SI:AM | The Avs Are Making It Look Easy
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. My Rangers aren’t doing too hot right now, but at least they’re not facing the Avalanche.
In today’s SI:AM:
☘️ Al Horford’s heroics in Milwaukee
🎙️ Tom Brady’s retirement plans
It’s the Avalanche’s Stanley Cup to lose
The vast majority of the NHL’s first-round playoff series are complete toss-ups right now. Six of the eight series are tied 2–2 at the moment. The Penguins beat the Rangers 7–2 last night to take a 3–1 advantage in that series. And then there are the Avalanche. They beat the Predators last night to complete the four-game sweep.
And it’s not like the Avs just squeaked by the Preds. They blew them out, looking like they’re head and shoulders above the rest of the NHL. Colorado outscored Nashville 21–9 over the four games.
That the Avs made such quick work of Nashville is not a surprise. Colorado was the best team in the Western Conference this year with a record of 56-19-7, combining elite offense with top-notch defense. The Avs were in the top 10 in both goals scored and goals allowed, and they’ve kept that going in the playoffs. Their 21 postseason goals are more than any other team through four games, and their nine goals allowed are third-best out of the 16 teams in the field. (Both teams in the low-scoring Flames-Stars series have allowed seven goals.)
Colorado’s success starts with defenseman Cale Makar. The 23-year-old was fourth on the team in the regular season with 86 points (28 goals, 58 assists), one of just three defensemen in the league to eclipse 75 points. That’s the most points by a defenseman in franchise history and makes him the only player in Colorado history to record more than 70 points since the team moved from Quebec.
Makar was on fire in the first round, recording three goals and seven assists for a team-high 10 points. He had a goal and two assists last night, scoring on this nasty shot from the point in the second period.
“He might be the best player in the league right now,” Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon said after the game.
Makar is so good right now that he can’t even be slowed down by fans pelting him with candy.
“It was just in the last minute of the game there. I’m not too sure,” Makar told reporters. “They were throwing stuff over the glass before. Not a fun way for your team to end a season like that. But a couple of Skittles hit me during play.”
Makar and the Avalanche will have a few days to rest before their next series against the winner of the Blues-Wild matchup. A fresh Colorado team sounds like the rest of the NHL’s nightmare. Don’t be surprised if the Avs are the ones lifting the Cup next month.
Tom Brady isn’t going away
Here is a bit of somewhat surprising news from the NFL this morning. Fox announced that whenever Tom Brady retires, he has agreed to become the network’s top football analyst.
Because Brady just keeps playing, that could come next year, the year after or just before the heat-death of the universe. But the point is, Brady will continue to be synonymous with the NFL long after he retires from quarterbacking.
Adding Brady fills the hole left by Troy Aikman’s departure to ESPN. He’ll replace Greg Olsen as Kevin Burkhardt’s partner on the network’s No. 1 team.
Brady was obviously every sports media executive’s white whale. Of course any network would want to hire the most famous football player on Earth to bring more eyeballs to its coverage. It’s just a bit of a surprise that Brady, who will be closer to 50 than 40 whenever he does enter the booth, wouldn’t want to take a couple of years off to play golf and eat tomatoes before transitioning to broadcasting. It’s not like he needs the money.
The best of Sports Illustrated
Alessio Mamo
Today’s Daily Cover story comes to you from Sicily, where, at the base of Mount Etna, a rugby team is learning to stand up to the mob. Sean Williams writes:
“The club fields boys and girls teams at almost every age level, providing those players with a crucial path away from criminal activity. And that outlet, it seems, has not gone over particularly well with Sicily’s feared Mafia, the Cosa Nostra. Because the club offers an alternative to mob life, ‘they hate Briganti,’ says Simone Olivelli, a crime reporter with Italy’s MeridioNews.”
Chris Mannix reports from Milwaukee, where Al Horford went off for 30 points to bring the Celtics even with the Bucks. … The Diamondbacks are surprisingly two games over .500 and, as Tom Verducci writes, the work of pitching coach Brent Strom is a big reason why. Albert Breer writes about the NFL doubleheader that isn’t actually a doubleheader. … More than a dozen NCAA football players have been older than 30 since 2004. Lia Assimakopoulos explores some of the stories behind how that happens. … Novak Djokovic called 19-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz “the best player in the world.” Jon Wertheim weighs in on tennis’s new teen star.
Around the sports world
The Warriors (without coach Steve Kerr, who tested positive for COVID-19) squeaked by the Grizzlies (who were without the injured Ja Morant) to take a 3–1 series lead. … The Mavericks determined that “unruly” fans attempted to give Chris Paul’s family “unwanted hugs” and banned them from the arena until 2023. … Former Michigan State basketball star Adreian Payne was shot and killed in Florida. … Mikaela Shiffrin spoke at length with ESPN about her struggles at this year’s Olympics. … The mayor of Dallas wants a second NFL team in the city.
The top five...
… things I saw last night:
5. Shohei Ohtani’s first grand slam as a pro
4. Johnny Gaudreau’s penalty shot goal for the Flames in the third period against the Stars
3. Andre Burakovsky’s bizarre goal for the Avalanche
2. Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor’s game-tying grand slam in the ninth inning (and he wasn’t done)
1. Naylor’s three-run homer in the 11th and his reaction
SIQ
The legendary NFL announcer Pat Summerall was born on this day in 1930. Summerall was best known for his partnership with John Madden, which began in ’81 and lasted through the 2001 season. What was the final play that Summerall called in the booth with Madden? (Hint: It was during a Super Bowl.)
Yesterday’s SIQ: On May 9, 1987, who became the first player in MLB history to hit home runs from both sides of the plate in consecutive games?
Answer: Eddie Murray. Fresh off six straight All-Star selections, Murray started the 1987 season in a terrible slump for Baltimore. After an 0-for-3 game on May 1, his batting average sat at a paltry .174. He had just one home run.
But then Murray turned it on. From May 2 to May 7, he picked up six hits (including two homers) in 18 at bats. He kept the hot streak going as the Orioles traveled to Chicago for a three-game set with the White Sox. Batting left against right-handed starter José DeLeón in the fourth inning of the first game, Murray hit a home run. In the top of the ninth, he hit a two-run shot that gave Baltimore a 7–6 lead batting righty against lefty Ray Searage.
The following day, the Orioles drubbed the White Sox, 15–6, as Murray had an even better day at the plate. He hit his first homer of the day batting right against the left-handed Joel McKeon in the fourth inning. In his very next at bat, he spun around to bat left against righty Bob James and hit another homer. All told, Murray was 4-for-6 with two homers, a double and four runs driven in.
By the end of the 1987 season, though, Murray was ready for a change of pace. His relationship with the Orioles soured after he signed a five-year, $12.7 million contract in the spring of ’86. After signing the contract, Richard Justice wrote in The Washington Post, Murray “had never seemed happier.” But that changed quickly:
“From a happy, content employee, his friends say Murray has gone to a bitter, angry man, obsessed with leaving Baltimore and the Orioles. On Sunday, some of that bitterness surfaced when he complained in a rare television interview about fans booing at Memorial Stadium.”
Murray remained with the Orioles through the 1988 season, but the team finally traded him to his hometown Dodgers during that year’s winter meetings in Atlanta. The two teams had been working on the deal since October, and it took longer to be finalized after Los Angeles and Baltimore’s managers and general managers got stuck in an elevator for 45 minutes at the hotel where the meetings were being held.
The deal was a steal for the Dodgers, who acquired the future Hall of Famer for middle infielder Juan Bell (who batted .167 in 113 games for the O’s) and two relievers (Brian Holton and Ken Howell) who were out of the majors two years later.
From the Vault: May 10, 1982
Peter Read Miller/Sports Illustrated
The Rams were in desperate need of a quarterback before the 1982 season. Their streak of eight consecutive playoff appearances had been snapped in ’81, thanks in large part to some lousy QB play. Vince Ferragamo, the starter for the ’80 team that went 11–5, got an attractive offer to join the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League in ’81. (The shocking decision landed Ferragamo on the cover of SI.) That left the Rams with Pat Haden and Dan Pastorini under center. Haden was bad (a 51.7% completion rate, nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions), but Pastorini was worse (42.1% completion rate, two touchdowns and 14 interceptions) as the Rams stumbled to a 6–10 record.
Rams owner Georgia Frontiere set her sights on disgruntled Baltimore Colts quarterback Bert Jones to turn things around. Jones, the No. 2 pick in the 1973 draft, had won the MVP award in ’76 and was regarded as one of the top quarterbacks in the league. The Colts were a mess, though. They hadn’t made the playoffs since ’77 and their infamous decampment to Indianapolis was on the horizon.
Though widely despised owner Robert Irsay drew most of the Colts fans’ ire, Jones was not blameless. During a 41–14 loss to the Jets on Nov. 8, 1981, Jones chastised running back Curtis Dickey for failing to block for him on a rollout. Dickey, who is Black, implied he thought Jones’s outburst was racist. Here is how The New York Times reported on the dispute:
“Racial difficulties among the Colts, who have lost nine of 10 games, have ‘probably been around all along,’ Dickey, who is black, said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun.
“And, in a television interview, he added, “I’m not the only one that’s been in this kind of situation.” Dickey, a starting running back, did not directly accuse Jones, the longtime Colt quarterback, who is white, of racial bias. But his contention that “I’m not the only one” seemed to be a reference to the former Colt receivers Raymond Chester, Glenn Doughty and Freddie Scott, all of whom are black and all of whom reportedly had personal difficulties with Jones.”
Dickey asked for a trade. Jones was upset that the team didn’t stand up for him. He told The Washington Post after the season, “I haven’t changed, but the way people perceive me has changed completely. I feel that I’m now the Colts’ scapegoat.”
Jones was also engaged in a contract dispute with Irsay and the Colts. Jones accused Irsay of backing out of a verbal agreement to sign him to a four-year contract worth $750,000 annually, which would have made Jones the highest-paid player in the league. He filed a grievance against the Colts after the season was over.
So it isn’t hard to see why E.M. Swift’s cover story paints Jones as thrilled to be out of Baltimore. The addition also gave Rams fans reason for optimism. In Jones, Los Angeles had acquired what appeared to be the missing piece of a winning team. Swift wrote that Jones “makes the Rams an instant Super Bowl contender, provided he remains healthy.”
Swift added the caveat because Jones had missed 25 games in 1978 and ’79 with shoulder issues, but back-to-back 3,000-yard seasons in ’80 and ’81 signaled the problem was behind him. However, Swift’s words proved to be prescient. During a Nov. 21 game against the Falcons (the Rams’ third game of the strike-interrupted ’82 season), Jones injured his neck. He underwent surgery that January to fix a ruptured cervical disk and was forced to retire at age 32.
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