John Quirk
So in a week filled with games 7's we are reminded why sport is so great, you push, you're pushed, but inevitably somebody's got to win. Let's start in the most obvious place (for me anyhow) Caps v. Penguins, Sid "the kid" versus Alex "the great" and while the nickname battle belongs to the Russian born sensation, this series went the way of scruffy chin. Needless to say watching Ovechkin is one of my greatest thrills in sports right now so I was pretty crushed to see the Caps go down, however there is a funny thing that happens when you don't taste success too early on in your career, a refocusing and rededicating can turn some otherwise one or two his wonders into perennial contenders. Jordan had to wait seven years before winning his first title... and promptly followed it up with two more for the 'threepeat.' The good news is both the caps and the pens have very bright futures with very competent GM's. Few things in sports are as sad as great players getting lost in insignificance playing for inept franchises (KG, Pierre Turgeon, and soon to be Kevin Durant) If Varlamov isn't just a flash in the pan, and if Pittsburgh can find a way to keep Malkin and Crosby on the payroll and still put a competitive team around them, this rivalry should flourish for years to come. Keep up the good work down in DC boys; it is a fun brand of hockey to watch.
I guess we'll keep it hockey (me and my crack support team) for the time being and shift attention to the Boston v. Carolina game 7. This series really was great in every sense of the word, especially so if you thought Boston's run of good sports fortune had to at least be slowed down. Despite all that, I really feel like beantown got hosed on the Scott Walker lack of a suspension. Had Aaron Ward been forearm shivering people post whistle like it was his job throughout that series and the playoffs? Yes, however, this is no way is carte blanche to throw your gloves down and break a man's eye socket. Even after he did it you can see that momentary look of 'o crap' in Walker's face as he almost tries to pull Ward up off the ground as if to say "I didn't really get you that bad... did I?" It was pretty awful, and the clip of the incident would be looping on a projector behind me if I was to make a presentation on why fighting in hockey needs to go. I love fighting, I think it is one of the things that makes hockey so great and unique, you really need to be sure of what you're doing and who you are messing with because it could mean you get knocked the fudge out... that being said, when the league decided not to take action on Walker, it opened the door for more goonery that will take away from the great hockey that is being played for the rest of the playoffs. As for the actually hockey played in this series, wow. Two hardnosed teams (think Steelers v. ravens) who literally left it all out there, fitting that it would end in overtime, not so fitting that Aaron Ward scored the game winner/ series ender. I can't think the higher ups in the NHL enjoyed seeing that but sleep in that bed you made gentlemen.
Well now I'm on a hockey kick so let's keep this train a rollin. Probably the most intriguing series to me after Caps Pens, the Detroit Anaheim series was a great chess match between two well coached, veteran squads. A couple things became evident during this series, first off the scare tactics that Anaheim used on its way to the finals a couple years back don't work anymore, both because they don't have the bruisers they used to, and also because the league obviously didn’t like the .7 national television rating that Stanley Cup received that year. http://www.hockeyslash.com/TV_RATINGS.html
One cannot be impressed by the big red machine, and that is really what they are. 18 skaters, who all play well, have all of their own individual strengths which shine through, yet they look like the most systematic team I have ever seen. Positioning, toughness, and guys who can flat out light the lamp make them easily the scariest team in the playoffs, problem is they also have the scariest goalie. If the right Osgood shows up for the remainder of this postseason, big D should waltz to another cup, and Detroit (unlike Boston) is a city that deserves, and could use a moral lifter.
Speaking of Boston, how's Stephon Marbury working out? Had to get that in, he has made himself to be one of the biggest villains in professional sports in my opinion. The asinine quotes this guy would drop in the Post were legendary. When people think of the spoiled, I can get away with anything athlete, Marbury is who they envision... but I digress. This actually ended up being a great, not good, but great NBA series which kept my interest throughout. From the KG saga of will he or won't he, to the Rafer Alston "stop draining three's in my grill" head slap on James Posey, this series had a lot of layers. I really would have liked to see KG in this series despite my disdain for Boston area sports teams. I think when you have great players like that in a league you want to see them play, no matter what team they are on... plus now Bill Simmons and every other Boston lover will have the "well we didn't have out best player" excuse, to be copied an pasted to all related emails for the entire summer. As it stands though, the Magic are moving on following an impressive win at the Gaaaaaaaden up in Red Sox nation. My only question going forward in the playoffs, especially for Cleveland and their cast of soft European bigs... Who is going to guard Dwight Howard?????
Last but certainly not least... well actually it probably was because never did I think that Von Wafer was going to outduel Kobe in the Staples Center with the season on the line... call me crazy. What we did see is why I think the Lakers will inevitably meet their demise in these playoffs. When pushed to that game 7, LA responded sure, but how are we somehow not to think that for the 3 games that Houston stole, LA didn't play down to their level... way down. Yes I know Yao wasn't hurt for the entire series and that Artest and Battier may be the best suited in the league to cover the black mamba, but that just goes to show how soft what is around Kobe really is. Bynum is not healthy yet and Pau Gasol plays like it is formula one as opposed to NASCAR, trying not to bump at all costs! I used to word stole when talking about the games that the Rockets won intentionally. How else do you explain a team without its top two scorers and talents, pushing the gold and purple this far? Lebron didn't let the Hawks stick around and the Lakers are lucky it didn't cost them. A couple poor shooting nights from Gasol and Bryant accompanied with a hot Artest could have spelled the end for the Lakers... to a Yao and McGrady-less Rockets team. Maybe it will refocus LA, but for me, all roads now go through Cleveland.
