CHRIS & BEN: THE WORLD OF SPORTS

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

1. GOING THE DISTANCE.....And so it will be for the 2013 NBA Finals, a seventh-game showdown on Thursday between the defending-champion Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs, who are going for their fifth crown in the past 14 seasons......The teams have traded victories through the first six games, with Miami prevailing last night in an overtime classic, 103-100, to stay alive.....LeBron James, trying to avoid going to 1-3 in Finals appearances, carried Miami back from a 13-point 3rd-quarter deficit, and Ray Allen's desperation three-pointer from the corner with 5.2 seconds left forced overtime.....Tim Duncan hit for 30 for the Spurs, and Kawhi Leonard was outstanding again with 22 points and 11 rebounds......

2. SEVEN, OUT.....For the streaking Padres, a season-reviving, seven-game win streak came to an end last night in San Francisco, the Giants rallying for a 5-4 victory and dropping the Padres back into fourth place in the tight NL West.....Home runs by Nick Hundley, Jesus Guzman and Logan Forsythe were not enough for San Diego, which now trails first-place Arizona by two games in the division.....The Snakes beat the Miami Marlins, 3-2, on Paul Goldschmidt's game-winning homer in the ninth......Eric Stults will go in the series finale today against the Giants' Madison Bumgarner, then it's back home for seven games -- four against the last-place Dodgers and three vs. Philadelphia.

3. THINGS ARE GETTING TIGHT....In New England, where the NFL's Patriots are having issues with both of their star tight ends....The more serious problem belongs to Aaron Hernandez, who reportedly was questioned in connection with a homicide in Massachusetts....Hernandez isn't believed to be a murder suspect but a vehicle registered in his name emerged as a key piece of evidence. A body was found less than a mile from Hernandez's house in North Attleboro.....Meanwhile, Rob Gronkowski underwent back surgery on Tuesday in California and is expected to be out for at least 12 weeks.....Gronkowski's surgery comes on the heels of a fourth surgery on his left forearm, which was initially broken in November......The Pats will be without him when they open training camp next month.....

4. SWARMING B'S.....That would be in reference to the red-hot Boston Bruins, who are two wins away from the Stanley Cup, leading the Chicago Blackhawks 2-games-to-1, heading into tonight's Game 4 in Beantown.....Boston has won seven of its last eight playoff games overall and has allowed a total of only four goals in those seven games.....They shut out Chicago, 2-0, in Game 3 on Monday night....The Blackhawks, who won Game 1 of the series, must get their power-play going if they are to get back into contention; they're without a power play goal in their last six postseason games and have gone 0-for-11 vs. Boston in the finals.....

5. NOTHING FINER.....Than North Carolina? Well, yes, the top-seed in this year's College World Series did stay alive on Tuesday with a 4-2 victory over L.S.U. in an elimination game....But what has really been outstanding has been the pitching of the U.C.L.A. Bruins, who posted their second-consecutive 2-1 win last night, stopping North Carolina State in a winner's bracket game......U.C.L.A. and Mississippi State are the only two undefeated teams left in Omaha......Meanwhile, Oregon State and Indiana will meet in an elimination game today.......

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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Tweet Of The Day

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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Ello's Big 5

1. THE WILD, WILD WEST......One division, four teams, one-and-a-half games.....That's all that separates the contenders in baseball's National League West.....The Padres stretched their winning streak to seven games last night in San Francisco, rallying from 3-1 down to beat the Giants, 5-3, in 13 innings and present Manager Bud Black with his 500th-career victory......Andrew Cashner, pinch-hitting in the 13th, drove in the go-ahead run with a bunt single....Prior to that the Padres had left 14 runners on base and hit just 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position....Arizona, at the top of the division, lost as Giancarlo Stanton hit a pair of HR's to help Miami beat the Snakes, 3-2....Colorado lost at Toronto, 2-0.....Add it all up, and the Arizona lead is half-game over the Rockies, one game over the surging Padres, and one-and-a-half games over the defending champion Giants......

2. FINALS FINALE??.....The San Antonio Spurs, 14-2 in clinching games played on the road over the last decade, hope to do it again tonight in Miami when they take on the Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.....The Spurs lead the series 3-games-to-2, but oddsmakers still slightly favor Miami to take home its second-straight NBA crown this week.....One reason is that Miami has won 12 in a row following losses, and have won those games by an average of 14 points.....Another is that if Miami does win tonight, it gets Game 7 on its home court Thursday.....Spurs forward Danny Green has been the series star so far, canning a record 25 three-point shots in the first five games.......

3. SWING GAME.....Over the past 75 years, the winner of Game 3 in the Stanley Cup Finals of a 1-1 series, has gone on to win the Cup 21 of 25 times.....This year, that team is the Boston Bruins, who knocked off the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-0, last night in Beantown......After two thrilling overtimes affairs to open the series in Chicago, the Bruins took no chances on Monday night, scoring a couple of goals in the second period and turning over the rest to goaltender Tuukka Rask, who made 28 saves in winning for the seventh time in his last eight starts......Boston, which is looking to make it two Stanley Cups in the last three years, will host Game 4 on Wednesday night.......

4. WORLD SERIOUS......Oregon State, twice an NCAA baseball champ within the last decade, stayed alive at the College World Series on Monday, blowing out Lousiville, 11-4, and sending home the Cardinals in an elimination game......Oregon State will face elimination again on Wednesday when it takes on Indiana, which lost to Padres' No. 1 pick Hunter Renfroe and Mississippi State, 5-4.....The Bulldogs are 2-0 so far in the tournament as Renfroe went 1-for-4 and drove in his 62nd runs of the season.....Today top-seeded North Carolina meets L.S.U. in an elimination game followed by a winner's bracket meeting between North Carolina State and U.C.L.A......

5. BUTT, JUDGE....I'M SORRY.....And so it went for former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson, whose 30-day jail sentence for slapping the butt of his own attorney last week was prematurely ended yesterday after seven days.....Broward County Circuit Judge Kathleen McHugh accepted Johnson's apology on Monday and freed the former Pro Bowler, who said in court that he'd had time to think about why his flippant attitude was wrong -- especially in a domestic violence case......"I just wanted to apologize for disrespecting the court last time," said Johnson, wearing a tan jail jumpsuit with his hands shackled at the waist. "I apologize. I did have time to reflect on the mistakes I made in this courtroom.".......

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Monday, June 17, 2013

Ben's Blog: Mickelson A Choker? I Don't Buy It

It's easy to characterize Phil Mickelson's 6th runner-up finish at the U.S. Open as a "choke." After all, he had a one-shot lead going into the final round, and turned in his worst score of the week at Merion.

To me, we use the word "choke" far too often in the sports world. If the Miami Heat fail to win back-to-back NBA titles, Lebron James is a choker. The Denver Broncos lose their opening playoff game as a #1 seed? Bunch of chokers. The Texas Rangers lose the World Series two straight years? How's that collar feel...a little tight?

The fact is, the margin between first and second in professional sports is razor-thin. One or two shots out of 270 in a golf tournament. One field goal kick that grazes the outside of the upright rather than the inside of the upright. A ball that lands two inches left of the chalk, or right on top of the foul line. All can, and often do, decide the outcome of an event.

Phil Mickelson lost the U.S. Open not because he was unable to handle the pressure. He simply made a couple of errors. Too much club on the par-3 13th. Not enough on the pafr-4 15th. The putts that were catching the edge of the hole the first three days were sliding by on Sunday. That's not choking. That's the normal fluctuation of a sport at it's highest level. The difference between Mickelson and someone who didn't even make the cut is just 1 or 2 shots per 9 holes.

Are there chokes in sports? Absolutely. Jean Van de Velde, the '64 Phillies, and the 1980 Soviet hockey team come to mind. Failing to hold onto a one-shot lead in the final round on a diabolical U.S. Open course doesn't qualify.