Categories
NBA General

David Stern squashes postseason re-seeding talk



Who could possibly have a problem
with this series?

We’ve only seen one game of the series between Phoenix and San Antonio, but it already has the feel of a classic, knockdown, drag out kind of a battle. So, why are there so many people complaining then? Well, many feel that the NBA’s seeding system is all screwy and, therefore, this game is happening way too early. Considering that these are the two best teams remaining in the Western Conference, it could be argued that they should be hooking up in the West finals and not the semis. But at this point, complaining about the need for a re-seeding system after the first round is like complaining about the need for a playoff in college football; it’s just a waste of breath. NBA Commissioner David Stern came out and said so.

Given the fact that we have contracts with ESPN, ABC and TNT, it’s almost impossible to do and meet those obligations. It’s something we won’t consider.

And they shouldn’t either. These match-ups between great teams are going to happen more frequently because there are more great teams in the league now; especially out west. Hell, Houston vs. Utah was relegated to the first round for crying out loud. When there are five elite teams in a pool of eight playoff teams then you are simply going to have high seeds running into each other early.

And what’s so bad about that? Last year we saw one of the best series in the entire postseason in the second round when San Antonio and Dallas went seven games in a nail biter. And why should Golden State be penalized with a tougher schedule by being forced to play Phoenix in the second round because they pulled off an unbelievable upset? That’s the beauty of the playoffs, you simply play who gets put in front of you and if you win you go on. If the league starts trying to delay the big games until the conference finals then there is a good chance we won’t even get to see `em. Just ask Dallas how easy it is to get knocked off by a lower seed.

Links:

[USA Today]: Stern: TV prevents re-seeding in playoffs

Categories
NHL General

Tuesday Morning NHL Roundup


Red Wings 2, Sharks 0

Most people who’ve seen my ramblings on the Internet know my Sharks connection, but I’ll summarize it here: I’ve never even set foot in the city of San Jose, but in August of 1999, a scant two weeks before I went off to college, my dad and I were shopping for potential room posters. I came across a Sharks poster in the bargain bin and, liking the colors more than anything, I purchased it. I threw it up on Move In Day, and sure enough, the token “Awkward Kid Who Lives on Your Hallway” (everyone has one) was from San Jose in my floor’s case, and came in all atwitter. Over that year, we bonded – we once got absolutely hammered watching a Sharks game, which might have been the first time he ever got drunk – and actually became pretty good friends. It’s entirely based, at least initially, on the Sharks. I’m intrigued by the power of sports to bring people together in an almost religious way, and the Sharks were the first team I saw it with, which is utterly random but also fun in many ways.

So, I’m a “Sharks fan,” at least as much as one person can be without ever really watching an entire game of theirs sober. So, it hurt me last night when they got bounced from the NHL’s postseason boogie in favor of the Red Wings, especially knowing they held a 2-0 lead on said Wings at one point. A 41 year old goalie, Mr. Hasek, looked like he was 25 last night in stoning virtually everything the Sharkies threw at him. ‘Twas depressing, and yet again, the Sharks will not compete for Lord Stanley.

With the Red Wings win, the Conference Finals are set: Anaheim vs. Detroit, in a rematch of an interesting rivalry; and Buffalo vs. Ottawa, in a rematch of an utter bloodbath. I’ll write more about that later today for Sportscolumn. For now, I have to drown my Sharks tears with some Starbucks Coffee, which is roughly equivalent to sticking a hot brick of dirt in your mouth.

[Ted Bauer will be covering the NHL playoffs for us this year. You can find more of Ted’s work at A Price Above Bip Roberts.]

Categories
St. Louis Cardinals

Albert Pujols scares the crap out of a ball boy

So, what do you do when Albert Pujols hits a laser shot right at you? Well, if you the ball boy for the St. Louis Cardinals you take a dive into the first row of the stands. Can’t blame the guy for not wanting to get blasted by the ball but he is the ball boy, right? Last time we checked it was his job to catch those things. But, hey, we’re not complaining; it gave us a great clip to chuckle about for hours.

Links:

[STLSportsMag.com]: Sometimes you just gotta bail…

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: The great postseason series just keep coming


1. Late night fun in Utah
Well, the excitement has worn off and the Golden State Warriors are now in an unfamiliar position in the postseason; they are losing. Utah got huge nights from almost all of their starters as they squeaked out a late victory in Salt Lake City, 116-111. But the Warriors had a pretty good game from their starting five as well; in fact, four of the five scored at least 20 points in the loss. That’s the first time that has happened in a non-overtime playoff game since the Pacers fell to Celtics, 124-121, back in 1991. Oddly enough, the last time it happened prior to that was in the same series when the Boston lost to Indiana despite four guys racking up 20 or more.

2. Will the real Chicago Bulls please stand up?

It was another game and another spanking on Monday when Detroit handled their business against Chicago with virtually no interruption from the Bulls by beating them, 108-87. The Bulls which looked so ferocious in the first round against Miami are now resorting back to their old baby Bulls tactics of simply running and hiding when the bigger kids come on the court. But what do you expect when their coach is coming out to the public and saying that his team has no chance against the veteran Piston squad. Looks like the ol’ Don Nelson reverse psychology backfired on Scott Skiles.

3. Tweakin’ time
So, what happens when you are the best team in the league with the league’s best player and you immediately get humiliated out of the playoffs? Well, you get desperate and that might be exactly what is happening to the Mavericks after the Warriors sent them on an early vacation. Now there are rumors that Dallas could be looking to go after that interior stopper that could have filled up the lane against guys like Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson. And who’s the biggest guy in the league? Why the disappointed Shaquille O’Neal of course. So, what are the actually odds that Shaq jumps from Miami to Dallas at the age of 36? Probably not too good, but when Mark Cuban’s endless mountains of cash are involved almost anything is possible and desperate times often require desperate measures so don’t be surprised if Dallas starts courting the Diesel.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Carlos Boozer vs. Golden State 42 min, 17 pts (FG: 6-15, FT: 5-8), 20 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl

Buzzer Beater: Apparently the Madden curse has the reverse affect with the NBA Live series of video games. Normally great players appear on the cover of the latest Madden game and then promptly have their careers ended the next season on the field. Well, in the NBA if you get seriously injured during the season you are then placed on the cover of the game. At least, that’s what happened with Gilbert Arenas after he tore a meniscus earlier in the season. LeBron James was reported to be second in the voting. Hopefully for Arenas he’ll be back to carry the name of the game like several of his coworkers have. Tracy McGrady, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan have all made the cover in the past and they have all had pretty stellar careers. Sorry Madden, no curse here.

Categories
All Other Sports

How not to bet the Kentucky Derby


We love betting the trifecta. For a buck or two, you can win hundreds if not thousands of dollars on a race. Hell, sometimes we’ll even go crazy and go with the trifecta box. However, we also know enough about statistics to know that you can’t bet every single permutation in a race and expect to come out on top.

But that’s exactly what a man in Rochester, NY did. On the day of the Kentucky Derby, a man walked into an OTB and asked how much it would cost to buy every possible trifecta combination. And now we break for a quick math lesson–

If you have 20 horses in the field, the possible outcomes for the first three horses would be 20! / (20-3)! = 6,840. Likewise, a superfecta (first 4 horses) would be 116,280. And now back to your regularly scheduled programming–

The man was told the answer and came back to place the wagers. It cost him a total of $13,680 for his $2 trifectas and he wound up winning… wait for it… wait for it… $440. If you’re gonna make a bet like this, you better know what you’re getting yourself into. And since the payout odds are terrible on favorites, you should just eliminate those trifecta combinations. But alas, the man had more cash than math skills so now he’s $13,240 poorer for his trouble.

This story would only be better if he does the exact same thing in the Preakness.

Links:
[Democrat and Chronicle]: Encore: Yes for Street Sense; no for Oscar

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Exceeding expectations


1. A Penny Earned: Brad Penny has exceeded everyone’s expectations this year in being one of the best pitchers in the majors. On Monday he had his most dominant start of the season against the Marlins. Penny had 14 strikeouts in 7 shutout innings. Amazingly, he only had 15 strikeouts the whole season up until this game. Now Penny is 4-0 with a 1.39 ERA, good for second in the majors behind John Maine. He has reeled off seven straight quality starts this season, and has yet to give up a homer. The Dodgers won 6-1, helped offensively by Jeff Kent and breakout catcher Russell
Martin. They have a one-game lead over San Diego in the NL West.

2. Best vs. Worst: The best team in the league played the worst one on Monday, and the result was basically what you would expect. The 22-10 Brewers shut down the 9-23 Nationals as Chris Capuano gave his best start this year. Capuano went 8 innings, had 9 strikeouts, and played a huge role in the 3-0 shutout of Washington. Capuano is now 5-0 and has a 16-inning scoreless streak. As the season goes on, Milwaukee is starting to look less and less like a fluke and more like this year’s Detroit Tigers.

3. Other unbeatens: Penny and Capuano are among a multitude of pitchers who have not lost this season. Most notably is 6-0 Josh Beckett, who has won the most games in the majors this year. CC Sabathia and major league ERA leader John Maine are 5-0. At 3-0 there’s resurgent Bartolo Colon of the Angels, who’s pitching better than he did in his Cy Young season. Also, Mike Maroth is 2-0 despite a 5.35 ERA, Jeremy Bonderman is 1-0 with five no-decisions, James Shields of Tampa is 3-0, Baltimore’s Adam Loewen is 2-0, and Milwaukee’s Claudio Vargas is 3-0. All those undefeated pitchers combined with the 24 who have an ERA under 3.00, and it’s no surprise that pitching has been dominant this season.

Player of the Day: Bengie Molina, Giants: 2-3, 2 HR, 5 RBIs in a 9-4 win over the Mets. Both of Molina’s homeruns and all of the Giants’ runs came in a 9-run fifth inning.

Stat of the Day: Roy Oswalt is 19-1 in his career against the Reds. He beat them on Monday to improve to 5-2. Only four other pitchers in major league history took 19 of 20 from the same team, according to Elias Sports.

Categories
General Sports

Vote for May’s Woman We Love

The Adriane Palicki fan club made sure that she won the woman we love contest last month. We’ll see if any of the fan clubs of these six nominees step up for May.

Here are you nominees:

– Amanda Seyfried : “the hot chick in Mean Girls that isn’t Rachel Mcadams or Lindsay Lohan or Lacey Chabert.”

– Amy Smart

– Edyta Sliwinska – Dancing with the Stars hottie

– Katherine Heigl from Greys Anatomy

– Maggie Gyllenhaal

– Rachel Bilson

Vote Now

Categories
Golden State Warriors

Odds and Ends: Everybody on the Warriors Bandwagon



When did Snoop adopt 2 white kids?

There’s still time to jump on the ever expanding Warriors bandwagon folks. Their second round series begins tonight against the Utah Jazz. Don’t be ashamed, folks, the Warriors barely register in NBA rivalries and nobody actually hates the Warriors so it’s ok to front run with the boys from the city of Golden State. You can join notable bandwagoners as Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson and Snoop Dogg! We’re gonna give Jessica Alba a pass as she can do no wrong and her boyfriend went to high school with Baron Davis. Game 1 is in Utah so expect no celebrities to show up but Game 3 will be chock full of em. We wouldn’t be surprised if Jack Nicholson showed up.

In other news…

[Seattle PI]: The unwritten rules of sports — in writing

[YouTube]: Nerf Dunk Contest… some people have way too much time

[The Age]: Eight-year-old gets hole in one. Damn kids.

[Our Book of Scrap]:Royals Fans Loves Them Some Bagels

[WBRS Sports]: Brady is a Chump

[Steroid Nation]: Florida: Home of dirty elections and clean high school athletes

And finally, don’t forget to register for the 2007 World Egg Throwing Federation Championships.

Categories
Cincinnati Bengals

Chad Johnson’s mouth makes the news again


Chad Johnson loves to talk. And talk and talk and talk. So, it isn’t surprising that every now and then he makes a fool of himself by barking like a pit-bull and biting like yorkie. It’s really no big deal when it comes to gridiron trash talk; Johnson’s gotta be used to wiping egg off his face by now, but people in the real world don’t seem to appreciate it when he doesn’t back up his promises.

Cincinnati resident Thomas J. Monahan is suing Funny Bone Comedy Club after Johnson failed to follow through with his promise to give away a Lexus that he had received for free from a Florida dealership. Apparently Monahan bought a bunch of tickets at $17 a pop only to have Johnson give the car to some nappy headed ho. Monahan’s son also got screwed out of a trip to the Super Bowl that Johnson had put up for grabs. But Monahan isn’t alone as five other plaintiffs are getting in on the action claiming that they were also denied trips that were promised by Ocho-Cinco during his stint as host of a comedy showcase at the club.

Damn Chad, if you keep flapping your lips like this and your list of “Who Covered 85 in `05” will be dwarfed by the new “Who Sued 85 in ’07” list, and nobody wants that. The NFL and its fans need your flashy grills, silly hairdos, big mouth and especially your choreographed TD celebrations. And after making it into the end zone only seven times last season, we need you to be on the practice field, not in the courtroom.

Links:

[Sports By Brooks]: Man sues Chad Johnson for alleged Lexus renege
[Cincinnati.com]: Chad Johnson added to lawsuit

Categories
Houston Texans

Pick the final Texans cheerleader or rocket scientist


We don’t give the Texans much credit around here (would you?) but we think their latest promotion to pick the last Texans cheerleader is pretty damn smart. You can check out the four contestants (will the winner be treated as “last one in” by the other cheerleaders?) here. Based on the photos, we’re going to have to go with either Amanda or Kristen.

What that site is missing is a bio of the four girls trying out for the last spot. We need to know if any of them are rocket scientists. You think we’re kidding but one of the Texans cheerleaders, Summer Williams, is actually a rocket scientist. There is nothing hotter than a chick in hot pants shaking her pom poms while reciting Pi to the 100th digit. Smart girl. She probably could have picked better than Charley Casserly in last year’s draft.