Fast Break
BASEBALL
Thome matches Mantle at 536
Chicago White Sox slugger Jim Thome hit career home run No. 536 on Sunday against the Boston Red Sox, moving into a tie with Mickey Mantle for 14th on the career list.
Thome hit a two-run shot with two outs in the first inning for his 29th homer of the season. Chicago won 4-2.
New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez is 13th on the list. He connected for career home run No. 547 Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays.
VOLLEYBALL
Win streak ends for gold medalists
Olympic beach volleyball stars Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh lost for the first time in more than a year, dropping a 21-19, 10-21, 25-23 decision to Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh in The AVP Crocs Cup Shootout at Mason, Ohio.
With the loss, the two-time Olympic champions’ winning streak ended at 112 matches and 19 titles. They last lost on Aug. 19, 2007, also to Branagh and Youngs.
The final took 1 hours, 45 minutes, making it the second longest women’s match in AVP history, missing the record by just a minute.
TENNIS
Kournikova on a newsstand near you
Is Anna Kournikova making a comeback or what? With the U.S. Open going strong – and being where she reached the fourth round in 1996 at age 15 – it would appear that Annamania, or whatever you want to call it, is happening again.
Last month, she was profiled in a Where Are They Now? feature in Sports Illustrated. Where Kournikova is now is on the cover of the September issue of Maxim, and inside in a seven-page article with photos of her relaxing on the beach, plus a question-and-answer feature.
Anna, 27, touches on a variety of topics, including her marital status (single), what she looks for in a man (sense of humor), if she still follows women’s tennis (yes), and if she’ll ever settle down (she’s hopeful).
Kournikova never won a singles title, but that hasn’t hurt her post-tennis career. A model, cover girl, spokeswoman and endorser, Kournikova told the Charlotte Observer she wasn’t caught off guard that Maxim was interested in her.
“Actually, I think it’s very smart of them, so I wasn’t surprised. We get a bunch of different offers and I’m very choosy.”
BASEBALL
Month madness
So Major League Baseball’s $65-million ad campaign to publicize the playoffs is called “There’s Only One October.” That’s the best they can do? Like there’s two Septembers or something?
If the Final Four folks hear about this, they may have to do something to upgrade March.