It’s really quite wild how much can change over two playoff games. After the Bulls’ depressing, limp Game 3 loss at home, everyone was writing about how they should blow up the Bulls, how they should have traded for Pau Gasol, how they were too young, how Ben Wallace had no heart. And now, after two oddly convincing wins over the Pistons, the Bulls are spritely and spirited, and the Pistons are scared. And they’re gonna be rather nuts at the United Center tonight too, or at least they better be.
They’re keeping this all in perspective over at Blog A Bull, but there’s a vague sense of concern at Detroit Bad Boys.
We can’t imagine the Pistons will feel all that comfortable heading back to The Palace for a Game 7, with the Bulls feeling like they’re world beaters. We weren’t expecting much fun to come out of the Eastern Conference playoffs, but if the Bulls can win tonight, we’re gonna have plenty. And considering the travesty that is the Cavs-Nets series, the NBA Finals are at stake. For old times sake, the Bulls should let Tim Floyd coach.
We appreciate that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, lacking that whole “fanbase” thing, are trying unconventional ways to rile up some local support. But no mascot, not even Raymond, should ever have to wear this outfit.
It’s all part of the Devil Rays’ “Legends Of Wrestling Night” at the Trop tomorrow night.
Lucky Fans in attendance will receive tickets to Wrestlemania XXIV and upcoming WWE Raw, as well as WWE merchandise! Legend of Wrestling Night will include in-game interviews, post-game matches, and autograph signings with: WWE Hall of Famers Bret “The Hitman” Hart, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, and the voice of WWE “Mean” Gene Okerlund. In addition, other WWE Legends like The Return of The Nasty Boys, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. Players and Coaches will be involved in the matches.
Honestly, though, if someone doesn’t suplex Raymond, we’re going to be sorely disappointed.
Yeah, though, they’re getting rather fired up about this.
When we first heard that the NFL would stage a regular season game in London, we could hardly contain our glee. Are you kidding? The world’s finest on-field violence, coupled with the world’s premeire hooliganism? It’s the perfect storm. European fans evidently agree, as 40,000 tickets for the game — between the Dolphins and the Giants at 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium on Oct. 28 — were sold out in about 90 minutes on Wednesday. Let’s get ready to rumble, you scousers!
We are thinking of attending simply to hear a vendor yell: “Bangers, here! Get your red hot bangers!”
“The speed in which such a large number of tickets were snapped up … demonstrates the great excitement and appetite for the game in this country,” said Alistair Kirkwood, managing director of NFL UK. “We know that the last few tickets available in this first batch will be gone very soon.”
In Britain, there’s always someone named Alistair around to state the obvious. In America we call that person Dan Dierdorf.
But our only real regret is that the Raiders aren’t playing, so that we could watch a British person hurt himself trying to pronounce Adimchinobe Echemandu.
When we first heard that the NFL would stage a regular season game in London, we could hardly contain our glee. Are you kidding? The world’s finest on-field violence, coupled with the world’s premeire hooliganism? It’s the perfect storm. European fans evidently agree, as 40,000 tickets for the game — between the Dolphins and the Giants at 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium on Oct. 28 — were sold out in about 90 minutes on Wednesday. Let’s get ready to rumble, you scousers!
We are thinking of attending simply to hear a vendor yell: “Bangers, here! Get your red hot bangers!”
“The speed in which such a large number of tickets were snapped up … demonstrates the great excitement and appetite for the game in this country,” said Alistair Kirkwood, managing director of NFL UK. “We know that the last few tickets available in this first batch will be gone very soon.”
In Britain, there’s always someone named Alistair around to state the obvious. In America we call that person Dan Dierdorf.
But our only real regret is that the Raiders aren’t playing, so that we could watch a British person hurt himself trying to pronounce Adimchinobe Echemandu.
Not long after the Red Sox’s game against the Tigers was postponed because of rain Wednesday, [Red Sox pitcher Julian] Tavarez was predicting October baseball for the Red Sox and extolling the virtues of doubleheaders — even if he’s never heard of Mr. “Let’s play two”, aka Mr. Cub.
“I don’t know who Ernie Banks is, but I hope he was a good guy,” Tavarez said. “I’m like him, I hope.”
To be fair, we’re not sure if Julian Tavarez knows who J.D. Drew is either.
As George Costanza famously noted, it’s important to go out on a high note. If you tell a joke at a party and get a huge laugh, you excuse yourself and quit while you’re ahead. Apparently subscribing to this philosophy, Warriors coach Don Nelson — having vanquished the invincible Mavericks with a team that wasn’t even supposed to be in the playoffs — as waved to his party guests and announced “That’s it for me, folks!”
“I’m kind of anticipating coming back, but I’m not sure,” said Nelson, who turned 67 on Tuesday. “It’s just whether I want to put my body and mind through another tough year or two. That would be the main issue.” The once-retired coach plans to retreat to Maui on Friday with his wife, Joy, and decompress after a roller-coaster season in which the Warriors rallied from irrelevance into the best story line of the postseason. Nelson will see the Warriors at least through the draft — though he’s skipping the league’s official predraft camp in Orlando — and hopes to reach a decision by July 1, when free agency begins.
It’s hard to imagine a better gig for an NBA coach: A former player of yours is the GM, expectations are relatively low, the players love you and you get to bring your dog to work. What, you’d rather spend your old age at the Springfield Retirement Castle? But then again, there has probably never been, in the history of sports, a better time for a coach to go out on a high note than with Nelson, right now. Sans a championship, anyway.
This is how ugly that Cavaliers-Nets series has become: The Nets scored six fourth-quarter points, on the road, facing elimination … and they won by 11 points. As the Bulls-Pistons series stirs slowly back to life, this plodding, limping joke of a series still stumbles along, one team emerging victories because someone has to win.
Well, if you haven’t been reading all season, we have a really hard time getting behind a group of players that flat out don’t care, and if you think the Cavaliers care after watching them get rolled at home by the Nets last night, you’re watching a different team than we are.
Friday night, the series heads back to East Rutherford. Tickets are still available. A lot of them, actually.
Congratulations, though, to the Nets, for once again getting back to .500 for the season.
Views from around the Web after last night’s pivotal Game 5 between the Spurs and Suns …
• The Bright Side Of The Sun: “I’m proud of the way the Suns played this game. They could have just given in and they didn’t. They played their hearts out and were a 3 point shot away from winning it. They got 5 more shots than the Spurs. They shot the exact same percentage - 40.3%. They only missed 1 free throw. They won the rebound game. They won the assist game. Unfortunately, they had 2 more turnovers and that was what killed them. I wonder what David Stern is thinking right now. I know he was scheduled to come to Phoenix for this game but canceled because he was afraid for his life. And he should have been.”
• Taking It To The Rack: “By the end of last night’s game in Phoenix, it didn’t matter who was active or suspended. What mattered was that the Suns had controlled play for close to 45 minutes on their home floor…and all they had to show for it was a loss that put them on the brink of elimination as they head to San Antonio for Game 6. Who you are is irrelevant in that type of situation; this is a loss that would be a major blow to anyone. “>
• The Painted Area: “Must say, this series ain’t too shabby. Game 5 played out very similar to Game 4 where one team seemed to have firm control of the game but couldn’t close the deal. The one key difference between Game 4 & 5– the Spurs got to play the spoiler tonite instead. It looked like the Spurs came out very tentative in the 1st half, and seemed like they almost felt guilty that the Suns were short-handed, and they looked confused at what the Suns were doing–the Spurs only scored 33 ots in the 1st half (a season low). But after halftime, it looked like they shook off the early game rust & reticence.”
• Five Tool Tool: “In a decision that seems sure to spark a national controversy, ESPN and TNT have announced a joint plan to euthanize the NBA Playoffs.”
It’s really quite wild how much can change over two playoff games. After the Bulls’ depressing, limp Game 3 loss at home, everyone was writing about how they should blow up the Bulls, how they should have traded for Pau Gasol, how they were too young, how Ben Wallace had no heart. And now, after two oddly convincing wins over the Pistons, the Bulls are spritely and spirited, and the Pistons are scared. And they’re gonna be rather nuts at the United Center tonight too, or at least they better be.
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In this day and age of instant gratification, it is reassuring to know that today’s stars 
As George Costanza famously noted, it’s important to go out on a high note. If you tell a joke at a party and get a huge laugh, you excuse yourself and quit while you’re ahead. Apparently subscribing to this philosophy, Warriors coach 
This is how ugly that Cavaliers-Nets series has become: The Nets scored 
Views from around the Web after last night’s pivotal Game 5 between the Spurs and Suns …