I say I’m going to talk about sports, then nothing. Sorry. I’ll get a bunch out here in one post.
Randy Johnson is getting himself back into the groove. So it would seem anyway. He’s been pulling his ERA down since his first abysmal start. Though he’s without a win yet, he’s been going 6 or 7 innings deep in the game and giving up only about 3 runs. I’m hopeful that he can, if not return to his old self, at least still be a respectable pitcher. I’d like to see him get that 300th win in the next couple years. Wins are useless for determining pitcher quality, but Hall of Fame voters seem to like them.
All is not well in Steel-town. It seems Alan Faneca is seriously unhappy with being treated, as he sees it, unfairly. Ben Roethlisberger let the cat out of the bag that he and former coach Cowher did not always get along well (though they commendably kept it between themselves while they were teammates). And the whole head-coach hiring seemed to chase away a couple of veteran Steelers coaches who jumped to the Arizona desert. I fear it doesn’t bode well for the rebounding of the Steelers opportunities.
I’ve only been keeping half an eye (there’s a gruesome metaphor) on the Stanley Cup play-offs. I kept up with hockey a lot more in college. Kept up with sports a lot more in college, frankly. I don’t know a lot about hockey, but it can be exciting to watch during the play-offs when they don’t mess about with ties, shoot-outs or whatever they do during the regular season nowadays. Seeing a game get to a third overtime is pretty cool. Looks like the Ottawa Senators will pull out their conference championship (they’re up 3-0 at the moment over Buffalo). It would be kind of nice to see a Canadian team with the Cup. The Cup hasn’t been hoisted by a team from the frozen north since Montreal in 1993.
The Suns-Spurs match-up is interesting. Tied 2-2 in their series, the series has featured some hard fouls and tensions seem to be running high. I haven’t had a chance to see any of the video, but I’ll try to make it a point to look it up on YouTube in the next couple days. I predicted, and still expect, the Suns to pull it out in a 7 game series, but I would like to see San Antonio win because I’m a fan of Tim Duncan and the way he plays the game. Briefly, I’ll add that the Utah Jazz seem to be sticking with Dr Jekyll when it counts. Their regular season play was pretty inconsistent, but they are a decent team when they’re on the upswing side of their varied play.
A couple more baseball notes and we’ll call it good. I can’t stand that Roger Clemens is coming back. I can’t stand that he’s going to pitch for the Yankees. I can’t believe that they’re going to pay him $28 million (pro-rated for a bit more than half the year) to pitch this year. Here’s hoping that he bombs, has a season ERA around 7 and helps NY to a fourth place finish.
On a happier note, I’m pleased to see that though the M’s didn’t start out too well, they are staying in the thick of things. In second place, two games back of the first-place Angels, they could take over the top spot in the division with a sweep of the Angels in the series starting tomorrow. Here’s hoping!
Neh 