JAG’s Sports Blog

The NBA and NHL playoffs are currently in full swing now. Major league baseball is off and running and the NFL draft is one of the most anticipated in the history of the sport. I’m giving my view of the sports world this week from my corner of the world. Feel free to join in and talk about what has you excited in your corner of the sports world right now. 

The NBA started off with LeBron James being the talk of the town as he recorded a triple double in his first playoff game ever. Typical of the overblown hype machine, the NBA was proclaiming LeBron, the king and ready to officially take the reigns from Michael Jordan as the face of the NBA. I love the NBA, but I hate the double standard of wanting everyone to conform to the perception the league wants to portray. The sport is clearly hyped as a star-studded league, but you want everyone to tow the line and be good little soldiers. LeBron followed up his first triple double game with an almost triple double, but this would have been a negative one. James had 10 turnovers and shot terrible from the field. I’ve always said let the athletes perform and determine who the stars are rather then promoting them as the stars and having the games refereed the same way. San Antonio and Detroit are the best TEAMS, but great teams tend to be more boring than great players.

San Antonio and Detroit are off to good starts and still remain the favorites to reach the finals for the second straight season. Road wins appear to be at a premium and Sacramento let one slip away against San Antonio in game 2 as Brent Barry had a shot from the corner ricochet off the backboard to send the game to overtime and eventually win the game. Opportunity is never guaranteed to knock twice and I really believe it won’t again for the Kings. Every other series are simply being played to get beat by San Antonio and Detroit, but then again, miracles have been known to happen.

The NHL is my favorite post-season sport even though I rarely watch the regular season games. The Detroit Red Wings are fighting for their playoff lives as the Edmonton Oilers are playing like the #1 seeds rather than the #8 seed. Edmonton has always played Detroit tough and are already halfway to knocking out the powerful Red Wings from the playoffs. Montreal wasn’t really picked to go far, but they are up on Carolina. I don’t think anyone picked Colorado to have any chance of beating Dallas. All I heard was these aren’t the Avalanche of old. This playoffs season seems to be completely out of whack in terms of the favorites playing like they’ve earned the right to home-ice advantage. I guess that’s why you play the games instead of assuming the results.

I love playoff hockey because all of the stupid, cheap shots and unnecessary penalties seem to go out of the arena once the regular season is done. Hockey in the playoffs is played at a fast, frenetic pace and cleanly for the most part. Hard-nosed hockey takes precedence for 60 minutes. No team wants to be the one to go short-handed for 2 minutes because every goal and game counts. There’s no throwaways because your season can end quickly if you play stupidly and spend a whole game at a disadvantage and playing defense. Until Edmonton actually knocks out the Red Wings, I have to stay with Detroit to win the Stanley Cup. If Detroit loses, I think it’s up for grabs totally.

Baseball is warming up now and Albert Pujols’ bat remains hot. With his quick start, you have to make Pujols the early favorite to win the mvp award. Pujols seems to hit anything thrown his way and I can’t understand why he’s given anything to hit in the first place. Chris Shelton is the who is this guy we always hear to start a baseball season and has finally slowed down from his projected 160 home run pace for the season. Shelton has slowed down on the home runs, but still is hitting well and you have to wonder how long it will be before he remembers he’s Chris Shelton. The surprise of the season individually is Barry Bonds.

Bonds is looking like an old proud horse that is ready to be put to pasture. He’s off balance hitting and even had Jose Mesa blowing a 94 mph fastball by him. I’m starting to truly believe Hank Aaron’s home run record will have to be broken by someone else because Bonds just might not make it to the finish line. He can barely play two games in a row and that means he’ll need to hit a home run in practically every game he plays in to have any chance to break the record. Bonds hobbled around the bases after hitting home run #710. If he has to hobble around the bases after a home run, don’t even bet on him finishing this season in the lineup. Another interesting fact is Bonds hit #711 off of a Billy Wagner 99mph fastball as a pinch-hitter today. All of his home runs seem to be going to left-center field. Is he finally slowing up or not trying to pull every ball now?

Somehow I get the feeling that baseball wouldn’t be too disappointed if Bonds can’t limp to the finish line and break the record. Jon Miller is the San Francisco Giants announcer and he literally sounded like he was calling a batting practice game as he called Bonds’ home run #710. There was no enthusiasm in his voice and that’s not like Jon Miller. He’s one of the best in the business. There’s a message being sent and enthusiasm isn’t one of them when you’re under suspicion for anything.

The New York Mets are looking like a team that just might make the playoffs and some noise when they get there. Houston is actually bucking their trend of starting out terrible and lead the National League to date. The Chicago White Sox also lead the American League. Can the two World Series teams hold on all season to get back to the final event again. It’s way too early because Boston looks pretty good with Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett pitching well to start the season. Can anyone ever count the Yankees out even though most fans would like to.

The biggest news was saved for last and that’s the NFL draft. The 2006 draft is one of the most anticipated in history. Reggie Bush is considered the best player period, but Charlie Casserley, the Houstan Texans General Manager, has said that they will pick either Bush or defensive end Mario Williams. The Texans seem to be playing Bush and Williams against each other to try and get Bush signed. Williams may come cheaper, so we’ll see how this plays itself out on Saturday. If Williams goes first, this draft will be turned completely upside down and will become a show unto itself. Teams will have to frantically decide who they want and that will still leave a ton of great players on the board to be drooled over. The “big 3″ quarterbacks, Matt Leinart, Vince Young and Jay Cutler could wind up anywhere and possibly end up picked late in the first round just like Aaron Rodgers did last season when everyone thought he would go early.

This draft is exciting because almost every team will get some needed help and in football, one player can make good things happen for a team because of the ripple affect on the rest of the players and positions. One player won’t win a Super Bowl, but they can help turn a team’s fortune around and get them in the right direction. Brett Favre has finally decided to return for another season with Green Bay. The question is whether it will matter any since his desire has to be questioned and will Green Bay draft based on Favre coming back. I say draft without Favre in mind completely. Why draft when he said he’s only coming back for likely one more season.

I’ve given you my take on this great week in sports from my corner of the world, now I’d like to hear what you’ve got to say and your perception from your corner of the world.