D2
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THE SIDELINE
More Than a Game
Views from high school sports from photographer Toni L. Sandys
KLMNO
WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS
The Chat House: Join Michael Wilbon at 1:30 p.m. for a lively discussion on the start of the NBA and NHL playoffs, the Redskins and other happenings.
MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2010
WASHINGTON POST LIVE WITH IVAN CARTER
5 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet
Comcast SportsNet’s Alan May helps preview Game 3 of the Capitals-Canadiens first-round playoff series.
NORMAN CHAD
Couch Slouch
Dissing Los Angeles but loving the Lakers
I
live in California, where this year we are witnessing the most expensive
gubernatorial campaign in U.S. history (Meg Whitman might spend $200 million) and the costliest sports divorce in U.S. history (Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt are approaching $20 million in legal fees). Of course, the state is close to being bankrupt, both financially and morally. So, as the NBA playoffs begin,
I feel somewhat guilty that I actually root for the glitzy, glamorous Los Angeles Lakers. What else am I going to do,
sit in my underwater-to-the-moon condo and cower while Charlie Sheen waves to me from his silver-spoon-and-a-half mansion? The Lakers are all I got. (I’ll get back to the defending
Taking a cheetah under his wing
Growing up in Canada, Churchill senior Sam Sherker started skating as soon as he could walk. After school, he would play pond hockey with his friends. It wasn’t long before hockey became something he loved. It’s a passion he began sharing with the Montgomery Cheetahs Special Hockey program four years ago. As so many of the team’s mentors do, Sherker needed to fulfill community service hours. Every Saturday morning Sherker joins kids with developmental disabilities as they lace up their skates, don their Cheetah sweaters and take to the ice for practice. High school players like Sherker skate with the kids, participate in the drills and help serve as on-ice assistants during games. Many of the kids come to the program wanting nothing to do with the ice or hockey. Getting the skates on is hard enough, getting them to the ice can be impossible. “[Arjun Crane, pictured above,] was the perfect example of a kid who just
allmetsports.com
More Than a Game galleries
sandyst@washpost.com.
hated to go on the ice,” Sherker said. “From the second his dad tied on his skates he would just cry nonstop.” At a recent hockey tournament in Laurel, with Sherker holding him from behind, Arjun skated the entire game. The smile rarely left his face. “It’s so uplifting to see these kids come from scratch and gain interest in something I love,” Sherker said. “It’s a shared love between us.” “This is the only time I have fun playing
hockey,” said Sherker. The competition in high school hockey had worn him down, “the constant striving to be better than everyone.” Playing hockey seemed more like
work than fun. “It just wasn’t fun anymore.” Instead, he looked forward to spending Saturday morning with the Cheetahs. “They always lift my attitude and make me smile.” Most of the kids on the team fall
somewhere on the autistic spectrum. They can be a challenge to work with. Many of the children don’t like group activities. Many have a hard time following directions. Sometimes you wonder if they are even paying attention. “It’s difficult to get through to them,” admits Sherker. “But once you do, it’s all worth it.” Next fall, Sherker heads to Canada for school. For the first time in years, he won’t play for a school team, focusing his efforts on his studies instead. But he won’t leave hockey behind entirely. Or the Cheetahs. “When I come back, I’m definitely going to go to their practices again,” Sherker said. “All these kids, I look forward to seeing them and they look forward to seeing me. The kids are why I come back.”
NBA champions in a moment, but first let me vent a little more about California. This is a state that has elected two film actors as governor. This is a state that sent Sonny Bono to Congress. This is a state that, in 2008, said no to same-sex marriage and yes to protecting farm animals – indeed, in one fell electoral swoop, we decreased human rights and increased animal rights. Of course, I assume gay pigs cannot wed.)
Since I moved to Los Angeles
WORLD WIDE
TELEVISION AND RADIO WILBON
No long explanation needed for voting LeBron James the league’s MVP. He was the best player in the league all season.
— Michael Wilbon
For more on Wilbon’s thoughts on the NBA, visit washingtonpost.com/wilbon.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
7 p.m.
7 p.m. 10 p.m.
Colorado at Washington » MASN, WFED (1500 AM), Spanish WXTR (730AM)
Chicago Cubs at New York Mets » ESPN
Baltimore at Seattle » MASN2, WWXT (92.7 FM), WWXX (94.3 FM), WTEM (980 AM)
NBA PLAYOFFS
8 p.m.
Chicago at Cleveland » TNT
10:30 p.m. Utah at Denver » TNT
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS
7 p.m. 7 p.m.
10 p.m.
AUTO RACING
Noon
5 p.m.
Washington at Montreal » Comcast SportsNet, WJFK (106.7 FM)
Buffalo at Boston » Versus
Vancouver at Los Angeles » Versus
NASCAR Sprint Cup, Samsung Mobile 500 » WTTG (Channel 5),
WBFF (Channel 45)
NASCAR Nationwide series, O’Reilly 300 » ESPN2
late in the 20th century, I have survived riots, mudslides, wildfires and earthquakes. Most of all, though, I am proudest of surviving the culture. I mean, you’re not going to change L.A. but L.A. may change you. Yet I have remained the same prematurely curmudgeonly Slouch, largely unaffected by L.A. standards: No tattoos. No earrings. No nose rings. No body piercings of any kind. No alfalfa sprouts. No personal trainer. No fanny packs. No yoga. No roller blades. No Botox. No Kardashians. The only area in which I have capitulated to the L.A. culture is the Lakers. It allows me to bond with my fellow Angelenos, if I ever saw any of them. (Frankly, Los Angeles lacks a communal thread, a sense of purpose, a heart and a soul. There are two big communities in L.A.: the entertainment industry and gangs. And they have only two things in common – making money and the Lakers.) Sure, Kobe Bryant is a cold,
calculating megalomaniac. Lamar Odom is an underachieving sack of great expectations. Andrew Bynum is a baby-faced enigma wrapped in an injury-riddled body. Ron Artest is a ticking time bomb. Sasha Vujacic is a front-running, don’t-I-look-great-when-I-hit- two-jumpers-in-a-row-once- every-three-months poseur. And Phil Jackson is a preening tower of arrogance. But boy are they fun to
watch.
Plus the owner, Jerry Buss, is one of the more low-key, skirt-loving 77-year-old
DIGEST
SOCCER
Wambach leads Freedom to win over the Beat
While the Freedom (1-1) was
After a season-opening loss April 10, Washington Freedom forward Abby Wambach said she felt she had to take more respon- sibility in carrying her team to wins.
On Sunday night in front of
2,665 at Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Wambach showed she was capable of doing just that, scoring once and assisting on two other goals as the Freedom downed the expansion Atlanta Beat, 3-1. Wambach poked home a re- bound on a Sonia Bompastor free kick in the 41st minute and played two perfect passes in the second half to set up Homare Sa- wa and Christie Welsh as Wash- ington looked much improved pushing forward. “I think that I feel like this team is a team I have grown up with,” Wambach said. “And I need to make sure I do whatever it takes so we can win games. If I’m not doing my job we’re probably not winning games so I kind of re- dedicated myself this week and told the team I was just going to play my heart out, and I think it showed.”
better creating chances through the run of play Sunday, it was a re- start that gave them their first lead of the young season. Bompastor hit a low left-footed free kick from 25 yards out that bounced just in front of Atlanta
goalkeeper Allison Whitworth,
who was unable to collect it cleanly. Wambach followed the shot and was there to poke the ball into the net from a yard out. After the Beat (0-1-1) equalized
two minutes into the second half, the Freedom responded three minutes later. Lene Mykjaland played a ball in to Wambach on top of the box, and the forward played it back with a one-touch pass to Sawa, who hit a one-time shot perfectly into the lower cor- ner to give the Freedom a lead. Washington capped off the night when Wambach took the ball down the left sideline and fed Welsh into space for a well-ex- ecuted finish.
—Paul Tenorio
Jeff Larentowicz broke a tie with a goal in the 71st minute and Conor Casey scored two penalty
goals, helping the Colorado Rap- ids run their home unbeaten streak to seven with a 3-1 win over Toronto FC in Commerce City, Colo., in Major League Soccer.
PRO BASKETBALL
Kevin Garnett has been sus- pended by the NBA for the Boston Celtics second playoff game against the Miami Heat. The one-game suspension was imposed Sunday for hitting Quentin Richardson of the Mi- ami Heat in the head with an el- bow with 40 seconds left in Bos- ton’s 85-76 win in Game 1 on Sat- urday night. The league also fined Rich- ardson $25,000. . . . Utah Jazz General Manager
Kevin O’Connor says center Meh-
met Okur has a torn left Achilles’ tendon and is out for the remain- der of the playoffs.
COLLEGES
Virginia Tech men’s basketball assistant coaches Bill Courtney and James Johnson have each in- terviewed for coaching openings, with Courtney meeting with Cor- nell and Johnson speaking with Gardner-Webb, according to a person with knowledge of the sit-
uation. That Courtney and Johnson
have both interviewed elsewhere raises concerns about the stabil- ity on Virginia Tech’s staff. Both are known as strong recruiters. On Thursday, Ryan Odom, a Ho- kies assistant for the past seven seasons, left to take an assistant coaching position at Charlotte.
—Mark Viera
Virginia Tech, ranked 20th by Baseball America, scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning to take an 8-5 comeback win and avoid a three-game sweep at No. 2 Virginia on Sunday. Left fielder Buddy Sosnoskie hit a three-run double to put the Hokies up, 7-5.
GOLF
Brian Davis called a two-stroke
penalty on himself on the first playoff hole to give Jim Furyk a victory at the Verizon Heritage in Hilton Head, S.C. Davis, an Englishman who has
never won on the PGA Tour, bird- ied the 72nd hole to force the ex- tra hole. However, Davis’s ap- proach rolled off the green of the lighthouse hole and into some rocks. As Davis attempted to chip on, his wedge moved a loose reed in the marshy area. Davis quickly
called for a rules official, who af- ter calling colleagues to check the replay, confirmed the penalty. Davis conceded to Furyk before the world’s sixth-ranked player putted out.
MISC.
For all the talk about green- white-checkered finishes in NAS- CAR this season, the Sprint Cup
ELISE AMENDOLA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boston’s Kevin Garnett drew a one-game suspension for hitting Miami’s Quentin Richardson in the head with an elbow Saturday.
and Nationwide races can’t even get started in rainy Fort Worth. Persistent wet weather Sunday forced the postponement of a Sprint Cup and Nationwide dou- bleheader until Monday. . . . Former lightweight champion
Edwin Valero was detained in Venezuela on suspicion of killing his wife.
— From news services
millionaires in the business. You can take
faux-man-of-the-people Mark Cuban and his sideline theatrics; I’ll take Buss sitting at an Omaha table in the Commerce poker room during a Lakers road playoff game. Now, like most slackers here,
I hardly ever attend a Lakers game. I get to Staples Center once or twice a season. First of all, nobody goes to the new downtown here – it’s pretty much a theme park adjacent to Skid Row – and, second of all, even if you wanted to go downtown, it’s not as if you could walk or bus there. (L.A. has been a little slow
developing something we like to call back East “mass transit.” Who could’ve ever projected so many people coming to a warm-weather metropolis on the Pacific Ocean? In L.A., the term “car pool” is reserved for those people who wash their cars in their backyard pool.) Ah, but I digress. The Lakers, despite their
exasperating inconsistencies and the rumblings of their spoiled fans, likely are headed for the NBA Finals for a third straight year. Even from home, I join the Staples Center crowd in its late-game “We Want Tacos!” chant – when the Lakers win and hold their opponent under 100 points, everyone in the arena gets two free tacos from Jack in the Box – knowing full well that, while it might not compare to the vaunted “DEE-FENSE!” chant at Madison Square Garden, it’s the Hollywood ending I prefer. I’m even thinking of carving the Lakers’ logo into my hair.
Ask The Slouch
Q: What type of NFL draft
day party do you throw? Do you run a PBR drinking game linked to Chris Berman and “the New York football Giants”? (Al Gregory; Indianapolis) A: Actually, I have shifted my shindig to the
Release-of-the-NFL-Schedule Day – smaller group, but nobody yells and nobody spills. Q: Larry King has filed for divorce, for the eighth time. Is his marital record unapproachable? (Patrick O’Leary; Pasadena, Tex.) A: Despite my best efforts, I
can’t imagine I’ll get halfway there. Q: Do you wish you knew as much as Mel Kiper Jr.? (Bob Ollerman; Ripon, Wis.) A: No. I remember seeing
“The Man Who Knew Too Much,” and when you know too much, your family’s welfare is in danger. Q: Given the complexities and nuances of the NFL’s quarterback rating system, do you think Ben Roethlisberger’s rating has dropped recently? (Duane Mathias; Medina, Ohio) A: Pay the man, Shirley.
You, too, can enter the $1.25 Ask The Slouch Cash Giveaway. Just e-mail
asktheslouch@aol.com and, if your question is used, you win $1.25 in cash!
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