Magic Show vs Late Show - Game 1 Set To Go

The Match up is set. The teams are ready. The players are hyped up and prepared for battle. The NHL is nervous. On the line - an NBA World Championship and a piece of history.

Game 1 is slated to get going at the Staples Center in LA- Home of the Lakers (even if there are no lakes anywhere near the place) at 8:30 on ABC. Which should be interesting to see how the ratings are on Versus for the Stanley Cup Finals after they were boasting on how well they did on NBC over the Weekend.

The Orlando Magic come into the series as the decided underdogs but after disposing of the Cavaliers is short time they are surely not to be taken lightly. This has all the makings of being a very fast paced series with a lot of quick transition play and even more 3pt shot attempts. One thing that these two teams can agree upon is that shooting 3’s is fun.

Which superstar will impose his will on the other team? Is Dwight Howard going to be Superman or Clark Kent? Is Kobe going to be the Black Mamba or play a more passive facilitator role and get his team involved first and then just pick his spots? I guess that is for the coached to decide.
That is another interesting match up, the Zen Master Phil Jackson who is very laid back and usually has little to say while on the court, saving is strategies for the locker room and Stan Van Gundy who is usually screeching at a level so high that only dogs can here him. So if the Magic look out of sorts at times it is probably because they missed the play call. These two coaches are the perfect 2 to play the NBA’s version of the odd couple, with their styles as different as night and day.

Best and Worst of the Weekend

BEST
The Montreal Canadians have decided on a new coach and it is former Sens bench boss Jacques Martin. This is a great decision for the Sens. That’s right the Sens, maybe not so much for the Habs. Since there are rarely trades among division rivals and Martin is no longer GM in Florida where he never seemed warm to dealings with Ottawa after he was relieved of duty here. Now maybe that opens up another trading partner for Bryan Murray

Worst
Detroit won the first 2 games at home in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This is only bad for 2 reasons:
a) There are only a possible 5 more game maximum left before the season is done.
b) If Pittsburgh doesn’t win Tuesday night then it is very likely that there will only be 2 more games and a sweep for Detroit....meaning even less hockey.
The first 2 games have been played at a high pace with great physical play. Maybe a few penalties could be called, a penalty in game 30 should still be a penalty in the Championship Finals.

BEST
Orlando upset Cleveland in the NBA Conference finals knocking out LeBron James and taking away a Kobe-LeBron showdown. This is far from the best for David Stern and the league as far as ratings go but it was funny to see LeBron walk off the court-not shake hands-ditch the media and walk out to the bus with his headphones on.
Also, the chance for Kobe to win a championship without Shaq and get the "taste of ass" out of his mouth.

WORST

Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak’sr run at the French Open ended on a loss to second-seeded Serena Williams. Since I have little or no use for Serena I would have loved to see that upset. I have no problem with sister Venus but Serena just seems to complain a lot and comes off a little snarky.
BEST
Earlier in march there was an epic basketball game with Syracuse and UCONN that went to 6 over times. When I was down there on Campus a week or so later everyone was wearing Marathon Men Shirts. Well as it turns out they may have to forfeit their crown to the Texas Longhorns baseball team. The Longhorns ended up on the winning end of a 25 inning game versus the Boston College Golden Eagles in the College World Series. The final was 3-2 and was the longest game ever played in NCAA history. I guess that would be considered a pitchers dual. The game started at 6:02 p.m. Saturday and ended 7 hours and 3 minutes later at 1:05 am Sunday. The crowd observed three 7th inning stretches. Texas reliever Austin Wood went 12 1/3 innings without allowing a hit - his pitch count was 169, including 120 strikes.

WORST
Footy, aka Kickball, aka Soccer was played somewhere and it was televised, some people actually watched.

-Around The Horn-

A quick view of the week in sports

The ongoing feud between Kobe and Shaq re-surfaced and took an unexpected twist this week with the video release on TMZ.com where Shaq ripped into his former teammate not only criticizing Kobe for not being able to win a championship without him, how he rode his coattails and ran him out of town. Then things got personal and Shaq blamed Kobe for ratting him out causing his divorce and then just got profane asking: "Kobe (expletive), tell me how my a** tastes". Sure rap music is notorious for the feuds and guys taking shots at each other through rhyme, but Shaq is really not a rapper (see - Shaq Diesel, Shaq-Fu: Da Return, You Can’t Stop the Reign, Respect, Shaquille O’Neal Presents His Superfriends, Vol. 1). Kobe can’t help but be aggravated by this assault and will no doubt get pretty angry, like an old man trying to send soup back at a deli.
What is probably the best thing about this story is that a Sheriff has revoked the honorary badge given to Shaq after the Kobe blast.

Is it any wonder why the Argo’s have taken a chance on troubled wide receiver David Boston. Boston has had many an issue in the past including a traffic incident this winter while with Tampa Bay that has led to his defection to the CFL. While driving Boston was found to have GHB in his system also known as the date rape drug. This is called that because it leaves a person groggy and powerless. It looks like there may be a pattern for Boston as it is thought that an Argo’s uniform will produce the same result. Apparently when putting on a Jay’s uniform a person will suffer that same affliction.

Melrose Place is alive and well in Tampa. They just got junior stud Steven Stamkos in the NHL Draft, a new owner in Oren Koules and a new Head Coach. Barry Melrose is now at the helm and has brought in Rick Tocchet as an assistant. Clearly the FOG (friend of Gretzky) has moved into Tampa. I wonder if Melrose will take young Stamkos under his wing and have him grow that bright blond hair of his into a shapely mullet?

Andrew Raycroft and Kyle Wellwood have been waived possibly for the purpose of a buyout. Wellwood is now a Canuck and if a buyout goes through my guess is that Raycroft will end up in L.A. with the Kings. He is only 1 year removed from winning some 38 or so games, one wold think LA would take that in a heartbeat. Knowing the Leafs luck he will go there thrive and turn into the #1 man that they thought they were getting when they gave up Tukka Rask.

When did Shawn Chacon change his name to Latrelle Spreewell? Chacon was suspended for insubordination after he grabbed General Manager Ed Wade by the neck and threw him to the ground. I guess if it isn’t a full out choke then it isn’t really that bad. No word on if Chacon mentioned anything like "I’ve got a family to feed."
~ Chacon has since been released by Houston.