D2
S
THE SIDELINE I
normally don’t like to brag, but I think it’s possible that I’ve listened to more
current and former NFL players weigh in on the Albert Haynesworth situation than any person in the universe. And no, “weigh in” was not a
crack at Haynesworth’s girth. Anyhow, I don’t want to tip the public-opinion scales in one way or the other, and I’m sure you’ve already read a ton about this, but I’ve noticed certain themes that are commonly ingested during Haynesworth interviews. Just in case you happen to be
a current or former NFL player with a steady diet of media opportunities, I thought I’d offer a few ingredients.
D.C. SPORTS BOG Dan Steinberg
Make 4-3 3-4 jokes: “You get paid all this money, I
don’t care if they ask you to play a 5-6 or a 2-9, you be in there playing,” Ricky Ervins told my colleague Paul Tenorio. “You can put me in any scheme, I’m gonna find me a way to make a play, because that’s what I know how to do,”
Quick Fix 6From the blogs at
washingtonpost.com/sports
TERRAPINS INSIDER AD search committee has first meeting July 15 The 17-person search
committee formed to vet permanent athletic director candidates will hold its first meeting July 15, the committee’s chair said Wednesday. Linda Clement, the school’s vice president for student affairs, said in a telephone interview that the committee will meet to discuss the characteristics it will look for in potential candidates. President C.D. Mote, who will retire Aug. 31, will address the committee, as will a university equity officer. Debbie Yow, who served as
Maryland’s athletic director for 16 years, left June 25 to take the same job at N.C. State. Randy Eaton, the athletic department’s chief financial officer, was named interim athletic director June 28.
Clement said the committee
believes Mote’s successor will be the one to hire the school’s next athletic director, though she noted there is groundwork that can be done in the meantime. University of Maryland Chancellor William E. Kirwan said last week that he expects a new president to be named in August.
“I think there’s a lot of work to be done in terms of gathering information and gathering names and seeking nominations, people on the committee talking with colleagues across the country about identifying candidates,” Clement said. Members of the school’s presidential search committee will meet with 16 candidates from July 13 to July 15, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the search process. — Steve Yanda
KLMNO
WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS First Things First: Tracee Hamilton’s weekday morning chat will return next week.
THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2010
WASHINGTON POST LIVE WITH IVAN CARTER 5 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet Cal Ripken Jr., the Redskins’ Lorenzo Alexander, boxer Jimmy Lange and Edge of Sports’ Dave Zirin are scheduled.
Plenty of current, former players have an answer to the $100 million question
Darnell Dockett said last month. “You can put me in a 4-8, 3-4, 5-6, 2-11. Whatever you put me in, I’m gonna make a play, because that’s just how I am.” “I think probably the consensus is nobody can understand how you can get $100 million and not want to come play whatever system it is,” Charles Woodson said this week. “I don’t care, 3-4, 4-3, 52, I don’t care.”
“If you’re a great player, 3-4,
4-3, 5-6, 7-4, any number, 8-3 — if you’re a great player, you can play in anything,” Michael Strahan said. “It’s not the scheme, it’s the player. So don’t worry about the scheme.” (Those last three quotes came from 106.7 The Fan’s “The LaVar
Arrington Show With Chad.” So maybe there is someone who’s heard more people talk about Haynesworth than I.) Use the L word: “Any player that you pay that kind of money to, you better make sure they love to play football,” Mark Moseley told Comcast SportsNet. “And I think in this case, I don’t think he really loves football, or he’d be here.” “You got your hundred million; you got everything you wanted. Now you get to do what you love, and that’s football,” Tedy Bruschi said on ESPN’s “NFL Live.”
“Does he really love football?” Darren Woodson replied. “That’s the big question.”
“He doesn’t give a damn about
anybody but himself, which has become painfully obvious,” Joe Theismann said on Sirius NFL Radio. “And you know what, Albert doesn’t care what anybody says. He’s pocketed 21 million dollars. If anybody would look at this situation, you’d have to say it’s all about the money, it’s not about the love of the game.” Say what you’d do for $100 million: “You take that kind of check, I mean, I’ll flip dogs for you,” Warren Sapp said on Sirius NFL Radio. “I mean, c’mon, what you want me to do, you want me to return punts?” “I tell you what, I’d show up and just drink water for $30
million,” Jared Allen said on KTAR.
“I can only speak for myself,
but I’ll you this: Y’all give me a hundred million dollars, man, I’m gonna be at everything,” Jammal Brown told Arrington and Dukes. “I’ll play whatever position you want me to play.” “If I was getting paid that much money, I’d play any position, put me wherever you want to put me,” Maake Kemoeatu added. “I’d crawl on the ground
backwards for a hundred million dollars,” Charles Mann said on ESPN 980. Make fat jokes: Make ’em gut-busters, too.
Okay, maybe that’s just me.
steinbergd@washpost.com
Hot Topic Tour de France
POLL QUESTION
Biggest QB bust of
all-time? The arrest of JaMarcus Russell, the top overall pick in the 2007 draft, revives the debate. Vote at
washingtonpost.com/ redskinsinsider.
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES A lone observer watches the peloton approach during Wednesday’s flat fourth stage, won by Italian rider Alessandro Petacchi. Armstrong ponders bad luck
Seven-time champ still reeling from Tuesday’s flat; Petacchi wins stage
TELEVISION AND RADIO
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 7 p.m. 8 p.m.
10 p.m.
SOCCER 9:30 p.m.
GOLF 3 p.m. 3 p.m.
CYCLING 8:30 a.m.
by Jamey Keaten San Diego at Washington » MASN, WXTR (730 AM), WFED (820 AM, 1500 AM)
Baltimore at Texas » MASN2, WWXT (92.7 FM), WWXX (94.3 FM), WTEM (980 AM)
Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers » WGN MLS, Real Salt Lake at Chicago » ESPN2 U.S. Women’s Open » ESPN2 PGA Tour, John Deere Classic » Golf Channel
REIMS, FRANCE — Lance Armstrong’s flat tire has done more than just deflate some of his hopes for another Tour de France victory. It’s also caused a bit of second-guessing within his RadioShack team. Before Wednesday’s flat fourth stage, won by Italy’s Alessandro Petacchi in a sprint, Armstrong said he and his teammates could have better managed the cobblestones where he punctured a tire and lost time the previous day. Wednesday’s ride didn’t shake up the
Tour de France » Versus
PROFESSIONAL LACROSSE 7 p.m.
MLL All-Star Game » ESPN2 only from Comcast. SPORTS BUSINESS
Monumental Sports merger leads to layoffs The merging of staffs from the
Washington Capitals, Wizards and Mystics under the organiza- tion of Monumental Sports & En- tertainment has resulted in some staff changes, with roughly 20 employees on the business and marketing side — including some high-ranking officials — leaving or getting laid off. Internet mogul Ted Leonsis purchased the Wizards and Veri- zon Center from the estate of the late Abe Pollin in May and offi- cially took over last month. He said that the integration of so many entities would lead to a re- duction in employees. His sports enterprise released
a statement on Wednesday that acknowledged the changes, which have been taking place for the past few weeks, and added that more could come: “Monu-
mental Sports & Entertainment does not discuss specifics in re- gards to changes in personnel as a general policy. However, we can acknowledge that the merging of three teams and the arena under the same organization has indeed resulted in an overlap in certain departments and, unfortunately, a subsequent small reduction in staff. It is possible that as the con- solidation of our organizations continues, a small number of overlapping jobs may similarly be reduced.” Longtime Pollin ally Matt Wil-
liams announced that he was leaving Leonsis’s newly estab- lished sports empire earlier this week, after spending 22 years at Washington Sports & Entertain- ment.
— Michael Lee
overall standings, with Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara retaining the yellow jersey, and many riders were still pondering the blows suffered by Armstrong and RadioShack on Tuesday. “In hindsight, as a team, I think we all agree we could have ridden differently yesterday,” Armstrong said. “You can look at the position we went into the cobbles
[in], you can look at perhaps the amount of the time we spent on the sides, which I think has an effect.” He said “you obviously get more flats” on the roadsides instead of the cobblestones. Some riders use the sides to avoid the jarring bumps over the stones. While Armstrong took about 45 seconds to get a new tire, rivals like Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck zoomed ahead to gain seconds that will be valuable when the three-week race reaches the mountains later on. It was a far cry from Armstrong’s
seven-year domination at the Tour from 1999 to 2005, when he often lavished praise on teammates for their help in his victories — and when luck, more often than not, was on his side. Now, he’s trailing, and blame is shared. “Like they say, you create your own luck, and we created our bad luck yesterday,” Armstrong said. “We made our luck, we can’t blame anybody but ourselves.”
Armstrong received a huge fan ovation
as he left the team bus Wednesday. He took so long getting to the start line that he didn’t sign in at the starter’s podium — and got a $94 fine for it. The overall standings remained the same after Wednesday’s 95.4-mile ride
from Cambrai to the champagne capital Reims — a mostly flat trek that was tailor-made for sprinters. Lampre rider Petacchi earned his second stage victory this year in a mass sprint, with Armstrong and other title contenders finishing safely in the pack with the same time: 3 hours 34 minutes 55 seconds. Cancellara did too, and retained the yellow jersey for a fourth day. Armstrong crossed 36th, Contador was
32nd and Schleck placed 58th. Johan Bruyneel, RadioShack’s manager and Armstrong’s longtime mentor, said the Texan and the team “are all disappointed” because of his loss of time against Schleck and Contador — two strong climbers who will be tough to get ahead of in the Alps and Pyrenees. “But it’s two and a half weeks to go,
what happens to us today can happen to somebody else tomorrow,” Bruyneel said. Overall, among the title contenders,
two-time Tour runner-up Cadel Evans was third, 39 seconds back, Schleck sixth, 1:09 back, Contador ninth, 1:40 back, and Armstrong 18th, 2:30 behind. Thursday’s fifth stage also presents a mostly flat stage, a 116.5-mile cruise from Epernay to Montargis.
— Associated Press
DIGEST
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Southern California has apolo- gized to Florida, Alabama, Wash- ington, Oregon and Fresno State for accusing those schools of breaking NCAA rules by contact- ing one of the Trojans’ players without permission. In a letter dated July 1 and ad- dressed to Florida Athletic Direc- tor Jeremy Foley, AD Mike Gar- rett said freshman running back Dillon Baxter confirmed to Gar- rett that the player “did not re- ceive a call from your institution.” “I apologize for any inconven- ience or embarrassment this mat- ter has caused to you and your in- stitution,” Garrett wrote in a hand-signed letter. USC filed a complaint with the
Pac-10 in June about several schools tampering with Baxter after the Trojans were hit with NCAA sanctions. The Trojans received a two- year postseason ban, a loss of scholarships and were forced to
vacate victories from the 2004 and ’05 seasons for NCAA vio- lations involving former star tail- back Reggie Bush. Because of the sanctions, USC upperclassmen are allowed to transfer without the usual NCAA restrictions, but only juniors and seniors can be contacted by other schools.
TENNIS Top seed Sam Querrey was up-
set in the second round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Champi- onships in Newport, R.I., extend- ing the No. 1 seed’s run of never winning the title in the 34 years of the tournament. Querrey was beaten, 6-4, 6-3,
by Dustin Brown, who had 14 aces en route to his first victory against a player ranked in the top 20. In other matches, No. 5 seed Mardy Fish advanced to the quar- terfinals with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over former Virginia star Som- dev Devvarman . ...
Legg Mason Tennis Classic or- ganizers announced that Argenti- na’s David Nalbandian, a former world No. 3, has received the first of four wild-card berths, joining a field led by Andy Roddick (No. 9), Robin Soderling (No. 5) and Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych (No. 8). The tournament will run July 31-Aug. 8 at William H.G. Fitzgerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park.
MISC. Pro Bowl left tackle D’Brick-
ashaw Ferguson reportedly has agreed to a six-year, $60 million contract extension with the New York Jets. Ferguson, selected to his first Pro Bowl last season, was the team’s first-round draft pick out of Virginia in 2006. . . . Less than 12 hours after being named to the WNBA all-star team, Mystics forward Crystal Langhorne was named Eastern Conference player of the month. Langhorne averaged 18.5 points
over eight contests in June, while recording the top shooting per- centage in the East (64.3 percent) during that time. . . . Angel McCoughtry and Iziane
Castro Marques each scored 32 points to lead the Atlanta Dream to a 108-103 overtime victory against the visiting Connecticut Sun. Erika DeSouza had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Eastern Conference-leading Dream (14-5), winners of five of its last six games. . . . The Buffalo Sabres signed free
agent center Rob Niedermayer to a one-year deal. Niedermayer, 35, has played in 16 seasons in the NHL. He had 22 points in 71 games with New Jersey this past season. The Toronto Maple Leafs signed unrestricted free-agent defenseman Brett Lebda to a two-year contract. Lebda, 28, had one goal and seven assists in 63 games with Detroit last season. — From news services and staff reports
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70