Sports Then and Now

Lebron James punctuated the series victory for the Heat over Paul Pierce and the Celtics.

For the last time in the 2011 NBA season, the Boston Celtics failed to close out a game they had in their grasps.

Lebron James and Dwayne Wade finally conquered their biggest test from the heavily stacked Eastern Conference Wednesday night in a 97-87 win over the Celtics to move forward to the Eastern Conference Finals series.

Lebron scored the final 10 points of the fourth quarter on his way to sending the veteran Boston team packing for the summer. While playing against the struggling Paul Pierce, five fouls entering the fourth quarter, James had space he normally wouldn’t to attack the rim and change direction at will. Pierce was forced to play off the athletic big man and allowed James to control the pace on the offensive end of the court en route to two consecutive dagger threes in the final minutes. Without their attacking captain, the C’s went scoreless for the last 4:15 of regulation as the Heat went on a 16-0 run to finish the original Boston Big 3 that has controlled the East for the last three years. Read the rest of this entry →

Happy 86th Birthday to Yogi Berra.

Today marks the 86th birthday for one of the true iconic sports figures of the 20th Century. While Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra was a Hall of Fame player, what has made him part of the American lexicon is the array of statements, some of which he really said and others that just sound like he probably said them, that are quoted by people and attributed to Berra all the time.

Here are just a few of the “best of the best” Yogi-isms.

“I want to thank you for making this day necessary”

“It’s like déjà vu all over again.”

“When you get to a fork in the road, take it”

“Nobody goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.”

“We have a good time together, even when we’re not together”

“Our similarities are different”

“We make too many wrong mistakes”

“Slump? I ain’t in no slump… I just ain’t hitting”

“You can observe a lot by watching”

“It gets late early around here…”

“A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore”

“If I didn’t wake up I’d still be sleeping”

“Always go to other people’s funerals otherwise they won’t go to yours”

“You have to give 100 percent in the first half of the game. If that isn’t enough, in the second half, you have to give what is left.”

“Never answer an anonymous letter”

And perhaps his most famous saying:

“It ain’t over ’til it’s over”

Here’s hoping that it won’t be over for Yogi Berra for many years to come. Happy 86th Birthday Yogi!

It may be difficult for Serena Williams to repeat her Wimbledon title in 2011.

Serena Williams’ place in the order of Open era Wimbledon greats is hard to measure. Although Roger Federer is certainly near the top of the list of male Wimbledon legends, Serena, the female incarnation of the modern great, might not even be the best Wimbledon player in her family.

It is too early to write the 13-time slam winner’s career obituary, although her prospective absence from this year’s tournament would make her a less dominant favorite in 2012 at the age of 30 with a serious medical problem only just behind her. Anyone looking at the 2011 Wimbledon betting will doubt her ability to challenge this year.

Although the Williams sisters have prospered as siblings on the WTA tour, their bond allowing greater longevity than most of their rivals have achieved, they suffer from their family connection when it comes to an evaluation of achievements, especially at Wimbledon.

This has partly by their joint domination – they have played four finals against each other that have often disappointed – and their success in the ladies’ doubles, a title they have won on four occasions. Followers are used to seeing ‘a Williams sister’ win succeed at SW19. Read the rest of this entry →