Y! Sports Blogs  - Chris Chase

Author: Chris Chase

  • As the decade winds down, The Dagger will celebrate the past 10 years of college basketball with various top 10 lists. Today, we at look at the 10 best games of the 2000s:

    10. Villanova 78, Pittsburgh 76 -- Regional Final, 2009 NCAA tournament

    The Big East battle featured six lead changes in the final six minutes, game-tying free throws with 5.3 seconds on the clock and the memorable Scottie Reynolds near-buzzer beater that catapulted Villanova to its first Final Four since 1985.

    9. Duke 98, Maryland 96 (OT) -- Regular season, 2001

    With 54 seconds left, the Terps helped a 10-point lead over the No. 2 Blue Devils. Fourteen seconds later, the lead was two, thanks to eight points from Jason (don't call him Jay) Williams. Duke eventually tied it up and the game went to overtime where, amazingly, Maryland didn't fold and had a chance to win at the end. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the catalyst for the comeback: a bogus fifth foul on Steve Blake, who had blanketed Williams on defense all night.

    8. Connecticut 79, Duke 78 -- National semifinal, 2004 NCAA tournament

    Duke led by eight with four minutes to go, but UConn scored 12 straight to close out the game (save for a garbage-time three by Chris Duhon). Emeka Okafor scored 18 points in the second half after sitting for nearly the entire first session because of two quick fouls.

    7. Oklahoma State 64, St. Joseph's 62 -- Regional final, 2004 NCAA tournament

    Never before had a No. 1 seed been as disrespected as St. Joe's, but the 30-1 squad came within a jumpshot of the Final Four.

    6. Gonzaga 109, Michigan State 106 (3OT) -- Regular season, 2005

    Even though it took place the day before Thanksgiving in a small gym in Maui, this game had all the intensity of a Final Four contest and was played even better. Jim O'Connell wrote for the Associated Press after the game: "If the game was played in March instead of late November, it would have gone down as one of the sport's all-time classics. It still should."

    Read More »

    digg delicious
    more
  • As the decade winds down, Busted Racquet will celebrate the past 10 years of tennis with various top 10 lists. Today, we at look at the 10 biggest upsets of the 2000s:

    10. Tatiana Garbin d. Justine Henin-Hardenne (1), 7-5, 6-4, second round, French Open, 2004

    Henin-Hardenne was the defending champ, while Garbin, a clay court specialist, was ranked No. 86 in the world headed into the French. 

    9. Agnieszka Radwanska (30) d. Maria Sharapova (2), 6-4, 1-6, 7-2, third round, U.S. Open, 2007

    Sharapova's title defense lasted just three rounds before she was bounced by the Polish Radwanska.  

    8. Alberto Martin d. Lleyton Hewitt (1), 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (4), first round, Australian Open, 2002

    This was the first major Hewitt played as the No. 1 player in the world and he ended up falling flat in front of his native Australians.

    7. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga d. Rafael Nadal (2), 6-2, 6-3, 6-2, semifinals, Australian Open, 2008

    Everyone was looking forward to a Nadal-Federer final. Neither made it that far. Federer was dispatched in the semis by eventual winner Novak Djokovic, while Nadal ran into the buzzsaw that was unseeded upstart Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Now Tsonga is a top 10 player, but at the time he was figured to be no match for Nadal. But the Frenchman won with ease, wowing tennis fans with his crisp movement and relentless backhand.

    MORE

    6. Virginia Ruano Pascual d. Martina Hingis (1), 6-4, 6-2, first round, Wimbledon, 2001

    In retrospect, it was the beginning of the end for Martina Hingis. She had made it to at least the semifinals of 14 of the last Grand Slams, but after taking off the month in between the French and Wimbledon, the No. 1 seed had nothing in her match against doubles specialist Virginia Ruano Pascual. It wasn't the first first round Wimbledon shock for Hignis. She had a similar early exit in 1999.

    Read More »

    digg delicious
    more
  • With the decade winding down, Fourth-Place Medal will look at some of the greatest Olympic moments of the past 10 years. Today, the top 10 swimming moments of the 2000s. (It's a list dominated by Americans and Australians (one in particular), mainly because it's a sport dominated by Americans and Australians.)

    10. Amanda Beard gets her gold -- After a silver in Atlanta and a bronze in Athens, Amanda Beard needed a gold in Athens to complete the trifecta. Her competition: former world record holder Leisel Jones, whose record Beard had lowered just weeks earlier. Jones shot out to an early lead but, much like in the 100 breast in 2000, the Australian weakened down the stretch as an American topped the medal stand.

    9. Bernard's revenge -- Days after choking away the 4x100 freestyle relay, France's Alain Bernard got his gold in the individual 100 free, besting world record holder Eamonn Sullivan (who took the mark away from Bernard earlier in the meet) and his relay nemesis, Jason Lezak.

    8. Eric the Eel -- As David Wallechinsky recounts in his essential tome "The Complete Book of the Olympics", the IOC encouraged countries to enter swimmers in events, even if they didn't have a qualifying time. Equatorial Guinea took advantage, holding a trial in a 20-meter hotel pool. It was won by 22-year old Eric Moussambani, who competed in the 100-meter freestyle despite never having swam in the distance in his life. He finished 50 seconds behind the next slowest competitor, but became an overnight sensation in the process.

    7. Ervin, Hall tie in 50 free -- In a race that saw Aleksandr Popov going for his third straight Olympic gold and Pieter van den Hoogenband trying to win the sprint triple, two Americans stole the show down under. Gary Hall Jr. and Anthony Ervin both touched in 21.98 in the 50 free at the Syndey Olympics, becoming the first men ever to share swimming gold in the Olympics.

    Read More »

    digg delicious
    more
  • As the decade winds down, Busted Racquet will celebrate the past 10 years of tennis with various top 10 lists. We get things started today with a look at the 10 best matches of the 2000s.

    10. Andre Agassi d. Marcos Baghdatis, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5, second round, U.S. Open, 2006

    It's the match so grippingly detailed in the opening pages of Agassi's autobiography "Open". With Agassi serving at 4-4 in the final set, the pair played an eight deuce game in which the eighth-seeded Baghdatis had four break points. Agassi held, and went on to win. Later, as they laid on the training room waiting for medical attention, Agassi and Baghdatis watched the replay on SportsCenter with their hands clasped together. It was the last match the eight-time Grand Slam champ would ever win.

    9. Venus Williams d. Serena Williams, 6-2, 6-4, final, U.S. Open, 2001

    The match itself was forgettable. The moment was not. In the eight years since Venus and Serena played in their first Grand Slam final together, it's become easy to take for granted how amazing it is that two sisters meet so frequently to decide major tournaments. In 2001, nobody did. The first all-Williams Grand Slam final was a major event that happened to coincide with the first time the women's final was played in prime-time. It generated huge ratings and was a seismic event for the game, even though the tennis was mediocre, at best.

    8. Fabrice Santoro d. Arnaud Clement, 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 3-6, 16-14, first round, French Open, 2004

    At 6 hours, 33 minutes, it's the longest match in tennis history. Play was suspended for darkness on the first day after four-and-a-half hours. Clement had two match points (one on each day), but Santoro held at 13-14 in the fifth and went on to win three straight games. For his part, Clement didn't care too much about setting a longevity record, saying, "what do I get, a medal?"

    7. Goran Ivanisevic d. Patrick Rafter, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7, final, Wimbledon, 2001

    In a rare Monday final, the 125th-ranked Ivanisevic bombed it out with No. 3 seed Patrick Rafter. There were big double faults, untimely unforced errors, foot faults and racquet-throwing, but the combination of the different crowd and tense action made it an unforgettable match. John McEnroe called it the greatest Wimbledon final  he's ever been a part of, but I'm starting to realize he says that a lot.

    Read More »

    digg delicious
    more
  • All four teams in the AFC North lost today in as gut-wrenching a fashion as you could imagine. It'd be bad enough for an entire division to go winless (especially when said division is arguably the best in the NFL), but for each of the four teams to lose games in which they held fourth-quarter leads, well that's a whole new level of disappointment.

    Shutdown Corner recounts the carnage, listing the games in order of least to most crushing:

    Baltimore Ravens 15, Indianapolis Colts 17 – The box score doesn't look too bad: A two-point loss to the undefeated Colts is nothing to hang your head at. But when you consider that the eventual game-winner for Indy was kicked by Matt Stover(notes), the long-time Ravens vet who was cut in the offseason and that the Ravens replacement for Stover's replacement missed a 30-yarder in the third quarter, then it hurts a bit. Throw in a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line that resulted in a field goal and, ouch.

    Pittsburgh Steelers 27, Kansas City Chiefs 30 (OT) – Losing while giving up two touchdown returns of 95+ yards, dropping an interception before the play that put the Chiefs in overtime field-goal range, having another possible concussion suffered by Ben Roethlisberger(notes), outgaining their opponent by 257 yards and holding the ball for 19 more minutes than their opponent would all be bad enough. But when it comes against the woeful Chiefs, that's a whole other level.

    Cleveland Browns 37, Detroit Lions 38 – We already recapped this one earlier today on Shutdown Corner. The Browns have the distinction of being the only NFL team to lose this year after the clock hit zero while they had the lead. But a pass interference penalty gave the Lions another untimed down and the rest is another chapter of Cleveland infamy. For any other team this would have rated as the biggest stomach punch of the day. But, for Browns fans, it's just another regular Sunday.

    Cincinnati Bengals 17, Oakland Raiders 20 – This game was done. The division-leading Bengals held a seven-point lead with under one minute to go and the hapless Raiders, led by a quarterback (Bruce Gradkowski(notes)) who hadn't thrown a touchdown pass since 2006, were facing fourth-and-10 from near midfield. But, just like that, Chaz Schilens(notes) hauled in a first-down reception and then, on the next throw, Gradkowski hit Louis Murphy(notes) for the game-tying score. So it was going to overtime. Except that Andre Caldwell(notes) fumbled the kick return with 27 seconds remaining and the Raiders recovered and kicked a game-winning field goal 11 seconds later. From one play from victory to one return from overtime to another crushing loss, all in a span of 43 seconds. On the bright side, at least Cincy knows how to deal with late-game disappointment.

    digg delicious
    more
  • In the first half of a big divisional game against the New England Patriots, the New York Jets came out sluggish, getting outscored by 17 points and converting just two first downs over the first 30 minutes. Maybe it's because the team is still tired from last night.

    Late last night, a fire alarm was pulled in the Jets' team hotel, rousing members of the team out of their slumber and forcing them to vacate their rooms. Except there was no fire and it was the Jets' team hotel. You do the math.

    According to the time stamp on a tweet from tight end Dustin Keller, the fire alarm was pulled around 1 a.m.:

    So much for a good nights sleep..the alarm just went off in our teams hotel hahaha grown men walking around the hallway in their draws haha

    He's pretty good-natured about it. I certainly wouldn't give one "ha" about getting awakened in the middle of the night, let alone three. Especially if I was wearing "draws." 

    Cornerback Kerry Rhodes(notes) also posted a tweet about the late-night wake-up call, but he waited until the morning to share:

    you know we are playing new england when in the middle of the night when u r sleep somebody pulls a fire alarm to wake u up!! wow!!

    The same thing happened to the Buffalo Bills before a Week 1 game in New England. It sounds like there's a fan (or fans) who still like to pull middle school pranks to help support the team. Or maybe it's not a fan at all. Judging by his past history, I wonder if Bill Belichick has an alibi for last night?  

    Other buzzing news on Yahoo!
    Roger Federer has laughing fit during interview
    Knicks guard Nate Robinson shoots at wrong basket, D'Antoni snaps
    Photos: The stars shine at the 37th Annual American Music Awards

    digg delicious
    more
  • Over the past decade, the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns have been the two worst teams in the NFL. This year has been no different, as entering today they were a combined 2-16 on the season. It only stood to reason that their battle today would be one of attrition. Almost everyone figured it would be a snoozer not even worthy of getting attention on NFL Redzone. Instead, it was one of the most entertaining games of 2009.

    The Lions scored a touchdown on the final play of the game to earn a thrilling 38-37 victory over the visiting Browns. But, of course, in true Detroit-Cleveland fashion, the game ended with two colossal errors (each by the Browns). 

    On the final play of the game, a Matthew Stafford(notes) pass fell incomplete and the Browns began to celebrate their second win of the year. But Hank Poteat(notes) was flagged for pass interference, which gave the Lions another down with no time on the clock.

    There's more: On the Poteat play, Stafford was hit when he released the ball and stayed down on the field in obvious pain. The rookie clutched his non-throwing shoulder as he ran off the field and was replaced for the final play by Daunte Culpepper(notes). With a cold Culpepper under center, the Lions prepared to snap the ball from the 1-yard line with the clock reading zeroes to get the go-ahead score. Amazingly, Cleveland called timeout before Culpepper could get the snap. This stoppage allowed Stafford to come back in the game and he promptly hit Brandon Pettigrew(notes) for the game-tying touchdown. A Jason Hanson(notes) extra point sealed the game.

    Not that anyone should expect good coaching decisions by Eric Mangini, but that timeout was borderline criminal. Culpepper had to rush onto the field with no warning, having stood on the sideline for the previous three hours. The Lions had no timeouts and were in the confusing spot of having to run another play after having thought the game had ended. Sure, the Browns had to do the same on the defensive side, but the burden is on the offense. The last thing any coach wants to do in that situation is give an unprepared team time to regroup. 

    Among the amazing stats from the rest of the game:

    • The Browns scored 13 more points today (37) than they had in two-thirds of their other games combined (24).

    • Matthew Stafford (five) and Brady Quinn(notes) (four) combined to throw nine touchdown passes. Coming into today the former first-round picks had a total of nine touchdown passes in their careers. 

    • Cleveland was averaging 214 yards of offense per game. The Browns gained 439 against Detroit.

    • With the win, the Lions avoided becoming the first NFL team in history to go 2-32 over a 34-game stretch.

    • Detroit's defense was statistically the worst in the NFL before today. After today: Yeah, they're still the worst. But how about that offense?!

    • Unless they were in attendance, most Lions fans couldn't see the victory. Because it wasn't a sellout, the game was blacked out in the Detroit area. 

    digg delicious
    more
  • What is this, an edition of Masterpiece Theater? I half expect Rafa to light a pipe, open up one of those oversized, leather-bound Dickens books and begin doing a John Houseman impersonation.

    Thank goodness the ATP World Tour Finals begin tomorrow. I don't know how many more of these ridiculous photo ops I could take. (I'm lying, I love these things. How much resentment was there in the room when the photographers say Federer and Nadal in those chairs? And look at del Potro. For as effortless as he and Federer look on the tennis court, they sure seem to be aware of what their hands are doing in this picture. Relax, guys.)

    Martin Rogers previews the tournament, which begins tomorrow, in Busted Racquet's Weekly Slice and predicts a Federer victory. That would make Roger just the second man in history to finish the year at No. 1 after losing the ranking during that same year. (Ivan Lendl was the other.) My money is on Andy Murray, who will have the home-court advantage without the pressure that usually accompanies it at Wimbledon. 

    digg delicious
    more
  • It's just after 4 p.m. on the east coast on the 12th day of the college basketball season and, so far, members of the Big East conference have yet to lose a game. Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, South Florida, St. John's, Syracuse and Villanova: They're all undefeated, a collective 36-0 so far in the young 2009-2010 season.

    Yeah, a lot of those games have been played against the standard early season cupcakes like Marist and Prarie View A&M, but for an entire 16-team conference to play 36 games without a blemish is still an impressive feat. And it's not like every game was a guaranteed victory: Louisville beat Arkansas, Syracuse beat Cal, South Florida beat Virginia, Georgetown beat Temple, Villanova beat George Mason and, most impressively, DePaul (winless in the conference last year) stunned defending Missouri Valley champs Northern Iowa.

    We wanted to post this now because given this evening's slate of games, there's a good chance the Big East won't make it to the weekend without a loss. Villanova just tipped off against No. 21 Dayton, while Syracuse plays tonight against the defending national champs, North Carolina.

    digg delicious
    more
  • Game Point is Busted Racquet's roundup of facts, figures and links about the tennis world.

    Love -- The picture of the eight participants in the ATP finale isn't nearly as fun as the picture of the eight participants in the WTA finale. It looks like they're having a contest to see who can look the most uncomfortable in a suit. Congratulations, Juan Martin del Potro (second from left). You win.

    15 -- The draw for the round-robin stage of the tournament were released Wednesday. Group A: Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro, Fernando Verdasco. Group B: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, Robin Soderling. That first group is killer. Maybe that's why del Potro looks so solemn.

    30 -- The New York Times Web site features video of an interview with Andre Agassi. Compared to all the other interviews Agassi has given over the past month, it's pretty tame, but kudos to Sam Tanenhaus for asking about the ghostwriter of "Open", J.R. Moehringer. Most of the plaudits for Agassi's autobiography have failed to mention the man who crafted the story.

    40 -- Best tennis headline of the week: "Querrey still recovering from one night in Bangkok". 

    Game -- Roger Federer thinks his pal Thierry Henry shouldn't be vilified for his handball during France's World Cup qualifying win over Ireland. He also believes replay should be used in soccer. Because, as we all know, Roger Federer loves the use of replay in tennis.

    digg delicious
    more

Y! Sports Blogs

Add to My Yahoo! RSS

Contributors