Yang-banger

I am not even a golf fan and it has taken me two days to recover from what I saw.  But then Brett Fav-ruh decides to unretire, meaning that I have to get this post up since we all know that Tiger losing a major (winning a Major?) is a distant second to Brett Favre’s annual retirement decision.  So let’s keep it short:

• Tiger loses his first major after having the 54 hole lead (he had 14 consecutive victories).
• Tiger also loses his first tourney in 37 tries when holding the 54 hole lead.
• The point above is ridiculous — he had held a lead, in golf, 36 straight times?  I am not even a golf fan, consider it a game, not a sport, but 36 in a row?  Holy Guacomole Batman!
• Interestingly, he still has never had a 54 hole deficit and come back to win a major — strange for the greatest golfer of all time.  Never made a run at anyone?  Hmmmm.  Will not hurt his legacy, but couldn’t hurt him to pull a “Yang” and win from behind.
• Nice to see Yang hold off El Tigre while playing in the same twosome.  Most guys who have held Tiger off have done from a different twosome.   The logic being that the pressure cooker that is the Tiger Gallery (100x the size of anyone else’s), costs you a stroke or two, or more.  Not Yang.  Smooth and steady, and even after bogeying 17 keeping his lead at 1, he nails a ‘hybrid’ 3 (what is that anyway?) and wins the tourney by sticking it 8 feet from the hole. 
• Actually, this is my favorite development — someone holding off Tiger while playing with him.  All the Big Guns have wilted — Els, Singh, Phil, Sergio — but not Yang.  Maybe someone else will man-up and do the same in the future; certainly would make golf more interesting.
• And nice to see someone seize a major versus Kenny Perry’s 2 over on 17 & 18; Phil’s slide at the US Open, and TW (Tom Watson) gacking the 18th to lose the British.
• Tiger is stuck for now at 14; 15 seems a lot closer to Jack’s 18 then 14, but he still does it, albeit might take him 4-5 years to do so.
• He has to be glad that he salvaged day four epics to force playoffs, and then major victories, against Bob May, Chris DiMarco, and Rocco Mediate.
• Tiger also needs for his ‘competitors’ to play better.  He seems to play better when challenged by the putative rivals, than one-hit wonders.  Maybe he could not get up for his game with only Y.E. “Yanging” around
• I would not say that Tiger’s 75 was a choke, but it certainly was a Tiger choke.  A 5 stroke swing from up 2 to losing by 3 is a choke in his book.  The Book of Greg Norman, not so much.  The Book of Eldrick — yes!

Maybe Mr. Yang has created some confidence in the field making 2010 more interesting.  Doubt it, but nevertheless, while I fully expect the pretenders to continue to wilt, a no-name like Beem, Micheel, Johnson, Glover, Immelman, Yang, etc. could pop up four times a year to make the Tiger Coronation a bit more dramatic.

The Essence of Taste

[If you recall the history of Monosodium Glutamate:

"The Ajinomoto company was formed to manufacture and market MSG in Japan; the name 'Aji no moto' translates to "essence of taste"."

What better way to describe Yes MSG. ]

So Yes MSG hits the pool today for a quick 1000M (OK, 30 minutes, but, like Michael Phelps, I had mainly been out of the pool since Beijing.  OK, actually Greece.  But let’s consider for argument’s sake that my back was waxed over a month ago, and I did not shave; makes a difference.  Also, I was not wearing an Arena X-Glide suit either, which brings us to our first story:

1. So Michael Phelps loses his first individual race in 4 years in the World Championships.  But did you hear the controversy?  Seems that the noname that beat him was wearing an Arena X-Glide suit that is worth, according to the victor, 2 seconds.  Phelps knew the suit was better but did not want to disappoint his sponsor who paid him $1M post Beijing, so he wore the Speedo LZR Racer.  Yes MSG take — too bad.  Look, I am all for Man over Machine, but didn’t Phelps himself use the at-the-time fastest suit in the Beijing Games?  Sure, you say, he would have won anyway, but really?  After all, he won the 100M Butterfly over Mirad Cavic by 0.01s.  Maybe the suit made the difference.  So until FINA says back to tiny Speedos, I guess anything goes.  No controversy here, anymore than in NASCAR and Cycling where the equipment can also make a difference.  Speaking of Cycling:
2. Alberto Contador wins convincingly the Tour de France.  37 year old Lance Armstrong finishes 3rd.  But the battle has just begun.  Contador says he never admired Lance the person, which makes sense since they were both vying to be #1 on the team, right up until AC destroyed the field in a time trial and a mountain stage.  I gotta be honest here — I support AC.  Lance has always been prickly, arrogant and condescending.  AC won the tour in 2007, so no wonder he would not want his team to hire a second #1 in 2009 (Team Astana was prohibited from competing in 2008).  Lance would have been 10x as pissed had the situation been reversed.  But at least we now have something to look forward to in 11 months when we care about cycling again, kind of.  Lance has decided to start his own team — Radio Shack — so he will be the undisputed #1 to challenge AC and Astana, or whatever team he ends up on.  Speaking of another sport we care less about until July:
3. The Phillies have to trade for Roy Halladay.  Why would you protect prospects, none of whom will likely be as good as Roy IS, when getting him means potential World Series titles this year and next?  The young Drabek they are protecting might someday be that good?  Doubtful.  Hey Phillies — Mark Prior, Kerry Wood?  “Nuff said.  But not enough said about sports that are important in July:
4. Brett Favre seems to have really retired.  I could care less as I tired of his act ages ago.  His act on the football field that is, but I never get tired of his cameo in There’s Something About Mary -

Matt Dillon: What is Brett Favre doing here?

Brett Favre: I am in town to play the Dolphins you dumbass.

Best Sports Cameo since Kareem in Airplane.

There is your July update, courtesy of The Essence of Taste!

Misc. Musings

As we are in the dog days of summer, and all we have to hold on to is the upcoming trading deadline for MLB, at least until NFL camps open, let’s cover myriad topics as that is what it takes to complete a post these days.

#1) Golfers are not athletes.

I wanted Watson to make that putt on 18 as much of the next guy, but I think I have finally found a rule — if your sport’s champion can be almost 60 years old, then you play a game, not a sport.  Now to my golfing fanatic friends, I don’t deny that hitting a golf ball does take athletic ability, but so does darts.  To further the point, NASCAR is at risk when an 81 year old can be competitive in a minor circuit.

Can you imagine a 60 year old baseball player (considering baseball is the least athletic of the major sports — remember Rick Reuschel?). 

#2) Speaking of older athletes, the Tour de France was interesting for a minute, but Contador has put the serious beat down on 37 year old Lance Armstrong.  Lance is the man for coming in (most likely) 3rd, but Alberto, at 26, has shown that there is no substitute for age.

Next year Lance will have his own team — team Radio Shack — and Alberto will have to find another team if Astana folds, which would be only slightly more surprising than the fact that there is even a team sponsored by a bunch of state owned enterprises from Kazakhstan.

Now we can go back to ignoring cycling for another year, just like we kind of do with Tennis and non-Tiger golf events.

#3) LeBron overreacted to getting dunked on.

I was going to link to it, but not even worth it.  LeBron at his skills camp comes over on help defense a bit late, and some kid from Xavier dunks on him.  Hardly a Noxema facial.  MJ on Ewing, Starks on MJ, Dr. J on numerous defenders, and my favorite Phil Henderson dunking on Georgetown’s Alonzo Mourning in 1989.

Get over yourself LeBron, you petulant little child.

#4) Tim Tebow is a virgin.

Good, the sportsworld has been lacking a successor to AC Green.

#5) The Pac-10 is Pathetic

So they published the TV contracts for football.  You can click here to see the details, but to summarize:

SEC – about $100M a year

and they even have a logo

Big 10 – about $100M a year

Big 12 – about $60M a year

ACC – about $35M a year

Pac 10 – about $25M a year

Big East – about $33M a year

Are you %)(#)&U%# kidding me?  The Pac10 gets less than the Big East, for FOOTBALL??????????????  If hte new Pac10 Commish does not rectify this inequity such that we get easily north of $50M per, then Yes MSG will have to marshall its readership to protest.  That should make them sweat!

If a Tiger Fails to Make the Cut…..

…..Will anyone watch on TV?

For those of you watching the British Open, you probably know that Tiger missed the cut.  First time in ages.  That sound you hear is the crying of ABC executives.  If I were remotely interested in doing any research whatsoever, I would compare this weekends TV ratings to last year’s as well as even the Thursday and Friday TNT ratings.

Thank goodness for the other TW, Tom Watson.  Him leading after two rounds is the only thing that could save the tourney, unless you are a huge Kenichi Kuboya fan.

Of course, even the mention of Tiger allows me to put in this photo:

Compare the British Open to the Tour de France where the broadcaster is incredibly lucky that Lance Armstron is in 3rd.  Now there is a reason for people who are casual cycling fans to spend hours trying to find Versus on their 500 channel cable box.

Oh, and Lance previously dated one of the Olsen Twins and Kate Hudson, neither worth a photo.  Let’s hope Tiger does not miss any more cuts.

Winners of Combined 18 Majors Unite to Lose US Open

Tiger Woods (14 Majors), Phil Mickelson (3 Majors) and David Duval (1 Major) all combined to shoot a bunch of last nine bogies and lose the US Open to Lucas Glover. 

Poor Mr. Glover, not only did he prevent the deified Mr. Woods from climbing within 3 of Jack, but he also deprived Phil Mickelson from getting a much desired 4th Major that the entire gallery wanted due to his 4 second place finishes and his wife’s battle with cancer.  And he deprived Mr. Duval from winning his second major an entire decade after winning his first.  Since that 1999 British Victory, DD as he is known, seems to have seen the game pass him by, which is not something that could be said for any Dunkin Donuts.  Mr. Duval obviously never let one of those pass by.

Heck, Mr. Glover was not even the most famous Glover on Monday.  La ‘Roi Glover decided to call it quits after 13 years in the NFL.  While La ‘Roi might not be that well known, he was certainly more well known than Lucas.

So Lucas win also prevented Duval (ranked 800+) and Ricky Barnes (ranked 519th) from being the biggest losers to ever win a major.  Not only that, but a victory by Mr. Barnes would at least have crowned someone who could give Tiger a run for his money at the Gun Show.  For some reason, this tournament was full of doughboys.  Mickelson and Duval remind me of the golfers in the 70s (or is that in their 70s?) and Glover, while thin, never lifted a weight in his life. 

Now the tournament ended up being fairly exciting, but what I most appreciate is how the network makes it all about Tiger and Phil (with a dash of DD thrown in). 

Sample coverage –

Tiger is 8 down, so he really needs to make a run.  At the turn I think he will go light on the mayonaisse and stick to more brain foods on his pastrami and rye.  He really cannot afford a food coma this late in the tourney. (Oh, Glover just eagled 8 with a 240 yard 8 iron).

Did you hear that Phil got a new Escalade?  With the three kids and family in town, he really could not afford the luxury of a hybrid; he needed something more functional.  (Barnes just gacked again, and is now shooting like a club assistant pro.  Shades of Greg Norman.)

Duval, despite his girth, has not changed sunglasses in 10 years.  Still uses those wraparounds, and they look good.  Oh wait, Tiger just called Elin to check on Sam, who has a bit of a cold.  You can see Sam on the Tiger cam we have set up on www.AllTigerAllTheTime.com, otherwise known as www.PGATour.com. Anyway, Duval must have an endorsement deal with the manufacturer, even though they date back in style to the era of Dolphin Shorts.  Good thing for us Duval does not have a deal for those (Ross Hunter just beat a spectator with his sand wedge).

Now back to the action, Ricky and Lucas…..oh wait, let’s go to commercial break so that Flomax, Cialis and Depends can pay for all these Tiger Cams.

But there was one rather amusing financial point to this story.  Despite the fact that Ricky Barnes gave up what will be his only opportunity to be Rich Beem or Shawn Mickeel, and not John Cook, Kenny Perry or Chris DiMarco, he did make $500K on the day, which was equal to 700% of what he had earned this year.  2nd in the US Open, and a $500K payout — still not a bad day’s work.

Real Madrid

Yes MSG went all the way to Madrid, as stated in my last post, to investigate the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo from ManU to Real Madrid, for $131M.  However, I had to do this on the back of a business trip.  Unfortunately, in the 80 hours I was gone, I spent 40 of them traveling and 40 “in” Madrid.  I write “in” because for some reason technology companies love to be outside major cities in non-descript business parks away from anything interesting, including the Bernabeu.  So I was unable to see how Madrid was justifying the transfer, although I did read in the local paper that the Club had taken out $300M in loans, such as charging 150 Euros for a Jersey.

However, not to let my readers down, I can at least provide some entertaining travel notes, and a couple good sports at the end.  So here goes:

• Baggage Claim: What is it with baggage claim at airports?  Worldwide, people love to crowd right up to the conveyor with their carts.  Um, how is this efficient?  This means that no one else can approach and get their bag without fighting the masses.  And for the morons waiting, undoubtedly they are so close with the carts because they overpacked, so that when the bag comes, they can barely lift it.  Subsequently, they cannot even leave the area because all of their like minded lemmings have blocked all exit routes.  Einsteins, wouldn’t it be more efficient if everyone waited about a meter or so away from the conveyor and then collected their bag when it appeared?  Yes, I think so.  Man this pi$$es me off.
• Belts and Shoes: Why in the USA do we have to remove shoes, but in Europe we have to remove our belts?  Seriously, shouldn’t it be both or neither?  Now I don’t know if I should ensure that my socks are clean and without holes or that my pants actually fit.  Having recently lost about 4kg, I was afraid I was going to look like a gangbanger when passing through security in Madrid.  Fortunately, I was not wearing my European thong underwear.
• Airline Rows: Am I missing something?  I was on a 737 — you know, one aisle, 3 seats a side — from Madrid to Amsterdam when 3, THREE, people asked the flight attendant where row 25 (or similar) was.  Really?  Um, there is a single aisle, and the numbers are ascending, not random.  I half expected the flight attendant to say “go to row 17, turn left, open the (emergency) exit.”  Or, “where the heck do you think it is?  We have a single aisle in this plane.  What was I thinking when I decided to pursue a career that resulted in cheap travel.  Shoot me now!”

Norman Mailer recently died, and Mark Kriegel wrote an excellent article.  Here is my favorite part of the article as it shows what a great writer he was and this was boxing, not even his ’specialty.’

Then there was this, also from The Presidential Papers, about the death of Benny “Kid” Paret at the hands of Emile Griffith in Madison Square Garden: “He hit him eighteen right hands in a row, an act that took perhaps three or four seconds, Griffith making a pent-up whimpering sound all the while he attacked, the right hand whipping like a piston rod which has broken out of the crankcase, or like a baseball bat demolishing a pumpkin. I was sitting in the second row of that corner — they were not ten feet away from me — and like everyone else, I was hypnotized…

And with father day upon us, DJ Gallo provides some excellent advice for all of us with sons and daughters. The article is here, but allow me to provide a sample.

Front-running = grounded. No one likes a front-runner. No one. But how does a person become a front-runner? It’s simple. Bad parenting. Their parents let them get away with it once thinking it was a passing, childish dalliance. But soon enough, their children were switching allegiances with every trophy ceremony. If you give an inch on this as a parent, you’ll soon have a child who roots for the Lakers, Penguins, Phillies, Steelers, North Carolina and Florida; you’ll soon have a child who will grow up to be a … I can’t say the word, but the second syllable rhymes with “bag.” In fact, the second syllable is “bag.” Be open with your child when it comes to front-running. Tell them you understand the allure. And use your own life as an example. “You think there weren’t better options out there than your mother at times? That I could have gotten with hotter women — you know, had they been drunk enough? But I stayed loyal. And it resulted in your birth. So by liking the Lakers, you are essentially killing yourself. Think about it.”

Happy Father’s Day, and if you are travelling, please give everyone some space at the Baggage Claim.

Spanning the Globe

The Lakers have just made a liar of Yes MSG by winning in 5, not 6.  Of course, if Jameer could play defense above the 3 pt line, or Dwight could hit free throws, I would have been correct.  Now, this game will be analyzed ad nauseumby everyone, so other than a few short points, I will move on to other topics especially since I go to Spain tomorrow to investigate the Real Madrid – Cristiano Ronaldo deal.

• OK, regardless of how 3 games really pivoted on single plays, 4-1 is 4-1.  Orlando might have stretched the series back to LA, but no way you say that if “Courtney hits the layup” or “Fish misses the 3″ and Orlando wins the title.  Nope.
• Kobe’s legacy is even more secure.  Sure, I still hold that this Lakers team would not have beaten any of the last title holders, but hey, they only get to play who they get to play; not Kobe’s fault.  And winning as the lead dog is more special.  So Kobe is now cemented as the second best shooting guard after Michael; which, is significant when you compare that with his legacy prior to this series when he was considered, oh wait, the second best shooting guard behind Michael.  Nevermind.
• Magic Johnson’s coat — am I the only one watching ESPN – what is Magic Johnson wearing.

Ok, let’s move on to other items in the hoop world:

• Staying with Hoop, supposedly the Cavs are interested in Shaq in a trade for Ben Wallace corpse, and Sasha Pavlovic, since every team needs a Slavic player who can hit at times a 3.  Or at least sport a greasy hairstyle that would make any Argentinean Soccer Player proud.
• However, how does this help the Cavs?  This is a one-year, win the title, keep Lebron Hail Mary pass.   I guess Shaq could somewhat defend Dwight Howard by himself, mainly because Dwight has no moves.  But can he defned KG and the rest of the Boston front line?  I doubt it.  This deal would end in disappointment
• Nevertheless, I would LOVE, absolutely love, a 2010 Finals between Kobe and Lebron/Shaq.  That would be EPIC.  And seeing that I have no financial interest in the Cavs, I say do the trade.
• Ricky Rubio.  For those of you unfamiliar with the most famous Spanish athlete after Rafael Nadal, Rubio is the 18 year old point guard for the Spanish National Team (that won the Silver in Beijing) and Joventut in the Spanish league.  Well, Joventut is hurting for cash, so has reportedly sold Rubio’s contract to the Spanish of the IRS so that the government gets the buy-out of Rubio’s contract, which he has to do in order to play in the NBA as the expected 2nd pick in the draft later this month.  The IRS!  And people complain about the US Government bailing out AIG and owning GM.  I would prefer they had bought the Sonics.

And non-hoop items:

• The Stanley Cup.  For those of you who missed it, Pittburgh went into Detroit and won a game 7, 2-1, when Niklas Lidstrom’s literally last second shot was blocked by the Pens Fleury to preserve the win.  Amazing game, and makes me wish I had watched more than 60 minutes of hockey this season.  Also of note, this was the first game 7 victory on the road for a team in ANY sport since the Pittsburgh (again) Pirates in 1979 against the Baltimore Orioles.  This was the first in Hockey since the Habs (Montreal) over the Chicago Blackhawks in 1971.  More impressive, Pittsburgh has played in 5 or 6 road game 7s in its history and won them all.  That is right, ALL of them.  Wow.
• Megan Fox and Carrie Prejean.  One is an ‘actress’ from the Transformer movies, who recently said that she hoped to become a good actress someday;  the other is the recently dethroned Ms. California, who claims she lost her crown because she is against Gay Marriage.  Now I am not here to make a political statement, I just want to be the first to start their race for Cinemax stardom, as I know we are all united in our hopes for that outcome.
  
• Boston Red Sox v NY Yankees — Boston has not lost in 8 games against NY this year, so not really worth mentioning.
• Beirut:  The March 14 coalition of western leading parties soundly defeated Hezbollah
• Tehran: Ahmadinejad defeats more reformist candidate Moussavi in Iranian elections, but could result in a recount, annulment, civil war.  Stay tuned.
• Real Madrid: As mentioned at the beginning of the post, I have to head to Madrid since the soccer club Real Madrid just bought the rights to Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo for $131 MILLION DOLLARS.  That is the fee just to talk to Cristiano.  Sort of like the $52M posting fee Boston paid to negotiate with Dice-K.  Oh, and this was on top of the $92M that Real Madrid paid for Kaka, ex of Inter-Milan.  So that is $223M dollars just to negotiate. Heck the Yankees paid $180M to Teixeira, $160M to Sabathia, and $80M to Burnett, but that was the contractual value; the fee to negotiate was ZERO.  Euro soccer is crazy!

Hasta Luego!

Yes MSG

There is no E-S-P-N in Federer (ok, there is an “E”)

Yes MSG decided to take advantage of the nice weather and spend time with the son, as well as entertain friends.  So my entire Sports Sunday consisted of SportsCenter. 

Now I knew that Roger Federer just tied Pete Sampras record of 14 Grand Slams, as well as becoming just the 6th man in HISTORY to win all four Grand Slams in a CAREER. 

I also saw that the Lakers effectively sealed the 2009 NBA Title by outlasing Orlando in OT for a 2-0 series lead. 

Lastly, in his final tune up before the 2009 US Open golf tournament at Bethpage Black, Tiger storms back from 4 down heading into Sunday, and wins the Memorial by a stroke.

Now obviously Federer’s accomplishment is the most impressive.  Effectively sealing his (arguable) title as finest tennis player of all time.  Career Grand Slam record, all four Slam titles under his belt.  Yet, as expected, ESPN led with about 20 minutes of observation on Game 2 of the NBA Finals.  (Note, interesting that the missed layup by Courtney Lee, that would have resulted in a win, cost Orlando the title.  Whatever hope they had, went down the drain with that miss and loss.  Now way they sweep at home, so we are back in LA, maybe, for a game 6 closeout as predicted by Yes MSG.)  Tennis is not a big deal in the States, and Federer is not American (he is Swiss).  OK, but I figure it will come second.  It does not.

You know what does?

No, not Tiger.

Brett f’ing Favre.  I guess he had surgery a couple of weeks ago on his shoulder, in preparation for possibly playing for Minnesota.  BFD.  And this story went on.  Including a report by Ed Werder.  Really?  This story is more important the the final of a tennis Grand Slam?  Or even the overexposed Tiger Woods?  Goodell must be psyched.

Tiger did follow this story with a long recap of everything he did: great chip from the rough for Eagle, ham sandwich at the turn, #1 bathroom break after 14.  Not enough Elin though.  Heck, even if she weren’t there, can’t we get footage of her at home, doing laundy?

Finally, they give a cursory highlights and mention to Federer, then move on to the Braves’ game.  Wow,  we are really that parochial as a sports audience.

Again, at least throw in more Elin Nordegren

Wide World of Sports

Yes MSG is spanning the globe.  After all, there is more than enough time to break down Kobe-Hedo I.  Plus, I have to wait for Nike to update its Most Valuable Puppets.  So with that in mind, let’s take in a few more sporting items from around the world.

• French Open:  4x defending Champ Rafael Nadal actually lost to some guy named Robin Soderling.  his first lost in 33 matches at Rolland Garros.  Along with Djokavic’ loss, this tournament is Federer’s to lose.  Admittedly, him completing the career Grand Slam with Nadal out is sort of like, say, the Lakers winning the NBA title against some pretenders like the Orlando Magic, but I guess it still counts.  See if Roger can put it together.
• FA Cup:  Everton, despite scoring a goal in the first 25 seconds (no, that is not a typo), and having American Tim Howard in goal, fell to Billionairre Russian Roman Obramovich’s Chelsea side 2-1.  Too bad.
• Champions’ League: But all was not lost as Barcelona (the Blaugrana), despite missing 3/4ths of its best defenders due to injury or suspension, absolutely DOMINATED Manchester United in the Champions’ League final 2-0.  It was totally sweet, unless you are from Manchester, or a complete soccer front runner, meaning you are the equivalent of most Yankee fans.
• NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Final: Sure, I pay no attention to this sport, but the final was as dramatic as the final of the Frozen Four (in that final, perennial powerhouse Boston U was losing by two goals, but scored twice in the last 1:21 or so to tie it, then won in overtime.  Miami of Ohio was the victim.)  Well, in Lacrosse, Syracuse is a powerhouse, Jim Brown played there.  They were losing in the last 20 seconds, but intercepted a ball and scored with 4 seconds to go; won it in overtime.  The Big Red of Cornell will have to take solace in firing all the Syracuse guys from their jobs in ten years.
• Basketball: I am contractualy obligated to mention that the WNBA starts in June (I think).
• Softball: ESPN is subjecting me to Women’s Softball.  Who has the tractor pull rights?  Universal?  Versus?  A lot of people, Yes MSG included, complain about Women’s sports.  Not that they should not play them, just that they are not as enjoyable to watch.  When the discrepancy and how the game is played is SOOOOOO dramatically obvious, I find it painful.  Basketball tops the list.  No, I don’t think I am better than Cynthia Cooper, and I appreciated Jennifer Azzi and Dawn Staley as much as anyone, but the game is ugly and played so far BELOW the rim.  Now why am I harping on Hoop in the Softball section?  Because softball is the same but more egregious.  First off all, there is the mini-field.  So the women pitch from a 45 foot mound, making them all throw the equivalent of 90+ MPH.  Unfortunately, while major leaguers who can hit a 90 MPH pitch are a dime a dozen (college too), there seem to be four women that can do so.  So we end up with tons of 1-0 games, no hitters, 20 strikeouts, etc.  BORING.  Would a 5-3 match kill the sport?  Moreover, what is it with the extra innings and starting each 1/2 inning with a runner on second.  I need not say more.
• Late Night Talk Shows (hey, if Spelling Bees and Golf are sports, so is this):  So Jay Leno is ‘leaving’ The Tonight Show.  Conan O’Brien is ‘leaving’ Late Night with Conan O’Brien.  Am I the only one that does not see anyone ‘leaving’ anything and just moving timeslots?  So Jay will be on at 10pm, the news at 11pm, and Conan now at 11:30 instead of 12: 30.  Seems to be that Jay is still doing the Tonight Show, and Conan is just doing Earlier Late Night with Conan O’Brien.  Hardly the impactful boob tube impact of say 1) Broadcast Television; 2) Tivo; 3) Nudity on Cable.  Just sayin’. (Craigbe?  Care to Comment?)
• College Sports: I put this under a generic heading, and it actually warrants its own column, but I was thinking that some of today’s professional athletes should not go back to school AS PROFESSORS:

Kenyon Martin, Professor of English, University of Cincinnati:  ”I ain’t never known nobody apology to someone through other people.”  “Me and my mom ain’t going to lose no sleep if we don’t talk to Mark Cuban.”

James Harrison, Professor of Philosophy and Logic, Kent State:  Mr. Harrison did not attend the White House Party for the Super Bowl Champion Steelers because he felt slighted.  Seems he figured Obama would have invited the Arizona Cardinals had they won the Super Bowl.  Um, well, you see…….Of course, Mr. Harrison previously taught a class on Etiquette, as he had been convicted of hitting his girlfriend, and has recently been attempting to receive tenure in Animal Husbandry since his pit bull attacked his two year old.  Good thing the guy can run an interception back as that halftime clock expires.

• Search: New Playah in the Game.  Scroogle — nah!  Bing it!

Check back later for the breakdown of Kobe-Hedo I.

Hit the Links

Let’s start with something a bit sad — the passing of Wayman Tisdale.  I totally remember him in college, and even the pros, and like everyone, the smile and joy he seemed to exude on the court and in life.  If you want read a nice story, click here. 

Switching to something a bit more intriguing, even if not as important, the Triple Crown really has it going.  First, a 50:1 shot wins the Kentucky Derby.  Then the jockey, Calvin Borel, decides to ride a different horse in the Preakness.  This was the first time in history that the winning Kentucky Derby jockey chose not to ride the same horse in the Preakness.  To make it even more of a challenge and potentially stranger, the horse, Rachel Alexandra, is a filly.  She actually won the Kentucky Oaks the day BEFORE the Kentucky Derby, and was not in the Derby because her previous owners did not think girls should run against boys.  How, um, quaint, archaic, neanderthal.  Anyway, after the Oaks, new owners (including Jess Jackson, famous for making inexpensive quality wine — Kendall-Jackson) bought Rachel Alexandra and then entered her in the Preakness. 

So by not entering the Derby, Rachel Alexandra may have cratered two Triple Crown hopefuls.  Herself, as you cannot win the first leg if you don’t enter.  And Mine that Bird, the previously most intriguing story who finished second in the Preakness.  But is has set up the most anticipated Rubber Match in Triple Crown racing since Affirmed – Alydar.  Best Horse?  Triple Crown for the jockey, Borel, but not the horse.  

Tune in in 3 weeks.  Oh, and if you want to read a prescient article written BEFORE the preakness, click here.

Now on to Hockey — would be exciting, but on Versus, don’t have it, have not seen it.

Basketball — well the Celts went out and I am somewhat suprised that after blowing games 4 at home and 5 on the road that Orlando came so huge.  They may actually have more talent than the Cleveland LeBrons but LeBron seems to be Sui Generis and will not lose to Orlando.  God showing by Boston, without Garnett and half the bench – namely Leon Powe.

Now the Lakers did win big at home in game 7 against the SUPER depleted Rockets.  And they should get by Denver, but let’s hope they don’t.  How can you root for a group of such talented underachievers who don’t seem to care.  Look, I respect Kobe’s talent as much as the next person, but it really appears that no one likes him.  Supposedly, teammates love playing with LeBron.  And while MJ has a pricklier personality (he onced punched Steve kerr for goodness sake), he NEVER took a night off, a la Kobe.  Magic was loved, and Bird was the quiet assassin.  The Black Mamba, on the other hand, will probably have no one show up at his Hall of Fame induction speech.  How can you root for that?

Yes MSG cannot — bring on Nugs-Cavs (even though it will not be)