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Ballpark figures for March
BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Random musings from the wide, wide, world of sports:

• Caught the end of the Duke–North Carolina game on Sunday. These showdowns used to garner enough attention in that roundball region that World War III coverage would be relegated to page two. North Carolina’s fortunes have suffered in recent years (last year’s 8-20 season was the nadir), while Duke’s has remained among the elite programs in all of college basketball year after year. The Tar Heels’ 82-79 victory at Chapel Hill on Sunday, then, was an upset of sorts, since NC improved to only 16-14 while the ninth-ranked Dukies fell to 21-6. Most people can’t remember the last time a Duke squad lost as many as six games in a regular season (they’ve been double-digits in losses only twice in the past 18 years), but it’s also easy to forget how difficult it is for coach Mike Krzyzewski to keep the team at such a high level each year. No team recruits better athletes perennially, yet no team loses said recruits so quickly. Every time that Coach K gets a team firing on all cylinders, he loses his premier players to the NBA, usually two or three years before they’re scheduled to graduate. That has been the case in recent years with recent superstars Elton Brand, Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Mike Dunleavy, yet the team continues to flourish. Each year Krzyzewski must retool and revise his recruiting strategy to compensate for those Blue Devils who want the NBA money now and figure on graduating later. This year’s Duke team has only three seniors, with only one (Dahntay Jones) a significant contributor. Not surprisingly, very few early exiters from Duke make a splash in the NBA, although Brand has proven himself to be a pretty good all-around player for a couple of lousy teams (Chicago, LA Clippers).

• Pinstriper Jose Contreras got smacked around again on Sunday, this time by the Devil Rays in spring-training action in St. Petersburg. The Cuban defector, who thwarted the Sox’ efforts to sign him and swindled the Yankees out of a four-year, $32 million deal, got shelled for seven runs on seven hits in three innings of work in an 8-3 Tampa Bay victory. Contreras has now given up 15 earned runs in eight innings of Grapefruit-League action, which translates to a 16.87 ERA. He is now looking like the odd man out in terms of how the Yanks’ starting rotation is shaping up, and he may very well lose that fifth spot to former Tiger Jeff Weaver. If that is the case, New York will have one set-up guy (Steve Karsay) making $4 million this season, another (Sterling Hitchcock) making $6 million, and yet another making $8 million (Contreras). This on top of a rotation (Mike Mussina, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, David Wells, and Weaver) that collectively will cash annual checks worth $38.6 million, and a closer (Mariano Rivera) who’ll draw $8.5 mil this year. That seems fair.

• The tale of former WBA boxing champion John Ruiz is a sad one. The pride of Chelsea, Massachusetts, earned the belt ultimately by outlasting Evander Holyfield over the course of three ponderous bouts, but in the heavyweight world, where the likes of Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson dominate, Ruiz was looked upon as a paper champion. "The Quiet Man" had a chance to garner some legitimate headlines and esteem when he took on the undisputed light-heavyweight champion, Roy Jones Jr., in Las Vegas last weekend. Ruiz had plenty of advantages going in, including the weight advantage (nearly 35 pounds), the "no-respect" factor, and the anger at Jones’s refusal to help market the event, which ultimately cost Ruiz millions in pay-per-view buys for the fight. Nonetheless, after a minute and a half of the first round, Ruiz stopped being aggressive and let Jones begin to dictate the action. Round after round, Ruiz’s corner implored him to step up his efforts, yet each round was a carbon copy of the round before it, and Jones continued to use his agility to score points against the plodding efforts of the WBA champ. After the unanimous decision for Jones, Ruiz — who had been so classy and respectful in the years leading up to this opportunity — made himself look bad by failing to show up at some post-fight press conferences, by blaming referee Jay Nady for limiting his ability to throw punches during the clinches, and by refusing to give Jones any credit whatsoever for the well-earned victory. Ruiz, the first Hispanic to have a share of the heavyweight crown, will probably not regain any semblance of glory from his brief reign, and it’s all because the Quiet Man decided to employ that tranquility in the ring on his biggest night, rather than his pride. His lack of sportsmanship thereafter will undoubtedly help expedite his fall from grace and ultimately relegate him to "fluke" status in the annals of boxing history.

• The Celtics should be commended for another solid season under coach Jim O’Brien. They are on pace to finish with approximately the same record as last year’s, even though they are without Rodney Rogers and Erick Strickland — two key contributors from last year’s conference runners-up — and with overpriced has-been Vin Baker. To true fans of the Green, last summer’s acquisition of Baker (who had long before worn out his welcome in Seattle) and the four remaining years of maximum money on his contract are cause for justifiable weeping. If not for this inane deal that sent point guard Kenny Anderson to Seattle in return, the Celtics would be entering this off-season with Anderson’s high-priced deal having expired and the subsequent ability to be major players in the free-agent market. Instead, $15 million is owed for each of the next three years to Baker, who was a non-factor on this year’s Celtics team, averaging 5.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.8 turnovers while participating in only 18 minutes per contest. General Manager Chris Wallace apparently believed that Baker’s return to New England would help rejuvenate his stagnant game, but instead, it has gotten worse, and the Celts are on the hook for nearly $50 more for the next three seasons. While Baker has now been suspended from the team to reportedly deal with an alcohol problem, the fact is that unless Baker accepts a buyout or flat-out retires, Boston’s opportunity to improve itself beyond its superstar tandem (Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker) is hamstrung by the exorbitant pile of cash owed the former All-Star forward/center. While local fans continue to see red over this turn of events, the C’s Red (Auerbach) must be rolling over in his grave. I know, he’s not dead yet, but if any deal in the proud history of this championship franchise could drive the Celtic legend to the great locker room in the sky, it’s this one.

Meanwhile, the Celtics stand 36-27 through Sunday, two and a half games behind division-leading New Jersey, and a half game behind red-hot Philadelphia. The Sixers have won eight of 10 and are now breathing down the necks of the Nets, who just completed a dismal 0-3 visit to the Lone Star State. The Nets preceded that road trip by losing to Washington, Orlando, Cleveland (!), and Utah, so the defending Eastern champs are not a lock to defend by any stretch. The Celtics are fifth overall in the conference, and would meet Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs (same as last year) if the season were to end today. What should please Celtics fans is the team’s 21-11 home mark and its nearly .500 record on the road; what should concern them is the team’s 0-6 record against the top three teams in the west — Dallas, San Antonio, and Sacramento. In those six losses, Boston was blown out in five of them, and a difficult stretch of games is coming up for the team (including one more Western swing). Pierce and Walker are beginning to show signs of wear and tear, and while Walker’s knee injury seems to have healed, Pierce’s recent back woes are a legitimate concern, as the All-Star forward has missed three of the team’s last six games. Without the services of either one of the dynamic duo, the team has little chance of an extended playoff run. Nonetheless, during a recent five-game stretch of games against the weaker sisters of the league, the Celtics did manage to win four of them, though the victories against New York (97-95) and Memphis (111-110) could have gone either way, and the win against the Clippers (83-72) was downright Cousin-Esther ugly.

Nonetheless, the Celtics have been reasonably consistent, are entertaining, have been winning, and are playoff-bound.

Which is more than you can say for their FleetCenter roommates.

• What can you say about a hockey team that gives up eight goals to a Chicago team that came in having lost nine straight, and was winless at home since January 15?

Nothing. There’s really nothing to say. So let’s not.

Sporting Eye runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com, and Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com

 

Issue Date: March 10, 2003
"Sporting Eye" archives: 2002

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