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THE 27TH ANNUAL WOODEN AWARD
4.15.03
memo menos
Texas point guard T.J. FORD was the 2003 recipient of the JOHN WOODEN AWARD, given to the most outstanding college basketball player. FORD was given the honor by 92-year old WOODEN who joked about owning a Ford, and having a soft spot for point guards.
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Sophomore T.J.FORD is all smiles after being named best college bballer for 2003 by legend JOHN WOODEN.
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The other finalists included 2nd place vote getter DAVID WEST of Xavier, HOLLIS PRICE of Oklahoma, NICK COLLISON of Kansas and DWYANE WADE of Marquette.
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DAVID WEST
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NICK COLLISON
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HOLLIS PRICE
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DWYANE WADE
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Kansa coach ROY WILLIAMS was on hand in support of his forward COLLISONand to receive THE JOHN WOODEN LEGENDARY COACH award, but did not let on of his impending announcement, made Tuesday, that he was leaving the Jayhawks to coach his alma mater NORTH CAROLINA. The Tar Heels fired another alumni, MATT DOHERTY at the end of the season to make room for WILLIAMS. It was rumored for a while that WILLIAMS would join WOODEN’S old school U.C.L.A., but the Bruins put an end to that speculation with the hiring of former PITTSBURGH head coach BEN HOWLAND last week.
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"Legendary" coach ROY WILLIAMS
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PAUL TRACY IS 3 for 3 in 2003.
4.14.03
memo menos
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PAUL TRACY hoists trophy.
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TRACY, FERNANDEZ and JUNQEIRA
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Bottoms up!
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PAUL TRACY got a lucky break Sunday, but as he put it in the press conference, "In racing, when the breaks go your way, you’ve got to take advantage of them." And he did just that, passing ADRIAN FERNANDEZ and gaining his third win of the season in as many races, as the leader for most of the race, and the pole sitter, MICHEL JOURDAIN stalled out in his final pit stop just a few laps from the finish.
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| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ elated with 2nd place finish. |
FERNANDEZ, wildly popular in Mexico, had his best showing in 11 years racing in the Long Beach Grand Prix, with his second place finish. Both he and TRACY commented on how physical the race was. Street racing adds an element of excitement, but is known for little or no passing, and that was true for the most part Sunday.
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| MICHEL JOURDAIN @ pole-sitter's press conference Saturday. |
JOURDAIN was in tears as team owner BOBBY RAHAL consoled him in the pits. It looked as if MICHEL would exact some revenge against PAUL TRACY, to whom he had finished second in the 2 other races this year in St. Petersburg and Monterey, Mexico. JOURDAIN had the fastest qualifying time, and led for much of the race Sunday. When he pulled in for his final pit stop, just a topper of gas and 4 fresh tires from one of the best pit crews on the circuit, the RAHAL TEAM, he had just finished the fastest lap at 102 mph and had more than a second lead on FERNANDEZ and TRACY.
The pit crew dropped some fuel in the tank and had the four tires switched fast enough, but then on giving the go signal, the car just died. attempts to push start the car were futile. "Days like this don’t happen very often. This is the first time it has happened in 123 races for me…It is terrible when everything goes so perfect and you don’t win" JOURDAIN said.
The race had 9 rookies in the field, one of them American RYAN HUNTER REAY who finished an impressive 7th. REAY is part of the AMERICAN SPIRIT racing team, along with veteran JIMMY VASSER who finished 4th. AMERICAN SPIRIT, owned by STEPHAN JOHANNSON was quite pleased with 2 finishers in the top 10.
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| Winner PAUL TRACY |
TRACY, who won his first champ car race here in 1983, leads the series with 64 points, nearly as many as he had after 12 races last year. BRUNO JUNQUEIRA, who finished third here, is second with 38 points, followed by JOURDAIN, 34 points and ADRIAN FERNANDEZ with 28 points.
The racers move on to the United Kingdom for the next race May 5, and then to Germany on May 11 before returning to Milwaukie May 31.
The weekend included the traditional Celebrity Grand Prix, won this year by DAYS OF OUR LIVES star PETER RECKELL. He bested other pseudo-celebrities like JESSE JAMES, BUZZ ALDRIN, ANGIE EVERHART, ADAM CAROLLA and PICABO STREET. In the Professional category, celebrities with some racing experience, JOSH BROLIN last year’s celebrity race winner, beat out JEREMY McGRATH.
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JEREMY McGRATH & PETER RECKELL
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celebrate in the winner's circle.
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BUZZ ALDRIN
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ANGIE EVERHART
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JOSH BROLIN
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GIN BLOSSOMS' JESSE VALENZUELA & ROBIN WILSON
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On Saturday evening, the GIN BLOSSOMS performed for nearly 90 minutes in a free concert that included their hits HEY JEALOUSY, FOLLOW YOU DOWN, ALLISON ROAD, FOUND OUT ABOUT YOU, and TIL I HEAR IT FROM YOU. Lead singer ROBIN WILSON took a leap into the audience during the show and it carried him out into the crowd, hoisted him to his feet and returned him to the stage. The band reunited in 2002 and is touring to celebrate the release of their 10th anniversary 2-cd set, NEW MISERABLE EXPERIENCE.
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Lead singer ROBIN WILSON ventures into the audience during the Saturday rock show.
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It was quite a weekend in Long Beach at the Grand Prix. Don’t miss it in 2004!
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| Acrobatic air squadron RED BARON |
carves a heart in the sky before race. |
THE NFL FOLLIES
What has happened to professional football in the United States? Never mind that one of the biggest markets in the world, Los Angeles, hasn't had a team for nearly forever. And the reason for that is, what, luxury boxes? Never mind all that. What is going on with the blue haired zebras running the game? There are so many ridiculous rules, and so many old farts running around the field in beer bellies and stripes, that not even the announcers know whazzup.
Take Sunday's thrilling, come from behind 39-38 victory by the SAN FRANCISCO 49er's over the NEW YORK GIANTS. The game was exciting beyond expectations. It highlighted individual performance, like JEFF GARCIA'S emergence as SF's new scrambling quarterback erasing the memories of STEVE YOUNG for Bay area fans. And it featured great team play by the 49er's who needed every desperate effort by each player to pull off the miraculous comeback, 24 points down with little more than a quarter remaining.
Yet, it was a flurry of rules interpretations on the last play that remain the focal point of the game, tainting what should be remembered as a tremendous and entertaining pigskin performance. There were rules that came to light I never knew even existed. Like the one where only a quarterback can "spike" the football. Huh? I bet CHRIS COLLINGSWORTH will never forget that rule. He's the FOX color commentator who lambasted the holder, MATT ALLEN, for not correcting the mistake of the snapper by grounding the ball and giving the GIANTS another shot at the field goal with a couple of ticks left on the clock. But, the powers that be, whoever that is, anticipated just such a possibility, and legislated against it with a rule that if anyone other than a quarterback "spikes" the football to stop the clock, then an intentional grounding shall be assessed, and 10-seconds shall be removed from the clock. Say what?
Now, let's back track here. It is the rules committee that each year tinkers with the hundreds of pages that make up the bible from which the zebras administer a professional football game. It is the owners who sit around in the off-season at some fancy hotel in some tropical climate, that decide these rules. Whatever the reasoning for this such rule, or whatever dementia the owners, or their minions could have been suffering under to cause them to anticipate such an occasion, is beyond me. But there it is, the rule is there and the holder must have known it. Don't you think? Why else would he have quickly gotten to his feet, and scurried out of the pocket in search of a receiver to try and salvage a score. It must have been because he knew of that 10 second penalty, and as we all know, there just weren't 10 seconds left.
What he didn't realize, or maybe he did, was that there was an ineligible receiver down field. Otherwise he wouldn't have thrown the football, because if he had held it there could be no penalty, could there? I mean, if a tree falls in the forrest, and no one hears it, is it a penalty? Or, perhaps to avoid the intentional grounding thing, he may have thought, hey, the game can't end on a penalty, and it I throw to my ineligible receiver, there's bound to be flags, and maybe we'll get another play that way.
The defensive pass interference was just gravy. Only the zebras didn't call it. Because if they had, it would have offset, and the play would have to be played over from the median difference in yards between the spots where the two infractions occurred, minus 5 yards for the team which committed the first offense, unless it was within the last 2 minutes, in which case, the game should be forfeited and the zebras should have their stripes stuffed up their asses.
What kind of silliness is going on? Who the hell is an ineligible receiver? What is an illegal formation. What in the world is pass interference? There's too much illegal motion, and
holding, and refereeing, period. I think before each game they ought to line up the zebras at midfield, and have the offensive linemen from the team that wins the coin toss charge them from behind and plow into them with a collective, earth-shaking crackback block, whilst the defensive line of the opposing team rushes from the other side in an illegal formation, and grab the refs by the face (an illegal hit to the head or roughing the passer?) as the refs are signalling for a fair catch. After the dust settles, carry them all off the field on stretchers, to thunderous applause from the crowd and then we can get around to some football. Let the guys in the pads, and the helmets, and the years of training, and the lightning speed play it out on the field, simple, and unfettered by whistles and hankies and beer gutted stripes.
I guess you could videotape the whole thing so that every play could be reviewed, from 30 or so angles. And not just the judgement calls, every play is reviewable. Or is it the non-judgement calls?
Oh, who cares anyway. The RAIDERS are going to win it all. And isn't that ironic, the RAIDRES are probably the most penalized team in the history of the sport. And some of their penalties are felonies in most states. But that's another story...
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