Perfect Match - Alexis N. Sanchez

Transcription

Photog ra ph b y
rod mar
inside
MLB
Perfect Match
Rebuilt by the game’s best pitching coach,
Philip Humber made history b y T o m v e r d u c c i
W
El a in e T h o m p s o n /a p (ri g h t )
on-baseless claim to fame
Humber, who before last year had fewer
career wins than teams, finally fulfilled
some of the promise that made him a
top three draft pick in 2004.
hen Philip
Humber stood one
pitch away from immortality last Saturday—full count,
two outs after he’d retired the
first 26 Mariners he’d faced—
there was no hesitation about
what to throw for the defining
pitch of his career. It would be
one he had been using for less
than a calendar year: the slider.
The choice to complete the
21st perfect game in baseball history was something of a tribute
to White Sox pitching coach Don
Cooper. Humber, 29, who was
drafted third overall by the Mets
in 2004, joined Chicago before
last season after getting waived
twice in a month. He had fewer
big league wins (two) than organizations (four). Cooper tweaked
the righty’s delivery—creating a
more downhill angle by reducing
the bend in his back leg—and,
after three starts, replaced his
mediocre cutter with a slider. In
his next start Humber took a nohitter into the seventh at Yankee
Stadium. “He whipped out like
25 of them [against the Yankees],” Cooper said on Sunday.
“It became his secret weapon.”
Beginning with that game,
Hu mber went 8–7 w it h a
3.67 ERA last year. In his second
outing this year he dominated
the punchless Mariners, who did
not come close to a hit and did
not see a three-ball count until
the ninth inning. Brendan Ryan,
a righthanded hitter, was their
last chance. With a full count
Humber threw his 19th slider
among his 96 pitches. The pitch
was far off the plate, but it broke
so violently that Ryan started a
desperate swing, then stopped.
As the ball bounced toward the
backstop, umpire Brian Runge
ruled a third strike on a swing,
prompting Ryan to argue before
racing for first. The delay gave
catcher A.J. Pierzynski a moment
to retrieve the ball and throw to
first for the final out.
Humber collapsed on the infield grass, overcome with emotion. His wife, Kristan, was at
home, nine months pregnant.
The early promise to his career
had been validated eight years
after his lofty draft status. “He’s a
guy that’s been rejected, neglected and beaten down,” Cooper
says. “He deserves success because of the price that he paid.”
The gem made Cooper, 56,
the only active pitching coach
with two perfect games on his
watch—Mark Buehrle threw one
in 2009—and enhanced an already sterling reputation. Since
he took over in Chicago in ’02, no
pitching coach has been better
at keeping pitchers healthy and
few have revived more stalled
careers. Cooper’s pitchers have
thrown 200 innings in a season 25 times. No other franchise
has even 20 such seasons in that
span. He also has helped rescue
the careers of pitchers such as
Jose Contreras, Javier Vazquez,
Matt Thornton, Bobby Jenks, Esteban Loaiza, John Danks and
Humber. “We do an awful lot
of work with pitchers’ deliveries,” Copper says. “Injuries are
not an act of God. Injuries occur
because of poor deliveries.”
Even i n t he d ig it a l a ge
Cooper retains the old-school
manners of a master teacher.
“You can overeat, oversleep and
overdrink, and I’ve been accused of all three,” Cooper says,
“but I don’t believe I’ll ever be
accused of overcoaching.”
Continuing a trend from last
year, when runs dropped to their
lowest level in 19 years, this season has been defined by pitching. Last week alone, as the major
league batting average dipped to
.247, 49-year-old Rockies lefty
Jamie Moyer became the oldest
man to win a big league game,
A’s righty Bartolo Colon threw
38 straight strikes and eight shutout innings, Cliff Lee became the
first Phillies pitcher in 55 years to
throw 10 shutout innings without
a walk, and Humber threw the
fourth perfect game in slightly
less than three years. “This was
certainly not about me,” Cooper
says. “It’s about Phil. This was
his moment—after a lot of hard
work—when the light shines
brightest on a pitcher. It was the
perfect storm.”
a pril 30, 2012 | S p o r t s I l l u s t r at e D | 29
inside
on si.com
mlb power rankings
MLB
This season SI’s weekly ranking of all 30 teams looks different. Powered by Fangraphs, it’s based not on opinion or the standings but on
data, with teams slotted by Wins Above Replacement (WAR), a metric showing how valuable players are compared with replacement
level. Here’s a taste of this week’s rankings (stats through Sunday),
with the full list at SI.com/mlb. —Ben Duronio, FanGraphs.com
Bring
HimUp
1 Rangers
Mike Trout, one
of the two best
prospects in the
game, has nothing
left to prove in the
minors. So why is
he still there?
help on the way?
by joe sheehan
T
ting .233/.246/.450 so far in 2012.
He is a serviceable leftfielder, but
his defense pales in comparison
to what Trout would bring.
Of course, on-field numbers
aren’t the only ones that count.
Wells is making $21 million
this year and is owed another
$42 million through 2014. His
contract is what economists
call a sunk cost: The Angels
are committed to paying it no
matter what. They can’t let that
sunk cost affect their decisions.
To play Wells because they’re
paying him $21 million is to lose
twice: money and games. The
Angels, who are ninth in the
AL in OBP and 11th in slugging,
cannot afford to waste any more
at bats on the inferior player.
In recent seasons the team has
had success letting young players play—see Kendrys Morales
in 2009 and Peter Bourjos and
Mark Trumbo in ’11. Manager
Mike Scioscia, who isn’t known
for developing young players,
nevertheless writes out a lineup
card most days with five players who have come through the
Angels’ system. Until and unless
he makes it six, the Angels have
no hope of keeping pace with the
Rangers in the AL West.
30 | S p o r t s I l l u s t r at e D | a pril 30, 2012
2 Cardinals
Winning %: Expected .781 Actual .688
Total WAR: 12 Actual Wins: 11
Matt Carpenter’s presence is already being felt in
St. Louis. With Lance Berkman on the DL, the Cardinals haven’t
missed a beat thanks in part to the rookie corner infielder who has a
solid .347 Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA). Carlos Beltran, Yadier
Molina and David Freese have also produced, adding up to an offense
that has the NL’s highest OBP, slugging percentage and home run
total in the National League.
3 Yankees
The Bombers have baseball’s third-best offense despite relatively slow starts from Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano, thanks in
part to four home runs apiece from Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher. The
starting pitching has been awful overall, with the league’s secondhighest rotation ERA (5.84). But the bullpen (2.14 ERA, second lowest
in baseball) has come to the rescue.
4 Braves
After starting 0–4, Atlanta has lost just twice and is 10–6.
It has done it with both offense and pitching: The Braves have scored
more runs than any team in the NL, Brandon Beachy leads the league in
ERA and young lefty Mike Minor is putting together a breakout season.
Jason Heyward, trying to rebound from a rough 2010, has gotten off to
a great start with a 1.1 WAR.
5 Dodgers
Matt Kemp already has nine home runs and an OBP of .500,
with Andre Ethier, Mark Ellis and A.J. Ellis also hitting well. The pitching
has been impressive: L.A.’s is the only NL staff to average a strikeout
per inning. At some point Kemp will cool down, and the pressure will
be on other position players to produce if the Dodgers are to stay this
high. Don’t bet on it.
B ren t A s ay/S a lt L a ke B ee s
he Angels won the offseason by committing
$317.5 million to two
players, Albert Pujols
and C.J. Wilson, but their
season may hinge on whether
they add another $480,000 to
the payroll. That’s what the team
would have to pay rookie Mike
Trout to take over as its starting
leftfielder. Trout, who along with
the Nationals’ Bryce Harper is
one of the top two prospects in
the game, made his big league
debut at 19 last season, batting
.220/.281/.390 in 135 plate appearances. That doesn’t do him
justice; last year Trout dominated
the Double A Texas League, hitting .326/.414/.544 and stealing
33 bases. This season the centerfielder is running roughshod over
the Triple A Pacific Coast League.
Despite being the youngest player
there by four months, he was
batting .400/.463/.600 through
Sunday. He was 6 for 7 as a base
stealer, had walked more than
once every 10 trips—exceptional
for a player of his age—and was
playing strong defense.
It’s not just that Trout is
ready—he’s also so much better
than the Angels’ current left
fielder. Last year Vernon Wells,
33, had the lowest OBP for a
starting leftfielder (.248) in more
than 100 years. It doesn’t appear
to have been a fluke; Wells is bat-
While the Angels’
offense struggles,
Trout, only 20, is
tearing up Triple A
and showing he’s
ready for the Show.
Josh Hamilton’s impression of Babe Ruth has driven
the Rangers’ offense, the second best in baseball so far. They also
have the third-lowest rotation ERA, and only six teams have allowed fewer balls in play to land for hits, which is a good sign for their
defense. Being among the best at pitching, offense and defense tends
to put you at the top.
inside
“jostling in
the corner”
“knifed
down”
“ Waffleboa
rding”
“Net-mouth
scramble”
“SHOVELE”D
ALONG
Follow
@SI_NHL
’s
“off the gonalaielia
”
par apher
“HIT
THE
WITH
THE POST
SHOT
!”
“DRI
VE!
SCOOORE
!“
“Ladled alonsg”
the board
nhl
Word to the Doctor
Thirty-nine one-goal games, 20 decided in OT, three
Game 7s: Nobody captures the drama of NHL Spring
quite like the erudite Mike Emrick b y m i c h a e l f a r b e r
B ru c e B en n e t t/G e t t y Im ag e s
W
affleboarding.
The word is nowhere to be found
in either the Oxford
English or t he
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary,
but it appears prominently in
the Doc Dictionary. Mike (Doc)
Emrick, the preeminent lexicographer of the frozen game,
invented the word, which, despite its ominous tone, is no act
of torture, like, say, rooting for
the Blue Jackets. The definition:
a blocker save in which the
goalie purposely guides the
puck to a specific area of the ice.
The etymology is the old-style
blockers, which did resemble
a waffle, and the ability of a
goalie like the Devils’ vener-
able Martin Brodeur to use it in
order to direct a puck anywhere
he chooses. Like Emrick himself, who last December became
the first media member to be
enshrined in the U.S. Hockey
Hall of Fame, the word is curious, clever and note perfect,
an original piece of hockey
Americana.
This is the spring of Doc.
For the first time, NBC and
its sister stations are televising every NHL playoff game:
on the Peacock on weekend
afternoons and, most of the
rest of the time, on the recently
rebranded NBC Sports Network. Emrick is the network’s
lead play-by-play man. He
might not be your f avorite—
like the most delicious flavor
of ice cream, this is a matter of
personal taste—but he surely
is among the most remarkable work ing in any sport.
Emrick is a hybrid. He uses
his voice like an instrument,
modulating it to impute significance to a moment in the
manner of classic old-school
announcers, such as Bob Cole
of Hockey Night in Canada.
But beyond tracking the puck
from Player A to Player B, he
marbles his calls with information and pertinent digression
and wry humor, which makes
him as fresh as some of the
other leading practitioners of
hockey’s modern style, such as
Jim Hughson, Chris Cuthbert
and Gord Miller.
Like Knicks analyst Walt
(“stumbling and bumbling”)
Frazier, the 65-year-old Emrick is foremost a verb man. A
defenseman does not simply
shoot a backhander out of his
zone to center ice. He skyhooks
or pitchforks or ladles it. The
puck will careen or skitter.
“When I was in grad school
at Miami [of Ohio]”—Emrick
earned a master’s in radio-
television there in 1969 and
later a doctorate at Bowling
Green—“I’d go to the [International Hockey League’s] Dayton
Gems games,” he says. “I interviewed the announcer, Lyle
Stieg, who told me that there
were many ways to say the
same thing. Really, how many
times can you say ‘dump in’? . . .
[But] I’m not sitting there with
three-by-five cards and deciding what word I should use. I’m
reacting to the puck.”
He had a n e ven e a rl ier
broadcasting influence—Una
McClurg, his fifth-grade teacher in La Fontaine, Ind. Emrick
recalls he d idn’t have an extensive vocabulary as a child,
but she told him if he could use
a word five times, that word
would then belong to him.
Waffleboarding. He owns it. ±
m ay 14 , 2012 | S p o r t s I l l u s t r at e D | 35
INSIDE
FOLLOW
NBA
These Kids Are Alright
By battling back to beat the streaking Spurs, the
young Thunder showed how much it has grown
since last year’s conference finals B Y L E E J E N K I N S
D
uring a midseason trip to
Los Angeles, the Thunder held its morning
shootaround at Santa
Monica High, in a dilapidated gym that coach Scott
Brooks found entirely appropriate. “Our guys are only two
years removed from high school,
anyway,” he said. Brooks was
exaggerating—barely. No one
in Oklahoma City’s core four is
older than 23, hard to believe
given that the team is in it second straight conference finals.
On that morning in Santa
Monica, Brooks referenced some
of the challenges that remained,
specifically convincing young
players to space the floor and
move the ball. “They want to
be around it all the time,” he
said. Indeed, the Thunder won
47 games this season while finishing last in the NBA in assists.
A coming-of-age occurred
Rough
Draft
BY CHRIS MANNIX
field goals in the first half and
point guard Russell Westbrook
just two the entire night, but they
repeatedly set up power forward
Serge Ibaka (who was 11 for 11
from the floor) and center Kendrick Perkins. Durant was able
to preserve stamina for the
final seven minutes, when
he scored 16 consecutive
points, and Westbrook
wisely stepped out of his
way. “We’ve got to go to
our first option,” Westbrook
said. “That’s Kevin.”
Even if Oklahoma City
loses this series, it has
taken another step forward. Last year the Thunder led the Mavericks by
15 points at home with
five minutes to play in
the fourth game of the
conference finals, with
a chance to even the
series. Brooks’s troops
celebrated prematurely, blew the lead
and were eliminated
two days later. In an
identical situation,
against a similar
opponent, they held
firm and won. They
are still young, but no
longer too young. ±
WHERE DOES THE TALENT
DROP OFF?
WHO’S THE BIGGEST
POTENTIAL BUST?
WHO IS THE TOP
INTERNATIONAL TALENT?
WHO STANDS TO
IMPROVE THE MOST?
Several executives agree:
Kentucky freshman
Anthony Davis, expected
to be taken by the lotterywinning Hornets, is the
only sure thing. But while
the other top prospects
carry higher-than-usual
risk, there will be strong
values available after the
lottery. “It’s unstable at
the front,” says one G.M.
“It’s hard to be sure what
you are getting. But 20
through 40, this is the
deepest draft we have had
in a long time.”
Ohio State’s 6' 9" Jared
Sullinger. Two executives
say he’s not athletic
enough to play power
forward. “He reminds
me of Stacey King,” says
one G.M. But what about
Kevin Love, a similarly
built, nonathletic four
who is now an All-Star?
“Love had better range
and passing ability,” says
a West G.M. “Sullinger
doesn’t play with a high
motor. He’s going to have
a difficult time defending
multiple pick-and-rolls.”
Tomas Satoransky, a 6' 7"
swingman from the Czech
Republic. The foreign
pool was depleted last
year, when 14 overseas
players were drafted.
“But,” says a West
executive, “Satoransky
could be a second-round
steal.” The 20-year-old
averaged only 4.8 points
in 17.3 minutes for Spain’s
Cajasol Savilla. But, in the
words of one exec, “He’s a
playmaker. He can slash,
he’s unselfish and he
can defend.”
Aside from the Hornets,
Washington, which
finished the season on a
six-game winning streak.
Point guard John Wall
(7.1% from three-point
range) will only get better
and Nenê will stabilize the
front line. The Wizards
pick third—a precarious
position—but if they can
land a contributor (such as
Kentucky forward Michael
Kidd-Gilchrist or Florida
guard Bradley Beal), the
surge they began in April
should continue.
28 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R AT E D | J U N E 11, 2012
G REG N EL S O N
Four key questions
heading into
the June 28
selections, which
are riddled with
uncertainty—after
the No. 1 pick
last week in Oklahoma
City, with the Thunder
facing a 2–0 deficit
in the conference
finals against the
Spurs, who were
riding a 20‑game
winning streak.
The Thunder
won t w ice,
but more startling was the way
in which it was accomplished:
driving and kicking, catching
and shooting, a team that had
averaged 18.5 assists piling up
50 in two games.
OKC ha s t a ken muc h
from the Spurs—most notably general manager Sam
Presti—but mimicking their
offensive precision and selfsacrifice would be the greatest coup. In Game 4 last
Saturday, scoring champ
Kevin Durant had only two
t
DURANT
@SI_nba
OLYMPIC
FORECASTING
Five reasons to
target archery
as the breakout
sport of the 2012
Summer Games
MOTOR SPORTS
WILLIAM
HAWKEYE
The Avengers
Snow White and
the Huntsman
MERIDA
Brave
BRONN
Game of Thrones
KATNISS EVERDEEN
The Hunger Games
FACES IN THE CROWD
 | Edited by ALEXANDRA FENWICK
BILL STANLEY
SOUTH PARK, PA. > TRACK AND FIELD
<
KIMMONS WILSON
Ferrari is banking
on turning a young
Canadian into a
Formula One star of
tomorrow
Amid the high-tech glamour
of the Ferrari garage at
the Canadian Grand Prix
in Montreal on Sunday, a
13-year-old boy stood with a
headset pressed to his ears
and listened to the voice of
two-time world champion
Fernando Alonso crackling
over the radio. “It’s crazy to
WINTER PARK, FLA. > ROWING
<
Kimmons, a freshman coxswain for the Winter Park boys’ freshman eight, helmed the Wildcats to a come-from-behind victory at the Scholastic Nationals at Cooper River in Camden, N.J. Trailing in the 1,500-meter race until she called for a sprint at 250 meters out, the team won in 4:31.091,
defeating runner-up St. Joseph’s Prep by 1.552 seconds. A week earlier the crew won at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta in Philadelphia. In April it took first at states and at the Orlando city championship.
CHRIS BROWN
NORTH CHELMSFORD, MASS. > TRACK AND FIELD
<
Brown, a senior at Brandeis, won the 800 (1:55.31) and the 1,500 meters (3:47.94) at the University Athletic Association finals and was named the New England Division III outdoor runner of the year.
Earlier this year he ran a 3:43.49 in the 1,500 for a school record and the fastest D-III time this season
by more than three seconds. Brown, who finished third in the mile at the NCAA indoor championships,
was named All-America for the second time after placing fourth in the 1,500 at the outdoor NCAAs.
SHANTANA KANHOYE
QUEENS, N.Y. > FLAG FOOTBALL
<
Shantana, a senior quarterback at John Adams High, received the Wingate Award for athletic excellence in the New York City Public Schools Athletic League’s inaugural flag football season. She led the city with 1,518 passing yards and 28 touchdowns and rushed for 657 yards and
nine more scores to lead the Spartans to a 7–1 season and the Queens borough title. As a wideout
Shantana had 14 catches for six TDs, and she returned two interceptions for scores on defense.
K.C. WILSON
WINTER SPRINGS, FLA. > WATERSKIING
<
K.C., a recent graduate of The Master’s Academy (Oviedo, Fla.), won his fourth straight slalom
title at the Junior U.S. Open at Lake of Dreams in Jerseyville, Ill., successfully clearing two buoys with
a rope shortened to 391⁄2 feet in his fourth pass. A week earlier he won the slalom at the Junior Masters at Robin Lake in Pine Mountain, Ga., with the same score, tying his own Junior Master’s record,
which he already shared with fellow U.S. skier Ian Trapp, who first set the mark in 2003.
ALLI CASH
OVERLAND PARK, KANS. > TRACK AND FIELD
<
Alli, a junior at Shawnee Mission West, repeated as 6A state champion in the 800 and 1,600
meters and the 4 … 800 relay and added a fourth gold medal in the individual 3,200, winning by a
whopping 20 seconds. She set a state meet record in the 1,600 (4:52.31), which she also won by more
than 20 seconds. Winner of the state individual cross-country title last October, she was third in last
Saturday’s Dream Mile in New York City. Alli is Kansas’s Gatorade girls’ cross-country runner of the year.
 Nominate Now
To submit a candidate for Faces in the Crowd, go to SI.com/faces. For more on outstanding amateur athletes, follow @SI_Faces on Twitter.
24 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R AT E D | J U N E 18 , 2012
hear the drivers,” he said. “I
know exactly what they’re
saying.” Young Lance Stroll
is no casual fan. He’s not
racing in F1 just yet, but the
Montreal native represents
the coming generation—and
an ambitious experiment for
the sport’s oldest team. He
was just 11 when he signed on
with Ferrari after dominating
the Canadian go-kart circuit.
“A huge jump in the dark,”
says Luca Baldisserri, head
of the Ferrari Driver Academy
in Maranello, Italy. Yet for
Ferrari, the math is clear:
Hiring top drivers costs tens
of millions of dollars; kids are
low-risk, potentially highreward investments.
Lance now races karts
full time in Europe, making
monthly visits to Maranello
for strategy sessions,
reflex drills and breathing
exercises. In 10 races this
year he has three podium
finishes, including a win. At 15
he’ll make the jump to cars.
For now, though, listening
to Alonso’s voice through
the headphones, Lance
hears one sound: “Myself
in 10 years,” he says, “on
that grid.” —Grant Robertson
TO P, F R O M L EF T: WA LT D ISN E Y S T U D I OS M OT I O N PI C T U RE S , ©2012 U NI V ERS A L PI C T U RE S , D ISN E Y/ PIX A R / PH OTO F E S T, H B O, L I O N S GAT E / P H O TO F E S T; G I O R G I O B EN V EN U T I / F ERR A RI / EPA (S T R O L L); T EC H NI Q U E S PH O TO G R A PH Y
(S TA N L E Y ); M EG G EN WIL S O N (WIL S O N); CO U R T E S Y O F B R A N D EIS U NI V ERSI T Y (B R OW N); R O B ER T T R OT TA /J O H N A DA M S HI G H (K A N H OY E); CO U R T E S Y O F K .C . WIL S O N (WIL S O N); T H E K A N S A S C I T Y S TA R (C A SH)
Bill, a senior at South Park High, broke the national high school javelin record with a throw
of 246’ 9”, winning the Pennsylvania 3A title in his first attempt. His throw surpassed the farthest marker at 220 feet out on the javelin field and nearly reached the woods beyond it, breaking the previous record by 2’ 7”. Bill was unbeaten this season and set meet records at every
invitational, including the Penn Relays (223’ 3”). Next year he will compete at Ohio State.
Driver’s
Education
INSIDE
HORSE RACING
Rags to Riches
In a Belmont without I’ll Have Another,
Union Rags delivered a victory that validated
himself and saved the day B Y T I M L A Y D E N
T
his year’s Triple Crown
might have produced
history, but instead it
delivered a sweet, compensating form of justice that is rare in life and rarer
still on the racetrack. It came
early last Saturday evening as
the culmination of 30 hours in
which the game itself plunged
from the peak of anticipation
to a deep trough of disappointment and then clawed its way
back to relief when Union Rags
and jockey John Velazquez won
the 144th Belmont Stakes with
a bold, rail-scraping stretch run
that made good on a promise
delivered much earlier.
This was back before everything happened. It was before I’ll
Have Another came from California and won the Kentucky Derby
and the Preakness and then
came to New York with a shot
at becoming racing’s 12th Triple
Crown winner. It was before
I’ll Have Another was suddenly
scratched with tendinitis one day
before the Belmont, killing every
ounce of the joy that had temporarily made the struggling sport
seem buoyant and meaningful.
And it was before I’ll Have Another’s saddle was ceremonially
removed in the Belmont winner’s
circle, leaving Cinderella jockey
Mario Gutierrez in tears, a morsel thrown to fans who had come
to the big racetrack in Elmont,
N.Y., to see him race, not retire.
This was on a cold April morning at Keeneland Race Course,
and thoroughbred trainer Michael Matz stood beneath budding maples with his hands
stuffed into a windbreaker and
hope filling his every sentence.
In his care was a strapping bay
colt named Union Rags who
showed promise as a 2-year-old
and in his first start at three but
had been compromised by racing
luck and a lousy ride from jockey
Julien Leparoux in the March 31
Florida Derby, in which he ran
third despite being a 2–5 favorite.
“He needs a chance to run,” said
Matz that day. “And if he gets it,
he’s the kind of horse who can
win the Kentucky Derby.”
If that had happened, the racing gods would be fully understood for rewarding Matz, who
had won the 2006 Derby with
B IL L F R A K E S (B O T TO M); K EI T H B ED F O RD/ REU T ERS
36 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R AT E D | J U N E 18 , 2012
ONE SHINING MOMENT
After Velazquez (in yellow)
guided Union Rags past Paynter,
the jockey shared cup-carrying
duties with Wyeth, whose love for
the horse was finally rewarded.
Barbaro, only to see
him break down in
the Preakness (and
famously die eight
months later). “I really thought that Barbaro could have won
the Triple Crown,”
said Matz that morning in Kentucky. “But
that day in Baltimore,
the whole thing just
split apart.” And those same
gods would be understood for
rewarding Union Rags’s owner,
Phyllis Wyeth, 71, who has spent
most of her adult life in a wheelchair after an automobile accident when she was 20. Union
Rags is the last in a long line
from her family’s racing brood,
and she so loved the colt that
though she grudgingly sold him
as a yearling for tax purposes for
$145,000, she bought him back
as a 2-year-old for $390,000,
cost be damned.
But those rewards were not
delivered at Churchill Downs.
Union Rags’s Derby odyssey
was exponentially worse than
his Florida trip, and he finished
seventh. I’ll Have A nother was
anointed in victory, and runnerup Bodemeister was honored in
defeat. Matz took his horse home
to a sprawling training center in
Elkton, Md., skipped the Preakness and hoped that the Belmont
would validate his belief. He did
something else, too: He changed
jockeys, replacing Leparoux with
John Velazquez, who had won the
2007 Belmont on Rags to Riches
and ridden thousands of races on
the quirky Belmont track.
And it was Velazquez who
squeezed Union Rags through
a narrow space between the rail
and front-running Paynter and
won the Belmont by a neck. In
fading late spring light, Matz’s
assistant, Peter Brette, walked
next to the horse back to his
barn. “We were watching I’ll
Have Another try for the Triple
Crown,” said Brette. “And there
was a time when we thought
INSIDE
FOLLOW
that was going to be us. Now we’re just
happy people got a chance to see what
he could do.”
What he did was break blessedly clean
from the gate and then stalk Paynter for
nearly a mile. But when he tried to accelerate in the final turn, he was briefly blocked,
a flashback to previous troubles. “I was
worried there for a second,” said Matz. “But
I knew Johnny was going to ride his race.”
Paynter, who like Bodemeister is owned
by Ahmed Zayat, trained by Bob Baffert and
ridden by Mike Smith, took the lead into the
stretch. Atigun, a 20–1 shot, closed on the
@SITimLayden
outside, and Smith hit Paynter lefthanded.
“Trying to intimidate Atigun,” said former
jockey Gary Stevens. “That caused [Paynter]
to drift out.” It left a narrow hole on the rail,
and Velazquez urged Union Rags through.
In the closing strides the Belmont
crowd roared as Velazquez pushed Union
Rags’s head beneath the wire, clear of
Paynter and clear of his long spring’s
problems, validated at last. The crowd
rose in full throat, forgetting for one
moment that I’ll Have Another was gone
and embracing a brilliant performance
as salve to an open wound.
±
S CO T T SERI O/ EC L IP SE / ZU M A P RE S S .CO M (BA F F ER T ); R O N K U N T Z / REU T ERS (RE A L Q UIE T ); J O H N H AY E S /A P (SILV ER C H A RM); C H RIS M A R T IN E Z /A P
(C AVO N NIER); H EIN Z K LU E T M EIER (B O D EM EIS T ER); B RYA N SMI T H / ZU M A PRE SS .CO M (PAY N T ER); B EN O I T PH OTO/A P (PI O N EER O F T H E NIL E)
Baffert’s Blues
Poor Bob Baffert.
Paynter’s second in the
Belmont completed
for Baffert, who placed
in the Kentucky Derby
and the Preakness with
Bodemeister, a painful
feat: the Runner-Up
Triple Crown. Baffert
is no stranger to
Triple Crown heartbreak;
he has finished second
seven times. The races
this year don’t even
compare with some of
the past close calls on
the heartbreakmeter
(five Bafferts being the
most painful).
RACE 2012 PREAKNESS
MARGIN NECK
RACE 2012 BELMONT
MARGIN NECK
RACE 2012 DERBY
MARGIN 11⁄2 LENGTHS
RACE 2009 DERBY
MARGIN 63⁄4 LENGTHS
HORSE BODEMEISTER
HORSE PAYNTER
HORSE BODEMEISTER
HORSE PIONEEROF
THE NILE
Bode led by three
lengths before being
caught three jumps
from the wire.
Baffert’s other top
3-year-old was run
down inside 1⁄16 of
a mile.
Despite Bode’s being
caught in the stretch,
Baffert was happy with
how he ran.
He led briefly in the
stretch but was left in
the mud by 50–1 shot
Mine That Bird.
RACE 1998 BELMONT
MARGIN NOSE
RACE 1997 BELMONT
MARGIN 3⁄4 LENGTH
RACE 1996 DERBY
MARGIN NOSE
HORSE REAL QUIET
HORSE SILVER CHARM
HORSE CAVONNIER
Real Quiet was nipped
at the wire, denying
Baffert the Triple Crown
a second time.
Silver Charm never
saw Touch Gold
coming, ending a Triple
Crown attempt.
Baffert saw his first
Derby starter lose
a photo to the laterunning Grindstone.
INSIDE
FOLLOW
NHL
Cold Draft
On Tap
The best player won’t
necessarily be the first
taken in this week’s
draft, where even
the top prospects are
receiving icy receptions
BY SA R A H K WA K
W
GO TO SI.COM/NHL
FOR ALLAN MUIR’S MOCK DRAFT
PIERRE M c GUIRE ’ S
DRAFT FORECAST
SURE THINGS
1. Nail Yakupov t
This Russian winger has great speed and superior playmaking abilities, and
wants the puck in key situations. Currently with Sarnia of the OHL, Yakupov
wants to stay and play in North America. He’s a true can’t-miss player.
2. Ryan Murray
Though he’s not a point getter, Murray’s a smart shutdown defenseman for
Everett of the WHL who should be able to handle the grind of the NHL as an
18-year-old. He’s a leader who’ll someday be team captain.
3. Alex Galchenyuk
A Sarnia teammate of Yakupov’s, this 6' 1", 198-pound center has command
of the game in all three zones. He’s a perfect fit for the Canadiens, who will
pick third and are starving for size and skill down the middle.
WILD CARDS
u
1. Mikhail Grigorenko
He has the tools (40 goals, 45 assists in 59 games for Quebec last season)
and body (6' 3", 200) to be drafted in the top three, but concerns over his
intensity may prevent him from going until the middle of the first round.
2. Zemgus Girgensons
This Latvian-born star from Dubuque (USHL) could evolve into a top-end
center if he matures physically. Girgensons (6' 3", 195) is committed to
attending the University of Vermont next season.
3. Stefan Matteau
The 6-foot, 210-pound Matteau, a son of 13-year NHL vet Stephane Matteau,
is a good skater for a big man. The question is, Does he become a true power
forward who can score or a grinding, two-way winger who only provides depth?
BEST UPSIDES
1. Morgan Rielly
A torn ACL last season limited his play with Moose Jaw of the WHL, but Rielly’s
a mobile and smart defenseman who will play for a long time in the NHL.
He handles the puck well and seemingly makes a difference in every game.
2. Griffin Reinhart t
A huge defenseman (6' 4", 200) whose father, Paul, played in the NHL for
11 years, Reinhart can shoot the puck and handle big minutes. He could eventually become a Norris Trophy nominee, much like Nashville’s Shea Weber.
3. Hampus Lindholm
Some scouts think that Lindholm, a smart two-way defenseman from the
Swedish club team Rogle, is the player whose stock is rising the most due
to his consistent play and serious approach to the game.
38 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R AT E D | J U N E 2 5 , 2012
F R O M TO P : L EO N T. S WI T ZER / I CO N SMI; RI C H A RD WO LOW I C Z /G E T T Y IM AG E S; M A RIS S A BA EC K ER /G E T T Y IM AG E S
ith regards to this
week’s NHL entr y
draft, the consensus
among general managers and scouts is that
Sarnia Sting (OHL) winger Nail
Yakupov is the class’s best player.
The Oilers, owners of the top pick
for the third straight year, however,
do not need another swift-scoring
forward as much as they need a defenseman. So if Edmonton keeps the
pick, as G.M. Steve Tambellini has
indicated, there is no guarantee that
Yakupov would go No. 1.
While there are plenty of safe
picks—serviceable players who
may have decent NHL careers—
even the most talented ones carry
question marks that will give
teams pause. Mikhail Grigor
enko, for instance, a high-scoring
center for the Quebec Remparts
(QMJHL), has all-world skill, but
scouts have questioned his consistency and work ethic (sidebar).
Craig Button, a former general
manager with the Flames and now
an analyst for TSN, had Grigor
enko sixth in his prospect rankings last December; by last week
Grigorenko had dropped to 20th.
“If you look at every team’s
top 10,” one G.M. says, “I’d venture to say you’ll see 30 very different lists.”
±
@SI_sarahkwak
INSIDE
FOLLOW
touted Dutch (Ronaldo scored
both goals), and in a tour de
force quarterfinal against the
Czech Republic he scored the
game’s lone goal, hit the post
twice and in general played on
a different level from everyone
else on the field.
But here’s where the Ballon
d’Or race gets tricky. Lionel
Messi, winner of the last three
awards, has had slightly better
individual club stats in calendar
2012: a preposterous 44 goals
for Barcelona compared with
Ronaldo’s still impressive 35.
But team performance counts as
well, and here Ronaldo trumps
Messi, Real Madrid having won
the Spanish league title ahead
of the Blaugrana. (Both teams
reached the semis of the Champions League.) Is it fair that Ronaldo has had the showcase of a
major international tournament
for Portugal, while Messi has
had just a handful of friendlies
and one World Cup qualifier
SOCCER
The Case for Cristiano
Messi may be more beloved (and have better
numbers), but the Euros confirm the claim of
his rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, to the title of 2012
world player of the year B Y G R A N T W A H L
F
or such a prestigious
award, the FIFA Ballon
d’Or—given to soccer’s
world player of the year—
is a quirky prize. Instead
of rewarding the best player of
a typical August-to-May club
season, plus June international
tournaments, the Ballon d’Or
applies to the calendar year. The
2012 award will be handed out
next January, which is about as
silly as presenting the NBA MVP
trophy at the following year’s AllStar break. FIFA compensates
by almost always awarding the
Ballon d’Or to the top performer
of the year’s first six months, and
with that in mind I’d argue that
Cristiano Ronaldo, the dynamic
goal scorer for Portugal and
Real Madrid, has already done
enough to deserve the 2012 prize.
Ronaldo’s Euro 2012 performance for Portugal makes
his case. Not since Argentina’s
Diego Maradona at the ’86
World Cup has a team made a
deep run at a major tournament
almost entirely on the back of
one dominant player. Portugal sealed its passage out of
the Euro’s group of death with
a 2–1 victory over the highly
@GrantWahl
for Argentina in 2012—and last
week was off barnstorming in an
all-star game in Miami? Probably not. But as we said: It’s a
quirky prize.
Too often, in fact, voting for
the Ballon d’Or comes down to
a popularity contest in which
selectors answer the wrong
question (Who’s the best player
in the world?) instead of the
right one (Who had the best
2012?). It doesn’t help that the
voters are the national team
coach, national team captain
and one journalist from most
countries in FIFA—so that
Papua New Guinea’s ballots
carry as much weight as Spain’s
or Brazil’s. As a result, look for
the more popular Messi to win
his fourth straight Ballon d’Or
in January. Messi and Ronaldo
are transcendent athletes worth
treasuring, but while Messi is a
slightly better player overall, in
my opinion Ronaldo has edged
him out for a better 2012. ±
Tale of the Tape 2012
ALL NUMBERS ARE FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2012, THROUGH JUNE 24
LIONEL MESSI
25
27
BARCELONA
CLUB
REAL MADRID
ARGENTINA
COUNTRY
2008
44
35
7
INTERNATIONAL
GOALS
3
36,806,685
0 (NO OFFICIAL ACCOUNT)
FIVE GOALS VS. BAYER
LEVERKUSEN MARCH 7
ANTONELLA
ROCCUZZO
PORTUGAL
CLUB GOALS
COPA DEL REY
ELIMINATED IN
SEMIFINALS BY CHELSEA
$125 MILLION
HOMETOWN SWEETHEART
WORLD PLAYER/
BALLON D’OR
CLUB TITLES
CHAMPIONS
LEAGUE
EST. TRANSFER VALUE
FACEBOOK
FOLLOWERS
TWITTER FOLLOWERS
SIGNATURE 2012
PERFORMANCE
SIGNIFICANT
OTHER
LA LIGA
ELIMINATED IN SEMIFINALS
BY BAYERN MUNICH
$113 MILLION
45,767,395
10,939,623 (@CRISTIANO)
HAT TRICK VS.
ATLETICO MADRID APRIL 11
SI SWIMSUIT MODEL
IRINA
SHAYK
T O N Y Q UIN N / I CO N SMI (M E S SI); H EN RY B R OW N E /AC T I O N IM AG E S / ZU M A P RE SS .CO M (R O N A L D O);
F R A N C K FIF E /A F P/G E T T Y IM AG E S (R O CC UZ ZO); ED D IE K EO G H / REU T ERS (SH AY K)
2009, 2010, 2011
32 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R AT E D | J U LY 2, 2012
CRISTIANO RONALDO
AGE
INSIDE
NASCAR MIDSEASON REPORT
Man on the Move
Former Cup champ Matt Kenseth hasn’t
lost a step, so why is he walking away from
his longtime team? B Y L A R S A N D E R S O N
T
GEAR SHIFTS
Miami Speedway on Nov. 18.
Kenseth has piloted the number 17 Ford for RFR since his
rookie year of 2000, but this
season team owner Jack Roush
has had trouble finding longterm sponsorship for that car.
So instead of continuing to
pay a hefty salary to Kenseth, whose contract with RFR
expires at season’s end, Roush
will elevate 24-year-old Ricky
Stenhouse Jr., the ’11 Nationwide champion, to Kenseth’s
seat in ’13.
Kenseth is the first driver
to be cut loose in NASCAR’s
so-called Silly Season (below),
and the move took the garage
by surprise. While Kenseth is
no longer viewed as Roush’s
flagship driver (that distinction belongs to Carl Edwards,
who finished second in the
championship last season),
he has 22 career wins and has
qualified for the Chase seven
times (which, along with Jeff
Gordon and Tony Stewart, is
more than any driver other
than Jimmie Johnson, who has
made all eight playoffs). Kenseth’s hallmarks are his ability
to gradually gain speed as the
laps wind down—something
he does as well as a nyone
in the series—and to hit his
marks through the turns, lap
after lap after lap, with robotic
consistency.
Kenseth says he already has
a contract in place with a new
team for 2013 and beyond but
was tight-lipped about specifics
last Saturday at Kentucky Speedway, where he finished seventh
behind winner Brad Keselowski.
All indications are that Kenseth
will move to Joe Gibbs Racing,
where he likely will replace
Joey Logano, who is in a contract year. The much-heralded
Logano, 22, has struggled in his
four Cup seasons with Gibbs—he
has never finished higher than
16th in the standings and is currently in that spot this season—
and Kenseth would be an ideal
t With Matt Kenseth’s impending departure from Roush Fenway Racing, NASCAR’s Silly Season is just
revving up. Here’s a look at three other high-profile drivers likely to be sporting new uniforms in 2013.
KURT BUSCH
RYAN NEWMAN
JOEY LOGANO
PHOENIX RACING
STEWART-HAAS RACING
JOE GIBBS RACING
The notoriously hot-headed
Busch, who was suspended
earlier this season for one
race after going off on a
reporter, has one more
chance left in the sport.
He’ll likely get it with
Stewart-Haas Racing,
where he’d replace
Ryan Newman.
After winning only three
races in three-plus
seasons at StewartHaas, Newman will move
to Richard Childress
Racing and slide into
the seat vacated
by the aging
Jeff
Burton.
If Gibbs can’t find funding
for a fourth car—and so
far the team hasn’t—
Logano will stay at JGR
and run full-time in
the Nationwide Series,
where he’s already
won five
races this
season.
C RYS TA L A M AC L EO D/A SP/C A L SP O R T M ED I A (K EN SE T H); S COT T H A L L ER A N / N A S C A R /G E T T Y IM AG E S (B US C H); DA NIEL SHIRE Y/ US PRE S S WIRE (N E W M A N); J EF F ZEL E VA N SK Y/ N A S C A R /G E T T Y IM AG E S (LO GA N O)
hrough 17
races in
2012, Matt
Kenset h is
enjoying
a d r e a m s e a s on
in the Sprint Cup
s e r i e s . He t o o k
the checkered flag
in the Daytona 500,
le a d s t he c i r c u it i n
a verage finish (7.6), has
ba n ke d more i n w i nnings ($4,126,773) than
any other driver and currently sits at the top of the
point standings. By nearly
every measure Kenseth,
40, the 2003 Cup champion,
has been the top driver in
NASCAR over the first half
of the season.
He will also soon be losing
his job.
Last week Roush Fenway
R ac i ng a n nou nc e d t h at it
would be severing its relationship with Kenseth (left) after
the season finale at Homestead-
INSIDE
@LarsAndersonSI
Tracking Down Some Answers
With nine races to go before the start of the Chase,
racing’s hottest issues are coming into focus
BY LARS ANDERSON
1
WHO IS THE
FAVORITE FOR
THE CUP?
2
IS DALE
EARNHARDT JR. A
REAL CONTENDER?
Jimmie Johnson, the five-time champ,
looks to be right on track to take Cup
number 6 in November. Currently third
in the standings, he already has two
victories (only Brad Keselowski, with
three, has more), and he’s the only
driver in the series who doesn’t have a
weak track in the Chase. And, oh, yeah,
he knows how to close the deal.
NASCAR’s most popular driver is having
his best season since 2004. He snapped a
143-race winless streak, he’s second in points
and tied with Jimmie Johnson for most
top 10s (13). To beat JJ and earn his first Cup,
Junior will likely need at least two wins in
the Chase. That’s a tall order, but he’s now
positioned to use the next nine races to hone
his Chase setup and give himself a shot.
PARTING PAIR
Kenseth has driven for no one but
Roush (right) in his NASCAR career,
yet racing economics have both
looking elsewhere for 2013.
for the rest of this year.”
Indeed, lame-duck drivers
typically struggle down the
backstretch of the season because their crewmen, unsure
of their own futures, start
looking for new jobs, which
in turn can cause a team to
lose its edge. And in a sport
where a 10th of a second per
lap can be the difference between first and 15th, this can
be a championship-killer.
Kenseth remains adamant
that he can maintain his
current pace. Minutes after
the news broke that he and
RFR would be parting ways,
he tweeted to his 106,000plus followers that he was
as “committed as ever” to
“chasing” a title. He’ll need
to be, especially in the heat
of the Chase, when the eyes
of his engineers and pit crew
will begin to wander.
±
3
WHO WILL BE
THE CHASE
WILD-CARDS?
4
IS DANICA
PATRICK GETTING
UP TO SPEED?
5
WHAT HAPPENED
TO CARL
EDWARDS?
After the first 26 races the top 10 drivers in
the standings make the Chase. Wild-card
spots go to the two drivers in 11th through
20th with the most wins. Kyle Busch
(car 18), currently 12th, with one win, and
Kasey Kahne (5), 14th, with a victory, have
both endured horrendous luck this season
yet are still in the hunt. Both are also poised
for strong stretch runs to the Chase.
Absolutely. While Patrick, running her
first full-time NASCAR season in the
Nationwide Series, isn’t contending for
victories, she now appears far more
comfortable behind the wheel. In her last
eight races she has finished 13th or better
five times. Patrick is right on schedule to
move to the Sprint Cup series in 2013 and
drive for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Edwards ended 2011 tied in points with
Tony Stewart, losing the title only on a
tiebreaker. (Stewart had five wins, Edwards
one.) But this year Edwards has taken a
shocking step back. He has just eight top 10s
and after a 20th at Kentucky last Saturday
sits 11th in points. Unless he can shake the
emotional hangover from coming so close
last year, his season may slip away.
NI G EL KIN R A D E /AU TOS TO C K (K EN SE T H A N D R O USH); WA LT ER G A R C E /A SP/C A L SP O R T M ED I A (J O H N S O N); J EF F SIN ER /C H A RLOT T E O BSERV ER / M C T/ L A N D OV (E A RN H A RDT ); DAV ID J. G RIF FIN / I CO N SMI (B US C H A N D K A H N E); C RYS TA L A
M AC L EO D/A SP/C A L SP O R T M ED I A (PAT RI C K); DAV ID J. G RIF FIN / I CO N SMI (EDWA RDS)
veteran presence to team with
current Gibbs drivers Denny
Hamlin (age 31) and Kyle
Busch (27), both proven race
winners who have struggled
with their consistency in the
championship hunt.
“Matt would become the
leader of Gibbs the moment
he got there,” says one veteran crew chief. “It was a
head-scratcher to a lot of us
that Roush and Matt would
pa r t w ay s when t he y ’re
doing so well. You don’t get
a chance to win a championship very often, and this
certainly won’t help Matt
FOLLOW
INSIDE
FOLLOW
@MichaelFarber3
NHL
Lonesome Coyote
Shane Doan has been with Phoenix since the team’s
days in Winnipeg, but if the ownership situation
remains murky, he may bolt B Y M I C H A E L F A R B E R
DAV ID E . K LU T H O (D OA N); JIM M C IS A AC (A L F REDSS O N); J ER O M E MIR O N / US PRE S S WIRE (I G IN L A); DAV ID E . K LU T H O (EL I A S)
D
uring the hol id a y s
last December, Rangers broadcaster Dave
Maloney and Coyotes
general manager Don
Maloney were catching up by
phone, Dave regaling his brother about one of the Rangers’
cast-of-thousands Christmas
parties at the Boathouse in
Central Park. Then he asked,
“How was your party?”
Don replied, “A couple of sixpacks and a six-foot sub.”
Phoenix’s hand-to-mouth
NHL-owned team is now trying to re-sign a noncomestible
hockey hero, Shane Doan.
Doan, 35, is a free agent. Ideally he would like to stay with
the Coyotes and finish his career in Glendale. His agent,
Ter r y Bross, a nd Ma loney
have discussed parameters of
contracts that range in length
from three to five years. But
before re-upping with the only
franchise he has represented
(Doan was a rookie in 1995–96,
the team’s last season in Winnipeg), the right wing, who
earned $4.55 million in the
final season of a five-year deal
in 2011–12, seeks something
beyond money and term: clarity. Specifically, Doan wants to
know that the club’s ownership
mess will soon be resolved and
the franchise will remain in the
desert.
Even as some impediments
to the eventual sale of the club
seem to be vanishing—it is now
unlikely there will be a referendum question on the November ballot in Glendale that
could void the team’s 20-year,
$300 million arena lease deal—
prospective buyer Greg Jamison,
the former Sharks CEO, has
not closed on the $170 million
sale. Doan originally said he
would wait until July 9 before
entertaining other offers, but
now, three weeks after the freeagent signing period began,
no time line exists. Six teams
have made written proposals to
Doan (among them, reportedly,
are San Jose, the Kings and the
Canucks), and another 10 had
expressed interest. When asked if
Doan would re-sign with Phoenix
at a hometown discount, Bross
said the Coyotes “would have to
be in-line” with the market.
“The thing that makes this so
difficult is Shane’s not a typical
free agent,” Bross says. “He’s a
big cog. His children never have
known any other place. He has
Veterans
Benefits
Including Shane Doan, three of
the league’s eight longest-tenured
veterans became free agents this
month: Devils goalie Martin Brodeur,
40, re-upped with New Jersey (for
whom he’s played for 19 seasons)
through 2013–14; Red Wings forward
Tomas Holmstrom (15 seasons), 39,
still hasn’t made a decision, though
he says if he doesn’t play for Detroit,
he’ll retire. Next summer, three more
from the group of eight are due to
enter free agency, including two of
the top scorers in recent NHL history.
DANIEL ALFREDSSON
PATRIK ELIAS
SENATORS
DEVILS
JAROME IGINLA
FLAMES
16 SEASONS
16 SEASONS
15 SEASONS
CAREER STATISTICS
CAREER STATISTICS
CAREER STATISTICS
416 GOALS, 666 ASSISTS
TWILIGHT, ZONA?
Doan (above) has very deep
roots in the Phoenix community,
but his agent says he will not
accept a hometown discount.
a ranch here with [Phoenix
equipment manager] Stan
Wilson. In some ways the
franchise is [also] his family.”
Doan, who has averaged
24.6 goals during his past
12 NHL seasons, scored five in
the playoffs last spring. After
carrying a lot of water for the
troubled franchise—publicly
Doan has always drawn a smiley face on the Coyotes’ woe
begone saga—he helped carry
the team to the conference finals, the first time the franchise
had won a playoff series since
1987. “For an organization looking for something to grab on to,
Shane epitomized that,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett says.
“The thing he wants most is a
level playing field. This team
has been at such a competitive
disadvantage [because of the
ownership situation], and he
wants that settled.”
If the sale to Jamison stalls,
a reluctant Doan might be
done in the desert.
±
J U LY 2 3 , 2012 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R AT E D | 41
INSIDE
FOLLOW
@Andy_Staples
COLLEGE
TKA
FOOTBALL
SECond Rate
A few programs have a (long)
shot at ending a certain
conference’s BCS dominance
BY A NDY S TA PL E S
I
t’ll be everywhere. On television. On
the Web. On all the social-networking
apps on your mobile device.
S-E-C! S-E-C!
The conference whose name is synonymous with pigskin superiority hosts its
football media days in Hoover, Ala., this
week. With no other power conference holding its gathering until the following week,
expect to be reminded time and again how
the SEC has won the last six national titles.
And expect to hear coaches and players from
LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and South
Carolina explain how they’ll make it seven.
For fans tired of such domination, there’s
a sliver of hope. Several programs have
positioned themselves to break the SEC’s
stranglehold on the national title.
Dream Teen
Vegas was buzzing about more
than Team USA last week. Meet
Andrew Wiggins B Y S E T H D A V I S
T
he present and future of American
basketball descended on Las Vegas
last week. While the U.S. national
team practiced at UNLV’s Mendenhall Center in preparation for the
London Olympics, nearly 100 of the top
high school players convened seven miles
away at Rancho High, site of the LeBron
James Skills Academy. James might be
the best player on Team USA, but the top
player at his camp hailed from north of
the border: Andrew Wiggins, a 6' 7", 195pound rising junior from Concord, Ont.
Steve Nash is the undisputed patron
OREGON
MICHIGAN STATE
The Trojans’ starters—on both sides
of the ball—match up comparably with
any SEC team’s. Senior quarterback
Matt Barkley (above) has a pair of stellar receivers in Robert Woods and Marqise Lee, while safety T.J. McDonald and
cornerback Nickell Robey roam the secondary. But depth is an issue: Because
of NCA A sanctions, USC is limited to
75 scholarship players, 10 fewer than
usual. An injury or two could wreck the
Trojans’ title hopes.
The three-time defending Pac‑12 champ
has seen its title hopes dashed by an SEC
team each of the past two seasons. Has
coach Chip Kelly learned and adjusted?
Will an older, wiser tailback De’Anthony
Thomas (above), who had 2,235 all-purpose
yards last year as a freshman, prove too
elusive even for SEC speed? To find out,
Oregon will have to reach the BCS title
game. That will likely entail beating USC
twice, so the Ducks will have plenty of
experience dealing with elite athleticism.
The Spartans might not be the best team
in the Big Ten: Wisconsin has played in
two consecutive Rose Bowls and has star
running back Montee Ball returning. Still,
Mark Dantonio’s flashy Spartans match
up best with the SEC’s heavyweights. Alabama would love to have defensive end Will
Gholston (above), and cornerbacks Johnny
Adams and Darqueze Dennard would look
at home in LSU uniforms. Meanwhile,
238-pound tailback Le’Veon Bell is sturdy
enough to stand up to any SEC front seven.
saint of Canadian basketball,
but Wiggins is far, far more developed than Nash was at the
same stage; a Canadian newspaper recently described him as
“likely the best 17-year-old hoopster
Canada has ever produced.” Let’s take
the paeans one giant step further: He is the
consensus top player in the class of 2014.
In order to find top competition, Wiggins had to come south. After his freshman season of high school, he transferred
to Huntington Prep in West Virginia,
where he was the state’s Gatorade player
of the year following a sophomore season
in which he averaged 24.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.7 blocks. Wiggins
shone at the Nike Hoop Summit in April in
Portland, scoring 20 points in the World
team’s 84–75 win over Team USA.
His offensive arsenal, powered by a
44‑inch vertical leap, was on full display
at the LeBron academy, where he scored on
a variety of three-pointers, slashing drives
and acrobatic layups. Those athletic gifts
are not especially surprising. His father,
Mitchell, played six years in the NBA, and
his mother, Marita, won two silver medals
for Canada in track at the 1984 Summer
Olympics. Because his father played for
Florida State and remains close friends
with Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton, the buzz in Vegas pegged FSU as the
early favorite to land the son (for a year,
anyway). Wiggins insists that his recruitment is a long way from heating up, and he
wants to check out Syracuse, Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina, among others.
For now, visions of gold, not scholarships, are dancing in his head. Pointing
out that two Canadians (Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph) were chosen in the
first round of last year’s NBA draft, and a
third (Texas point guard Myck Kabongo)
could go in next year’s first round, Wiggins
credibly predicts that “2016 is going to be
a great year for Canada.” That’s big news
for a country whose hoops team has
not qualified for the
Games since
2000. ±
NO BORDERS
The pride of
Canada, who can
score inside and out,
has college options
all over the map.
PE T ER RE A D MIL L ER (BA RK L E Y ); R O B ER T B EC K ( T H O M A S); C H RIS WIL L I A M S / I CO N SMI (G H O L S TO N); S A M F O REN C I C H / N BA E /G E T T Y IM AG E S (WI G G IN S)
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
USC
THIS ONE TIME AT CAMP The popular NFL narrative had
no one losing in the 2011 lockout, but the uncertainty of the
135-day stoppage scuttled what would have been Season 7
of HBO’s Hard Knocks reality show. After a 23-month hiatus,
the miniseries is back on Aug. 7. Season 7’s subjects, the
Dolphins, reported to camp on July 27 full of story lines:
new coach Joe Philbin, a QB battle and the return of Hard
Knocks favorite Chad Johnson. This year, more than ever,
HBO will be prepared to put some pep in your preseason.
2001 RAVENS
60
15
8
900
2012 DOLPHINS
TOTAL NFL FILMS STAFF
CREW LIVING WITH TEAM
CAMERAS
HOURS SHOT
100
30
13
*1,250
*Estimated 250 per episode
tRYAN TANNEHILL
FACESINTHECROWD
LATANNA STONE
VALRICO, FLA. > GOLF
<
Latanna, 10, a homeschooled sixth-grader, became the youngest player to earn a spot in the U.S.
Women’s Amateur (eclipsing eight golfers, including Lexi Thompson, who were tied for that distinction
at age 12) with a victory at the Florida qualifying tournament. She shot a two-under-par 70 to win by
one stroke over a field of 66 competitors at the Wanderers Club. A two-time Florida junior tour winner,
Latanna was runner-up in the 13–15 age group at the 2012 North Florida Junior PGA Championship.
AHMED BILE
PHILANTHROPY
Market
Driven
An übercompetitive
Wall Street decathlon
raises cash for a
worthy cause
While the planet’s greatest
athletes were going headto-head in London, another
series of competitions on
Sunday established the top
sportsman of a much smaller
jurisdiction: Wall Street. More
than 100 financial workers
participated at Columbia’s
Wien Stadium in the RBC
Decathlon, a charity fund-
ANNANDALE, VA. > TRACK AND FIELD
<
Ahmed, who graduated from Annandale High in June, won the 800 meters at the New Balance
outdoor nationals in Greensboro, N.C., with a personal-best 1:49.85. In the spring he won the 1,600
(4:13.12) and the 800 (1:51.52) to lead the Atoms to a share of the Virginia 3A state title. A two-time
Gatorade state cross-country runner of the year, he was also the 2012 winner in track. Ahmed, who will
compete for Georgetown, is the son of Somali Olympian and former 1,500 world champion Abdi Bile.
ANGEL PICCIRILLO
HOMER CITY, PA. > TRACK AND FIELD
<
SAM WEATHERHEAD
GRAND RAPIDS > GOLF
<
Sam, who will be a senior at West Catholic High, shot rounds of 69 and 67—with two eagles
in the final round—at Michigan State’s Forest Akers East golf course, to win the Division 3 individual
state championship by four strokes. Nine days later he earned an entry in his first U.S. Junior Amateur
tournament with a five-under 139 to beat a field of 42 at the Indiana and Michigan sectional qualifier
tournament at Island Hills Golf Club. At the end of June, Sam was named Michigan’s Mr. Golf.
ALLY FREI
BRANCHVILLE, N.J. > SOFTBALL
<
Ally, as a sophomore righthander at High Point Regional High, threw an 11-inning shutout to
lead the Wildcats to a 1–0 win over Kingsway for the team’s first Group III state championship in
school history. Her 26–0 season included three perfect games, a no-hitter and five one-hitters.
Ally, who also had a 0.43 ERA with 362 strikeouts and 32 walks in 179 innings, owns every softball
pitching record at High Point and was named the New Jersey Herald’s player of the year.
AUSTEN RANDECKER
MILL HILL, PA. > FLY-FISHING
<
Austen, a recent graduate of Central Mountain High, caught 68 trout—the longest measuring 37 cm (14.6")—to win the youth nationals in Cherokee, N.C., in June. He then won a bronze
medal in July at the International Sport Flyfishing Federation’s youth world championship in
France, where he was the top American finisher and led the U.S. (with a collective 95 brown trout,
grayling, roach, perch and pike) to a silver in team competition. Austen will attend Penn State.
 Nominate Now
26 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R AT E D | AU G UST 6 , 2012
J O EL AU ERBAC H /G E T T Y IM AG E S ( TA N N EHIL L); M A R C FA D ER (P U L L- U P E V EN T ); C H RIS W EIRD O (S TO N E); DAV ID RI C E (B IL E); B O B PI CC IRIL LO (PI CC IRIL LO);
CO U R T E S Y O F T H E W E AT H ERH E A D FA MILY (W E AT H ERH E A D); J E A N NIE KO B IS (F REI); CO U R T E S Y O F T H E R A N D EC K ER FA MILY (R A N D EC K ER)
Angel, a 2012 graduate of Homer-Center High, set a Class 2A 800-meter record (2:09.42) and
an all-levels Pennsylvania record in the 1,600 (4:39.42) at this year’s state meet. Her 1,600 time, the
fastest in the nation this season, is the seventh-best in U.S. high school history. Also this year, Angel—
who has 10 state titles overall and is a two-time mile winner at the Penn Relays—was runner-up in the
Adidas Grand Prix’s Dream Mile. A two-time state cross-country champion, she will run at Villanova.
raiser that pits participants
against one another in NFLcombine-inspired events
such as bench press, pull-ups
(above) and vertical jump.
The winner was Barclays
Capital analyst Mark Rubin,
a 26-year-old former Penn
State safety, who was
competing for the first time.
For topping a field that
included a raft of other former
Division I athletes—including
All-America Florida distance
runner Stephen Zieminski, AllAmerica USC sprinter Jason
Price and Columbia linebacker
Justin Nunez, the defending
champ—Rubin received a
trophy, a tailored suit and a
bottle of champagne.
But the greatest haul
went to the Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center,
which took in $1.2 million
from the participants’
rivalrous philanthropy—
easily doubling the 2011
event’s total.
“We all love to compete,
whether it’s cards or
Monopoly or business,”
Rubin says. “Here it’s a very
supportive environment,
but everybody loves
to win.”
—Dan Greene
INSIDE
FOLLOW
@LarsAndersonSI
LINE DANCE
Johnson (48 and
below) and crew
celebrated his
fourth victory at the
Brickyard and his
58th career Cup win.
NASCAR
He’s a Brickhouse
With a dominant win at Indy, Jimmie Johnson
served notice that he’ll be tough to beat as he
chases his sixth Sprint Cup title B Y L A R S A N D E R S O N
J
(4.758 seconds) in the 19-year
history of the event. For everyone else in the Cup series this is
very bad news, because how a
driver performs at Indy usually
portends how he’ll fare in the
Chase (see chart).
Why? Two reasons: Teams
bring their newest equipment—
featuring the latest technological bells and whistles—to the
Brickyard 400, which is considered one of NASCAR’s four
majors. (The others are the
Daytona 500, the Southern 500
at Darlington Raceway and the
Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte
Motor Speedway.) And Indy’s
2.5-mile oval is one of the
most challenging tracks on
the circuit; every turn requires different entry and
braking points. A driver who
is fast at the Brickyard has the
car control to be fast anywhere.
“This is the turning point of
the season,” said Denny Ham-
34 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R AT E D | AU G UST 6 , 2012
Indy Rock
A NASCAR driver’s performance at Indianapolis Motor Speedway has
been an accurate gauge of his Sprint Cup title chances. Why? Because
teams always bring their best equipment—featuring the most up-to-date
technology—to the Brickyard 400, one of NASCAR’s marquee races. Here’s
a look at how the Cup winners in the Chase era have run at Indy.
YEAR
2004 2005
2006 2007
2008 2009
2010
2011
CHASE CHAMPION
Kurt Busch
Tony Stewart
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Johnson
Tony Stewart
INDY RESULT
10th
1st
1st
39th (crash)
1st
1st
22nd
6th
NI G EL KIN R A D E /AU TO S TO C K (C A R); B RI A N C ZO BAT/AU TO S TO C K (J O H N S O N)
immie Johnson leaned
against his car in the
garage at Indianapolis
Motor Speedway, smiling brilliantly, swapping stories w it h his crew
and appearing as if he didn’t
have a worry in the world. The
start of the Brickyard 400 was
still 24 hours away, but Johnson already e xuded an air of
confidence—the same look
he’s boasted during the three
seasons in which he’s won at
Indy and then gone on to take
the Sprint Cup championship.
“Over the years this track has
been really good to me,” Johnson said before Sunday’s race.
“I’ve really figured out how to
drive the track.”
Indeed he has. In the most
dominating performance of the
2012 Cup season, Johnson took
the checkered flag after leading
for 247.5 of the race’s 400 miles,
winning by the largest margin
lin, who finished sixth. “Everyone has got their [Chase] cars
prepared, bringing them to the
racetrack, tuning them up, and
that’s when you want to start
running good.”
Johnson certainly is. The
five-time Cup champion, who
finished sixth in the standings
in 2011, has now won three of
the last 10 races this season
(he also took the checkered
flag at the series All-Star race
at Charlotte in May) and has
six top five finishes over that
stretch—both series highs. In
their previous title runs, Johnson and his crew chief, Chad
Knaus, have typically revved
up in midsummer and then
peaked at the start of the 10race playoff in September. Up
and down pit road after Johnson won for the fourth time at
the Brickyard, every driver and
crewman seemed gripped by a
here-we-go-again feeling. “Jimmie,” said Greg Biffle, who came
in third, “was unreal.”
Johnson struggled at the
start of the season: He finished
42nd in the season-opening Daytona 500, and after six events
he was in 10th place. But now
with six races left in the regular season he’s up to fourth, and
he’ll enter the Chase as one of
two favorites to win the title.
The other will be his Hendrick
Motors ports teammate Dale
Earnhardt Jr. After finishing
fourth at the Brickyard, Earnhardt seized the overall points
lead for the first time since 2004,
surpassing Matt Kenseth, who
crashed on Lap 132 and finished
35th. “I feel like we’re very, very
capable of winning the whole
thing,” Earnhardt says. “But
we’re going to have to deal with
Jimmie. That’s the reality.” One
that was made clear at Indy. ±
RAISING THE BAR World records in
track and field often come down to
hundredths of a second and fractions
of an inch. But since the first modern
Olympics, in 1896, small improvements have,
in some cases, amounted to great change,
especially among female athletes—look no
further than these four events (whose current
records survived the London gold rush).
300%
100%
75%
45%
15%
% change in world records
since 1896
110.1%
Men
76.0%
56.8%
Women
35.0%
17.7%
248.2%
24.3%
22.6%
1,500 meters Triple Jump
long jump
shot put
FACESINTHECROWD
SHAWN BARBER
KINGWOOD, TEXAS > TRACK AND FIELD
<
Shawn, a recent graduate of Kingwood Park High and this year’s Texas 4A state pole vault
champion, cleared 18' 31⁄2" to break the national high school record by half an inch at the AAU National Junior Olympics in Humble, Texas. A dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, he cleared 18' 21⁄2" to
win bronze for Canada at the World Junior Championships in July. The winner of this year’s Texas Relays, Great Southwest Classic and New Balance Nationals, Shawn will attend the University of Akron.
ZANA MUNO
FOOTBALL
In Need of
A Reprieve
A detention camp’s
famous football team
could be playing its
final season
Last week, while Camp
Kilpatrick football coach
Derek Ayers held practice on
a dusty field to prepare his
squad for its Aug. 24 opener
against Grace Brethren High,
the Los Angeles County
Probation Department
announced that this season
could be the Mustangs’ last.
The juvenile detention
facility—the first in the U.S.
HERMOSA BEACH, CALIF. > VOLLEYBALL
<
Zana, who will be a sophomore at Notre Dame High (Sherman Oaks), won the AAU Best of
the Beach 16-and-under tournament in Santa Monica in three sets alongside partner Gianna Guinasso (Huntington Beach), to become the first athlete to win the AAU Triple Crown of junior beach
volleyball. In her hometown in July, she won the 16-and-under titles in the two other major tournaments on the AAU tour, the nationals and the Junior Olympics, with two other partners.
MARC ARNOLD
NEW YORK CITY > CHESS
<
KALLIE MYERS
ST. CLAIRSVILLE, OHIO > SOAP BOX DERBY
<
Kallie, who will be a senior at Bridgeport High, won the 75th annual All-American Soap Box
Derby’s Super Stock division (10- to 17-year-olds) in Akron with a 29.4-second final-heat finish on the
989-foot track. Competing in her final year of eligibility, she had to repair a broken rear axle and replace
her wheels in under an hour when a competitor lost control and rammed her after she had crossed the
finish line in the first heat. Kallie came back to defeat 127 drivers for the title and a $5,000 scholarship.
CHARLES ANTHONY
SWANSEA, MASS. > GOLF
<
Charles, a recent graduate of La Salle Academy (Providence), shot an ace on the 18th and final
hole of the Rhode Island Junior PGA Championship to win the title by one stroke. Trailing runner-up
Steve Letterle by two going into the par-4, 304-yard final hole at Montaup Country Club, he finished
with a 22-over 164. As team captain at La Salle, Charles led the Rams to an undefeated season (14–0),
including wins at the McCampbell Cup and Challenge Cup. He will compete at Bentley University.
CARLY BEDINGHAUS
COLUMBUS, OHIO > EQUESTRIAN
<
Carly, a recent graduate of Hilliard Darby High, won the Western Rider of the Year title at the
Interscholastic Equestrian Association nationals in Oklahoma City. Riding for the Dare Equestrian
Team, she took first in the varsity open horsemanship event and was sixth in open reining to earn
overall high points, beating out 11 other riders. The president of her 4-H Club and vice president
of the Franklin County Junior Fair Board, Carly will attend the Mount Carmel College of Nursing.
 Nominate Now
28 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R AT E D | AU G UST 20, 2012
M AT T D U N H A M /A P (HI G H J U M P ER); CO LU M B I A PI C T U RE S / PH O TO F E S T (G RID IR O N GA N G); S CO T T TAT E PH O TO G R A P H Y (BA RB ER); M A RY A N SEL M O (M U N O);
B E T S Y C A RIN A DY N A KO (A RN O L D); DA NIEL M A IN ZER (M Y ERS); T R AC Y A N T H O N Y (A N T H O N Y ); B O B B I B ED IN G H AUS (B ED IN G H AUS)
Marc, a recent graduate of Columbia Prep, won the 2012 U.S. Junior Championship in St. Louis,
ranking No. 1 in the preliminaries before defeating Alec Getz (also of New York City) in a two-match
final. His win earned him a spot in next year’s U.S. Championship. The week before, Marc tied for third
at the World Open in Philadelphia, the largest tournament in the U.S. Already an international master,
he currently holds a 2540 FIDE rating, the 30th best in the world among juniors. He will attend Indiana.
with a state-sanctioned high
school sports program and
the focus of the 2006 film,
Gridiron Gang (above)—will
halt athletics in November.
Kilpatrick is being relocated
during a three-year
construction project, and the
program’s future is uncertain.
Ayers, a probation officer
and former UCLA receiver,
insists that sports saves
lives at Kilpatrick: “Gang
members who would have
been shooting if they saw
each other on the street—
they’re picking each other
up in practice and giving
high fives.”
Two former Mustangs
have gone on to play in the
NFL, including second-year
Bengals defensive end
DeQuin Evans. But going
pro—and winning games—
has never been the point. “It’s
about motivating kids and
seeing something through,”
says Ayers, who fears that
the athletic program may
never return if it’s suspended
completely. “[We teach the
kids] at Camp Kilpatrick, we
don’t deal with excuses,” he
says. “We find a way to get
things done.”
—A.F.
SI T WIT TER
Follow SI on Twitter @SInow
Peter King
@SI_PeterKing
Can’t believe how
many people are
asking, “Who takes
a shot on Chad
next?’’ I mean, who
exactly other than Miami had
been lining up?
David Epstein
@SIDavidEpstein
Is USC athletics
counting
“PROFESSIONAL
SINCE HIGH SCHOOL”
Allyson Felix in
their medal count? Hmm . . . college
counting paid athletes. . . .
COMMENTARY
COLLEGE
FOOTBALL
PR EV IEW
Are you ready for some (college) football? A Saturday-afternoon party? SI.com previews
each of the major conferences, with senior writers Andy Staples and Stewart Mandel
providing video commentary of your favorite players and teams. Plus . . .
The Mandel Initiative: Stewart Mandel and
Mallory Rubin host a weekly podcast that offers their
take on the latest buzz, issues and trends in the sport.
Surprise teams? Stew’s got it. Likely flops? Mallory
knows. Breakout players? Stew . . . you get the idea.
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4 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R AT E D | AU G UST 20, 2012
SI DIGITAL BONUS
HEAVYMEDAL
The London Games
brought an end to the
dazzling career of the
most decorated Olympian
of all time. Relive each
moment of the 22 medals
won by Michael Phelps
from start to finish.
PHOTOGRAPH BY
HEINZ KLUETMEIER
Gambling and Sports
The NCAA and America’s four
major sports leagues are suing
the state of New Jersey to block
legalized sports wagering in
that state. They’re all asserting
that the state’s decision to allow
sports betting violates federal
law. When it comes to gambling,
our sports leagues act like you
can stop the rain by closing
your eyes and thinking really
hard about sunshine. . . .
Read more of Rosenberg’s take
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simply butt out at SI.com
F O O T B A L L P L AY E R S F R O M L E F T: R E Y D E L R I O ; J O H N G R E E N ; P E T E R R E A D M I L L E R ; G R E G N E L S O N ; D O U G L A S J O N E S / U S P R E S S W I R E ; A P/ D AV E
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Campus Union: Holly Anderson blogs her
countdown to the kickoff of the new season
and lets you in on the favor last year’s Arizona
coaching staff did newcomer Rich Rodriguez by
redshirting quarterback Matt Scott.
MICHAEL
ROSENBERG
ON . . .
SI T WIT TER
Follow SI on Twitter @SInow
Peter King
@SI_PeterKing
Forgot to mention
Andrew Luck on
why he’s not on
Twitter, which
as he told me
yesterday, is basically because
he has nothing to say.
Andy Staples
Chase for
the Cy Young
@Andy_Staples
How does LSU not
have this class?
RT @AUtitude:
At Auburn I got to
pet a Tiger from
the Atlanta Zoo. He was sedated
for surgery.
SI VIDEO
Winning last year’s AL Cy Young was like taking candy from a baby for
Justin Verlander. This year, the babies grew up a bit. Can the Tigers’ ace heat up
and bring home the hardware? Will the Giants’ Matt Cain find a perfect ending to
his season in the NL? Go to SI.com for Cliff Corcoran’s weekly MLB Awards Watch
to find out who’s in the running for the biggest prize in pitching. Plus . . .
Power Rankings: The Dodgers played themselves
into sole possession of first place in the NL West last
week, while the Diamondbacks won four straight
games to close to within 41⁄2 games of the Giants, and
are now the highest-ranked NL West club on our list.
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2 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R AT E D | AU G UST 2 7, 2012
SI DIGITAL BONUS
CONFERENCE
ALIGNMENT
This week SI Video goes on the
gridiron with senior writers
Stewart Mandel and Andy Staples
for a close look at the movers and
shakers in college football’s major
conferences, including Badgers
running back Montee Ball. Can
Ball lead Wisconsin to a third
straight Big Ten title?
BA SEBA L L IL LUS T R AT I O N BY A L E XIS S A N C H E Z ; J O H N B IE V ER (V ERL A N D ER, BA L L); B R A D M A N G IN (C A IN); M EL L E V IN E (KIN G)
Jay Jaffe’s Hit and Run Blog: In what’s been
announced as Chipper Jones’s final season, the 40-yearold third baseman has been hitting .339/.414/.614 since
the beginning of July, tops among the Braves’ regulars.
Doesn’t sound like the retiring sort to me. . . .
Washington, D.C.’s Friendship
Collegiate Academy, once a
symbol of violence and despair
among the city’s high schools, is
now a place of hope and promise
for youth in the nation’s capital.
Last year, 19 of the school’s
football players received
Division I scholarships. Go to
SI.com/underdogs for more
on Friendship and other schools
that have bounced back from
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2 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R AT E D | SEP T EM B ER 3 , 2012
In May 2011 a tornado ripped through
Joplin, Mo., killing 161 people. The
Joplin High football team has spent
the past year trying to rebuild its
program and lift the spirits of an
entire city. Go to SI.com/underdogs
for more on Joplin and other high
schools that have battled adversity
in the SI Video series Underdogs.
SI COMMENTARY
PETER
KING
ON . . .
The Jets
I think they look worse than
they did last winter, when they
lost their last three games by
an average of 14 points. Mark
Sanchez is having accuracy
issues again, and his receivers
aren’t helping. (I mean you,
Stephen Hill.) Now tight end
Dustin Keller has an ouchy right
hamstring. And I do not see how
they keep right tackle Wayne
Hunter. His nonblock allowed Tim
Tebow to get sacked in the fourth
quarter against Carolina. Hunter’s
not an NFL-caliber player. . . . Read
more of King’s Things I Think I
Think at SI.com
P H O T O IL LUS T R AT I O N BY A L E XIS S A N C H E Z ; N A M Y. H U H (M A N NIN G); DAV ID B ER G M A N (WA H L); MI C H A EL Z AGA RIS (D O H RM A N N); M EL L E V IN E (KIN G); C H A RL IE RIED EL /A P (J O PL IN)
Do you think Peyton Manning is ready to lead the Broncos deep into the playoffs after
sitting out last season? While all eyes in the Mile High City will be on Manning, senior
writer Don Banks believes DE Mario Williams will have just as much impact in Buffalo,
where he’ll help the Bills end their 12-year playoff drought. Go to SI.com for more of
Banks’s “20 Bold Predictions” and for our blowout NFL Preview coverage, including . . .
@georgedohrmann
It is a rebuilding
year [for Notre
Dame], and
anything less than
five losses would
be a HUGE achievement. So let the
young guys play, learn, get better.
inside soccer
Edifice
Complex
MLS has been
obsessed with
stadiums since
the league’s launch
in 1996. Thankfully,
most teams have
left cavernous NFL
venues and are in
facilities that work
better for soccer.
Here’s a look at each
team’s situation
Opened: 2006
touch logo
for more
TOYOTA PARK
chicago fire
Capacity: 20,000
2012 average attendance: 14,087
The $98 million facility is poorly situated in suburban Bridgeview, about 15 miles southwest of downtown Chicago.
Train riders must transfer at Midway Airport for a shuttle bus.
Dav id Ba n k s /G e t t y Im ag e s
3 of 3
inside soccer
Edifice
Complex
touch logo
for more
MLS has been
obsessed with
stadiums since
the league’s launch
in 1996. Thankfully,
most teams have
left cavernous NFL
venues and are in
facilities that work
better for soccer.
Here’s a look at each
team’s situation
3 of 3
The
Other
Half
Of the
Story
By
Melissa
Segura
Photog raph by ROBERT BECK
TOO OFTEN FORGOTTEN
IN THE NFL CONCUSSION
DEBATE ARE THE WIVES AND
GIRLFRIENDS WHO BEAR
THE BURDEN OF CARING FOR
SUFFERING PLAYERS—AND
WATCHING THE MEN THEY
LOVE SLOWLY SLIP AWAY
LAURIE NAVON AND
JIM MCMAHON
Laurie takes copious
pictures and keeps
a journal to remind
Jim of moments and
commitments he
increasingly forgets.
Photog ra ph b y
ROB E R T B E CK
≤ PR EV IOUS STORY
N EXT STORY ≥
TH E
WOM EN BEH I N D
TH E M EN
THE NOTEBOOK is pink and purple, his
favorite colors. His girlfriend picked it up at a
Phoenix-area HomeGoods store eight months
ago. She shuttles it between their home office
and a desk in their kitchen, jotting down
things she knows her 53-year-old boyfriend,
two-time Super Bowl–winning quarterback
Jim McMahon, won’t remember.
PAGE 3 of 14
PODCAST
HOSTED BY
RICHARD DEITSCH
THIS WEEK’S GUEST
MELISSA SEGURA
STAFF WRITER
TH E
WOM EN BEH I N D
T H E M EN
N EXT STORY ≥
May 28, 2012 Told JM about golf out in Mississippi for [country
musician Steve] Azar. From Azar’s heading to M
ario’s [Lemieux] event.
A few pages later:
On 6/5 told Mac we need to start to get organized for Azar’s event
and for Mario’s. Looked at me like I have five heads. And he said,
“I didn’t think we were going to Azar’s.” After a few minutes, he
looked at me and said, “Baby, you’re right. Sorry. I forgot.”
Laurie Navon started the log to help McMahon, who played for
the Bears and six other NFL teams between 1982 and ’96, recall
everything from which charity golf events he was scheduled
to attend to why the plumbers were at the door. (Plumber was
here. Said we need to change our two toilets.) Many of the other
wives and girlfriends who care for retired professional football
players—who, according to a 2009 University of Michigan study,
may be five times more likely than other men their age to suffer
from dementia—can relate to Navon’s log. Its details might be
unfamiliar, but overall it tells a familiar story. Theirs.
Navon, 46, is part of an unofficial sorority whose members meet
at the occasional team reunion dinner or charity golf tournament.
They recognize each other by the burdens they share and by
the familiar characteristics of their mates: the slow shuffle, the
empty stare, the non-sequitur replies to simple questions. Like
Junior League members swapping recipes, the women trade tips
for managing their partners’ memory loss and mood swings.
Over the course of the last year, more than 140 lawsuits have
been filed by players and their families against the NFL alleging
that the league had concealed information about the dangers
of repeated blows to the head. (The suits are in the process of
being consolidated into one, which will be heard in U.S. District
Court in Philadelphia. In response, the NFL, which has moved to
dismiss the suits, said in a statement, “The NFL has long made
player safety a priority and continues to do so. Any allegation that
the NFL intentionally sought to mislead players has no merit.
It stands in contrast to the league’s actions to better protect
players and advance the science and medical understanding
of the management and treatment of concussions.”)
The damages the plaintiffs allege include “loss of consortium,”
PAGE 4 of 14
SPUNKY QB
McMahon never shied away from a hit, but the
uninhibited style with which he played for 15 years
in the NFL came with a cost: He suffered at least
four concussions and was laid out countless times.
Photograph by ANDY HAYT
MARY LEE
KOCOUREK
Caring for her husband has
led to a lonely existence.
“When you’re not a couple,
you’re not included in many
things,” she says.
TH E
WOM EN BEH I N D
T H E M EN
N EXT STORY ≥
a nebulous legal phrase that really means a life tethered to a
cellphone for fear of missing a call from a confused partner who
is standing outside a house he no longer recognizes; a sense
that the couples’ golden years have been taken away; and, for
some of the women, a daily dose of antidepressants to help them
withstand their partners’ senseless rage.
These women are not only their partners’ caretakers but also
their voices and advocates. They led the fight for the NFL 88
Plan, a fund to help families pay for the care of former players
with dementia. They have testified before Congress about the
dangers of concussions. And they have served as the primary
contacts for lawyers representing the former players in their
battle with the league.
Three such women are Navon, Mary Lee Kocourek and Mary Ann
Easterling. They fell in love with men who played in the NFL
in different decades, and they now find themselves bearing the
burden of their partners’ dementia in different ways. Each of
them gave SI a glimpse into her life, revealing harsh realities
that too often are part of life after football.
The Beginning
B IL L F R A K E S
T
wo years ago Laurie Navon would walk into
the bedroom of the Scottsdale house she shares
with McMahon and find him lying on the bed
watching the ceiling fan go round and round. He slept so
much—“hibernating,” she joked—that she began to call
him This Old Bear, not knowing that he was showing
the first signs of dementia. When he did get out of bed
to go to the mailbox or the hardware store, McMahon
would kiss Navon goodbye, but 20 minutes later she’d
find him in the kitchen, keys still in hand, struggling
to remember where he wanted to go. Then there were
the times he’d get up, stumble on something and accuse Navon of having rearranged their furniture in the
middle of the night. Or the morning on the road when
she woke up in the hotel bed to hear McMahon calling
PAGE 6 of 14
DAVE KOCOUREK
Dave (83) didn’t display symptoms until
30 years after his career ended. When
her own health began to fail, Mary Lee
had to put him in a nursing home.
Photograph by HY PESKIN
TH E
WOM EN BEH I N D
T H E M EN
N EXT STORY ≥
out for their Doberman, “Teddy. Teddy.” When she rolled over
to ask why, he told her, “Teddy will guide me to the bathroom.”
“But we’re not home,” she said.
He looked around blankly. “That’s right,” he said.
McMahon today differs dramatically from the man Navon
met at a golf tournament in Florida seven years ago. “I fell in
love with him the minute I met him,” she says. “There was
something charismatic about him. He sparkled. He glowed.
He was sweet and confident and funny and warm and compassionate. Total opposite of everything I’d ever heard about
him.” That glow began to dim after an event for McMahon’s
foundation before the Super Bowl in 2009. “That was the
last time I saw Jim light, not heavy,” Navon says. “Sometimes it looks like the weight of the world is on his shoulders.”
Navon dismissed McMahon’s early symptoms as normal aging until 2007, when, on the eve of the Super Bowl, she caught
a TV special featuring a discussion of brain trauma by Ann
McKee and Chris Nowinski of the Sports Legacy Institute in
Boston. Shortly after that program Navon called Nowinski to
say, “I think Mac’s got some serious issues going on.”
Brain scans and other tests recommended by Nowinski confirmed that McMahon was suffering from early-onset dementia, a
condition the couple connects to the four documented concussions
that McMahon suffered during his 15-year career, including a
1986 s eason-endingbody slam by Green Bay’s Charles Martin.
That year a Chicago Sun-Times story had predicted facetiously
that McMahon would one day wear the phrase brain-damaged
on his famous headbands. His diagnosis turned that joke into
a grim reality.
These days Navon and M
cMahon play backgammon to keep
his mind active. She printed a card with his vital statistics and
her phone number and stuck it in his wallet lest he ever get lost.
She also programmed their car’s GPS with their address and
her phone number. Navon makes sure the home alarm is on at
all times in case he tries to wander off alone, and she tries to
travel with him as much as possible—especiallysince he called
her four years ago after accidentally boarding a flight to Tampa
PAGE 8 of 14
TH E
WOM EN BEH I N D
T H E M EN
N EXT STORY ≥
instead of Chicago. She has their picture taken frequently, in
case he wakes up one day and no longer remembers her.
“He could stay like this for the next 20 years, which I would
take,” Navon says. “I can handle it.” But in recent months Navon
has noticed a new symptom in McMahon. He drops to his knees,
breaks into a cold sweat and turns a ghostly white, complaining
of a pain that he compares to having an ice pick in his brain. It
lasts a minute. All Navon can do is watch.
The Middle
T
he first sign of trouble for Mary Lee Kocourek was that
her husband, Dave, was forgetting things and sleeping
more than usual. Dave, a four-time Pro Bowl tight end
in the 1960s with the Chargers, Dolphins and Raiders, was
her high school sweetheart. For years
he’d arranged his shoes by color and
function, but around 1999 he began
to seem disorganized. He frequently
misplaced his wallet or his AFL championship ring. She took him to a doctor
in 2002, and Dave, then 64, was given
a diagnosis of early dementia.
In 2005, Dave took the couple’s
dachshund, Tootsie Roll, for a walk
near their house on Marco Island, Fla.,
only to end up at a police station looking
for his other dog—although the couple
did not have one. In a three-day period
in 2010, police twice had to be called
in to help search for Dave. (Once, Mary
Lee says, they prepared to dispatch
search-and-rescue boats into the Gulf
of Mexico.) The first time, he turned
up, with Tootsie Roll, in the lobby of a
Marriott two miles from their house;
the next time, in a church parking lot.
“When you see a
man that was so big
and so strong, and
he doesn’t know the
difference between
a toothbrush and a
razor . . . ,” Mary Lee
says, crying. “He
could have cut his
mouth wide-open.”
PAGE 9 of 14
B IL L F R A K E S
MARY ANN
EASTERLNG
After Ray began showing signs
of anger, Mary Ann said that
she felt like she had to “walk on
eggshells” around him.
TH E
WOM EN BEH I N D
T H E M EN
N EXT STORY ≥
Mary Lee became even more vigilant after she walked in on
Dave preparing to brush his teeth with a razor. “When you see
a man that was so big and so strong and so nice and gentle, and
he doesn’t know the difference between a toothbrush and a
razor . . . ,” Mary Lee says, crying. “He could have cut his mouth
wide-open. After [he] got progressively worse, I had to watch
everything he did. I couldn’t let him take a shower or do any
of the things you need to do every morning without me being
there. I couldn’t chance it.”
Mary Lee, a real estate broker, began taking Dave to work
with her. The office managers assigned him a desk while Mary
Lee worked on her listings. At home she relished his nap times.
“This is terrible to say, but it was sort of a help that he did sleep,
because then I could do other things around the house,” she says.
By 2008 Mary Lee, exhausted by the round-the-clock care,
persuaded her husband to attend thrice-weekly adult-day-care
sessions by telling him that the program administrator, a family
friend, needed his help. The day care helped, but in August 2010
Mary Lee needed back surgery, which would entail a lengthy
recovery during which she wouldn’t be able to care
for Dave. That meant putting him in a nursing home.
The heartbreaking decision to place a loved one in
institutional care is not limited to NFL families, of
course. But the process is often made even more difficult by the simple fact that traits that are considered
a virtue in professional football players—towering
size, hulking frames—are liabilities to nursing homes
and the companies that insure them. The wife of one
former player struggled to find a facility with a bed big
enough to fit her husband, a former offensive lineman.
The NFL does help defray the $76,000 per year it
costs Mary Lee to keep Dave in a nursing home, but
she still feels the financial strain. Her husband never
earned more than $35,000 in a season. She bristles
at message-board postings and call-in radio chatter
suggesting that plaintiffs in the concussion litigation
are motivated by greed rather than need. “They should
PAGE 10 of 14
R AY EASTERLING
Ray (32) played through pain with the Falcons,
but, Mary Ann believes, he couldn’t bear the
prospect of slipping deeper into dementia.
Photograph by SCOTT HARMS/AP
TH E
WOM EN BEH I N D
T H E M EN
N EXT STORY ≥
have told us something about repeated head injuries,” Mary
Lee says between tears. “I’ve lost the love of my life. These are
supposed to be our golden years, but they certainly are not. I’ve
gone into a deep depression, and I’m on medication. I had to
put my husband in a home. . . . I just flipped.”
Much of Mary Lee’s social circle has vanished. “When you’re
not a couple, you’re not included in many things,” she says.
Even if she wanted to take Dave to a restaurant, she couldn’t
because he wears adult diapers. Trying to go to a doctor’s appointment is often complicated by Dave’s refusal to get in the
car. “Sometimes I have to get some people in the street to help
me,” she says.
Their time together is mostly limited to Mary Lee’s nightly
stops at the nursing home for a happy hour of apple juice and
chips with her husband. She does her best to talk to him, but
sometimes he speaks only gibberish, indecipherable even to the
woman who’s been married to him for 54 years. He doesn’t know
the day of the week, the month or the president—though he has
been heard singing his alma mater’s fight song, On, Wisconsin!
“I’m lonely, and I’m sure it’s lonely for him, too,” Mary Lee
says. “I just wouldn’t want anyone else to go through this.”
The End
M
ary Ann Easterling heard her husband, Ray, say it
time and time again: No nursing home. Which is
why on April 18, the day before he took his own life,
Ray, 62, was grilling his primary-care physician about how long
it would be before what remained of his mind would wither.
“Three years,” the doctor said.
On the car ride home Ray, a member of the Falcons’ Gritz
Blitz defense that in 1977 set an NFL record for fewest points
allowed in a season, turned to Mary Ann and said, “I don’t
believe what he said.”
Mary Ann had decided to take him to the doctor following
an episode earlier in the week. Her cellphone had rung while
she was at her job as an administrator and teacher at a homePAGE 12 of 14
TH E
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T H E M EN
N EXT STORY ≥
school collaborative near their house in Richmond. She heard
Ray’s voice on the other end, frantic. He was on his way to the
post office but suddenly didn’t recognize his surroundings.
Trying to keep her voice from registering any emotion, Mary
Ann helped him divine his location: He was outside the building they had lived in for a decade, years ago, directly across
the street from the post office.
“This was another step along the road,” Mary Ann says of
the incident. “We had been stepping down like that for three
years. In my heart I was sad for him because I knew he [would
no longer] feel right about going out by himself.”
Mary Ann first noticed Ray’s decline in the late 1980s, about
a decade after he retired from an eight-season pro career. The
normally vibrant, devoted man she’d met at a Thursday-night
Bible-study class in 1975, the man who prayed with her every
day, had become sullen and depressed, and he began having
outbursts of blistering anger. “Little things would set him off,”
Mary Ann says. “You feel like you’ve got to walk on eggshells.”
By the 1990s Ray, who’d had a successful career in financial
services, began making impulsive and risky decisions, a hallmark, some scientists say, of chronic traumatic encephalopathy,
a deterioration of the brain believed
to be linked to repeated blows to the
head. He took out a line of credit on
their house and invested in a nutrition business. More troubling to Mary
Ann, Ray didn’t do what he usually
did before making a big decision: pray
with her. The business failed, and
they were forced to sell their home
and live in the office across from the
post office—the building that Ray later
wouldn’t be able to recognize.
As the years passed, Mary Ann’s
fears grew. Ray was combative with
co-workers, and by 2008 he could
no longer make business presenta-
“Every day was
like going to war,”
Mary Ann says of
Ray’s last days.
“And not physically.
It was all mental
and emotional.”
PAGE 13 of 14
TH E
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T H E M EN
N EXT STORY ≥
tions without losing his train of thought or button his shirts
without Mary Ann’s help; the fine motor skills in his hands
were all but gone. In the last year of her husband’s life, Mary
Ann listened to him tell wild stories about people following
him as he jogged and complain that she didn’t care about him
when she left the house for work.
Then while surfing the Internet one evening in 2010, Mary
Ann found a report suggesting a link between her husband’s
symptoms and his football career. Three months later a battery of tests confirmed a diagnosis of early-onset dementia.
“Although I was very sad,” Mary Ann says, “it was also a huge
relief to know that it was something organic that was wrong.”
On the morning of April 19, Mary Ann found Ray’s lifeless
body next to a handgun. That his b
ehavior—and his decision
to take his life—stemmed from brain damage he might have
incurred as a football player gives her, oddly, a sense of peace.
“It’s a disease that eats at the brain,” she says, “and the player
can’t help it.”
Not long after Mary Ann buried Ray, a woman from their
church whose husband suffered from Alzheimer’s approached
her to say, “Do not feel guilty about feeling relieved.”
“It was a relief,” Mary Ann admits, “because every day [with
Ray] was a conflict. Every day was like I was going to war—
and not physically; it was all mental and emotional.” She finds
comfort in her faith and in Ray’s final words to her in the note
he left: I am ready to meet my Lord and savior.
The last three decades have made her tougher, Mary Ann
says. Which explains in part why, even after Ray’s death, she
presses on in her legal battle against the NFL, intent that the
league create the kind of medical-monitoring program that
could have benefited her late husband.
Ray’s framed Falcons jersey, his old football helmet and
an old game ball still sit in his home office, exactly as he
left them. On the ball are written the words you paid the
price. Mary Ann looks at it occasionally, knowing that the
inscription applies to many other men—and so, too, to the
women who love them.
±
PAGE 14 of 14
horse racing
Let’s All
Have another
another thing coming
Just as he did at the Derby, the
champ (9) won by charging down
Bodemeister on the home stretch.
Photog ra ph s b y bi l l fr a k es
preakness
A generation of American adults
is nearing middle age without
having seen a Triple Crown winner.
I’ll Have Another will need all the
speed and stamina he showed in the
Preakness to end the 34-year drought
By Ti m L ay d e n
I
t was in the last few days before the race that
he began to think beyond the Preakness, even
before it was won. Doug O’Neill was caught in
that odd, yet predictable, hailstorm of sudden
celebrity and scrutiny that falls upon any trainer
whose horse wins the Kentucky Derby. Public
appearances. Repetitive interviews. Everything
that is good and bad about racing tossed onto his
shoulders like the roses across his colt’s withers
at Churchill Downs. But through it all there was
the horse.
In the mornings at Pimlico Race Course on
the north side of Baltimore, I’ll Have Another would
gallop powerfully around the loamy oval, swallowing
up the course in front of him and effortlessly spitting
it out behind, seemingly unwearied by his Derby win
on May 5 or the two victories that came before it, back
preakness
home in California. O’Neill would stand by the rail with
his backstretch posse, a rollicking collection of friends,
family and advisers known as Team O’Neill, and study
his horse. “He kept telling me he was ready to roll,” says
O’Neill. “I couldn’t believe how good he was doing.”
As the sun rose over Pimlico, O’Neill would settle into
a chair in his temporary office in the tack room at the
west end of Barn D, a long, green clapboard building
with a metal roof, and flip open a spiral notebook with
a picture of his family on the cover: his wife, Linette;
son, Daniel, 10; and daughter, Kaylin Dixie, 7. Inside
were the names of the 80 horses in the O’Neill stable,
with rows of small boxes for recording daily workouts.
Each day O’Neill would pencil in I’ll Have Another’s
box, usually with a simple g, for gallop. (For the Ken
tucky Derby he wrote a capital r, for race, a smaller w
for the morning’s walk and a tiny, innocuous win, in
the lower right corner, as if it were the sixth at Holly
wood.) As the stout gallops a ccumulated last week,
“The last race,” says trainer
bob baffert, who has had three
near misses at the belmont,
“is the toughest one.”
just one more
O’Neill (with Kaylin
Dixie) relished the
win by I’ll Have
Another; now he’ll
deal with the buzz
that’s sure to follow.
Photog ra ph b y
u pi / l a n d ov
preakness
O’Neill began to cast his eyes to the right of the page,
where May turned into June. “I started to think about
the next race,” O’Neill says. “After this one.” He started
to think about the Belmont Stakes.
A generation of American adults is approaching middle
age without having seen a horse win the Triple Crown.
It has been 34 years since Affirmed outdueled Alydar
to take the 1978 Belmont and wrap up racing’s third
Triple Crown in six years, a streak that started with
the great Secretariat in ’73 and included Seattle Slew in
’77. It was so long ago that it no longer seems an active
part of sports culture, but rather an artifact consigned
to a steamer trunk with double knit pullover baseball
jerseys, wooden hockey sticks and butt-hugging basket
ball shorts, a vague oddity slowly fading into the fog
of history, losing eyewitnesses with each passing day.
Eleven times since 1978 a horse has won the first two
legs of the Triple Crown and fallen short in the Bel
mont, which has been a cornucopia of disappointment.
“The last race,” says trainer Bob Baffert, who trained
three of the near-missers, “is the toughest one.”
I
’ll Have Another will be the next to try. He won
the Preakness the same way he won the Derby: by
wearing down the speedy, front-running Bodemeister
(who was the 2–1 favorite; I’ll Have Another was the
second choice, at 3–1), this time just three strides
from the finish. Unlike in Louisville, the Baffert-trained
Bodemeister didn’t set a punishing pace—47.68 seconds
preakness
for the half mile and 1:11.72 for three quarters, versus
45.39 and 1:09.80 at the Derby—but I’ll Have Another
caught him just the same, a remarkable athletic effort.
“I don’t understand how I got beat,’’ said Bodemeister’s
jockey, Mike Smith. “I feel dumbfounded, to be honest
with you.’’
Smith’s counterpart on I’ll Have Another, Mario
Gutierrez, 25, duplicated his near-perfect Derby ride,
timing his move to the finish perfectly and further
validating his sensational rise from the obscurity of
H astings Park in Vancouver to the cusp of the Tri
ple Crown. (He could not be less overwhelmed by all
of this. Asked to describe his soft hands and veteran’s
timing, Gutierrez said, “I’ve been riding horses my
whole life. I just know this stuff.’’)
Direct mortgage tycoon J. Paul Reddam named I’ll
Have Another because of his weakness for cookies—
although his slender wife, Zillah, spiked that narrative
during Preakness week by saying, “We really don’t eat
cookies often; they’re not good for you.” The colt is so
formidable because he has a useful combination of
natural speed (he was never more than four lengths
behind Bodemeister last Saturday) and stubborn car
diovascular endurance. He is a modest-sized, muscular
chestnut, just under 16 hands (a hand is roughly four
inches; for comparison, the great mare Zenyatta is
about six inches taller), and a little under 1,100 pounds,
a running back rather than a linebacker. O’Neill trains
I’ll Have Another almost exclusively with long, seven-
preakness
furlong runs rather than short sprints. “He gallops
intensely in the morning,” says O’Neill’s assistant, Jack
Sisterson, 27. “And in the afternoon [at the races] he
just grinds and grinds and grinds.”
Possession of this developing skill set means two
things. First, I’ll Have Another’s value is skyrocketing.
He was sold as a yearling for the bargain-basement price
of $11,000 and bought by Reddam for a cheap $35,000
in spring 2011. Now, though, he will command a heavy
fee when it is time to put him out to stud.
Second—and treading lightly here on the eggshells
of history—he is a major threat to win the Belmont. “If
he’s not a mile-and-a-half horse,” says O’Neill’s brother,
Dennis, who selected I’ll Have Another for purchase,
“then there are no mile-and-a-half horses. He gets bet
ter the longer he runs.”
Bodemeister, a horse that is potentially distancechallenged and who has also run six tough races in just
124 days, will not be in the field at the Belmont. There
according to o’neill’s
brother, i’ll have another should
thrive at the belmont: “He gets
better the longer he runs.”
preakness
will be no Affirmed-Alydar redux. The most significant
challenge is likely to come from Union Rags, a hulk
ing specimen who was sensational as a 2-year-old but
has run into lousy racing luck in three of his last four
starts, including a horrific sideways break from the
gate in the Kentucky Derby.
An hour after the conclusion of the Preakness, Union
Rags’s trainer, Michael Matz, stood watching a re
play on a monitor that hung from the ceiling in the
grandstand. He wore a sharp tan suit, surrounded by
disheveled railbirds who were beaten down by a long
day at the windows. “He’s a really nice horse,” said
Matz of I’ll Have Another, and then he smiled. “I’m
sure going to try to beat him.” Horse racing historians
will loosely compare Union Rags’s quest with that of
Easy Goer, another long-striding monster who needed
Belmont’s long, arcing turns to gallop nimble DerbyPreakness winner Sunday Silence into submission,
ending a Triple Crown bid in 1989. It is also expected
that Derby third-place finisher Dullahan, a stretchrunner who, like Union Rags, will be well-rested at
the Belmont after skipping the Preakness.
Yet it is not just opposition that will torment I’ll Have
Another, but the task itself: 12 furlongs of hell, under a
microscope. Even though previous failures have taken
many forms, it is foolish to call them coincidental. “You
get to the Belmont at the end of a long campaign, with a
bull’s-eye on your back,” says John Servis, who trained
Smarty Jones. “I know I felt a lot of pressure. The first
gutierrez
further
validated his
sensational
rise from the
obscurity of
Hastings Park
in Vancouver to
the cusp of the
Triple Crown.
born to run
As he did in the Kentucky
Derby, the 25-year-old
Gutierrez rode a nearly
flawless race at Pimlico,
then shrugged off his
precociousness, explaining,
“I just know this stuff.”
preakness
two races, they were fun. Winning the Derby was great.
But I didn’t enjoy that last race nearly as much.”
T
he pressure on O’Neill will be even more in
tense. Racing is under withering scrutiny that
centers on illegal drug use and horse break
downs. B etween the Derby and the Preakness,
SI was among several news organizations to
report that, according to the Association of Racing
Commissioners, O’Neill has been fined or suspended
14 times in 14 years for drug violations (one more, from
2010, remains under appeal). The New York Times also
produced research that showed O’Neill’s horses break
down at twice the national average. (“I’d by lying if I
said it hasn’t been a troubling and upsetting week,”
O’Neill told SI a week before the Preakness. “I wish
the focus could be on the present.”) The press will
inquire further about these things and possibly even
about the financial problems facing the New York Rac
ing Association, which hosts the B elmont—and with
which O’Neill has zero connection, except in larger
presentations on the problems of racing.
Yet O’Neill is wired in such a way that he will handle
the scrutiny better than most. He is extroverted and
conversationally facile. The racing public seems to con
nect with his rumpled, Family Guy vibe. (His wife, who
met O’Neill at St. Monica High in Santa Monica, Calif.,
says, “I knew he liked the horse racing stuff. I never
imagined he could make a living doing it.” In February,
preakness
after I’ll Have Another won the Robert B. Lewis Stakes to
stamp himself a potential Derby horse, Doug came home
excited and the O’Neills had dinner with new neighbors
who pulled out their best Scotch to toast the horse’s
future.) Before the Preakness, as O’Neill walked from
the barn to the saddling paddock along the homestretch
rail, wearing an ill-fitting fedora, fans hoisted cans of
Bud Light and shouted at him: All three, Doug! “Is this
bitchin’ or what?” O’Neill said. “Once in a lifetime.”
When it was over he arrived back at Barn D to find a
raucous celebration in high gear. Outside the tack room
he embraced I’ll Have Another’s groom, Inocencio Diaz,
who is half a foot shorter and 100 pounds lighter than
O’Neill. “Did he drink up?” O’Neill asked, gesturing
toward the horse’s stall. “Mucho Agua?” Diaz laughed
and nodded. On Sunday morning O’Neill would open
his notebook and enter Saturday’s result. A little r, a
big w, a little win. Twenty-one spots to the right sits
June 9, an empty square awaiting history.
±
The opposition will torment I’ll
Have Another at the belmont, but
so will the task itself: 12 furlongs
of hell, under a microscope.
preakness
Triple
trouble:
A long history of
coming up short
Seven horses in the last
15 years have gone to the
Belmont with a chance to
win the Triple Crown.
None has succeeded
1997
1998
real quiet
Jockey Kent Desormeaux
moved too early and lost at
the wire, trainer Bob Baffert’s
second straight heartbreak.
1999
silver charm
Charismatic
Jockey Gary Stevens had the
lead 50 yards from the wire
but lost by three quarters of a
length to Touch Gold.
The 2–1 favorite was in third
place when he suffered a broken
leg on the homestretch, ending
his racing career.
preakness
2002
war emblem
simon b ru t y (f u nn y c ide); hein z k lu etmeier (big b r ow n)
He was doomed by a stumble
out of the gate, clearing
the way for 70–1 long shot
Sarava to win.
2004
2003
funny cide
Ow ned by an ordinary-Joe
consortium, the people’s choice
finished 5 1⁄4 lengths behind
Empire Maker.
2008
smarty jones
BIg Brown
The 1–5 favorite fell to 36–1
Birdstone, whose trainer
apologized for ruining such a
feel-good story.
Seemingly dominant, he was
mysteriously eased in the
stretch, allowing 38–1 long shot
Da’ Tara to win.
golf
power
and
grace
long-range
Taking advantage of
his tremendous length,
Watson played the par‑5s
in eight under, hitting
short irons into the 13th
and 15th holes on Sunday.
Photog ra ph b y
rob e r t b e ck
the masters
Ridiculously long, sublimely
creative, yet absolutely just a
regular guy, Masters champion
Bubba Watson has a story that will
bring you (and him) to tears
By al an sh i pn u ck
B
ubba Watson is the right Masters winner for these turbulent times. Augusta
National may be a bastion of the 1%,
but Watson is a down-home guy with
a homemade golf swing whose dream
car is the General Lee, the hot rod from
The Dukes of Hazzard, which he recently
bought at auction and has been tooling
around in ever since. In the moments
after Watson’s unlikely victory at the
76th Masters, he thanked, in order,
the Georgia Bulldogs (his alma mater),
Jesus Christ (“my Lord and savior”) and the host club’s
African-American locker room attendants, members of the
99% that make up Watson’s core constituency. A native of the
Florida panhandle town of Bagdad, ol’ Bubba got himself in
a pickle last summer when he played a tournament in Paris
and couldn’t quite summon the names of the famous monuments he had visited, alluding to “an arch” and a museum
the masters
that “starts with an L.” He’s not exactly a student of golf
history, either. Once asked about Tiger Woods’s pursuit of
Jack Nicklaus’s various records, Watson said, “I’m not sure
how many Masters Tiger has won. Actually, I’m not sure
how many Jack has, either.” He did add, helpfully, “I know
it’s a whole mess of ’em.”
Bubba’s fans (450,000 and counting on Twitter at @bubbawatson) eat up this stuff. When he’s not raising money
for charity or acting like golf’s Jackass—have you seen the
video in which he hits a ball over his house into the hot
tub?—he can be found showing off his prodigious chest
hair by wearing nothing under his overalls in a goofy boy
band spoof on YouTube called Golf Boys. (We watched it so
you don’t have to.) It’s delicious that Watson kicked down
the door at the Masters because no one takes themselves
more seriously than the lords of Augusta. They imbue their
club and tournament with an absurd solemnity, but Bubba
knows that golf is supposed to be fun, and he plays with
a childl ike wonder. At 313.1 yards, he is the PGA Tour’s
longest hitter by almost six yards. He swings a driver with
a macho pink head and shaft for cancer awareness, and
for all four rounds at the Masters his attire was all-white,
in support of children with disabilities.
Self-diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, Watson
never hits the same shot twice. The PGA Tour abounds
with tall tales of his massive cut shots around lakes and
screaming draws over distant bunkers. “I don’t like to go
to the center of the greens,” Watson says. “I want to hit
the incredible shot. Who doesn’t?”
the masters
Fittingly, he won this Masters out of the trees. On the
second playoff hole against a game Louis Oosthuizen, the
lefthanded Watson hooked his drive into a forest of pines off
the fairway of Augusta National’s 10th. Two holes running
he had missed 18- and 12-foot putts that would have won
the Masters, but Bubba never stopped strutting around as
if he were Boss Hogg. Watson’s motto has always been, “If
I got a swing, I got a shot.” He located a gap in the trees
and off the pine straw and with a gap wedge he whipsawed
what he called a “40-yard hook” to within 15 feet of the
hole, a small miracle that thoroughly spooked Oosthuizen.
Curving a shot such a distance is remarkable by any standard, especially with today’s engineered golf balls; Bubba
pulled off the 155-yard shot with a short iron off a dicey lie.
Never mind the pressure. Oosthuizen, the runaway winner
of the 2010 British Open at St. Andrews, failed to get up
and down from in front of the green, and just like that,
it’s delicious that watson
kicked down the door at the
masters, because no one takes
themselves more seriously than
the lords of augusta.
lost cause
Oosthuizen (right) opened the door
for Watson when his par putt at the
second playoff hole just missed.
Photog ra ph b y a l t i e l e m a ns
the masters
one-on-one with
bubba watson
lasting impressions
of the tournament
golf had its first genuine folk hero since John Daly emerged
from the backwoods of Arkansas to win the PGA in 1991.
Watson’s wife, Angie, is already predicting that Bubba
will serve In-N-Out burgers at next year’s champions’
dinner.
Oosthuizen, who dueled with Watson for 20 holes, was
still trying to digest what had befallen him: “That’s really
entertaining to play with him, to see the shots that he’s taking on and shots that I don’t really see or I would ever hit.”
Watson, 33, may be a trick-shot artist, but he’s not a fluke.
He has gotten better every year on Tour—he has won four
times in his last 39 starts, including twice in 2011, and,
remarkably, has become one of the game’s most consistent
performers, finishing no worse than 18th in eight starts
b ri a n sn y d er / reu t ers
the masters
right and wrong
this year. He also has proved to
Mickelson, back by only a
be a regular threat in the mastroke to start the final round,
jors, including a playoff loss at
was undone by a bizarre
triple bogey at the par-3 4th.
the 2010 PGA Championship.
Now he’s the top American in
the World Ranking, at No. 4. The Masters seems uniquely
suited for Bubba Ball. As Jim Furyk said on Sunday, “The
most important thing at Augusta is creativity, and Bubba
can do that as well as anyone. Phil Mickelson has a great
short game, dominant length and great creativity, and it’s
worked out well for him here.”
Like Forrest Gump, Watson can be accidentally profound.
He was asked in the champion’s press conference how good
he can be. “That’s the best part about history—we don’t
the masters
know what’s going to happen,” he said. “We don’t know
the future. We don’t know anything.” Actually, we do know
this: Golf just got a whole lot livelier.
B
ubba’s heroics capped a Masters that was defined
by the improbable. Woods roared into town two
weeks removed from his first PGA Tour victory since
before he ran over a fire hydrant in November 2009.
He arrived w ith a remade swing that had propelled
him to the top of the Tour’s total driving stat, which takes
into account length and accuracy. But his preparation for
the Masters had been complicated by the publication of
a tell-all by his former swing coach Hank Haney, who
wrote candidly of Tiger’s fear of hitting the driver. Sure
enough, Woods began his Masters with a snap-hook that
settled on the edge of the 9th fairway. It was the big miss,
and then he did it again on the next tee, two frightful
swings that haunted him for the rest of the tournament.
During a second-round 75, he plainly had no idea where
the ball was going, and Woods sullied the Cathedral in
the Pines by kicking a discarded nine-iron and swearing
oaths audible to a national TV audience. (“Goddam!” was
a particularly inspired choice on Good Friday.) Woods
would finish 40th, his worst Masters showing as a pro,
but he wasn’t the week’s only dud. Rory McIlroy had spent
the preceding 12 months insisting he was not scarred by
throwing away a four-stroke lead during last year’s final
round. That was easy to believe after he opened 71–69 to
get within a stroke of the lead held by Fred Couples and
the masters
Jason Dufner. But on Saturday, golf’s boy wonder again
seemed overwhelmed, shooting a front-nine 42 to blow
himself out of the tournament. McIlroy is only 22, and it’s
comforting to think he’ll have other opportunities, but
you can lose the Masters only so many times before the
hurt metastasizes. Ask Tom Weiskopf. Or Johnny Miller.
Or Greg Norman. Or Ernie Els. All were once phenoms
being fitted for green jackets, but they never got it done.
McIlroy’s demise created a vacuum of star power on the
third-round leader board until Mickelson blitzed the back
nine in 30, which his caddie, Jim (Bones) Mackay, called the
second best nine holes Mickelson has played, behind the
iconic Sunday back-nine 31 at the 2004 Masters, when he
won his first green jacket. Mickelson’s 66 left him a stroke
behind surprise leader Peter Hanson of Sweden, but that
was considered a mere inconvenience; Sunday was to be a
coronation as Mickelson would tie his idol, Arnold Palmer,
with four Masters wins and supplant Woods as the king of
Augusta. (Tiger has four green jackets too, but none since
“My dad taught me
everything I know,” watson
says. “It’s not very much, but
that’s all I know.”
j o h n b ie v er
the masters
molly cuddling
2005.) The only words of caution
Watson got emotional
came from Steve Loy, Mickelson’s
while sharing a hug
agent and onetime college coach. “I
with his mother.
get nervous when they start handing
out trophies when there’s still 18 holes to go,” Loy said.
In fact, it took Phil only one swing to dig a hole from
which he would not recover. With a front-left pin placement on the tough par-3 4th, Mickelson’s preferred miss
was long and a bit left, but he overdid it—his ball clanged
off a railing in the bleachers into a bamboo thicket on
the edge of the property. It was the most unlucky carom
since Jean van de Velde doinked a grandstand during
j o h n b ie v er
the masters
his famous meltdown at
t he 1999 British Open,
and it left Mickelson no
place to take a drop for
an unplayable lie. Phil the
Thrill does everything but
golf righthanded and has
a long history of switch-
hitting when unable to
take his normal stance.
“He won the Sun Devil
C l a s sic f or u s h it t i n g
righthanded from under
an oleander bush to an
island green,” Loy says.
This time it took Lef t y
two jabs from the wrong
side of the ball to escape
the thicket, leading to a
fitting end
The first-time champion
homely triple bogey. He
was happy to slip into the
wou ld never aga in get
most famous blazer in golf—
whatever the size.
closer to t he lead t han
two strokes.
Mickelson’s misadventure was only the second-mostdramatic moment in the early going of the final round,
as on the par-5 2nd hole Oosthuizen stirred the ghost of
Gene Sarazen by holing his second shot for an albatross
that vaulted him to 10 under and a two-stroke lead. With
apologies to McIlroy, Oosthuizen may have the sweetest
the masters
swing in the game. “Unfortunately, he doesn’t have Rory’s
desire,” says Oosthuizen’s swing coach, Pete Cowen. “If
Louis wanted it a little more, he could easily be the best
player in the game.”
W
atson has the opposite problem—he cares
too much, and the big question for this highstrung, jumpy competitor was whether he
could calm his nerves on Masters Sunday. A
three-putt on the 1st hole wasn’t promising,
especially since Watson had declared following his second
round, “I am not a very good putter.” Five strokes off the
lead after his playing partner’s double eagle, Watson rallied
to birdie the 2nd and 5th holes. His charge to victory began
at number 13, where he hit a nine-iron (!) into the par-5 and
made birdie. He made another at 14 thanks to a gorgeous
approach, cutting his deficit to a stroke, and Watson matched
Oosthuizen’s birdie at 15 when
he reached the par-5 with seveniron, what counts as a long iron
for him. He finally pulled even
with a pressure-proof eight-footer
on 16, his fourth straight birdie in
a finishing kick that evoked Charl
Schwartzel’s flourish of last year.
W hen Watson finally dispatched Oosthuizen in the playoff, he started to break down even
before he pulled his ball out of the
more action
from the 2012
masters
the masters
si photographers at the masters
fred vuich: the augusta
national clubhouse
al tielemans:
shooting phil mickelson
hole. Then he dissolved into tears in the arms of his mom,
Molly. Turns out that for all his swagger, Watson has a
soft heart. On Easter Sunday he got misty at any mention
of his newly adopted son, Caleb, or his late father, Gerry,
a Green Beret who was forever admonishing his son to
swing harder at the Wiffle balls he batted around in the
family’s backyard. “My dad taught me everything I know,”
Watson says. “It’s not very much, but that’s all I know.”
A willingness to laugh at his own goofiness is what
makes Watson so endearing. When he came out on Tour
he was so hard on himself, he scared people away with his
brooding. As he has learned to minimize the negativity—he
credits his wife’s steadying influence and being born again
the masters
in 2004 with altering his perspective—Watson has made
deep friendships, which explains why Aaron Baddeley, Ben
Crane and R ickie Fowler followed the playoff on foot. (Like
Watson, all are regulars at the Tour’s Bible-study sessions.)
Noticeably absent was Angie, who is usually a towering
presence in Bubba’s gallery. A onetime WNBA player, she
stands an inch taller than her 6' 3" hubby. Angie had stayed
in Florida to tend to Caleb, who is only six weeks old. Still,
there was a definite family vibe when the Watson entourage
gathered in Butler Cabin on Sunday night. Baddeley’s two
daughters were scampering around the cabin, which is
decorated in a style best described as Southern masculine.
“They call him Uncle Bubba,” Baddeley said. “He’ll be a
great dad because he’s just a big kid himself.”
There was a bartender in the corner, but everybody was
drinking soda—like Bubba, his friends and family are
teetotalers. The general feeling in the room was dazed
disbelief. Watson’s caddie, Ted Scott, said to no one in
particular, “I can’t believe he gets to come back here for
the next 40 years.”
A club employee walked through the cabin with a green
jacket on a hanger. Fowler looked at it longingly. “Please?” he
asked. It wasn’t for him. The jacket was a 43 long to replace
the bigger one Watson had originally slipped on. “I’m more
than happy with either one,” Watson said. He was then led to
the traditional champion’s dinner with the Augusta National
membership, a collection of the richest and most powerful men
in the country. These are not exactly Bubba’s people, but his
seat at the table came the old-fashioned way: He earned it. ±
Baseball
a lyric to
the little
bandbox
100 years of wall-itude
Fenway’s centennial season began
when the Red Sox hosted the
Rays on—fittingly, for a ballpark
that has so often seemed starcrossed—Friday the 13th.
Photog ra ph b y
da m i a n s t roh m e y e r
f en way t u rn s 100
From the moment it opened in
April 1912, Fenway Park has been
a muse for poets and a monster for
pitchers and modernists. What, you
never thought it would see its 100th
birthday? It might have 100 more
By ste ve r ush i n
W
hen a retired theater manager
named Abraham Stoker expired
in England at age 64, after a series
of strokes, the international news
reports that he was dead and gone
weren’t entirely accurate. Stoker
was dead, certainly, but not gone.
Or rather gone, but not Dead.
For Bram Stoker had already
staked (if you will) his claim to
immortality, creating a deathless count from the Carpathian
Mountains in an 1897 novel called The Un-Dead, a title that
was changed on the eve of publication to Dracula. And though
Bram Stoker, through Count Dracula, never really died, he
was emphatically declared dead at number 26 St. George’s
Square, London, on April 20, 1912, the curtain ringing down
on one celebrated existence just as it was rising on another.
For that debut, we have to cross the Atlantic—not an easy
eri c k w. r a s co
task on April 20, 1912, as passengers steaming for New York
City aboard the SS Bremen would attest. In the frigid waters
that day they reported “many piteous sights,” including three
lifeless figures clinging to a single steamer chair; empty life
rings afloat in the water; and the stiffened body of a woman
in a nightdress, baby still clasped to her breast.
All had been passengers on the RMS Titanic, which struck
an iceberg six days earlier en route to New York. If not for that
tragedy, the Titanic would have launched its return voyage to
England that very day—at noon on April 20, 1912—an exceedingly inauspicious date to be setting out on a long journey.
The only baseball player
to embark on a major league
career that day—the unforFrom
tunate Benny Kauff, who
Fenway:
A fascinating first century,
debuted for the New York
published by Sports Illustrated
Highlanders—would be
Books. Copyright 2012 Time Home
banned from the game
Entertainment Inc. Available
wherever books are sold and at
for life in 1921 by commisSI.com/fenwaybook
sioner Kenesaw Mountain
Landis, for alleged ties to
an auto-theft ring. Kauff
would never be reinstated
to the game, despite his
unambiguous acquittal in
a court of law.
Two ballparks were born
on April 20, 1912, with very
different life expectancies.
J . WA LT ER G REEN /A P
Tiger Stadium opened in Detroit,
money players
The Monster wasn’t
initially named Navin Field, and
painted its trademark
would survive into a beautiful bluecolor until 1947, six years
after Dom DiMaggio
rinsed old age, finally passing after
slid into third against
87 years in a kind of crumbling
the Tigers—but it was
figuratively green long
grandeur.
before that, thanks to
The other park born that day,
the ads that covered it for
Fenway’s first 35 years.
would not, it appeared, be so lucky.
Malevolent forces were trying to do
away with the fledgling Fenway Park in Boston as early as
October 1918, only six years after it opened.
America was gripped by a new austerity following its entry
into World War I when the owner of the Red Sox, Harry
Frazee, joined manager Ed Barrow in inspecting Braves
Field only weeks after the Sox had won the 1918 World Series.
Frazee was considering sharing that park with the National
League’s Boston Braves. Maintaining two ballparks in Boston
for limited summertime use seemed “out of harmony with
the systems of efficiency in vogue at present,” as The Boston
Daily Globe put it that Halloween, an apposite date for this
horror-born ballpark near Kenmore Square.
In the end Frazee did nothing quite so karma-fraught
as abandoning Fenway, and made do instead with selling
Babe Ruth to the Yankees.
When the Great War could not kill Fenway, Mother Nature took a stab. Three separate fires in 1926 consumed the
wooden bleachers that ran along Fenway’s leftfield line. The
park would be rebuilt—and refurbished, and reconfigured,
for the rest of the 20th century—but by the end of the millennium, when Tiger Stadium closed in 1999, Fenway Park
was finally declared unfixable.
“It would be easier to straighten the Leaning Tower of
Pisa,” Red Sox owner John Harrington said that season,
when the park hosted its valedictory All-Star Game, which
in turn hosted Fenway’s greatest star, Ted Williams, who
for decades, fenway would be
stalked by baying mobs bearing
metaphorical pitchforks,
wanting to do away with the beast.
later would himself prove remarkably resistant to conventional modes of death.
Thirteen years later, the Leaning Tower still leans in Pisa,
and Fenway Park in Boston remains upright, flourishing at
100, impossible to kill by fire, by old age or even by its own
hand. As ballparks go, it is The Un-Dead, though devotion
to it has seldom been undying.
B
y the time Tom Yawkey purchased the Red Sox, for
$1.5 million in 1933, the ballpark was already familiar with near-death experiences, and was sinking
into a deep decrepitude at age 21. Yawkey set about
rebuilding Fenway entirely that winter, but in the
course of doing so, on Jan. 5, 1934, another fire spread from
a building across the street and burned the ballpark for five
hours. The new grandstand in leftfield was ravaged, as were
the centerfield bleachers, requiring $575,000 in repairs and
the construction of steel-and-concrete replacements. The
park’s walls were likewise fireproofed in tin and concrete,
including the new leftfield wall, built to a height of 37 feet.
Tom Yawkey had, albeit unwittingly, done what Bram Stoker
did 37 years earlier: He had created a timeless monster.
Only nobody called it that yet. The wall wouldn’t be
painted until 1947, giving birth to its nickname, the Green
Monster, a mythological creature from some Gothic novel.
Every decade for the next half century, Fenway Park would
be stalked by baying mobs—of real estate developers, government officials and even its own proprietors—bearing
metaphorical torches and pitchforks, wanting to do away
with the beast. That same year, 1947, seven light towers
were installed, the first step in Fenway’s becoming, like
Stoker’s count, a largely nocturnal creature, often unloved
and forever under siege.
And so what nature could not achieve with fire, man
set out to do. The willful demolition of Fenway Park was
being proposed since at least its early middle age. In
1958, when the Giants and the Dodgers left New York in
part for want of parking near their urban ballparks, the
president of the Metropolitan Coal Company in Boston
proposed to build a domed “dream stadium, [an] ultramodern sports palace” on Route 1 in Norwood, Mass.
The financial backers of this privately funded Xanadu
would move ahead only if the Red Sox agreed to serve
as tenants in this stately pleasure dome.
Had the dream come to pass, Ted Williams would have
ended his career not in “a lyric little bandbox of a ballpark,”
as John Updike famously described Fenway in 1960, but
beneath a synthetic sky, spectators ensconced in $5,000-ayear “delux boxes,” in a suburban redoubt replete with a
100-tee driving range and “bowling alleys with glassed-in
nurseries” for “pin-minded mothers.”
Think of Williams, in his final at bat, hitting a home run
and refusing to do what the stadium could—which is to say,
doff its cap. For this was to have been a retractable-roofed
Red Sox park, to replace the obsolescent Fenway, which was
48 years old and with scant parking, and thus doomed in
the automotive utopia of Eisenhower’s America, with its
carhops and drive-ins and nascent interstate highways.
dream team
After a lengthy franchise
malaise, the Impossible
Dream Red Sox of ’67
brought excitement
back to Fenway, if not
a World Series title.
That would have to wait
another 37 seasons.
Photog ra ph b y
Neil Leifer
T
he Sox stayed, of course, but the dream of the dome
would not die. In the 1960s—the decade in which
America resolved to visit the moon—the Greater
Boston Stadium Authority planned another dome,
suitably space-aged, near South Station. That stadium
and an adjacent arena would be home not just to the Sox
but also the Patriots, Bruins and Celtics, ridding the city
of blighted Fenway and the benighted parquet of Boston
Garden with one progressive sweep of the wrecking ball.
The new ballpark would resemble the other state-ofthe-art stadia going up in St. Louis, Atlanta, Oakland and
Washington, D.C., big, round symmetrical quadruplets,
multipurpose and multi-parking-spaced, without Monsters
or Pesky Poles or hand-operated scoreboards.
In the absence of winning teams, these dream proposals
were lovely to contemplate, and so such proclamations were
issued—almost exactly—at 10-year intervals. In 1969 the
club considered a $40 million proposal to expand Fenway to
50,000 seats by “knocking out the leftfield wall,” vanquish-
by the late 1990s, the red sox had
decided that renovating fenway
was inadequate: there would be no
band-aids on updike’s bandbox.
SI.COM | Digital
fenway GIGAPAN
fred v ui c h
Get a panoramic view of Opening Day 2012 at Fenway
ing the Monster within the monster, killing the vampire
by staking its heart. A decade later, in ’79, the Sox made
a veiled threat to Boston mayor Kevin White that the club
would move to a multiuse stadium in suburban Wilmington.
By the late 1980s, the Sox planned a $50 million “revitalization” of Fenway that included a five-deck parking
garage. Fenway, built four years after the introduction of the
Model T, never had a place to put the auto-mobile. More than
an ancient joke, “Pahk the cah in Hahvad Yahd” was sound
advice for anyone foolish enough to drive to Fenway Park.
And so the Sox spent the final decade of the 20th century
trying with renewed vigor to kill this ancient creature. There
was the proposed “Megaplex,” a sports-and-convention center
on Northern Avenue. There were various plans to build a new
park next to Fenway (and a new Pats stadium next to that)
with parking for both suspended above the Massachusetts
Turnpike. In 1995 two Cambridge architects proposed putting not the parking garage but the new ballpark itself above
the Mass Pike, evidently on the grounds that if you couldn’t
drive to a Red Sox game, you could at least drive under one.
The team had by then decided that renovating Fenway
was inadequate. There would be no Band-Aids on Updike’s
bandbox. The team announced its intention in 1995 to have
a new home by that futuristic year of 2001. Harrington told
a state commission that Fenway would remain structurally
sound only until ’05 or so, but was already “economically
obsolete,” rendering the team unable to compete with his
luxury-boxed brethren in the Bronx and elsewhere.
And so a new stadium site was being pushed, in South
Boston, to be developed by a Boston real estate magnate. That
project died, like all those before it, in a thicket of politics, red
tape and residential opposition, and the thwarted developer
would go on to buy the Dodgers. Frank McCourt proceeded
to plunge that franchise into bankruptcy, suggesting that
Fenway had dodged a bullet, a silver bullet, as the ballpark
was by now a horror-movie monster—apparently immortal
but almost certain to die in the final reel.
One thing was certain: The new Fenway Park—whatever it
was, wherever it was—would not be called Fenway Park but
something more remunerative. “If AT&T or New England Telephone want to pay $50 million and name the park after them,”
a Sox executive told the Globe in 1996, “tell ’em to come talk.”
The 1999 All-Star Game, then, seemed a farewell to Fenway. The latest $300 million park being proposed on 14 acres
adjacent to the ballpark was to have the Green Monster
transplanted into it and the brickwork facade transplanted
onto it, creating a Frankenstein’s monster of old and new.
The stake was on the heart, and the mallet was being
raised when, in December 2001, John Henry and Tom Werner
bought the Red Sox and set about straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa. They at once renovated the park and the
team, neither of which had seen a world championship since
the fall of 1918, when Frazee celebrated by making that first
fumbling attempt to flee Fenway.
You know the rest of the story: How the Sox, in 2004,
with a ritual shedding of blood, finally won the World Series again based in a revamped—a revampired?—Fenway
Park. The victory came as a great relief to countless fans,
among them Stephen King, the most renowned horror
novelist since Bram Stoker, to whom he is tied not just
through genre but through Fenway, a monster every bit
as unkillable as any other conjured by man.
±
the red sox’ new owners pledged
in 2001 to renovate the park
and the team. in ’04, boston—and
the revamped fenway—finally
had another title.

Perfect Match - Alexis N. Sanchez

Transcription

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