D2 eZ sU THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAy, MARCH 5 , 2020
Quotable“To have Anthony
Davis as a Laker really
is just... he’s even
more impressive than
I ever thought he
would be.”
lebroN JaMes ,
los angeles lakers forward, on
playing with his fellow all-star.baseballBY SCOTT ALLENAs h e watched the N ationals dig
an early hole against the lowly
Miami Marlins at Nationals Park
last May, Nathan Britton tweeted
about the scene.
“The boo birds are out here at
#Nats park a nd it appears the team
has mentally been defeated,” the
half-season plan holder wrote af-
ter Washington fell behind by
three in the second inning of a
game it rallied to win, 12-10.
Britton’s innocuous observa-
tion didn’t g arner a retweet or like
from his roughly 600 followers at
the time, but it resurfaced — and
was shared with a much larger
audience — Wednesday morning.
Borrowing a recurring segment
from “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” the
Washington Nationals posted a
vi deo of players and Manager
Dave Martinez reading fans’
“mean tweets” from May 24, 2019,
which marked the nadir of the
team’s s eason b efore Washington’s
remarkable turnaround.
“I never heard the boo birds
before, but thanks for coming to
the games, at least,” catcher Yan
Gomes said after reading B ritton’s
tweet. “We appreciate your sup-
port.”
Britton, 25, learned he was fea-
tured in the video after a friend
tagged him on Twitter during his
commute to w ork.
In fairness to Britton, the Na-
tionals had just been swept by the
New York Mets in a four-game se-
ries a t Citi Field. They were 19-31
and had a 3 percent chance o f mak-
ing the playoffs, according to Base-
ball-Reference.com. A lot of people
were calling for Martinez’s job.
Martinez read a tweet from
@Philbert_11, who on May 24
tweeted a GIF of Vince McMahon
shouting “You’re fired!” in refer-
ence to the Nationals manager.
“How do you like me now?”
Martinez said.
Reliever Sean Doolittle read a
tweet from @Joshuadane, who
suggested that if the Nationals
“worked on baseball fundamen-
tals as much as they worked on
handshakes we might be winning
our d ivision, o r at l east a game.”
“This guy’s mad online,” Doolit-
tle s aid.
Stephen Strasburg took issue
with a tweet from Phillies fan
@MattyMike0718, w ho wrote that
“the o nly thing the Nats a re smell-
ing are the farts of Mets fans be-
hind them in 4 th place.”
“That’s just gross,” Strasburg
said. “Let’s keep it PG. I don’t w ant
to smell anybody’s f arts.”
Britton said he always believed
the Nationals had the potential to
turn things around last season if
they could get healthy and shore
up the bullpen after a brutal start.
He has no plans to change his
tweeting habits, though he may
pay closer attention to his s pelling
and p unctuation.
“I don’t need any critical spell-
ing error coming up on a ‘mean
tweets’ video the next time and
getting called out for that,” h e said.
[email protected]Nationals
read ‘mean
tweets’
from fans
BY STEVEN GOFFFederico Higuaín formally
joined D.C. United as a player and
assistant coach this week, a nd giv-
en his age (35) and most recent
injury (torn ACL), the bench
seems more appropriate than the
field.
Except the Argentine midfield-
er does not believe he is finished
as a player; that is why he turned
down a non-playing job with his
team of the previous eight years,
the Columbus Crew.
It’s why, when United called
him about a month ago to discuss
a dual role, he took interest. It’s
why he accepted a massive pay cut
to sign with United.
“I want to be playing as long as
possible, but at the same time, I
like football a lot,” Higuaín said of
an immediate future on the field
and a long-term future off it. “I
love t his game. This is my l ife.”
Higuaín’s first formal session
was on a rainy Tuesday a t the RFK
Stadium training grounds, where
United was licking its wounds
from a 2-1 season-opening defeat
to the Colorado Rapids. Higuaín
earned $1.1 million last year. He
will make an estimated $150,000
working two jobs this year.
In his first comments since he
finalized the deal, Higuaín said: “I
received a call from D.C. United
20 to 25 days ago. They would like
to know me. I would like to know
them. We sit down. We chat for a
little bit. Now I am happy to be
here for this opportunity. I hope I
can help o n and off the field.”
The elite playmaker will need at
least another month to build his
strength and fitness following re-
hab from major knee surgery in
May. United Coach Ben Olsen said
Higuaín “is going to add to this
club in a bunch of different ways.
... He will help us as a staff and
hopefully b e a big brother to some
people and bring his experience
and knowledge. He has got a little
bit to prove” a s a player, too.
U nited envisions Higuaín as a
second-half substitute and spot
starter in an attack that was re-
built over the winter.
In the off-field role — his title is
player development coach —
Higuaín “can learn from us and we
can learn from him,” O lsen s aid.
s [email protected]
soccer
Higuaín
happy with
dual role
for United
college basKetballJ aCKson state UnIVersIty atHletICs
Thomas Lee earned his nickname as a child by bringing snacks to Tigers players. For at least one night, he joined them.BY SCOTT ALLENThe chant started during the final
media timeout of the Jackson State
men’s basketball team’s 20-point win
over visiting Arkansas Pine Bluff on
Monday: “We want Snacks! We want
Snacks! We want Snacks!”
The crowd at L ee E. Williams Athletic
and Assembly Center got its wish a
couple of minutes later when, with the
Tigers leading 72-46, student manager
Thomas “Snacks” Lee checked into the
game on senior night in Jackson, Miss.
“Snacks is in this game, man,” one of
the JSU television announcers declared.
By the end of the night, Lee also was
in the scoring column, thanks to an
improbable three-pointer from Stephen
Curry range that went viral and caught
the attention of his favorite player,
Kevin Durant.
With his teammates determined to
get him the ball, Lee, who had never
dressed during his five seasons as the
Tigers’ manager, missed his first three
attempts Monday. All were from well
beyond the arc.
“I don’t really drive too much,” the
6-foot Lee explained in a phone
interview. “My game is really three-
point line to three-point line. It’s a
mismatch problem if I have to fight in
the post, and I really don’t have a post
game.”
Lee’s first shot was an air ball, which
he said helped “get the jitters out.” After
clanging his next two attempts —
including one from just inside half
court — off the rim, he received a pass
from guard Jonas James in front of theJackson State bench and let fly again.
He had practiced this exact shot, from
the star in the Southwestern Athletic
Conference logo, all season long.
“I could feel everyone just waiting for
that moment, for me to hit that shot,”
Lee said of his deep three-pointer,
which caused the Tigers’ bench to erupt
in celebration with 32 seconds
remaining. “One of them had to drop,
even if I had to foul to get us an extra
possession. I got to make one. My
teammates just told me to keep
shooting it, and my guy Jonas told me
he’s coming to me every time. On that
last one, I got to my spot that I’m
comfortable shooting from, a real deep
three. Most people wouldn’t have made
it.”
But Lee did, and the 22-year-old was
still celebrating with the crowd as
Arkansas Pine Bluff dribbled the ball
back down the court. He h ad a chance to
add to his point total in the final
seconds after a Golden Lions miss, but
an outlet pass just escaped his grasp.
Lee had joked with Jackson State
Coach Wayne Brent for the past two
seasons about suiting up for senior
night. He wasn’t convinced it would
actually happen until he was preparing
the home locker room, as he always
does, before Monday’s game.“I set my own uniform out, and I was
like, ‘Yeah, this is real now,’ ” he said.
Lee said the original plan was for him
to participate in warmups, but Brent
told his players before the game that if
they built a sizable lead, the Tigers’
beloved senior manager, whose
experience playing organized
basketball was limited to intramurals,
might see the floor.
“We were rolling, and then it was
kind of a dead period where the energy
got down and the lead started
decreasing, so I kind of got a little
nervous,” Lee said. “Then the guys took
right back off, and at the last media
timeout, the crowd started chanting,
‘We want Snacks!’ It was just a once-in-
a-lifetime opportunity.”
Lee, who will graduate in May, grew
up in Jackson and was a regular around
the Tigers’ basketball program as a kid.
He said he earned his nickname about
10 years ago when he would come to
Jackson State games with his aunt and
bring snacks, including Skittles, to the
players.
“No one really knew my name, so one
day they gave me the nickname ‘Snacks,’
and it just went from there,” Lee said.
A lot more people know his name
after Monday night, including Durant,
who tweeted about the video of his
three-pointer.
“I’ve been a KD fan since he was at
Te xas,” said Lee, who on Tuesday was
named the SWAC men’s basketball
player of the week. “It’s been amazing to
get all the publicity and all the calls,
texts and shout-outs.”
[email protected]‘Snacks’ has one shining moment
Jackson State team manager
gets to play, hits long three
and hears from Durantwashingtonpost.com/sports
college basKetball
UMKC won’t travel
over virus concerns
The University of Missouri
Kansas City announced
Wednesday that its men’s
basketball team would not play
its road game this week at Seattle
University because of
coronavirus concerns.
A day earlier, Chicago State
had announced that its men’s
basketball team would not travel
for regularly scheduled games at
Seattle University and Utah
Valley University, citing the
“health and well-being of the
campus community.” The
school’s women’s team will not
host two games against Seattle or
Utah Valley. The games were
believed to be the first major U.S.
sporting events canceled because
of the coronavirus, according to
the Associated Press.
In a statement, Seattle
University said it respected the
decisions of Chicago State and
UMKC and understands their
concerns.
Chicago State also said it will
evaluate whether to allow its
men’s and women’s basketball
teams — which have a combined
five wins this season — to travel
to the Western Athletic
Conference tournaments, which
are next week in Las Vegas.
— Matt Bonesteelsoccer
Manchester City stayed on
course to retain the FA Cup with
a 1-0 win over second-tier
Sheffield Wednesday to reach the
quarterfinals.
It was City’s fifth straight win,
with the past four coming in four
different competitions, including
the League Cup final victory over
Aston Villa on Sunday.
To ttenham was eliminated,
3 -2, on penalties by a tenacious
Norwich team after the game
finished 1-1 following extra time.
Leicester, meanwhile, beat
Birmingham, 1-0....
Real Sociedad defeated
second-division club Mirandés,
1 -0, to reach the Copa del Rey
final in Spain for the first time in
more than three decades.
Mikel Oyarzabal converted a
first-half penalty to give
Sociedad a 3-1 aggregate win.
The two-time Copa champion
had won the first leg, 2-1, at
home.
Sociedad will face either
Granada or Basque Country rival
Athletic Bilbao, who play
Thursday. Athletic won the firstDigestleg, 1-0, in Bilbao....
Kylian Mbappé ’s hat trick
helped Paris Saint-Germain win,
5-1, to reach a sixth straight
French Cup final. Winger Pablo
Sarabia added the other goal for
PSG, which lost last year’s final
to Rennes on penalty kicks.
Rennes is at struggling Saint-
Étienne in Thursday’s second
semifinal....
Bayer Leverkusen scored two
late goals to beat Union Berlin,
3 -1, and reach the German Cup
semifinals, while Eintracht
Frankfurt also booked its place in
the final four with a 2-0 win over
Werder Bremen.Misc.
The No. 10 Maryland women’s
lacrosse team got goals from nine
players in a 16-7 victory over
No. 17 Navy in College Park. Both
teams are 2-3.
In other women’s lacrosse
games, No. 12 Virginia defeated
George Mason, 14-8, in
Charlottesville, and No. 16 James
Madison beat No. 21 Penn State,
16-6, in Harrisonburg, Va....
Ruth Jebet , the 2016 Olympic
gold medalist in steeplechase,
was banned four years for
doping.
— From news services
and staff reportsteleVisioN aND raDio
NHl
7 p.m. Washington at New York rangers » nBC sports Washington, WJFK (106.7 FM)
7 p.m. carolina at Philadelphia » nBC sports network
Nba
8 p.m. los angeles clippers at Houston » tnt
10:30 p.m. toronto at golden state » tnt
Mlb sPriNg traiNiNg
1 p.m. New York Yankees vs. Detroit » MlB network
6 p.m. st. louis vs. Washington (split squad) » Masn
MeN’s college basKetball
2:30 p.m. Mountain West, quarterfinal: air Force vs. san Diego state »
CBs sports network
5 p.m. Mountain West, quarterfinal: boise state at uNlV » CBs sports network
6:30 p.m. Nebraska at Michigan » Fox sports 1
7 p.m. Houston at connecticut » CBs sports network
7 p.m. North carolina a&t at North carolina central » esPnU
7 p.m. illinois at ohio state » esPn
9 p.m. Mountain West, quarterfinal: New Mexico vs. utah st. » CBs sports network
9 p.m. stanford at oregon state » Pac-12 network9 p.m. Wichita state at Memphis » esPn
9 p.m. Washington at arizona state » esPn2
10:30 p.m. Washington state at arizona » Fox sports 1
11 p.m. california at oregon » esPn2
11:30 p.m. Mountain West, quarterfinal: Wyoming vs. Nevada » CBs sports network
WoMeN’s college basKetball
11 a.m. acc, second round: Virginia tech vs. Wake Forest » nBC sports Washington
noon sec, second round: georgia vs. alabama » seC network
noon big ten, second round: Purdue vs. Michigan state » Big te n network
2 p.m. sec, second round: auburn vs. arkansas » seC network
2 p.m. acc, second round: syracuse vs. Virginia » nBC sports Washington
2:30 p.m. big ten, second round: Wisconsin vs. rutgers » Big te n network
2:30 p.m. Pac-12, first round: california vs. arizona state » Pac-12 network
5 p.m. Pac-12, first round: Washington vs. utah » Pac-12 network
6 p.m. sec, second round: Florida vs. lsu » seC network
6 p.m. acc, second round: ga. tech vs. Pittsburgh » nBC sports Washington Plus
6:30 p.m. big ten, second round: Nebraska vs. Michigan » Big te n network
8 p.m. sec, second round: Missouri vs. tennessee » seC network
8 p.m. acc, second round: bc vs. clemson » nBC sports Washington Plus
9 p.m. big ten, second round: ohio state vs. Minnesota » Big te n network
11:30 p.m. Pac-12, first round: Washington state vs. oregon state » Pac-12 network
teNNis
6 a.m. atP/Wta: lyon open, early rounds » tennis Channel
noon Wta: lyon open and Monterrey open, early rounds » tennis Channel
4 p.m. Wta: Monterrey open, early rounds » tennis Channel
8 p.m. Wta: Monterrey open, early rounds » te nnis Channel
golF
2 p.m. Pga tour: arnold Palmer invitational, first round » Golf Channel
2:30 a.m.
(Friday)european tour: Qatar Masters, second round » Golf Channelsoccer
3 p.m. French cup, semifinal: rennes at saint-etienne » beIn sports
5 p.m. copa libertadores, group F: racing club at estudiantes Merida »
beIn sports
7 p.m. copa libertadores, group D: sao Paulo at binacional » beIn sports
7 p.m. shebelieves cup: u.s. women vs. england » esPn2
9 p.m. copa libertadores, group F: Nacional at alizanza lima » beIn sports
WoMeN’s college lacrosse
7 p.m. louisville at North carolina » aCC network