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Jalaj Saxena's 61* helps India A open up lead

Published in Cricket
Tuesday, 10 September 2019 06:40

South Africa A 164 and 125 for 5 (Hamza 44, Klaasen 35*, Nadeem 2-13) trail India A 303 (Gill 90, Saxena 61*, Ngidi 3-50, Piedt 3-84) by 14 runs

South Africa A have their backs to the wall in the first four-dayer in Thiruvananthampuram. From 199 for 7, they allowed India A to post 303, thereby conceding a 139-run lead, before a second successive top-order collapse had them reeling at 125 for 5 at stumps on day two at the Greenfields Stadium.

Resuming on 129 for 2, India A lost 5 for 70, including the wicket of top-scorer Shubman Gill, who was out for 90. A century stand between allrounder Jalaj Saxena (61 not out) and Shardul Thakur (34) - the latter's three-for had earlier skittled South Africa A for 164 - helped open up a potentially decisive lead. Saxena, who was a late inclusion in the squad as cover for K Gowtham, struck 11 fours in his 96-ball knock after coming in at No. 7.

Overlooked for the Test series that begins next month, offspinner Dane Piedt impressed with returns of 3 for 84 after wheeling away for 25.5 overs while Lungi Ngidi, who is part of the Test squad but not the T20Is that precede it, also ended with a three-wicket haul. In contention for a Test debut, left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy managed all of seven wicketless overs in the first innings.

South Africa A's hopes of staying in the contest hinged on them batting big in the second innings to set up a substantial total to defend. Instead their top order's efforts were only marginally better in the second innings - 52 for 4 as compared to being 20 for 4 in the first. Zubayr Hamza, who could be part of their middle order for the first Test, and Henrich Klaasen, their limited-overs specialist, appeared to have stemmed the damage with a 42-run partnership, but Hamza's dismissal for 44 swung the game again.

Mohammed Siraj opened the floodgates by removing Pieter Malan in the first over and Aiden Markram followed a few overs later, nicking behind to KS Bharat off Shardul. India A made further inroads when left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem struck to remove Khaya Zondo and Muthusamy to open up a possibility of a three-day finish.

While a first impression isn't the end-all, be-all of how an NFL player is perceived, it certainly doesn't hurt a rookie to have his first regular-season experience be a good one.

Tracking the rooks is the theme of this week's version of the power rankings. While the entire 16-game schedule will be the determinant of their first-year fate, having the first step to be a positive one definitely helps. And for these 32 players, Week 1 was exactly that.

Our NFL Nation reporters focused on the best first-year performances for their teams while helping put together this week's power rankings. How we rank: Our power panel -- a group of more than 80 writers, editors and TV personalities -- evaluates how teams stack up throughout the season.

Previous rankings: Preseason

1. New England Patriots (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 1

Rookie who flashed: Isaiah Wynn, OT

How the newcomer starred: The 2018 first-round draft choice, who had missed his rookie season with a torn Achilles tendon, played all 70 snaps protecting Tom Brady's blind side and held his ground in a promising performance. Wynn's ability to slide and play light on his feet is impressive to watch. Of course, there aren't too many more important jobs in New England than ensuring Brady is well protected, and the Patriots seem confident in entrusting Wynn with that crucial role. -- Mike Reiss


2. Kansas City Chiefs (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 2

Rookie who flashed: Juan Thornhill, S

How the newcomer starred: Thornhill stood out among Chiefs' rookies mainly because he was the only one starting. Thornhill had been a backup throughout the preseason but was promoted on Sunday and led the Chiefs with eight tackles. Thornhill was impressive in training camp because of his range and playmaking ability. Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said during camp he usually didn't trust rookies enough to start them in the season opener, but Thornhill played well enough to be an exception. -- Adam Teicher

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4:00

Are the Saints cursed in the postseason?

Michelle Beisner-Buck looks back at the Saints' past two postseasons to find the reason behind their seemingly bad luck.

3. New Orleans Saints (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 3

Rookie who flashed: Erik McCoy, C

How the newcomer starred: The new starting center sure seemed to hold up well on a night when the Saints ran for 148 yards on 21 carries (a 7.0 average) and threw for 370 yards on 44 dropbacks. Drew Brees was sacked only once. Perhaps some more subtle miscues will show up on film, but the second-round pick obviously wasn't a weak link on New Orleans' loaded offensive line. "Give him credit," Brees said. "First game out and to have a win like this on Monday football has to mean something." -- Mike Triplett


4. Los Angeles Rams (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 4

Rookie who flashed: Taylor Rapp, S

How the newcomer starred: The versatility of the second-round pick was on display throughout the 32 snaps (48%) he played on defense. Before the game, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said Rapp would not be used only as a backup and noted his "short-area quickness" and tackling ability. Against the Panthers, Rapp took the field often as a third safety, alongside John Johnson III and Marqui Christian (Eric Weddle left the game due to injury) and lined up in multiple spots. He finished with three tackles. -- Lindsey Thiry


5. Philadelphia Eagles (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 5

Rookie who flashed: Miles Sanders, RB

How the newcomer starred: His stat line (11 carries, 25 yards) doesn't tell the whole story. Sanders saw a touchdown run called back because of a holding penalty and broke off a 19-yarder that showed off the burst and wiggle that coaches and teammates have been talking up all summer. He's sharing a backfield with Jordan Howard, Darren Sproles and Corey Clement, and snap distribution will change from week to week, but look for Sanders to be featured more and more as the season goes along. -- Tim McManus


6. Dallas Cowboys (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 9

Rookie who flashed: Tony Pollard, RB

How the newcomer starred: The Cowboys had only two rookies active for the game, so the choice by default is Pollard, a fourth-round running back. He was nearly the starter before Ezekiel Elliott signed in the middle of last week. Pollard's numbers do not look that strong -- 13 carries, 24 yards -- but some of that was a product of being in a run-out-the-clock situation late in the game. The Cowboys believe he will develop into a good complement to Elliott. Their top pick, second-round defensive tackle Trysten Hill, was inactive, which is a sign that he has a way to go to earn the coaches' trust. -- Todd Archer


7. Los Angeles Chargers (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 6

Rookie who flashed: Drue Tranquill, LB

How the newcomer starred: The fourth-round selection didn't play a snap on defense. However, he played 16 snaps on special teams, finishing with a tackle and a partially blocked punt in his first NFL game. If he can continue to make plays on special teams, the Notre Dame product could earn some defensive snaps for the Chargers down the road. -- Eric D. Williams

8. Baltimore Ravens (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 17

Rookie who flashed: Marquise Brown, WR

How the newcomer starred: The No. 25 overall pick showed why he was the first wide receiver selected in this year's draft. With his electric speed, "Hollywood" scored on his first two catches, recording touchdowns of 47 and 83 yards. Brown's 147 yards receiving were the most in a player's first NFL game since Anquan Boldin in 2003. Brown became the much-needed deep threat for quarterback Lamar Jackson, gaining 30-plus yards after the catch on each of his two touchdowns. Last season, Ravens receivers had three catches on which they gained at least 30 YAC. -- Jamison Hensley


9. Minnesota Vikings (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 12

Rookie who flashed: Alexander Mattison, RB

How the newcomer starred: While Dalvin Cook stole the show in the Vikings' 28-12 victory over Atlanta, Mattison -- a third-round draft pick -- had a handful of big runs in a game in which he notched nine carries for 49 yards, including a run to the 1-yard line that set up a Minnesota score. "He's got a chance to be a good complementary back to Dalvin," coach Mike Zimmer said. "It was good to see." -- Courtney Cronin


10. Green Bay Packers (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 13

Rookie who flashed: Darnell Savage, S

How the newcomer starred: While top pick Rashan Gary (No. 12 overall) played just six snaps, the 21st overall pick never came off the field. He showed off the sideline-to-sideline range the Packers coveted in him on the way to three tackles, a quarterback hit and a pass breakup. Along with veteran free agent Adrian Amos, Savage has revamped the Packers' safety position. -- Rob Demovsky


11. Seattle Seahawks (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 15

Rookie who flashed: DK Metcalf, WR

How the newcomer starred: After arriving to CenturyLink Field in a throwback Steve Largent Seahawks jersey, Metcalf caught four passes for a team-high 89 yards to break Largent's 43-year-old club record for most yards by a rookie receiver in his debut. His catches of 42 and 25 yards set up a pair of touchdowns. The 25-yarder came on a scramble throw that Pete Carroll called a "great illustration" of Metcalf's understanding that the play is never over with Russell Wilson. And for all the chatter about Metcalf supposedly being able to run only go routes, his first two grabs came on slants, and he drew a pass interference call in the end zone on a corner route (he was also called for two penalties that were declined). -- Brady Henderson


12. Houston Texans (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 14

Rookie who flashed: Cullen Gillaspia, FB

How the newcomer starred: With first-round pick Tytus Howard (finger), defensive end Charles Omenihu and cornerback Xavier Crawford inactive, tight end Kahale Warring on injured reserve and Zach Fulton getting the start over second-round pick Max Scharping, the Texans did not have a rookie contribution on offense or defense. Gillaspia and cornerback Lonnie Johnson did play on special teams. Gillaspia recorded a special-teams tackle, so he wins. -- Sarah Barshop

13. Chicago Bears (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 7

Rookie who flashed: David Montgomery, RB

How the newcomer starred: Matt Nagy freely admitted after Week 1's loss to Green Bay that the rookie running back needs more touches. Montgomery carried the ball only six times for 18 yards against the Packers, but a few of those were tough runs that resulted in first downs. Montgomery also caught an important 27-yard pass, which tied for Chicago's second-longest play from scrimmage versus Green Bay. -- Jeff Dickerson


14. Tennessee Titans (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 20

Rookie who flashed: A.J. Brown, WR

How the newcomer starred: Brown quickly showed that he will be an impactful pass-catcher for the Titans. Known for his ability to generate yards after the catch, Brown turned a short pass into a 51-yard gain on the first play of the second half, helping him to a 100-yard receiving performance on three receptions. He played 26 snaps, which was four more than free-agent addition Adam Humphries. Brown's big plays (47- and 51-yard receptions) both came with him lining up on the outside as opposed to the slot role that some analysts felt was his only position. Most important, he's earning the trust of quarterback Marcus Mariota. -- Turron Davenport


15. Indianapolis Colts (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 8

Rookie who flashed: Rock Ya-Sin, CB

How the newcomer starred: Ya-Sin, who quickly moved up the depth chart during training camp, started on the outside with veteran Pierre Desir on Sunday. The second-round pick out of Temple had two tackles in his NFL debut. Unfortunately, he also had a welcome-to-the-NFL moment against the Chargers. Ya-Sin, a physical player with a high school wrestling background, couldn't go up and muscle the ball away from Chargers receiver Keenan Allen on a 50-50 touchdown pass in the end zone in the second quarter. Safety Malik Hooker took part of the blame on the play by saying he has to be quicker to come over and help in those situations. -- Mike Wells

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1:31

Stephen A. disgusted with the Steelers

Stephen A. Smith goes off on the Steelers for their performance against Tom Brady and the Patriots in Week 1.

16. Pittsburgh Steelers (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 11

Rookie who flashed: Devin Bush, LB

How the newcomer starred: Bush played the most significant role among Steelers rookies, leading the team with 11 tackles. He stood out in that he was bringing Patriots players to the ground, but that's not so good when most of the tackles were on chunk-yardage plays for the offense. Bush gave up a big gain on a pick play but otherwise looked ready. Rookie receiver Diontae Johnson is an intriguing option after three catches for 29 yards. The lights didn't look too bright for him. -- Jeremy Fowler


17. Cleveland Browns (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 10

Rookie who flashed: Jamie Gillan, P

How the newcomer starred: One of Cleveland's few Week 1 bright spots was Gillan, a rookie punter who averaged almost 47 yards on five punts, including three downed inside the 20-yard line. The Browns terminated veteran Britton Colquitt because of Gillan's potential. He did not disappoint in his debut. -- Jake Trotter


18. Carolina Panthers (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 18

Rookie who flashed: Brian Burns, OLB

How the newcomer starred: Burns was brought in to pressure quarterbacks as an edge rusher, and he responded in his first start with two quarterback hurries and one tackle for loss. The difference is the Panthers didn't use as many 3-4 fronts as anticipated, and Burns' strength was supposed to be coming off the edge as an OLB, not an end. -- David Newton


19. Atlanta Falcons (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 16

Rookie who flashed: Chris Lindstrom, G

How the newcomer starred: Although he wasn't flawless, the Falcons' top pick looked strong at times at right guard before exiting with a broken foot. Lindstrom played 48 snaps at right guard, his final action for at least the next eight weeks. Lindstrom is bound for injured reserve but will be eligible to return. You can tell in warm-ups how focused Lindstrom is on playing with the proper technique. -- Vaughn McClure


20. San Francisco 49ers (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 22

Rookie who flashed: Nick Bosa, DE

How the newcomer starred: Who else? Bosa made his NFL debut after returning from an ankle sprain and made an impact. Although he whiffed on an early sack opportunity as Jameis Winston evaded him, he managed to finish with three tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss and two quarterback hits in unofficial statistics. His pressure also helped contribute to cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon's game-clinching pick-six in the fourth quarter. It was a promising start for the No. 2 overall pick and leaves one to wonder what could lie ahead when he is at full speed. -- Nick Wagoner


21. Detroit Lions (0-0-1)

Preseason ranking: 21

Rookie who flashed: T.J. Hockenson, TE

How the newcomer starred: Hockenson set a rookie record for yards from a tight end in his debut with a six-catch, 131-yard, one-touchdown effort against Arizona. While it's usually hard for tight ends to acclimate to the NFL, this is a continuation of what Detroit saw all camp long. Hockenson was a playmaker throughout the spring and preseason and it continued Sunday, when he had close to 100 people who traveled to Arizona to watch his first-ever NFL regular-season game. -- Michael Rothstein


22. Buffalo Bills (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 25

Rookie who flashed: Devin Singletary, RB

How the newcomer starred: First-round pick Ed Oliver turned in a strong effort at defensive tackle, but Singletary was arguably the Bills' most dynamic playmaker Sunday. He accounted for 98 yards on nine touches. He started ahead of Frank Gore and should get a far heavier workload moving forward. -- Marcel Louis-Jacques


23. Oakland Raiders (1-0)

Preseason ranking: 26

Rookie who flashed: Josh Jacobs, RB

How the newcomer starred: Jacobs, who never carried the ball more than 20 times in a game at Alabama and rushed only 251 times total in college, showed he was more than ready for prime time. His patience, vision and cutting ability kept Broncos edge rushers Von Miller and Bradley Chubb at bay. And Jacobs' 85 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries proved him prophetic -- his play spoke for itself. -- Paul Gutierrez

24. Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 19

Rookie who flashed: Gardner Minshew, QB

How the newcomer starred: Minshew completed his first 13 passes -- the most by a rookie quarterback to begin his career over the past 40 years, per Elias Sports Bureau research -- en route to 275 yards and two touchdowns. Minshew completed 22 of 25 passes, with one of the incompletions a pass that bounced off Leonard Fournette's hands and was intercepted. Minshew's completion percentage (88.0%) was the highest in league history for any player with at least 15 pass attempts making an NFL debut. It is also a franchise single-game record among players with at least 25 pass attempts. -- Mike DiRocco


25. Denver Broncos

Preseason ranking: 23

Rookie who flashed: Dalton Risner, G

How the newcomer starred: It wasn't the best of opening weeks for the Broncos' rookie class given that Drew Lock is injured and first-rounder Noah Fant was flagged multiple times in a rocky outing in the loss to the Raiders. But against a defensive front that features plenty of bulk, Risner (second round) showed that he's NFL-ready in the run game. The Broncos repeatedly found some room behind him when they could commit to the run. -- Jeff Legwold


26. New York Jets (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 24

Rookie who flashed: Quinnen Williams, DT

How the newcomer starred: Williams wins by default because he's the only rookie who played a semi-significant role. The No. 3 overall pick didn't finish the game because of a second-half ankle injury. It was a quiet debut. He played 23 defensive snaps, with no tackles and two pressures. On one play, he affected the center, which resulted in a botched snap. Aside from that, Williams has to do a better job of defeating his man in one-on-one situations. -- Rich Cimini


27. Cincinnati Bengals (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 28

Rookie who flashed: Michael Jordan, G

How the newcomer starred: Cincinnati's rookies had a relatively quiet day, but Jordan held his own at left guard against a quality Seattle defensive front. Jordan played every snap of the 21-20 loss and had a solid performance, according to first-year coach Zac Taylor. -- Ben Baby


28. Washington Redskins (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 29

Rookie who flashed: Terry McLaurin, WR

How the newcomer starred: The Redskins were comfortable releasing Josh Doctson because of what they had in McLaurin and he responded well, catching five passes for 125 yards and a 69-yard touchdown. He was in position for another long touchdown, but was overthrown. McLaurin's speed makes a big difference in the offense, and the play design helped create open areas for him down the field. In three seasons with Washington, Doctson never cracked 100 yards receiving in a game. -- John Keim


29. Arizona Cardinals (0-0-1)

Preseason ranking: 30

Rookie who flashed: Kyler Murray, QB

How the newcomer starred: Murray showed why he was the first overall pick in April's draft during the fourth quarter of a Week 1 tie against Detroit. If it wasn't for him, the Cardinals wouldn't have been in position to pull even after three dismal quarters of offense. Murray shined in the fourth quarter, going 15-for-19 for 154 yards and two touchdowns in the final stanza. He finished with 308 yards overall on 29-for-54 passing, and once the offense got into a rhythm, he showed how dynamic he could be, running the Cardinals' up-tempo offense nearly flawlessly while utilizing his feet and arm. -- Josh Weinfuss


30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 27

Rookie who flashed: Devin White, LB

How the newcomer starred: The No. 5 overall pick had five solo tackles -- six combined -- in the Bucs' 31-17 loss to the 49ers. He played a key role in a second-quarter, red zone stand that forced the Niners to settle for a field goal and preserved a Bucs lead. He did it while battling tonsillitis in the week leading up to the game, too, as he struggled to eat and suffered from dehydration. "That's exactly what I would expect of the guy," coach Bruce Arians said. "He's tough ... he fought through it." -- Jenna Laine


31. New York Giants (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 31

Rookie who flashed: Ryan Connelly, LB

How the newcomer starred: It was hard to find any of the Giants' 10 draft picks who excelled in that debacle against Dallas. Three didn't dress. Daniel Jones fumbled in his limited playing time. Deandre Baker struggled badly. Dexter Lawrence was mostly invisible. Julian Love and Corey Ballentine barely saw the field. That leaves only fifth-rounder Connelly and third-round edge rusher Oshane Ximines to make any sort of positive contribution. Each had a tackle for loss, the Giants' only two in the 35-17 loss. -- Jordan Raanan


32. Miami Dolphins (0-1)

Preseason ranking: 32

Rookie who flashed: Preston Williams, WR

How the newcomer starred: There weren't many bright spots in the Dolphins' embarrassing Week 1 loss, but Williams -- Miami's undrafted free-agent find out of Colorado State -- showed that he has a real NFL future. He got the start and caught his first career touchdown pass. He called the moment "bittersweet" because of the loss, but he hopes it's the first of many scores he'll catch as a Dolphin. For a team faced with a lot of doom and gloom, Williams provides a sliver of hope. -- Cameron Wolfe

Argentina sinks Serbia, gets U.S.-France winner

Published in Basketball
Tuesday, 10 September 2019 07:35

DONGGUAN, China -- Luis Scola scored 20 points, Facundo Campazzo finished with 18 points and 12 assists and Argentina earned its first trip to the World Cup semifinals in 13 years by ousting Serbia 97-87 in a quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday.

Patricio Garino added 15 for Argentina (6-0), which will face either the U.S. or France in Friday's semifinals.

Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 21 points for Serbia (4-2). The team came into the tournament fully expecting to win gold -- after losing title games to the U.S. at the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, then rolling to wins in its first two games in China by a combined 105 points.

Bogdanovic's 3-pointer with 1:20 left got Serbia within 91-85, capping a spurt that came with All-NBA center Nikola Jokic on the bench. But Campazzo's jumper on the next possession pushed the lead back to eight, Serbia threw the ball away seconds later and the blue-and-white-clad Argentine fans in the stands knew it was time to celebrate.

Scola was 26 the last time Argentina was in the Final Four of the World Cup, then called the world championship. A mere 13 years later, he's headed back to the medal round at FIBA's biggest event.

Nemanja Bjelica scored 18 and Jokic finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for Serbia.

Argentina led most of the way, lost the lead briefly on the first possession of the fourth quarter when Marko Guduric made a 3-pointer for Serbia -- which the winners answered with a 19-6 run over the next 6 minutes.

The Dongguan half of the bracket is simply loaded -- far more so than the half in Shanghai, the other quarterfinal site.

Serbia-Argentina pitted the world's fourth- and fifth-ranked teams, respectively, against one another. On Wednesday in Dongguan, it's the No. 1-ranked U.S. against No. 3 France.

Meanwhile in Shanghai, world No. 2 Spain meets No. 25 Poland later Tuesday and No. 11 Australia takes on the 24th-ranked Czech Republic on Wednesday. The four teams that earned a trip to Dongguan outscored opponents by a combined 429 points in the group stage; the four teams that advanced to Shanghai outscored group-stage foes by a combined 150 points.

TIP-INS

Serbia: Boban Marjanovic had a short and eventful second-quarter stint -- picking up three fouls, one of them an unsportsmanlike, and committing a turnover in just over 2 minutes. ... Serbia grabbed 15 of the game's first 17 rebounds and finished with a 42-29 edge.

Argentina: By the midway mark of the first quarter, the Argentines had two fouls and another with three -- Tayavek Gallizzi, who was whistled three times in 82 seconds after he came in because starter Marcos Delia was in foul trouble. ... The Olympic berth Argentina claimed by being one of the top two World Cup finishers from the Americas region -- the U.S. is the other -- is its fifth straight and eighth overall.

SCOUTING

If the U.S. beats France on Wednesday, the Americans will play Argentina in the semifinals at Beijing on Friday. So the U.S. sent its scouting group -- Jeff Van Gundy, Lloyd Pierce and Ime Udoka among them -- to see the Argentina-Serbia game in person. U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said he's watching plenty of games on off days, but is letting the group led by Van Gundy handle the bulk of the scouting details.

BONUS PRIZE

Argentina gets more than a trip to the semifinals -- it gets an extra day off. After playing every other day so far in the tournament, Argentina will have two full rest days before seeing either the U.S. or France on Friday.

UP NEXT

Serbia: Faces U.S.-France loser on Thursday at Dongguan in the consolation round.

Argentina: Faces U.S.-France winner on Friday at Beijing in the semifinals.

The complicated evolution of Dennis Rodman

Published in Basketball
Sunday, 08 September 2019 14:19

LOS ANGELES -- Dennis Rodman has been crying.

His emotional state is imperceptible. He arrives at this interview cloaked behind rose-colored sunglasses, which serviceably mask his tear-streaked cheeks and his red, swollen eyes. He is subdued, almost ghostly quiet. But before long, the emotions flow, because once you cut through the histrionics and the antics and the bravado and the piercings, the overwhelming characteristic of this iconic basketball savant has always been his vulnerability.

Surely you remember his news conference in 1990, when he was introduced as the NBA's Defensive Player of Year. Back then, he was just a clean-cut kid in jeans and sneakers who never took a drink and was so overcome by the magnitude of his accomplishment, he could not speak without sobbing.

Dennis Rodman grapples with many things these days, particularly his purpose in life now that his basketball highlights are long behind him. He is here, at The Terrace at L.A. Live in Downtown Los Angeles, to discuss the new 30 for 30 ESPN documentary titled "Dennis Rodman: For Better or Worse," which lays bare the struggles of one of the most talented and enigmatic stars in the game's history.

But before he arrives, he is unnerved by a call from ex-wife Michelle Moyer, who informs Rodman that his teenage daughter, Trinity, wants to see him. Needs to see him. Rodman tells me he lives 10 miles away from Trinity, an elite high school soccer star who trains with the U.S. Women's U-20 team, and his son, DJ, who plays basketball at Washington State. But when he contemplates visiting them, connecting with them, it paralyzes him.

He says he longs to be the father he never had. Philander Rodman Jr. abandoned Dennis when he was 3 years old and didn't resurface until his son was an NBA star. Yet DJ and Trinity (born 2000 and 2001, respectively) and Rodman's oldest daughter, Alexis, from his first marriage (born 1988) also have largely grown up without their father. Surely Dennis Rodman can do better?

"I want to," he tells ESPN as he wipes away tears, which commence the moment he attempts to discuss his children. "But it isn't so easy."


Rodman grew up in the projects in Dallas with his sisters, Debra and Kim, and his mother, Shirley. He was painfully shy, clung to his mother's shirt as a small boy, dutifully following his older sisters wherever they roamed. They were poor, his mother worked multiple jobs to support them, and he was left to fend for himself, bullied by the boys in the neighborhood. He was lonely and frightened of what the future held.

"I thought I would be in jail," Rodman explains. "I thought I'd be a drug dealer or be dead. Those were my options."

His sisters excelled as basketball stars while he foundered, cut from the high school football team and overlooked as a basketball prospect. When he graduated, Shirley laid down an ultimatum: Find a job -- or a new place to live.

"She kicked me out," Rodman says. "She changed the locks. I had, like, a garbage bag full of clothes. I left the house and I just sat on the steps down at the apartment complex with nowhere to go. I went into my friend's house. He said, 'You can stay in the backyard, on the couch.'

"Every day when I wake up, I go to the car wash, try to make some extra money. Or I go to the 7-Eleven, try to fold boxes, throw bottles away, stuff like that, for five bucks a day."

This was his existence, on and off, for nearly two years. He played basketball all day, growing so fast his clothes ripped apart. He bummed hand-me-downs from friends, found comfort as an interloper in their families.

"I wasn't sad," Rodman recalls. "I never cried about not going home. I never cried about my sisters and my mother, my so-called father or any one of my relatives I never knew about. I was so used to living life this way."

His growth spurt transformed him from a scrawny 5-foot-6 wannabe to a 6-foot-8 gazelle who could dunk. He landed in a summer league and was eventually discovered by Southeast Oklahoma, where he became a three-time All-American despite persistent racial slurs in a community that was hesitant to embrace an African-American supernova. He was an improbable success story, but it was complicated, always complicated, because those emotions were so close to the surface.

By the time he was drafted by the Detroit Pistons with the 27th pick of the 1986 draft, he was estranged from his mother. His father was forgotten, an apparition, until one night in 1997, when Rodman was playing for the Chicago Bulls. Rodman says Philander appeared at the practice facility before a shootaround on game day.

"We were playing the Utah Jazz, and I was late to practice -- yep, me, late to practice," he says. "I was driving in the gate to the Berto Center and this black guy runs up to my truck and says, 'I need to talk to you. I need to talk to you.' I said, 'Dude, I'm late for practice.' And he said, 'I just want to let you know that I'm your father.'

"Out the blue, just like that. And I'm like, 'Oh, come on, I gotta deal with this stuff today?'"

Rodman assumed the man was an imposter; he was growing accustomed to people hustling him for money. He didn't think any more about it until midway through the game, in the middle of a timeout, when he noticed a commotion in the stands.

"I'm walking back to the bench and I happened to look up and I said, 'Wait man, what's going on up there?'" Rodman explains. "And someone said, 'Dude, that's your father. He's signing autographs, doing interviews.'"

"But I'm still thinking it's a hoax," he continues. "When the game was over and we went back to the locker room, a reporter said, 'Did you know your father was up there?' I said, 'Nope.' Then he said, 'Did you know that he wrote a book about you?' I said, 'Nope.' And he said, 'Because you know, it was a bestseller.' I think it's still a big joke, because this guy came out of the blue and I've never seen him before.

"He had 16 wives, and, I think, 29 kids. And I was his first one. Somebody told me that. I'm like, 'Whatever.' I was so used to not having a father after 37 years, I'm thinking, 'You know, it's a little late. It's a little late.'"


The 30 for 30 documentary, which includes interviews with many of his family members, runs a clip of Rodman at his 2011 Hall of Fame induction speech in which, halting to maintain his composure, Rodman apologizes to his children for not being there for them.

"I lie to myself a lot about s---," Rodman says now. 'I'm a great dad. I love my kids.' And then I have to go home and sit there and beat myself up because I'm just telling myself all these lies.

"We all have demons. I've had plenty. Alcohol being one of them -- everyone knows that. But I think the only major demon I have right now is trying to convince myself that I am a good dad. That's the worst one for me. And it's so hard for me for some reason. It's very hard for me to break out of that cycle, you know. You feel like it's too late. It's one of those things where I never had anyone ever want [to love me]."

His two younger children have no recollection of his mercurial career, which began when Rodman landed with that veteran Pistons team coached by the venerable Chuck Daly, who identified Rodman's vulnerability and immaturity and served as his protector and surrogate father. Soon, Rodman became a regular at the Daly Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations, dutifully adhering to house rules: Shoes off when you come in the door so as not to soil the pristine white carpet.

"The Daly [family] treated me like one of their own," Rodman explains. "They didn't look at me as a black person or as a black athlete. It was, 'How you doing? What's going on? You need anything?' It was safe there. It was very comfortable for me to be there. When I was alone in my apartment and there was nobody there to be with me, I'd always call Chuck Daly or Isiah Thomas."

Thomas, the Pistons' perennial All-Star point guard, fielded calls at all hours from the jittery rookie, whose social anxiety was palpable. Yet, when Rodman was on the court, he proved to be an indefatigable competitor, a voracious rebounder and a relentless defender.

"What changed my whole life is when Isiah Thomas came to me one day," Rodman says. "He pulled me over and hit me in the chest so damn hard, and he said, 'You know, Dennis, this is not a game. This is not a joke. We want to win a championship. You've got to get your act together, get your ass together and get your head focused. You can't keep going out with [Pistons big man] John Salley. You gotta do your job.'

"That changed my whole perspective on the NBA, because I just thought it was like one big playground. Back in those days, I was pretty much lost, but I was lost in happiness."

The Pistons won back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990, but their moniker was the Bad Boys, a conflicting concept for a young player who was thirsting for acceptance -- and affection. In 1992, while standing in the bowels of the Orlando Magic's arena on All-Star Saturday, the announcer listed the game's participants for Sunday. When he bellowed Dennis Rodman's name, the crowd booed lustily. Rodman, his eyes pooling, turned to a reporter and asked, "Why do they hate me?"

Change in the NBA is inevitable. Eventually, Salley was traded, Daly resigned and Rodman fell into a funk, his emotions running amok both on and off the floor. He was embroiled in a painful divorce with his first wife, Annie Bakes, Alexis' mother. His lowest moment came in February 1993, when police discovered him asleep in his truck in the Pistons' Auburn Hills parking lot with a loaded gun in his lap. As Salley chillingly notes in the 30 for 30 film, "Did I believe he was going to shoot himself at the Palace of Auburn Hills? Yes."

And yet, Rodman still managed to win seven consecutive rebounding titles from 1992 to 1998, dying his hair the color of the rainbow, piercing his nose and his lips, enjoying a short-lived relationship with Madonna and a short-lived marriage to Carmen Electra. The Worm was omnipresent, both in the party scene and on the NBA circuit.


In 1995, Rodman joined Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen and won three straight championships with the Bulls. His stunts made him instantly recognizable, a bona fide NBA character who wore a wedding dress in 1996 to promote a book.

A larger-than-life figure, Rodman once was driving in Chicago when he heard a traffic report of gridlocked streets on the radio:

"The guy says, 'There's going to be a delay at Route 94 and Arden, because there's a billboard of Dennis Rodman right on the exit, and people are stopping and taking pictures of it,'" Rodman recalls to ESPN. "I'm listening to the radio and I'm saying, 'What?' I drive down there and there's a traffic jam and people outside their cars on the freeway taking pictures of my face with green hair. I didn't even know the sign existed. I passed by it every day.

"Before I came to Chicago, there was a [billboard] there of Michael and Scottie. And when I got there, it was Michael, Scottie and Dennis. Then, a few months later, it became just me. So, for that one year, maybe six months, I was bigger [than Jordan]."

By then, Rodman was engaging in an ongoing battle with alcohol and drugs that nearly ruined him. There were accusations of domestic abuse, a driving under the influence charge and abhorrent behavior that couldn't be explained away as the actions of a vulnerable man who had it rough as a child. Yet, during that same time period, it wasn't uncommon to spot Rodman moved to tears by homeless people, handing out $100 bills to them on the streets like candy.

There were visits to rehab centers -- and a parade of agents, managers, girlfriends and hangers-on. He developed a relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un that was puzzling and controversial. His former financial advisor, Peggy Ann Fulford, was sentenced in November to 10 years in prison for swindling him out of millions.

Rodman sought solace in wealthy people who didn't want anything from him. The late film director Penny Marshall was one. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was another.

Rodman lasted only 12 games and 29 days with the Mavs in 2000 and managed to get ejected twice, suspended once and fined $13,500 in that time span. But Cuban, who admired Rodman's marketing acumen, kept in touch after his release.

"He was a cool guy to me," Rodman says. "I stayed in his guest house for about three weeks. I had a bunch of parties every night. Me and Mark went out to strip clubs all the time, before he got married and had his kids.

"He liked the way I played ball, how I marketed myself."

"He had faith in me," Rodman continues. "He felt bad it didn't work out there, but they were in the middle of a youth movement. I told him, 'I had a blast, thanks very much.' We've been friends ever since. I talked to him a couple of weeks ago. It was never about the money. It was about the friendship. That's refreshing."


Rodman, arguably the best rebounder the game has seen, has been contacting NBA teams about taking on a consultant's role, and he confirmed that he recently discussed that possibility with LA Clippers special advisor Jerry West.

He isn't certain how the public will feel about this new documentary, but Rodman hopes people will understand him a little better.

"I think after watching the film, they're gonna look at me and say, 'Wow. He didn't want no money. He didn't want no fame. He didn't want anything. He just wanted someone to take care of him and love him,'" Rodman says.

The irony, of course, is that's all his own children want from him. Rodman has doubts he can succeed as a father, but his inaction has turned him into the abject failure he dreads. The struggle, for better or worse, continues.

"My kids now want to come and try to be close to me, and I'm trying to figure out if I could actually do this," Rodman admits. "If I can sit there and ask, 'Forget all my achievements. Forget all my awards. Forget all the money, forget all the fame, forget all the women, forget everything. Can I ask you to put all of that aside and give just a small portion of my life to getting to know my kids?' It can't just be for the time being and then going back to being Dennis Rodman again. Can I be [there] consistently? That's the only thing I'm fighting with."

He has not yet seen his own film. When he does, he will hear his oldest daughter, Alexis, who has only seen her father intermittently throughout her life, declare, "My father is a really beautiful person."

If only Dennis Rodman believed that himself.

The Pedro Game turns 20. Yes, THAT Pedro Game

Published in Baseball
Tuesday, 10 September 2019 05:40

Pedro Martinez was, from 1997 through 2003, the greatest pitcher in major league history. Other pitchers had better careers -- longer careers -- but nobody was better for a sustained period of time than Martinez was in those years.

But who was the greatest Pedro Martinez in Pedro Martinez history -- in other words, when specifically did Pedro Martinez reach his ultimate peak? The answer might be 20 years ago today. He was three years into that seven-year run, he was wrapping up a season with by far the best FIP (Fielding Indepedent Pitching) in modern baseball history, and he was smack in the middle of an eight-game stretch in which he would strike out 107 batters, walk eight and allow a 1.16 ERA. His start on Sept. 10, 1999, was the best of the eight.

A friend told me once that Martinez's start that night was The Pedro Game. I was confused. I already knew what The Pedro Game was, and it didn't happen 20 years ago tonight. Then a different friend told me that, no, The Pedro Game was actually a different game still. And then I asked a big group of friends and was startled to realize just how many iconic, unique, capital-letter Pedro Days there were that Pedro Martinez threw in his career. There are seven, at least.

The whole point of naming something is to give it an identity, to cure confusion. If we're all talking about different days, under the same name, we're doing it all wrong. It's time to solve this riddle.


The Canadian Pedro Game: June 3, 1995

The pitching line: 9 IP / 1 H / 0 R / 0 ER / 0 BB / 9 SO

What happened: Martinez became the second pitcher in history to take a perfect game into extra innings. Harvey Haddix lost his in the 13th inning, and would lose the game. Martinez won the game but lost his to the leadoff batter in the 10th.

But, look, it was every bit the equal of any other perfect game, right? Twenty-seven up, 27 down. At the time, there had been only 12 perfect games in major league history, plus Haddix's. That it didn't count alongside the 12 "official" perfect games was entirely arbitrary, owing not to anything having to do with Pedro, or Pedro's pitching, or general logic, but merely his Expos' inability to score a run. "I was disgusted with myself," said Darrin Fletcher, the Expos catcher, after flying out in the ninth inning with a man on. It was the offense's fault Pedro's start went into the 10th. It wasn't Pedro's.

In 1995, a lot of opposing ballplayers didn't like Martinez. He'd been in his first brawl a year earlier, and his second right after that, when the Padres' Derek Bell charged him after a strikeout. Martinez wasn't even looking when Bell came running at him, and according to Martinez another Padre -- Bip Roberts -- launched into him from behind, too. Pedro pledged to Roberts he'd remember -- "I'll get your ass."

But Roberts was the man who broke up the perfect game, on his fourth try. Pedro threw him a changeup and Roberts lined a double into right field. Pedro left immediately after the hit, despite having thrown only 96 pitches. He ended up with the win -- the Expos had scored in the top of the 10th -- but, alas, Roberts won the "get your ass" contest.

It wasn't The Pedro Game.

Why it's not The Pedro Game: Because he wasn't really The Pedro yet. He was known at the time for flashes of brilliance, some wildness and the controversial style of pitching inside. He didn't yet have command of his great curveball, and he was still throwing his two-seamer instead of his better, easier-to-command four-seamer. It was another year (or perhaps three) before he really put everything together and became the greatest pitcher who ever lived.

Can you watch it? No. You can see him lose the perfect game -- and then run to dutifully back up second base -- but you can't see the good stuff.


The Five-Baseball-Games-A-Year Fan's Pedro Game: Oct. 11, 2003

The pitching line: 7/6/4/4/1/6

What happened: A "beet-faced, roly poly old man" -- Pedro's words, in his 2015 autobiography -- charged at Pedro in the middle of a benches-cleared scrum, Pedro redirected him to the ground, and we all spent the next week debating whether Pedro Martinez is a villain or just a complicated hero.

Pedro's "tackle" of Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer had enough ambiguity to it that it's hard to know what to make of it: Pedro looks almost entirely confused/defensive, but his hands, right at the end, do look forceful and mean. Hard to say! But in New York, there was no ambiguity, and Pedro started to get death threats. Credible threats, he writes, enough that he says he had police surveillance for his family and extra security at his hotel. "I didn't go out once," he writes of checking into his Manhattan hotel for the rest of the 2003 American League Championship Series. "Nothing but room service, and I had to be careful that the food was okay before I ate any of it. I felt vulnerable. My cocoon was threadbare and flimsy. I had never pitched a game under more pressure [than his next start, in New York]. I've always said that pressure is a lack of confidence in the things that you can do, but on that day forces that had nothing to do with baseball closed in on me. I felt physically threatened. The vise began to squeeze."

The through-line of Pedro's career -- even more than "good pitcher," because he wasn't always a good pitcher -- is that he worked fearlessly inside and the league fought to get him to stop. Figuratively, they fought by trying to shame him, by slandering him as a headhunter who didn't respect the game. But they also literally fought him, constantly: Reggie Sanders once charged Pedro after Pedro hit him with a pitch in the eighth inning of a perfect game. Pitchers threw at Pedro in retaliation, and after a few of those he became one of the few pitchers you'll see charging the mound back.

And so this is perhaps the ultimate culmination of that career-long fight: Don Zimmer, baseball's final boss, charged and got rolled to the ground, but, ultimately, he got closer than anybody else to forcing Pedro Martinez to second-guess his actions. "I made a wrong decision," Martinez would write.

But it's not The Pedro Game.

Why it's not The Pedro Game: He didn't pitch very well. (Twenty-six other starting pitchers have had the same 7/6/4/4/1/6 line, and only eight of their teams won.) There was the potential for it to become The Pedro Game because after the brawl Pedro retired the next nine straight. If it had been, say, 15 straight, and the Red Sox had come back and won the game, there'd be a case. But as it is, we should agree Pedro Martinez needs to pitch well for a game to be The Pedro Game.

Can you watch it? Yes you can!


The Hipster Pedro Game: May 6, 2000 and/or Aug. 29, 2000

The pitching line(s): 9/6/1/1/1/17 and 9/1/0/0/0/13

What happened: This is, obviously, two games, and we're supposed to be talking about only one. Each of these is worthy of career-highlight status, but they bleed into each other.

Both were against the Rays. In the first, he matched a career-high 17 strikeouts and got a career-high 37 swinging strikes, which, near as I can tell, is the second-most by any starter since 1988. (The Kerry Wood Game, to put this into perspective, had 24 swinging strikes.) "I would like to have that stuff for just one inning," his pitching coach, Joe Kerrigan said afterward. "Just give me one batter." But on an eighth-inning run the Red Sox lost 1-0 to Steve Trachsel, who had led the majors in losses the year before. Pedro lowered his ERA for the season to 1.22, but he lost his 13-game winning streak. "One can only guess what we'd be saying and writing today if Pedro had actually won the game," the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy wrote that day.

Fast-forward to August, the Rays again. Gerald Williams led off the game, took a fastball on his hand, and charged the mound. He landed a clean punch before a pile formed on him and Pedro, and when it was all settled -- 12 minutes later -- Williams was ejected. Pedro was not. There would be a total of five scrums in the game -- Brian Daubach had to go to the hospital, Lou Merloni was hospitalized with a concussion, Trot Nixon maybe threw his bat at the pitcher, eight Rays were ejected, and a group of Rays tried to get into the Red Sox clubhouse after the game to keep the fight going -- but Martinez managed to keep his head down and stay in. He retired the next 24 batters before finally losing his no-hitter in the top of the ninth. "John Flaherty, a guy who couldn't hit himself, took a 97 mph fastball away and dropped it into right center," Pedro writes. "Go figure. If Flaherty could ruin my no-hitter in 2000 and Bip Roberts could spoil my perfect game five years earlier, there was no reason to be upset with never having one of those on my resume. It just wasn't meant to happen."

As the Boston Herald's Michael Silverman would write in 2015, "If one game could capture what made Martinez so dominating and infuriating for opponents, this was it." Indeed, it captures the subtext of Pedro, which even he seemed to underestimate. While he insisted that his pitch to Gerald Williams was unintentional, and that he had no history with Williams, Williams (and everybody else) had history with him, because of that subtext. Consider how, after the May start, a reporter had actually asked Williams whether he had expected any pitches high and tight from Pedro -- a seemingly out-of-nowhere question for a batter who hadn't gotten any pitches high and tight. But sure, makes sense as a question: It's Pedro! After the August start -- and the fastball to his hand -- Williams struggled to hold his tongue: "I want to remain professional. Sometimes, it becomes increasingly difficult when you're given a guy's background. That's all I want to say about it."

By Game Score, the August game was tied for the best start of Pedro's career. By swinging strikes, the start in May might well have been his most dominant. Neither was The Pedro Game.

Why neither is The Pedro Game: While these would easily sit atop the highlights for a normal ace, two masterpieces against a pitiful Rays team can't quite contend against Pedro's larger body of work. Besides, hardly anybody saw those games, or can see those games, and thus hardly anybody can remember those games with the appropriate sense of awe.

Can you watch them: Not entirely, but you can watch the brawl in the August game and you can watch 55 seconds of third strikes in the May game:


The Pedro Game Most Likely To Be Remembered in the Year 2119: Oct. 16, 2003

The Pitching line: 7.1/10/5/5/1/8

What happened: This was the start after the Don Zimmer game, after the death threats and the extra security, and here's what Pedro writes that was like:

"Just before I took the long, exposed walk out to the outfield to begin my long toss, I asked our resident security agent to walk beside me. Pitchers do not get police escorts on a baseball field. That night I did, for the first and last time. Before I could think about facing Alfonso Soriano, I had to stop thinking, literally, about meeting the same fate as John F. Kennedy."

He was so, so good. When the eighth inning began, with Pedro still pitching, Joe Buck read a promo for Master and Commander, "The year's most anticipated motion picture, starring Russell Crowe." Nineteen seconds later, Tim McCarver chimed in: "Master and Commander has starred Pedro Martinez tonight." Yesss.

But there's another thing Buck said that inning: "Some [people were] saying Pedro Martinez still had to have that one game -- that highlight game in his career." That's incredible, considering that all the other games we've talked about or are about to talk about had already happened, but the stakes and the performance might have justified it. Buck was suggesting, at roughly 11 p.m. on Oct. 16, 2003, that this was actually the greatest game of Pedro Martinez's career, that this was the game he'd be remembered for: Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, against the Yankees, to send Boston to the World Series, with the franchise still waiting for its first title in almost a century.

And then, incredibly, this start became exponentially more memorable, immeasurably more historic: Grady Little leaving Martinez out for one, and then two, three, four, five batters too long, long enough for Martinez to lose the lead, so that Aaron Boone could eventually hit the walk-off homer in the 11th inning. It might be the most famous baseball game of the 21st century.

But it's not The Pedro Game.

Why it's not The Pedro Game: It's the Grady Little Game. It might be the game most likely to be remembered 100 years from now, and Pedro was on the screen more than any other player, but this ultimately wasn't a movie about him. It was really a psychological thriller, with Little the protagonist.

Can you watch it? You can. In fact, if it's not the most-viewed full game on MLB's YouTube channel, it's very close:


The Not-A-Real-Game Pedro Game: July 13, 1999

The pitching line: 2/0/0/0/0/5

What happened: This was the 1999 All-Star Game, in Boston. Martinez had actually refused to pitch in the previous year's All-Star Game, after he felt snubbed when another pitcher was given the starting assignment. (Publicly, he claimed to be sore.) But the 1999 game was in Fenway Park, and by this point Martinez was a half-season into the greatest multi-year peak of any pitcher in history. He got the start.

"Joe Torre and his brother-in-law were in [Red Sox manager Jimy Williams'] office at Fenway before the game," Pedro writes in his book. "Joe was listening to his brother-in-law go on and on about the power in the NL lineup and how many home runs were going to be hit. 'Pedro will strike everyone out,' Joe told him. 'What? You realize who they've got?' 'Yeah, and I don't care -- he'll strike everyone out.'"

The six batters he faced were Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Matt Williams and Jeff Bagwell. He struck all but Williams out. Williams hit a first-pitch curveball weakly to second base.

Now, every baseball kid grows up hearing about the time Carl Hubbell struck out five Hall of Famers in a row, and there's no doubt Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx -- three of those Hall of Famers -- loom larger in the public record than Barry Larkin and Larry Walker. But Pedro's five-out-of-six strikeout victims had exactly the OPS Hubbell's five had, at the time:

  • Pedro's five, first half 1999: .311/.414/.609

  • Hubbell's five, first half 1934: .331/.428/.595

Larry Walker was hitting .382 at that point. Sosa and McGwire that year were both on their way to once again hitting more than 61 home runs. Larkin and Bagwell are each in the Hall of Fame.

"I was amped up at a level I had seldom reached," Pedro writes. It took him 28 pitches to get through his two innings. He threw six curveballs, and three caused batters to buckle: Two to Sosa, one to McGwire. He threw six changeups, four of them for swinging strikes. He threw 15 fastballs, up to 98 mph, and none were put into play. The five strikeout pitches are all GIF-able, but some of the best stuff was actually buried earlier in counts.

Those two innings are, to many, The Pedro Game, but they also cost the world an even better greatest pitching season of all time. "My shoulder was sore with what I thought was normal soreness after that game, but I was unable to work it out of my system before I went back into the rotation five days later. I only lasted 3 2/3 innings in my first start back, against the Marlins, because my shoulder was too sore to go. I had to go on the DL ... My ERA ballooned, relatively, from 2.10 at the ASB to 2.52 by the middle of August before my shoulder settled down." He had starts of 79 pitches, 77 pitches and 64 pitches in the weeks after. But in his final eight starts after it "settled down," he struck out 15, 11, 15, 17, 14, 12 and 12. If we take that timeline at face value, then this is what Pedro's season looks like without the All-Star Game:

  • First half: 15-3, 2.10 ERA, 184 Ks in 133 innings

  • Aug. 24 on: 6-0, 0.80 ERA, 97 Ks in 56 innings

Combined: 21-3, 1.72 ERA, 13.4 Ks/9

That 1.72 ERA would have come in a season in which the second-best ERA in the league was 3.44, and the league-average ERA was 4.86. (Bob Gibson's record 1.12 ERA came in a season when the league-average ERA was 2.99.) His FIP on the season -- 1.39 -- is already the lowest since the Deadball era, but without the sore-shoulder starts, it would have been 1.24. It is just wild to think that the second-shortest start of Pedro's career (by pitches), in a game that didn't even count, would have bitten so much out of such a historical season.

As it is, though, the shoulder at least settled down enough to make possible the top two contenders for The Pedro Game. The All-Star Game is not quite The Pedro Game.

Why it's not The Pedro Game: Too short, didn't count.

Can you watch it? You actually must watch it:


The Scriptwriter's Pedro Game: Oct. 11, 1999

Pitching line: 6/0/0/0/3/8 (in relief)

What happened: Pedro had started Game 1 of the ALDS, throwing four scoreless innings before he had to be removed for "something between a pinch and a pull," in his words. The Red Sox lost the game, and for the next week weren't sure if they'd lost Pedro. When the series reached Game 5, they still didn't know if he'd be available, and when he threw in the outfield before the game he didn't quite feel right.

Jimy Williams hoped to use Pedro for the final inning, maybe two, if the game turned out to be close. "The doctors examined the strained muscle running from his right shoulder down his back and said Martinez might be able to throw 40 pitches, absolute max," Tom Verducci wrote the following spring.

But when starter Bret Saberhagen and reliever Derek Lowe each got knocked out early, and the Red Sox trailed 8-7 through three, Pedro walked over to Jimy in the dugout.

"Jimy, I'm sorry, but I'm going to go to the bullpen and try and see what I can do."

"No Pedro, if you can go, you're supposed to go at the end, and that's only for one inning, maybe two, and 18, 20 pitches."

"Jimy, this is the time. I'm sorry. But I'm going to see what I can do and if I can do it, I'm going in."

"Goddammit, Pedro, I can't let you do that."

"No, Jimy, I'm going now."

He went to the bullpen and threw. (Rod Beck, the Red Sox closer, also warmed up. It was the third inning!) The Red Sox tied the game, and in the bottom of the fourth Martinez entered the game, barely able to top 90 mph. His first two pitches were balls, and the Cleveland crowd erupted, perhaps convinced they'd actually just been given a gift -- a hurt pitcher, about to get rocked. "With every pitch Martinez felt a stabbing sensation behind his shoulder," Verducci wrote.

And still he was Pedro, just different. He threw about twice as many changeups as he typically would, and more curveballs, too, including a changeup-curve-change-curve-change-curve sequence to Roberto Alomar in the fifth. He couldn't get his arm up to its regular three-quarters slot and was throwing almost sidearm, which gave his fastballs a bit of manic, unpredictable movement. As the strike zone expanded off the edges later in the game, he painted those extra inches of the plate, throwing mostly fastballs in the final two innings. When it ended, Pedro had thrown 97 pitches, six innings, hitless -- against the only 1,000-run offense since 1950. The Red Sox won.

It's probably his greatest performance, all things considered. Even if he weren't hurt, it would have been an all-timer, but the lingering injury made it like "Kirk Gibson limping off the bench to hit his home run -- and doing it five more times," in Verducci's words. In Pedro's: "You think about being a hero in baseball, the Kirk Gibson winning homer against [Dennis] Eckersley [in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series]. Fans think of that, but players do too. For me in my life I have never known when those things are going to happen, when that moment, that opportunity, is going to come. But in my heart, I wanted them so much." The great Red Sox beat writer Chad Finn says it was "to that point the most fulfilling experience I'd had in a lifetime as a Red Sox fan. I couldn't even tell you what would have ranked second."

And add onto that what Martinez was, he says now, risking: "I risked my career that day," he told Jonah Keri. "I did it out of pure guts and adrenaline. I went out there and I did it, I risked my career. From the 84-86 mph that I was probably throwing in the first inning, I went all the way up to 94 again, but at the end of the game I was dying. I've never been in more pain than I was that day."

I do not see how this cannot be The Pedro Game, but I've become convinced it's not.

Why it's not The Pedro Game: What made it incredible was that it wasn't quite Pedro. He'd been Freaky Friday'd into another pitcher's body, and his brilliant soul adapted and took advantage of the Indians' expectations. Somehow, he equaled himself. But it was an anomalous Pedro, not The Pedro. In that game, we saw something incredible happen, but Pedro as a pitcher could be more incredible than that.

Can you watch it? Here you go:


The Pedro Game: Sept. 10, 1999

The pitching line: 9/1/1/1/0/17, the only instance of that pitching line in major league history.

What happened: Pedro started against the Yankees, in the final month of a pennant race, in Yankee Stadium. In the second inning, he threw a truly terrible pitch and Chili Davis hit a solo home run, and you could reasonably argue he never threw another bad pitch. He retired the next 22 batters, 15 of them by strikeout. None of the final 11 batters hit a ball fair.

Buster Olney wrote the game story for the New York Times: "Hitters gossip on the Yankees' bench during games, sharing information about the opposing pitcher's flaws. But there was no free-flowing exchange of thought last night, no tips, no insight. They said nothing in the dugout because there was nothing to say. Boston's Pedro Martinez humbled the Yankees in their home park in a manner never seen before." Indeed, during the ninth inning the television broadcast cut from one Yankee face to another, maybe a dozen in all, each equally stunned and speechless. The impression was one of isolation, as though Pedro had put each batter into his own personal prison cell.

"Jimy Williams, the Boston manager, said it was the best pitching effort he had ever seen," Olney wrote. "David Cone agreed, less than two months removed from throwing a perfect game."

The stakes were not as high as they were in the LDS relief appearance, or in later playoff games Pedro started. But this was, says Brian MacPherson, formerly of the Providence Journal, "the most characteristic start. He was more memorably dominant in the 1999 All-Star Game, and he was more consequential in the 1999 ALDS -- though, the fact that the Red Sox meekly bowed out in the ALCS takes some oomph out of that. But 1999-2000 Pedro was defined by the fact that he took the ball to start a game and just completely outclassed whatever lineup he faced, often in overpowering fashion. In the same way that 20 strikeouts is more difficult to attain than a perfect game, there was something quintessentially Pedro about the fact that he strode into Yankee Stadium and struck out Yankee after Yankee after Yankee after Yankee -- a year after those Yankees had won 114 games, in a year they'd go on to win another World Series -- and that dominance isn't something that one random Chili Davis home run in the second inning could diminish."

The style, too, was quintessentially Pedro. He made eight different hitters move their feet with inside pitches. He found the extra couple inches the umpire was giving on the outside corner and carved that sliver repeatedly, forcing batters to then chase unhittable curves. He wouldn't give in on any count, preferring to set up a batter with a 2-1 off-speed pitch than groove anything. He mixed his arm slots, and, in the words of Chili Davis, "It's like he invented pitches out there." His curveballs drew ludicrously weak swings from Joe Girardi, then buckled Chuck Knoblauch's knees. Darryl Strawberry, pinch hitting in the ninth, would later say he walked to the plate with no plan whatsoever. Yet all Pedro did was throw him four straight fastballs, and Strawberry swung like he'd left his eyes in the dugout.

Derek Jeter was hitting .353 coming into the game. Bernie Williams was hitting .344. These were the Yankees. But it didn't matter whether it was the Yankees in September or a simulated game on a spring training backfield. The game was 100 percent under Pedro's control.

When Pedro struck out 17 Rays the next year, it was this game he compared his stuff to. (He said his stuff was better in the Yankees game.) When we said earlier that those 17 Ks tied a career high, it was tied with this game. When we said another game matched his career-best Game Score, it was this one it matched. Other games were more dramatic (though not by much!), but this game alone was Pedro as he was, and at his best.

Can you watch it? With a Spanish-language audio feed, you sure can. You should.


For what it's worth, Pedro wouldn't name a Pedro Game. Speaking of the final three mentioned here -- the All-Star Game, the LDS relief appearance and Yankee Stadium -- he said, "[Fans] enjoyed those three games. So did I. But a favorite? I'll keep them all."

Here's another thing he said, after the Rays' John Flaherty broke up his no-hitter in Aug. 2000: "I don't really care. A no-hitter is not what's going to dictate what kind of pitcher I am. I think my career is more interesting than one game." Strongly agree.

Just days after winning the US Open mixed doubles title, Bethanie Mattek-Sands is heading back to school - and is joined in class at Harvard Business School by former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.

Mattek-Sands, 34, who announced she had enrolled at the prestigious university on Twitter, and partner Jamie Murray won their second consecutive title in New York on Saturday.

The American posed in front of the school's famous red-brick building in Massachusetts, wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan "girls can do anything".

And in a similar move Denmark's Wozniacki, 29, said studying at Harvard was "a dream come true".

The 2018 Australian Open champion, who has struggled with injuries this season and was diagnosed with arthritis in 2018, lost in the third round at Flushing Meadows to eventual champion Bianca Andreescu.

The duo follow in the footsteps of five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova, who studied for a business diploma at Harvard in 2016 when she was banned for using a prohibited drug.

In his latest BBC Sport column, Jamie Murray describes why his fourth US Open title in four years was so special, the emotions and moments which follow a Grand Slam triumph, and the goals he has left in the sport.

It goes without saying I'm delighted to have won a fourth US Open title in four years after Bethanie Mattek-Sands and I retained the mixed doubles.

Winning four titles in a row there, one in the men's and three in the mixed, is an amazing achievement and retaining the mixed is not an easy thing to do.

We are the first team to achieve that in 37 years so it shows how hard it is.

Now I'm looking to finish the season strongly with my men's doubles partner Neal Skupski to set us up nicely for 2020.

I still have a couple of big goals left in my career - winning the men's doubles at Wimbledon and the French Open.

Winning those titles with Neal would certainly be a career highlight.

It is an amazing feeling to win the biggest events. That's what makes the training and sacrifices all worthwhile - for those moments.

Neal and I joined up for the grass-court season and, after losing in the first round at Wimbledon, we really gelled over the North American hard-court season.

We had plenty of game time together, reaching the semi-finals in Cincinnati and Winston Salem, and that paid off as we also reached the semi-finals in the men's competition at Flushing Meadows.

Initially we said our partnership would be until at least the end of this year and we will continue to play together next year.

Things have gone well so now we can get ourselves in a good position to start things up next year and get a full season together.

The past few weeks have been a good run for our partnership; we did well getting to the semi-finals, but also the fact of playing more matches and getting a better understanding. That will definitely get stronger.

'We drank champagne out of the trophy and ate pizza'

After you've won a Grand Slam title you don't immediately have time to let what you've just done sink in - there is so much you have to do after coming off court.

That initial moment, when you win match point, you're immediately feeling ecstatic. Although it was very funny on Saturday because Beth hadn't realised we had won.

She thought the score was something else and then I had a panic that I had started to celebrate and we hadn't actually won.

But the crowd was going crazy so I knew we had and then she bounded over to jump on me in celebration. It was a great moment.

We played an amazing match from start to finish and kept going where we left off in the semi-finals. The way we played against Chan Hao-ching and Michael Venus - the top seeds - was pleasing and we're so happy to win again.

Standing on court receiving your trophies is always an emotional moment and after receiving our prizes, we had to go straight to drug testing to pee!

After that we had to go to a couple of television studios for interviews, do a 'winner's walk' video for the US Open, talk to the press and then finally get a shower.

Then I had to head to the airport because my flight was only a few hours after the final finished so I was rushing around a bit.

I turned my phone off before the match and once I finally got the chance to check it I had 51 WhatsApp messages of congratulations.

My brother Andy and my dad William were among them, plus lots of other members of the family and friends, while my mum was there watching so she could say congratulations in person.

Even though I had to rush off to JFK airport, I still had time to squeeze in some champagne - which we drank out of the trophy - and pizza with Bethanie and her husband Justin, my wife Alejandra, and the other members of our teams.

We did that last year so we had to continue the winning tradition!

We get a replica trophy which they send to us and that will go somewhere in the living room, probably around the television.

I've got a few trophies around the house because my wife says it is nice to document what I've achieved and show my hard work has paid off.

It is nice to have those memories because it is easy not to celebrate because then there is next week and the next step. But it's cool to take time to reflect on previous successes and enjoy it.

'Bethanie's injury problems makes victory even more special'

Bethanie and I will keep playing together, I'm sure we will be playing the Australian Open as a pair.

We have amazing chemistry on court and that's incredibly important for a doubles team. That's what helps you get through the difficult moments.

You can put two great players on the court together but if they don't have that bond then ultimately they will fall short and won't be as successful as a team that are together through thick and thin.

Bethanie unfortunately missed the French Open earlier this year because of injury but as long as she is fit and healthy then we will keep playing.

She suffered a career-threatening knee injury at Wimbledon a couple of years ago and it is incredible what she has come back from.

I saw her a few months after the surgery from the dislocated knee - with Justin here, actually - and basically she was learning to walk again, take her first steps again. So to see where she is now is incredible.

She had another knee surgery this year so it has been difficult for her but to be back winning the biggest tournaments in the world is what makes all the rehab and perseverance all worth it.

It certainly makes our victory even more special.

Jamie Murray was speaking to BBC Sport's Jonathan Jurejko at Flushing Meadows

Remembering Rabat: the 2019 African Games

Published in Table Tennis
Tuesday, 10 September 2019 01:54

Significantly nations like Chad, Malawi and Mauritania featured in a continental tournament for the first time; they fielded players in the singles and doubles events.

Record number of participants

A record number of national associations took part in the tournament; 81 men and 62 women competed in the table tennis competition.

First for Algeria

Algeria claimed their first gold medal at the Games when Sami Kherouf and Sofiane Boudjadja beat Egypt’s Ahmed Ali Saleh and Mohamed El-Beiali to emerge the men’s doubles champions; earlier at the semi-final stage the duo had ousted Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo and Segun Toriola.

“I believe this medal will inspire more young people to embrace table tennis and I think this will mean more money for table tennis.” Sofiane Boudjadja

Men’s singles champion on debut

Making his debut at the African Games, Olajide Omotayo emerged the surprise winner of the men’s singles event. He beat compatriot Quadri Aruna, the semi-final winner in opposition to Egypt’s Omar Assar, the defending champion.

It was the sixth time that Nigerians had faced each other in an African Games men’s singles final. Previously, in 1978 Atanda Musa played Kasali Lasisi; then in 1987 he confronted Yomi Bankole before in 1991 opposing Sule Olaleye. Later, in 1995 in Harare Segun Toriola met Monday Merotohun before in 2007 in Algiers facing Monday Merotohun

Nigeria secures women’s doubles title

An all Nigerian women’s doubles final witnessed success for Edem Offiong and Cecilia Akpan against colleagues Olufunke Oshonaike and Fatimo Bello.

Egypt booked Olympic Games places

Gold medallists in both the men’s team and women’s team events, Egypt booked their places in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Dina Meshref retained title

Egypt’s Dina Meshref retained her women’s singles title; thus she became the only Egyptian player to achieve the feat. In addition she partnered Omar Assar to mixed doubles gold.

Service rewarded

The African Table Tennis Federation recognised Nigeria’s 73 year old John Peters for his services to table tennis. He officiated on the first occasion table tennis was held at the African Games in 1973 in Lagos; then he was on duty in 1987 in Nairobi, 2003 in Abuja, 2007 in Algiers, 2011 in Maputo and 2015 in Congo Brazzaville, as well as in now in Rabat.

Apart from his continental duties, John Peters officiated at the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and Glasgow. He was also present at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

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Inside Matt Duchene's decision to sign with the Predators

Published in Hockey
Monday, 09 September 2019 13:33

When center Matt Duchene signed a seven-year, $56 million contract with the Nashville Predators this summer, the rest of the league barely batted an eye. "Come on," one prominent agent told me recently. "Everyone knew that was going to happen."

Indeed, the 28-year-old Duchene -- who has also played for the Avalanche, Senators and Blue Jackets -- has been linked to the Predators for years. In a conversation with ESPN, Duchene addressed why there was so much speculation surrounding the move (country music! property records!) as well as reaction to the shots former coach John Tortorella took in the media. Duchene also opened up about how he'd like hockey players to be marketed and whether we'll be comparing him to P.K. Subban for years to come.


ESPN: Many people in hockey -- fans, media, other players, executives, hockey Reddit -- speculated for some time that you would end up in Nashville. They mentioned your love for country music. A lot of people pointed out last year that you bought property in Nashville. Do you think the coverage was a bit overblown?

Matt Duchene: Yeah, I think so. I think the reason is because there were so many rumors. There were almost-trades that happened. There were things over the course of probably the last four years -- a lot of almosts. I think people know my interests. They thought my interest in country music was the reason I was going to end up there.

ESPN: You're not the only player who loves country music ...

Duchene: Yeah, totally. But I'm probably the most passionate about it in the league. At the same time, that wasn't part of our decision. The big thing about it was, it's a great hockey team, it's a great place for [me and my wife, Ashley] to live. It's our style of community and city and a place we'd love to bring our little guy up [Matt and Ashley welcomed a son, Beau, in January].

So, yeah, it was speculated for a long time, and there was definitely some merit to that speculation. There was a mutual interest, for sure. But even when I bought a property out there, it wasn't ever to live in. I mean, it's a small townhouse for an investment kind of thing. Short-term rental type thing because it's such a great market for that out there. My buddy lives next door. So that was the case with that. That place is going to come in handy right now when we move into our other place.

ESPN: Was it a little unnerving to see your property records online go so public?

Duchene: I was really upset about that because it looked like I had the whole thing planned out from day one. And that was never the case. When I went into camp last year with Ottawa, I was committed to playing there, and I thought there was a good chance I was going to stay there. We looked very hard at that. It was a tough decision to leave Ottawa. When I got to Columbus, same thing. We loved Columbus, and we looked at Columbus right up until the end. Once we got to the point where we got to choose, at that point, it was obvious where our hearts were. But throughout the rest of that, I was committed to the team I was playing for, for sure, one hundred percent.

ESPN: One a scale of 1-10, how anonymous do you think you can be in public -- one being nobody recognizes you at all, 10 being you are swarmed the second you step outside?

Duchene: Depends where you are. I think you can be a zero, and I think you can be a 10.

ESPN: OK, so what about while you're in the city you're playing in at that time?

Duchene: Nashville, I'm not sure. Probably I would say pretty low. I think it's pretty touristy around downtown. I know it's touristy because I've been a tourist there many times. So I think you could fly under the radar there. There are other places where you wouldn't, but I haven't experienced it yet.

ESPN: Was Ottawa the 10 side of the scale?

Duchene: Ottawa was, yeah, it was up there for sure. Columbus was actually pretty [similar] -- they love the team there. Their fan base is really sneaky, a pretty awesome fan base they have there.

ESPN: What did you learn about that market during the playoff run last season?

Duchene: I couldn't believe how great a hockey city that Columbus was. I just didn't know. You don't hear about it. You don't meet a lot of Columbus fans, like, walking around the street, but then in that city, my goodness. I never heard a rink be like that in my life. Game four [of the first round], when we put out Tampa, it was deafening. We were in the room after, and all of us were on such a high because we were like, "Wow, we accomplished something pretty amazing." First time this franchise has been past the first round. The city was just starving for it. [That's] something I'll have with me my whole life and something I'll look back on.

ESPN: Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella had some pretty strong comments recently to The Athletic. He talked about the free agents who left and basically said it made him angry to see you guys want to win elsewhere when Columbus has a great chance. What was your reaction to that?

Duchene: I didn't take it personally. He and I texted throughout the summer, even after I signed [in Nashville]. I understand. Torts is a guy that is all for his players, and he wants to show to his guys that he's in there with them still and feeling that way. It's what he does. And that's what makes him a good coach. I didn't take any offense to it. I know where he's coming from, and he's a passionate guy.

ESPN: How's life with your first kid?

Duchene: It's great. It's amazing. Not as much sleep as I used to get, but I think I'm more energized by him. It's the best thing I've ever done in my life, and he's just the sweetest little guy. He's smiley as heck and laughing all the time. I miss him when I'm gone. We were FaceTiming the other day, and he recognized me on the phone. He tried to grab the phone, and he was smiling. It just melts your heart.

ESPN: What's the most Canadian saying?

Duchene: Anything with "eh" in it. Back home it's like, "How are you there, eh?" That's probably the one that everyone says the most.

ESPN: When was the last time you Googled yourself?

Duchene: I don't even remember.

ESPN: How about searched yourself on Twitter?

Duchene: A long time. Twitter and Instagram are just a black hole of negativity. I wish it was just not in existence, but it's a powerful tool also. For me, I get to share great parts of my life with people and kind of let people get to know me as a person. But you can go down a bad road that way too. I know guys who have. People don't realize how tough it is on your mental health as an athlete to have to deal with some of that stuff.

ESPN: What attributes do you think a modern NHL coach has to have?

Duchene: You want to command respect but do it in a respectful way. I don't think there's a place in our game, because we're all grown men, and we're all doing our best -- well, most of the time we're all doing our best or should be -- and I don't think disrespect is a good thing. I think the best coaches have a way of demanding from their players in a respectful way. I think empowerment, showing that belief in your team and that empowerment in your team. I've had times where I felt like I was playing against my coach more than I was playing against the other team. You're never going to get out of your team what you can with that.

ESPN: I notice a lot of cultural differences between sports. In football, everyone wants to be called men. In hockey, it's boys. Everyone calls each other boys. Why?

Duchene: It's probably a Canadian thing. With the boys, let's go, boys. I think it's very suiting, too, because we're all just big kids. Hockey makes you mature faster than anyone else because the situations you are in are unrealistic in this world. A hockey dressing room is one of the hardest places to learn how to fit in, to learn how to navigate. It took me a long, long time to refine that. I'm still working on it. But at the end of the day, we get to play a kids' game for a living, and we're all just a bunch of boys at heart.

ESPN: What's one change to make the NHL better?

Duchene: I think there's room still to grow our game. Obviously in Canada you don't need to grow it -- it's what it is. It's the biggest thing in North America. There's not a demographic that's more passionate about a sport than Canadians are with hockey. In the U.S., you obviously have the big four, and we're number four. Anybody who does get into hockey ends up loving it, and most of the time it becomes their No. 1 sport. The biggest thing is how do we get everyone to that sport?

It's amazing how many Americans I meet who grew up with baseball, basketball, football as their main culture, and then they go to a hockey game, and they're hooked. It's fast, and it's entertaining. Guys are warriors. There's a ton of skill and finesse in it too. It's a very well-rounded game -- obviously, I'm biased. How do we get those people, that demographic into it more? It's pretty cool to be going to a market like Nashville, where it's a Southern market. That city has become a hockey town, and I'm excited to be part of it and to be part of that culture.

ESPN: Along the lines of promoting the sport, my belief is that hockey needs to do a better job promoting its athletes. I'm curious: Would you feel comfortable appearing in a national ad campaign, or would you feel, as a hockey player, that it would be too big of a distraction for your team and you wouldn't want to put yourself out there?

Duchene: No, I'd be in 100 percent because I think it would be good for the game. I think you're right. I think hockey players are marketed as hockey players, not as athletes, a lot of the time. And that's where the other sports are different. There's a lot of guys in other sports that are recognized as pro athletes, and everybody knows who they are. "Oh, yeah, that guy plays this." That's the second thing that comes to your mind. But we're almost hockey players first, athletes second. If we could change that way of thinking, I think the game will grow.

ESPN: I just had a conversation with a player who said the NHL needs to be better about guys wearing not just suits. He suggested guys start wearing white sneakers with suits because that makes them more fashionable. I noticed when you walked in that you're wearing some white sneakers right now.

Duchene: I definitely won't be pulling these out my first few weeks or months or whatever in Nashville. But I think this is the way the style is going, with suits and the sneakers now. So I think you'll start to see some guys start doing it throughout the league. It's a good look! Everyone is doing it right now. You watch TV, all those reality shows, the hosts are all wearing suits and sneakers, and they look great. Obviously, that's the style.

ESPN: Last thing. You were not traded for P.K. Subban. It wasn't one for one. But everyone is going to compare you guys the next couple of years, with you signing this contract in Nashville [and him being traded to clear cap space for it]. Is that weird?

Duchene: See, I don't get that sense. I don't think that's going to be a comparison. Because we weren't traded [for each other]. We're different positions. It's hard to compare apples to oranges. We're different people. There's a lot of differences. I think that's something that will be overlooked pretty quickly. Maybe it's just fresh right now.

He's a heckuva player, a big personality, obviously, a guy who has done an amazing job off the ice giving the league some personality. I don't see that being a thing. That's the last thing on my mind, to be honest with you.

Lewis bows out of Solheim Cup because of back injury

Published in Golf
Monday, 09 September 2019 21:51

GLENEAGLES, Scotland ­– If the U.S. is going to win the Solheim Cup at Gleneagles, it is going to have to do so without Stacy Lewis.

The four-time Solheim Cup veteran withdrew from the competition Tuesday because of a back injury, which flared up on Lewis last week.

“I’m extremely disappointed not to be able to play,” Lewis said in a statement. “I’m a competitor and I want to play. … I’ve done everything I could possibly do over the last week to be ready to play. For my health and what I feel is in the best interest of the team, I decided to take myself out.

“I will take a different role with the team and will do whatever I can to help Team USA bring the cup home.”

With Lewis, who was initially selected to the squad as a captain’s pick, now serving her team from the sidelines, first alternate Ally McDonald will replace Lewis on the playing roster.

“I didn’t want to make the team this way, but when [U.S. captain] Juli [Inkster] told me what was going on with Stacy, I was ready to step into either role, if that was being here and being part of the experience or being ready to tee it up,” McDonald said. “It was just mentally preparing for either scenario. I’m obviously very excited to play. This was a goal of mine to play on this team.”

McDonald, a fourth-year LPGA pro, will be making her Solheim Cup debut. However, the Mississippi State product did represent the U.S. at the 2014 Curtis Cup. That week, she partnered with Annie Park, also a member of this year’s Solheim Cup team, and beat Charlotte Thomas and current European Solheim Cupper Bronte Law in fourballs.

She has big shoes to fill, though. Lewis, 34, has a 5-10-1 career record in the matches, though she is 3-1 in fourballs and brings with her a wealth of experience.

“Stacy is one of the fiercest competitors I have ever met,” Inkster said. “I know this was an incredibly tough decision for her, but she also has the team’s best interests at heart. Stacy will stay with Team USA over the next week and will still be an incredible asset to our crew. But when I had to choose an alternate, I knew Ally would be able to step up for the challenge. She’s got a cool head but a fiery spirit. I know she’ll bring her best to Team USA.”

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