I was watching the Chicago Blackhawks-Vancouver Canucks Stanley Cup Playoff game last night. It was a well played game and Vancouver held a 4-3 lead late in the third period and the Chicago Blackhawks pulled their goalie so they could put an extra attacker on the ice.
That scenario creates the most exciting minute in sports. An empty goal at one end, 6-on-5 at the other end. The six desperately try to score the tieing goal by a slap shot, wrist shot, rebound, deflection, any means possible to score a goal.
The defense has one simple objective- keep the puck out of the net and try to get it out of the zone. An empty net at the other end of the ice is a big target but empty net goals are not as frequent as you would think.
The Chicago Blackhawks were peppering the Canucks defense and Goalie Roberto Luongo with shot after shot and the Canucks never really did get it out of their zone. One shot was deflected really high and came down to the right of Luongo. About 4 players had to wait for the puck to come down and they looked like they were waiting for a punt to come down. They didn't even have a face off during the last couple of minutes and it was just non-stop action.
Other sports have their exciting moments. Football has the two-minute drill and the Hail Mary, basketball has the last second shot, baseball has the bottom of the ninth inning, but last night was about two minutes of pure excitement, the fans were on their feet, I couldn't take my eyes off the TV, and you just can't beat it in sports.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Josh Hamilton
Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers is going to miss another couple of months of the baseball season (like he seems to every season). He broke a bone in his arm sliding into home and he wants to pin it on the "stupidity" of his third base coach Dave Anderson.
It was a baseball play. He would have scored on this play if he had been paying attention and not hesitated when he broke for home. If he would have been paying attention to the play in front of him he would not have needed his third base coach to tell him to go. As it is, the Rangers lost by one run to the Detroit Tigers.
I like watching Josh Hamilton play. He has overcome alot of personal problems to be the reigning American League MVP and I don't know if it was out of frustration at being injured again that he said this but he said it.
It was a baseball play. He would have scored on this play if he had been paying attention and not hesitated when he broke for home. If he would have been paying attention to the play in front of him he would not have needed his third base coach to tell him to go. As it is, the Rangers lost by one run to the Detroit Tigers.
I like watching Josh Hamilton play. He has overcome alot of personal problems to be the reigning American League MVP and I don't know if it was out of frustration at being injured again that he said this but he said it.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
So Many Sporting Events, So Little Time, and Only One TV
There was alot going on this weekend in the sporting world. The end of the regular season in hockey and pro basketball, the Masters, great rivalries going on in Major League Baseball, and minor league baseball getting cranked up.
I got on one of my favorite sports websites, hockeyfights.com, just a few minutes ago and was surprised to see that prolific goal scorer Teemu Selanne had picked up his first fighting major of his 18 year career. I watched the highlights of it and he gave a pretty good account of himself. The Chicago Blackhawks locked up the 16th and final playoff spot today but they backed in when the Dallas Stars lost. I watched the Carolina Hurricanes go in the tank last night in their opportunity to lock up the 8th seed so they will be watching from home.
I even watched a little bit of the Masters today which I hardly ever do but for whatever reason it piqued my interest. I thought the man that won it, Charl Schwartzel, was a major butthead. Before he put it on the green on the 18th hole he asked a camerman to back up several paces. It wasn't like the guy was standing close enough to get in the way of his shot. I think golf fans should be allowed to raise all sorts of hell when a player is trying to putt. If a batter can concentrate well enough to hit a 90 MPH fastball, then a golfer should be able to concentrate well enough to hit a 20 foot putt.
I have found myself watching alot of baseball this spring. The Cubs-Brewers, Phillies-Braves, and Yankees-Red Sox were all on this weekend and I caught a little bit of all of it. I am sick and tired of seeing the Yankees on TV or anywhere else for that matter but its a great rivalry and its still baseball.
I got on one of my favorite sports websites, hockeyfights.com, just a few minutes ago and was surprised to see that prolific goal scorer Teemu Selanne had picked up his first fighting major of his 18 year career. I watched the highlights of it and he gave a pretty good account of himself. The Chicago Blackhawks locked up the 16th and final playoff spot today but they backed in when the Dallas Stars lost. I watched the Carolina Hurricanes go in the tank last night in their opportunity to lock up the 8th seed so they will be watching from home.
I even watched a little bit of the Masters today which I hardly ever do but for whatever reason it piqued my interest. I thought the man that won it, Charl Schwartzel, was a major butthead. Before he put it on the green on the 18th hole he asked a camerman to back up several paces. It wasn't like the guy was standing close enough to get in the way of his shot. I think golf fans should be allowed to raise all sorts of hell when a player is trying to putt. If a batter can concentrate well enough to hit a 90 MPH fastball, then a golfer should be able to concentrate well enough to hit a 20 foot putt.
I have found myself watching alot of baseball this spring. The Cubs-Brewers, Phillies-Braves, and Yankees-Red Sox were all on this weekend and I caught a little bit of all of it. I am sick and tired of seeing the Yankees on TV or anywhere else for that matter but its a great rivalry and its still baseball.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Ball Four Re-Visited
I have been out of work for about three weeks now because of my foot and I have been desperately searching for reading material to have something to occupy my mind. I saw my copy of Ball Four sitting on a bookself and thought "Why not? I could use a good laugh."
It has been several years since I have read it cover-to-cover. The first time I read it was the mid-1980's about 15 years after it had been published and I got that copy out of the public library. It is a diary of Major League pitcher Jim Bouton's 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros.
Not only does it cover the daily life of a baseball player but it also covers relevant social issues of the day such as rascism, drugs, and touches on the Vietnam War. The baseball establishment was pissed when it came out. It made some of the major stars of the game (namely Mickey Mantle but included others of the Yankee Dynasty) look bad because of their off-field exploits. Drinking themselves senseless and "beaver shooting" from the roofs of hotels is a prime example. I really believe it got Jim Bouton blackballed from baseball.
I was only 5 or 6 when it was first published, playing tee-ball and too young to remember what the controversy was about. I still really don't understand why it was so controversial. It made the players of that era look human and was funny as hell. I would have loved to have written a book like that about my college years.
When I reread it, it was just as funny but thanks to the internet I was able to look up several of the players I had never heard of and the Seattle Pilots even have their own webpage now as does Jim Bouton. Several of the players that were mentioned in the book have started passing away. Greg Goossen comes to mind. It gave the book a whole new life and made it three-dimensional. I probably enjoyed it more now 40 years after the fact than I did 25 years ago when I first read it. Ball Four was named one of the 100 most important books of the 20th Century and it seems more relevant now.
It has been several years since I have read it cover-to-cover. The first time I read it was the mid-1980's about 15 years after it had been published and I got that copy out of the public library. It is a diary of Major League pitcher Jim Bouton's 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros.
Not only does it cover the daily life of a baseball player but it also covers relevant social issues of the day such as rascism, drugs, and touches on the Vietnam War. The baseball establishment was pissed when it came out. It made some of the major stars of the game (namely Mickey Mantle but included others of the Yankee Dynasty) look bad because of their off-field exploits. Drinking themselves senseless and "beaver shooting" from the roofs of hotels is a prime example. I really believe it got Jim Bouton blackballed from baseball.
I was only 5 or 6 when it was first published, playing tee-ball and too young to remember what the controversy was about. I still really don't understand why it was so controversial. It made the players of that era look human and was funny as hell. I would have loved to have written a book like that about my college years.
When I reread it, it was just as funny but thanks to the internet I was able to look up several of the players I had never heard of and the Seattle Pilots even have their own webpage now as does Jim Bouton. Several of the players that were mentioned in the book have started passing away. Greg Goossen comes to mind. It gave the book a whole new life and made it three-dimensional. I probably enjoyed it more now 40 years after the fact than I did 25 years ago when I first read it. Ball Four was named one of the 100 most important books of the 20th Century and it seems more relevant now.
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