Hawks stumble, then regain their footing: A whole hell of a lot can happen in 48 hours. After the awful, no good, disgusting performance in the 3rd period Friday night, where goalie Antti Niemi gave up 4 (mostly soft) goals in the period, the Hawks rebounded to blank (first playoff shutout since '96!) the Preds 2-0 last night. Whew. A disaster like that garbage that put me to sleep Friday can often trip up a good team. I know now is a little late in the game, but maybe the Hawks shouldn't have rested their playoff hopes on a post-season virgin. Kudos still go to Niemi for shaking off Friday night, and getting his first playoff victory; he needs to have his shit together, and his 23 stops Sunday are a good start.
(Woot. From: The Trib)
CU Basketball Coaching Search: It looks like it's down to the 3 candidates who interviewed over the weekend: Tad Boyle, Mike Dunlap, and Steve McClain. As I said last week, I'd prefer to keep McClain, however I think the much talked about transfer possibilities from the team are minimal and overstated. (Al was only going to stay for one more year regardless, he probably doesn't want to sit that year out. Cory wants to play his final season with his brother regardless of the situation. Marcus has only 1 year of eligibility left. Aside from that, I find it hard to believe Shannon Sharpe would sit out another year, and the Aussies will probably stick together.) Despite the wishes of the players and myself, I'm beginning to believe that Tad Boyle will get the job. Not that he will be a bad choice (in fact if we were to go with McClain, I'd spend the next few years playing "what if" as Boyle vastly improves some other program), but I think that McClain has "earned" the job. Either way, as long as it's not Dunlap, I'll be agreeable to the hire.
(Seriously, I'm gonna be doing photoshops and everything. Yippie-Ki-Yay Motherfucker!)
Sox off to their worst start since '97: Yeesh, they suck. Getting swept by Cleveland? That's low. Just looking at the standings (which I try to never do before Memorial Day) finds the Sox 5 games back of the AL Central lead after only two weeks of play. WTF? Maybe it's time to realize that Mark Kotsay doesn't belong in the middle of a Major League order, and that Omar Visquel doesn't belong on a Major League roster, let alone the lead-off spot. I've seen 3 "bad" Sox teams in my life (The '95, '99, and '07 squads all sucked balls), so I admit I have been relatively lucky. But having watched this team struggle to hit for going on 4 seasons now, it's evident that changes need to be made. It's beyond past the time that both fans and management should've stopped oooo-ing and ahhh-ing over solo home runs and begun to demand legitimate, repeatable, production from a line-up that costs $70-ish million dollars, regardless of the time of year. (a few minor points: why does Juan Pierre need to be bunted over to 2nd all the time; I heard something about that guy being fast. Why say that Andruw Jones needs to play everyday the same day you bench the guy? We can't hit so the solution is a 13th reliever? If Alexi Ramirez can never bat his weight in April, why not keep him in extended spring training till the Kentucky Derby? Why wait til the 3rd week of a season to skip a guy in the rotation; why not do it in the 1st week when there are more off days? Yep, I'm a little frustrated.)
(Come on guys, the Indians are terrible! WTF?! From: The Trib)
Ubalo's No-No: Didn't watch the game, but I checked out the box score Sunday afternoon. 6 walks? That reminds me of a little-league game. The opposing pitcher is just so over powering that the kids have no chance to touch him; so they just sit there as he wings it across the plate, praying for a walk (This happened to me on a few occasions). No-hitters are always impressive, but to still be throwing 97-98 mph after 125 or so pitches is even more so. Too bad the Rox couldn't follow it up by shutting shit down in the 9th the following day (umpire over-eagerness was involved, but you can never blame the umps for a loss) Ubaldo has proven over his career that he can be straight nasty when he's on. Now I'm starting to believe that he can be the horse of a championship-level staff. By-the-way, that No-No was worth 79 pts in my fantasy league.
(Ubaldo!.... Jimenez!)
Ndamukong Suh donates money to some shit school east of here: A lot was made this weekend of Suh's generosity to pledge $2.6 million of his forthcoming lottery-level winnings from the NFL draft to his Alma Mater. Neil Woelk used this opportunity to complain about the lack of similar sifts from former CU athletes. Not-for-nothing, but giving is a personal thing. If someone doesn't want to give (or keep their giving private), it's their right to keep all the money they have earned (It may be unseemly, but its true). I've said many times that collegiate athletes owe decidedly little to their schools (after all, top athletes are so vastly underpaid compared to the value they bring).
The Daily Camera stole my idea: It can't be just coincidence that 2 days after I post an article about craft beer in cans that the BDC comes out with an article about craft beer in cans. That's bush-league BDC, just bush-league.
Happy Monday!
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