Tuesday Grab Bag: It's semi-officially summer

Mark it down, it's summer.  With Memorial Day come and gone, the seasons have changed.  Kids aren't in school, baseball is in high gear, and I'm starting to get days off of work again; solstice be damned, it's summer now.  I shall celebrate by staying inside and watching Sunday's spectacular Game of Thrones episode again.

Today in the bag, I'm talking Bolder Boulder, peeking at the baseball world, and touching on the NBA playoffs.

Click below for the bag...




Bolder Boulder - 

For the first time in seven years, I made a point of heading up to campus to consume the Bolder Boulder festivities.  Waking up at 6:15, congratulating friends, listening to KBCO, hoping I brought enough suntan lotion... I did it all.  In reality, my Bolder Boulder experience is never all that fun.  I don't run the thing, so, after some awkward high-fives with my exhausted friends, there's not much to do.  Thankfully, my phone has internet.

Run, damnit!  From: the BDC

In fact, the most enjoyable part of my Memorial Day trip to Boulder ended up having nothing to do with the race.  It was a trip to the Village Coffee Shop, almost in defiance of all the calories being shed around me, that made my day.  The only problem is, my trip to Coffee Shop got me jonesing for football season.  The #6 on the breakfast menu is an essential part of my gameday experience, and consuming one yesterday morning only reinforced the fact that September is thee months away.  CU sports, where have you gone?


Around the nation of baseball -

Memorial Day is my traditional day to actually start paying attention to baseball's bigger picture.  Up to this point, I could care less about any individual game or how the rest of the division is playing.  Once past Memorial Day, however, divisional races begin to mean something, and individual games begin to carry some weight.  It's a great time to take a step back, and look at where my favorite teams are at.

White Sox v Tampa -

Chris Sale has officially arrived, as he mowed down 15 Rays in 7.1 innings yesterday afternoon.  The win allowed My Sox to keep pace with the surprising Cleveland Indians, and they now sit just a half game shy of the divisional lead.  Going 9-1 in their last 10, they're beginning to look like contenders.

This guy is insanely good, the rest of the league is only beginning to understand.  From: ESPN

It's been a surprisingly strong season so far, and My Sox have proven to be far more competent than I had thought was possible (I was convinced of a 90-loss season.  Still possible, but less likely).  I won't go into why I think that's the case just now (*cough* Ozzie Guillen is gone *cough*), but suffice to say, this is the most appealing ball the team has played since '06


Rockies v Houston - 

The Rockies gave fans across the timezone something to cheer about with their exciting 2-game sweep of the lowly Astros yesterday afternoon.  The pair of wins makes it four in six, and are the first signs of a pulse in well over a month.

It's good to see the Boys in Purple smiling again.  From: the Post

Let's be honest, it looks like it'll be a long summer for the Rox faithful.  Sitting in 4th place in the NL west, a full 13 games back of the cruising Dodgers, the playoffs are all but off the radar, even with four months to go.  Rebuild and develop, those are the watch-words for the year on Blake St.


Around the nation of pro hoops - 

Miami v Boston - 

 'Bron and Wade have successfully entered beast mode; in game one, they managed 54 points on 60% shooting.  Against an aging Celtics squad, this should be more than enough to breeze through to the Finals.  The only question now is whether the refs can squeeze a 5th game from this shit-show.

San Antonio v Oklahoma City - 

 The far more interesting of the two Conference Finals is the Spurs/Thunder clash.  The Spurs owned the final minutes of game one, and look to take a commanding 2-0 lead with a home win tonight.  Even with another Spurs victory this evening, I suspect the young Thunder will win their pair in OKC, at which point this series will get real.  I expect this to go a full seven games, with the Spurs getting the final laugh.


Happy Short Week Tuesday!