Things I think…
That I will continue watching a blowout one to two innings longer just because of Vin Scully. Given how quickly we lost Chick, and Chicago lost Harry C, and Philly lost Harry K, every inning we get with Vinny needs to be appreciated
That- and this is hard for me to say- after Vin Scully, the best baseball broadcaster might be Bob Uecker. On a related note, why are there no reruns of Mr. Belvedere or Small Wonder? Those shows made early afternoons in the late 80s tolerable. They weren’t good enough for me to buy on DVD, but rest assured if they were on TV I’d still have 30 minutes to spare for them.
That no Lakers fan should think too hard about what’s going to happen post-PJ. Given Kobe’s track record with coaches, the post Phil Jackson era is going to be awkward at best and excruciating at worst
That no Lakers fan is actually happy about the Artest-instead-of-Ariza move, but we all have to pretend to be or we’re going to make it worse
That every team should have a guy with a Mohawk
That no matter how excited I am for racing every February, NASCAR always loses my interest by August
That Shaq Vs would be far more interesting if it were Steve Nash (who had the idea) taking on other athletes. It also would have been the perfect vehicle to make Nash a star post-NBA
That I hate Shaq and wouldn’t like him even if he rescued a box of orphaned kittens from a fire
That Shaq would never rescue anything without a camera crew there to document it
That Andy Roddick earned a ton of good will in the Wimbledon final but if he craps out at the US Open it will all be gone
That Dwayne Wade to Chicago is going to happen; LeBron to NYK is not.
That The Hammer is the best boxing movie you’ve never seen
That I didn’t pay close enough attention in biology class because I still don’t understand why it takes 7 different kinds of doctors to determine a track star’s gender
That when I heard that David Ortiz did steroids, and I wasn’t the least bit surprised, I only then realized that I would not have made a good Red Sox fan
That Derek Rose is not the first, or the last, NCAA star to fake the SATs
That Memphis’ punishment is further proof that the one-and-done requirement is a terrible idea
That Floyd Mayweather is avoiding Manny Pacquiao.
That the battle between Mayweather/Marquez and Pacquiao /Cotto as to who can get more PPV orders is probably my favorite angle of the upcoming fight season
That Arturo Gatti’s death is just another suspicious one from a sport that has had a lot of athletes die before their time
That I will always wonder what would have happened if the Clippers drafted Darko. If there ever was a test case for two wrongs making a right, that would have been it.
That I will always wonder what would have happened if anybody besides the Clippers had drafted Blake Griffin. RIP Blake Griffin’s career 2007-2009, we hardly knew ye
That no sport that includes an animal is actually a sport
That no sport that needs a judge is actually a sport
That I no longer want to watch a game with a friend in which we cheer for opposing teams. Either they win and they gloat and celebrate, or I win and I gloat and celebrate…and then feel like an a-hole
That the possibility of Tiger choking actually makes me more likely to watch the PGA on a Sunday
That the last one was a lie, I still won’t watch golf on TV…well maybe if there were hot female caddies but that’s it
That I like Kareem, and I think he should get a chance to coach, but asking your twitter followers for a groundswell of support is probably not the best way to get a job
That Women’s Volleyball attracts the most attractive athletes in the world (see: Tom, Logan)
That there should be a Constitutional Amendment requiring all female athletes to have their hair at least shoulder-length
That in the last 30 years, only 8 organizations have won an NBA Championship while 21 different MLB ones have. I don’t have a joke for that I just thought it was interesting
That the most exciting race in the Fall to me will be to see if Vlad Guerrero can hit 25 homers. He currently is tied with Gehrig for the most consecutive .300 avg/25 HR seasons. Right now, because of injuries, Vlad is batting .309 but has only 11 HR. He has hit 7 HRs in the 19 games since coming off the DL, and has 40 games left. At this pace, he’ll hit 26 this year. This would be a mammoth comeback and a remarkable record.
That Lou Gehrig actually doesn’t get enough credit. I hate Yankees as much as the next guy, but this year Gehrig lost his most-consecutive 150-hit seasons to Derek Jeter, and now with his consecutive .300/25 record potentially falling, there hasn’t been nearly enough made of his records. Yes, Ripken broke his games record, but Cal did it while hitting .276 and hit 431 HRs in 20 years; Lou did it while hitting .340 with 493 HRs in 16 years.
That I’m going to say it again: Lou Gehrig is the most underrated player in baseball history.
That Dan Monson didn’t schedule a difficult path for LBSU MBB this year, he scheduled a criminally insane path. At Duke, At Texas, At LMU, At Notre Dame, At Pepperdine, At Green Bay…and that’s just the first 2 months! Really? That seemed like a good idea, really?
That a Dodgers/Angels World Series would be the least watched World Series in history
That I don’t care how much it screws Fox, I want a Freeway Series World Series. Here’s hoping….
I’ll be back with my Football Season Thies’s Statements on Thursday