September 24, 1921: Jim McKay Is Born

September 24, 1921, 100 years ago: James Kenneth McManus is born in Philadelphia, and spent his teenage years in Baltimore. We knew him as Jim McKay. He was the voice of the Olympics on ABC, the Triple Crown horse races, the U.S. and British Open golf tournaments, and the host of ABC Wide World of Sports for its entire run, from 1961 to 1998.

He spoke WWOS' opening narration, written by ABC staff writer Stanley Ralph Ross, who would later write for the Batman series and co-create The New Adventures of Wonder Woman: "Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport. The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat. The human drama of athletic competition. This is ABC Wide World of Sports."

He was the anchor for the 1st nationally-televised Olympic Games coverage, by CBS of the 1960 Olympics in Rome. ABC hired him in time for Tokyo in 1964, then both the Winter and the Summer Games: Grenoble and Mexico City in 1968, Sapporo and Munich in 1972, Innsbruck and Montreal in 1976, Lake Placid in 1980 (but not Moscow, as the U.S. boycotted), and Sarajevo and Los Angeles in 1984.

He got to cover such great moments as the Gold Medals won by Peggy Fleming in '68, Dorothy Hamill in '76, the U.S. hockey team in '80, and just about every American athlete, or so it seemed, in '84 as the Soviet Union and East Germany avenged the '80 boycott by boycotting. But he also had to cover the controversy of the Tommie Smith and John Carlos gesture in '68, and the Munich Massacre in '72, with his unforgettable words on the fate of the Israeli hostages taken by the Palestinian thugs: "They're all gone."

In 1988, ABC assigned him to cover the Winter Games in Calgary, but they haven't done the Olympics since: NBC got the Summer Games in Seoul, and have broadcast the Summer Games ever since. CBS got the Winter Games in Albertville in 1992, and NBC got them for Nagano in 1998, and have broadcast the Winter Games ever since.

In his memoir, The Real McKay: My Wide World of Sports, published in 1998, he said that the two best sports were golf and horse racing, because they are the sports with the best stories. His choices were wrong -- as we have established, golf is not a sport -- but his reason was wonderful.

He also said in that memoir, "I have tried to make my job not just the description of what was happening at the moment but a search for excellence and an exploration of the human character in action." He succeeded.

Whenever I see NBC cover the Olympics, or the Triple Crown horse races, I miss Jim McKay. He died on June 7, 2008, at his farm in Monkton, Baltimore County, Maryland. He was 86 years old, and survived by his wife, the former Margaret Dempsey, and their children, Sean and Mary McManus. Sean McManus was a longtime executive at CBS, serving from 2005 to 2011 as President of both CBS News and CBS Sports.

July 6, 1971: Louis Armstrong Dies

You might be cool, but you'll never be as cool as

Louis Armstrong on the phone, wearing pajamas and a Mets cap,

in his home recording studio.

July 6, 1971, 50 years ago: Louis Armstrong dies of a heart attack at his home in the Corona neighborhood of the Borough Queens, in New York City.

The all-time icon of jazz had been billed as being born in New Orleans, which was correct, on the 4th of July, 1900, which was not. It was later discovered that his actual date of birth was August 6, 1901, so he was not quite 70 when he died. He was buried at Flushing Cemetery in Queens.

Known as "Satchelmouth" for his big mouth, which was later shortened to "Satchmo" and "Satch," and "Pops" as he got older, Louis was a big sports fan. In the 1930s, he sponsored Negro League baseball teams. He had season tickets to the Yankees until Shea Stadium was built just a few blocks from his house, and so he switched to the Mets.

Billy Crystal remembered that, for his first live major league game, on May 30, 1956, his father had used his connections in the music business, and got Louis' seats at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees beat the Washington Senators, and Mickey Mantle hit a home run off the facade on the right field roof, less than 2 feet from going completely out of the Stadium.

And for some reason, unusual for black Americans in his time, Louis loved tennis. When the National Tennis Center was established in Flushing Meadow-Corona Park in 1978, the stadium known as the Singer Bowl, built for the 1964 World's Fair, was made its centerpiece, and it was renamed Louis Armstrong Stadium.

The original Louis Armstrong Stadium

When Arthur Ashe Stadium was built in 1997, it was decided to tear Armstrong Stadium down and build a new stadium with the name, to act as the U.S. Open's secondary facility. It opened in 2018, and seats 14,000 people.

The new Louis Armstrong Stadium

Angry over the lack of progress in New Orleans, Louis chose to keep his residence in New York. Nevertheless, on August 4, 2001, in honor of the Centennial of his birth, the city renamed its airport Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

The Comebacks Begin, But Baseball Is Still in the Balance

Slowly but surely, the impact of the Coronavirus is being reduced, and things are starting to open up again.

In New Jersey, restaurants are permitted to open with properly-spaced outdoor seating. Next week, barbershops can reopen. Which is good, because my hair is now long and puffy enough to resemble that of a 1970s Arsenal player.

The above example: George Armstrong, who played with the North London team's 1st XI from 1962 to 1977. His hair is so long in this photo, it obscures the Elvis-esque sideburns he grew. He was only 5-foot-6, but a fantastic player, a key figure on their 1971 League and Cup "Double" team. Sadly, he is no longer with us: After coaching with the team for most of the 1990s, he collapsed at the team's training center in 2000, and died, only 56.

Today, Premier League action resumes in England, with games being played "behind closed doors," meaning no fans admitted, a.k.a. "ghost games." Arsenal, whose manager and former star player Mikel Arteta survived the virus, plays away to Manchester City. Major League Soccer returns on July 8.

The NBA will also soon restart, with teams already eliminated from Playoff competition having their seasons declared over, and the remaining 22 teams going into training camps, and then, starting on July 30, jockeying for seeds in a standard 16-team Playoff.

The NHL will also soon restart, with the top 24 teams -- the Devils not being one of them -- beginning training camps on July 10, and then playing in a staggered Playoff format, with the top 8 teams getting a 1st-round bye.

Both of these leagues usually have their Champions crowned by this time, and will see their Playoffs end later than ever before, possibly even in October, when their new seasons would usually start. We might not seen the 2020-21 season begin until Christmas, or even New Year's.

Football, at every level, looks like it's going to begin on time: College (and, in some States, high school) in the last week of August, and the pros and the high schoolers (at least, here in New Jersey) in the 1st week of September. Whether fans will be permitted to attend remains to be seen.

Thoroughbred horse racing's Triple Crown has not only been postponed, but had its usual order changed: The Belmont Stakes, usually the last of the 3 races, was postponed from June 6 to June 20 (this coming Saturday, definitely behind closed doors), the normally series-opening Kentucky Derby from May 2 to September 5, and the Preakness Stakes from May 16 to October 3.

The Olympic Games have been postponed until next year. So has the European Championship soccer tournament. Wimbledon, originally set to run from June 21 to July 5, was canceled for the 1st time since World War II. The French Open was set to run in Paris from May 24, to June 7, has been postponed to September 20 to October 4.

This will be after the U.S. Open. With the number of new COVID-19 cases continuing to drop, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York gave the U.S. Tennis Association the all-clear to hold the tournament, albeit behind closed doors, on schedule from August 31 to September 13.

And then there's baseball. Commissioner Rob Manfred, as with all previous Commissioners the tool of the team owners, has been shoveling variations on the same restart deal at the players' union, the Major League Baseball Players Association, over and over again, and the players have rejected all of them as completely unacceptable, because the plans mean the owners will not be honoring their side of the contracts.

Last week, Manfred says there was a 100 percent chance that we would have baseball this season. Yesterday, he said, he was "not confident."

The players make a lot of money. They are not the problem here. They are ready to honor their contracts. The owners are trying to screw them. It doesn't matter that the players make so much more than you do: They are still being screwed. You wouldn't put up with this from your boss, so why should the players put up with it from theirs, regardless of how much they're being paid? They are still being cheated.

One thing is for sure: It looks like the Yankees will be screwed again. But then, what did you expect? I told you that they haven't won a World Series with a Republican as President since 1958, and they still haven't. I told you to vote for Hillary.

*

So, with some kind of schedule once again available, I can, for the 1st time since March 8, update my countdowns. However, Trip Guides are seriously affected. Due to events beyond my control last Autumn, I decided to cut short the NFL ones, and to drop the NBA ones altogether. I still did them for the NHL, and got them done for 30 out of 31 teams before the shutdown, missing only the Minnesota Wild.

Ironically, Minnesota United was 1 of the 3 MLS teams I had already done them for, the others being my home team, the New York Red Bulls, and Real Salt Lake.

Not yet having revised MLB or MLS schedules, I will not do those for 2020. Hopefully, I will be able to do them in 2021.

As for football, the NFL and college games that would apply: These games will probably be played, but it's increasingly likely that they will be behind closed doors, so it would be pointless to do Trip Guides for them. Once I learn for sure, I will have to adjust my schedule accordingly.

According to the schedule I had laid out before my hip replacement surgery on February 19, I had predicted that I would be able to go back to work in 8 weeks, on April 13. Who was I kidding? I might be able to do a data entry job, but I'd still have to get to and from work, and, without a car, and the closest bus stop a mile from my house, that would have been damn near impossible at the time. It would be pretty hard now: It's still twice as far as I've yet walked with the cane.

At any rate, each of the following is tentative, and may not have anyone actually in attendance:

Days until Arsenal play again: 0. They play away to Manchester City, in Premier League action, at 8:15 PM London time, 3:15 PM New York time. They have also advanced to the Quarterfinals of the FA Cup, although they have been eliminated from the UEFA Europa League. So now, their only chance to get into next season's UEFA Champions League is to finish 4th or higher in the Premier League -- or 5th, if Man City's CL ban is upheld, which is by no means a certainty.

Days until the New York Red Bulls play again: 21, in the MLS is Back Tournament, which will be held entirely behind closed doors at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, which is part of the Walt Disney World Resort, in the Orlando suburb of Bay Lake, Florida. Although the schedule has not yet been finalized, they have been put in a group with Atlanta United and the 2 Ohio teams, the Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": Given that neither New York City FC, nor the Philadelphia Union, nor D.C. United, nor the New England Revolution are in the Red Bulls' group for the tournament, and who is likely to advance, is anybody's guess, then so is this number.

Days until the next North London Derby: 24, on Saturday, July 11, Arsenal's long-delayed 1st visit to the new Tottenham Stadium, adjacent to the site of the previous White Hart Lane. When they'll play their 1st game there in front of fans, most of them Spurs' mental acrobats, is anybody's guess, since the 2019-20 season is not yet finished. Usually, by this point, the next season's schedule -- or, as they would say in England, fixture list -- would have already been released.

Days until the Yankees' 2020 Opening Day: Unknown. MLB had been talking about a restart date of July 31, which would be 44 days from now, a decent time to have a Summer version of "Spring Training" to get ready. At this point, nobody knows.

Days until the Yankees' 2020 home opener: See the previous answer.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: See the previous answer.

Days until the Democratic National Convention: 61, on Monday, August 17. It was set for the Fiserv Center in Milwaukee, the new home of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, a nod to the fact that Hillary Clinton "lost" Wisconsin by such a close vote last time. But the Convention may have to be "virtual." Joe Biden might be the 1st Presidential nominee to not give his acceptance speech on the Convention floor since Franklin Roosevelt was too ill to accept a 4th term in person in 1944.

Days until the Republican National Convention: 68, on Monday, August 24. The Republicans have already moved their convention from Charlotte to Jacksonville, since the Governor of North Carolina (Roy Cooper, a Democrat listening to the medical experts) refused to reopen the State; while the Governor of Florida (Rob DeSantis, a Republican listening to Donald Trump) is happy to risk lives for his lord and master at Mar-a-Lago.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 79, on Friday night, September 4, against arch-rival Old Bridge, at the purple shit pit on Route 9. 

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge football game: See the previous answer.

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 80, on Saturday, September 5, at noon, home to Monmouth University, a Football Championship Subdivision School in West Long Branch, Monmouth County, New Jersey. In other words, if they don't win this game overwhelmingly, especially now that Greg Schiano is back as head coach, it will look very, very bad.

Days until the New Jersey Devils play again: Unknown, since the 2020-21 NHL schedule has not yet been released.

Days until the New Jersey Devils next play a local rival: See the previous answer.

Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: Unknown, although the 2nd weekend and 3rd week in October is usually set aside for international games. So, if we presume October 10, a Saturday, then it's 115 days.

Days until the next Presidential election, when we can dump the Trump-Pence regime and elect a real Administration: 139, on November 3, 2020. Under 5 months.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State football game: 164, on Saturday, November 28, at home.

Days until a fully-Democratic-controlled Congress can convene: 200, on January 3, 2021. Under 10 months.


Days until Liberation Day: 217, at noon on January 20, 2021. A little over 7 months. Note that this is liberation from the Republican Party, not just from Donald Trump. Having Mike Pence as President wouldn't be better, just differently bad, mixing theocracy with plutocracy, rather than mixing kleptocracy with plutocracy.

Days until Euro 2020 begins, a tournament being held all over Europe instead of in a single host nation: 359, on Friday, June 11, 2021. Under 1 year.

Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 401, on July 23, 2021. A little over 13 months.

Days until Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz become eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame: 573, on January 11, 2022. Under 2 years, or under 19 months. We will then find out if it's okay for a Red Sox steroid cheat to be in the Hall, but not for a Yankee steroid cheat.

Days until the next Winter Olympics begins in Beijing, China: 597, on February 4, 2022. Under 2 years, or under 20 months.

Days until the next World Cup is scheduled to kick off in Qatar: 887, on November 21, 2022, in Qatar. Under 3 years, or a little over 29 months.

Days until the next Women's World Cup is scheduled to kick off: 1,118, on July 10, 2023. A little over 3 years, or a little under 37 months. A host nation is expected to be chosen a week from tomorrow. Bids have been put in by Colombia (South America has never hosted), Japan (Asia last hosted in 2007), and a joint bid by Australia and New Zealand (Oceania has never hosted).

Top 10 Reasons Why Golf Is Not a Sport

So, this past Monday, I saw a copy of the New York Daily News. On the back page, instead of baseball, it was talking about golf.

Already, my day was ruined.

The previous day, the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) Championship was held at Bellerive Country Club, in the suburbs of St. Louis. It's the last of the 4 "majors" in golf tournaments, following, in chronological order, The Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open. (The PGA has announced that the tournament will move to May next year, making the order Masters, PGA, U.S. and British.)

The winner was Brooks Koepka, age 28, from West Palm Beach, Florida. It was his 3rd major, as he'd already won the U.S. Open this year and last year. He shot 264, for an average of 68, a record for the tournament.

The runner-up, finishing 2 strokes behind him, was Eldrick "Tiger" Woods, who's won 14 majors, 2nd only to Jack Nicklaus' 18 -- but none in 10 years, since the 2008 U.S. Open.

It was a very good performance for Tiger, probably his best since that 2008 U.S. Open. But he didn't win the tournament.

And yet, the Daily News put him on the back page. Indeed, TV and print sports coverage was full of "Tiger's back!" stories, instead of focusing on, you know, the guy who actually won the tournament. With a record score.

Think about that for a moment. Suppose the Triple Crown horse races were not limited to 3-year-olds. And suppose Citation, the horse that won what was then the last Triple Crown, in 1948, had lived to compete in the 1973 races. (He actually died in 1970.)

And suppose Secretariat had done what he actually did, winning the Triple Crown, setting records in all 3 races, each of which still stand, 45 years later. Secretariat won the Belmont by 31 freakin' lengths.

Now, suppose a 28-year-old Citation had finished 2nd, even 10 lengths back. It wouldn't have taken anything from Secretariat's achievement. Would the papers be focusing on Secretariat's achievement? Or would they have focused on Citation finishing 2nd?

Golf is messed-up in so many ways. It's not even a sport!

That's right: Golf is not a sport. Here's the...

Top 10 Reasons Why Golf Is Not a Sport

10. The scoring. The winner is the one with the lowest score, not the one with the highest score. In what other sport is this true?

I'm reminded of an edition of Johnny Hart's comic strip B.C. Panel 1: Woman asks male golfer, "Let me get this straight, the less I hit the ball, the better I am doing." Golfer says, "That's right." Panel 2: Woman asks golfer, "Then why do it at all?" Panel 3, at night, so, clearly, golfer has been thinking about it the whole time: "Why... do it... at all?"

Found it. The date was April 20, 1999 --

the date of the Columbine High School massacre.

9. The clothes. There's a reason teams in real sports stopped wearing the uniforms they wore in the 1970s. They were garish monstrosities, which are now broken out only on nostalgia days.

But in golf? As the late, great Robin Williams put it, "The manly sport of golf, where you can dress like a pimp, and no one will care! Where even a blind gay man would go, 'Oh, dear Christ! That is loud! This is not Carnival! What the fuck are you on?'"

8. The spatial relationship. As the late, great George Carlin put it, "Just the design of the game speaks of arrogance. Think of how big a golf course is. The ball is that fuckin' big! What do those pinheaded pricks need with all that land?"

I know, a baseball field takes up a lot of space for a small ball. But think about this: A baseball field is about 400 feet long by about 300 feet wide in the outfield. A golf course has "holes" (not the actual hole) around 100 feet wide by an average of 150 feet long... and it has 18 of them. So we're talking about a total of 270,000 square feet, compared to around half that for a baseball field.

7. The spectators are told to be quiet. Name one other sport where that's true. Tennis? Okay, that's one. Name another. Figure skating? Not a sport. Gymnastics? Not a sport.

6. The announcers. The late, great Jim McKay of ABC Sports once said that the 2 greatest sports are golf and horse racing, because they have the best stories. I love his reason, but he was totally wrong. Golf announcers are terrible. The word "murmur" comes to mind.

Robin Williams again: "I want the guy who does Mexican soccer to do golf one time." He meant Andrés Cantor, the Argentine announcer now working for Telemundo. He imagined Cantor watching the ball go in the... "Hoooooooooooooooole!" 

5. No athleticism. Sure, you need strength to hit long drives. But putting? Essentially, you only have to stand there. Pool is every bit as athletic, and you don't see anybody calling pool a sport.

Or, to put it another way: When a team is eliminated from Playoff contention, we say they're "off playing golf." If a golfer doesn't make the cut at a major, we don't say he's off playing a different sport. Not baseball. Not football. Not tennis, which is another traditional sport for elitists.

4. No defense. Tiger Woods has never had to worry about hitting a golf ball that Clayton Kershaw has thrown 100 miles per hour, or one that Pedro Martinez has thrown at his head. Jack Nicklaus never had to putt with Mean Joe Greene bearing down on him. Arnold Palmer never had to worry about John Havlicek stealing the ball. Bobby Jones never had to putt with anyone having put spit on the ball, or the green for that matter. And no golfer has ever had to putt the ball into a hole guarded by Hakeem Olajuwon, or Martin Brodeur, or Gianluigi Buffon.

Somebody once told me that the course itself, with its trees, bushes, high grass, sand traps and water hazards, counts as "defense." No, it doesn't. Nobody calls Fenway Park's Green Monster "defense." Nobody calls Wrigley Field's ivy "defense." Nobody called the parquet floor at the Boston Garden, with its "dead spots," "defense." John Facenda of NFL Films never actually called the grass in Green Bay "the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field," and nobody calls that "defense," either.

3. No opponent. Yes, there are other competitors. But that competitor isn't in your way. Tiger never had to putt past Phil Mickelson. And Ernie Els never talked trash to Tiger while he was trying to putt. You don't face your opponent. Again, this makes pool closer to being a sport than golf is.

Now, you might say, "What about races? Track, swimming, cycling, and so on? You're not facing your opponent when you do that." True. But you could see him, you definitely hear him, and you know he's there. The way a golf tournament works, Tiger could be on the 1st hole, Phil could be on the 18th and last hole, and every other major golfer could be in between. Unless you see the leaderboard, as far as you know, the other players don't even exist.

2. The elitism. I'm not even talking about prejudice, against race, gender or religion. It's a game favored by fabulously wealthy people who don't like people who aren't, and by people who'd like to be them.

And, as the great Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan would say, "I'm saving the best reason for last, the reason you can't top. Can't top it!" The Number 1 reason why golf is not a sport: 

1. Donald Trump likes it. He can't play it -- not without cheating -- but he likes it. Okay, that might not be a reason why golf is not a sport. If Trump was good at it, that would be a reason why it's not a sport! But he likes it, and could there possibly be a better reason to hate this stupid game?

The exception that proves the rule? The officials -- referees, umpires, judges, whatever they're called in golf -- can't steal the game from you. They can rule that you didn't sign your scorecard, or that you used an illegal club, or that you broke some rule or other, intentionally or otherwise.

But no golfer ever lost a tournament because an official was corrupt, or even made a mistake. Nicklaus never lost the Masters because there was a Don Denkinger ruling that his ball hadn't actually gone in the hole, when it had. And Tiger never lost the U.S. Open because Mike Dean gave him an unfair penalty.

So, if golf were a sport, you could cite that as a reason why it's the best sport.

But golf is not a sport.

Left to right: Alice Cooper, Heather Locklear, Haley Joel Osment,

Dean Reimuth, Michael Douglas, Cheryl Ladd, Josh Duhamel, Kenny G,

Kyle McLachlan (blocked out by Kenny G), Catherine Zeta-Jones,

Samuel L. Jackson, Martin Sheen, Jim McLean, Mark Wahlberg, unknown

And I don't care that Catherine Zeta-Jones loves golf, or that she plays it with the others in the photo above. It's a game, but it's not a sport.

Serena vs. Carli: Sportswoman of the Year

Sports Illustrated has selected Serena Williams as its Sportsperson of the Year.

This was no mere "lifetime achievement award," although her career merits that. This year, she came within a lost Semifinal of winning tennis' grand slam: She won the Australian Open in Melbourne, the French Open in Paris, and then Wimbledon in London, before running out of gas at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadow. Certainly, a great achievement.

Was there another justifiable choice? Who else should have been considered?

* It wasn't an Olympic year.

* Boxing remains a muddled mess.

* American Pharoah became the 1st horse to win the Triple Crown in 37 years, but no animal has ever won the honor, including the 3 previous horses to win the Triple Crown since SI's founding in 1954: Secretariat in 1973, Seattle Slew in 1977, and Affirmed in 1978. Affirmed's jockey, Steve Cauthen, won it -- in 1977, before he won the Triple Crown aboard Affirmed. But can you even remember the name of the jockey who rode American Pharoah? I hate to admit it, but, just 6 months after this epochal achievement, I had to look it up: Victor Espinoza.

* No baseball figure stood out. The Kansas City Royals won the World Series, and while they have several good players, none of them really stood out. Nor did any other player do anything epochal this year, like Denny McLain's 31 wins or Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA in 1968, or Hank Aaron and later Barry Bonds breaking the career home run record; or Roger Maris, then Mark McGwire, and later Bonds breaking the single-season home run record.

* The leading football figure is Tom Brady, and he's a cheater.

* The leading hockey figure is Patrick Kane, and while the legal case against him fell apart, there's still a cloud over him.

* They could have chosen Lionel Messi. But while the U.S. team that won the Women's World Cup was collectively chosen for 1999, no individual soccer player has ever been chosen, not even Pelé.

* There is Stephen Curry in basketball. The Golden State Warriors defeated LeBron James and The Other Guys to win their 1st NBA Championship in 40 years, and they followed that up by winning their 1st 24 games of this new season.

So it's between Serena and Steph. And SI went with a woman.

But there's another woman they could have chosen. And I'm not just saying this because she's a fellow New Jerseyan, or a Rutgers graduate.

Carli Lloyd led the U.S. to win the Women's World Cup this past early Summer. She won the Golden Ball as the tournament's most valuable player. She scored 3 goals in the Final to beat Japan. To put that in perspective: The women's edition of the World Cup has been around since 1991, and the men's edition since 1930, and only once before had anyone scored a hat trick in the Final: Geoff Hurst of England in 1966. And the 3rd goal be like, "Nice pass, Carli, hey, that's not a pass! Holy shit! What a goal!"

No, Carli isn't as image-conscious as Serena. She doesn't go out of her way to show us how fit or sexy she is. Serena does, but, except for Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux, none of the '15 USWNT players do that. Unlike the 1999 USWNT, which also won the World Cup, there's no one making the kind of statements that Brandi Chastain made, first by de-shirting herself like a male player would after scoring a historic goal, then by posing nude, and finally by saying, "Hey, I ran my ass off for this body, I'm proud of it."

For the most part, this team let its on-field performance, and its interaction with its fans, especially its girl fans, do the talking. Which, alone, puts it in the conversation for "Sportspeople of the Year."

But what Carli did was stunning. Remember, it had only happened once before. And while Serena seemingly wins at least 1 tennis major every year, the World Cup happens only once every 4 years. If the U.S. team had lost, as they did in 2003, 2007 and 2011, they would have had to start all over again with the qualifying campaign for 2019. Just typing the number looks strange. I grew up in the 1970s, when 1990 seemed like "the future," and here I am, typing 2019. (Assuming no tragedy or crime gets in the way, I'll be 50 at the end of the year.)

Serena Williams has had 3 or 4 years, including this one, in which she was a legitimate candidate for Sportsperson of the Year. Certainly, she cannot be begrudged this selection. She earned it, and then some. She will have the chance to go for the Grand Slam again in 2016. Who knows, she may even get it.

Had Carli Lloyd's achievement happened last year, or next year, Serena would have been an easy choice this time, ahead of Steph Curry and Victor Espinoza and everybody else.

But Carli Lloyd did something even more remarkable, making the most of the best chance she was ever going to get. Something that legendary soccer players like Ferenc Puskas, Johan Cruijff, Doctor Socrates, Roberto Baggio, Paolo Maldini, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, and, thus far, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo haven't been able to do.

Am I wrong? Let me know what you think.

UPDATE: This was written before Serena won the 2017 Australian Open -- unknown to the general public at the time, which she was 8 weeks pregnant. Some have argued that this was her greatest achievement yet. After having the baby, she did not compete in another major until the 2018 French Open, but withdrew due to injury after reaching the 4th Round. She then reached the Finals of both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open before losing. That she got even that far back in the year in which she turned 37 was incredible.

Having won 16 majors -- Wimbledon and the Australian Open 7 times each, the U.S. Open 6 and the French Open 3 -- since 1999, Serena Williams is the greatest female athlete -- maybe the greatest athlete, period -- of the 21st Century thus far. What's considerably more debatable is whether she's been the greatest in any single calendar year.

It's an A's-Sweep for A-Rod and All the Yankees; Pauline Betz, 1919-2011

Yankees 4, Athletics 2. The Yankees sweep the 3-game series, extend their winning streak to 4 games, and have now won 10 straight and 20 of their last 24 against the A's.

Explain to me, again, how A's general manager Billy Beane is a genius?

It must be his wisdom in signing Nick Swisher. No, wait, he let Swisher go, and Swish helped the Yankees win the World Series in 2009 and make the Playoffs again last season. He got off to a slow start this season, but he hit his 4th homer of the season yesterday.

Good A.J. showed up: Burnett pitched 7 solid innings to advance to 6-3. Joba Chamberlain was a little shaky in the 8th, but got out of it with a double play. Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect 9th for his 14th save. Gio Gonzalez was the starter and loser for the A's (5-3).

Alex Rodriguez helped the A's-sweep, as A-Rod got 2 hits including an RBI double. Derek Jeter got a hit, and is now 16 away from 3,000.

Boston and Tampa Bay lost yesterday, too. I'm beginning to enjoy this season.

It is hard to believe, though, that the season is already one-third over.

The Yankees have a travel day today, and will complete the Coast trip with 3 in Anaheim against the Whatever They're Calling Themselves This Season Angels.

Jeter hits 2984 16
Rivera saves 573 28
A-Rod homers 622 141
A-Rod hits 2723 277
Magic Number 105 (to eliminate Scum & Rays, 103 for O's & Jays)

*

The Vancouver Canucks won Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals last night, 1-0. Between them, the goalies made 69 saves, but on the 70th and final shot of the game, with 19 seconds to go, Raffi Torres scored for Vancouver.

(Despite the Hispanic-sounding name, Torres was born and raised in Toronto. Guess he had to get out of there to reach the Stanley Cup Finals: The Maple Leafs haven't been there since 1967, before the Canucks even existed!)

The Canucks are now 3 wins away from their 1st Stanley Cup in 41 years of trying, their city's 1st in 96 years, since the 1915 Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association.

The last Vancouver team to win a championship of any significance? Actually, it hasn't been all that long: The British Columbia Lions won the Grey Cup, the championship of the Canadian Football League, in 2006.

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Pauline Betz died 2 days ago. She was born on August 6, 1919 in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Los Angeles. She won the women's side of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in 1942, 1943 and 1944, and won both that and Wimbledon in 1946.

Jack Kramer, a contemporary, called her the 2nd-best female tennis player he ever saw, behind only Helen Wills Moody. This was, presumably, before Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, and Venus and Serena Williams came along, all of whom Kramer lived to see. (He died in 2009.)

She married Bob Addie, a sporstwriter for the Washington Times-Herald and, when that paper folded in 1954, The Washington Post. They lived in the suburbs of D.C., and had 5 children, including renowned poet Kim Addonizio. Kim's daughter is actress Aya Cash.

Pauline Betz Addie founded founded a tennis center in Potomac, Maryland that is now named for her. She was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965, and her name appeared on the Washington Wall of Stars at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, even though D.C. was not her home area. She died this week, at the age of 91.