June 8-14, 2017
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May 17-23, 2018
Tiger Woods working his way back
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magine being 42 years old, in great condition, and one of the greatest athletes of all time and most observers thinking you’re done. That is what Tiger Woods has faced from a perception standpoint since 2015. Four back surgeries, many hours of therapy, and stretching and weight-lifting and Woods is measured only by winning. He’s back on the PGA tour now full-time, and after starting the year as the 1,062nd-ranked player in the world, he’s climbed inside the top 100 players in the world. After finishing in a tie for 11th place in the Players Championship shooting 65-69 on the weekend, Woods has climbed to 80th in the world rankings. He has his sights on winning again. You can feel it. The Players Championship is called “golf’s fifth major.” The winner Sunday, Webb Simpson, won by four shots. He had a seven-shot lead after 54 holes, which tied Greg Norman’s course record. It was his first win on tour in 107 tournaments, his last being in 2013. He was forced to change his putting style because the tour banned players using anchored stroke putters two years ago. We should not be surprised by Woods. He has, after all, won
79 times on the PGA tour and captured 14 Majors. Only two men in history are ahead of him in the PGA career record book of golf: Sam Snead with 81 career PGA wins and Jack Nicklaus with 18 Major Championships. Woods has 79 and 14, and he’s pain free for the first time in years. Despite making the cut on the number at -1 after 36 holes, Woods shot 65 on Saturday. That included a 30 on the front side. Sunday he was great again, closing to within four shots of the lead Sunday by Simpson before finishing with a 69. For the first time since 2001, American-born players have won all five of the top five tournaments in golf: the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship and the Players. How good is Woods? When is the last time it happened on tour that Americans had won all five in succession? Woods held all five titles – the Players, Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship – simultaneously. He is the only player in history to achieve it. With three Majors left this year and many other big tournaments, Woods appears to be getting his game back to form.
Sport as a vehicle for social change Conclusion of a two-part column
“Sports is an enormous vehicle for social change,” stated Kane, the Tucker Center’s co-director. “I think…looking at race and gender is still not focused enough,” Lewis pointed out. “I think it is critical and does reveal how we look at sport…” “What we have now is athlete activism,” Lapchick added. “Athletes are now talking about
Dr. Richard Lapchick’s wide, wide worldly circle of friends includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was named Lew Alcindor when they met as high schoolers at a summer basketball camp. A couple of decades later, Nelson Mandela personally invited him to his South African presidential inauguration. “I was lucky to grow up with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and later in the ‘70s [I] became good friends with Muhammad Ali until the time he passed. I have [as friends] perhaps two of the most prominent Leo Lewis Muslims in the United States,” said The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport founder-director last month on the University of Minnesota’s campus. Lapchick, U of M professors Mary Jo Kane and Doug Mary Jo Kane Hartmann, and forPhotos by Charles Hallman mer school associate athletic director Leo Lew- things that are important to is were panelists at “Sport as a them, and I think that is going to Larry Fitzgerald can be heard Catalyst for Racial Progress and add to the equation of pressure weekday mornings on KMOJ Ra- Gender Equity” on April 16 at to bring about positive change in dio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, on WDGY- the Humphrey School of Public these areas. “When I saw that Colin [KaeAM 740 Monday and Friday at Affairs. 9:10 am, and at www.Gamedaygold.com. He also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). Follow him on Twitter at FitzBeatSr. Larry welcomes reader responses to info@larryfitzgerald.com, or visit www.LarryFitzgerald.com.
“There are so many social issues that people have been able to resist and counteract because of the power, reach and scope of social media.”
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Richard Lapchick pernick] for the first time [protesting], I said to my wife that he will never get signed by another [NFL] team, that his career is over,” Lapchick recalled. Only a few athletes such as Bill Russell, Jim Brown and Ali have been able to take stand, withstand the critical firestorm, and remain popular figures afterward. Others who similarly took stands didn’t, he stressed. Social media has become a boon for activism by athletes and
others, Kane continued. “So many things have happened and people have been able to organize and go around the traditional gatekeepers of power because of social media,” she noted. “There are so many social issues that people have been able to resist and counteract because of the power, reach and scope of social media.”
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‘Fab Five’ athletes of the week This week’s “Fab Five” athletes are members of the Minneapolis North’s 2016 Class A state championship boys’ basketDr. Mitchell PalMer McDonalD ball team. Four players (Tyler Johnson, Isaac Johnson, Patrick Dembley and Jamil Jackson) are currently embarking on successful collegiate student athlete careers, while the remaining team member (Odell Wilson IV) will begin his this fall.
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Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses to mcdeezy05@gmail.com.
Sports odds and ends
Winning’s not enough to keep an NBA coaching job By Charles Hallman Senior Staff Writer The NBA concluded the 2017-18 regular season with six of the 30 head coaches Black, and four of them guided teams to post-season berths. But a Black minus-plus hiring effect has recently taken place. J.B. Bickerstaff (Memphis), David Fizdale (New York) and Lloyd Pierce (Atlanta) all were hired. Then last week, a day after he was voted coach of the year by his peers, Dwane Casey was canned by Toronto, who was the Eastern Conference’s top seed and reached the second round before being swept by Cleveland. Casey got fired because his two stars lack heart, and you can’t teach heart. His players punked out against the Cavs’ LeBron James, who virtually singlehandedly took the Raptors out in four straight games. The team axed the franchise’s winningest coach after seven seasons, but his boss, the one who signed the players who can’t get it done, takes no blame at all. “He was instrumental in creating the identity and culture of who we are as a team, and we are proud of that,” Toronto GM Masai Ujiri said of Casey in a statement. “We wish him nothing but the best in the future.”
Dwane Casey
Photos by Charles Hallman
Ujiri’s blame deflection move sent shock waves throughout the league’s coaching fraternity. Boston’s Brad Stevens called Casey “a role model for a lot of coaches.” Ty Lue of Cleveland said, “His accolades speak for themselves… He gets Coach of the Year and then you get fired the next day. That’s crazy.”
Tyler Johnson, who was a guard on North’s 2016 championship team, is about to enter his junior year as one of the nation’s top wide receivers for the football team at the University of Minnesota.
Jamil Jackson, a forward on the 2016 Polars title team, earned a basketball scholarship at Southern Utah. He was injured this season after playing in eight games. Photo courtesy Southern Utah U
Photo courtesy the U of M
J.B. Bickerstaff Casey and Sam Mitchell unfortunately share more than the same skin color: Both are Toronto’s two winningest coaches and both got fired after winning best coaching honors. They got canned by the Timberwolves as well. Both men deserved better treatment and should be still coaching somewhere in the NBA. Bickerstaff last month was promoted from interim coach to head coach at Memphis. “You hate to see someone I consider a great friend lose his job,” he told me about taking over for Fizdale, who was unceremoniously fired barely a month into the season. “You got to get past that emotion first, and that’s very difficult. Then you have to make adjustments on the fly without practice time.” He came to Memphis a season ago after five seasons (2011-16) with Houston, first as assistant coach, then named interim coach early in the 2015-16 season and guiding the Rockets to a 37-34 record and a playoff berth. Bickerstaff previously was an assistant coach for four seasons in Minnesota (2007-11) and three seasons in Charlotte (2004-07), where in 200405 he was the NBA’s youngest assistant coach at age 25. Despite the Grizzlies finishing with one of the NBA’s worst records, and no assur-
ance that Bickerstaff would be promoted, the players nonetheless played hard for him. We talked with him after a big road win over the playoff-contending Wolves. “We need to develop an identity we want for the future,” Bickerstaff explained. “I hope
“He gets Coach of the Year and then you get fired the next day. That’s crazy.” to set a standard of the culture we want to have, the style of play we want to play, the type of people we want to have in our program. You want to finish as strong as you possibly can and lay some foundation for the coming season.” Let’s hope Bickerstaff gets the time and tools to do his job, which is winning, getting to the playoffs, and going as far as you can once there. But as we have seen in what happened to Casey, winning isn’t enough. Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.
Isaac Johnson, the sharpshooting guard for North in 2016 – and again while leading North to a second Class A title – took over the starting job as a freshman at Western Illinois near the end of the season. Photo courtesy Western Illinois U
Isaac Johnson, the sharpshooting guard for North in 2016 – and again while leading North to a second Class A title – took over the starting job as a freshman at Western Illinois near the end of the season. Photo courtesy Western Illinois U
Odell Wilson IV, a five-year starter for the North and member of state championship teams in 2016 and 2017, recently signed to play basketball at North Dakota State University. Photo by Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald