5 Hot Sports Topics You Have To Check Out!
Monday, April 11, 2011
It was your typical busy weekend in the world of sports. Here are five quick columns for the price of one to get your sports juices flowing to start the week:
Tiger and the Masters – How great was it to see Tiger Woods making a charge in the final round of the Master’s Sunday? Whether you love him or hate him, you have to admit that it’s a heck of a lot more interesting to watch golf on TV when Tiger’s in contention. The funny thing is that Tiger has always been a guy I have rooted against. Whenever there is a David vs. Goliath-type match-up, I tend to root for the little guy which is why I have always pulled for Tiger’s opponents over the years. Oddly enough, I found myself rooting for Tiger Sunday. Maybe it is because he has become somewhat of a sympathetic figure to me - a former superstar searching for his past greatness. Whatever it is, I know that the suits at CBS had to be thrilled to see Tiger on the first page of the leaderboard Sunday. I was too.
Ainge Gambled & Lost – Often times in sports, general managers must make a big gamble when putting together a team. In the case of Celtics’ GM Danny Ainge, he rolled the dice in 2007 when he traded away young talent for veterans Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett and it worked out great for Boston. This year, Ainge rolled the dice again with his mid-season trade of Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City and it would appear that he may have lost this time around. Everyone knew that trading Perkins would hurt the C’s chances of making a run at another championship, we just didn’t know how much. While the playoffs have yet to start, it appears that the Celtics resemble a donut at the moment because they have a hole in the middle. Unless Shaq gets healthy and can contribute, it looks like the Celtics will have lots of trouble getting out of the Eastern Conference this postseason.
Manny Being Manny – It’s sad to see how the careers of so many great baseball players are ending. Whether it’s Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds or, now Manny Ramirez, the cloud of suspicion and downright guilt of cheating hangs over their heads. In the case of Manny, an alleged second positive test for performance enhancing drugs forced him to retire rather than face a 100-game suspension. It also eliminated any doubt about his Hall of Fame candidacy which is now long gone and hard to find like one of his 555 career homeruns. The sad part is that a player like Manny probably never needed to touch the stuff to be one of the game’s all-time greats. He was as gifted a hitter the sport had ever seen. Now, the only way he sees Cooperstown is if he buys a ticket to the Hall of Fame. What a shame!
Bruins vs. Canadiens – This should have received top billing because there is nothing quite like Stanley Cup playoff hockey, particularly when it’s Boston and Montreal squaring off. Much like the storied history of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, Bruins-Canadiens is also rich in tradition and a genuine dislike amongst the players and fans of both teams. Also like the Sox-Yanks rivalry, it has been more one-sided with the Canadiens playing the role of the hammer and the Bruins the nail. Anyone remember 1979 and the infamous “too many men on the ice” call that cost the Bruins their semifinal series with the Habs? What Boston needs this year is a 2004 Red Sox-like exorcism. The Sox’ historic rally from 3 games down in the ALCS to beat the Yankees got the proverbial monkey off of their back and paved the way for Boston’s first World Series title since 1918. Can Tim Thomas stand on his head and can the Bruins use Montreal as a springboard for their first Stanley Cup since 1972? Let’s hope so! Whatever the case, it should be fun.
The Red Sox – This embarrassing start to the 2011 season was made a bit more tolerable by taking 2 out of 3 from the Yankees over the weekend. The two most encouraging things from a Red Sox standpoint were the pitching performance by Josh Beckett last night and the way Dustin Pedroia hit the baseball the entire series. Still, there has to be some concern about the starting pitching. Can Clay Buchholz, who just signed a new 4-year contract with 2 more club option years, be anything close to what he was in 2010? Will John Lackey ever be as effective on the mound for Boston as he was in Anaheim? And will Beckett give us more performances like last night’s or was that the aberration and not the norm? There’s also a concern about the team’s inability to hit with runners in scoring position but you have the feeling that this problem will work itself out in the long run. The good news is that we will have both the Bruins and the Celtics in the postseason to distract us until sometime in May or June before we turn our attention completely to baseball and the Boston Red Sox.
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