Cuban is a Joke, Stan Van has got to go, Delaware the new Vegas?

Standard

I like the kind of owner that won’t lie down with his checkbook. That includes George Steinbrenner, Jerry Jones, Daniel Snyder. The kind of owner that wants to win. That includes Artie Moreno, Arthur Blank, and that does include Al Davis. The good days of Al Davis. With what Mark Cuban has done with that once miserable and worthless franchise in Dallas is nothing short of remarkable. I had respect for this man who has shown that an owner can show his emotions on his sleeves for his team. That’s the flaw with competitive sports. The emotion can sometimes be too much for one person at that particular time. Owner or fan.

That respect disappeared when he went off on a Denver Nuggets fan in Dallas after Game 3. That fan happened to be Kenyon Martin’s mom. Just before Mother’s Day ironically. The controversy at the end of that game shouldn’t be a controversy. If Mr. Antoine Wright wrapped not slapped at Carmelo Anthony this conversation wouldn’t be happening. Kenyon of course took offense to Mr. Cuban and said “he would take care of it.” Now I don’t know if Mark ever tried to approach Kenyon after that game to apologize, but he should have made more of an effort. Apologizing on your blog instead of face to face is a bit disingenuous. You need to act like your an owner of an NBA team for goodness sake. Grow up Cuban. Admit your mistake to the man and his mom, not online.

Ron Jeremy… uh I mean Stan Van Gundy of the Orlando Magic has been criticizing his team all season long. Specifically Dwight Howard. Now I don’t see any flaws in his game, but that’s why I’m here and Stan is where he is. Shaq called him the “master of panic” a few months ago. Seemed pretty funny back then, but it seems the Big Aristotle was right on. The Magic should have wrapped their series with the Celtics a long time ago. A game four fourth quarter lead was blown in Orlando and they lost. The same in game five up at the Garden.

Now when asked about the Magic fans being panic stricken after the last two games, Ron… sorry, Stan cracked back, “If you’re an Orlando fan and you consider a loss like that on Boston’s home court humiliating, it probably speaks more to the fact that you haven’t seen enough playoff series around here in a long time.” Wow, laying smack on your fans. Classy Van Gundy. Now I only act like I’m a General Manager, but I believe when the best player says he needs the ball, calls the coach out on that and he cracks back on his teams fans. Something has to got to give. I would have to strongly consider letting him go. The “master of panic” should go for the right reasons. Not so his boss can unretire and takeover midway through the season. Talking to you Pat Riley.

The state of Delaware has joined the group of sports gambling. Interesting choice for such a small state. I get the economic aspect of it, but can such a blah state turn itself into a Las Vegas or even Reno. Now it does have some good history. One of the original thirteen colonies. It is the first state admitted into the Union. That’s all I got. Now if Delaware can bring in Mandalay Bay’s Sports Book with its 28 foot by 30 foot screen, I’m there in a heartbeat. Until then, Delaware will have to fight the almighty NFL to get this off the ground. Good luck. The sheriff Roger Goodell hasn’t lost a fight yet. With that aside, bring the Mandalay Sports book Delaware. Call me when it’s in.

(Change that slogan to “Delaware is a state, we now have gambling”)

NHL Conference Final Preview

Standard

All but one of the semifinal matchups went to seven games. Once again, this is probably the best playoff hockey I’ve seen in a while. Crosby vs. Ovechkin was epic. The only thing that could have made it better was if they met in the conference finals. Sid the Kid got the better end of the series skating past the Caps in seven. The Hurricanes surprised the hockey world by beating heavily favored Boston in overtime. Carolina is on a roll. The Blackhawks made it look too easy against the Canucks. Sorry about no Cup Canada. There is always next year. The defending champs outlasted the Ducks to have a chance to defend their Western Confernce crown and the Cup of course. The conference finals will have more of the same exciting action.

Easter Conference Finals

4 Pittsburgh vs 6 Carolina

I’ll say that I’m not shocked Carolina is here, but I’m shocked Carolina is here. The Hurricanes lead by Eric Staal, Joni Pitkanen and Cam Ward have had a great postseason. Great finishes and great coaching to. Paul Maurice has won his last six playoff series. Sidney Crosby will try to get his team back to the Stanley Cup Finals, but have to get past the streaking Canes. Evgeni Malkin has to there from the start. He can’t afford to be absent. Marc-Andre Fleury was spectacular for the Penguins against Washington. Fleury is the key in this series. The Hurricanes will constantly be on the attack. The defense will need to be alert, but Fleury needs to continue the great goaltending to get his team back for another title shot. Penguins in six.

Western Conference Finals

2 Detroit vs 4 Chicago

Two of the original six go face to face in the conference finals. They are also division rivals and really don’t like each other. The young Blackhawks have a lot to look forward to in the near future. I guess that means now. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane can’t seem to be stopped. The Red Wings have Henrik Zetteberg and Johan Franzen as their one-two punch. This series comes down to who will not give up stupid peanlties, make stops at key moments, the obvious stuff. The key player is Nicklas Lidstrom for Detroit. Kind of shocking. Lidstrom was good, not great against the Ducks. He’ll have to be perfect in this series. Chicago will be looking to upset their rival and take the momentum to a Stanley Cup title. Blackhawks in seven.

Manny Being A Dummy

Standard

I’m really at a loss. How can things get any worse for this once great pastime. Yes, I said once great. I mean, I want to think that what I watch during the highlights on TV and at the ballpark is legit. I have had it. Alex Rodriguez came as no surprise to me just three months ago. Heck even half the players named in the Mitchell Report didn’t surprise me either. I’m at a loss. I can honestly tell you that in my eyes Baseball has lost all its legitimacy with me. How many more big names are going to get popped for taking steroids or an “illegal substance” as they would like to call it. If Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals and Johan Santana of the New York Mets, arguably the best hitter and pitcher in the game today got caught with a positive test. Would you be surprised? You know my answer.

I had the thought that when steroids in Baseball was the hot topic and the powers that be were trying to decide what to do, I had a radical idea. Banishment for life. There are two prime examples of this and they both have a common crime with them. That of course being the 1919 Black Sox scandal and Pete Rose where gambling was involved. The cardinal sin in Baseball is gambling. Two sure Hall of Famers, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose have been banned from Baseball for life. They cheated the game. That’s how it is written and always will be. You want a deterrent. One word, BANISHMENT. You want to clean up the sport. You get caught once your “outta here.” Asterisks are not going to solve anything. Three strikes and your out will not send the message. Anyone gets caught goes away for life. Simple as that.

(Hey LA, I just screwed you over)

Back to the Dummy (see above). I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. That lasted for only a second. You say it was a prescribed medication from a doctor that resulted in the positive. Okay, fine. We’ll let the facts come out first. The drug that triggered the positive test was hCG. A female fertility drug that is used by steroid users coming off a cycle to restart their natural testosterone production. You trying to get pregnant there Manny? Now I can’t wait for the next excuse. You can’t use these classics anymore, “I didn’t knowingly take an illegal substance,” “I was young and naive,” “I’m not here to talk about the past.” Or you could forget how to speak english, wag your finger in front of Congress. Heck you could just apologize and not say what your apologizing for. Take your time Manny. I can’t wait for the newest excuse.

“I didn’t know what I was putting in my body,” is another good one. That seems to be the popular one. Even if this drug you took, allegedly, is for a legitimate reason. You do know about it. It is one hundred percent your responsibility to know what is going in you. If I get up in the morning for a bowl of cereal and instead have a bowl of nails. I’m gonna know about it. Logic and sanity dictates that you know what goes in you. But please take the high road. Use all the excuses I gave you and then some. Throw one out of left field and really wow us. Myself and I’m sure most of you have grown numb to it.

(I’ll have fifty days to smell my bats and perm my hair)

I can’t read minds, but I’m sure MLB is deeply disturbed. At least publicly they will. Privately they think they’ve done their job. The Players Association could care less. Lets be honest, when have they ever cared about anything, but the benjamins. Don’t get me wrong, MLB and the owners also care about money to. Both are at fault. The media, players, fans. The blame goes full circle here. Now we need to fix what is already broken. I’m for banishment. Test positive once and your out. No ifs ands or buts about it. I will no longer listen to the argument of this doesn’t enhance hand eye coordination, bat speed. It doesn’t help to hit the ball farther. Again, if it doesn’t work, why do guys go through so much trouble to take it and risk getting caught, thus ruining their reputation. Here are names that were mentioned in the Mitchell Report that bought steroids and/or used as well; Troy Glaus, Rick Ankiel, Eric Gagne, Kevin Brown, Paul LoDuca, Mo Vaughn, David Justice, Miguel Tejada, Andy Pettite, Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and Barry Bonds. One thing is for certain about this list. There are many more than this, but it shows that Barry Bonds was not the only big name involved in this era of cheating. Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod and now Ramirez were already great players. Yet they had to take something to cheat the game out of its greatness. I retreat to watching “Field of Dreams.” Which I think is the greatest Baseball movie ever. James Earl Jones at the end was brilliant. “The one constant through all the years Ray has been Baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. Baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again.” I guess it’s not over. Will it ever be?

NBA Semifinal Preview

Standard

The first round gave us some of the most exciting and lopsided basketball in recent memory. The Cavs easily got past Detroit. The Hawks had to beat Miami in seven. Orlando sent Philadelphia home without Dwight Howard in six games. Boston and Chicago had one of the most exciting opening round series in a long time. The Lakers got past Utah in five even though they blew a couple big leads. The Rockets finally got out of the first round beating Portland. Dallas beat a what seemed to be old, tired and beat up Spurs team. The Nuggets blew the lid of New Orleans including a 48 point beat down in Game 4. The second round looks to be more competitive.

Eastern Conference Semifinals

1 Cleveland vs. 4 Atlanta

LeBron and crew have had plenty of rest and studying of their next opponent. Lets be honest though. The Cavaliers were gonna win this round. Mo Williams and Delonte West are playing great basketball on both ends. The bench for Cleveland has been better than expected. Atlanta should’ve had their series wrapped up sooner against Miami. Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and Mike Bibby will probably steal a game, no more than two. Key player is Anderson Varejao. He needs to be up to form on defense to stop the Hawks from scoring in the paint. The Cavs win this in five.

2 Boston vs. 3 Orlando

The Celtics have been through a grueling series agianst Chicago. Ray Allen has been spectacular while Boston’s bench needs to get in gear for the semifinals. Eddie House and Stephon Marbury for one, need to be more aggressive. The Magic can’t afford to have Dwight Howard elbowing anyone. Paul Pierce will be his usual self, but can Ray Allen continue his success from the quarterfinals? The key player is Hedo Turkoglu. The Magic need more from him now that rookie Courtney Lee is going to miss most if not all of this series. If Hedo is still cold, the Magic have no shot. Boston in seven.

Western Conference Semifinals

1 LA Lakers vs. 4 Houston

The Lakers got their dream matchup. They did not want to play Portland. No way. The Rockets are playing great defense and score when they need to. Ron Artest and Yao Ming were nearly unstoppable against Portland. Shane Battier made big shot after big shot. Houston’s bench was more than adequate. The Lakers will need more from their bench and specifically Andrew Bynum. He needs to play sound basketball with Yao Ming. Kobe, Pau and Lamar will need to be great in what is expected to be a low scoring series. Key player is Luis Scola for Houston. Scola was quiet for the most part against Portland. The Rockets will need more from their power forward to win. Lakers in six.

2 Denver vs. 6 Dallas

The Nuggets were soaring higher than the Rocky Mountains in the quarters against New Orleans. That should’ve been a sweep. Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups are going to get their 20 plus points in every game, but the Denver bench will need to play smart ball. No stupid fouls and they must play sound defense against a deeper Dallas team. Kenyon Martin and Nene need to be more involved. The Mavericks surprised a lot of experts with their series win in five games against San Antonio. Dirk Nowitzki was great, but it was all Josh Howard for the Mavs. Dallas showed that they will not go down that easily in what is probably their last run at a title with this group. The key player is Jason Kidd. He got a lot of help against the Spurs backcourt and will need it again with Billups. He needs to be the field general on offense, but must be great on the other side. Dallas in six.