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Carmelo Anthony:
Mouth writing checks the left knee can't cash? Hard to back up tough talk toward the T'wolves when his playoff PT is a game-time decision.
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The Lead Item
Two Words For You:
TOUGHEST. SPORT.
You can (and should) spend hours
playing around with Page 2's Sport Skills
Difficulty Rankings. (See "Q It Up,"
right.)
Or print it out and enjoy endless barstool
debate with your friends. Five observations:
No. 1 Boxing; No. 2 Hockey:
Hmm: Is there a correlation between these sports'
ultimate difficulty and the fact that they are both en
route to popular oblivion? Fascinating to
consider.
No. 4: Basketball?!
Most overrated: How difficult it be if tens of
thousands of middle-aged jokers do it at the local
park every weekend?
No. 45: Swimming?!
Most underrated: Tell that to Michael Phelps
after he wins six Olympic golds this summer and named
"World's Best Athlete."
No. 1 "Analytics": Hockey?!
Right: All those college-hockey Rhodes'
scholars...
Top Bragging-Rights Upset:
Badminton ranked No. 30;
Auto racing ranked No. 32.
Ouch.
Fire Nellie
Mark Cuban and Donald Trump are locked
in an ego war over their competing reality-TV shows,
but Cuban may want to steal a page from the Donald's
playbook:
Cock his hand in the position, glare at massively
overrated Mavs coach Don Nelson and utter the magic
words: You're fired.
Too many close losses, too many dashed
expectations, too much good money thrown after bad
results.
Cuban wouldn't accept this kind of performance in any
of his other businesses; why should the Mavs be any
different?
Lakers-Spurs Game 1
One match-up defines it: Kobe Bryant
vs. Bruce Bowen -- the playoff's premier scoring
threat against its top perimeter defender.
Game 1 prediction: Bowen puts Kobe on lock-down
tougher than anything he'll see this year (uh, unless
he's convicted this fall); Spurs strike first (Sunday,
3:30 p.m., ABC).
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CHECK OUT THE QUICKIE EVERY WEEKDAY MORNING! |
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| WHO'S GOT THE MOMENTUM ... |
Barry Bonds: Smacks No. 668 (Bonds family total: 1,000)
Andy Pettitte: Secures first win of his Astros career
Red Wings-Flames series: Tied 2-2; worth tuning in for ...
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| ... AND WHO'S GOT NO MO' |
Hornets-Heat: No, seriously, *at least* two more games?!
Kevin Garnett, Olympian: Thinks he'll be too weary to play
Canadiens: Swept out of their playoff series by Tampa Bay |
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Nuggets-T'wolves
Speaking of boxing, tonight's Minnesota-Denver
Game 5 (10, ESPN) sizes up more like a prize fight
than a playoff game, what with all the threats of
violence -- and at least one accusation of a hit
"below-the-belt." Prediction: Nuggets go down,
fighting.
Jeter Slump Over
Now he's simply 1-for-36:
Thursday's game-lead-off HR was such a spark that he
promptly went 0-3 to finish the game.
Where are my SABR guys? Given Jeter's current
.165 B.A., what will he have to hit between now and
the All-Star Break to nudge it to, say, .250?
NCAA Reform
But not so reform-ish that full
implementation can't wait until, like, the end of the
decade. So given that the new NCAA academic threats
won't kick in for a while, what I want to see ASAP is
the list being generated of schools that wouldn't have
made the cut if the policy was in place this
year.
Jockeys Rule
Kudos to marketing Mini-Me's:
Here's hoping the ruling that allows Derby jockeys to
wear sponsor logos turns them all into riding
billboards.
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Critics mutter the word "NASCAR" like it's an STD: Get
over it -- it's simply smart business, affecting the
athletes' performance within the hyper-sponsored sport
no more than a TV ad.
The jockeys are small potatoes, figuratively
(literally, too): Ads on any (and every) sports'
uniform are an inevitability. Embrace it; then
maybe fans will get some say in the ads that will be
placed.
Derby Picks
In the most wide-open field in years, you've
got to go with the horses that will make the best
stories afterward:
Show: Imperialism (15-1)
Trainer: Kristin Mulhall, 21
Place: Tapit (8-1)
Guinness beer in training diet
Win: Smarty Jones (9-2)
Nothing beats "Told you so"
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Fishing:
Ranked last (60th) on the Most Difficult list; dragged down by lowest-in-field ranking in "Nerve" -- expect the Bassmasters to go nuts.
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Today on ESPN.com
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| Page 2: Vote for Best Female Athlete |
| Dr. Jack on Doc Rivers |
| Sneak Peek: MLB's 2005 Free Agent Class |
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| Page 2 Ranking of Most Difficult Sports |  Boxing
| Also wins "Most Brutal"
|  Ice Hockey
| Can't argue with this.
|  Football
| Yes, but which position?
|  Basketball
| Just like those Y games.
|  Wrestling
| | Probably underrated. |
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Whether he stays in the NBA draft or returns to St.
Joe's for one more year, Delonte West will be a better
pro than Jameer Nelson...
Jim Boeheim should reward star Hakim Warrick for
returning to Syracuse next year by shoring up his NBA
weakness: Outside shooting...
MLB's two hottest pitchers are on the mound Friday
night: Roger Clemens (4-0, 2.05 ERA) and Dontrelle
Willis (3-0, .71 ERA)...
Farewell to NPR's Bob Edwards, who offered one of the
great benefits to waking up at excruciatingly early
hours. He'll be missed...
Euroleague Final Four championship prediction: With a
Duke-like home-court advantage, Maccabi Tel Aviv will
top Skipper Bologna...
The Pistons-Nets East semi series is going to be full
of telegenic passion: Detroit in 7, avenging last
season's Nets sweep...
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