Tag Archives: NHL

Throwdown Thursday: Hoops, Pucks, Balls, Bats & FIFA

Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, , , , ,

allsportsImagine for a moment that the NFL announced the 2020 Super Bowl was going to be played at an outdoor stadium yet to be built at Lake Superior State, a school that presently doesn’t even have a football program, in Sault Ste. Marie, on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,

In the United States, where American football reigns, the sporting media and sports fans alike would be aghast.

Immediate inquiries would ensue, eventually whittling down the possible explanations for such an absurd decision to two possibilities: 1) The AD at the school has a video of Roger Goodell in a state of inamorata with an underage sheep, or 2) Roger Goodell took a several million dollar bribe to see the deal was done.

Now then, suppose this happened on a global stage? In futbol (Read: soccer), a sport so much more popular than its American-style interloper, that what is happening with FIFA makes Deflategate seem a squabble between a parent and a Little League coach when the former’s 7 year old didn’t get to bat in the 9th inning of a game in Germantown?

Which is exactly what happened. When FIFA, the governing body for world soccer awarded a future World Cup to Qatar. Much to the chagrin and befuddlement of everyone who can appreciate that Lionel Messi is the world’s leading sports icon these days. Continue reading Throwdown Thursday: Hoops, Pucks, Balls, Bats & FIFA →

Throwdown Thursday: Those Darn Playoffs

Basketball, Hockey,

b-ballI’ve always had a theory about basketball players.

Essentially it boils down to this. Winners win.

To elucidate a bit further, I’ve always loved when my Louisville Cardinals recruit a kid who has played for a state champion. I’ll settle for slightly less talent, and slightly more know how to close the deal when it matters.

Okay, I admit, it didn’t really work out so well with Elisha Justice. But that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.

Which I thought of last night, when Al Horford made the play that’s going to be the pivotal one, when Atlanta finally finishes off the Wizards and advances to the Eastern Conference finals.

That German PG of the Hawks, you know, the one with that slight streak of blonde hair, stormed to the bucket on Atl’s last possession, but his layup rolled off the rim. At which juncture, Horford made a winners win play, leaping over and through the phalanx of other potential rebounders, fellows from both squads, securing the rock, then dropping it through the twine for the deciding deuce. Continue reading Throwdown Thursday: Those Darn Playoffs →

Monday’s Sports Musings: Baseball, Basketball, $$$ & More

Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, , , , , , , , ,

reporterLast weekend was a special one for baseball fans around Kentuckiana, if not quite as memorable for IU and UK fans, as those who bleed red & black.

There’s something about competition where the elements are involved. (Tell me true, I know you never click away from a football game, played in a snow storm.)

And the rain that played havoc with the Louisville NCAA tourney regional, as well as many others, added to the drama of Kentucky vs. Louisville to advance in the post season.

WDRB columnist Eric Crawford was on top of his considerable game with this marvelous column about Sunday night’s battle at Third & Central, and those wet fans who stuck it out to the end.

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The NBA Finals have all the makings of great theater. Continue reading Monday’s Sports Musings: Baseball, Basketball, $$$ & More →

Monday Musings: Pacers puncture Predictions, DAP is Back & Mo’

Basketball, Golf, Hockey, Horse Racing, , ,

b-ballThis digital age is, one guy’s opinion, a marvelous thing.

I sit here at my desk, fashioning my rather lame Jim Murray/ Hunter Thompson/ Charles Pierce imitations, hit “Enter” and my bloviations disseminate instantly into the cybergalaxy to be savored or ignored, your choice.

There are pluses and minuses to this whole internet thing.

Immediate access to “information.” Plus.

Small town gossip now global. Minus.

Also, if I write something, and make a mistake — which I way too often do — I can correct it.

One can also cover oneself, after making really bad forecasts. Simply erase what has been written. At which point, only the writer and that 13 year old hacker in Berzerkistan know the whole truth.

But, in the name of integrity, the Hippocratic Oath, the Marquise of Queensbury Edicts, the Barristers’ Code of Ethics and the Golden Rule, I try not to do. Even if I look the fool to all those with a memory of what I’ve written.

And, sadly, there are a lot of you with elephantine recall out there.

Which is my usual long-winded, self-indulgent way of getting to this point.

Yes, it was me who wrote these words, which I am likely to come to regret: “Besides, given that Miami is a deadbolt lock to win the East, a rematch of last year’s Finals is what we want, right?” Continue reading Monday Musings: Pacers puncture Predictions, DAP is Back & Mo’ →

Thursday Night Winners: Bridgewater, Bruins & Browns (Maybe)

Announcing, Basketball, Football, Hockey, , , ,

footballoldYes, I watched the NFL Draft.

A lot of it.

With impunity.

Without compunction.

So also, The Professor, another fellow, like myself, who will slobber over mention of the next great rising sophomore, 6-6 SF who is considering matriculation to play for our favorite team. But who, like myself, has been all too quick to criticize those who have a Mel Kiper Jr. shrine in the corner of their man cave.

“NFL Draft? You kiddin’ me. Who cares?”

And, you know, I bet some of those media guys who boast of their indifference to this new rite of spring tuned in too.

This year was different. For any number of reasons. Continue reading Thursday Night Winners: Bridgewater, Bruins & Browns (Maybe) →

Tax Day Titters: Drafts, Hoops, Pucks, Birdies & More (Music Video Included)

Basketball, Golf, Hockey, , , , , ,

animated_sportsFor those of you who genuflect every a.m. before a giclée of Mel Kiper Jr., those of you who vitalis your hair into a coiffure that emulates the self-styled NFL draft “expert,” there’s now a movie about all you obsess over.

“Draft Day” stars Kevin Costner as the GM of the Cleveland Browns, who has choices to make on, you know, draft day. You can listen to my review here.

Now onto some real sports considerations.

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Looks like things is gonna be just the same as they ever was next season in women’s college hoops. Continue reading Tax Day Titters: Drafts, Hoops, Pucks, Birdies & More (Music Video Included) →