Friday, July 4, 2008

Brouhaha in Omaha

There’s no more appropriately named sports broadcaster than Rowdy Gaines, who can turn any average 100-meter swimming race into a knock-you-out-of-your-seat exciting, 12-round championship bout.
In fact, the former world-record holder, swimming ambassador and NBC analyst expects nothing less than a knock-down, drag out fight when Americans Kate Ziegler and Katie Hoff face off in the 800-meter final at the U.S. Olympic Trials this weekend in Omaha, Neb.
“Saturday’s race between Hoff and Ziegler is perhaps the biggest duel in the pool on the ladies side of the entire competition thus far,” said Gaines, taking timeout to speak with The Examiner’s Jim Williams. “Hoff is the best all around swimmer in the world, and now she is challenging Ziegler, the best distance swimmer in the world, on her own turf. The 800 is a real grind.”
Adding to the drama is the near-hometown rivalry between Ziegler, 20, who hails from Great Falls, Va., and Hoff, a 19-year-old Baltimore native who claims fellow North Baltimore Aquatic Club alum Michael Phelps as one of her biggest fans.
“Ziegler knows as well as anyone how good Hoff is,” said Gaines. “But the 800 is her race, and she knows that whoever wins this will be considered the best woman distance swimmer in the world so she will draw on her experience as the record holder in the 1,500 [which is not an Olympic event for the women]. Meanwhile, I look for Hoff to see this as her ultimate challenge and push Ziegler to her max.
“It will take eight minutes but it will be more like a heavyweight fight than a race.”


UP FOR DEBATE » Kate vs. Katie

CS » Let’s be honest, O’s vs. Nats is nothing. Katie Hoff vs. Kate Ziegler’s showdown at the U.S. Olympic Trials is the biggest Baltimore vs. D.C. battle of the summer. Hoff surprisingly won the 400 meters earlier this week, but Ziegler’s forte is out-and-out distance, and she’s the favorite in this weekend’s 800.

DC » You’re right, this is a massive race, and just as it should be, Charm City will again pound on the nation’s capital. Hoff showed she doesn’t need to lead the entire race to win, coming from fourth in the 400 for a convincing win. In fact, only England’s Rebecca Addington has swam the 800 faster than Hoff this year.

CS » But here’s the kicker. Who already owns a world record in this event? That’s right, Ziegler, who set the 800-meter short course mark in Germany last October. Look for her to establish a new long course record — by the way, it would top the oldest current record on the books, set by Janet Evans in 1989 — when the two battle in Saturday night’s final.

DC » The real number to concern yourself with isn’t 1989, it’s .47 seconds. That’s the margin by which Ziegler barely held off Hoff by in the 800 at the U.S. Swimming National Championships in Indianapolis last August. The way Hoff is rewriting the record book, that’s not a lot of time to make up in a race of this length.


Sonics will be OK, for some

If there’s any silver lining to the relocation of the SuperSonics from Seattle to Oklahoma City, at least area basketball fans can get to bed at a decent hour, since Prince George’s County natives Kevin Durant and Jeff Green will tip-off home games two hours earlier in the Central Time Zone than they did on the West Coast.
Not that it matters to the players, particularly Durant, who’s got to be more concerned with real estate values after purchasing a $2.8 million home on Mercer Island last September.
“I’m a little shocked and a little disappointed,” he told the Seattle Times. “First of all, I didn’t know we would be leaving Seattle this soon. I feel for the fans in Seattle. ... Even though it wasn’t a great year for our team, they always supported us. I feel for the fans.”
Those fans, the same ones that balked at fronting the cost for a new arena, still might get another team to call their own — if they don’t within five years, Sonics owner Clay Bennett is on the hook for another $30 million.
The NBA is sure to have the Seattle Hornets, Bobcats or Grizzlies before too long. For area hoops junkies, the Grizzles would mean late nights again, just to watch Kwame Brown — er, we mean, Rudy Gay.


COLUMN INCHES

Opinions from around the nation on the hottest topics in sports:

» The ‘man possessed,’ Clay Bennett, showed that he will do just about anything to gratify himself and his fellow Oklahomans by offering another silly payment for NBA ball, yet one the Seattle political leadership lacked the guts to refuse. Obliterated for cash is 41 years of sports and civic history. So much for the city’s passionate courtroom argument that the pro basketball team was of irreplaceable value.
— Art Thiel on the Sonics getting out of their lease with KeyArena. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

» Basketball died in Seattle Wednesday afternoon. It died because too many people who should have cared didn’t. It died of neglect. It died because all of the powers-that-be stopped paying attention. Basketball is dead, and don’t look for any miracle resurrections.
— Steve Kelley on the slim prospects of the NBA returning to Seattle. (Seattle Times)

» Marian Hossa is a Red Wing because he wants to win a Stanley Cup. That’s as pure as it gets in sports. He took less money and fewer years — shunning guaranteed financial security — for the best opportunity to win a championship.
— Drew Sharp on how Hossa differs from other professional athletes. (Detroit Free Press)


BY THE NUMBERS

7 » Feet tall, the height of Clippers center Chris Kaman, who received German citizenship this week and will compete for his new country at Olympic qualifiers later this month. The American-born Kaman averaged 15.7 points and 12.7 rebounds per game for Los Angeles last season.

3.76 » Millions of viewers who saw the Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain last Sunday afternoon. 1.2 million viewers caught the lead-in match between D.C. United and Los Angeles.


ON THE RECORD

“I don’t think it’s fun when you have the owner coming down saying, ‘You better start hitting.’ They don’t know (expletive) about that.”

— Red Sox DH David Ortiz, on Yankees co-Chair Hank Steinbrenner’s recent comments to his team.


“They’ll say, ‘Why the hell did we let that dude go? What were they thinking?’ But everything happens for a reason. Maybe it was a good reason: So I can get [angry] and get more motivated.”

— Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse, who says Eagles’ fans will miss him next season.