The Winner is… Three Champions Decided This Week

The Winner is… Three Champions Decided This Week.  How often do you have a week with three champions decided?  I have not check but it actually could happen once a year.   Still pretty cool that you will have an NHL, NBA and US Open Champion this week.  All three of these championships lived up to the hype.  There were amazing shots and saves.  Talent was everywhere this weekend.  There was also a lot of other stuff going on this weekend.   I am sure that when they do one of those talks about the most exciting week in sports this week will not get many if any votes.  It was a very exciting week.  A week that ended several seasons and set us up for a fantastic push into the rest of th year.  The Winner is… everyone who loves sports.

NHL the Amazing end to the Season

The NHL season came to a relatively improbable end this week. The Winner is the St. Louis Blues who were able to close out an amazing run that started in January.  Back after the first of the year the Blues were not a great team.  They had the talent but just did not have things figured out.  After a 7-9-3 start the Blues fired their coach Mike Yeo at the end of November.  Promoting assistant coach Craig Berube to the dreaded title of interim coach.  That usually just means we don’t know what we are going to do so you handle the team while we decide.   What happened after that was pretty impressive.  Berube coached the team to a 38-19-6 record for the rest of the season.  Making them the 5th seed in the West.    The Blues did not have an easy path in the playoffs.  They played with drive and determination.  In a fitting Stanley Cup Final they played the Bruins. A team that swept them in the final 49 years ago.

The Blues were in a position to win the series in game 6.  They were headed back to St. Louis with a 3 games to 2 lead in the series.  They proceeded to lost that game 5 -1.  They would have to head back to Boston after getting destroyed.  I gave them no chance to win game 7.   I am not sure how many people did give them a chance to win.  The Blues showed up and played the game many thought they would play in game 6.  They beat the Bruins 4 -1 to clinch the first Stanley Cup in team history.   It really could not have happened against a better team for the Blue to take out.   Other than the people in Boston just about everyone is sick of Boston teams winning championships.  We always say if you don’t like it then beat them.   The Blues listened and beat them at their own game.  The other fitting part of playing Boston in the final was the hurt of getting swept 49 years ago.  Not sure the players felt that but the fans surly did.

This brings us to the end of another fantastic Hockey season.  I really do not understand why Hockey is not more popular in the Unite States.  I know it will never reach the levels of Football but that is not what I am talking about.  At least similar numbers to the NBA.  The games are exciting.  Teams are closely matched. Many times the teams that you think are going to win end up getting beat.  Thank you for a great season NHL.  See you in a few months for the start of next season.

NBA The Finals more interesting than the off season

For the first time a team out side of the States wins the NBA Championship.  It is cool that the Raptors are a first time champion.  It really is not that big a deal that they are based in Toronto.  None of the players are from Canada that play on the team.  So really the Raptors are like any other team in the NBA they just happen to be based in Toronto.  That is not to take anything away from Canada being home to the NBA champion.

I was really not sure what was going to happen in this series.  Kawhi Leonard really deserved this and showed how he can carry a team.  He actually had showed this before with the Spurs.  He just proved it again this year.  it was a great win by the Raptors over the Warriors Dynasty.  At the end of the series the Warriors were not much of a dynasty but more of a MASH unit.   There were bits and pieces breaking off all over the palce.  A win is a win.  It is difficult to get.  If the Warriors were able to stay healthy I am not sure that we end up with this result.  The truth is that they were not able to stay healthy.  The Raptors beat the team that was in front of them.

I really would like to see Leonard stay in Toronto and see how far they can take this.  I am not sure that he is going to do this.  If he leaves then this is a one and done senario for the Raptors.  Not sure that they would turn into the Cavaliers after LeBron left but they absolutely would not be the NBA Champion Raptors of this season.  It really will all come down to what Leonard decides he wants to do.  If he wants to go play in LA he will have the choice of the Clippers or the Lakers.  If he decides he wants to see how far he can take this the Raptors would pay him as much as they can.  Personally I want him to stay in Toronto. I want to see what happens there and I don’t ‘want to see another star player go to the West.

The other big thing that happened in the NBA this week was the trade of Anthony Davis to the Lakers.   This trade was huge and I did not expect it this soon.  I am not surprised that it happened.  I really thought it would happen at some point.  It probably did have to happen before the draft since this years 4th pick would more than likely have to be part of the deal.  On the surface it looks like the Lakers gave up a lot.  They did but if it puts them in a position to contend for a championship then it is all worth it. I will be expanding on this later and will add a link here when I get my other thoughts on this trade together.

The NBA draft is coming up this Thursday so we will have some more questions for the NBA answered there.  The start of Free Agency in the NBA starts July 6th.  Only a few weeks away so things will really start to happen fast here.

US Open always great

The Winner is … Gary Woodland.  Yes that Gary Woodland.  Again you say who?   Woodland has been on the tour since 2007.   He has had a decent career with 5 tour wins before his US Open win.  Woodland really is a feel good story with this win.  He had trouble in his career holding a lead.  He was able to concentrate and out play a strong driving Brooks Koepka who was going for is third straight US Open win.   I have heard a few of the talking heads of the world say that Koepka lost this rather than Woodland winning it.  To all those people maybe you should watch the final round again.  Their is no doubt that Woodland won this.  He knew what he had to do to win this.  Woodland played the golf game he had to in order to win.  It was very impressive.

What is interesting in the US Open this year is that Pebble Beach was a golfers dream course this year.  The wind never showed up.  Clouds kept the sun at bay to the greens did not firm up too much and get to slick.  The scores were low and the golf was exciting.  Somehow many of the best players in the world were unable to take advantage of the conditions.  For some of the older players the cool temps could have affected them a bit.  Hard to say.  What I do know is that Woodland played the tournament of his career and will forever now be known as a US Open champion.   At least with the low scores all the complainers about difficult courses had to bite their tongue.  I did miss the difficult course but it was not for a lack of trying.  The course was set up difficult.  Conditions were such that it took the set up out of play.

The only problem I have with the US Open is that it is on FOX.   FOX actually does a great job with its coverage of most sports.   To me Joe Buck is just not a Golf announcer.  Having him be the host does not fit and throws me off a bit every time.  The plus out of this.  It makes you think that Football is not far away.

Womens World Cup “Controversy”

The US Womens Soccer team won its opening match against Thailand 13 – 0.  As with any blow out of this magnitude you get complaints.  The team should have let up.   They should not have celebrated the goals after they had scored a certain number of goals.  To the people saying that – take a step back and shut your mouth.  Think about what you are suggesting here.  This is supposed to be the ultimate soccer tournament in the world. It is only played once every four years.  Teams have to qualify for this tournament over the years before the tournament is played.  Teams that make it are supposed to be the best in the world.  Players dream of scoring a goal in this tournament.  Now if a game happens to be a blow you you want those players to either stop playing hard or not be excited that they scored a goal they have dreamed about their entire life.

Just stop it.  Thailand knew what they were getting into.  I think that they would have been more embarrassed if the the USA Womens team had just stopped trying.  This is the World Cup.  I have no problem if a team keeps playing hard the entire game.  I have no problem with this happening.   Who knows maybe someday Thailand  will be the power and then they can take it to other teams.  Probably not but it could happen.  The other thing you have to think about.  In world cup play goal differential is one of the tie breakers.  So you need to score what you can when you can.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the World Cup plays out.  The Canadians though the US team was wrong to keep playing hard.  Maybe they will get to play the US teams and then they can prove why they think the was wrong in the way they handled the blowout.

 

On the Tube TV not You

The return of on of my favorite shows.  BattleBots.  This is one of may favorite shows of all time.  One day I would love to make it to the  San Francisco to watch some of the matches live.  If you have not watched this show yet you really should give it a chance.  The robots that some of the teams create are amazing.  Sometimes they work well.  Other times they do not.  If one of the matches goes the distance or is a blow out it is still very exciting.  Each match up features two robots that weigh up to 250 pounds.   With some kind of weapon attached with the goal of inflicting as much damage to your opponent as possible.  Sometimes this leads to some massive collisions and pieces and parts go flying everywhere.  Good thing the battles happen in a closed in battle arena.