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SPORTS BEAT: ESPN2’s ‘It’s the Shoes’; Dungy coping with loss, comments on lack of black coaches; Tiger wins again; Blake advances at Nasdaq.
*ESPN2 will premiere a second season of “It’s the Shoes” on April 11. Hosted by DJ Bobbito Garcia, the series gets in the grill of celebrities obsessed with their sneaker collections. Rappers Juelz Santana, Ghostface Killah of Wu-Tang Clan, and Reverend Run of Run are among the guests to be featured this season. “Shoes” will run for eight episodes at 1 a.m. on Tuesdays.
*Three months after the 18-year-old son of Tony Dungy committed suicide, the Indianapolis Colts coach says he’s finding comfort in the well-wishes of others who have been through similar ordeals.
"My family and I have gotten a lot of cards and letters. I've learned that it's not as rare as I thought it had been," Dungy said Tuesday at the NFL meetings. "A lot of people have been through it. That's the biggest thing. You have to work through it." Of the difficult moments, Dungy said; "It's been harder on my wife than it's been on me. I've got work that's able to take my attention from it. The whole thing has been kind of a revelation. There seem to be a lot of problems with young men and we have to try to find a way to solve them. Things seem to come at young people from a lot of directions, and sometimes they think they can't find a way to cope. We have to help them find it."
Dungy also answered questions Tuesday about minority hiring in the NFL. At the time of his 1996 arrival in Tampa Bay, he and Ray Rhodes of Philadelphia and Green were the NFL's only black coaches. Today, there are seven, the most ever. But out of nine vacancies this season, only one black coach was hired - Art Shell of the Oakland Raiders. While acknowledging progress, Dungy said he believes a black coach must have a higher profile to get hired than a white one, noting that Cincinnati's Marvin Lewis had been the defensive coordinator on a Super Bowl winner in Baltimore two seasons before he was hired.
"We're still not quite there," he said. "There weren't the really high-profile minority candidates this year — at least not someone who was a Super Bowl coordinator. An African-American still has to be someone who's made a big splash to get hired."
*Tiger Woods shot a 7-under 65 on Tuesday to lead Isleworth to a 17 1/2-12 1/2 victory over Lake Nona in the Tavistock Cup. The matches were between tour professionals who belong to the two private clubs in Orlando. Woods had the low round of the day, winning two points by beating Lake Nona captain Ernie Els (72) and Champions Tour player Mark McNulty (68), both of whom earned a point each by beating John Cook (76). Woods earned $300,000 — $200,000 for being medalist on Tuesday, and $100,000 for being on the winning team. The match was his final tuneup before the Masters, which runs April 3 – 9 in Augusta, GA.
*At the Nasdaq-100 Open tennis tournament, No. 9-ranked James Blake emerged victorious Tuesday night over Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 to advance to the fifth round of play. His opponent tonight will be No. 1-ranked Roger Federer in a quarterfinal match-up that will serve as a rematch – as Federer beat Blake in the final at Indian Wells on March 19. "Obviously, he can do about anything with a tennis racket in his hand," Blake told reporters of his upcoming opponent. "But on a given day, hopefully so can I."
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