The Bounce: Beard going to pose for Playboy
by Anthony Gimino on May. 10, 2007, under Special, Sports
Swimmer Amanda Beard waves to the crowd after setting a new world record in the women's 200 meter breaststroke at the U.S. Olympic swim trials in 2004.
The Arizona athletic department has produced some of the world’s finest female athletes, and – there’s no denying it – more than its share of sex symbols.
Gold-medal-winning swimmer Amanda Beard is ready to make the biggest splash.
Pitcher Jennie Finch has posed for Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue.
Golfer Natalie Gulbis has calendars, a cable reality show and other manners of publicity that bank on her looks.
Now, Beard is going one step further. She’s posing for Playboy.
She will appear in the July issue that will be available June 8, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Beard, also an SI swimsuit veteran, has already been a cover girl for other men’s magazines.
Unlike other female pinups with marginal athletic achievement (Anna Kournikova), Beard has earned her fame with top-level performances in her sport. She doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to. It’s her choice.
Still, you can be sure this will inspire a new round of debate whether all this skin is good for the cause of women’s athletics. Does it trivialize the accomplishments or increase the attention?
Boxing ain’t dead yet
LAS VEGAS – Turns out the obituaries written for boxing were a bit premature.
Oscar De La Hoya’s fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. set a record for most televised buys for a fight, according to figures released Wednesday, surpassing Mike Tyson’s second fight with Evander Holyfield and making it boxing’s richest event.
About 2.15 million households paid $54.95 for the fight, generating revenue of $120 million. The previous record set by Tyson-Holyfield was 1.99 million buys.
“This puts to bed this theory of boxing being in trouble, or being dead or dying,” said Ross Greenburg, head of HBO Sports.
A person close to the promotion said De La Hoya would end up making about $45 million for the fight and Mayweather just over $20 million. That person requested anonymity because the promoters did not want official figures released.
The $45 million would be the biggest purse paid to a fighter, higher than the $35 million purses Tyson and Holyfield reportedly were paid for the infamous “Bite Fight.”
Mayweather beat De La Hoya on a split decision Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mayweather won on two of the three ringside scorecards to win the WBC 154-pound title.
The fight will be replayed Saturday on HBO at 7 p.m. Tucson time.
Cecil’s tourney helps UMC
Former UA safety Chuck Cecil was known as one of the game’s hardest hitters when he played football in college and the NFL.
Now, the Tennessee Titans assistant coach is pushing hard to raise funds for the University Medical Center Trauma Center with the Cecil Family Golden Hour Golf Classic at 11:30 a.m. Friday at Ventana Canyon Golf and Racket Club.
The tourney has helped raise $100,000 to help care for some 4,500 trauma patients each year. UMC is the only Level 1 trauma center in southern Arizona.
Tucson businessman Jim Click will receive the Willie Kane Humanitarian Award, in honor of the former local club pro who died while running a race in early 2006 in Florida.
Woods: ‘I’m getting older’
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Tiger Woods is confronting an adversary who’s never hit a 3-wood or worn neatly pressed slacks, alligator-skin golf shoes or 100 percent Peruvian cotton golf shirts.
“I’m getting older,” Woods said before today’s first round of The Players Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. “It’s going to happen. It’s happening right now. Everyone gets older.”
That’s how Woods explained clashes with a sore body last week that left him clutching his right knee and stretching his left side and lower back.
Even so, his game is in pretty good shape. His win last week in the Wachovia Championship was his third in six starts this season and the 57th of his career. He’s also been at the top of the world rankings for 100 consecutive weeks, the second-longest stretch in history behind his own record of 264 from 1999-2004.
Since he missed the cut in the 2006 U.S. Open shortly after his father passed away, Woods has played in 15 world-ranked stroke events and won nine times.
But his record at The Players is relatively mediocre with just one win and one runner-up finish in 10 starts.
QUOTABLE
'There's going to be no faking your way to the top of this leader board.'
ADAM SCOTT,
golfer, on competing in The Players Championship this week
Not quite there . . . Houston third baseman Morgan Ensberg can't reach a base hit by Cincinnati's Edwin Encarnacion.
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ON THIS DATE
1973: The Knicks beat the Lakers 102-93 to win the NBA title 4-1.
2001: The XFL folds after the football league lasted one season.
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SPORTS SOUND-OFF
UA, ASU battle for Pac-10′s upper half in football
Re: Gimino column, “Chasing Trojans . . . expect Cats to finish sixth”
● It’s USC and everyone else, but Cal lost a lot on defense, and UCLA has shown nothing on offense . . . In my opinion, second through seventh places are pretty much wide open, and I see Arizona finishing in the top half based on 1) the defense being as good or better than last year, and 2) being at least average on offense.
ERIK M.
● I am an Arizona Wildcat football fan all the way. Still I’m objective. The ASU offense is going to be terrific. They have tons of tailback talent, plus a passing attack led by new coach Dennis Erickson and quarterback Rudy Carpenter. If they find enough junior college fill-ins on defense, the Sun Devils will be very tough on opponents.
J M.
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NUMBER OF THE DAY
49
Golfers who hit tee shots into the water at No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass, the site of The Players Championship this week in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
The famous par-3, 137-yard hole is surrounded by water and a bunker protects the right side of the green.
Source: USA TODAY
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TRIVIA CORNER
The Players Championship has 48 of the world’s top 50 golfers. Who won it last year?
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Answer: Stephen Ames
