the mavs suck...

...well for at least tonight they sucked. It wasn't the return of Raja Bell that doomed the Mavs. It was the same symptoms that cost the Mavs the win in Game 1... poor shot selection (specifically by Dirk and Stackhouse) and incredibly bad transition defense. A 3-1 series lead would have virtually put the Mavs in the finals, but now there's a good bit of work left to do. It's a new series, tied 2-2, with the Mavs owning 2 of the last 3 games at home. Game 5 just became very close to a must win for the Mavs.

The Rangers have a 5 game lead in the West over the A's and Angels... unfreakin believable! It's the biggest lead a Rangers team has had at the end of May since 1999, the year the Yankees toasted them in the playoffs. I still say its smoke and mirrors. Let's see how things look in late July.

mavs in 6

rangers, hornish win; f- barry

Who are John Rheinecker and Rick Bauer and how did they combine to throw a 4-hit shutout for the Rangers? Playing a slumping and underachieving Seattle club helped some but you have to wonder if Buck is doing this with smoke and mirrors.

What a beating it has been to watch any of the Eastern Conference basketball playoff games. The Miami/Detroit game tonight was a complete snooze-fest. Two teams that dont shoot the ball well at all, cant even hit free throws, so they decide to just play defense, since that's all they've got... majorly boring.

What a great finish to the Indianapolis 500! There's no doubt that open-wheel racing has fallen way behind Nascar in popularity, and for good reason, but the Indy 500 was the best race this Memorial Day. Congrats to Sam Hornish, what an incredible finish. Outside of Mario's lone win back in '69, the Andrettis seem to be snake bit at Indy. Danica Patrick finished 8th, not bad, but she really hasn't lived up to all the hype she gets.

The French Open started play on Sunday, but without any real American threat to win (Agassi isn't playing), is anyone watching?

715 was hit by mr roids and I couldn't care less! On a brighter note, Pujols hit his 25th today!

Hornish wins the second closest Indy 500 ever

soon to be a classic

The Avery bunch...

mavs choke, rangers suck

The Rangers have lost 6 of their last 10 and 2 in a row and are a .500 club right now yet still lead the West by 1 game of Oakland.

As good of a team as the Mavs are, they are horrible at closing out close games (see Games 1, 5 , 6 & 7 against San Antonio). How do you F up a 9 point lead with just over 2 minutes remaining in the game? Bad shot selection, no shots by Dirk and horrible transition defense, thats how.

Diaw shoots down the Mavs

mavs in seven part ii

Only one team in the last 27 years had won a game 7 on the road, now there have been two teams as the Mavs fulfilled my prediction, though not as convincingly as I had thought. I'd like to see the Suns beat the Clippers to set up a rematch with Phoenix in the Conference finals, mostly because I'd like the Mavs to beat Nash and partially because I just don't think the Clippers are deserving of making the conf. finals, they're just not that good. The Clippers are a team that purposely lost games down the stretch to avoid having to play the Mavs in the first round and instead they're losing was rewarded with home court in their series against Denver.

Against Phoenix, I'd expect the Mavs to revert back to their old form of offense first and defense as an afterthought as they'll try and match the Suns pace. I think the Mavs beat the Suns in 5 or 6 games. It will then be interesting to see who's tempo wins out in a potential finals matchup with the Pistons. Hopefully by then Avery will remind them how to play defense cuz defense wins championships.

Dirk doing his best MJ impression

mavs in seven

What a great night for sports... Two Game 7's, the Yankees playing the Red Sox and Pujols vs Bonds (no secret who I want to see play better in that one).

The local Dallas media here has already started to provide the Mavs with excuses should they lose tonight to the Spurs. They all start and end with having to play Game 6 without Jason Terry. That might have been the missing ingredient that would have carried them over San Antonio that game, but even without Terry, the Mavs still should have won. They had the lead inside of two minutes and couldn't close it out.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the Mavs return to Game 2 form and for an up-tempo game and take game 7 in San Antonio tonight 117-104. Jet comes up big in this game along with Josh Howard.

pujols fan club

• Albert Pujols hit his 22nd homerun today... this starts my official count down, just 52 more until someone legitimate holds the season HR record. Pujols also leads the majors with 53 RBI, oh and he's hitting .317 as well.

• The Mets took 2 of 3 from the Yankees over the weekend. Only a bullpen collapse in the second game kept them from a sweep. Coincidentally it also cost Pedro a win in a game that he pitched 7 scoreless innings.

• Somehow the Rangers have managed to stay tied for the lead in the AL West even after losing 6 of their last 10 games… that tells you all you need to know about the West.

• How are the Detroit Tigers the best team in MLB? It’s called pitching and timely hitting; two things the Rangers have never been able to master. Wouldn’t it be nice to still have this guy in the Rangers rotation? He's tied for the major league lead for wins.

• Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro emerged from over six hours of surgery and was able to stand on Sunday, a day after the colt broke his right rear leg in three places at the Preakness. Read more about his amazing surgery here. In a sport that really could have used some positive media attention like a potential Triple Crown winner, read here about a possible way to make the sport safer for the horse.

Barbaro post-surgery at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center

a bad day for sports

• It was very disappointing to see Barbaro break down on the front stretch of the Preakness. What a great horse that could have easily won the triple crown if he had the chance. There hasn’t been a Triple Crown winner now for 28 years, the longest gap between winners ever. Hopefully surgery on Sunday will save him.

Barbaro held by jockey Edgar Prado after injuring his leg at the start of the 131st Preakness Stakes

• Home teams have won 82% of all game 7's in the NBA playoffs... not a good omen for the Mavs, especially if they don’t speed up the tempo of the game and play the style of ball that won them games 2-4.

• Jason Terry's suspension was bogus and the NBA should have only fined him. With both Ginobli and Finley jumping on top of him, its not surprising that he wanted to get them off of him, though at the same time, Terry should know better and in a critical situation like that needs to be able to control his emotions.

• I still hate Barry Bonds. I have no respect for someone who has to cheat to win.

jet looking for some love

Mavs guard Jason Terry looking for a little love from teammate Jerry Stackhouse after Jet's 32 point performance in the Mavs Game 4 123-118 OT win? No tongue was involved...

juan pierre is my hero

Juan Pierre's leaping catch against the wall in center robbed Bonds of home run No. 714, and the San Francisco slugger remained one shy of tying Babe Ruth for second place after the Giants' 6-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night. Said Pierre, "I know I ruined about 40,000 people's nights tonight." Well not mine, that was my play of the day!

Bonds watches as Pierre robs him of a home run during the fifth inning

avery johnson = dave tippett?

Don't look now, but Avery Johnson is pulling a Dave Tippett. He's moving Jet over to the two-guard and starting Devon Harris at the point. That's quite a big change to a starting lineup for a team in the second round of the playoffs. He seems to be over-reacting to the Game 1 loss, similar to what Tippett did after the Stars had lost Game 1 to the Avs. Tippett's move to change up his lines back-fired big time on him as the Stars gave up 3 first period goals while the new lines tried to adjust to playing with each other. Lets hope Avery's move doesn't have the same outcome. What the Mavs need are people to step up and score, like Dirk, Jason Terry and Josh Howard. Does inserting Harris at the point help them knock down more shots? I guess we'll soon see.

just one more reason to hate barry bonds

Barry Bonds is a selfish prick, and that's putting it nicely. He's going to pass Babe Ruth soon, and unfortunately, that's unavoidable. We can only hope that weak knees, a bad elbow and without steriods, Bonds will retire before being able to pass Aaron. After hitting #713 Sunday night, he refused to autograph the ball for the fan that caught it which happened to be a Giants fan in the Air Force currently stationed in Philadelphia. Barry did, however, require the fan to sign a waiver so that Bonds could use this for his Bonds on Bonds reality show on ESPN. Read more on the Barry the jackass here.

A sign in left field during Sunday's Phily/Giants game that reads "Ruth did it on hot dogs and beer; Aaron did it with class; How did YOU do it?"

random musings

A one man show...
No one showed up for the Lakers tonight except Kobe Bryant... No one from the Lakers, outside of Kobe, could hit the broad side of a barn tonight leading to a Phoenix rout in Game 7 of the opening round of the playoffs. Kobe had 23 in the first half but LA was still down 15 and never got any closer. In addition to not being able to buy a shot, the Laker defense looked like swiss cheese as Phoenix scored at will.

Still in first, but barely...
The Rangers still lead the West, but barely. After back to back loses to the Yankees, the Rangers hold a slim 1/2 game lead over the A's. The Rangers are finally playing a quality team, after beating up on lowly Tampa Bay recently, but are coming up on the short end of the scoreboard. Hopefully they can salvage a win in the series on Sunday.

Number 8s...
Dale Jr. won at Richmond tonight, beating Denny Hamlin to the line. Kevin Harvick led the most laps but decided not to pit with the lead during a late caution and ended up 3rd.

Barbaro was untested in today's Kentucky Derby despite a full field of 20 horses. Unbeaten and well rested heading into the Derby, he will carry that same momentum to the Preakness in two weeks.

Junior's win at Richmond

Barbaro with Prado aboard runs away from the field

rangers in first?

Don't look now, but the Texas Rangers are the hottest team in MLB right now with a 6 game win streak and a 1 1/2 game lead in the West over Oakland. They get a real test this weekend as former Ranger Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees come to town. Vincente Padilla starts things off tomorrow night against Mike Mussina.

To Raja Bell, Steve Nash and Co. - Just shut up already! If you saw Bell's close line of Kobe in Game 5 and you don’t think he should have been suspended, then you're just plain ignorant so go away, you're too stupid to be here. Nash is complaining because he choked Game 4 away. Bell is whining because he can't guard Kobe and he needs the officials help. Personally, I think Bell got off easy. Not only did he throw Bryant to the court by his neck, the next day he said he didn't regret doing it and if he could do things over again, might do the same thing. Not only does that show a lack of respect to his competitors, but also to his team and the league. He probably should have been suspended two games easily but the league wanted to give the Suns a chance in a possible Game 7, so they just sat him for one game. You do the crime, you do the time. Just shut up already!

a tad bit of a gambling problem

John Daly claims to have dropped somewhere between $50M-$60M in casinos over the years, and, he observes, if he keeps it up, it’s going to ruin him. Hmm. Kind of makes you wonder how long it took to come to that conclusion. Most of us probably would have figured it out after dropping the first $5M or so, don’t ya think? The comment was prompted by the imminent release of Daly’s book, “John Daly: My Life In and Out of the Rough.” In it, sports’ favorite good old boy confesses that he’s got a bit of a gambling problem. A bit of a problem, that is, in the same way that the Pacific Ocean is a bit of water.

Now Charles Barkley has come out saying that, he too, has a gambling problem and has lost at least $10M. Even though he acknowledges he has a problem, he has no plan of quitting because it's "his money". Back in the '90s, Jordan had a little gambling issue made public and this last off-season Arod was seen in some underground NY poker houses. They're not losing the $10M+ that Barkley and Daly have claimed, but there's plenty of gambling going among athletes and as long as they aren't gambling on the sport they play, it doesn't violate any of the league policies.

Question of the day - Why does every Barry Bonds homer rank as the #1 play of the day on ESPN's Sportscenter? Is Barry going opposite field really all that exciting considering that a high majority of fans would rather he never hit another home run, ever? He's going for second and as we all know second is the first loser, and maybe in this case, the biggest loser! Even Commissioner Selig stated there will be no fanfare when/if Bonds passes Ruth's mark. This isn't a record he's breaking. More proof that ESPN must be in bed with Bonds and his sham of a series on that network. I'd boycott the channel, but then I'd miss all my Kobe highlights... speaking of, the dunk over Nash in Game 3 SHOULD have been the #1 highlight of the day.

Kobe dunks over Nash

dakota dowd

How can you not root for this girl? A pretty touching story.

Interview after shooting +2 in the first round

Interview after she missed the cut with a second round 82

whats in the nhl western conf water

The Red Wings have followed the Stars in exiting stage right in the playoffs. The Red Army, the President's tophey winners have been ousted by the lowly Oilers who hadn't won a playoff series in 8 years! Detroit pulled off a bigger choke than the Stars by twice giving up 2 goal leads in the 3rd period to lose games in Edmonton and gave up 4 goals in the 3rd tonite to choke away the series clincher. It's only the 3rd time ever that the President's Trophey winner has lost in the first round. Time to say goodbye to Stevie Y.

The 1, 2 and 4 seeds have now been eliminated in the western conference and the 3 seeded Flames are now in a must win Game 7 situation against the Mighty Ducks. By Wednesday night, its quite possible only the bottom 4 seeds will remain from the western conference.

The Mavs wrapped up their series in 4 as predicted and the Griz still have never won a playoff game.

The Clippers won a playoff series for the first time since moving to LA. The last time the Clippers had advanced was when they played in Buffalo back in 1976 where they beat Phily in the opening round only to lose to the Celtics in the next round.

If the Lakers can beat the Suns one more time (in 3 chances) they will set up an all LA series vs the Clippers. The edge there would go to the Zen Master.

mavs in four?

An interesting little NBA factoid... the Mavs have never swept an opponent in the playoffs (never won in just 5 games either btw) and the Grizzlies have never won a playoff game. One of those streaks will end tonight. My guess is that the Mavs will sweep as the Griz appear pretty down and out after the OT loss in Game 3.

So tired of all the Dirk hype again after Game 3... he's playing Memphis who has no one that can guard him. When Dirk carries the Mavs to a series win over a real team, we'll talk.