Now that was a weekend!
Some people complain that the summer months are the most boring time for a sports fans so when you have an active weekend like we just witnessed, you had best relish it.
Let's look back at my weekend to do list and see what transpired:
10. NCAA Baseball Super Regionals
What do you know, I was glued to the LSU vs. Stony Brook series. Stony Brook is being compared to George Mason/VCU of College Basketball and rightfully so. They became only the second #4 seed (under current playoff system) to reach Omaha and the first from the America East Conference. Well done kids. They join Arizona, UCLA, Florida and Florida St. there with 3 more bids yet to come.
9. Euro Cup 2012
The Spain vs. Italy match on Sunday was fabulous even if I could only listen to it on the way back from Pennsylvania as the highlights matched the overall excitement level that came over the airwaves. Germany vs. Portugal was tightly contested as the entire German nation held their collective breath every time Chrisiano Ronaldo touched that ball (which was not nearly enough for the Portuguese). Today you have England and France squaring off which should be fantastic.
8. French Open Women's Finals
Maria Sharapova dominated this Tournament and as the World's new #1 is playing the best tennis of her career.
7. Stanley Cup Game 5
I hope the city of Los Angeles didn't put too big of a down payment on that parade equipment. New Jersey has turned the tables on the Kings and is forcing the series back to California tonight for a suddenly important Game 6. The team that has scored first has won all five games so if you are only a casual fan feel safe to turn the television off after the first tally of the night. Keep your eyes to yourself Pete DeBoer.
6. Washington Nationals at the Boston Red Sox
Sweeeeeeep Caroline...oh oh oh. Sweeeeeeep Caroline. I guess the Nationals might be for real, not that I didn't doubt that before walking out of Fenway with three victories. The new 'Big 3' of Strasburg, Gonzalez and Zimmerman along with Bryce Harper proved too much for an aging, inconstant Boston this weekend.
5. The Belmont Stakes
Before the weekend even got underway I'll Have Another was forced out of his chance for history with a bad tendon. It's a shame for a struggling sport like Horse Racing to not get the publicity it deserved (well not good publicity). Now the focus shifts to the trainer of I'll Have Another who has been caught doping horses and the question will linger on whether they pulled the horse to avoid any further testing and minimize a huge scandal. Tin foil hat wearers unite!!!
4. Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley
Keep those tin foil hats on kids, talk about scandal, intrigue and conspiracy. By all sane accounts, Manny Pacquiao did everything to win except pay the proper people on Saturday night. Twitter broke overnight when the ruling came down that Timothy Bradley had somehow managed a split decision victory. By Sunday afternoon the mob was linked to the victory, judges were being sequestered by the FBI and the rematch was being promoted. (Some facts may have been embellished)
3. The rest of Interleague Baseball
The Orioles took 2 of 3 (winning both in extra innings) from Philadelphia, they Yankees swept the Mets, Tampa Bay swept Miami, but the biggest eye opener of the weekend was how Mark Trumbo, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols combined for 16/40 hitting (.400 average), 2 HR, 15 runs and 15 RBI...wow! Overall the American League went 22-20 this weekend.
2. French Open Men's Finals
The rain was the biggest winner of this match. Just when it was starting to get good, mother nature stepped in an delayed the Finals until this morning when before I had even gotten to work it was over...how disappointing. Rafael Nadal wins his 7th French Open and denies Novak Djokovic his shot at holding all four tennis majors at the same time.
1. Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics Game 7
For a little more than three quarters this was exactly what fans wanted. It was close, back and forth with the stars making big plays. Then the Celtics remembered that they were old and ran out of gas. Miami with Chris Bosh is a better team and that was obviously apparent over the final two games. I still like Oklahoma City to win the Championship (really I'm just hoping for it more than anything).
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On the ride home on Friday, The Sports Reporters (Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin) discussed comparisons in sports history to I'll Have Another dropping out and leaving the sports world with a hollow feeling of not getting to witness potential history. Callers brought up hypothetical scenarios like Michael Jordan sitting out against Utah when he had the flu or Emmit Smith not having that remarkable game with his injured shoulder against the New York Giants with home field advantage at stake.
I had some actual events where and injury or other reasons had affected me personally when it came to players not playing:
October 5, 2003 Tim Hudson is starting for the Oakland Athletics in Game 4 versus the Boston Red Sox. Oakland is yet again a win away from winning a series and Hudson who pitched a complete game, two hit shutout against Boston in August is ready and raring to move them to the ALCS. Unfortunately he strained his left oblique during the first inning and couldn't continue. The string of bad decisions, bad luck, bad judgement and poor results would continue. Instead of Hudson who went 16-7 on the season, the Athletics turned to Steve Sparks who went without a win (0-6) in the 2003 season. Advantage Boston. He pitched admirably and the Athletics even led until Keith Foulke (future Red Sox hero) blew the lead in the eighth. They then lost Game 5 and the season was over.
November 27, 2007 The Day Sean Taylor succumbed to a gun shot wound to his leg and died. For 3 1/2 years the Washington Redskins had one of the best young safties in the NFL. He hit like a freight truck, covered ground like a gazelle and created havoc for opposing offenses. In short, Sean Taylor was a player that the Redskins could build their defense around for the next ten seasons. This was taken away in an instant and the Redskins have been a mess (for more reasons than this) since then. We only got to see a glimpse of what Sean Taylor could do in the NFL and one can only wonder what might have been.
March 18, 2012 Kendall Marshall had 18 points, 11 assists and played 36 minutes against Creighton. I was stuck on a bus coming back from New York, but following along on Twitter. Everything seemed rosy until there were tweets that the team doctor was meeting with Marshall and the coaching staff. The diagnosis was a fractured wrist and that meant Marshall was done for the year. This UNC team was built for the 2011-12 season. They were the only true competition for eventual Champion Kentucky. Earlier the two schools had gone down to the wire in Lexington and I was among the masses hoping for a rematch. There are nine players on the two teams that will probably be drafted in this years NBA Draft. Without Marshall, the Tar Heels eked out a victory over Ohio and came up short against National Runner Up Kansas.
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