Mike Freeman

They just won their eighth Wimbledon this decade which seems to be a truly all-time historic sports feat.

For Monday, I'm putting together a top 10 list of the greatest American sports achievements ever accomplished and I'm thinking the Williams story just busted into the top 10.

A couple of others on my list: the Miracle on Ice is at second and the Black Sox scandal at five.

And do McGwire and Sosa belong on the list despite the obvious tainting of that great home run chase?

Post some of your thoughts here between eating those 28 hot dogs and hamburgers and shooting bottle rockets out of your behind.

In a CFL game Toronto player Arland Bruce scored a touchdown and then paid tribute to Michael Jackson.

Which tribute do you think he did:

A. Moonwalked.

B. Sang "Thriller."

C. Yelled "Heee, hee, hee!"

D. Laid down in the end zone and pretended to be buried.

Yes, Bruce picked D and entered bad celebration hell.

What's Bruce's next celebration to honor Jackson? Light his hair on fire?

That's just flat out weird.

And stupid.

More stupid than weird, actually.

Next time, Arland, just honor Mr. Jackson with a dance.

Works for me.

...is Sam Bowie.

Or David Bowie. I can't make up my mind.

I've said for years that Yao is more valuable to the league in its efforts to recruit more fans in China than he is an actual good basketball player.

So far I'm looking pretty good on that prediction.

Here's my guess: we won't see Yao next season but we will see him again.

Then he'll get injured...again.

The Rockets do have a serious problem. They can no longer afford to count on Yao. He's been hurt too much but they also can't afford to cut the chord, at least not yet, just in case, by some miracle, Yao actually spends more than 10 minutes off crutches.

Well, at least the Rockets have the stable, solid foundation that is Ron Artest.

NEW YORK -- Before the start of the draft the media received a note from the representative of Brandon Jennings. The note said that Jennings wouldn't be at the draft. The note didn't say why but the reason was simple to deduct: Jennings was afraid of a free fall in front of the television cameras.

Well, Jennings was selected 10th by Milwaukee. Guess who quickly showed up then? Jennings, of course.

That's fine. It was a little gutless of Jennings to hide out in the hotel but blame his representatives for that.

But then Jennings had a lot to say when he met with the media.

"I'm not really a rookie," said Jennings, who spent time playing in Europe, "but I am a rookie in the NBA. This is really my second year as being a pro. I think I'm ready. I'm more ready than a lot of these other players. A lot of these other players have a lot to learn with the pro game but I think I've got it down a little bit."

Excellent confidence but where was that confidence before he was picked? And who is Jennings to declare who has what to learn?

Unreal.

 

NEW YORK -- All anyone is talking about here is the death of Michael Jackson.

In all seriousness, his death is totally overshadowing the draft. Some of the draft prospects are receiving more texts from friends about Jackson than they are about their draft situation.

Most of these players weren't even born yet when Jackson rose to the height of his popularity in the 1980s yet they still feel the impact of his death.

I'll be writing more on this later.
 

and .99 cents.

The short version of a long story. John Daly sued me and a former newspaper I wrote for over a factually accurate column written about him some years ago. Recently a judge threw out his case. Now, this week, a judge ruled Daly must pay the attorney fees for the lawyers who defended me and the newspaper. Those costs amount to $271,763.99.

Don't forget the .99 cents.

That's important.

Nice job John. Keep up the good work.

Thank you George Gabel, the best lawyer in this history of the world, who went nine-iron to nine-iron with Daly and won (and keeps winning), and thank you Florida Times-Union for the obvious.

I won't gloat or make fat jokes about Daly or say he's one of the biggest disgraces in the history of professional sports. I won't say any of that. I really won't. I won't say a word. I'll keep nice and quiet.

I'll only say this: all forms of payment are accepted, John, including Visa and Mastercard.

No checks though.

He starts a charge. The guy is unreal.

Sometimes I believe the only thing that could stop Woods is a stake through the heart.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- What's happening now in the U.S. Open is why some golf fans get irritated with the television networks and their coverage of Tiger Woods.

He's not close to being in contention but remains the center of the final round coverage.

This is when some golf fans start throwing stuff at their sets. They want to see the stories and days of other golfers being told.

Normally the saturated Woods coverage is the correct call. He's Michael Jordan. He's the star of the sport. You follow the stars.

But today? Woods is a spectator and has been all morning. He's a non-factor.

It's one of those few moments when the coverage of Woods is a tad much.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- Ricky Barnes is leading the U.S. Open. That creaking sound is Barnes' imminent demise.

Not sure what would happen first. The universe collapsing into a reverse Big Bang or David Duval, who is tied for third, winning the Open.

Barnes, Lucas Glover and Duval in the top three. The only player missing is Bill Buckner.

You know a Barnes collapse is imminent when the collapse angle isn't about Phil Mickelson.

I hope I'm wrong. Please let Ricky Barnes morph into Rickey Henderson and suddenly posses all the confidence and bravado in the world.

But I don't think I'm wrong. This leaderboard is going to look drastically different just a few hours into the Open on Monday.

With Tiger Woods all but dead at seven shots back with 11 to play this is Mickelson's to lose. It's that simple.

The closer Mickelson gets the more Barnes and Duval in particular will feel the pinch of a contracting sphincter.

The final round won't be pretty...unless you're Mickelson.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- The newspaper Newsday reported on the comedic drunks at the U.S. Open. Some of it's pretty funny. When Tiger Woods used an umbrella one inebriated fool yelled: "We're on Long Island, baby, where men are men! Put that umbrella down!"

"Suck it up, you've got your own video game!" another yelled at Woods as Woods made an attempt to quiet the crowd.

Other fans used Fred Funk's name as an expletive. That was nice.

And yet other fans yelled "you suck" to other golfers.

Bethpage Black turned into a Jets game.

On Sunday, at the 18th hole, there were some other funny moments that I personally witnessed. When a rather rotund fan decided to stand as Woods was walking to make his birdie putt -- not actually attempting the putt, just walking to it from his fairway shot -- one fan yelled: "Sit down fat boy!"

One man tried to hold a seat in the stands of 18 for his wife. "My wife is in a wheelchair," he told a volunteer, "can I hold this seat and go get her?"

The usher agreed and off the man went. As he ran to look for his wife, another fan yelled, "No one's falling for the wife in the wheelchair trick ass----."

You can almost count on it. Light rain is predicted for the entire day and the greens are absolutely soaked now. Imagine tomorrow.

This is almost assuredly going to Monday.

...and they're still playing. It's around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and the sky is pretty dark. It's time to wrap this day up because it's getting difficult to see.

There's a chance they could wrap this up on Sunday but it still seems like Monday is the day.

At least that's what everyone is hoping including the golfers.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- David Fay, the executive director of the USGA, was at a gas station Thursday night filling his tank when he overheard golf fans ripping the decision of U.S. Open executives not to provide refunds for what was essentially paying hundreds of dollars (if not more) to sit in cold ass rain. He heard more complaints the following day at a Dunkin' Donuts. Well, at least in one regard, Fay is like the rest of us: he pumps his own gas and eats like crap.

He's an executive in a sports league which means, by default, he's probably arrogant. In general, sports leagues act arrogantly. It's their nature. That's what they do.

Yet as much as I've gone back and forth on the issue of how the U.S. Open handled a partially washed out Thursday (as you can see from previous blogs) the organizers of the U.S. Open aren't acting with impunity. In fact, it's the opposite.

They are acting the least arrogantly of almost any league I've been around and I've been around all of them.

Primary example of the USGA's non-arrogance came in the form of Fay's comments when he met with the media Friday morning. He was responding to the chorus of angry fans who didn't receive at least a partial refund from Thursday.

"We understand our ticket policy is both vague and rigid," he said.

When is the last time you heard a moment of honesty like that from a league executive? The NFL, NBA and MLB almost never speak so bluntly. Or truthfully. Almost never. That's where the arrogance comes in.

The U.S. Open didn't handle this situation perfectly but this isn't a perfect situation. It was a freaking rain storm where animals were being paraded out of the area by twos.

My biggest problem, for once, isn't with the sport. This time it's with the whining fans.

If you're wealthy enough to be able to take the day off work and are capable of affording hundreds of dollars in tickets, then please stop whining like you're on welfare and going to starve if no refund is forthcoming.

Sure this area is more blue collar than your average major golf venue but we're not talking about Bangladesh here.

The anger people are expressing is somewhat ridiculous. Some of the complainers -- not all, but a significant portion -- are extremely wealthy. They tip their illegal immigrant housekeepers more than they pay for golf tickets.

So for once I'm backing the sport. Can't believe I'm saying that.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. --

This is going to be a loooonngggg U.S. Open.

Several USGA officials said the weather Saturday might be just like it was on Thursday. Which means by the time it's done raining here the course will have floated away.

There hasn't been this much precipitation since Terrell Owens defended Tony Romo.

Apparently the same meteorologists who are giving the USGA its weather updates are the same ones who provided Bud Selig his Accu-Weather reports during last year's World Series. One minute the USGA says the weather will clear; the next they're predicting tee shots from an ark.

The one common thread in this? The fans get screwed. Unlike with baseball, there is little the USGA can do, except hire 7,000 squeegee people. Fans are stuck for the next few days waiting in the rain for news.

While they're at it maybe they can pick up a squeegee and help.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- The media just met a few minutes ago with Jim Hyler, the USGA's championship committee chairman, and he had a few interesting things to say:

1. The greens are starting to puddle which is what you'd expect during a freaking rain storm.

2. There are two to four people with squeegees at each green. Hey, it's a tough economy. Someone's got to squeegee and isn't "squeegee" a perfect word for golf?

3. The real issues are going to be the first and 18th hole, said Hyler.

He doesn't expect today to be a washout since the heaviest rain is expected to come in waves.