Previous Issue    Next Issue

 

Monday, 3-Jun-2002

 

Spurious thoughts and idle musings from the sports week just past ...

 

The NBA Finals are all set ... Hell Ay dispatched the SacroKings in 7 tough games and now go for Chief Big Triangle's third threepeat against the NJ Turnpike Exit 16W Wife Beaters who said see ya to the Holy Green Sweat Socks last week.  No doubt the Peacock is breathing a purple and yellow sigh of relief given the thought of a possible Sacramento vs New Jersey finals matchup.  Only thing left for the Lakers to worry about now are the room service cheeseburgers at the Newark Hilton.  Order carefully, Kobe Wan.

 

Senegal 1, France 0 ... Yep, the World Cup is underway and the first game was an upset for the ages as Papa "Oom Mow Mow" Bouba Diop made French toast with the game's only goal.  In other matches, Germany crushed Saudi Arabia, Argentina nipped Nigeria and the Irish tied the Camerooners.  Meanwhile, the American team toured the DMZ separating North and South Korea while English fans back home in Jolly Old wrestled with a triple whammy of choices ... Either go to church, celebrate Queen "We Will Rock You" Elizabeth's golden jubilee or watch the boys play Sweden.  Tough choice, eh, governor ???

 

Note to Celtic Nation ... Just a thought but next time you pull off The Greatest Fourth Quarter Comeback In The History Of The Entire Universe And Beyond, you might wanna try winning the rest of the playoff series.  It kinda helps support the legend, you know.  And you can hand in your Classy Fans merit badge too.  You can yell anything you want at Jason Kidd but Joumana and TJ Kidd were off-limits and you shoulda known better.  Hard to believe you share the same lineage as those old school "Beat LA" Garden crowds.

 

And the finalists for Lord Stanley's Jell-O mold are all set as well ... The Central Red Army Wings sent the defending champ Lanche home following the great Patrick Roy's embarrassing Game 6 dropped puck gaffe and his fatal Game 7 impersonation of a colander.  And lo and behold, Detwah will be meeting the Carolina Hurricanes who destroyed Canada's Cup hopes with six-gamers over both Montreal and Toronto.  On paper, the Wings should have no problems.  On ice, we shall see.

 

Ain't no flies on Pratyush Buddiga, champeen of the 75th Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee held in Washington last week.  The Colorado Springs 13-year-old correctly spelled tergiversation, deuterogamy, grobian, thremmatology, amole, oubliette, troching, repoussage, paraclete and prospicience to capture top honors at the prestigious competition.  No word yet though on whether the Mountain Ridge Middle School football team will resume Buddiga's daily beatings out behind the dumpster during recess once the champ returns to school.

 

If it's June, it must be NFL Deja Vu Day all over again ... Overstuffed teams with salary cap problems typically use this month to give their flotsam and jetsam the old heave ho.  Something to do with some fancy bookkeeping rule that spreads cap hits out over the next two seasons.  At any rate, Jamal Anderson, Keenan McCardell, Derrick Alexander, Antonio Freeman, Herman Moore, Hardy Nickerson, Mike Jones, Keith Mitchell, Marco Coleman, Charlie Batch and John Fina ... Thanks for playing and we have some lovely parting gifts for you.

 

The state of baseball as we know it today ... 1996 NL MVP Ken Caminiti told SI that 50% of The Show is on the juice but then insisted he was misquoted.  In print.  Meanwhile, Mets C Mike Piazza may or may not "putt from the rough" although no one seems to know why anyone should care anymore.  Bud Light now seems to think the Debbil Rays might make a better death row prisoner than the lawsuit happy Twinks.  And the labor talks are deader than Anakin Skywalker's chances of scoring tickets to future Jedi Council alumni reunions.  Otherwise, everything's just ducky.

 

Just in case you decide to cough up $54.95 for next Saturday night's Lennox "China" Lewis vs Rusty Mike Tyson fight in Elvisland, here's what you can expect from the complicated deal worked out between blood rivals HBO and Showtime ...

 

Michael Buffer, the "Let's Get Ready To Rumble" guy, works for HBO so he'll introduce Lennox Lewis and he'll pronounce Lewis the winner if he knocks out Tyson.  Showtime's mike, Jimmy Lennon Jr, will introduce Tyson and call him champ if he clocks Lewis.  If the fighters go the distance, then Buffer and Lennon will alternate reading the three judges scorecards in order to keep the suspense going.  And if Lewis wins, HBO will pay Showtime a stack of coin and they'll get to show their tape of the fight 400 gazillion times until everyone's sick of it.  But if Tyson wins, Showtime will pay off HBO and then wear out their tape instead.  Got all that ???

 

Rest in peace, Sam Snead.  Say hi to Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen for us.

 

See ya nexted week ...

 

Robert E Hunt Jr

 

Copyright ã 2002 by Robert E Hunt Jr.  All rights reserved.