but the Wizards will end up with the 7th or 8th seed in the East when the season ends. They are seven games over .500, yet their win margin is -0.1. Those things tend to even out.
9. (6) L.A. Lakers (30-23). Tough loss against Cleveland. Who would have thought Luke Walton (below) was really the glue on this team? By the way, why wouldn’t Kobe at least touch the ball at the end of the Knicks game on Tuesday night?
10. (15) Miami (26-26). Luckily for Detroit, Miami won’t stay in the eighth slot in the East much longer. I guarantee they get at least the third seed.
11. (11) Denver (26-24). Still eight games behind Utah. Too much talent to be this mediocre.
12. (9) Chicago (29-24). A 3-4 road trip followed by a home loss to Toronto is not the sign of a championship contender.
13. (13) Toronto (28-24). Big win on the road against Chicago for the East’s biggest surprise. Raptors are 15-6 in 2007 and four of those losses came against Phoenix, Dallas, Detroit and Utah.
14. (14) Indiana (27-24). Another team that allows more points than it scores. Again, this tends to even out over time. After winning 6 out of 7, Pacers quickly dropped three straight. Every time they make a run, they drop back to around .500.
15. (18) Orlando (26-26). Just 4-12 since January 12. That is a quick fade pattern.
16. (12) L.A. Clippers (25-27). ESPN the Magazine did an article about Shaun Livingston recently. He says he knows he can be the man. Any time now, kid.
17. (16) Minnesota (24-27). Ricky Davis fired a dagger into the heart of Celtics fans, but the T-Wolves are still a mess.
18. (23) New Orleans / Oklahoma City (24-28). Making a pretty decent run at the last playoff spot currently occupied by the Clippers.
19. (17) Golden State (24-29). Went 3-6 in their last nine games, including two, yes two, losses to Atlanta. That says it all.
20. (19) New Jersey (25-28). Marcus Williams was 4-for-14 with nine points and 10 assists filling in for Jason Kidd. He also had one steal… think it was a laptop?
21. (20) New York (23-29). Eddie Curry says “It feels good to have 23 wins right now.” Nice job, Mr. Thomas… way to create a soothing atmosphere of mediocrity.
22. (24) Sacramento (22-28). Kings won five straight, then dropped two to Seattle and Houston. Hopefully, someone will get to them and make them realize they are better off losing. Then, after the All-Star break, the Celtics can go to Sacramento and get a win.
23. (22) Portland (22-31). LaMarcus Aldridge’s 18 and 10 in the blowout over the Wizards was a great sign. Brandon Roy is still playing good ball.
24. (25) Seattle (19-32). They are 1-1 since Rashard Lewis returned. That’s an improvement. Oh, and Ray Allen was named to the All-Star team, so stop complaining.
25. (27) Atlanta (20-31). Big win over Phoenix - so what if Nash did not play.
26. (21) Milwaukee (19-33). Bucks have just three wins since we turned the calendar to 2007. Of course, the Celtics only have two wins in that same period. Big battle on Valentine’s Day.
27. (26) Charlotte (18-33). Lost five out of six and appear to be hitting the wall.
28. (28) Philadelphia (17-35). Have gone 6-6 in their last 12 games… is that a good thing?
29. (29) Memphis (14-39). Accepting trade offers for Pau Gasol (pictured). They need to do something.
30. (30) Boston (12-38). See above. Should Danny Ainge give the number one for Pau Gasol? I say no way, but he’s thinking about it.

In a game that will go largely unnoticed by the American public, the United States beat its rival Mexico, 2-0, last Wednesday in front of a sellout, largely pro-Mexican crowd in Glendale, Ariz.

With the win, the United States extended its record at home against the “Tricolores” to 7-0-1, having not allowed the Mexicans to score a single goal in those eight games.

Including games in Mexico and neutral sites, the United States improved to 8-2-1 vs. Mexico since 2000, including the dramatic 2-0 win in the 2002 World Cup.

Last week’s game may have been played in the United States, but placing the game in the very Hispanic southwest was no coincidence. Were the game played in, say New Jersey, the chances of it selling out, unfortunately, would be slim.

The United States may remain undefeated at home, but besides the win-loss record, everything about this rivalry is tailored to the Mexican fans. Of course, this is in an effort to sell more tickets and improve ratings for the broadcast within the U.S., but the clear lack of interest and support for the national team is unfortunate.

Look, I’m not a huge soccer fan, I’ve never watched club soccer in Europe and despite having a thriving franchise in my backyard (the New England Revolution) I can’t get into Major League Soccer. But, there’s something intriguing about the U.S. national team that had me taping the game last night and watching it until 1:00 a.m. (the Duke/UNC game came first, of course).

After watching a very positive response to the U.S. during the 2006 World Cup this past summer, one hoped it would rope more people into following our national team. I haven’t seen the numbers yet, but I’m guessing the ratings for last week’s game were not even close to World Cup numbers.

Part of the problem is an obvious difference in approach to the game. When I told Sports Truth founder Levi Matthews that I wanted to go to Glendale to cover the match for the website, he looked at me with the cocked-head confusion of a dog and asked “isn’t it just a “friendly?” referring to the result-doesn’t-really-matter nature of the match.

Empirically, Levi was correct. But sadly, he missed the point of the match.

It’s no secret that Mexico was out to win the game, calling back almost every player from Europe it could in an effort to bring an “A” team to the United States for a shot at breaking their losing streak. U.S. Coach Bob Bradley was only a shade less aggressive, allowing stars such as Oguchi Onyewu and DeMarcus Beasley to stay in Europe.

Maybe the time I spent in Australia has a lot to do with this. In the summer and fall of 2000 (winter and spring for the Aussies), I got to spend five months in Sydney and immersed myself into their sporting culture. While I enjoyed their club rugby matches, what really got my attention was the energy the entire country invested into its national teams, specifically cricket and rugby.

I know neither of those sports are going to take off in the United States (nor would I really want cricket to) and by the same token, soccer is fighting an uphill battle in the upper 48. But going into a restaurant at 2:00 p.m. on a Wednesday and having the whole bar cheer in unison during an Australia vs. South Korea five-day cricket match was something I hoped the U.S. would embrace one day.

I feel as if the United States soccer team is something the general public can rally around. Maybe the boys won’t get the same support their European counterparts do during “friendly” matches, but it takes wins in matches like these to make the team more important internationally - that means more competitive, and thus, every subsequent match more exciting.

Here’s hoping.

Coach Doc Rivers, whose Boston Celtics are riding a staggering 15-game losing streak, was probably glad to be asked about anything but that during his news conference last night.

But it had to come as a surprise that he was talking about John Amaechi (pictured) being the first NBA player to publicly come out of the closet and admit that he is gay.

The former Magic and Jazz forward, who averaged 6.2 points per game over five NBA seasons, is due out with a book, called “Man in the Middle,” in which he reveals he is homosexual.

John Amaechi played two seasons for Rivers, appearing in 162 of 164 possible games and starting 89 from 1999-2001 with Orlando.

“I was coach of the year [with Orlando in 2000]; John started for me at the power forward spot,” Rivers told the Boston Globe. “He was great for me. He was great for our team.”

Rivers said he did not know of Amaechi’s sexual orientation. Or care.

“So what? Can he rebound? Can he shoot? Can he defend?’John Amaechi was a great kid,” Rivers said. “He did as much charity work as anyone in our city. I wish that is what we focused on. Instead, we’re focusing on sexual orientation, which I could give a flying flip about.”

The Celtics coach was asked if he thought today’s NBA would be accepting of a homosexual. He said he did not think it would matter in the locker room, because no subject is taboo in the locker room.

He said he would encourage a player to come out.

“It was difficult for people to watch Jackie Robinson and they got used to it,” Rivers said. “And they started cheering for him. It would be difficult for the fans [of today] if the guy couldn’t play. Nothing else should be difficult… John’s a fantastic kid. He’s better than a good kid. He’s just a good guy who happens to have a different sexual orientation. And that shouldn’t be an issue. But it is. And I know why it is. When guys do come out, when that day does happen, [this will] make it easier. I hope so. I can’t wait until it’s not an issue. I really can’t.”

Elsewhere, the reaction to Amaechi coming out was primarily positive. The world’s most famous gay athlete, tennis legend Martina Navratilova, was quick to congratulate Amaechi with his decision:

“It’s hugely important for the kids so they don’t feel alone in the world. We’re role models. We’re adults, and we know we’re not alone but kids don’t know that,” she said. “He will definitely help a lot of kids growing up to feel better about themselves.”

Orlando’s Grant Hill, who said he didn’t know Amaechi when he was with the Magic, also applauded the decision to go public.

“The fact that John has done this, maybe it will give others the comfort or confidence to come out as well, whether they are playing or retiring,” Hill said.

NBA commissioner David Stern said a player’s sexuality wasn’t important.

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