Your morning roundup for July 10, the day it pays to be wary of people with wide faces.
What we watched: Derek Jeter entered the annals of baseball history with a third-inning home run that marked his 3,000th career hit. The live look-in on the Yankees website was a few seconds ahead of the Baseball Network coverage so, MLB, you might want to work on that.
Anyway, Jorge Posada was the first man to greet him, A-Rod wasn't, Big Yankee Fan Michael LaPayower broke out his finest pinwheels and some 23-year-old mope caught the ball and handed it over with little-to-no negotiations. (Oh, cry not for Christian Lopez, those of you who'd have bartered the ball for something of six-digit substance; he got his.) In short, it was the kind of moment that momentarily took attention away from Thursday's tragedy in Texas. (Fine, Josh Hamilton's walk-off HR was the only thing that could really do that.)
That Jeter went 5-for-5 on the day enabled even Yankees haters to afford him even a modicum of respect his collective accomplishments. Not that people are clamoring to watch Derek et al play the day after; from Christian Anderson of FanSnap:
Now that Derek Jeter has #3000, Sunday Yankees ticket market prices are now in free fall.
Lowest price tickets are now $13. They were $82 this morning. The average ticket price is also falling rapidly from a high of $206 per ticket earlier in the day to a current average of $125 and falling.
Meanwhile, down in Philly, Cliff Lee hit his first career home run and proceeded to throw an eight-pitch inning immediately thereafter. Then, he gave up a Dan Uggla dinger in the fifth and the game went to extra innings tied at one. Then, John Mayberry Jr. hit a dribbler to first with the bases loaded, two outs in the 10th. And then, the bullpen coughed up three runs to Atlanta in the top of the 11th.
Throw in the Dodgers turning a no-hit loss with two outs in the ninth into a one-run win over the Padres within nine pitches, and 'twas a good Last Games Pre-All-Star-Break Eve.
What we're watching: Slim pickings. You got the #USWNT in a win-or-go-home World Cup quarterfinal against Brazil or the FIFA U-17 World Cup Final pitting Mexico vs. Uruguay at 6:30 p.m. Over in PGAland, it's the final round of the John Deere Classic.
What's the recommendation? Syfy has Raiders of the Lost Ark at 10 a.m., Temple of Doom at 12:34, Last Crusade at 3:11 and — if you're feeling tolerant of inferiority — Crystal Skull at 6:04 p.m.
Elsewhere
Everything that's wrong with boxing on display. Again: During his in-ring post-fight HBO interview, Paul Williams agreed with the three-judge collective that awarded him a victory over Erislandy Lara in Atlantic City last night. Most everybody else who watched the fight disagree. "It was a good fight; I don't know what the judges saw," said Lara. [USA Today]
Mike Vrabel finds a new job: "If it happens, it means the 35-year-old will be walking away from a 14-year NFL playing career in which he won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and was named All-Pro in 2007. It also means Vrabel will reunite with his former roommate and teammate at Ohio State, Luke Fickell, who was named coach May 30 after Jim Tressel's resignation." [Columbus Dispatch]
NHL GM likens Canadian franchise's reliability to Madoff's: Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi, contending the Edmonton Oilers had twice misrepresented the health of a traded player, said Friday the Kings will "look at our legal avenues" for a remedy. "The bottom line for me, I would have rather invested my money with Bernie Madoff than invest in Edmonton's word," Lombardi said. [Los Angeles Times] (H/T Tomuban)
Andre Agassi is a hall-of-famer: "I didn't always live carefully. I didn't always pay tennis the respect it deserved. I didn't know myself and I didn't realize that my troubles were of my own making. I fell in love with tennis far too late in my life, but the reason I have everything I hold dear is because tennis has loved me back." [AFP]
NBA player: If owners don't relent, we may just go to Europe and stay there: "[Kobe Bryant] could go make more money overseas, I guarantee you." New Jersey Net Deron Williams said. "If [European teams] knew he could be there for a full season, or they knew I could be there for a full season, or they knew LeBron James could be there for a full season, they'll pay more money, of course." [Star-Ledger]
Your Ren Faire Jousting Interlude:
Steve Garvey's boss didn't like Steve Garvey talking about buying the team: "The person, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly on personnel matters and talked to the Associated Press on Friday night on condition of anonymity, said Garvey is no longer with the team, ending a 30-year tenure in the organization. Garvey worked in marketing and community relations, making numerous public appearances on behalf of the team and its sponsors." [CBS Sports]
You can call him Fred: Just when it looked like Brazil was about to lose to Paraguay, some substitute cat in yellow-and-blue named Fred opted to fire a lower 90 blast that tied the game at two in the 90th minute. And that is how it would end. [SambaFoot] (Paraguay fan Patty Orue photo H/T sportsfeeder1)
No, seriously, the New York Times did a story on La La Anthony: ... And they refer to Her as "The First Lady of the N.B.A."
"I love Will Smith and Jada Pinkett," she said earlier in the lunch, sipping iced tea with lemon. "You see the love, and you can see the support, and they partner on things and produce together. But she has a life, and he has a life." [New York Times]
We are all Dave McKenna CLI:: Here's your daily link to Dave McKenna's brilliant "Cranky Redskins Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder," which we'll be posting until The Man just does the right thing and lets Albert Haynesworth be the Albert Haynesworth that Albert Haynesworth wants to be.
The DeSean Jackson Apology Train Gathers More Steam: By yesterday afternoon, the Eagles WR was Tweeting that intolerance is unacceptable and how he meant the Gay and Lesbian community no disrespect by his salty language on a hip-hop radio show the other day. (Side note: Many tipsters seem to think the "CC" spelling referenced in yesterday's post is Jackson's way of expressing Cripps allegiance. So there's that.) [Twitter]
White Sox second baseman sorry about his gay slur, too: "During Monday night's game against the Kansas City Royals, Gordon Beckham used his foot to write 'GETZ IS GAY! G.B.,' near his position at second. Royals second baseman Chris Getz is a friend and former White Sox teammate of Beckham. 'Obviously I apologize and kind of want to move on. Obviously it was meant as a joke but obviously it was in the wrong place and I didn't mean it that way. I will just try to move on.'" No word if Getz is gay. [ESPN]