Knucklehead of the Week
Sheryl Swoopes was a legendary basketball player, but apparently she’s not a great coach. Loyola (Ill.) University and its law firm are investigating Swoopes for alleged mistreatment of players. Ten Loyola players — 10! — announced after the season that they intended to transfer. Five left last year. Former players said Swoopes humiliated them and that coaches took away laptops and books during road trips. Homework, anyone? Swoopes on Thursday issued her first public statement on the matter. It came through a public relations firm. “Our players’ well-being, as students first, has always been the priority,” she said. Fifteen young women disagree.
I finally broke down Saturday and turned on the air conditioning. Inspired by “The Settlers,” who still have cable (so do we) I wanted to go the whole summer without AC. That idea was as popular as Draymond Green in Cleveland.
Wright State's baseball mascot, Gary Croswell, made a dramatic announcement on Twitter last week. That wacky deer is retiring. We won't see him in the Raiders' dugout again. Gary traveled with WSU to Louisville for last week's NCAA regional and got more air time than a Kardashian sister. The Raiders gave Louisville a good game in the regional final, but Gary's magic ran out in a 3-1 defeat.
One could argue that WSU got more positive publicity and good vibes by putting a deer head in its dugout that it will get for spending millions to hold a presidential debate at the Nutter Center in September. Such is the power of goofy, superstitious baseball players.
The Cavaliers saved face by not getting swept in the NBA Finals, but this deal is done. Cleveland had a chance to make things interesting with a win in Game 4, but got buried by Golden State's 3-point barrage. Amazing shooters. The Warriors were 17-for-36 from long distance; the Cavs were 15-for-26 from the free-throw line. They missed 11 free throws … and lost the game by 11 points. Fundamentals.
Our Reds writer, Dave Jablonski, depressed Reds fans last week when he broke down recent overall No. 2 picks in the baseball draft. Only two of the past 10 are stars — Kris Bryant and Mike Moustakas. Cincinnati, of course, had the No. 2 pick, choosing Tennessee third baseman Nick Senzel. I like the idea of picking a college kid. More mature, and hopefully a quicker path to the bigs.
Tina Fey used to be funny. She was very good in "Date Night" and on SNL. Now I cringe every time I see her shtick in that credit card commercial that airs about 15 times during NBA Finals games.
Trending up: Sean Murphy, Brock Lesnar, Giovani Bernard. The Wright State catcher from Centerville was drafted by the Oakland A's in the third round of the MLB draft. Murphy has a great arm and solid bat. He is the second-highest draft pick in WSU history and one of five Raiders from this year's team to get the call.
Trending down: Mat Latos, Aqib Talib, Kolten Wong. The slumping White Sox parted ways with the mercurial Latos. The tattooed pitcher who has worked for many clubs, including the Reds, won his first five decisions for Chicago, but was awful in his final seven starts. He left town with a profanity-laced critique of his last outing.
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