Singler's return along with the potential of Smith coming back would allow Duke to remain with the elite NCAA schools for next season, not just in TV ratings, but in the polls as well. And when Kentucky can lose five key players early to the NBA including stars John Wall and Demarcus Cousins, and coach John Calipari still manages to reload, keeping key players through their senior year is the best way to compete with him. Marcus Camby was a part of Calipari's bogus recruiting, and from that look, he can't believe he's still getting away with it either.
I know I'm a little late with hockey predictions for this space, but I did make them elsewhere. Here's what my choices looked like in the ESPN sports nation voting:
Eastern Conference
Caps over Habs in 5
Devils over Flyers in 7
Sabres over Bruins in 6
Penguins over Senators in 6
Western Conference
Avalanche over Sharks in 6
Blackhawks over Predators in 6
Canucks over Kings in 6
Red Wings over Coyotes in 5
All of my predictions are still possible other than the Wings over Phoenix in five, but I'm willing to let that one slide. The Coyotes have surprised everyone with their grit and determination to this point. They lost their captain, Shane Doan, in the second period of game 3 but they kept coming at Detroit and the Wings failed to counter and bring the pressure until it was too late. By stealing a win in Detroit, the Coyotes have managed to get home ice back after they were unable to secure game 2 at home. I'm sure the Wings aren't done, but Phoenix has them right where they want them.
The biggest goat of the playoffs so far has to be the Sharks' Dan Boyle. He ended a scoreless game in overtime by shooting the puck into his own net. You can see it below.
Blues fans will feel empathy for the Sharks but no pity as we all remember the Marc Bergevin goal against the Sharks when the Blues were the top seed, having won the President's Trophy. Just awful.
My finals hockey note relates to both hockey and baseball. According to my friend Matt Lucas, a White Sox fan, the Cubs showed up to Game 1 of the Blackhawks series and the Hawks lost. The Sox showed up to Game 2 and they shut out Nashville 2-0. If losing is contagious, then the Cubs must have the bubonic plague of losing. It seems to just radiate off of them, kind of like Pig Pen from Peanuts.The Cubs struggles are going right from the start this season. They've dropped three of their last four, including two of three at home to the last place Astros. That was the only series so far this season that Houston has actually won. The Cubs' overall record of 5-8 has them four games back of the Cardinals already and with no signs of slowing by St. Louis, the Cubs could find themselves in a big hole before they can even get going.
St. Louis has now won four series out of four to begin the season, taking two of three in each. After winning the opener in Arizona, they look primed to make it five for five. The redbirds have gotten great starting pitching so far this season. Their starters now have a record of 8-1 this season and the Brad Penny signing is already starting to look like a genius move by general manager John Mozeliak. Penny is 2-0 in three starts, having gone seven innings in each and he has only yielded a total of three runs. When you add him to Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter, St. Louis has a dominant top three in the rotation. With that trio, they only need Kyle Lohse and rookie Jaime Garcia to be decent, and Garcia's been far better than that, only allowing one run in his first two starts. Lohse will get his third shot tomorrow and even though he's the only St. Louis starter without a win, he hasn't pitched poorly either. He receives a tough match-up in former Cardinal Dan Haren, but if Lohse can keep the club in it early, he should have a chance to notch a "W" as the Arizona bullpen has struggled over their last five games with an ERA over 15.00.
In this country, everyone gets the benefit of a doubt. Especially athletes. We look at them as role models and heroes, even though this is usually unfair. Most of them are just normal people like you and me, who just happen to be talented at playing games. However, most of them won't be looked down on as long as they're just decent people. That being said, I've been just as guilty when it comes to turning a blind eye towards my own teams and players. When Ben Roethlisberger followed his first Super Bowl victory with his disastrous motorcycle accident, I called him an idiot, but other than that, I just hoped that he had learned from it and would make better decisions in the future. After his second Super Bowl win, a civil rape suit was brought against him by a woman from Nevada. Her story was very weak with no charges being filed and the fact that is was a civil suit made it look like she just wanted some money. So I stuck by him and it looked even worse for this woman when he decided to counter sue for defamation. The big story now is that he's been accused of raping another girl and even though no charges were filed, details keep coming out that make Roethlisberger look worse and worse. He met with commissioner Roger Goodell last week and it seems like a suspension is imminent. The only question is for how long. My guess is somewhere between two and four games, but Goodell could decide to do something drastic to make and example of him. And while that would dramatically impact my team's chances to make the playoffs next season, let alone win the Super Bowl, I can't say that I'd be that opposed to it. After all, who knows what Ben will do if he wins another Super Bowl? Rob a bank? Hold a hospital for terminal children hostage? Genocide? At this stage, it sounds less and less like hyperbole.
The Steelers seem to have sent Roethlisberger a pretty clear message by trading Super Bowl XLIII MVP Santonio Holmes to the Jets for next to nothing (5th round pick). Holmes has had a few run-ins with the law since being drafted and with Pittsburgh being a classy organization over the years, they had clearly tired of their image being sullied by Holmes' antics. Trading the team's top wide receiver should show Roethlisberger that no one is untouchable. He should know now that it's shape up or ship out. I just hope he chooses the former.
Back to baseball to end on a lighter note, here's Chan Ho Park showing the language/culture barrier while defending his poor outing to begin the season. Classic.
No comments:
Post a Comment