Monday, 17-Jun-2002
Spurious
thoughts and idle musings from the sports week just past ...
Note to
the Lakers ... Next time you win The Title, could you please like jump up and
down a little ??? I dunno, do
something. Put on goofy hats and squirt
each other with silly string or something.
Sigh, this is exactly why you ain't feeling the leaguewide love. The champeenship of the National Basketball
Association is supposed to be a big deal.
And it's not supposed to get old ... Not even after three in a row. Hell, even the Harlem Globetrotters enjoy
their wins over the Washington Generals more than you guys. Pathetic.
Oh, and
thanks for playing, Nets. Your pumpkin
is waiting outside to give you a lift back home.
Ain't no
flies on Marcus Thames who could not have asked for a better debut in The
Show. There he was last Monday night,
starting in right field for the Yankees standing on the same holy ground where
Ruth, Roger and Reggie all played. And
in the bottom of the third, young Mr Thames stepped into a major league batter's
box for the very first time ... Against Randy Johnson, the most intimidating
pitcher alive no less ... Whereupon he tatered the very first pitch The Big
Praying Mantis threw him. I mean,
seriously, how do you top that ??? Me,
I'd touch 'em all and then just keep right on running ... Into the dugout,
through the clubhouse and then right out to my car in time to get home for
SportsCenter.
In a
stirring duel down the Sunday back nine at Bethpage, lefty Phil Mickelson
outshot Sergio "Mr Hingis" Garcia and Jeff Maggert to take the
coveted 2nd place at the US Open.
Mickelson was ice down the stretch as he put together an impressive
string of clutch pars and solid bogies barely holding off the young Spaniard
and crafty vet Maggert to seal his runner-up finish. Afterwards, Mickelson vowed we'd see even better play at next
month's British Open ... "No more two shot second places for me. Next time I'll crush those other guys. I own second place, baby."
The
College World Series Of Ping is underway.
Already, Nebraska is back home making Jiffy Pop popcorn while Climpson
is sittin' purty with 2 dubyas awaiting the survivor of Cocks versus Yellow
Pests. Also, Tejas and The Tree are
each at 1-0 with Rice-a-Rudy playing to see who gets to live another day. Get ready for more fun and pings. One sweaty pileup at the winner's pitcher's
mound coming right up.
Interleague
play switched back to NL parks and those quote unquote "natural"
rivalries like Giants-A's, Dodgers-Angels and Spos-Jays. Oh and there was one other ... I do believe
Phineas T's Bronx Bombers took the Major Deegan down to Queens to see what New
York's Other Team was up to. Only to
find them practically salivating waiting for Roger Clemens to grab a bat and
dig in. Meanwhile, Marlins 2B Luis Castillio
has hit in 31 straight games which means that all he needs now is one more
month of hot hitting plus an oven of media pressure before he can even sniff
Joe DiMaggio's epic 56. In other words,
forget it.
And
speaking of pumpkins, the Carolina Hurricanes at last succumbed to the Central
Red Army Wings who captured the Stanley Cup last Thursday night with a 4-1
series win. The Canes were downgraded
to a tropical depression after their triple OT loss back in Game 3 and never
really got their mojo back. Truth is
Carolina was overmatched from the start ... Way too many top shelf names
wearing Detwah red and white. And with
Scotty Bowman in charge, it's all but a done deal. But hey, at least the Wings celebrated after winning the big
garbage can, right ???
Even if
soccer isn't your thing, there's still lots to like about the World Cup ... For
me, I like whenever teams like Spain and Ireland play. Because you don't really even hafta watch
the tube. Just listen to all the names
as the game is being played ... Baraja, Morientes, Mendieta, Hernandez,
Gonzalez and so on. And then you have
Kelly, Finnan, Dunne, O'Brien, Kilbane, Connolly, Keane and Quinn. See, no problem ???
Thumbs up
to the stuffy USGA for playing this year's US Open at the tough Bethpage Black
course out on Lunguyland. "The
People's Open" they called it seeing as how Bethpage was the first truly
public municipal course to host the big show.
And once again, you can lay this novelty at El Tigre's feet. He's just too damn good to keep bottled up
behind country club bars anymore. And
the Black course was perfect too.
Public or private, nothing says "US Open" quite like the
world's best golfers whining about their scores. Golf clap.
More
World Cuplets ... Au revoir, France.
Adios, Argentina. Adeus,
Portugal. And so now we're in the
knockout rounds where it's one and done and see ya in 2006. Jolly Old England is already into the
quarters after making Danish ham outta Denmark. So are Spain and Germany.
As is upstart Senegal whose Golden Goal stunjob made Swedish meatballs
outta the Group Of Death winner. And
let us not forget Los Bandidos Yanquis who sent May-hee-ko home with a 2-0
plate of refried beans. Sorry, amigos.
Okay, I
need some help here ... How come a soccer clock starts at 0:00 and goes up to
90:00 instead of the other way around ???
And how come they don't reset the clock to all zeroes to start the
second half ??? And why do they announce
whatever minute a player scores in instead of just saying the exact time
??? I mean, why not just say Joe Jones
scored at 16:42 instead of in the 17th minute ??? And in hockey, how come they announce the goals and penalties in
reverse time ??? Like if the clock says
there's 6:35 left, then why do they say the goal was at the 13:25 mark ??? Sense to me not make this does.
See ya
nexted week ...
Robert E Hunt Jr
Copyright ã 2002 by Robert E Hunt Jr. All rights reserved.