For the Record
Set
By Kenya's Robert Cheruiyot, a new Boston Marathon course record. Cheruiyot(above) crossed the finish line in 2:07:14, one second faster than hiscountryman Cosmas Ndeti ran the race in 1994. Kenyans dominated the afternoon.Benjamin Maiyo finished second, and Rita Jeptoo won the women's race. But theU.S. had a strong showing as well: Meb Keflezighi, Brian Sell and AlanCulpepper came in third, fourth and fifth. The Yanks kept Cheruiyot and Maiyoin sight for the first 20 1/2 miles but began to fade at the aptly namedHeartbreak Hill. The Kenyans pulled away on the hilliest part of the course;then Cheruiyot separated himself from his compatriot. "I thought maybe Iwas going to slow down, but I was very strong," said Cheruiyot.
Missed
By Yankee Stadium public address announcer Bob Sheppard, his first Yankees homeopener in 56 years. Sheppard, who debuted at the Stadium on April 17, 1951,missed the opener because of a hip injury but expects to be healthy enough toannounce when the Yankees return home to play the Orioles on April 21. (Herefuses to give his age, but it is believed to be 95.) "If he everretires," said Yankees captain Derek Jeter, "I would like to have hisrecorded voice so every time I come up, they [can] play it."
Set
By officials in San Antonio, a May 15 deadline for the Florida Marlins tocommit to relocating to their city. Nelson Wolff, a Bexar County judge who isthe point man in discussions with the team, told the San Antonio Express-Newson Monday that he was faxing a letter to the team telling them, "We need tofish or cut bait by May 15." Wolff said he needs an answer soon becausehe's facing a deadline for getting a proposed tax measure to fund a new stadiumon the ballot.
Replaced
As the prosecutor in the aggravated-assault case against Redskins safety SeanTaylor, Florida assistant state attorney Mike Grieco. Lawyers for Taylor, whois accused of waving a gun at several people during an argument in Miami lastJune, complained that Grieco was using the case to promote his side business asa deejay in Miami Beach clubs. Grieco, who has permission to moonlight, addedlinks to articles about the case to a website that promotes his deejay work.Said Richard Sharpstein, one of Taylor's lawyers, "He's exploiting his jobas a prosecutor for private gain." Grieco recused himself; Taylor's trial,which was to begin on Monday, was delayed until May 8.
Retired
After 18 years on the WTA tour, former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez(above), because of a heel injury. Martinez, 34, won 33 singles titles andthree Olympic medals for Spain and was ranked in the world top 15 from 1989 to2000. She won her lone Grand Slam championship in 1994, when she defeatedMartina Navratilova in the Wimbledon final.
Banished
From the Trail Blazers' road trip last week, forward Darius Miles. Afterwatching the first half of Portland's April 12 loss to the Clippers from thebench, Miles figured he wasn't going to play, changed out of his uniform athalftime and returned to the sideline in street clothes for the second half."That's not what basketball players do," coach Nate McMillan said."We just won't allow that." The Blazers sent Miles home for the rest ofthe trip but allowed him to suit up against the Warriors at home last Saturday.He scored eight points in an 86-81 loss.
Indicted
In connection with allegations that an exotic dancer was sexually assaulted ata Duke lacrosse party, two team members, according to a defense attorney.Robert Ekstrand, who represents several players, revealed the indictments(which were sealed) on Monday but did not name the players or specify thecharges. DNA tests on 46 players who gave samples failed to yield a match, butDurham district attorney Mike Nifong (right) has said he still believes anassault took place at the March 13 party. "Today, two young men have beencharged with crimes they did not commit," Ekstrand said in a statement. Theplayers' identities can be kept secret until they are arrested or appear incourt.
Banned
By the National Federation of State High School Associations football rulescommittee, the fumblerooski. The trick play--the ball is laid on the groundafter the snap so an offensive lineman can pick it up and run--was outlawed bythe NCAA in 1993. The ban "eliminates confusion in a ball game," saysJerry Diehl, assistant director of the NFHS.
Died
At age 65 of injuries suffered in a fall at his Memphis home, disgraced Alabamabooster Logan Young. Police launched a homicide investigation when Young, whowas convicted last year of federal money laundering and conspiracy charges forpaying a Memphis high school coach to send a football recruit to Alabama, wasfound dead on April 11. The volume of blood splattered in his home suggestedthat he had been the victim of foul play. But authorities now say Young gashedhis head on an iron stair post and staggered through the house beforecollapsing. Young had been sentenced to six months in prison and was free onappeal.
Died
At age 77 after a long illness, Poker Hall of Famer Walter Clyde (Puggy)Pearson. Even by the standards of professional poker, Pearson was a character;in the 1970s and '80s he often showed up for tournaments dressed as a cowboy,an American Indian or a Viking. But he was also an influential figure. Pearsonwas a fixture at the World Series of Poker since its inception in 1970 (he wonit in '73, pocketing $130,000), and he created the freeze-out tournament, inwhich players start out with the same number of chips and play until someoneaccumulates them all. It's now the standard format at all major events.
Offered
At this year's Kentucky Derby, a cocktail that costs as much as your first car.Churchill Downs will sell $1,000 mint juleps at the May 6 race. What makes adrink worth a grand? How about Woodford Reserve bourbon, mint from Morocco, icefrom the Arctic and sugar from the Island of Mauritius in the SouthPacific--plus it comes in a 24-karat gold-plated cup you can keep. Proceedsfrom the juleps will go to Green Pastures, a charity that finds homes forretired thoroughbreds.
Go Figure
2
NHL rookies--Teemu Selanne in 1992-93 and Washington's Alexander Ovechkin thisseason--to have at least 50 goals and 50 assists.
27
Years since the Blues last failed to make the Stanley Cup playoffs; their25-year postseason streak, which was snapped this year, was the longest activerun in the four major U.S. pro leagues.
3
Pitches it took Oakland's Eric Chavez, Frank Thomas and Milton Bradley to hitconsecutive homers against the Rangers last Saturday--the first time since theCubs in 2001 that a team homered on three straight pitches.
$23.9 million
Operating profit of the Georgia athletic department, the largest of any publiccollege program in 2005.
Frost Heaves Watch
SI senior writer Alexander Wolff will file periodicupdates on his new ABA team, the Vermont Frost Heaves (SI, Dec. 19, 2005),which begins play in November.
WHEN WE decided to put our coaching finalists to avote of fans, we ventured into terra in-ternet-cognita. But the process wentmore smoothly than we could have imagined. Members of the Frost Heaves' onlinecommunity, the Bump in the Road Club, chose Will Voigt, a Vermont native whohas led the Ulriken Eagles to the playoffs in all three of his seasons inNorway's top pro league, over Rus Bradburd, who won an Irish Super League titlein 2004.
Voigt, 29, was the clear choice of Bump Club members,739 of whom cast ballots--a 61% participation rate that's better than that inany recent presidential election or, I'll wager, town meeting in Cabot, Vt.,where our coach attended the smallest high school in the state. He went on toapprentice under Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and Texas coach Rick Barnes."NBA isolation plays aren't something I believe in," Coach V says."Our style of play will be enjoyable for fans and players alike." Voigtwill scout for the Spurs at a big man's camp in Nigeria, where he has promisedto keep an eye out for potential Frost Heaves. We're still committed to suitingup local talent. But as the bumper stickers on cars in Vermont say, sort of,RECRUIT GLOBALLY, PLAY LOCALLY.
• For more on the team, check out SI.com/frostheavesand www.vermontfrostheaves.com.
LOUISE SMITH
1916-2006
"I WAS JUST born to be wild," Louise Smithsaid in 1997. "I tried to be a nurse, a pilot and a beautician and couldn'tmake it in any of them. But from the moment I hit the racetrack, it was exactlywhat I wanted." Smith, who died last Saturday at age 89, was the firstwoman to race in NASCAR's top series and won 38 races at local short tracks inthe 1940s and '50s against the likes of Lee Petty and Curtis Turner. In 1999she became the first woman inducted into the International Motorsports Hall ofFame.
Smith first got behind the wheel of a car at age six,when she drove her father's Model T into a henhouse. "I didn't know nothingabout brakes," she said. She never did develop an affinity for the bigpedal; before long she was known to everyone--especially the cops--inGreenville, S.C., as the woman who sped all over town in cars she'd get fromher husband Noah's junkyard. She caught the attention of promoter (and futureNASCAR founder) Bill France, who persuaded her to enter a race at theGreenville-Pickens Speedway in 1946; she finished third and was hooked. Franceencouraged her to travel up north as an ambassador for the sport, which shedid, but she was a racer, not a diplomat. Racing was a tough business then, andthe 5'9", 180-pound Smith gave as well as she received. "I thought menwasn't supposed to hit women and women wasn't supposed to hit men, but I foundout it went both ways," she told The State of Columbia, S.C., in 2001."If you won a race, you just about had to fight."
PHOTO
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES (CHERUIYOT)
ILLUSTRATION
CHRISTOPHER HERCIK (LOGO)
PHOTO
GEIR DILLAN/BERGENSAVISEN (VOIGT)
HE'S THE BOSS Voight will preachpressure D and ball movement.
PHOTO
LISA BLUMENFELD/GETTY IMAGES (MARTINEZ)
PHOTO
GERRY BROOME/AP (NIFONG)
PHOTO
COURTESY OF WOODFORD RESERVE (MINT JULEP)
PHOTO
INTERNATIONAL MOTORSPORTS HALL OF FAME (SMITH)