Random Sports Thoughts

This doesn't make any sense at all. Detroit beat Cleveland on Friday to lead to a Sunday game seven. Yet, the Suns/Clippers played their game six on Thursday with game seven on Monday. Are the Clippers going to walk to Phoenix? Even worse, it means that there's going to be another 10:30 start time on Monday. Has the NBA decided they are going to be a west coast league? I may stay up past midnight to watch Monday Night Football, but not the NBA.

I was sad to see Cleveland get bounced from the playoffs today. They had LeBron. Detroit has a tendency to be boring. Still, I want Detroit to win the East, but not necessarily because of them. I really don't want the Heat to go to the Finals. I thought what Pat Riley did this year was pretty bush league. A few years back, he quit right before the season started because he didn't think the Heat were good enough to win. And they weren't after winning only 25 games the previous, so it's not illogical to think Riley quit rather than hurting his all time record. Stan Van Gundy takes over in a bad situation, but improves the record in year one. In year two, he takes the team to the best record in the East and to game 7 of the East championship. Van Gundy's reward for turning things around? Riley signs a bunch of veterans for a one year run at the title, makes Van Gundy "resign" and becomes the coach again to add to his "legacy". What an ass.
Speaking of asses, the other person who would be unhappy with a Pistons win would be Larry Brown. I used to like him, but the way he exited Detroit was pure garbage. Right in the middle of their playoff run, he was trying to engineer his way out of Motown to New York. Ironically, New York got what they deserved when they hired him by getting worse. Now, he's trying to con New York into buying him out so he can move on rather than have to coach the disaster that he helped create. If he gets a $40 million buyout after one season of helping destroy the team, he would basically be a thief.

Damn shame what happened in the Preakness. Barbaro certainly had the potential for the Triple Crown so it sucks it had to end with an injury. Even worse, it may end up being fatal. I can't say that he would have beaten Bernardini (he ran a nice race), but if he was even close to his Kentucky Derby form, I think he would have. I'm happy Keeneland is going to the Polytrack surface. Racing at Turfway indicated that breakdowns like Barbaro's can be significantly lessened on it. Some would whine about tradition, but I'm tired of seeing good horses going lame.

Speaking of horse's asses, Barry Bonds finally tied Babe Ruth's home run record. Big deal. I've never thought much of baseball's home run records if for no other reason than every field is different. Unlike Brett, I think Bonds' big problem with popularity is the little matter of him apparently lying to a grand jury about taking steroids. Well, and lying to the public about taking steroids. After all, when he set the single season record, he wasn't absolutely despised like he is now (he wasn't liked either, but that's because he's always been a dick). However, since then, the whole steroid thing blew up, and everyone tainted by it has been hurt. As popular as Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were when they had their home run competition, neither can be found. Bonds may as well savor it, because he's always going to be thought of as the guy who late in his career doubled in size and increased his home run total by 24 over his previous best. Besides, it doesn't matter who has the home run titles, Babe Ruth will always be larger than life. He's been dead for almost 60 years, but his name is still synonymous with greatness. Bonds' will be with steroids. Ruth's legacy is saving baseball after the Black Sox scandal. Bonds is helping pushing baseball farther into irrelevancy.

Speaking of irrelevant, I was at Beef O'Brady's for lunch when Doug Flutie announced his retirement. They actually showed the press conference live on ESPN2. I realize that his Hail Mary pass to beat the Hurricanes and win the Heisman Trophy was an all time great highlight. However, the guy hasn't been a starter in five years, and while it was nice that he was able to fashion a career even though he was a midget, his retirement wasn't that big a deal. Truthfully, I was never a big fan. He always seemed to be a shameless self-promoter with an exceptionally thin skin. After the Dolphins beat the Bills in the playoffs, Jimmy Johnson smashed a box of Flutie Flakes (a cereal sold for a charity on autism which Flutie's son had), and Doug whined that it was like his autistic son had been stomped. Geez, if someone has them for breakfast, does he feel like his son was eaten? Hey, Johnson bought the box thereby donating to the charity. What's really funny now is I've seen a couple of people say that Flutie should be considered for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the reasoning is that it's the "pro football" not NFL Hall of Fame, and Flutie had several great years in the Canadian Football League. Please. The CFL is the CBA of pro football. No one goes to the CFL if they can make an NFL roster. Flutie is an exception in that he managed about four years as a decent starter in the NFL, and only two that I would classify as good. The rest of his NFL career was as a journeyman backup. In fact, most often top CFL players who try to transition to the NFL are lucky to be third string. So, no, being the top player in the CFL is not Hall of Fame worthy especially when your NFL career is nothing special.

Great. Here comes the Indy 500. I don't watch much open wheel racing, and I especially try to avoid IRL, because I'm just a little bit tired of the focus being a tenth place car just because a cute girl is driving it. Danica Patrick isn't a trailblazer. Women drove in the first Daytona 500 which was on a beach and before cars had power steering. If they could handle that, there's no reason they can't race in this high tech machines. I'm not trying to be mean, but I would be a little ticked off if I was a top driver on the circuit who had to spend half their time answering questions about someone who hasn't even won a race. Is it really an advancement for women in sports when her appeal is mainly that she's attractive?


I see ESPN is pushing the World Cup. I find some humor in some of the commercials like the one where England faces Argentina shortly (actually it was four years, but why mess up a good commercial) after the Falkland War. Diego Maradona leads Argentina to victory with a shot he calls "the Hand of God" goal. Actually, he knocked it in with his hand, and while I'm not real clear on many of soccer's rules (offsides befuddles me), I'm pretty sure hitting it in with your hand is illegal. Argentina goes on to win by one goal and restores their manhood. Maybe I have higher standards, but I'm not real sure I would carry a lot of pride over this like the Argentineans did. They lost the Falklands War in about three months, so winning a soccer game by a cokehead who cheated doesn't really seem to make up for it.

I don't know how much I'll watch the World Cup. If the Brazilians are playing, I may watch very closely in case they go to the stands, because hot Brazilian women like to go to soccer matches wearing very little. I'm certainly going to be rooting for America, because I'm very jingoistic, but it is soccer so I'm not sure how much I will care. I gave soccer a chance when the World Cup was played here, but became very disillusioned when a 0-0 tie had to be decided on penalty kicks in the Finals. I enjoyed playing intramural soccer in college, but I can't get into watching it. I have a bad feeling that even if the U.S. were to pull the big upset and win, professional soccer still wouldn't catch on. It would be like the Olympics used to be. People only cared about minor sports every four years. Remember the excitement of the women winning the World Cup back in 1999? It was supposed to herald in soccer's popularity. They formed the WUSA professional women's soccer league which folded in two years. The men's league, Major League Soccer, has lasted about 10 years, but it's a niche sport. You just can't force sports onto people.

Which leads to the WNBA. Based on the commercials, it's season must starting sometime soon. Got your season tickets yet?

Damn Derby

I love horse racing. Yet, the Kentucky Derby kills me every year. If I was smart, I would bet the undercard, but skip the Derby itself. There are just too many horses in the field. It looks like a traffic jam every year. If it's the best horse race in the country, a nag like Giacomo wouldn't win it like 2005. Granted, this year Barbaro is actually quite a good horse. In fact, I hope he wins the Triple Crown, because even though I didn't win money on him, he's a quality horse. Which is important. I could have handled Smarty Jones winning the Triple Crown, but not Giacomo (worst Derby winner in my lifetime) or even Funny Cide (still think Jerry Bailey blew it with Empire Maker). Of coure, I'm still ticked Afleet Alex didn't win the Derby last year. I had money on him in all three Triple Crown races.

In hindsight, I'm kicking myself for going with Lawyer Ron over Barbaro. When I make my Derby pick, I throw out most of the long shots as having no chance then work my way through the rest. I may throw a horse out because of bad post position (Brother Derek) or recent race that seems like a fluke (Sinister Minister in the Bluegrass Stakes). When I work it down, I look for somewhat of a long shot as a saver bet (this year was Point Determined), a long shot to hit the board without winning (Keyed Entry who decided to beat Sinister Minister to the punch in killing himself with a fast pace) and the horse for the big bet. I worked it down to Lawyer Ron and Barbaro. And I took Lawyer Ron.

Once again, in hindsight, I should have gone with Barbaro. Good post position, a sire I like (Dynaformer) and one of my favorite jockeys (Edgar Prado rode Birdstone at 36-1 when he beat Smarty Jones in the Belmont with my money riding on him). Instead, I let sentiment get the best of me. Lawyer Ron's recently deceased owner was from Owensboro (where I went to college), his trainer has been around 100 years (give or take a few) and he was being ridden by my grandmother's favorite jockey since Pat Day retired (John McKee used to live across the street from her). Sadly, I justified my decision by thinking Barbaro might bounce (follow a win with a poor showing) from the Florida Derby. Unfortunately, Lawyer Ron was the one that flopped.

The worst part is that I also gave Lawyer Ron to Phil, and I'll probably hear him gripe about not giving him the winner (if it was easy, I'd handicap for a living). If it makes you feel better, Phil, I probably dropped more money on the race than you did.