There’s new fire in the desert

 

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 05/10/2006

 Phoenix, Arizona, is on fire with Suns and Cardinals. First, the red-hot NBA Suns: Their comeback from 1-3 against the Lakers was remarkable. In NBA history, teams that led three games to one in a seven-game series have won 153 of 161 series. The Suns are the first NBA team ever to lead the league in scoring points per game (108), field goal percentage, free throw percentage, and three-point shooting.

 

The great Phil Jackson, winner of nine NBA Championships, was previously 14-0 in first-round playoff series until the Suns rallied. Point guard Steve Nash, winning his second straight MVP award, joins Magic Johnson as the only point guards to win MVP twice. 

 

Nash is also only the ninth player in history to capture the league’s highest honor in back-to-back years. The others are or will be in the Hall of Fame: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Tim Duncan.

 

Dennis Green and the Cardinals have also created tremendous excitement and expectations around the football team with a new state-of-the-art 64,000-seat stadium that opens this fall featuring a retractable roof and field. The Valley is on fire with the additions of Pro Bowl running back Edgerrin James and the drafting of two-time National Championship quarterback Matt Leinart of USC.

 

With Pro Bowler and leading NFL receiver Larry Fitzgerald, Jr., Anquan Bolden at wide receiver, and two-time League MVP Kurt Warner the veteran at quarterback, the Cardinals are certain to end the NFL’s longest consecutive losing season streak at seven. For the first time since 1998, the Cardinals have sold out their home games.

 

 

Fitz notes & quotes

 

For LeBron James, the talented young star of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the sky’s the limit. He’s already the youngest player in NBA history to win the MVP award in an All-Star game. Now he’s climbed the ladder in the NBA playoffs, leading the Cavs to their first playoff appearance this decade and a 4-2 series win over Washington.

 

James also joined the likes of Wilt Chamberlain (1960), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1970), and Bob McAdoo (1974) with the highest scoring averages in NBA history for a first-timer in the playoffs. Chamberlain had 38.7, Jabbar 36.2, and McAdoo 31.7; James is averaging 36 points a game in these playoffs.

 

For the Twins, the month of April 2006 could not end fast enough; their 9-15 season start was among the worst in Twins history. So far, starting pitching and the team’s inability to win on the road (3-12) have been the biggest downfalls. Twins starters Brad Radke and Carlos Silva may have had to be treated for whiplash — each allowed 10 home runs apiece. The Twins were last in baseball with a team ERA of 7.25 last month.

 

 It has now become abundantly clear that Major League Baseball (MLB) was fully aware of the widespread use of steroids in the sport over the last 12 years before instituting a policy with the Major League Players Association. In this day and age of designer steroids, ball players who insist on using them can have and continue to use them. No testing policy penalizing the players was put in place until 2003.

 

Now it appears the slick MLB owners have juiced the baseballs. Eight players, led by Albert Puljols of St. Louis with a record 14, for the first time in history hit 10 or more home runs in the month of April. The previous high was five in 1996.

 

The major league record for most home runs in one month was 860 in 2001. Last month, 845 homeruns were hit in MLB ballparks.

 

 

Fake Foley!

 

The firing of Fran Foley for his act of fraud as vice president of player personnel after just three months on the job continues to clearly show the Vikings have major issues. This is another national embarrassment for the Vikings, along with the Love Boat cruise, former Head Coach Mike Tice scalping Super Bowl tickets, Onterrio Smith with the Original Whizzinator — when will this end?

 

This also means that if you look at the facts, the Vikings passed over the best qualified candidate with solid credentials for the job and the best track record and experience, Charlie Baily. Baily was interviewed twice. If the Vikings go back to the original process before wrongly hiring Foley, then Baily is the man.

 

The Minnesota Vikings will hold their first full-squad Mini Camp this weekend, Friday, May 12, through Sunday, May 14, since drafting number-one pick linebacker Chad Greenway (Iowa), defensive back Cedric Griffin (Texas), center Ryan Cook (New Mexico), quarterback Tavaris Jackson (Alabama State), defensive end Ray Edwards (Purdue), and defensive back Greg Blue (Georgia).

 

I gave the Vikings a C- for their draft. They made several mistakes, including trading two third-round picks to take Jackson. If they thought so highly of Jackson in the first place, why didn’t they take him before drafting an offensive lineman, Ryan Cook, who was projected to go in the fifth round?

 

In two years, the Vikings have given up two of the top five players in football, Randy Moss and Daunte Culpepper, and they failed in back-to-back drafts to get value in return. Two years in a row they have lost their best receiver, Moss last year and Nate Burleson to Seattle this year.

USC had 11 players drafted; that’s the most since 1983. The record was set in 2004 by the University of Miami, when 12 of that school’s players were drafted by NFL teams.