Stealing signs

So, the Kentucky Derby came and went and I haven’t had a free moment to post a new blog since it happened.

The favorite Big Brown won the race, but the victory was overshadowed when the runner up, Eight Belles, was euthanized.

Immediately following the race, the horse feel to the ground and both broke its ankles. Trainers then put down the horse on the track in front of the Churchill Downs crowd.

I’m not a race horsing expert, nor have I ever been to a race, but from what I’ve heard, this doesn’t happen all that often.

It was a tragedy to lose a horse in that fashion right after the race concluded, but the decision was made to save the horse from suffering.

NBC chose not to broadcast what happened and rightfully so. I don’t think anyone would have wanted or needed to see something so sad and horrific.

On the positive side, Big Brown is this year’s darling horse and now it becomes the horse everyone will pull for to win the Preakness and hopefully have a shot at the Triple Crown.

My friend Mike bet a ridiculous amount of money on the race and lost miserably. He should’ve stuck with the favorite, but didn’t. He went with Pyro who finished 14^th, not good. I picked Colonel John who didn’t finish much better in 12^th.

The Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers tipped off their playoff series Tuesday night with the Celtics taking Game 1 at home. This series should be a great one after last night’s close finish.

LeBron James had a miserable game along with Celtics players Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. You have to think that James will bounce back with a monster Game 2 on Thursday night. James dominated the Celtics all season which is why I was surprised he struggled in Game 1.

 Boston’s defensive game plan looks to be this: smother James and let everyone else step up. It’s working so far. James was 2-for-18 with 12 points; most of those came at the free-throw line. With the ball in his hands at the finish, James missed what looked like a gimme layup. It rolled off the rim and James Posey got the rebound for Boston.

 Allen was held scoreless in a game of any kind for the first time since 1997. Ouch.

Avery Johnson is out as coach of the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns coach Mike D’Antoni could be headed in the same direction.

Both teams were eliminated from the first round in just five games, basically blown out of the playoffs. These teams have been stellar squads the last few years. Dallas played in the NBA Finals, losing convincingly to Miami in 2006.

Phoenix has been one of the best teams in the league over the last five years or so. Steve Nash has been one of if not the best point guards in the league, but somehow the Suns couldn’t get it done.

With the West as tight as it was this season, we’re now starting to see how important seeding is. The Suns drew the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in the first round, an unfavorable matchup for anyone. This series was the most exciting in last year’s playoffs with the Spurs advancing after Amare Stoudemire’s controversial suspension in the middle of the series.

Some say that suspension cost the Suns the series. But this year it wasn’t even close. Despite trading for Shaquille O’Neal before the trading deadline Phoenix never got better.

Speaking of blockbuster trades to improve your team, Dallas added Jason Kidd, but looked much worse with the All-Star point guard. How does that happen?

This is one of the rare circumstances with coaching changes that I feel a move is for the better. Usually I question how much of a role a coach really has with a team. Every team is filled with professionals and I often times think they should be able to produce no matter who’s on the bench holding the dry erase board.

In this case, these are super talented teams and there is no excuse for why they aren’t producing. The only reason I can think of is that the coach isn’t doing his job. So, maybe it’s for the best.

D’Antoni hasn’t been canned yet, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it happens later today, despite the front office dying those allegations.

Game 5 between the Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks is tonight. This game is a huge turning point in the series. I think whoever wins this one will have all the momentum in the series. Atlanta has more right now, but I can’t say they have it all since they have to hit the road and play in Boston tonight. I guarantee the Boston fans will make the environment hostile for the Hawks who have stirred up trouble and a few confrontations thus far in the series.

Go Celtics!

Somehow the Atlanta Hawks have won two straight games an evened up their best-of-7 game series with the Boston Celtics 2-2.

I don’t know how this happened.

The lowly Hawks are the worst team record wise in the playoffs. I never thought they’d even come within 10 points of winning a game against the Celtics.

My friend Brian is a big fan of anything Atlanta sports and he sent me a text message following the game last night that said “How bout my Hawks now.”

Well good for them, they won two games at home. But I’m not scared as he kindly suggested. In the playoffs, a team is supposed to win at home, so no worries. The Celtics have home court advantage and will win at home. So, worst-case scenario the Celtics win in seven, but they still win.

I think the Hawks definitely have Boston on its heels, but there’s no way the Celts drop the series, I mean come on, let’s be real, the Hawks aren’t even a .500 team. They’re just a bunch of punks playing prison ball out there.

My friend Zack also text messaged me about the series. He’s a big Celtics fan too. I think he’d agree with me that we’re surprised, but not worried.

The NHL and NBA playoffs are in full swing. Hockey already got its first taste of drama with the Montreal Canadiens knocking off the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of a first-round series Monday night.

I wasn’t as bummed out that the Bruins lost as I thought I’d be. I definitely got excited when they won game 6 to force a deciding game, but the loss didn’t mean all that much to me.

I wasn’t expecting much from the B’s since they were a No. 8 seed and to be honest, I haven’t followed the Bruins as religiously as I do with the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics. But I did watch a few games of the series, whenever they were on, and naturally pulled for my hometown boys in black and yellow.

But I do stand firm in saying that the NHL playoffs are extremely entertaining. I love this time of year. The intensity rises and the hits are ferocious on the ice. I remember just two years ago this month I was on the Carolina Hurricanes beat as they cruised through the playoffs and into the Stanley Cup finals.

The Hurricanes won it all that year and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. It was so cool to be at a major sporting championship, and yes, hockey is still a major sport.

Alongside the NHL is the NBA’s postseason which I don’t usually care for. I think both leagues drag out their postseasons, but the NBA seems to start off at snail speed. For example, the Celtics crushed the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night in Boston. Game 2 of that series isn’t until Wednesday night and the game is still in Boston. There is no reason they can’t just play the game Tuesday or even Monday. Why do they need at least one day off after every game, it’s ridiculous.

There are also so many teams in the playoffs that I don’t really start paying attention until it gets closer to the end. I mean the Hawks for example are the No. 8 seed and they’re terrible. They have no chance of beating Celtics. Their record is way below .500 and they flat out stink and aren’t worthy of the playoffs. A team like the Golden State Warriors, well above .500, just missed the playoffs.

It’d make more sense to just take the 16 best teams, but that’ll never happen. It just doesn’t make me want to watch the lowly Hawks play instead of a quality team like Golden State. It’s really too bad.

Every year the NFL Draft is made into a bigger deal than half of the championships in sports.

There is more unnecessary coverage of the draft than coverage of the NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals, the College World Series and the Women’s Final Four. That fact is sad.

I change the channel every time they start talking on ESPN about who’s going to pick who in the draft. Who cares? Why with all the speculation?

I care about who my favorite tram drafts obviously, I’m not saying that, but why would I want to hear hours and hours of television debate, speculating something that’s almost impossible to predict.

There is no way anyone can tell who a team is going to pick with the 20^th selection in the first round. And in this year’s draft no one even knows who’s going to go No. 1 overall. So why waste everyone’s time by guessing. It’s just stupid.

Tell me what teams need and what positions they are looking into because that is useful information. But don’t tell me who’s going where and in what round, it’s just foolish.

There are plenty of other sports going on and things to talk about, why talk about the NFL Draft. It’s not a game, a controversy, or anything really. It’s just teams picking players in order. I usually don’t even watch the actual draft. There isn’t really anything exciting going on. It’s just more pointless analysis and discussion. I bet if someone went through after the draft and amazed the analysis, they’d find that most of what was said was inaccurate, therefore a waste of time.

Just a thought.

The 16 teams that will fight for an NBA title are set in stone. The only thing left to be determined is seeding in the Western Conference, but with the Golden State Warriors losing Monday night to Phoenix, they were eliminated and secured the eighth spot for Denver.

I’m actually excited about the NBA playoffs this year pretty much because the Boston Celtics are in it again. With the Celtics missing out the last few years I really haven’t cared much for the playoffs, but now I have reason to watch again. The Celtics have the best record in the NBA and will open with the Atlanta Hawks, whom they swept 3-0 during the regular season. I better clear off a week in June for the finals.

A week between games is too much for a fan to wait.It’s only been three days since the last Elite 8 game was played, but it feels like forever.

With all that’s riding on my March Madness bracket I want the Final Four to be here already. I can’t stand the wait.

I’m also in a big dilemma. I’ve had plans to drive down to Charlotte to see the Boston Celtics play the Bobcats. I’ve been excited about this trip for weeks. Finally, I’ll get a chance to see the Big Three, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce tear it up on the hardwood first hand.

Well, the issue is that the game is right in the middle of the Final Four. If I went to the Celtics game I’d only be able to catch the end of the North Carolina vs. Kansas game and miss the other game completely. So, I’m not sure what to do.

All of my friends in Charlotte don’t want to miss the college games which disappoints me, but either do I. I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but basically I want to see all three games. I wish there was a way to move up the college games, then I would have exactly what I want. Sounds too good to be true.

The Celtics are close to clinching the top seed in the Eastern Conference, something which is far from a done deal in the West. It’s still a tight race in that half with every game playing a huge role in the seeding process. If the regular season has been this exciting we can only imagine what a great postseason is in store.

I was lucky enough to return home last night and catch some of the Red Sox game against the Oakland A’s. It was the perfect cap to a great night.

The Red Sox won the game on the back of an outstanding pitching performance from Daisuke Matsuzaka. The Japanese star struck out nine and was commanding his fast ball the whole game. He was finally challenging hitters with the heat, something he struggled to do last year. Another good sign for Dice-K was that he didn’t walk anyone. He’s been known to have control issues and struggled with finding the strike zone, but not Monday night.

What could be the biggest game of the college basketball season takes place Saturday night.

Who will win the Tobacco Road showdown between North Carolina and Duke?

I’m picking the Tar Heels and here’s why. The last time around North Carolina was without point guard Ty Lawson and even though Lawson isn’t 100 percent, the Heels are in much better shape with him on the court.

When Duke beat the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, North Carolina was struggling to find offensive rhythm. It was pretty much the first game the Heels had to play with Quentin Thomas at point guard. Thomas looked sloppy at times and although he had some nice drives to the lane for baskets, he got away from what North Carolina does best and that’s give it to Psycho T, Tyler Hansbrough.

Look for North Carolina to learn from its mistakes and feed the ball into the paint to exploit the mismatch. The Blue Devils have no one to cover Hansbrough and he went off last time around. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hansbrough scored 40 points Saturday night because he’s just that good.

 Also, the tragedy that hit the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this week will only inspire the players. The student body president was killed and the entire campus has been mourning the last few days. It’s an unfortunate event, but I think the Tar Heels will give the students something to cheer about.

For Duke to win, it will need to get hot from 3-point range, something it was able to do in Chapel Hill. Greg Paulus needs to find his shooting touch and make those lucky 3’s that always tick me off if Duke wants to have a chance.

Kyle Singler also needs to shoot well and prove why he’s one of the top freshmen in the country.

No matter who wins, it’s going to be a great game and the energy will be insane. The winner will also take home the regular season ACC crown. We might get lucky to see these two powerhouses square off again next weekend in Charlotte for the ACC Tournament final. Now wouldn’t that be special.

It appears my post a few weeks ago was totally inaccurate. I wrote off the Houston Rockets after center Yao Ming went down for the season.

The Rockets have done nothing but win since the injury. Winners of 17 straight games, the Rockets are getting production from everyone on their roster and I’m shocked.

With help from Bobby Jackson and Carl Landry, Tracy McGrady has his team in fifth place in the Western Conference and just 2 ½ games out of first.

Dikembe Mutombo has filled in nicely for Yao and the team chemistry has really made a difference. The Rockets are playing together and that’s made a huge impact on their success. I just wanted to say that it looks like I was wrong. Good work Rockets.

What is the deal with Greg Paulus’ black eyes?

I watched Duke whip up on Virginia Wednesday night, but all I could take from the game was a lingering question to why in the world Paulus always has at least one black eye. Always.

Every Duke game I watch he has a black eye. Are his teammates beating him up? I don’t like him and I don’t even know him, so I wouldn’t doubt it if after each game Gerald Henderson and Demarcus Nelson were taking shots at the scrawny white kid. I know he got slugged against N.C. State, but it seems to always be there and on both eyes.

I’ll give him credit though for keeping a smile. In a postgame interview with the lovely Stacey Dales, Paulus had that punch me in the eye grin on his face and I was praying that Stacy would pop him for me, but she didn’t. So who is lining Paulus up against the wall and delivering blows?

After listening to my least favorite broadcaster in the world Mike Patrick call the game, I knew it wasn’t him who was clocking Paulus. Patrick feels the need to get excited and go wild for a 3-pointer two minutes into every game. It’s really sad. Doesn’t he have better things in his life to get excited about? Probably not, seeing that he looks like a turtle. I’m surprised he hasn’t quit broadcasting and become the mascot for Maryland. It’d be a good fit for him.

I seem to be very pro-Carolina this week. That should get my Tar Heel readers excited. It kind of surprises me because North Carolina beat Boston College on Saturday. You’d think I’d be bitter. I guess I was having such a good time in Charleston, S.C. that I shrugged off the loss.

But as our editor Madison Taylor pointed out in our daily budget meeting this morning, Alex is a pro sports guy. And he’s exactly right. With the Celtics winners of six straight, including a win against the second-best team in the Eastern Conference, the Detroiut Pistons, I’ve got nothing else on my mind.

UNC Wilmington handed Elon University its first loss of the season in baseball Wednesday, what a shame. I was hoping the Phoenix could keep its undefeated streak alive a bit longer. It didn’t give up though. Trailing 18-8 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Elon put up eight runs to make things interesting.

I almost went to the game after work Wednesday, but declined. I’m glad I did, only because then I would’ve felt responsible for the loss, seeing that the only game I would have attended would have been the only loss. I’m a baseball guy, therefore I’m very superstitious.

Be afraid.

Ty Lawson played his first home game in a month and scored 10 points in 20 minutes on the court against Florida State on Tuesday night.

The Tar Heels won easily, and despite another scary moment when Lawson left briefly with another minor injury, North Carolina finally looks like its No. 1 status.

With only the hated Duke Blue Devils remaining on the regular season schedule, the Tar Heels get their speedy guard back just in time. I wrote about the Heels the other day, noting their need to stay alert after a rude awakening against Boston College, but this time around they seem to have gotten the message.

Lawson still isn’t close to 100 percent, but just his presence on the court helps keep the ball at North Carolina’s end of the court. Talking to some Tar Heels fans, every time Quentin Thomas touches the ball they hold their breath. He has his bright spots and has done a decent job filling in for Lawson, but everyone in Tar Heel country feels more comfortable with the rock in Lawson’s grip.

Plus, I always want Duke and Carolina at full strength or close to it when they play since it makes for a closer battle. Lawson was missing for the last encounter, but will be on the floor at Cameron Indoor on Saturday night. No. 1 vs. No. 6 in the nation should be a treat for college hoops fans everywhere.

The Boston Celtics signed veteran guard Sam Cassel this week to solidify its roster heading towards the postseason. Cassel won’t play tonight against the Detroit Pistons though, which is guaranteed to be a hell of a game.

All the talk is of the Western Conference’s talent and it should be with the top eight teams within five games of each other. It’s really anyone’s game for every seed. But left in the dust have been Detroit and Boston, the top two teams in the entire league.

My dad will be at tonight’s game at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston and I told him Monday night that he’s one lucky guy. He’ll also be going next week against Portland and he attended the home opener earlier in the year which drew a wild crowd for Kevin Garnett’s debut.

Tonight, he’ll be enjoying a luxury box which I’ve never set foot in. Lucky man, I know. But he’s worked so hard his whole life and he’s one of the most dedicated people I’ve ever known so I’m really excited for him to finally be able to enjoy some perks in life.

Attending a game like this isn’t a recurring theme for him by any means, so he’ll take what he can get. I just hope he paints his chest green and wears his KG jersey while slurping down a few Sam Adams on tap. Unlikely, but it’d be quite the site.

Finally, Chinese superstar Yao Ming started playing like the great player he was hyped to be. Tons of international attention circled around him for years with no results until this year.

That all came crashing down Tuesday when the Houston Rockets announced that Yao is out for the season with a stress fracture in his left foot.

The Rockets had won 12 straight games and were right in the mix in the tight battle for the playoffs in the Western Conference before the injury.

Yao was averaging 22 points and 10.8 rebounds a game before the injury which team officials said didn’t result from any specific incident. Doctors said the injury was caused from continued stress on the area.

Houston is the No. 7 seed in the West right now, but only sits three games out of first. On the other hand, they’re only three games out of missing the playoffs. I think this injury eliminates the Rockets from the playoff picture because the Denver Nuggets are the team looking in from the outside. The Nuggets are too good to not take advantage of Yao’s injury and creep up into the playoffs.

Tough loss for Houston, but it looks like the time frame on his absence won’t force him to miss the Summer Olympics in Beijing in August.

The Tennessee’s men’s basketball team has been No. 1 in the country for less than two days, but the Volunteers will have a big test tonight. The Vols will travel to Nashville, Tenn. to take on No. 14 Vanderbilt. Tough break for Tennessee.

I watched Tennessee beat Memphis on Saturday night and it was a great game. I expect the same to be true of tonight’s SEC matchup. The SEC has been a weak conference, but Vanderbilt has been one of few bright spots in the league, surprising many with their success, including myself.

I still think Tennessee wins and hangs on to the top spot. Bruce Pearl is just too good of a coach to let a No. 1 ranking get to his team’s heads.