JAG’s Sports Blog

It seems like every week I keep saying how this is the best time of the year because of all the sports and it is. The NBA and NHL finals are coming to a close, the US Open Golf tournament was unbelievable, the College World Series is in full-swing, the World Cup Soccer has opened eyes and baseball is still seeing tight races in every division. Where or when does it ever end?

Carolina and Edmonton face-off in game 7 in Raleigh, North Carolina to decide the 2006 NHL champion. This has been a very good series, but the adage if no one is in the forest to see the tree fall, does it actually make a sound. I can honestly say I’ve possibly heard 1 person say anything about this series. I usually hear about it when I’m listening to ESPN radio. The worst mistake was having the games start off on OLN because no one really knew it was on TV at all. I think the championship being with two smaller markets wasn’t good, but seasons are played to decide the best teams, not the best for TV ratings. I say watch it and enjoy what hockey is today.

The NBA finals are becoming intense and very testy now. Miami came back from an 0-2 deficit and now have a chance to win the series in Dallas. Dallas looked like they were cruising to a title before blowing a big lead in game 3, getting blown out in game 4 and losing one of their veteran stars for game 5 and now the referees are being called into questions. DwyaneWade appeared to get away with several questionable calls in game 5 and they all were clearly the difference in the game. Wade wasn’t called for a foul on defense, appeared to maybe have possession in the front-court and went into the back-court and then took a long hop to the basket and was awarded probably the softest foul ever in NBA history with 2 seconds remaining in the game. The unwritten rule for referees is if the foul isn’t blatant, let them play. Wade might have had fingertips touch him and the foul was called. A debate on whether a time-out was called has caused controversy because it was Dallas’ last time-out and they couldn’t advance the ball to half-court. Game over and Mark Cuban is about to bust a blood vessel because he is so upset. I do have to say that Dwyane is establishing himself as one of the best players in the game with his unbelievable 4^th quarter play all season. Most were trying to anoint LeBron James as the king, but it appears whoever plays last in the NBA is the king. Game 6 is in Dallas Tuesday night.

Another interesting call that the referees seemed to let go is the continuation rule. Keith Van Horn fouled Shaq 5 seconds before he got the ball and yet, the ball was passed in and Shaq flipped a shot up and it counted. The continuation call in the NBA is usually excessive at best, but to be fouled 5 seconds before the shot and still get the call is ridiculous. Referees have a tendency to interpret the rules whatever way they want for at least 48 minutes of the game, but whenever there’s a controversy, they start talking about the rule book. There needs to be more consistency and that would take out all the misunderstandings between players and coaches. Fans might stop wondering why star players get such preferential treatment at times.

The College World Series is going on, but I’m not feeling the same energy this year as I have in the past. I know Clemson is the top team and lost last night to North Carolina, but it’s not getting the same play time, even though it’s being shown on ESPN. I don’t know if there’s just too much sports on and college baseball is taking the hit because of it. The series continues with more teams ready to be eliminated after their next loss.

The US Open Golf tournament was one of the most incredible tournaments ever because Tiger Woods couldn’t even make the cut, but the excitement made everyone forget all about that. It appeared Tiger’s big rival Phil Mickelson all but had the Open in his grasp and the recognized title of best golfer in the world within his reach before he had flashbacks of his old style of play where he routinely played recklessly and blew tournaments.

After Colin Montgomery imploded on the 18^th hole and misplayed his club and shot a double-bogey to take himself out of a chance to win his first major over his long career, it looked all but a given that Mickelson would at the least, make it to a playoff with eventual winner Geoff Ogilvy. Ogilvy had to hit out of bad positions twice at the 18^th hole and simply leave himself a chance to tie when he watched Mickelson unravel at 18 and go for the win. Mickelson unleashed a terrible shot off the tee that hit the courtesy tent and followed it up with his second shot that didn’t make it past the trees. He could have laid up and would have still had a chance at the win, but “lefty went for it and finished with a double-bogey. This reminded most people of the Mickelson of old that would find ways to lose because he never played safe. It was almost unbearable to watch and I felt sorry for Montgomery because it looked like he might finally win the big one. Ogilvy’s +5 was one of the higher winning scores in US Open history, but he made the putts and shots when it counted, so I’m sure he’ll take it whatever way it took.

The World Cup is going strong and the United States still has a chance to advance in the World Cup but they first have to win against Ghana and Italy needs to beat the Czech Republic. Brazil is in the second round for the 10^th straight cup. Just like in all American sports, the referees are playing a role in the games. The refs are calling a lot of penalties and players are getting yellow cards, which can lead to red cards and ejection from the game. This is how games are supposed to be called, but it’s tough when they’ve never been called like that in the past and suddenly it is during the World Cup. I wrote another story discussing how I’m getting hooked on World Cup soccer and what it means to the rest of the world. Wars actually stop during the games and this makes you realize how big soccer is in the world.

Last but not least, major league baseball is involved in some tight races and anything is possible because of it. The Chicago Cubs just can’t get it together and it looks even worse when ace Mark Prior came back and was rocked by Detroit and Kerry Wood is worried about a sore arm after his return. You can basically kiss their season good-bye officially as of today. The surprise are the Atlanta Braves. The Braves are playing so badly that they’re considering trading John Smoltz and Andruw Jones. No one would have ever imagined things could be this bad. St. Louis has managed to hang on without Albert Pujols, which bodes well when he does return. Boston and the Yankees are doing their usual back and forth fight for the east, but this year is different. The loser of this battle may not make the playoffs as the Central Division might bring two teams to the playoffs. The Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers look for real and the changing of the guard might be in full effect. Oakland is doing their usual June charge and winning games. The surprise though is that it’s being said Oakland might still trade ace Barry Zito. Zito will be a free agent and Oakland will only pay so much to any player. They want players and hate tolose them for free.

That’s sports for this week and after this week, the scene will slow down for awhile. It has been a great run for the last 8 weeks and next will be the football training camps, so keep an eye out for your favorite teams and rookies on the rise.

Until later, this was the world in sports from my view.