I have the Blue Jays’ game on in the background as I write this. Ricky Romero has struck out four of the first five batters he has faced. Regular readers will know that this isn’t the first time I have talked about this guy. He’s a youngster who is already very good, and he has a chance to be very special. I bet on him tonight, and I expect to do a lot of that until people start to notice what he is. There isn’t a lefty with a better change-up in the league. Check this guy out if you have a chance. With the rotation they have now and Kyle Drabek ready any day the Jays have a shockingly good rotation for a team that just lost the best pitcher in baseball. Fun to watch – and to profit from.
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Tag: Cleveland Cavaliers
This whole Zydrunas Ilgauskas situation, now that it has officially come to pass, make me want to shower. It’s slimy. Just one day after he became eligible to rejoin the Cavs he has a new deal in place for the rest of the year. He joins Antawn Jamison – the guy that he was traded for. The only real cost to the Cavs in this whole deal was that they had to live without Ilgauskas for 30 days, but that’s hardly a big deal for the team because they were already extremely secure in a playoff spot. They could have used a backup center as it turned out, but they still went 16-4 without him, and now they have a rested veteran to join them for the playoffs, and they get him at a very low cost. This absolutely should not be allowed in the NBA. It’s a total joke.
Olympic Bet of the Day – We got back to the winning ways thanks to the dominance of Lindsey Vonn. She paid off at even money (less by post time), so she netted me $100. That means I’m down just $125 and climbing. Happy days are ahead. To try to keep up the winning spirit I’m going to go right back to the well. Lindsey Vonn skis again today – this time in the Super Combined. That event involves one run of the downhill and one run of slalom. Vonn is far from the best slalom skier out there, but she is competent, and I think that her downhill competence and current form gives her a good chance of opening up as much of a lead as she’ll need. She pays +240 to win, so she’s worth a shot.
So, when do the Cavs admit that they made a mistake and try to do something about it? And what can they do? Shaq has now missed six games in a row with injury, and he has been a mere shadow of himself when he has played – 11.3 points and 6.9 boards. TheCavs made a big splash getting him to fix their problems up the middle, and they messed up their salary cap this year in the process. If Shaq isn’t the answer then the team won’t likely be able to go all the way, and that means that LeBron is more likely to leave town. I could see management starting to panic soon if something doesn’t change, or if Shaq doesn’t showed both some health and some marked improvement. Panic is always fun to watch – unless the team panicking is one you are a fan of.
1. There’s an article today on ESPN that suggests that Notre Dame is going to go 11-1 and return to the BCS this year. Apparently they aren’t kidding, either. I’m not sure I have ever read anything more stupid. They are returning a bunch of players and all, but it’s not like they are returning BCS caliber players or anything. Experienced garbage is still garbage. Eight or nine wins is believable, but 11 is a joke – even against the puffball schedule they have given themselves this year.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, down three games to one, survived one more day by beating the Orlando Magic 112- 102 in game five. That’s old news by now. The news on the Eastern Conference front will be made Saturday when these two teams meet again.
Continue reading “NBA Eastern Conference Finals Critical Game Six”
This is how sure I was of the likely outcome of yesterday’s Cavs game – I didn’t even bother to watch it. I watched a movie instead (Incidentally, it was the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie which was on TV – what a piece of crap. Talk about wrecking a good thing). I like watching the NBA playoffs, and I think this series is fascinating, but I was sure of how it was going to turn out. I mean, think about it – the Cavs had lost just twice at home all year, they were looking all but invincible in the playoffs, they were well rested and prepared while the Magic were coming off a tough, long series, and they have the best player on the planet. I thought that the Magic could keep the series interesting, but I gave them almost no chance in this first game. Neither did the oddsmakers, apparently – the Cavs were favored by a healthy 8.5 points.
The late spring into the early summer is a great time for professional sports. Here are a few observations regarding some of what’s happening in the NHL, NBA, NFL, NASCAR, PGA and MLB.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are the most rested team in the NBA playoffs, having beaten the Detroit Pistons four games to none and the Atlanta Hawks four to zip. Thus far they have dismantled their post-season opponents. On the other hand, their next opponents, the Orlando Magic, are coming off a long, hard seven game series against the Celtics. The Magic will play the Cavs with just two days rest. Plus they have to travel to Cleveland as the Cavs enjoy home court advantage. This could be a short series if the Magic have a tough time rebounding from their semifinals match.
The first seed Cleveland Cavaliers easily handled the Detroit Pistons in round one of the NBA playoffs, winning the series four games to zip. However, the fourth seed Atlanta Hawks had a much tougher time dispatching the fifth seed Miami Heat, finally taking the series in the seventh game. In the regular season, the Cavs took the series 3-1. However, one game was a one-point win and another a six-point victory.
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