Monday Runday

Running through what you might have missed this weekend:

1. I watched a piece on Inside the Lines on ESPN about three women who filed successful lawsuits against Fresno State University for various offenses related to demanding equal treatment for women's sports. Fresno State sounds like they have a serious problem on their hands. Most of the piece focused on the woman pictured above, Stacy Johnson-Klein, former coach of Fresno State's women's basketball team. I wonder why . . . yes, that's what she wore to coach the games.
2. This happened on Friday but it still counts. The Boston Celtics dropped their third straight game to the Phoenix Suns, a team that the Detroit Pistons annihilated on their home floor on Sunday afternoon. By annihilated, I mean lost by 30 points. Welcome to Phoenix, Shaq.
3. The #1 ranked University of Memphis Bulldogs men's basketball squad was the only undefeated team in Division I . . . until Saturday night, when they fell to the Tennessee Volunteers in a close one. Going undefeated is not all it's cracked up to be. Just ask the Patriots. Lose the battle, not the war.
4. Ben Wallace must have seen what I said about him being an offensive liability on the floor, so he went and tied his season high of 12 points in his debut with LeBron and the Cavs in their pummeling of the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies weren't too hot to begin with before they became Pau-less, so I need to see the Cavs play some steeper competition before I go saying this was a good trade. At least make the playoffs.
5. I know I don't talk about him too much on here, but when you win so much there's not much you can say. Tiger squeaked out a win in the earlier rounds but had no trouble racking up another win to get closer to his goal of world domination. That's all I wanted to say. I just didn't want Tiger to think I was neglecting him.

Two Weeks Suspension Ought To Cure It

Even the vote of confidence from Tiger Woods couldn't save Kelly Tilghman from being suspended from her job on the Golf Channel for two weeks.

As I discussed yesterday, golf announcer Tilghman stated during a broadcast that lynching Tiger "in a back alley" was the only way that young up and comers could take over his throne. Tiger's agent says Tiger didn't bat an eye, and that he and Tilghman are friends (and some of my friends have their own thoughts on why Tiger didn't mind . . . ).

But the Golf Channel cared. In truth, they had to do something. Don Imus can't get his show cancelled for using offensive language calling black women names, and then nothing happens to dear Kelly when she talks about killing America's sports darling in a racially offensive manner.

Perhaps it was Al Sharpton's call for her firing, and Tiger's treatment of it as a non-issue. The Golf Channel just split the difference.

The more that I think about it, I have to wonder if Tilghman's comment set the ladies back a big. Unfortunately, as is often the case with minorities, when one woman does something, we all tend to take the blame. It's hard enough for us to get on TV doing announcing in a men's field as it is. The fact that she couldn't come up with a witty response to Nick Faldo's comments on Tiger's "prowess" unfortunately reflects on all of us, providing the bigwigs just another reason to keep us in the reporting jobs and away from the color commentary.

Now Kelly has time to finish reading that best selling self-help book "How To Recover From An Unfunny, Racist Joke About Tiger Woods" by her own sportsmen, Fuzzy Zoeller, whose racial joke Tiger actually said he found amusing. Happy reading, Kel.

Tigerer vs. Federer

So I've been going back and forth all day with some folks about who is the most dominating athlete between Roger Federer and Tiger Woods. Both are smashing records, both are currently tops in the field. . . and both are in a Nike commercial with Thierry Henry (?) (I know he's a popular "futbol" player but I doubt most Americans get it -- but maybe bravo to Nike for making us care)

I won't tell you which one I think and why just yet, because I'd like to hear from you first.

What does it mean for a player to be dominant? Between Tiger and Federer, who is the most dominant?

But His Opponents Still Drink Haterade

Unbelievably, until it was announced yesterday, Tiger Woods did not have a major beverage deal. You mean "Grant Hill drinks Sprite" and Tiger's just been drinking colored water all these years?

But that is no longer since Tiger inked a deal with the folks at Gatorade, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, to promote a new drink called "Gatorade Tiger." Expect to see it on shelves sometime around March of 2008.

Now because it's Tiger Woods, this is not just any ordinary beverage deal. Rather than getting paid for the use of his appearance like most celeb endorsement deals, Tiger has entered into a licensing agreement, which means he will get a portion of the sales in exchange for the use of his image and likeness. This sports business reporter does an excellent job of breaking down the benefits of this deal to both Tiger and Gatorade, as well as the deal's significance. He notes that Vitamin Water put the pressure on Gatorade to give up the goods when (before Coke bought them out) they started offering athletes a piece of their company for endorsing their drink. Estimates are that this deal could be worth $100 million when it's all said and done. Dayum. All for drinking some colored water.

This is right on time for Gatorade, too, which has taken a hit in the market with all the energy and health drinks out there. As far as taste goes, Gatorade is still my hands down favorite sports drink.

And now, it's Tiger's, too. Gatorade Tiger will come in three flavors: cherry blend, citrus blend and grape. Those don't really say "Tiger" to me, but I guess it is Gatorade, after all. And he picked them.

I'm not a big believer in celebrity endorsements to boost sales, but getting Tiger Woods on board is a big deal. This is the same guy who is probably the main reason Buick finally designed a car in which Tiger wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen. And if you have seen the Buicks that they had him in prior to the roll out of the Enclave, you know that that is saying a lot.

I never wanted to "be like Mike" (even though the commercials were superb) but I think I will try out Gatorade Tiger, if only so I can help Tiger pay his bills. I'd want him to do the same thing for me.

Shocking But True

(I was supposed to do my full U.S. Open post today but I can't find my camera, and I am not happy!! I will try a few more places, and if I can't locate it still, I'll just see what I can find on the Internet. Pray that I find it . . .)

Surprising and shocking to absolutely no one, and to the delight of Nike (because their other golden boy won today, too), Roger Federer captured his fourth consecutive U.S. Open title with his straight set win over Novak Djoko. Never mind. You don't care and it doesn't really matter anyway, although the kid he beat is not half bad and has actually beaten Federer earlier this year. But not today. Today, all that matters today is that I was right and that Federer is quickly becoming the best in any sport the world has ever seen. Take a look at Roger by the numbers. He got to take home an "extra million" today because he won the U.S. Open Series (the series of hard court tournaments leading up to the U.S. Open). So congrats, Roger. And watch your back.