Cavs-Wiz Series Heating Up

The NBA's Eastern Conference Quaterfinals series between the Cleveland Cavs and the Washington Wizards series has started to heat up on and off the court. There has been a lot of trash talk and hard fouls in the series between these two teams. Before the series began Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas wrote in his blog that he wanted to face the Cavs in the playoffs saying that we know we can beat them. Other members of the Wizards have also called Cavs forward Lebron James overrated.

The Cavs are currently winning the best of 7 series 3-1 right now. After Game 4 of the series Lebron said after the game that he thought the Wizards had commited many hard fouls and were trying to hurt him. Wizards center Brendan Haywood responded to Lebron comments by mocking him today and saying were just playing basketball, were just going out there and trying to win. I think that Haywood is right. I feel Lebron has done too much complaining about the hard play in the series. This is the playoffs, it's supposed to be intense. I also think Lebron shouldn't be complaining because I believe if you watch the games you would agree he does get the majority of foul calls go his way. I'm not saying Lebron isn't a great player because he is definetely one of the best players in the NBA today but he tends to get some star treatment from the officiating crew most of the time.

I think that all this trash talk is good for the game. It's pretty clear that these two teams don't like each other that much and they have developed a good rivalry over the last few years. Gilbert Arenas made another comment today saying that he didn't think this series was over and he guaranteed that his team would come back and win the series. Even though the Wizards are down I don't think the series is over yet. The Wizards have shown that they won't quit and still believe they can win. Game 5 is Wednesday night in Cleveland and it should be interesting.

Mets Fans: Too Much Booing?

There has been a lot of talk this week about Mets fans and what happened in last Sunday's game. The Mets beat the Braves on Sunday afternoon but the real story in the game is what happened after Mets first basemen Carlos Delgado hit his second homerun of the game. Delgado had been in a 4-49 slump before the game and had been getting booed heavily by Mets fans. After he hit the homerun that put the Mets ahead the fans wanted him to come out for a curtain call. Delgado refused to come out of the dugout and give the fans what they wanted. After the game he said that he really didn't feel like he should take a curtain call after a home run in a game in April, especially since he had been hitting so poorly.

I have no problem with what Delgado did, but it was seems to me it was made such a big deal this week by New York media. Whether he really didn't feel like taking the curtain call in that situation or he was just upset with the fans for booing him, I think he was right not to do it. First of all, I think that Met fans have been really excessive this year with their constant booing of certain players on the team. I understand that when you buy a ticket to game you have the right to boo players if you want, but I just think that their have been times this year where fans have gone over the line. I remember that their were some Met fans booing players in the first week of the season for things that happened last year. Some fans even booed pitcher Johan Santana after his first start at home this year because he gave up a couple of homeruns in his first start. He has pitched really well overall this year and is the pitcher on the team, the guys not going to be pervect every time out. It's just not smart, I mean why don't we give these guys a chance first. The booing is not going to help the players, so why do it?

I think the fans have to realize that just as they have a right to boo, the players have a right to refuse curtain calls and do what they want. I just think that some fans are still upset with the Mets collapse last year and they want the team to be perfect. As a Met fan I want the team to succeed, but I feel that some fans have gone over the line in their hating this year on some circumstances. The main thing that should have been taken from that game Sunday was that they won the game. Not this whole booing and curtain call stuff.

The NFL Draft

The 2008 NFL Draft started ysterday and concluded today. The top football players from college are chosen by NFL teams to play at the highest level of competition. Many football fans have different feelings about the draft. Some fans love the draft. Their are fans who will watch almost all of the picks and follow the players closely in the months leading up to the day. Other fans can't stand to watch it. Some think that watching players names get called out for hours and hours can be tiresome and that it takes too long.

I guess I am somewhere in the middle. Ysterday I enjoyed watching almost all of the first round. But after that I agree that it can get boring. The players taken in the first round are usually players that even the average college football fan knows. There are 7 rounds in total and when the middle rounds start to begin is when you cannot watch anymore of this. I like to tune in to watch what players my team will pick but I really can't see how anyone can watch the whole draft over this two day span.

I really think that the draft is a fun sports event and I tune in every year to watch. I also enjoy the talk of the top players who will be taken in the weeks leading up to it. But you just can't watch to much of it because it will get boring even for the die-hard football fan.

What to do With Joba?

There have been many people talking about Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain. Joba was called up from the minors last year towards the end of the season to be a relief pitcher in the bullpen. He pitched very well last year and has continued to impress this season. The thing is Joba was always a starting pitcher in the minors and the Yankees said they want him to eventually be a starting pitcher again. Even though he has been excellent as their set up man this year.

The great debate between fans is whether he should start games or continue to be a very effective relief pitcher. Yankees owner Hank Steinbrenner made his opinion clear ysterday. Steinbrenner said that he felt Joba had to be in the Yankees starting rotation right now. He also said that anyone who doesn't think that he is right is "an idiot". I think Steinbrenner is wrong and doesn't now as much about baseball as he thinks.

I think the Yankees should defintely keep Chamberlain as their set up man. The Yankees middle relief pitching without him would be terrible. I also think that the Yankees have enough young starters that they have to give a chance. The only reason that Steinbrenner made this comment is because some of the Yankees starters have struggled to open the season. It's only April, the team has played 20 games and their record is 10-10. It's too early to start making drastic changes. I think that right now Joba is one of the best set up men in baseball. Why would you remove him from a role he has been so successful in?

I think what the Yankees should do for the long term is keep him in the bullpen until their current closer Mariano Rivera retires. Then they should make him the closer. Chamberlain has proven that he can pitch well out of the bullpen and is unproven as a starter. As long as he continues to pitch well and the team wins, I don't see how you can make this change.

What Happened to Sportsmanship?

The New York Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils in 5 games in the NHL playoffs this weekend. The series was very close throughout and their was a lot of physical play. New York Rangers forward Sean Avery and Devils Goalie Martin Brodeur were involved in many of the fights during the series. After every playoff series in hockey, all the members of the winning and losing teams shake hands with each other. This is a long practiced tradition in the NHL.

When the teams lined up to shake hands with each other, Avery put his hand out to go and shake hands with Brodeur. Brodeur looked the other and skipped over Avery as if he wasn't there. Now I understand that Brodeur doesn't like Avery and he was annoyed at many previous things Avery had done in this series but he still should have shaken his hand. I thought Brodeur showed no class and went against one of the great traditions in all of sports. There are players who have gotten into extremely heated fistfights over the years but they still honored the tradition by shaking their opponents hand.

Martin Brodeur is one of the greatest goalies in the history of the game. He has won 3 Stanley Cup Championships and is a no doubt future hall of famer, but he acted with no class after that game and I lost a lot of respect for him.

Reversing the Curse

Last week there was a story that a construction worker who was working on the new Yankee Stadium buried a Red Sox jersey underground in the concrete of the stadium. The construction worker was a Red Sox fan and he put the jersey underground in an attempt to put a curse on the Yankees.

When I heard about this story I thought it was pretty funny. I mean this guy was just trying to have some fun, get his name out there and make headlines. On Saturday, the Yankees told the construction workers to dig up the jersey and remove it. I can't believe the Yankees actually took this story seriously enough that they made these construction workers do five hours of drilling to get a jersey out just because some guy said they would now be cursed. I was even more shocked when they said they might pursue legal actions against this guy. What law did he break?

I found this whole story pretty amusing but it does show you how serious people take curses in the whole Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. It is believed that the Red Sox were cursed for 86 years for trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees. The Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004 ending the curse. So I guess the Yankees did not want to take a chance to suffer something like the Red Sox did. Even though I think the Yankees completely overreacted to this story, I will praise them for sending the jersey to a fund which will auction it off to help raise money for cancer awareness. That was a good idea and a noble cause.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

The Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Memphis Tigers to win the NCAA basketball championship on Monday night. Kansas came back from being down by 9 points in the final two minutes of the game. Kansas guard Mario Chalmers hit a three-pointer et the end of regulation to tie the game and force overtime. Kansas ended up winning the game in 75-68 in overtime in one of the best college basketball championship games of all time.


YouTube - Mario Chalmers 3-point shot 2008 NCAA National Championship

Hockey Rivals Meet in Playoffs

The New York Rangers will play the New Jersey Devils in the first round of this year's NHL playoffs. The two teams played each other on the final day of the regular season with the Devils winning. This will be the fifth time these two crosstown rivals will meet in the postseason. The Rangers have won four out of the fives times and they won the season series from the Devils this year by winning seven out of eight. As a huge Ranger fan, I can't wait for this series to begin. Playoff hockey is always exciting, but with the Rangers playing the Devils this should be a great series.

The Goaltending matchup in this series will be important, as it always is in hockey. The style of hockey that both teams play would indicate many low scoring and tight games. Most of the games these teams played in the regular season were close and decided by one goal. The Devils goalie is longtime veteran Martin Brodeur, who has won 3 Stanley Cups and is considered one of the best goalies of all time. The Rangers goalie is Henrik Lundquist, who is in his 3rd year and has led the Rangers to the postseason and won 30 games in each of his first three seasons.

If your asking me for a prediction, that will be tough. I think it's going to be a close series that will go 6 or 7 games. As for a winner, I think the Rangers can pull it out; but having watched both these teams during the season I think they are pretty evenly matched and the winner has a chance to go far in the postseason. The series starts on Wednesday night in New Jersey.