The 90-foot wide, flagpole-topped incline in Minute Maid Park’s center field will be removed at the end of this year’s baseball season. Tal’s Hill is named for the Houston Astros’ former president, Tal Smith.
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Matthew Dellavedova (right) of the Cleveland Cavaliers handles the ball against Jeff Teague of the Atlanta Hawks in the second quarter during Game Four of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2015 NBA Playoffs, May 26, 2015. Jason Miller/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Jason Miller/Getty Images
The spotlight is about to shine on one of the more unlikely starting players in the NBA Finals.
Australian native Matthew Dellavedova is expected to start for the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday night, in game 2 of the NBA finals against the Golden State Warriors. He will replace injured all-star point guard Kyrie Irving, who had season-ending surgery Saturday to repair a broken kneecap.
Dellavedova is an undrafted 24-year-old, who played Division 1 basketball at St. Mary’s — a small liberal arts college near Oakland, Calif. Among those who’ll be cheering on Dellavedova is his adviser and psychology professor at St. Mary’s, Mary True.
True remembers seeing great things from Dellavedova in his four years playing for the Gaels; he finished his career as the school’s all-time leader in scoring, assists and three-point shots. True says one of those three-pointers beat rival BYU and was immortalized as the “Dellavedagger.”
But True says “Delly” was a standout in the classroom as well. And it’s his performance there, and his fascination with psychology, that makes her believe he’ll be fine when he finds himself on the global stage of the NBA Finals.
‘The Real Deal’
“What really caught my eye was, at the first test in my psychology class, Matthew stayed longer than anybody else,” True says, as she sat in the sun-splashed living room of her Oakland home this week. “I used to do that. I’d read over my answers over and over again, and he did too. And I thought, ‘This is a serious student.’ “
Soon, she says, a nice connection started between them. True was on a plane reading the book How We Decide, and flagged a part about football quarterbacks and how you can’t really know who’s going to be a good quarterback or not. True knows little about basketball, but she grew up in hoops-crazy Indiana, and she says something must have stuck.
“I thought, ‘I think that’s what Matthew does, because isn’t the point guard a basketball quarterback?’ ” she says.
Dellavedova later confirmed that was the case and True gave him the book to read. He thanked her and said he had a book for her, too — one that had a lot to do with work ethic being as important if not more important than talent. A book, she says, Dellavedova studied when he attended the Australian Institute of Sport.
True says after that, they began trading books and “almost every time he’d see me, he’d ask, ‘What are you reading?’ ” He also emailed her his favorite TED Talks and video clips related to psychology. True was impressed by Dellavedova’s curiousity and “voracious” reading.
“He’s the real deal,” she says.
The Importance Of Gratitude
Much of Dellavedova’s interest in psychology dovetailed with his athletic development. True says he was interested in concepts about motivation and perseverance — what makes and keeps people high achievers.
“He could teach a course on motivation,” True says, adding, “I don’t mean that lightly. He has read almost everything I’ve read about it.”
But she notes Dellavedova’s curiousity took him outside the world of sports as well. She says he sent her a TED Talk about new research by social psychologist Barbara Fredrickson, on productivity and happiness and how the two are linked. The research focused on gratitude.
True recalls the talk’s message: “If every night you remember three things you’re thankful for, you’ll train your brain not to look for what scares you, but to look for what you’re grateful for all day long.”
Getting The Whole Picture
A day before he was expected to start in the NBA Finals, Dellavedova grinned when asked about his connection to Professor True and psychology.
“I think it helps a lot,” he says of his continued reading: “Definitely on the court and life in general.”
Of course, having an interested and active mind isn’t always the best thing in high-level sports. Elite athletes have the ability to turn off the mind, or at least keep it from interfering with peak physical performance.
“It’s something all people need to learn,” says Dellavedova. “I think it’s something you get better at [over time].”
So far during these playoffs, Dellavedova has shown the ability to fully engage in the battle of high-level post-season basketball. But in the mind of critics, he’s sometimes engaged too much. Some have labelled Dellavedova a “dirty player” after incidents in games against the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks.
Not surprisingly, Mary True is among his defenders.
“As a scientist, I think it’s unethical to cherry pick the data,” she says, adding, “it sure seems to me that’s what [his detractors] did.”
Painting a negative picture of Dellavedova because of isolated incidents “is not good science,” True says. “Would you like someone to go over your life, pick [a few] moments and define you that way?”
True prefers to define Matthew Dellavedova in broader terms: Yes, the tenacious and motivated basketball player, but also the voracious student whose curiosity didn’t end when classes finished. She last saw Dellavedova in February, during the NBA’s All-Star break. He brought his parents to campus and took them around, obviously to see the basketball coach, but also to see True.
“I was most impressed [he brought them] to see his professors,” she says. “We all sat around for an hour and talked.”
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Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka (left) hugs Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (in orange) after Wawrinka won the men’s final of the French Open tennis tournament. His win brougth an end to Djokovic’s 28-match winning streak. David Vincent/AP hide caption
itoggle caption David Vincent/AP
Stan Wawrinka won the French Open by beating No. 1-seeded Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the final Sunday, thwarting Djokovic’s bid to complete a career Grand Slam.
The eighth-seeded Wawrinka, so long in the shadow of his Swiss Davis Cup teammate and pal Roger Federer, collected his second major title after last year’s Australian Open.
In doing so, Wawrinka put a stop to Djokovic’s 28-match winning streak and left the 28-year-old Serb ruing another close call at Roland Garros. This was the third time in the last four years that Djokovic lost in the final at the clay-court tournament, the only major title he has never won.
This one ended, fittingly, with a down-the-line backhand winner from the 30-year-old Wawrinka. That’s his best stroke and considered among the best in the game. He tossed his racket overhead, then met Djokovic at the net for a hug.
Wawrinka, who earned 1.8 million euros (about $2 million), was making his 11th French Open appearance, equaling Federer and Andre Agassi for most attempts before winning it.
This was also Djokovic’s 11th French Open, and he has so far been unable to clutch the trophy he so dearly desires. He has won eight Grand Slam titles, with five at the Australian Open, two at Wimbledon and one at the U.S. Open.
He’s made quite clear how much it would mean to him to become the eighth man in tennis history with a full complement of at least one title from each major tournament. Djokovic has now lost in the semifinals or final seven times, including the last five years.
In 2012 and 2014, losses in the final came against nine-time champion Rafael Nadal. And while Djokovic finally managed to clear the considerable hurdle that Nadal presents by defeating him in the quarterfinals, this time it was Wawrinka who stood in the way.
And he was too good, using the same brilliant one-handed backhand and booming serves that eliminated Federer in the quarterfinals.
After Djokovic appeared to be climbing back into the match by racing to a 3-0 lead in the fourth set, Wawrinka reeled off six of the last seven games. He broke to within 3-2 when Djokovic netted a forehand on a 31-stroke exchange, one of many lengthy points in a terrifically played match.
Wawrinka got another break, the final one he’d need, for a 5-4 edge, with — yes, of course — a down-the-line backhand winner, then served out the victory.
He had lost 17 of his past 20 matches against Djokovic but was better on this sunlit afternoon.
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American Pharoah #5, ridden by Victor Espinoza, comes out of the paddock during the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park on Saturday in Elmont, N.Y. Al Bello/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Al Bello/Getty Images
On Saturday, race horse American Pharoah won the first Triple Crown in 37 years. Laura Hillenbrand, acclaimed author of Seabiscuit, Unbroken and other bestselling novels, wrote this reflection on the win:
Be thankful for defeat. Be thankful for failure. Be thankful for frustration, for heartbreak, for foolish mistakes, for frailty, for hard luck, for doubt, for longing.
These are the things that gauge the robustness of the challenges we choose, that sound the depths of our bravery and fortitude, that measure our worth. Only those intimate with the pain of loss feel in full the sweet euphoria of triumph.
I am grateful that I waited 37 years, since I was a little girl, for this day. I am grateful for all the brave horses who tried and failed and scattered our hopes. When American Pharoah bent his exquisitely beautiful body into the homestretch at Belmont today, scorching fractions faster and faster as his jockey sat taut-armed on his back and 90,000 fans shouted him home, it was those horses, and those 37 years, that made his staggering, unbelievable accomplishment meaningful. They were the leavening of this overwhelming joy, as essential to it as this magnificent creature.
Thank you to the star-crossed Spectacular Bid, to the crying jockey Chris Antley, to the gallant little Smarty Jones, to all the others. American Pharoah, welcome to greatness.
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This weekend is a veritable sportstravaganza! Slate’s Mike Pesca talks Stanley Cup, NBA Finals and Belmont Stakes with NPR’s Rachel Martin.
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The Women’s World Cup got underway with a last-minute victory by host Canada in the opening game against China. The Netherlands beat New Zealand 1-0 in the second game.
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It took nearly four decades, but a horse has once again attained the honor that some call the most difficult achievement in sports: American Pharoah, after winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, ran to victory in the Belmont Stakes as well.
He’s the first Triple Crown winner since 1978. With his win, a total of 12 horses have now achieved the feat.
American Pharoah took the lead early in the race, with Materiality close on his tail: at the halfway point, they were separated by three-quarters of a length.
But then the favorite kicked away, opening up a two-length lead at the top of the final stretch, as Frosted moved into second. American Pharoah and jockey Victor Espinoza opened up even more distance as they made their way to triumph across the finish line.
In that emphatic win, American Pharoah overcame a marked disadvantage: he was the only horse running in the Belmont Stakes who also ran in both the Derby and the Preakness. That means he was racing against better-rested horses.
Over the years, as NPR’s Joel Rose reports, that disparity has led to grumbling from horse-racing fans and professionals — and some skepticism that any horse, under those rules, could again win the Triple Crown:
“I’m 61 years old, and I’ll never see, in my lifetime, I will never see another Triple Crown winner, because [of] the way they do this,” said California Chrome’s owner, Steve Coburn, after the race.
The winner at last year’s Belmont was Tonalist. He didn’t run in the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness, so he had plenty of time to rest before the Belmont. Coburn said that should not be allowed.
“It’s all or nothing,” Coburn said last year. “Because this is not fair to these horses that have been running their guts out for these people, and for the people who believe in them. This is a coward’s way out in my opinion. This is a coward’s way out.”
Coburn later apologized. But he put his finger on something real. Of the seven horses challenging American Pharoah in this year’s Belmont, only one raced in the Preakness three weeks ago, meaning the other horses have had at least two extra weeks to rest.
But calls for a rule change might die down for a while, now that American Pharoah beat his well-rested opponents.
The resounding win is a triumph not only for the horse, but for owner Ahmed Zayat and Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
And it may feel particularly sweet to Espinoza, who has fallen just short of the Triple Crown twice before: In 2002, he rode War Emblem as the Triple Crown contender came in 8th in the Belmont; last year, he rode California Chrome to 4th.
On Saturday, before a roaring crowd, he rode American Pharoah into the history books.
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The last time the Golden State Warriors were in the NBA Championship, their berth was such a surprise that they had to schedule games around an ice entertainment show at the Oakland Coliseum.
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Crews perform dredging work along the upper Hudson River in Waterford, N.Y. General Electric’s cleanup of PCBs discharged into the river decades ago will end this year. Mike Groll/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Mike Groll/AP
For half a decade, General Electric has been paying for a massive dredging operation on the upper Hudson River in New York.
The billion-dollar cleanup, designed to remove toxic PCBs, sparked fierce controversy when it was proposed. But as the project enters its final summer, it’s been so successful that even some of the cleanup’s most vocal critics want it expanded.
A Symbol For Sick Rivers
Just offshore in Mechanicville, three hours north of New York City, barges shuttle back and forth across the Champlain Canal, a waterway linked to the Hudson River. A backhoe is digging up great gobs of PCB-contaminated muck.
“The good news is we’re finishing the dredging and then we anticipate [that] over a decade or decades, that the fish advisories will begin to be reduced,” says Gary Klawinski, director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Hudson River field office.
PCBs were once a key ingredient in GE’s manufacturing of electrical components, but the substance has been linked to cancer in animals and studies have shown severe impacts on wildlife. PCBs were banned in the 1970s, but not before GE poured tons of it into these waterways from two plants along the river.
As a result, people were warned against swimming and eating the fish. The Hudson became a symbol for sick and polluted rivers nationwide.
Still, when the cleanup was first proposed, it was surprisingly controversial. With advertising, GE convinced a lot of locals in places like Mechanicville that dredging would do more harm than good.
“These wonderful moments on one of the richest rivers on Earth could be interrupted for the next 20 years, if the EPA orders the Hudson dredged,” read one ad.
Those ads scared a lot of people. Ernest Martin, then mayor of the nearby town of Stillwater, N.Y., captured the mood when he spoke at a public hearing in 2001.
“I am definitely against dredging in the Hudson River,” Martin said. “It will take too many years to clean it under the dredging proposal by EPA. Our future for tourism, employment, new business will be lost forever.”
A National Model For Dredging
But the EPA pushed forward, requiring that GE remove roughly two-thirds of the PCBs. It was described as the largest, most complex Superfund site in U.S. history.
With active dredging now its sixth year, even the project’s early critics say it’s been a huge success.
“We did have reservations about this project, as did many others,” says Mark Behan, a spokesman for GE. “Because at the time that it was conceived, no project of this size or complexity had ever been attempted before.”
Behan says the company is now proud of its work here, developing new techniques to remove toxic silt from a vast river that changes from season to season.
“We assembled a world-class team of dredging, environmental and engineering experts, we adapted technology to the task and we’ve produced a project that EPA now calls a national model,” Behan says.
Now towns along New York’s upper Hudson have begun revitalizing these old industrial waterfronts, thinking about a future where kids can swim and play along the shore without fear of contamination.
“I remember when this all started the predictions were it was going to have a major impact on all communities,” says Mark Sever, who works for the city of Mechanicville. “So I guess, we’re pleasantly surprised.”
Calls For An Expansion
The dredging has gone so well that a lot of local leaders here have pivoted completely. More than 50 towns and counties are now calling on GE to keep working until all of the PCBs are scooped up.
EPA officials haven’t endorsed that idea. They say they’re satisfied that enough PCBs have been removed that the Hudson can begin healing. GE’s Behan says the company has done enough.
“For years, there have been voices who have said they wanted a different project, a larger project, a smaller project, but EPA is the decision-maker,” he says. “EPA ordered the dredging project, and GE executed that project, and I think did so exceptionally well.”
But a separate coalition of state and federal agencies — not including the EPA — has been studying the impact of PCBs on Hudson River wildlife. They’ve signaled that they may push GE to dredge contaminated sites not included on the EPA’s list.
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Serena Williams of the U.S. reacts as she plays Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic during their final match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium on Saturday. Francois Mori/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Francois Mori/AP
Overcoming a mid-match lull and a third-set deficit, Serena Williams won her third French Open title and 20th major singles trophy by beating 13th-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2 on Saturday.
The top-ranked Williams took the last six games and added to her championships on the red clay of Roland Garros in 2002 and 2013.
She stretched her Grand Slam winning streak to 21 matches, following titles at the U.S. Open last September and Australian Open in January.
Only two women in the century-plus history of Grand Slam tennis have won more than the 33-year-old American: Margaret Smith Court with 24 titles, and Steffi Graf with 22.
This one, though, did not come easily for Williams, who double-faulted 11 times.
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