Orange ending-- Syracuse Lacrosse's two-year reign as National Champs came to an end with a stunning 9-8 double overtime loss to Army in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in the Carrier Dome. The high-octane offense netted just four goals in the final three periods. The denying defense allowed a momentum-changing score by the Black Knights with one second remaining in the first half. SU was crushed on faceoffs as well; if you don't have the ball you can't control the tempo, score or both. I should have known when I couldn't order chicken wings at my alumni group's gamewatching location-- seriously, no chicken wings? You're a bar! Showing sports on TV! Really, no wings? I'm holding the bar responsible for the SU loss.
Goin' to the Glue Factory-- "Lookin at Lucky" rode to victory at the Preakness... meaning there will be no Triple Crown winner again this year (Seattle Slew and Carl Yastrzemski remain the trivia answers). And guess what? We won't even have "Lookin at Lucky" (for heaven's sake at least throw in a g or an apostrophe--do you think you're Splenda or something?) or Derby winner "Super Saver" in the Belmont Stakes. That means instead of little buzz there will be no buzz whatsoever at the Belmont next month... and horse racing will go back into hibernation until next May (with the brief Breeder's Cup wakeup this fall).
My proposal to make horse racing relevant again: let's recognize that today's horses are different-- the way they've been bred (and inbred), their training methods (chemical assistance included), etc-- and recognize that you can't run a three year old three times in five weeks and expect optimum performance without ruining the horse. Move the Preakness to the first Saturday in June. Move the Belmont to the First Saturday in July. Let the horses regain their steam before trotting them out again to face poor performance or injury. Create some buzz about your sport. Yes, horse racing is all about tradition. And a world without tradition is as shaky as a fiddler on the roof-- but you're house is about to be bulldozed in the new-look sports neighborhood. Your tradition was set in the 19th century-- please join us in the 21st!
Will they become the Terrific Twelve or the Super Sixteen? The Big Ten looks to expand... and the league is sizing up Notre Dame (natural midwest fit but too snooty to join a conference), Missouri (completes western wing of states aka Iowa-Missouri), Pitt (close to Ohio State and Penn State), Nebraska (tapping into that underrated Omaha TV market) and Rutgers (technically in the New York market, but really?). Other names in the mix include Syracuse and Maryland-- I won't even get into that. Perfect world-Notre Dame joins up and the Big Ten Plus Two stays at an even dozen-- any more than 12 schools and the league becomes unwieldy, especially for football. Also, the expense drain on non-revenue sports can't be minimal.
Hoops Heaven-- could we have another Celtic-Laker Finals? Both teams looked solid in winning their respective game ones. Conspiracy Theorists will pore over every 50-50 call... and focus on how the league wants no part of a Suns-Magic matchup. The problem with a four tier playoff system is the conference finals get stretched out so the Finals can begin on a certain date. Thus, we have three and four days off between games... just when we're getting the pro basketball buzz it fades away.
Hockey Hell-- the NHL Playoffs always are a rather contrarian affair; how can you explain the Eastern Conference Finals between 7th seeded Philadelphia and 8th place Montreal? Not only did the Canadiens dispose of the defending champs and annointed ones-- they rallied to win series in the grasps of both the Penguins and Capitals. This of course is small potatoes compared to what Philadelphia did-- rallying from a 3-0 series hole to beat Boston. It happened in the 1940's (Toronto topping Detroit) and the 1970's (Islanders over Pittsburgh)... and the Bruins turn whatever karma the rest of the hub had to offer (Sox, Celts and Pats 6 titles) into compost. Out west San Jose faces Chicago in the biggest week for the Sharks since Chino shot Tony.
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