Sully on Sports

Bobby Murcer

I grew up as a Red Sox fan in New England, but my best friend was a diehard Yankees fan. I think we were about 12 when he told me about this kid centerfielder who was being compared with Mickey Mantle. It must have been difficult for Bobby Murcer, carrying around those sort of expectations. Mantle was an icon for a generation of Yankee fans. Obviously, he could never live up to the advance hype.

But Murcer was a very good player in his own right, an outfielder with speed, power and a good glove. He hit 252 homers and stole 127 bases in his career. He hit .277 and finished in the Top 10 in the American League MVP voting three straight years in his prime. I always liked Murcer as an announcer. He knew the game and had a folksy, self-deprecating way about him.

It should be an emotional scene Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, where they'll be hosting the last All-Star Game at the old stadium. There's so much history in that place. You get the sense that the Yankee ghosts are looking down on the proceedings. It'll be even more so in the immediate aftermath of Murcer's death. I'm sure Yankee fans, who have a way of rising to a big moment, give Murcer a fitting tribute.

Back from Vacation

I just got back from 10 days of vacation. I hope someone missed me. Judging from the feedback on the Sabres' blog, most of you are content to rant and rave over in the hockey universe. I can't say I'm impressed with the Sabres' moves so far. They basically brought in a veteran defenseman, Craig Rivet. That's an upgrade -- an upgrade over the team that finished the season. I still don't see any reason to believe they'll be a serious Cup contender next season.

Meanwhile, Brian Campbell signed for more than $7 million a year. Say what you will about Campbell (it seems fashionable to emphasize players' shortcomings after they're gone). But I believe the Sabres could have had him for $4.6 million a year, or something in that range, if they had bothered to make a counter-offer last summer to Campbell's 5-year, $25 million offer. I have to think a deal in the 5-year, $23 million range could have gotten it done. Those who defend Sabres management might believe the Campbell camp never intended to sign, despite the overture. I'm more inclined to believe the Sabres didn't want to pay close to market value, same as with Drury.

Fact is, Campbell wound up with a long-term deal at a total cost that was well over twice what he might have signed for to stay in Buffalo. Go ahead and argue that Rivet (or Spacek) are better value at their salaries than Campbell would be in the $4.6 million range. The market says he's way more valuable, and even if Chicago overpaid, it's hard to dispute the reality of the marketplace. Campbell is an elite offensive defenseman, and he was getting better in his own end. I can't see how anyone could contend the defense is better than it was six months ago.

As for Max Afinogenov: The fact that he's still here tells me management isn't as concerned about the team's competitive edge than it claims in public. Sometimes, you need to move a guy to prove you mean business. And I don't mean the bottom-line business that seems to prevail at HSBC Arena.

Should Darcy Go After Darcy?

There's been a lot of talk this week about the Sabres pursuing Darcy Tucker, whose contract was bought out by the Maple Leafs early this week. The Sabres could use a veteran with a nasty edge, as I discussed in Thursday's column in the News. Tucker fits the bill, though it's debatable how much he has left in the tank at age 33. When Ron Wilson took over as Toronto's new coach, he said Tucker was "worn down". But it seems every Stanley Cup winner has one or two veteran forwards who are tough to play against.

Sean Avery is another interesting possibility, though he comes with a lot of baggage. He's high maintenance and something of a self-promoter. But Avery is a rare combination of skill and agitation, and he's only 28. When he's on his game, he can drive the opposition to distraction. He might not be a good fit in Buffalo, but he's worth considering. Management has admitted the team needs to get tougher and bigger. They addressed it in the draft, but what about now? Some fans seem to think the Sabres will automatically revert to Cup-contending form, but they need to shake up the roster to some degree and let the players know last season simply wasn't good enough.

What do you think? Should Darcy Regier go after Tucker or Avery? Is there any chance Max Afinogenov will remain a Sabre? What other free agents should they pursue when the market opens next week? Brooks Orpik seems to be the flavor of the month among defensemen. Is he the answer, or are people overreacting to one playoff run?

All-Time Moment

I'm settling back in from a week of vacation and people are still buzzing about the Tiger Woods-Rocco Mediate playoff. I'm told they were packed around the TV in the newsroom last Monday to watch that amazing event. One person told me he built  his entire day around the playoff. A number of people have asked where this year's Open would rank among the best events I've ever covered.

Good question. It's still fresh in my mind, which makes it hard to be objective. But this year's Open would certainly make my Top 10 and be a contender for the most memorable event I've covered in person. Here's a quick list of other events that would be in or near my Top 10:

1. Duke-Kentucky regional final in Philadelphia, 1992. The 104-103 overtime game that our guy, Christian Laettner, won at the buzzer. Writers that night were calling it the best basketball game they ever covered.

2. Super Bowl XXV. My first Super Bowl, same as the Bills. The Gulf War, the missed field goal, the gut-wrenching loss for Buffalo. Unforgettable on many levels.

3. Celtics-Lakers final, 1987. The game where Magic Johnson made the baby sky hook over the Celtics' big three. I'm pretty sure it was Game Four. The Celtics and Lakers didn't meet in a final for another 21 years. It just didn't seem the same. How do you measure up to those teams?

4. Kerri Strug's winning vault at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. We all thought she needed to nail it to beat the Russians. One of the most intense events imaginable. Won't ever forget the scene of Bela Karolyi carrying Strug off the floor.

5. No Goal. Sorry to include another crushing Buffalo loss in a championship, but what am I supposed to do? I remember standing outside the Sabres' locker room at about 1:15 in the morning, as the news began to circulate that Hull's skate had been in the crease.

6. 1991 World Series, Game 7: Jack Morris wins 1-0 in 10 innings. Man, it was loud in the Metrodome that night.

7. Tonya Harding vs. Nancy Kerrigan. The whole ice skating saga was an unforgettable and bizarre experience from start to finish. I still remember the stunned silence when Harding stopped in her free skate because her bootlace broke. I thought she was having a nervous breakdown.

8. The Houston comeback. I wasn't actually working that day. I sat in the stands for the second half of the Bills' historic playoff comeback. I'll confess, I was cheering. How could you resist? I remember feeling that the crowd was a living, screaming force that day, that they willed the Bills to victory.

9. St. Bonaventure's double overtime loss to Kentucky in the first round of the 2000 NCAA tourney. Indelible moment: David Messiah Capers hitting three free throws with no time on the clock to send the game into the second overtime. Jim Baron, you should have fouled Tayshaun Prince.

10. Tiger-Rocco would have to be in there somewhere.

I might have left out some great moments (Home Run Throwback, anyone?). But this is a pretty representative list.

Sunday at the U.S. Open

SAN DIEGO -- We could be in for even more dramatics on the final nine holes today at Torrey Pines. The USGA has decided to shorten the par-4 14th hole to just 267 yards, making it drivable for just about every player in the field. The 14th had been playing at 435 yards and had yielded only 32 birdies through the first three days. It was the third-toughest hole after three rounds at .344 over par.

The 13th and 18th holes have been the easiest so far, relative to par. Both are par-5s that can be hit in two. Those are the holes Tiger Woods eagled on Saturday to take over the lead. So there are now three holes in the closing six that could be eagled on the final day. That could make for some very interesting golf later today. The leader might not be able to play conservatively down the stretch and settle for all pars. No Open has been decided by an eagle on the 72nd hole.

It will be interesting to see how Lee Westwood performs in the final pairing with Woods. It should be quite a zoo out there. I'll be heading out soon to join it. Westwood has been by far the steadiest player in the Open, the only one to shoot par or better all three days. Westwood has 42 pars in 54 holes, easily the most pars of anyone. He has no double bogeys on his card.

Woods, on the other hand, has three eagles and three double bogeys. Woods has 31 pars. Westwood made pars on his first 11 holes Thursday. If he plays that way today, he'll have a chance. I don't see Woods shooting a real low number. Then again, I've learned never to be surprised by him. With the 14th hole moved up, chances are someone will shoot 66 today.

Will Tiger Hold On?

SAN DIEGO -- Wow. I thought I'd seen it all from Tiger Woods, but these past two days have been amazing even by his standards. Three eagles in two days at a major. Are you kidding me? And the chip on 17. Woods said he was lucky, and the ball would have gone eight feet past if it hadn't gone in the hole. But come on, when you chip the ball directly at the hole, that's a lot more than luck.

This Open has been as dramatic as anyone could have hoped. Tiger playing hurt is a great story. It's like Michael Jordan having a big game when he was sick as a dog. Now Woods has to finish it off. He's never failed to win a major when he leads heading into the final round, but he's never been this hobbled before, either. He admits the left knee is getting more sore by the day. So it's hard to say how much he'll have left on Sunday. I've learned never to underestimate the guy, but he's only human.

Lee Westwood is a formidable opponent. He's played on five straight Ryder Cup teams for Europe, so he's no stranger to pressure. He's had a sensational year on the European PGA Tour with six Top 10 finishes in 10 events. You could make an argument for him as the best player never to win a major. I wouldn't rule out Rocco Mediate, either. He's loose and he loves this tournament and he's a good putter.

It's Tiger's tournament to lose. He's won six times on this course and will make the smart decisions under pressure. He's putting with confidence, obviously, and that makes him close to unbeatable. But he's not 100 percent. Someday he's bound to lose a major with the Sunday lead. Maybe he'll have to come from behind at the end. No U.S. Open has ever been won with an eagle on the 72nd hole, but the 18th is a reachable par-5 here, so we might get one final bit of drama Sunday night, in prime time.

Phil Fading

SAN DIEGO -- Phil Mickelson broke down today and put a driver in his bag for the first time in the U.S. Open. Apparently, it's not making any difference. Lefty is 2-over through eight holes and making no move to get back into the tournament. He's now 6-over for the week and nine shots behind leader Stuart Appleby, who has yet to tee off. Mickelson is seven behind Tiger Woods, so he has virtually no shot of winning his first Open in his hometown.

Mickelson had called this the ""opportunity of a lifetime"". But he hasn't done much to take advantage. He's embarrassed himself. The San Diego paper ripped him today for his curious decision not to hit driver. The paper also chided Mickelson for failing to meet with the media after Friday's round. He gave a few cursory quotes to a USGA official and bolted for the parking lot.

That was pretty weak, considering that Mickelson is in his hometown and attracting massive crowds. People might like to hear what he's thinking. Mickelson's big problem is that he thinks too much. Not using a driver was a stupid strategy on the longest course in Open history. Mickelson figured he could hit more fairways with a 3-wood, but he didn't hit enough fairways anyway. He was well behind Woods off the tee and it compromised his ability to make big shots and get into real contention.

Russert, our Bills Ambassador

SAN DIEGO -- Like so many Buffalonians, I was saddened by the death of Tim Russert. I've always said the Bills were our connection to the big-time in sports. Russert was our ambassador, a major player in the world of news and politics who rooted like crazy for the Buffalo sports teams and pushed behind the scenes to ensure the Bills would stay in town.

Russert was a Buffalo guy, through and through. You always felt a twinge of pride when he took on some big politician, ready to ask the tough question and never backing down. He was tough and gregarious and real, which is how Buffalo people like to view themselves. Russert must have known Buffalo people were watching him from afar and would see through any gesture of phoniness. He had his ego and his hubris, but he was honest and credible and people trusted him. I suppose that's what Buffalo was most proud of, that their guy had the toughness and the integrity and stood tall in the tough moments.

Russert followed Buffalo sports closely. I had the sense he was reading everything we wrote on the Bills. It made you want to measure up to his standard, which was impossible of course. Over the years, he would occasionally drop me a note to let me know he enjoyed something I wrote, usually a piece that tried to capture the essence of the Bills and their place in the local culture.

I appeared with him on TV once, on the ESPN show Cold Pizza. It was four years ago, almost to the day. I was covering the U.S. Open at Shinnecock and they brought me to New York to comment on a piece about the most losing sports cities in America. It was me and Russert. I was proud and intimidated to share that moment with him. He put me at ease in his usual fashion. He seemed like a regular Buffalo guy who had been pulled in to give his opinion, not some megastar.

That was the one day when my parents felt I was in the big-time. You're going to be on with Russert, my mother exclaimed? That validated me in her eyes. Covering sports events was one thing. But giving my views on TV with Tim Russert, that was another thing entirely. This was around the time that his book about his father came out, too. She has never forgiven me for not getting his autograph.

 

More Tiger

SAN DIEGO -- What makes Tiger great? Well, among other things, Woods has an uncanny ability to move past his rough patches and not allow bad circumstances to get the better of him. Woods said it felt like he dropped three shots on three holes to finish his front nine Friday. "I bogeyed 16 and 17 and I didn't birdie 18," he said, pointing out that the par-5 18th was very reachable in two.

Woods was 2-over for the round and 3-over for the tournament at that point. But he told himself that if he could "clean up" his flaws on the second nine and get back to even-par, he'd be in good shape.  He did even better, making five birdies on the front nine (he started on 10) for a dazzling 30 and a 68.

Asked if he had gotten more out of that nine than he expected, Woods said "Absolutely, no doubt."

Tiger Says He's Fine

SAN DIEGO -- Not surprisingly, Tiger Woods downplayed the condition of his surgicallly repaired left knee after shooting 30 on his back nine (the front at Torrey Pines) to shoot 68 and get within one shot of the lead in the U.S. Open.

""It's a little sore,'' Woods said after his round. ""But I'll go back home and get some treatment on it.'' Asked how his second round compared to his first, as far as the knee goes, and he said "Same.''

Woods had said before the tournament that he was eager to get back into the competitive flow of a golf tournament. Someone asked him if it felt like he had regained the flow on Friday. "I thought I was back in a rhythm yesterday after two or three holes," Woods said. "After that, I've been fine."

It was a pretty remarkable performance by Woods, considering the two-month layoff and the sore knee. He's the favorite to win now. If he sustains this momentum, he'll take the lead Saturday and we know what happens when he leads a major after three rounds. A 5-under 30 on any nine holes in a U.S. Open is an amazing feat. But Tiger made it seem almost routine. Just the latest reminder that he is the best ever to play the sport. At times like this,  you're reminded that he might be the single most dominant athlete of all time.

What do you think?