The All-Starr Blog

The NBA's Home Court Advantage

Mark Starr — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:21:57 GMT

Nobody, least of all the Boston Celtics, could explain why it took the team with the NBA's best regular season record a full seven games to dispatch Atlanta in the first round of the NBA playoffs--how the Celtics kicked the Hawks, the only sub. 500 team to reach the postseason, by an average margin of 25 in its four wins at the Boston Garden, but lost all three games in Atlanta. The Celtics, who had the best road record (31-10) in the NBA this past season, are at it again: they smothered LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers two straight at home, but last night suffered a second double-digit defeat in a row in Cleveland to square the series.

The home court is supposed to be an advantage--worth three points in most bookmaking operations, just like in football--but the Celtics are hardly alone in making it seemed even more conspicuous this 2008 playoff season. New Orleans ran defending champ San Antonio off the court in the opening pair at home, then were routed two straight by the Spurs when they crossed west into Texas. The Los Angeles Lakers are even up with the the Utah Jazz after losing both games in Salt Lake City, where the Jazz were a league-leading 37-4 this season. Home teams in this second round are 15-1, with only Detroit winning on the road, a one-point squeaker in Orlando.

Granted, home teams won more than 60 percent of the home games during the regular season and only 8 of 30 NBA teams had losing records at home. Still, the discrepancy in the numbers--home and away--in this playoff round has been mind-boggling. Look what happened when the the two teams that met in the 2007 Finals, the Spurs and the Cavaliers, arrived home trailing 0-2: San Antonio, having shot 41.6% from the field on the road, shot 49.7% at home. The Cavs jumped from 33.1 percent shooting in Boston to 49.3 percent. Even the superstars weren't immune to road woes: LeBron James shot 8 for 42 in Boston; Tim Duncan went 1 for 9 and scored just five points in the opener in New Orleans: and Kobe Bryant was 13 for 33 in the Laker loss Sunday.

So what exactly is the homecourt advantage? The comforts of home--familiar food, your own bed-- as well as knowing the court and the rim (and in the old Boston Garden, Red Auerbach used to play nasty tricks with the temperatures and conditions in the cramped visitors locker room) must play some part. And as the game has become increasingly emotive--more fist-pumping and chest-thumping--the crowd frenzy may have more effect, up and down, on today's players. Of course, there is also the critical question of whether the home crowd has an impact on the officiating. A likely case in point would be the key three-pointer scored by Detroit at the end of the third period of Game 2 against Orlando, where a clock snafu forced officials to guess whether the Pistons got the shot off within 5.1 seconds. Watching the game and guessing along with the officials it seemed unlikely to me and one inevitably wonders if the path of least resistance was dealing with an angry coach rather than Detroit's famously angry crowd.

Still, I confess I look hard for what I perceive to be official bias and--besides the consideration given superstars like James and Bryant, a time-honored NBA tradition--didn't see much clear evidence of it. The Cavs, for example, were awarded 53 free throws to Boston's 56 in the two games at the Garden, 51 to Boston's 50 at home. New Orleans shot 39 free throws to the Spurs 40 in New Orleans, 33 to the the Spurs 41 in San Antonio. Or to put it in human terms, I've seen LeBron lower his shoulder into a defender and actually get called for charging at both home and way in this series.

Whatever accounts for the discrepancy is a pretty good advertisement for David Stern's rejuvenated NBA. The oft-repeated complaint is that the season is too long, the players can't get up for 82 games and, thus, too many games are meaningless. Obviously, there is some truth in that. But this year's playoffs are demonstrating that playoff positioning counts a great deal and some good teams that had to open on the road may have been doomed from the start. The Celtics, by virtue of the best record in the league this year, are in position to pull of an unprecedented, if very unlikely, trick--winning the NBA championship without a single victory on the road.

An adventure at Aventura, Annika Sorenstam wins Stanford in playoff

Editors — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:07:31 GMT

By William Jempty of OTB Sports

A missed six-foot par putt by Paula Creamer handed Annika Sorenstam the Stanford International Pro-Am Championship on the first hole of sudden death just moments after Sorenstam had missed her own ten-foot putt on 18 to put Creamer in the playoff.

A heartbroken Creamer, asked in the interview room about her mentor Nancy Lopez, choked up. ‘The Pink Panther’, who had credited the Hall of Famer for her improved play, felt she had let down her friend and supporter. It was Creamer's first-ever playoff.

Annika Sorenstam won with consistency over the final 18 - a few birdies and one bogey. Craemer did chase down Sorenstam, even briefly moving ahead of her until the seventeenth hole before falling back into a tie. On eighteen, Sorenstam's ball teased the hole on her ten-footer to win the tournament.

Creamer birdied holes 2, 3, 9, and 11 to move into the lead. Pink Panther found danger on the par three seventh and seventeenth holes.

On the seventh, Creamer’s ball landed in the edge of the hazard. In order to have any kind of shot, Creamer had to remove one of her shoes. With one foot in the water, Creamer nearly delivered a miracle shot as the ball hit the flagstick. Rather than drop down into the hole, the ball bounced away.

At seventeen, Creamer’s tee shot flirted with the water. Then a "chunked chip", as Creamer described it later, resulted in a missed fifteen-foot putt for par.

On the first and final hole of sudden death Paula Creamer’s approach to the 18th green was a little long, leaving a fast downhill putt, one that got away from her. The six-footer for par never made it to the hole.

Sorenstam, who's birdie putt was similar to the one she had missed on the final hole of regulation barely missed but tapped in for par. When Creamer missed her par putt, the dramatic contest was over.

Sorenstam’s win qualifies her for the year-ending ADT Championship.

As for Creamer, she faulted no one but herself for not winning today. “Looking back I made more mistakes than she (Annika) made.”

With all due respect to Sorenstam, the big winner yesterday may have been the tournament itself which featured high-drama with an exciting mix of players competing for the title. The fine play of several rookies and the excellent early play of South Korean Young Kim along with a late charge by Australian Karrie Web who ran off a string of five consecutive birdies on Sunday, on her way to the low round of the tournament. The Australian Hall of Famer who has a Florida home less than an hour from Aventura, started the day at even par. She began her birdie streak at hole number two and ended it at the par five sixth. When she teed off the seventh tee, Webb was five under par and in the thick of the hunt.

Karrie Webb birdied holes 11 and 12, but then could only play even par golf for the last six holes. At the end of the day's round Webb was happy with how she played.

“I hit the ball good again and actually made some putts today, so it was really nice".

Webb’s final round 64 was three shots lower than any round shot prior to Sunday.

The next lowest round of week came from Lindsay Wright. She shot a final round 65 moving her into a tie for ninth place.

Second round leader Young Kim opened the final round two shots back. A birdie four on the par five second after a close approach and a birdie at the par four forth the result of a lengthy fifty foot putt had Kim just one shot out of the lead at the time

Then disaster struck on the seventh hole. A poorly hit tee shot, way short, found the water short right of the green. Kim lost track of the ball off the tee, looking toward the green or somewhere nearby before noticing ripples spreading out across the water. Kim had missed dry land by twenty feet and the hole position by at least fifteen yards, maybe twenty. A double bogey five on the course’s shortest hole was the end result.

Kim followed the seventh hole disaster with another double bogey on the eighth after an errand tee shot was deemed unplayable. After these two double bogeys, Young Kim rallied with a back nine 31 that left her one shot out of the Creamer-Sorenstam playoff.

Another near-miss for the Seoul Sisters and for the "hat lady" is was another third place finish, maintaining her record of never finishing second.

Cristie Kerr, within striking distance of the leaders at the start of the day, managed to remain close until a five hole stretch of five over par golf derailed the US Open Champion’s challenge. Momoko Ueda shot an even par 71 to finish in solo fifth place.

After her previous round with seven birdies, the gallery was hoping for more fireworks from Momoko yet over the final eighteen holes the Japanese rookie could make just one birdie.

A few personal reflections...

Not just because I had a wonderful opportunity to cover the event as a blogger for Newsweek, the Stanford International proved to be the best tournament of the 2008 LPGA season I've seen so far. Plenty of drama involving some of the tour’s top players and a close finish. The amateurs added a dose of fun and celebrity. The tournament had some difficulties including slow play and a difficult course setup, but the end result was about as good as anyone could have hoped for. Give the LPGA and tournament organizers credit for an event that produced in only a few short months. With the few glitches that did crop resolved by next year - and the nearby noisy construction site a memory - the Stanford International is on its way to becoming a fine event.

2008 LPGA Rookie Class looking strong so far

Editors — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:34:55 GMT

By William Jempty of OTB Sports

The Stanford International Pro-Am features two rookies among its leaders. Both Momoko Ueda from Japan and Yani Tseng from Taiwan shot opening round 68s, one stroke off first round leader Young Kim. They weren’t the only rookies to shoot under 70 yesterday. Carolina Llano and Hee Young Park shot rounds of 69.

The 2008 Rookie Class is already impacting the LPGA tour. Tseng and Momoko are just two of the high profile players emerging from this year's group of rookies. Nine events into the LPGA season, Na-Yeon Choi leads Yani Tseng by 37 points in the Rolex Rookie of the Year standings. Louise Friberg, another rookie, won last month’s Mastercard Classic.

The strong play of rookies on the LPGA Tour is nothing new. Hall of Famers Juli Inkster and Se Ri Pak each won not just tournaments but two major championships apiece in their maiden seasons. More recently Paula Creamer, Seon Hwa Lee, Dorothy Delasin, and Mi Hyun Kim all took home a least one LPGA trophy as a rookie.

It seems a good time to ask why this particular class is playing so well. Part of the reason is that the so-called "rookies" are hardly neophytes when it comes to the rigors of high-level professional competition. Louise Friberg, who hails from Sweden, competed in Europe before joining the LPGA tour. Momoko Ueda won four times on the JLPGA in addition to winning the LPGA’s Mizuno Classic. By the time many of them arrive they are already seasoned professionals, prepared to win at any level.

The Korean LPGA has been a particularly important source of young golfers for the LPGA. Na Yeon Choi won four KLPGA events over three years before qualifying for her LPGA tour card last fall. In fact, the play coming out of Korea has been so strong it is no longer fair to call the KLPGA a minor league to the LPGA. 2006 LPGA rookie of the year Seon Hwa Lee was the Futures Tour leading money winner in 2005. The 2006 rookie class, which some have called the finest rookie class in many years with Julieta Granada, Morgan Pressel, and Ai Miyazato also featured South Koreans Seon Hwa and Jee Young Lee. Yani Tseng played on both the Asian and Canadian tours and won on both.

Tseng's strong showing so far at the Stanford International is another building block in what has already been a good 2008. When asked about her level of play this year, Tseng said "I have a good coach, I have good friends, good manager.” I had a chance to talk with Tseng after her second round and ask her it the explained her quick adjustment to the LPGA Tour. Tseng told me having good people around her helps her relax out on the course.

One of Tseng’s coaches is former two-time PGA Champion Dave Stockton. Stockton, who was known for his remarkable short game when he played the tour in the 60's and 70's, is helping with that aspect of Tseng's game. From what I’ve seen so far out on the course, Tseng has an excellent teacher.

Regardless of where these rookies come from they are not here to serve any sort of apprenticeship or pay their dues. Whether they come to the LPGA out of college, the Futures Tour, The KLPGA, or some other golf circuit, these new lady golfers come to the Tour with one goal in mind - winning.

“I want to win at least one tournament on the tour this year.” Momoko Ueda said yesterday. Safe to say, she speaks for every rookie out on tour this year.

Hats off to Young Kim leads the Stanford International after two rounds by one shot

Editors — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:08:02 GMT

By William Jempty of OTB Sports

Young Kim calls her headgear a‘bucket hat’. When asked after today’s round why she wears different hats,Young said. “I like this bucket hat because it's good for the strong sun. Still I don’t want to change my hat.” As a malignant melanoma survivor, I’m glad to hear Young is conscientious about her skin care. I’ve had too many friends die of skin cancer.

Young’s hat is made by Bogner,one of the golfer’s sponsors. If you’re superstitious, it's the same type of hat Young wore when winning last year’s Corning Classic, and she is atop the leaderboard of the Stanford International after round two.

A second round 67, which is tied for the best round of the day and featuring six birdies, has Young at seven under par and leading by one shot. In second place at minus six is Annika Sorenstam who also shot a 67.

Gusty winds made scoring difficult today. Only six players are under par for the tournament. Also equaling Young and Annika for the best round of the day, was Seon Hwa Lee. Seon Hwa’s 67 has her one over par for the tournament and in a tie for sixteenth.

Back to Young Kim’s round. On the back nine, Young made another four birdies to add to her two on the front nine. A driver, 8-iron, and long putt from thirty feet resulted in a birdie on the 11^th hole. Young got another thirty-foot putt to drop on 15. Her birdie on 12 came after a driver and pitching wedge to fifteen feet.

Young’s back nine wasn’t without a few blemishes. A bad drive on ten into a fairway bunker and a three-putt on fourteen from sixty feet both resulted in bogey. Young may have made her best shot at 18. It was the best approach shot I saw on that finishing hole today. A nine-iron to ten feet giving a Young a closing birdie.

While Young played the same amount of shots on Fairmont Turnberry Isle’s two courses, the South Korean golfer found Miller the tougher layout.

“Soffer is better like direction for the wind. I think Miller is a little more difficult than Soffer." The final 36 holes of the Stanford will be played on the Soffer course.

As for Annika’s round, close approach shots with a sand wedge resulted in four of her birdies. Her other birdie came after a 9-iron to four feet on the ninth. After a bogey on 12,Annika parred the last six holes of her round. Sorenstam said her first hole birdie really got her going. “I was bouncing down the fairway", she said, commenting on her reaction to birdies on the first three holes.

One prominent Florida pro not moving on is Morgan Pressel. Pressel’s score of75-74 will be at least one shot too high in order to play the final two rounds.Other prominent LPGA golfers who won’t play the final 36 holes include Jeong Jang, Brittany Lincicome, Laura Davies, plus veteran Jan Stephenson and Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez.

A few notes:

Natalie Gulbis stands at plus seven for two rounds and is currently on the wrong side of the cut line.

Laura Davies had a hole in one yesterday on the Soffer course’s 13^thhole.

After two rounds, the low rookie is Japan’s Momoko Ueda, whose 68-72 has her tied for 5th.

'As Time Goes By' at the Stanford International

Editors — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 23:28:10 GMT

By William Jempty of OTB Sports

"Either he's dead or my watch has stopped."

Having passed to his eternal reward in 1977, Groucho Marx was not paired with any of the pros at the Stanford International Pro-Am. So it only seemed like eternity out there on the course today. With many of the celebrity amateurs doing their own impersonations of Marx's "Dr. Hackenbush", play went from slow to downright glacial here in South Florida. Suffice to say, its been no day at the races in Aventura with the pile ups on the course more reminiscent of a Mack Sennett film than a Marx Brothers comedy.

After yesterday's six hour rounds and boiling sun, perhaps we can have some sympathy for the slow play of the amateurs today, some of whom seem to have gotten more than they bargained for at the Stanford International. I walked just nine hole yesterday, never swung a club and left the course totally exhausted.

The amateurs are not the only ones struggling with an unfamiliar course. This is the first time since the 1980's that the LPGA has played here in Aventura only adding to the slow pace of play. Everyone here has taken note of the pace and LPGA players, amateurs, and tournament organizers are all working hard to play faster and put on a great event. Saturday promises a more orderly event.

I went out on the Miller course for a bit this morning. The difficult par three second was already causing backups at the tee box. When I arrived on the scene, six professional players plus their amateur partners were waiting for the green to clear. Players and spectators alike were serenaded by a steady chorus of jackhammers pounding away at a nearby construction site.

The wind gusts were quite strong at times, making the 2nd hole even more difficult. One entire group was unable to put a single ball on the green in regulation. Meena Lee easily hit the best approach shot while I was there. The two-winner LPGA winner from South Korea hit her tee shot to less than ten feet. The difficult conditions meant the first two holes took almost an hour to play for some groups.

As groups cleared the second hole, the pace began to pick up. Brittany Lincicome’s group played the Miller front nine in just under three hours.Still when you add it up, that means it will again take most groups a little under six hours to complete 18 holes.

An hour after the noon day sun has passed overhead, Young ‘The Hat Lady’ Kim and Annika Sorenstam were tied for the lead.

Unsung Stanford Invitational First-round leader, a woman of many hats

Editors — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:04:34 GMT

By William Jempty of OTB Sports

Young Kim is a woman of many hats--literally. More on that in a moment. Right now her three-under par 67, the lowest round of the tournament so far, is grabbing attention after one round at the Stanford International, a rare spotlight for a player who is arguably the least well-known South Korean player to have actually won a tournament. Young won last year’s Corning Classic by three shots over Mi Hyun Kim and Paula Creamer. That was Young’s last top ten finish on the LPGA tour. Kim is tied for the first-round lead with Carolina Llano, Paula Creamer and Momoko Ueda.
Young, who player her first round on the Miller course, didn’t come by the press tent for interviews afterward, so all we know about her round comes from her LPGA scorecard. She made five birdies, at holes 3, 7, 11, 17, and 18. These were offset by bogeys at holes two and twelve. Young hit 11 fairways, 13 greens, and took twenty-eight putts for the round.

Young has been fairly consistent on tour. Her rankings on the LPGA money list since joining the tour in 2003 are- 44th, 44th, 29th, 28th, and 32nd.

What else is there to know about Young?

She has never finished 2nd in an LPGA. Young however has two third place finishes.
Young was born in Chunchon, South Korea and turned twenty-eight earlier this year.
Young has won two international tournaments.
She was runner-up to Lorena Ochoa for 2003 LPGA Rookie of the Year.
Her favorite hobby is listening to music.
Young attended Kyung Hee University (few South Korean players have attended college)
She drives the ball above average for distance but is average at best accuracy wise off and so far as greens in regulation. She ranked 10th in Putts per GIR for 2007.

And then there are those hats. While her golf game is not always flashy, she is known to wear hats during competition that you don’t see all that often let alone on a golf course. Young Kim's photo gallery at SeoulSisters.com, a site dedicated to South Korean golfers, offer a comprehensive overview of Kim's millinery splendor.

It remains to be seen whether Kim will earn a tip of the cap after the Stanford International or leave Florida hat in hand but so far she's given the competition reason to worry less about what's atop her head and more on where she's placing her shots.

LPGA Pro-am Kicks Off in Florida

Newsweek — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:21:26 GMT

By William Jempty of OTB Sports

The inaugural Stanford International Pro-am began Thursday at the Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club in Aventura, Fla. 112 of the finest women golfers in the world are teeing it up for the 72-hole LPGA event. Whoever wins this weekend will take home a $300,000 winner’s check. Other than the year-ending ADT Championship, this is the first time the LPGA has played a tournament in South Florida since 2001.

2008 LPGA leading money winner and 2006-07 Player of the Year Lorena Ochoa is not playing this week but the Stanford still has a strong field. Cristie Kerr, Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, Paula Creamer, Juli Inkster, Seon Hwa Lee, Morgan Pressel and Suzann Pettersen are all here at Fairmont Turnberry Isle.

One thing that makes the Stanford International unique on the LPGA tour is its Pro-Am format. All 112 professionals this week are playing with an amateur partner. Celebrities teeing it up Thursday included tennis star James Blake, Stone Phillips of NBC News, former Miami Dolphin Jay Fiedler, current Dolphin kicker Jay Feely and celebrity chef Ming Tsai.

The weather was sunny, with a couple of brief drizzles in the late morning. A cool breeze has kept scores from going too low.

By late afternoon, tour rookies Yani Tseng from Taiwan and Momoko Ueda from Japan, were tied for the lead along with Candie Kung and Paula Creamer. Also out on the course at -3 or -4 were Annika Sorenstam, Young Kim and Linda Wessberg.

Yani Tseng, who finished 2nd last week at the Ginn Open in Orlando, shot a two under par 68 on the Miller course. The first 36 holes of the Stanford International are split evenly between the Miller and Soffer course here.

Seven events into the 2008 LPGA season, Yani already has two second-place finishes to her credit. She feels confident about her play at present. Yani hit the ball in the water at hole 16 but laughed how she birdied 18, saying she wanted an eagle.

Talking with reporters about her double bogey afterwards, Yani was not too happy, "Yeah, second shot went in the water. I was like, 'Crap!'” Yani two-putted the 18th for birdie from 30 feet. At present Yani is showing few signs of a case of rookie nervousness.

Despite her disappointment at not have made Eagle on 18, Yani made up for it elsewhere on the course. After bogeying the second hole, Yani made birdies on the 5th hole from nine feet, the 7th from 20 feet, and from seven and a half feet on the ninth. This gave Yani a front nine 33. Besides her double bogey on 16 and birdie on 18, Yani birdied the 11th from 15 feet. Yani told reporters she feels confident going into the second round Friday, especially given the presence of her golf coach Glen Daugherty.

Japan’s Ueda shot a 68 on the Soffer course to tie Yani. The two courses play to different par scores, Soffer a par 71 while Miller being Par 70. Ueda like Yani Tseng is playing her first LPGA season. However Ueda won last year’s Mizuno Classic in Japan, which is the LPGA’s lone tour stop in the country. The LPGA plays tournaments at present in the United States, Canada, France, Great Britain, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Singapore and will soon add an event in China. With over 100 foreign-born golfers on tour at present, the LPGA is truly an international tour.

Candie Kung shot a 68 on the Miller course to tie Yani and Momoko. Like Yani, Candie is from Taiwan. After a disappointing 2007 season, Candie looks to have her game back in gear. The three-time LPGA tour winner, finished tied for fifth at last week’s Ginn Open.

Paula Creamer talking about Thursday’ss pro-am said, “This is great. It’s probably the most fun I had on the golf course in a long time.” Pro tennis player James Blake was Paula’s amateur partner.

Wanting to get out on the course with the players, I picked the pairing of Cristie Kerr and Christina Kim, following them for nine holes--a good choice as Cristie ended the day with a 69 and Christina with a 70 making them two of Thursday’s leaders. Christina’s front nine was full of excellent approach shots. She birdied holes 1, 3, 5 and 8 all from inside of 15 feet. A deft chip after overshooting the green got Christina a birdie on the par five 6th.

Christina’s one bad hole on the front nine was the par three 7th. She hit her tee shot long, into the back left bunker, and was unable to recover from there. Christina narrowly missed a birdie put on the ninth hole.

One of the highlights of the round was watching actor James Caan (Sonny Corleone in The Godfather and Brian Piccolo in Brian’s Song). After two average opening shots, Caan hit a rescue club approach shot to five feet on the par five fifth. James sank the putt for an outright birdie/net eagle on the hole.

Cristie Kerr’s round was steady if not spectacular. She made birdies on two, six, and nine. Since Cristie hails from nearby Kendall, Fla., she had family in the gallery following her. I met and spoke with both Cristie’s mother and her husband Eric during the round.

I didn’t walk with Christina or Cristie on the back nine. If not for a closing quadruple bogey at 18, Christina would have finished with the outright lead today. Christina was happy with the round other her poor 18th hole, and joked about how she enjoyed playing with Caan. Christina said the greens had many undulations and mounds, then joked that some mafia men were buried underneath them. Shades of The Godfather.

Because of the Pro-Am format, 18 took around six hours to compete. Some golfers said they had problems concentrating because of the slow pace. Tennis player James Blake said he learned something Thursday; you have to bring food. Six hours under the hot Florida sun does leave players requiring nourishment on the course.

South Korea’s Young Kim shot an opening round 67 and Annika Sorenstam came in with a 68. Good conditions, a wide variety of players, and a tight leaderboard could make the Stanford International the most exciting event of the young 2008 LPGA season.

Basketball's Sham Game

Mark Starr — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:17:37 GMT

While the NFL draft is this weekend and the NBA draft not for another two months, it's the basketball version, with recent news indicating that most of the top college freshman players will enter the draft, that has attracted more of my attention.

For the second straight year since a minimum age of 19 was instituted in the NBA, freshman will almost certainly be the top picks in the draft. Last year it was Ohio State's Greg Oden and Kevin Durant who went one-two--to Portland and Seattle respectively--in the draft. This year the cream of the freshman crop are again choosing the one-and-out route at college, with Kansas State forward Michael Beasley and a pair of guards, Memphis's Derrick Rose and USC's O.J. Mayo likely to be the three top picks in some order. Insiders are predicting that more than half the lottery picks, which should include high-profile players like UCLA's Kevin Love and Indiana's Eric Gordon, will be frosh.

Obviously, this NBA rule change has been a win-win for college basketball and the NBA. The nation's elite high-school players are now doing a campus drive-by, giving the NCAA tournament more star power. And as a result, the NBA gets to draft players who are presumably more mature on and off the court with the added benefit of some March Madness exposure that helps promote them. NBA Commissioner David Stern has obviously been delighted with how his brainstorm has worked for his league and he would like to push it even further, raising the entry-age to the NBA to 20, though it's not clear that the union will accede to this proposal.

But just because the higher entry age bolsters basketball at two levels doesn't mean it's a good idea for society. Sure there were high-school players who opted to go straight to the NBA and whose games weren't ready and who weren't mature enough to handle the rigors of the pro league. But just a superficial glance at this past season, certainly the NBA's most entertaining and untroubled in many a year, reveals that of the consensus top candidates for MVP--Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul--four entered the league directly from high school, with only Paul playing two years of college ball at Wake Forest.

But if the premise of the immature player and his difficult adjustment is overstated, the result of the new rule is far more egregious. It's a complete academic sham. Players who would have gone straight to the NBA now spend one reluctant year taking a scholarship spot from a kid who might really want to be there. And, of course, one year may be a slight exaggeration since these gilded kids can pretty much stop going to class as soon as they've served their school by demonstrating their wares in the NCAA tournament. The graduation rates for so many of the elite basketball schools are already so embarrassing that it's hard to see how adding a layer of one-and-outs does anything but exacerbate the problem.

It may be a bit too facile to touch on how we treat youth in our broader society. But it seems ludicrous that we deem 18--year-olds mature enough to enlist in the military, with potentially dire consequences, yet are hellbent on protecting them against the consequences of not being ready for prime-time NBA basketball. If the pros want to backstop the kids, why not make a provision of every contract with a high-schooler guaranteed money that would be reserved for a college education if the NBA thing didn't work out. I understand why the NBA, with its public relations problems in recent years, prefers more mature players. And I understand why the NCAA wants to exploit the talent to boost its TV ratings before turning the kids loose. But what that adds up to in those places where basketball is not life's paramount concern is nothing short of a fraud.

Derby Delight

Mark Starr — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:44:14 GMT

Once an American passion as the "sport of kings", horse racing, today the sport of sheiks, can no longer claim much of a hold on the average American sports fan. But the Kentucky Derby remains one of those events that transcends its sport, still a destination date--the first Saturday in May--for many of us who can't be bothered with the Santa Anita Derby or the Florida Derby or the Wood Memorial.

For those who can't wait another few weeks for this year's top crop of three-year-olds to convene at Churchill Downs, the perfect spring movie--"The First Saturday in May" by brothers John and Brad Hennegan--opens at theaters around the country today. It is a charming documentary about the run for the "Run for the Roses", as seen through the eyes of six hopeful trainers and their horses, each man hellbent on making it to Louisville on that special Saturday. While several of the trainers are quite successful, none command the mega-stables that can count on an entry or evenj several entries in the Kentucky Derby each year. For some of them, the Derby is at best a very occasional privilege and,for others, just getting to the starting gate of America's preeminent horse race is a once-in-a-lifetime dream. "I'm 48 and I want to go to the Derby before I die," says one of the trainers whose horse....well, let's not ruin it, since not all the horses make the Derby cut.

Given that the year is 2006 and one of the six horses is Barbaro, there is not much suspense about the outcome of the Derby itself--the largest winning margin in 60 years--and, of course, the tragic end when the great horse breaks down at the start of the Preakness two weeks later. But even the death of Barbaro--after an eight-month struggle that captivated the nation and broke its collective heart--can't obscure the beauty and joy surrounding these magnificent animals, the folks who love them and their Derby quests. As one woman owner of a certain age explains about the winner's circle, "When you get to my age, you don't have to go to the plastic surgeon. It's an instant facelift."

So's the film.

The Tiger Pool

Mark Starr — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:51:55 GMT

Frankly I'm still reeling from my sorry showing in the March Madness pool, compounded by the fact that my pal Michael, a shrink whose every breath is deeply considered, won because on a random road trip more than 30 years ago, he stopped in Lawrence, Kansas and bought a Jayhawks T-shirt.

I have a slightly better chance in my Masters pool, a two-man affair where my golf-crazy pal gets Tiger and I take the field. The odds are slightly in my favor, since Tiger has won 13 majors in the 11 seasons since he romped to his first Masters title in 1997--and only four Masters, or slightly better than one in three. Still, nobody feels smart betting against Tiger, not when he is at the top of his game as he is now and not when he is well-positioned--tied for 19th and four strokes back after a par 72 first round--with the course almost certain to play harder the rest of the weekend.

Side bets aside, there is certainly a part of me that would prefer to see Tiger win Sunday and prolong the season's only suspense--no, not the FedEx Cup, but his odds-against shot at the Grand Slam. Because even though the talent on the tour is unquestionably deeper than at any time in the game's history, Tiger feels like the only game in town. At least the only one that generates sustained interest.

It is not hard to understand why the tour honchos and the sporting press have tried desperately through the years to drum up a legitimate rival for Tiger, but--from David Duval to Sergio Garcia to Ernie Els to Vijay Singh to Phil Mickelson--none have been able to rise to the challenge and most have slipped back at the very thought of it. Mickelson came closest and looked to be on the cusp of genuine rivalry until he imploded on the final hole at the 2006 U.S. Open. His 2007 decline, injuries aside, was inevitable: Mickelson's best finish in a major last year was 24th at the Masters and he failed to make the cut at both the British and U.S. Opens.

The arrival of Ian O'Connor's "Arnie & Jack" is a welcome reminder of how the power or rivalry serves not only the sport, but both men. And while nothing may derail Tiger from supplanting Jack Nicklaus as the greatest golfer of all time, six more major triumphs is hardly a mortal lock. But Nicklaus' legacy of greatness will always be enhanced by the fact that he had to go through "The King," Arnold Palmer, to reach the top.

For those of us old enough to remember those days and duels, O'Connor's book is a vivid stroll down memory links. For those Tigerphiles who believe Woods invented the game at the end of the 20th century, it is a welcome elucidation of a golfing golden era. As O'Connor writes: "Arnie and Jack represented the perfect conflict in personality, background and style at the perfect time--just as TV was starting to plant larger-than-life figures in America's living room and dens"

By the time most current fans met Nicklaus, he was the beloved "Golden Bear". But in his early days, he was an unwelcome usurper, a pudgy kid--the legions of Arnie's Army called him "Fat Jack"--subject to catcalls and other rude behavior on the course. And while nothing could stop his game and he would soon surpass Palmer, Nicklaus could never match his style--at best a staid Perry Como to Arnie's Sinatra flash. But the rivalry made both men bigger than they would ever have been standing alone.

Golf is hardly the only sport where that is apparent. Tiger may be the greatest, but "The Greatest", Muhammad Ali, never wore that mantle as surely as after his three classic fights with Joe Frazier. It's too bad for Tiger and for us that he will likely never face that test.

Starr Gazing: My Baseball Fantasy

Mark Starr — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:50:09 GMT

It was almost 30 years ago that some very bright, young men gathered at the late, lamented La Rotisserie restaurant in New York City to hammer out the framework for baseball's first fantasy league (or "Rotisserie baseball," as it is still known by the game's first generation of players).

No doubt these folks had some modest ambitions for their little game and themselves. But given that they were journalists and, thus, both perpetual cynics and limited in their intellectual scope, they would never have regarded themselves as visionaries and certainly weren't craving mainstream respectability. But it came anyway, with roto-ball exploding over the next couple of decades into not just a game and guilty pleasure but an industry that would embrace many sports, serve millions of participants with vital (as well as worthless) information and produce billions in annual revenues.

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The Lowest Blow: Calling Hillary the 'T' Name

Mark Starr — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:43:43 GMT

Never for a moment have I doubted that politics was as rough-and-tumble as anything I see on the sporting fields. Still, for all the name-calling and smear tactics of presidential campaigns present and past, never have I witnessed such a low blow as the one inflicted on Hillary Clinton last night. And this one apparently didn't come from the Obama camp, but from anonymous Democrats, who compared the New York senator to Tonya Harding. According to ABC's Jake Tapper, they believe she is pursuing "the Tonya Harding option"--kneecapping your rival so that he can't win. Maureen Dowd took the notion a step further in today's New York Times, suggesting that Clinton knows she can't win the nomination and her only hope for the presidency she so desperately covets is to make Obama unelectable against McCain--so that she can reemerge as the party's savior in four years.

Calling Sen. Clinton "a monster" is one thing, but giving a name and face--especially that name and that face--to the monster is far worse. I don't know Sen. Clinton, but I sure do know Tonya whose career I covered extensively. And she was a true guttersnipe, a compulsive liar and cheat. The kneecapping of Tonya's rival, Nancy Kerrigan, just before the 1994 U.S. Nationals in Detroit was carried out by Tonya's proxies, a band of stooges led by her former husband. With Kerrigan sidelined by a low blow from a baseball bat, Harding went on to win the national title and her more important goal--a spot on the U.S. Olympic team for Lillehammer.

Those lacking an intimate knowledge of the sport often wondered why such desperate measures were necessary, when finishing second would have enabled Harding to make the Olympic team anyway. But figure skating can be like horse racing. When a horse knows it is running against another horse that is out of its class, it can't compete as well. Had Kerrigan taken the ice in Detroit, Harding would have been pushed harder and, as she did so frequently those days (and would do again at the Olympics in Norway), would likely have crashed and burned--and stayed home for the Olympics.

Of course, the mess wound up in court, where the best efforts of the U.S. Olympic Committee failed to get Harding banned from the American team. And Tonya, who was unabashedly unashamed, got the worldwide showcase she wanted. Though her Olympic performance was a debacle, the whole affair kept her career alive as a carnival act and a handy perennial for the lowest reaches of reality TV, In other words, kneecapping essentially worked for Tonya as a competitive and career strategy. We may have to wait another four years to find out just how effective a political strategy it turns out to be.

March Through Madness: Vintage Whines

Mark Starr — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:43:57 GMT

Newsweek is blogging on the NCAA tournament, here. Here's my first entry:

Three days from tip-off--unless you actually count Coppin St.- Mt. St. Mary's (and you'd have to more than "mad" to watch that game over Celtics at Rockets Tuesday night)--and let the whining begin. Nobody loves Devin's Duke. Coatney's Jayhawks always disappoint. This is the kind of vintage whine with which you are blessed when your teams are perennial Big Dancers and, even more, contenders. So here's my whine: Being twice as smart as you guys, I have two alma maters. And for the first time in history, or at least my long memory, both of them made it t: Fo the Big Dance. So I was really looking forward to having a genuine, as opposed to simply a pool-driven, rooting interest in two of the 32 opening games. And lo and behold, my duo gets matched up in the first round--Stanford, a #3 seed vs. Cornell, a #14. I guess the only consolation is I'm the only one of us absolutely assured of having his alma mater make it to the second round.

As for Kansas, I do feel your pain, Coatney. A team that can't win with Wilt Chamberlain at center is probably snakebitten. (How many women did he sleep with the night before the 1957 NCAA Finals against North Carolina? You think it might have caught up with him by the third overtime?) Duke is the more interesting case and I'm glad Devin brought up the sensitive racial angle. He says the most hated player in college basketball is almost always a Dukie--and usually a white Dukie. I wonder if that is part of a backlash against the tendency of announcers, both white and black, to employ--probably unwittingly--affirmative action in overhyping white stars. Because we now view college and pro basketball as part of a continuum, it's difficult to judge a player as just a collegian. So while Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley and J.J. Reddick may have deserved all the praise they got as college stars at Duke, our ultimate judgment on them is that they were, at best, serviceable and, at worst, overmatched in the NBA.

Which leads me to this college season's Player of the Year debate:North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough vs Kansas State's Michael Beasley. If you read the debate and the votes on ESPN.com, the edge seems to go to Hansbrough, the cog in the middle of the number one team in the country. But if "team" was supposed to make the difference, then Greg Oden should have won last year over Kevin Durant. Beasley's numbers are comparable to Hansbrough's, maybe even slightly better, without quite as much talent around him. Our former colleague Jonathan Meltzer wrote me that he was struck by how many of those supporting Hansbrough cited how gritty he was, how hard he played all the time how relentless he was. All true, we agree. But Meltzer noted that these are arguments that almost always get made on behalf of white players.(Think David Eckstein for some crossover sport reference.) The only adjective missing from the white vernacular was "heady." Hansbrough is certainly a worth candidate, may even deserve it, but I think Meltzer has a point about the debate and the bias.

Now that I have all that out of my system, maybe next time we can move onto picks. My daughter called from Cape Town, South Africa this morning for help on her brackets. She's going to be trekking through the Namibian desert for much of the tournament so I asked her, "What's the point?" Stupid question apparently. Doing your brackets no longer appears to be optional. Everybody plays, whether they know anything or care about any of the teams.

New-Look Yankees: No Gentleman Joe

Mark Starr — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:03:59 GMT

I saw nothing but positives for Yankee fans when the Steinbrenner II regime surprisingly bypassed Yankee legend Don Mattingly as successor to Joe Torre and opted instead for Joe Girardi. Girardi, no Gentleman Joe like his predecessor, would, I believed, shake up the New York clubhouse, roiling the staid, business-like squad and making it a bit more aggressive and contentious.

But Girardi has only looked foolish in his first public dust-up of spring training. First he called out some poor Tampa Rays kid for barreling into a Yankee minor-league catcher on a play at the plate. The catcher, a AA prospect, broke his wrist as a result of the collision. Girardi, himself a former catcher, insisted that kind of play had no place in spring training, ignoring the fact that spring training was the only place the youngster had to impress Tampa's brass and that Girardi would likely have praised that kind of aggressive, but clean baserunning from one of his. Moreover, while all men may be equal in the cosmic scheme of things, it isn't so on the baseball diamond. And it wasn't like the Tampa Bay player bowled over Yankee star Jorge Posada and knocked him out for part of the season.

But Girardi's comments led to a predictable result in this week's rematch between New York and Tampa. In the first inning Wednesday, Yankee pitcher Heath Phillips hit the Rays' prize rookie, Evan Longoria, and was ejected. Then far more egregiously, New York's Shelley Duncan, who had mouthed off a bit after the earlier game, slid spikes up into the groin of Ray second basemen Akinori Iwamura. Duncan was ejected, but not before both team's benches emptied onto the field--and later Yankee veterans pointedly offered no defense of his baserunning assault. Girardi, however, was unapologetic following the game, saying that nothing upset him that day except "that my catcher's having surgery today."

In 2006, Girardi was fired from his last managerial job with the Florida Marlins after a season which would earn him Manager of the Year honors. His downfall came when he popped off at the team's owner for his caustic comments aimed at umpires from the stands. While I still think Girardi will invigorate this unusually youthful Yankee team, one has to at least wonder if there's some loose wiring in his brain-mouth connection that might eventually lead to a swift downfall in what is one of baseball's toughest towns.

Starr Gazing: Basketball's "Black Magic"

Mark Starr — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:41:20 GMT

Before March Madness consumes you, check out a film that pays homage to basketball's black pioneers.

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