It's been a while since I've posted which is entirely my fault for trying to figure out what to my life since my beloved college experience has ended and with it my journalism career, which is why NewYork Sportsblog 5000 is being revived and you all benefit from my stellar writing abilities. But a lot has happened since my last post and I'll take you through the good (the Mets), the bad (A-Rod), and the ugly (Randy Johnson - literally and figuratively. I mean seriously he's the ugliest man alive and unfortunately for his illegitimate daughter she looks exactly like him. Imagine going through life looking like that...OK back on topic).
Since my last post the tired Mets bullpen has had time to rest, the back-end of their rotation looks solid, their offense has exploded (minus Cliff Floyd), Carlos Beltran - if only for a week - looks like a nine-figure player, David Wright has become one of the best players in the NL, Tom Glavine has struggled, and Pedro finally got a win. They have built the largest lead in the majors, 7.5 games over the Phillies, and are currently 7-1 on a 10-game West Coast/Philadelphia road trip that was 'going to define their season.' But there is some bad news....wait there's no bad news, this is the best stretch of baseball for the Mets since their run in 1999 when they went 40-15 after firing three coaches.
As for the Yankees there's a lot not to like, however as of the standings today, June 14...really the 14th already!...the Yanks are tied for the lead in the East, obviously with Boston. Jeter and A-Rod are playing hurt or sick right now, Sheffield and Matsui are out, which looked OK at first but now the league is figuring out how to pitch to Melky Cabrera and now it's a problem again. Their rotation is a mess with the Big Ugly crashing harder then Robert Downey Jr., Shawn Chacon battling injuries, Aaron Small being Aaron Small again. Their bullpen is just waiting for Octavio Dotel to walk through the door so Scott Proctor can feel his arm again and Kyle Farnsworth won't have to come in only to blow a lead before one of the greatest closers of all time, Mariano Rivera. But with all these problems, (don't even get me started on the Giambino's hand and how much it's hurting my fantasy team), they're still tied for first.
On to the biggest tragedy in sports at the moment, the US Soccer Team. Their draw in the World Cup is not only the toughest route in the world but comes at a time when the MLS is doing alright, Landon Donovan and DeMarcus Beasley are almost household names and people were just starting to pay attention. But then US draws a group with the #2 team in the world in the Czech Republic, European powerhouse Italy, and the best African team in Ghana. Should the US somehow survive that and come finish second in their group allowing them to advance to the elimination round, they get the pleasure of playing Brazil. For those that aren't clear on this, Brazil is to soccer what the 90's Yankees were to baseball. Except if the Yankees were three times as good as they were, and actually had fun while playing. Anyway so much for soccer in the US.
Watched the NBA Finals last night and remembered real quick why I hate basketball, the refs get too caught up in the momentum of the game and literally change the outcome. They called Dirk Nowitski for a moving pick, decided not to call a foul when Eric Dampier got pushed going up for a rebound which allowed Shaq to grab it, and missed several other loose ball fouls on Miami. They pretty much handed them the game.
Watched the NHL Finals and it took about two minutes to remind me why I love hockey. For those of you that don't know the Carolina Hurricanes are playing the Edmonton Oilers and the crowd in Edmonton is just constantly loud and raucous. Edmonton was throwing some vicious body checks at full speed, with Carolina showing off the speed and open ice the new NHL allows. It's the best sport out there and I'll defend it against basketball any day of the week.
Anyway it's good to be back and I gotta run now but I promise to keep up with the blog from now on or else bigshow will make me feel guilty again and we can't have that.