MLB
Last week Francisco Liriano pitched a sloppy no hitter. This weekend Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers threw a dominant one, and the second of his career. Two other pitchers took one eight innings or further. From 2000 to 2009 there were 15 no hitters tossed. In 2010 and the first two months of the 2011 season: 8. Whether its the crackdown on steroids, more "Pitcher Parks," whatever, there has definitely been a major shift from power hitting to power pitching. This may be a good or bad thing depending on who you are, but the last time the league was in this position they suffered a lockout, and piggybacked on a steroid aided long ball era to better ratings. Not necessarily the ideal business plan. On a different note, hats off to Andre Ethier for his 30 game hit streak. Just to put into perspective how amazing DiMaggio's 56 streak is, in the 65 years since the record, Ethier is approx. the 30th player in history to get to 30 games. That number drops to 6 after 35+ games, and 1 at 40+. Truly remarkable stuff.
NHL
After an unbelievable first round, the second round has been some what dull. Although impressive considering their opponents, there were two sweeps, and Nashville is somehow clinging to life in Vancouver. The only series of interest is the San Jose/ Detroit series. San Jose has blown two close out games, and most recently a two goal lead at home in the third period. They are now headed back to one of the most hallowed arenas in the sport. A game seven seems to loom large.
NBA
Before I touch on the disgrace that was the Laker game last night, here are some thoughts on the other three series. While money doesn't buy championships, the Miami heat doing so in a season where every other serious contender seemingly implodes from within was a pretty fortunate bounce. While I wouldn't expect a similar collapse from the Celtics as seen with the Lakers, I think the series goes no more than six games. At some point age and athleticism catches up with you, and I think it's closing in on the C's quickly. As bad as the Hawks looked throughout the year, they may arguably have the most raw, young talent of any team left. As good as Rose is for Chicago, no one can do it by themselves. Before the playoffs started, I told my co worker that if someone gave me $100 bill to put down on what team would win the West, I would have taken the Thunder. A young, athletic team, that made moves to be able to compete with anyone. What they have run into though with Memphis, is a team that reminds you of a poor mans 2003 - 2004 Detroit Pistons. No superstars, no perennial all stars, no first ballot hall of famers. Simply a group of guys playing incredible team ball. For the sake of my sanity, I'm putting the Lakers/ Mavs series in here as opposed to some crazy, long rant. First, outstanding job by the Mavericks top to bottom. They had an excellent game plan that ran to perfection, and exploited every facet of the Lakers play, or lack there of. It's not that they lost, but the way it transpired. I honestly don't even mind that they got swept. An incredible four year run of losing to the Celtics, Kobe getting a ring without Shaq, and then an emotional seven game redemption series with the Celtics was very taxing. They simply ran out of gas. That said, no change of game plan by Phil was inexcusable. Absolutely lazy, uninspired play, especially defense, by everyone involved was inexcusable. Andrew Bynum's acts at the tail end of the game was not only inexcusable but a complete disgrace. Because he is the face of the franchise, Kobe gets a separate section. I think where Kobe should take the brunt of his personal blame here is what happened behind closed doors and off the court. You have to believe he said something, but moving forward as he leans more and more on others to carry the weight, he has to lend himself more to helping helping them and work out team issues. That said though, a lot of the shots Kobe take from critics are unfair. I'll never understand why people are always quick to say that Kobe is not Michael, and never will be, yet the second he does something negative the first thing you hear is, "MJ never would have done that." If he's not Michael, then he's not Michael. You can't just pick and choose your spots to prove a point. There are a lot of things that Kobe has had to deal with in his career that Jordan never had to deal with, so not being able to compare the two works both ways. Moving forward, the Lakers have a lot of choices to make this off season, so it will be interesting to see what happens.
What a weekend huh? This weekend we had our first outdoor 3 on 3 tournament at NC State, and it went very well. Kids that we literally find off the street to participate in our dunk contest continue to up the ante. This weeks winner jumped from about 10 ft out over one of our 3ft high barriers, and finished with a reverse. Keep in mind this is a random twenty year old kid that we pulled from nowhere. By far the absolute highlight of my weekend though was hanging out, and playing a cut-short game of horse with our NBA guest, Bo Kimble. I grew up, and still live, less than 10 minutes away from LMU, and remember his remarkable run in the 1990 season while carrying the grief of Hank Gathers death. An exceptionally gracious man, Bo was by far one of the best personalities I have met while doing this line of work. Definitely something to remember. Finerside, out!
MYSELF WITH BO KIMBLE. HEATED GAME OF HORSE TIED AT H-O-R TO BE CONTINUED
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