by Julian Spivey Carlos Sainz had one of the most exciting stories in quite a while in the world of Formula 1 racing on Sunday, March 24, when he won the Australian Grand Prix from Melbourne just over two weeks after he was forced to mix the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after having to undergo emergency surgery to remove his appendix. There were no guarantees after having his appendix removed that he’d be ready in time for the Australian Grand Prix. Fellow F1 competitor Alex Albon had his appendix removed during the 2022 season and came back to race three weeks later but two weeks might be pushing it a bit. Sainz worked hard to get back behind the wheel of his Ferrari via time in hyperbaric chambers and with an Indiba machine. Sainz told ESPN that even with nine days to go before the Australian Grand Prix he was struggling to lift himself out of his bed. But there he was on Sunday at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit starting second on the grid behind two-time reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen, who had won the first two races of the 2024 season and the final seven races of the 2023 season. Verstappen had won all but three races in 2023 and two of the three he didn’t win were won by his Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez. Sainz is the only non-Red Bull driver to win an F1 race since 2022 – having won the Singapore Grand Prix last September. While Sainz winning in Australia just two weeks after having his appendix removed is a fascinating story and makes him the sports hero of the week it would be fudging the story a bit not to admit it also took some luck in doing so with Verstappen’s engine expiring early in the race. F1 races are certainly a bit more wide-open when the unbeatable driver/team is behind the wall. We’re going to stick within the world of motorsports for our sports zero this week with the IndyCar Series as a whole. IndyCar tried something new this year – I guess we have to give them a hand for trying – with the $1 million challenge exhibition race at the Thermal Club, a private club where the millionaire and probably more likely billionaire car enthusiasts of the country and world get to experience fast speeds in their expensive toys, in Riverside County, Calif. From the start, IndyCar going to a rich person’s paradise for a non-points paying race, was an annoyance to me, like the sport was trying to be a bit more hoity-toity like Formula 1 (despite always putting on a better and more competitive racing product). Then the event itself on Sunday, March 24, turned out to be very F1-esque in that it wasn’t competitive at all. Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou, who has won two of the last three IndyCar titles, dominated the event that saw little passing outside of Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta, who used a differing tire strategy in the second half of the 20-lap event. The race was billed as an “All-Star Race” of sorts, despite coming after only one race of the 2024 season having been run and turned into a complete dud that had myself and many others who watched from home feeling we had wasted two hours of our weekend. As I mentioned, I didn’t like the idea of this event from the beginning. IndyCar should bill itself as the more exciting, more reasonably priced and more accessible version of open-wheel racing in the world. They shouldn’t be catering to the one-percenters of the world or emulating F1 in any way. But despite my feelings going in I would’ve changed my mind at least partially had it been a banger of a race, which it was not. It was a failure on all levels for IndyCar. What IndyCar should be focused on is adding another points-paying race to the schedule, as well as trying to even up the number of ovals, road courses and street courses. The $1 million challenge at Thermal Club showed that the priorities of the series are a bit out of whack at the moment.
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This Week's Sports Hero & Zero: Oakland Sharp-Shooter, People Not Letting a Major Story Play Out3/22/2024 by Julian Spivey Every March Madness is going to feature multiple heroes in both the NCAA men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments. Some will be heroes for one day, others throughout the entire tourney. Hell, there have already been multiple heroes of the men’s tournament after day one of the round of 64 on Thursday, March 21. There was the entire Dayton Flyers squad who came back from a 17-point deficit with just 7:39 remaining in the game on Thursday to beat 10-seeded Nevada. There was the entire 11-seed Duquesne Dukes team, which upset Brigham Young University to win its first NCAA tournament game in 55 years. There was Oregon Ducks senior guard Jermaine Couisnard, who dropped 40 points on his former team South Carolina, whom he spent four years with before transferring after the team fired coach Frank Martin last season. Couisnard’s Oregon record-setting performance helped the Ducks upset the 6-seed Gamecocks. But the No. 1 hero of day one of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament has to be Oakland Golden Grizzlies guard Jack Gohlke, whose 10 three-pointers helped sink the 3-seed Kentucky Wildcats for the biggest upset of day one. Gohlke’s 10 three-pointers are second in NCAA men’s tournament history to only Loyola-Marymount’s Jeff Fryer’s 11 in a win against Michigan in 1990. The great thing about Gohlke’s Cinderella moment is that five years ago he was merely a redshirt freshman at a Division II school, Hillsdale College. After graduating from Hillsdale College with eligibility remaining he entered the transfer portal and only one Division I team took a chance on him – Oakland University. Now he’s sent the Golden Grizzlies to their first Round of 32 appearance in school history. The biggest story in the world of sports right now is seemingly what’s going on with Los Angeles Dodgers superstar and two-time MVP Shohei Ohtani and his longtime interpreter, who was abruptly fired on Wednesday, March 20 following the Dodgers Opening Day game against the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea. There’s a whole lot we still need to learn about this situation but what we know thus far is that Ohtani’s interpreter Ippei Mizuhara was fired and Ohtani was “a victim of a massive theft,” according to an Ohtani spokesperson when reporters began asking about why $4.5 million in wire transfers had been sent from Ohtani’s bank account to a bookmaking operation. This theft allegation, according to ESPN, came after the spokesman and Mizuhara had both told ESPN that Ohtani had transferred the funds to cover the gambling debts of his friend and longtime interpreter. Mizuhara subsequently told ESPN he hadn’t been truthful about Ohtani’s knowledge about his gambling, debts or efforts to repay him. The confusion may have been a case of being lost in translation as it was literally the translator Ohtani’s handlers were solely relying on for explanation, according to ESPN. On Thursday, March 21, representatives (though names have not been given) of Ohtani contacted law enforcement authorities (the agency wasn’t given) and asked for an investigation into the theft. The only statement from Major League Baseball is that the league is monitoring the situation and Ohtani is not currently facing discipline. Baseball players are allowed to place legal bets on other sports that are not baseball (or softball). But they are not allowed to use illegal bookmakers. I would give my sports zero of the week to Mizuhara. But we don’t know enough about this story for that. Authorities and MLB need time to investigate the situation and reporters need time to search out the truth and report it. One should expect this to take more than the immediacy with which some baseball fans seem to expect. As I write this it has been less than 48 hours since the story broke. Sometimes it takes a while for an entire story to come forth. Within hours people were already accusing Ohtani of improprieties and calling Mizuhara a “patsy.” And that’s exactly why my sports zero of the week is all of those Twitter/X and other social media posters who’ve been in a rush to accuse Ohtani of being the next Pete Rose. Not only are so many in the social media world rushing to conclusion on the Ohtani/Mizuhara situation but so many seem to be gleeful about it as if the sport’s biggest superstar getting into gambling trouble wouldn’t be the absolute worst possibility for baseball. Give this story time to completely come to light before we overreact and start accusing athletes of the kind of thing that could get one banned from the sport for life. by Julian Spivey In last week’s Sports Hero & Zero piece, I gave my sports zero of the week dishonor to the moose that interrupted and ultimately gave its life at the Iditarod dog sled race held annually in Alaska. The moose’s life came to an end at the hands of dog-sledder Dallas Seavey after it became entangled with his dogs and he was forced to kill it and gut it per rules. Since last week’s post, it emerged that the Iditarod punished Seavey for inadequately gutting the moose. He received a two-hour penalty. On Tuesday, March 12, Seavey, won his record sixth Iditarod despite the interruption by the moose, the time spent forced to gut it by rule, being penalized for inadequately doing so, and one of his dogs, Faloo, being critically injured (Faloo underwent two successful surgeries and is expected to recover) in the moose incident. It’s wild to me that Seavey, 37, could overcome all of that adversity (my wife makes fun of athletes for overusing that term but in this situation, I think it’s appropriate) and still win the 1,000-mile event from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. Seavey’s winning time was nine days, two hours, and 16 minutes. His sixth win surpassed Rick Swenson’s record of five Iditarod victories between 1977 and 1991. Seavey previously won the event in 2012, becoming the youngest to ever do so at 25, as well as in 2014, 2016 and 2021. Winning the Iditarod is special on its own but the way Seavey did so this time certainly earned him a spot as this week’s sports hero. I won’t say you never want to see fighting in sports. Some sports are built on fighting. In others, it’s become an acceptable practice – like in hockey. But you don’t want to see it happen in collegiate sports so it was unfortunate to see players on the South Carolina and LSU women’s basketball squads go at it during the SEC Championship game on Sunday, March 10. The fight began when South Carolina forward Kamila Cardoso shoved LSU player Flau’jae Johnson to the floor late in the fourth quarter. Six players would be ejected from the game following the tussle – Cardoso for instigating it and three other players on South Carolina’s squad and two on LSU’s squad for leaving the bench area. The ugliest part of the incident was when a spectator, Johnson’s brother, jumped over the scorer’s table to get involved before being escorted away by police. Now, it would be extremely easy to give the sports zero of the week dishonor to both Cardoso or Johnson’s brother, but it’s how LSU coach Kim Mulkey, one of the most despicable people in sports at large, handled the aftermath of the incident in her postgame press conference that has earned her the sports zero of the week. South Carolina coach Dawn Staley did in her press conference what all coaches should do under the circumstances. She apologized. Mulkey took the opposite route. During her press conference, Mulkey almost sounded like she was going to say something right beginning with, “It’s ugly, it’s not good, no one wants to be a part of that,” before taking a U-turn and saying: “ But I’ll tell you this, I wish [Cardoso] would’ve pushed Angel Reese [LSU’s 6-3 star forward]. If you’re 6-8, don’t push somebody that little. That was uncalled for in my opinion. Let those two girls who were jawing, let them go at it.” No ma’am. Nobody should be “going at it” on a basketball court, especially at the collegiate level. You’re supposed to be a leader of young women, though you do have an absolute shit record of doing so, you’re not supposed to be a boxing promoter. It’s just another example of dumb stuff coming out of Mulkey’s mouth. by Julian Spivey Who else could be the sports hero of the week besides University of Iowa women’s basketball superstar Caitlin Clark? Not only is Clark the sports hero of the week but she’s arguably the biggest story in every sport at the moment. On Sunday, March 3, Clark surpassed college basketball legend Pete Maravich for the most points scored in NCAA Division I history by a male or female player when she surpassed “Pistol Pete” and his 3,667 points on senior day at Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Just a few weeks ago, Clark surpassed University of Connecticut legend and current WNBA star Kelsey Plum for the most points scored in women’s Division I basketball history. Next year Clark will join Plum in the WNBA having announced her intention to declare for the draft and could likely be the No. 1 overall pick by the Indiana Fever. I know there are some key differences between Clark and Maravich’s paths to the all-time leading scorer in college basketball history with Clark playing in more games and Maravich having played before the creation of the three-point line in college basketball. Still, I’m already tired of folks acting like Clark’s feat isn’t incredible. We shouldn’t fault athletes for the eras they play in. Clark has done wonders for women’s basketball. Sunday’s game in which she passed Maravich on the all-time list was the most-watched regular season women’s college basketball game since 1999. Here’s hoping Clark can do for the WNBA what she’s done for college basketball. Well, Moose you done fucked up. And now you’re dead. I don’t mean to make light of the death of one of the North’s most majestic creatures and the injury to a sled dog in the Iditarod sled dog race in Alaska but the news of five-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey having to shoot and kill a moose before having to stop his competition to gut the moose due to race rules made me realize this has to be one of the wackiest rules of any sporting event on the face of the earth. The incident took place about 100 miles from the race’s start in Willow, Alaska.
Iditarod race officials announced on Monday, March 4, that Seavey was forced to shoot and kill a moose to protect himself and his dogs when said moose became entangled with the racer and his dogs during the race – this is something that has happened multiple times over the years at the event. So, much so that what to do upon the killing of a moose is covered in the event’s rules. Rule 34 addresses the potential killing of “edible big game animals,” including moose, caribou and buffalo, in the course of the race. The rule states: “Following teams must help gut the animal when possible. No teams may pass until the animal has been gutted and the musher killing the animal has proceeded.” Race marshal Warren Pelfrey said in a statement on Monday, “We are making sure that every attempt is made to utilize and salvage the moose meat.” Seavey was able to continue with the event following the gutting of the moose, however, one of his dogs, Faloo, was injured in the moose encounter and had to be flown to Anchorage where he was reported to be in critical condition on Tuesday, March 5, after undergoing surgery. For not only losing his life but also severely injuring a dog, causing a delay in Seavey’s trek and exposing me to the wackiest sporting event rule I’ll probably ever hear of this random dead Alaskan moose is my sports zero of the week. |
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