The Friday Fizz

The Friday Fizz
June 9, 2006



After a long and arduous workweek, it’s easy to forget what’s transpired in the sports world in recent days and what sporting events lie in wait on the weekend. So, the Friday Fizz is here to remind you that life is not all about TPS Reports and moody bosses. Life, for most men, is about sports, women and sex, and not necessarily in that order. So, without further ado, the following is my weekly riff of newsworthy notes that you and the boys can use as fodder for happy hour talk over a couple of pints at the local pub:

NBA Finals

Game 1 of the NBA Finals saw one of the University of Arizona’s most underrated point guards in school history explode onto the scene. Coach Avery Johnson has called Terry his project all season, attempting to alter Terry’s “scoring” style more into that of a true point guard; a role Terry has accepted. The emergence of Devon Harris, though, provides Johnson with an alternative at the point if Terry and Mavs owner Mark Cuban can’t reach a contract agreement this summer. Still, last night proved that the Mavs can’t win without Terry. Terry scored 32 on a night when Miami did enough on defense to take Dirk Nowitzki out of his comfort zone. And with Shaq putting Jerry Stackhouse on the deck every time he drove the lane and Josh Howard struggling from the floor, a scorer like Terry needs to be in the mix. The formula calling for three stars to win an NBA Championship won’t ring true this year with each team only having two (Shaq/Wade, Nowitzki/No one else), but Terry is becoming more and more of a star each season and to part ways with Terry in the off season would be a mistake the Mavs would not feel until next postseason.


Human Growth Hormone (HGH)

Is anyone surprised that HGH is now the drug of discussion in Major League Baseball? Jason Grimsley’s drug bust, alleged confession, and early retirement/shameful resignation from the Diamondbacks have baseball insiders scrambling for the facts. Still, finding the facts really isn’t the issue. The issue is MLB’s embarrassing handling of the entire steroid/drug issue since the release of Jose Conseco’s tell all book. Instead of proposing sweeping changes to the sport’s drug testing program, they half-assed it by not requiring blood tests and now it’s come back to haunt them. Quite frankly, Bud Selig deserves this because he has allowed the faces of the game such as Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa to burn in effigy this past year over their suspected steroid use while exploiting their home run hitting prowess to revitalize the game’s reputation as America’s pastime. You can’t celebrate their home runs to market the sport and then curse them for cheating as if you never suspected any wrongdoing. The fact remains that people have suspected steroid use in baseball for more than 15 years but until Congress stepped in and forced action, the Commissioner’s Office turned a blind eye and benefited from the revenue stream that these home run hitters brought to ballparks around the league. AND even then, they now only test urine samples (can’t detect HGH this way) which is the equivalent of only using calipers to measure body fat and expecting a result that is 100% accurate.

The World Cup

I won’t even pretend to know what CONCACAF stands for, but apparently it represents the group of countries/teams that the USA competes with for qualification into the World Cup every four years. The USA won the CONCACAF outright and qualified first over Mexico for entry into the 2006 Cup. So, tell me this, how is Mexico given a more favorable seed than the United States when we beat them head to head, won the overall qualifier, and are ranked higher according to FIFA? Is it because FIFA thought it would be safer (on a nuclear level) for all interested parties that Mexico play Iran instead of the USA? Is it another one of the ‘the world hates the U.S.’ things and is looking for any way to see our nation fail? Does FIFA side with Mexico on U.S. Border Immigration issues? Or is there an actual ranking system within the world ranking system that can legitimately explain why Mexico has a cakewalk schedule and the USA is placed in one of only two “Groups of Death.”

Recruiting Buzz

Remember Marijuanavich? It appears that Todd Marinovich, the strapping superstar quarterback of yesteryear who played for USC and then the Oakland Raiders before watching his at onetime promising football career come crashing down due to alcohol and drugs, has a younger brother with some skills himself. Mikhail, a quarterback at little known Serra High in San Juan Capistrano, was ranked the third best player at a California football summer camp and is quickly gaining steam as a player to watch out for in the 2007 recruiting class. Let’s hope his dad has learned from previous mistakes and has allowed Mikhail to put back a few McDonald’s hamburgers and pizza pies while growing up. If so, then Mikhail may have a chance. If not, then Mikhail will probably follow in Todd’s footsteps and go absolutely nuts with sex, fast food, drugs and alcohol the moment he’s released from the Marinovich Family Youth Penitentiary.

What’s Ahead

The Breeder’s Cup is on Saturday, followed by the Antonio Tarver/Bernard Hopkins fight. Tarver had to lose 45 pounds to make the weight. It’s sad to see the sad state that boxing is in when the sport takes a back seat to pretty much everything but the WNBA. If promoters cared about anything but the money going into their own pockets, they’d put more prize fights on basic cable to gain a larger audience because Pay Per View today is not only a rip off to fans, but it’s ripping apart the sport’s fan base. Of course, Game 2 of the Mavs/Heat series is on Sunday night and in between I understand there are some baseball games and stuff.

Until next week...