Old S.I. Review (August 23, 1999)

Time for another old S.I. review.  This one takes us back 11 years to the summer of '99.  Our old buddy Tiger Woods graces the 8/23/99 cover on the heels of his second major championship at the PGA.  There's no whiff of scandal at that point for Tiger, of course, and there's only faint steroid talk as Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa continue to belt home runs.  Let's jump on in and visit a simpler time for some fallen heroes.

Letters
Lots of Sandy Koufax stuff in the letters section.  The majority of readers wrote in with their appreciation for Koufax and Tom Verducci's piece on him in the 7/12/99 issue.  The following two readers were not among them...

"Pete Sampras wins his 12th Grand Slam men's singles title by winning his sixth Wimbledon, more than any man this century, and you put Sandy Koufax on your July 12 cover? Who will make your cover when Sampras wins his record-breaking 13th title? Ty Cobb?"
                                                                 -Ed Doney, Edmond, OK 

(Note - Actually, it'll be Jason Giambi. Sorry about that, Ed.)

"Before reading your profile of Koufax, I was not entirely sure whether Mr. Koufax was alive or dead.  After reading your profile, I am still note sure."
                                                                -Bill Leffingwell, Silver Spring, MD  

(Note - He's alive.)

You Want To See Something Funny?
Before we leave the Letters section let's play a quick game.  Who had the better put-down of someone named John or Jonathan Bender?  Victor Phillips of Flint, MI, speaking about future Pacer & Knick Jonathan Bender, or Richard Vernon in Breakfast Club?  You make the call...

"I have yet to understand why a 6'11", 210-pound high school senior scoring 31 points in the McDonald's All-America game makes him an NBA lottery pick.  That game is like playing pickup at your local YMCA; no defense, just run and gun.  I wish Bender the best, but when I look at him, I see another Korleone Young, not another Kevin Garnett."  


"You think he's funny? You think this is cute? You think he's "bitchin," is that it? Let me tell you something. Look at him - he's a bum. You want to see something funny? You go visit John Bender in five years. You'll see how goddamned funny he is."

Edge: Principal Vernon

Must Have Been A Slow Week
S.I.'s "Don't Miss" sporting events for the upcoming week?  Braves-Reds on a Monday night, Track & Field World Championships, the WNBA Playoffs and Falcons-Titans preseason football on Sunday.  That's not exactly a murderer's row, even without the benefit of hindsight.  For the record...Kevin Millwood won his 14th for the Braves that Monday, in a 6-2 win and I can't be bothered to look up the rest.


Allez Les Expos!
In the sidebar, next to a short story about Steffi Graf's retirement from tennis, is a bizarre "Wish List" item that roots for the Expos to win their last 40 games to earn a Wild Card berth.  I have no idea why its there but I'm sad to report that the Expos could do no better than 18-22 down the stretch to finish in 4th place in the NL East, 35 games behind the Braves.

Portraits Of Tiger & Sergio As Young Men  
Skipping over mentions of such things as Dolphin Tony Martin's money laundering trial, distress over naming rights to stadiums and Darin Erstad's brother Bryan making Faces In The Crowd, we come to the cover story about the '99 PGA Championship.  Predictably, it focuses on the duel between Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia.  Of course, knowing what we know now (that the '99 PGA might have been Sergio's high water mark in a major) it seems silly that Alan Shipnuck was saying "forget Nicklaus and Palmer" by the second paragraph. 

I'll forgive Shipnuck on the Sergio hyperbole though.  We were all buying into El Nino when he was skipping around Medinah back then.  Plus, his stuff on Tiger is fascinating in retrospect.  There's discussion of Tiger's mental toughness in overcoming back nine mistakes.  The description of Tiger making a huge 8-footer for par on 17 foreshadows a decade-worth of those putts to come.  And then there's this...

It's no wonder he was so weary-this was a victory 2 1/2 years in the making.  Woods' life was turned upside down after his win at Augusta, and only recently has he come to grips with it.  The utter craziness of that first spasm of Tigermania (remember that term?) is tough to quantify, but perhaps all you need to know is this: Woods became the first golfer to make the cover of the National Enquirer.  On another occasion the tabloid pictured Woods cavorting on the dance floor of a nightclub with a prodigiously buxom blonde under the headline TIGER'S WILD NIGHT WITH TOPLESS DANCER.  He has now exchanged this swinging bachelorhood for a girlfriend of nearly a year, Joanna Jagoda, a recent graduate of UC Santa Barbara who has earned high marks for her discretion and poise amid so many inquiring minds."

Yikes.  Hard to believe that was written 11 years ago.


OK, THAT Is Over-hyping A Rivalry
With all apologies to Tom Verducci, who is a much better writer than me, his piece on Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa having another home run race in '99 does not age well.  At all.  "In the pantheon of recurring classic sports rivalries," he writes of their exploits, "they join Alydar versus Affirmed, Magic versus Bird, Nicklaus versus Palmer and the People of the United States versus the Dallas Cowboys."  Goodness gracious that sounds ridiculous now.  As does wondering whether Sosa "could be the most sympathetic power hitter in history."  Yeah, not so much.

For McGwire's part, he was upset at the time that people were focusing too much on individual achievements over team.  "That's wrong," he says in the article about highlighting individual records, "That's not good for little kids to hear."  (Apparently what was good to hear was pregame Enya, however.  The story mentions him listening to Enya and other New Age artists before games to relax.) He also explains that his consistency "all comes down to concentration and preparation"  Yes, and steroids.  Loads and loads of steroids.

Inside The NFL
Here are some highlights of Peter King's NFL notes for the week:

-"Patriots looking for rookie Andy Katzenmoyer to stop sleepwalking."  Yeah, that's not going to happen.  I know several Pats fans that bought Katzenmoyer jerseys that summer.  Didn't work out so great.  It's fun to read "New England coach Pete Carroll" when you have the luxury of knowing Bill Belichick's about to arrive on the scene though.

-Warren Sapp predicted he would lead the league in sacks in '99 (he didn't) and that it would be a make or break season for the Bucs.  My question?  How do you define whether it was a make or break season or not?  They went to the NFC Championship game that year and lost.  They won the Super Bowl three years later.  Make?  Break?  Who the hell knows?

-King reported that Charlie Casserly, already basically a lame duck, would be let go by new Redskins owner Daniel Snyder in September when Snyder was more comfortable running the franchise.  Looking back, I think we can all agree that Snyder got up to speed immediately thereafter and has done a wonderful job in that role since.

-King also reported that Green Bay would likely cut Rick Mirer or Matt Hasselbeck because of the emergence of Aaron Brooks.  Green Bay coaches said Brooks reminded them of a young Randell Cunningham.

Rainman M.I.A.
Not an overly exciting set of NBA notes.  Sacramento was praised for picking up Nick Anderson and Darrick Martin in the offseason.  The Spurs were searching for a replacement for Sean Elliott.  Perhaps the best tidbit was that Cleveland had been trying unsuccessfully for a month to get in touch with Shawn Kemp.  Apparently, The Rainman was upset that Isiah Thomas hadn't been named coach and just went off the grid.  Isiah Freaking Thomas.

Slash Stewart
How did people feel about the offseason pairing of maligned Pittsburgh QB Kordell Stewart and recently fired Chargers coach Kevin Gilbride (as the new Steelers Offensive Coordinator)?  "One Chicago scribe wrote that bringing in Gilbride to work with Stewart was like sending the Lusitania to rescue the Titanic."  Well then.


Think this post was a disaster on par with the Titanic?  Like it?  Drop me some feedback.  I'd love to hear what you have to say.