New York sports fans are getting their wish, a subway World Series. It won't be a friendly affair, though. Mike Piazza was hitting Roger Clemens pretty good the past couple of seasons, so when they met during the regular season this year, Clemens nailed Piazza with a first pitch fastball (the pitch was up around the eyes, a big no-no). If "The Rocket" is scheduled to pitch "away" at Shea Stadium, where the designated hitter will not be used, count on whoever's on the mound for the Mets to do the "professional" thing and nail Clemens in the ribs with a hard slider. I've heard Clemens is a tough guy, but let's see if Joe Torre will give us the chance to see how tough.
Memories of Billy Hatcher -- Many of baseball's brightest stars come through big during the playoffs. Piazza, Derek Jeter and David Justice proved their worth this postseason. More often then not, though, it's the little guys who seem to lead their teams through the playoffs. Guys like Alfonso, Perez and Agbayani carried the biggest sticks for the Mets, as they surprised the Giants (best record in the National League) and terrorized the St. Louis Cardinals (2nd best NL record). Remember Billy Hatcher? It was exactly a decade ago that the otherwise average outfielder single-handedly led the Cincinnati Reds to a four game sweep of the big, bad Oakland A's.
Olympic Silver in Belmont -- For anyone who didn't get enough of the Olympics, take a short trip to the College of Notre Dame to see the Lady Argonauts volleyball team in action. The team features Yi Wang, a 6'3" middleblocker who, as a member of the Chinese National Team, won an Olympic silver medal at the '96 Olympics in Atlanta. Yi was honored as the Most Valuable Player of the California Pacific Conference the past two years. Last year, she was named an NAIA All-American, as she set a school and conference record with 669 kills. Call the CND Athletic Department at: (650) 508-3590 for season schedule.
God Save the Queen -- In England, the tabloids are abuzz with the national soccer team's recent string of bad results (I guess recent means the past 10 years or so). Kevin Keegan resigned last week as England Coach, as his team failed to even get past the first round of the European Championships. Recognizing that the English game's tactics have fallen behind, there have been calls to hire a foreign manager, including Aime Jaquet, who led France to its World Cup '98 triumph, or Italian Marcello Lippi. England's biggest soccer hero, Sir Bobby Charlton, calls hiring a foreign manager a "disgrace". It's true that the English invented the beautiful game and introduced it to much of the world, but when will the arrogance end? England felt it stood head and shoulders above the rest of the world, so it wouldn't participate in the World Cup until 1950 (where the U.S. shocked England 1-0 and Uruguay took home the trophy). The entire nation finally woke up when, in 1953, the "Magic Magyars" of Hungary defeated the English 6-3...in England. Uruguay and Argentina are fierce rivals, separated only by the River Plate. Yet Uruguay this year hired an Argentine, Daniel Passarella, to help bring their national team to a level closer to that of Argentina's. With the coaching pool so thin in England right now, swallowing some pride might not be such a bad idea.
Victory on Ice -- Scott Prussack at Belmont Iceland tells me that the peninsula was well represented at the U.S. Figure Skating Association's Central Pacific Regional Championships in Roseville last weekend. The Peninsula Skating Club had several stand-out performers. Daniel Steffel finished first in Junior Men, Heather Cristobal won the Juvenile Ladies, Joan Cristobal and Kara Glasson finished first and second in Junior Ladies, James Mamoody and Nicholas Roby were one and two in Pre-Juvenile Boys. Turning in second place finishes were Jeffrey Hamilton in Intermediate Men and Michael Dimalanta in Novice Men. Great job, skaters!
Do you know of a local superstar in the making? Do you have an interesting sports tidbit to share? Do you just want to be heard? Contact "SportsRap" at: sportsrap@smdailyjournal.com or at: (650) 532-2182 ext.1072.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
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PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
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