In May...
Super Saver won the 136th Run For the Roses ridden by Calvin Borel, winning jockey of three of the last four Kentucky Derbys, who guided the colt from post position 4 to the finish line along the rail for almost the entire race. Due in part to the muddy track, Super Saver's winning time of 2:04.45 was slowest since 1989. (5/1)
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. dominated Shane Mosley in a twelve-round unanimous decision, picking up the final ten rounds on each of the judges' scorecards. Said Mayweather of his tactics after a near knockdown by Mosley in the second round, "I wanted to give the fans what they wanted to see, a toe-to-toe battle. It wasn't the same style for me but I wanted to be aggressive and I knew I could do it." (5/1)
To protest a controversial immigration law passed by the Arizona Legislature, the Phoenix Suns donned their "Los Suns" jerseys in support of the state's Latino population during the second game of the NBA's Western Conference semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs on the holiday Cinco De Mayo. Said The Arizona Republic in a front-page editorial, "Arizona politicians are pandering to public fear. The result is a state law that intimidates Latinos while doing nothing to curb illegal immigration." (5/5)
Oakland Athletics' left hander Dallas Braden pitched the 19th perfect game in MLB history, a 4-0 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays. Said general manager Billy Beane, "You need a shopping cart to take his cojones out to the mound. He's absolutely fearless. He's been like that since the day we drafted him." (5/9)
The Montreal Canadiens upset of the heavily-favored defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins set off a small-scale riot in downtown Montreal after most of the tens of thousands celebrating dispersed. Rioters broke into a women's clothing store in order to use the store's mannequins to smash windows of other nearby businesses. (5/12)
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Boston Celtics, 94-84, in game six of the NBA's Eastern Conference semifinals, in a performance that was routinely panned by the media. Wrote Yahoo!'s Kelly Dwyer, "It's an art crime of the highest order, and the only thing worse would be if we somehow found out that LeBron was trying to lose on purpose." (5/13)
Lookin At Lucky ridden by relatively unknown jockey Martin Garcia won the 135th running of the Preakness Stakes. Said trainer Bob Baffert, "The horse is not even 3 years old yet. Now, is he going to get better as he matures? Well, if he does, we're going to have one heck of a ride. Strap it on. That's your dream." (5/15)
Mark Webber of team Red Bull won the Monaco Grand Prix a week after winning the Spanish Grand Prix. Said Webber, "I predict a few sore heads in the morning. You have to celebrate your wins and they don't come any better than this." (5/16)
The Washington Wizards won the rights to the number one overall selection in the upcoming Draft during the NBA's annual Draft Lottery, leapfrogging the New Jersey Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves among other teams. Said coach Flip Saunders of his staff's reaction, "It looked like a bunch of kids playing Little League that were getting ready to go to Dairy Queen that had just won a game." (5/18)
Floyd Landis, shortly after admitting to blood doping charges he has long denied and accussing several prominent cyclists including Lance Armstrong of also cheating, attended the Tour of California. Said Greg LeMond, of Landis's recent apology for an embarrassing feud with the former champion, "Sincere apologies are for those that make them, not for those to whom they are made. I hope that as a result Floyd can begin rebuilding his life." (5/22)
Inter Milan defeated Bayern Munich, 2-0, both goals scored by Diego Milito, to win the UEFA Champions League final at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain. Said Bayern coach Louis van Gaal, "I still have the feeling that we could have won. There were no great difference. We attacked, Inter defended. but you have to be in great shape to beat Inter and we were not today. I still think Inter merited the win." (5/22)
Jose Lima, who spent thirteen seasons with five different MLB teams, died of a massive heart attack at the age of 37. Wrote New York Times' Richard Goldstein, despite a mediocre career record and ERA, Lima was "[s]omething of a celebrity for his animated style... given to fist-pumping, shouting and at times talking to himself on the mound." (5/23)
Philadelphia Phillies' right hander Roy Halladay pitched the 20th perfect game in MLB history, a 1-0 victory over the Florida Marlins. The Marlins are selling the approximately 11,000 unused tickets from the game at Sun Life Stadium at face value. (5/29)
Ivan Basso, recently returned after serving a two-year suspension, won the 93rd Giro d'Italia. Said Basso, looking ahead to the Tour de France, "The Tour, I want it too much. That's where my career was shattered and that's where it will really start again. I want to give the Tour what it gave to me - a lot of joy and emotion." (5/30)
In June...
The NBA Finals between the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics and Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers begins 6/3. The two teams meet for the twelfth time in the Association's best-of-seven championship series.
The Women's College World Series of softball begins 6/3 and is scheduled to run until 6/10. Eight teams are seperated into two elimination style brackets, with the winners of each bracket facing each other in a best-of-three series.
The 142nd running of the Belmont Stakes is scheduled for 6/5. Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and Preakness winner Lookin At Lucky are both skipping the comparatively long mile-and-a-half race, leaving the twelve horse field without a clear favorite.
The Roland Garros women's singles final is scheduled for 6/5, the men's singles final for 6/6. Said reigning champion Roger Federer, "But on clay you can get away, you can be competitive even, with a very incomplete game. I'm not saying it's so simple, but it's too easy."
The 2010 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to begin 6/11 and run until 7/11 at various locations in South Africa. The mascot for the World Cup is an anthropomorphised fifteen-year-old leopard named Zakumi whose official motto is, "Zakumi's game is Fair Play."
The 110th US Open Golf Championship is scheduled to be played from 6/17 to 6/20 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in California. Artist Linda Hartough, commissioned annually by the USGA to create paintings of the US Open, will hold a special exhibit of her work with originals priced up to $95,000.
The Men's College World Series in baseball is scheduled to begin 6/19 and run until 6/30. Since 1950, the Series has been hosted by Omaha, Nebraska, and held in Rosenblatt Stadium.
The Wimbledon Champions are scheduled to begin 6/21 and run until 7/4 at the All England Club in London. All nineteen tournament courts are seeded with 100% perennial rye grass.
The NBA Draft is scheduled to be held at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City on 6/24. Said Washington Wizards coach Flip Saunders when asked who his team will select with the number one overall, "We were doing the John Wall Dance and the Evan Turner Dance and all those dances when we won the first pick."
[Cian is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. If you like the magazine, he suggests subscribing for free.]
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