D2
EZ SU THE SIDELINE
More Than a Game Views of high school sports from photographer Toni L. Sandys
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MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2010
WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS Join Tracee Hamilton and Jason Reid to discuss the Redskins’ loss to the Giants in First Things First at 9:30 a.m.
WASHINGTON POST LIVEWITH IVAN CARTER 5 P.M. ON COMCAST SPORTSNET Football analyst Brian Mitchell and The Post’s John Feinstein will be live in studio.
COUCH SLOUCH Norman Chad
both celebrated and castigated T
his is the sixth consecutive NFL season in which there have been at least 50
different starting quarterbacks. The high turnover is mostly injury-related and performance- related; on occasion, it is simply Carolina Panthers-related. Couch Slouch’s “I Team”—
that’s me; Toni, a.k.a. She Is The One (And Then Some);my step kids Isaiah andMia; and our intrepid rescue dog Sapphire, who is bymy side for most NFL action (though she won’t watch NFLNetwork games)—has identified several intriguing quarterback story lines. Note: This is a Brett Favre-free
column. I must first apologize to Jets
TONI L. SANDYS/THE WASHINGTON POST Former coachMorganWootten gets a last look at the gym where he became a legend while developing some of the area’s best players.
DeMatha bids farewell to gym 6
Before entering, formerDeMatha coach
MorganWootten pauses at the door of the gymnasiumand glances around. “I guess we are supposed to go in andwait,” he says as he sees some people shooting baskets. It may verywell be the last time he steps into the gymnasiumwhere his career became legend, the gymthatwas named after him in 1988. “Therewere a lot of incredible games here and a lot of
greatmemories.No question about it,” saysWootten, a basketballHall of Famer.He coached his last game in the gymin 2002. Last February,with the completion of a new facility almost complete, theDeMatha Stags played their last varsity basketball game on the floor. At first glance, there’s nothing special
about the gym. It’s small, builtwhen the school had one quarter of the student population it has now. Pull-out bleachers line two of thewalls, but they are only six rows high.When fully extended, they come almost to the edge of the court. Spectators must sitwith their legs pulled up or risk tripping the players. There is little room beyond the court’s baselines. “When I first
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came toDeMatha in 1956,” saysWootten, “thiswas the biggest gymnasiumin the
league.No other school had a gymto comparewith it. Itwas the best.” For the next 46 years,Wootten spent
everywinter in the gym, coaching hundreds of high school boys in that span. “To see all of these players come backwho have done sowell in life,” saysWooten, “that’swhat is so special. Peoplewould come tome and they’d say, ‘What kind of year did you have?’ and Iwould say, ‘Seeme in about 15 to 20 years and I’ll tell youwhat kind of yearwe had.’ ” In addition to sending 18 players to theNBA,Wootten has seen former players go on to become doctors, lawyers, secret service agents and college basketball coaches. Because of their ties to their coach and their school, almost 40 of themhave
NBA
“When you learn about someone personally, it’s easier to protect them out on the court. . . . We’ve been able to play games and win games and us three, personally, we’re figuring it out.”
only from Comcast. GOLF
McDowell beatsWoods in Chevron playoff U.S. Open champion Graeme
McDowell capped off his greatest year with two clutch putts that gave him the greatest comeback ever against TigerWoods. McDowell holed a 20-foot bird-
ie putt on the final hole to force a playoff Sunday in the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, Calif., then made another birdie putt from a little longer away to deny Woods a victory in his final tournament of the year. “It’s the stuff of dreams—2010
has been the stuff of dreams,” the NorthernIrishstar said. Woods, despite losing a four-
shot lead, was poised to end a turbulentyearwithavictoryinhis final event of the year.Tied for the lead playing the 18th hole at Sher- wood Country Club, he stuffed an 8-iron inside three feet for a sure birdie. It was vintage Woods, the kind ofmagic he has he delivered so ofteninhis career. But it wasn’t the same old out-
come. McDowell,withhisownreputa-
tionasatoughcloser, stayedinthe game on the 17th by taking a pen- alty drop on the 18th tee and es- caping with bogey. Then after Woods’s great shot,McDowell an- swered with an all-or-nothing birdieputt.
—LeBron James, on finally getting in sync with Miami Heat teammates Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh after a slow start. The Heat (13-8) has won four straight, and Saturday’s 89-77 win over Atlanta put it five games over .500 for the first time this season.
DIGEST
SOCCER Freshman Adriana Leon scored
In the playoff on the same hole,
McDowell coaxed inanother bird- ie putt fromabout 25 feet.Woods had about 15 feet to extend the playoff, but itmissed just right of the cup. “Probably two of the greatputts
I’vemade,”McDowell said. It was the first timeWoods has
ever lost a tournamentwhenlead- ing by at least three shots going into the final round. “It was a great week,” Woods
said. “I’m proud of the way I played, eventhoughI lost.” . . . In Orlando, Maria Hjorth won
theLPGATourChampionship,us- ing a final-round 72 to hold off a field that struggled to even make par.
Hjorth had three birdies and
three bogeys on a picture-perfect day at Grand Cypress Golf Club, where only six of 120 players fin- ished below par for the tourna- ment. Third-round leader Amy Yang shot 74 to finish one shot back. Hjorth finished at 5-under-par
283, the highest-winning score relative to par all year except for Paula Creamer’s 3-under victory at theU.S.Open. YaniTsengclinchedLPGAplay-
er of the year, despite finishing 5 over for the tournament.
in the 63rd minute to help Notre DamedefeatStanford, 1-0, inCary, N.C., for its third NCAA Women’s CollegeCupchampionship. MelissaHenderson assisted on
the goal for Notre Dame (21-2-2), which joined North Carolina as theonly schoolswithat least three Women’sCollegeCuptitles. “I know everybody had preor-
dained Stanford as the national champion this year,” Irish Coach RandyWaldrumsaid. “But Iwould make the argument that once the NCAA tournament started, the pathwe took and thewaywewon games . . .we clearlywere the best teaminthe country.” Stanford (23-1-2) had its 22-
gamewinningstreaksnappedand lost intheNCAAtitle game for the secondyear ina row. . . . In Rome, Hernan Crespo
scoredtwice forParma ina2-1win over Udinese, taking his Serie A career total to 150 goals. The for- mer Argentina star converted a penalty in the 24th minute and then restored Parma’s lead with a header inthe 55th. . . . Sunderland beat West Ham,
1-0, and West Bromwich Albion defeatedNewcastle, 3-1, to keep in touch with the English Premier League’s topsix. Jordan Henderson scored in
the34thminutetoliftSunderland into seventh place and pushWest
best-of-five-series 2-2 by beating Gael Monfils, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4, in the first reverse singlesmatch. France was leading, 2-1, after
winning thedoubles Saturday. . . . Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baf-
fert won his 2,000th race, sad- dling Free Pourin to victory in the third race at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif. The 2-year-old gray colt was ridden by Joe Tala- moandis ownedbyMikePegram, who was one of Baffert’s earliest clients when he switched from training quarterhorses to thor- oughbreds. Baffert, 57, has won the Ken-
GUS RUELAS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
GraemeMcDowell, left, shakes hands with TigerWoods after besting him in a playoff at the ChevronWorld Challenge.
Ham to the bottom of the stand- ings. West Bromwich Albion climbed to eighth after a goal by SomenTchoyi andtwo fromPeter Odemwingie, its first league win overNewcastle in26 years. Sunderland trails sixth-place Boltononly ongoaldifference.
SKIING Ted Ligety conquered the ex-
hausting Birds of Prey course to win a World Cup giant slalom in Beaver Creek, Colo., while U.S. teammate Bode Miller wound up way back in27thplace. Ligety finished in a combined time of 2 minutes 37.67 seconds,
edging Kjetil Jansrud of Norway by 0.82 of a second. Marcel Hirscher ofAustriawas third. . . . Lindsey Vonn won a women’s
World Cup super-G race in Lake Louise, Alberta, in 1:20.72. Maria Riesch ofGermanywas second in 1:21.55andAmericanJuliaMancu- soplacedthirdin1:21.61.
MISC. Host Serbia won its first Davis
Cup title, rallying for a 3-2 victory over France inBelgradewhen Vik- tor Troicki beat Michael Llodra, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3, in the final singles match. Novak Djokovic had tied the
tucky Derby three times, along with six other Triple Crown victo- ries, sevenBreeders’Cupwinsand 29 wins in races worth $1million ormore. . . . New Orleans Hornets owner
George Shinn has agreed to sell the club to theNBAand the trans- action could be completed within a couple of days, according to a personfamiliarwiththedecision. The league reportedlyhas lined
up sports attorney Jac Sperling, vice chairman of the NHL’s Min- nesota Wild, to be the NBA’s ad- ministrator of the teamand over- see its sale to a more permanent owner. Talks to sell the teamtominori-
ty owner and Louisiana native Gary Chouest have been stalled formonths.
—AssociatedPress
pretty boy/hunkaholic Mark Sanchez. I had loudly proclaimed the Lions were better off drafting MatthewStafford than Sanchez. Stafford might one day be great, but so far in his injury-riddled career, he’s won all of three games; Sanchez won two playoff games his rookie year, and every time I wait for him to make a big mistake, he ends up making a big play. So maybe TurnpikeMark is the next Broadway Joe. I also must apologize – gulp –
returned to help officially open the new gymnasiumacross theway. Lined up by graduation year, the former players passed the ball down the line, starting on the court in the old gym.One pass after another, the ball traveled fromthe gymnasium, out the door, across the street, and into the lower level of the newConvocation Center, endingwith a basket on the newcourt. The bleachers start to fill.Quickly, one can see howDeMatha had outgrown the 650-seat gym. The newgymhas nearly doubled the attendance capacity. 1,200 fanswill be able to pack the bleachers for big games. (DeMatha once sold out Cole FieldHouse with 14,000 fans.) After the ball has been passed, and
before the teams are introduced, Father DamianAnuszewski dedicates the new gym. It is no surprise that the new gymnasiumis named afterWootten. But, like the seating, the name has also doubled in
size.At the insistence ofMorgan Wootten, this gymis named theMorgan andKathyWoottenGymnasium. “There’s noway I could have ever donewhat I did without a greatwife,” he said, hugging her.
to the man I love to malign, Jay Cutler. Cutler is to the 21st century what Jeff George was to the 20th century, and he still might revert to his pouting, punklike, pass-the-buck-and- throw-a-pick habits, but at the moment his Bears are in first place and I am inmy PBR cellar drowning in stupidity and sorrow. P.S. This apology will be retracted at the earliest possible opportunity. Donovan McNabb has started
every Redskins game, though he did sit out the final two minutes of one contest for cardiovascular reasons. I mention this because many ofmyWashington friends seem to think CoachMike Shanahan is the cure to the team’s perpetual ills.Well, the “I Team” did some digging and discovered that since John Elway’s retirement in 1998, Shanahan has won exactly one playoff game.Heck, evenNorv Turner’s won four in that time. (Column Intermission: For the
second time in three years,my Team of Destiny seems to have a date with destiny. Who among us had the 2008 Arizona Cardinals going to the Super Bowl? I did. And who among us had this year’s Philadelphia Eagles in first place after 12 games? I did. After Andy Reid dumpedMcNabb, the Eagles were dissed and discounted; in many national polls, they were running behind Parker-Spitzer. But I had vision, I had conviction and, without knowing it, I hadMichael Vick. On occasion,my friends, I impressmyself like no other.) Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees all have a remote chance to break Dan Marino’s single-season passing-yardage record of 5,084. This doesn’t seem possible to me —you essentially have to average 325 yards a game over 16 games.
In Rivers’s case, I suspect the Chargers, who play just beyond the glare of the national spotlight most weeks, might be using a Canadian-style 110-yard football field in San Diego. The following are names of
actual NFL starting quarterbacks this year, many of whom you would not recognize even if you were a member of their immediate family. Bruce Gradkowski,MaxHall, Shaun Hill, Brian St. Pierre, Drew Stanton, Charlie Whitehurst. No, I was not making up the
name of Brian St. Pierre in the previous item.He started a game for the Panthers two weeks ago. The team’s personnel director apparently went to Radio Shack just before kickoff and pulled the third person out of line. Among starting quarterbacks
this season are two Mannings (Peyton and Eli), two Chads (Henne and Pennington) and THREE Smiths. Somewhat improbably, Alex Smith, Troy Smith and Rusty Smith are among the 53 men who have been an NFL starting QB in 2010. Then again, Smith is a common surname in theUnited States, like Constantinescu in Romania. We will end with an ode to
Todd Bouman. Perhaps you have never heard of Todd Bouman, who started for the Jaguars on Oct. 24.He deserves your respect. Because if you attended St. Cloud StateUniversity and were signed as an undrafted free agent in 1997, to still be strapping it up behind center at age 38 is life-affirming. Bouman’s played for six NFL teams, and, before getting cut onNov. 10, was on his fifth tour of duty with the Jaguars.Would you stick with the same line of work if it kept taking you back to Jacksonville?
Ask The Slouch Q. CamNewton’s father
wanted $180,000 from Mississippi State for his son’s letter-of-intent. What did your parents ask from theUniversity ofMaryland so that you would matriculate there? (Bill Lehky; Strongsville, Ohio) A. Just that they wouldn’t
send me back home after graduation. Q. What will happen to America if there is no football or basketball next year? (Lenny Freed; Lyndhurst, Ohio) A. I believe the 28th amendment to theU.S. Constitution calls for the dissolution of theUnion. Q. If the newly enacted NBA prohibition against disgusted expression had been in effect during your previous marriages, how many technical fouls might your ex-wives have amassed? (ScottD. Shuster;Watertown, Mass.) 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!
NFL quarterbacks,
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