LITTLE ROCK — Olympics in need of old events
With the Summer Olympics just a couple of months away, New York Times writer Victor Mather decided earlier this week to look back at some events from Olympic Games of the past - some that, if returned, could spice up this year’s London Games just a bit.
Some of his suggestions:
Tug of war (1900-1920): As Mather put it: “Why wouldn’t a bunch of burly guys pulling for their countries be riveting? ... Here’s an idea. Hold the tug on the final day, and require that all members of the team be participants in other sports. An interdisciplinary tug team of weight lifters, shot-putters and heavyweight boxers would be a grand example of the spirit of the Olympics.”
The 12-hour bicycle race (1896): From Mather: “The riders got on their bikes at 7 a.m. and rode until 7 p.m. The winner, Adolf Schmal of Austria, managed about 180 miles, and only two competitors finished, but couldn’t today’s ultramarathon set turn this into a real test of man and machine?”
Tandem bicycle 2,000-meter sprint (1906-1972): “A bicycle built for two doesn’t seem so quaint when it’s racing at top speed on a steeply banked velodrome. Expect crashes.”
No such luck catching these events this summer. But there will be plenty synchronized swimming, race walking and rhythmic gymnastics.
Fighting back
Add former kicker Mike Vanderjagt to a list of athletes you wouldn’t want to taunt in public - even kids.
Vanderjagt, who spent eight seasons as a kicker for the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys, now lives in Marco Island, Fla., while running a pizza place and serving as a volunteer soccer coach at a local middle school.
The Naples (Fla.) Daily News reported that on March 12, Marco Island police responded to a call reporting an adult male had grabbed a student by the throat.
Police said a student was taunting Vanderjagt by yelling “wide left, wide left,” through a rolled-up poster board, a reference to the field goal Vanderjagt missed at the end of a 2006 playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The report said Vanderjagt heard the comments in a parking lot at the school, and that he walked up to a student, “grabbed him by the throat and started cursing at him,” the newspaper reported.
Vanderjagt told police that he had grown tired of the taunts he had heard from students for months.
Really, Vanderjagt was setting an example for others to stand up to those middle-school bullies.
Wild finish
A game in the Mountain West Tournament played Thursday in Las Vegas looked to be heading for an unceremonious ending with TCU leading San Diego State by 10 runs heading into the top of the ninth inning.
But San Diego State scored 11 runs on eight hits in the ninth, a rally that included two home runs, a couple of wild pitches, a hit batter and an error. TCU used four pitchers in the inning before Stefan Chrichton got a strikeout to end the inning down 15-14.
But TCU rallied in the bottom of the ninth with a home run by Kyle Von Tungeln, and Brett Johnson’s bases-loaded single gave the Horned Frogs a 16-15 victory and erased what was most certainly one of the biggest meltdowns of any conference tournament this season.
“Baseball is crazy,” TCU Coach Jim Schlossnagle told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “If you watch it, or coach it, or play it long enough, you’ll see stuff like that. ... I’m sure there are a lot of people upset back home that we gave up 11 runs. But they need to be really excited that we won that game instead.”
Quote of the day
“If this is not the most important thing to you right now, there is no way to motivate you as a basketball player.” Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce on tonight’s Game 7 matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers
Sports, Pages 22 on 05/26/2012