Change of Pace

So you may be wondering where Part 4 of my 33% Report series is at. Well, to be truthful, I think I’m going to get away from it. It was taking me on average 2 1/2 hours to write each one of those, and as I started the AL West post, I found myself dreading it because the posts were so monstrous. Instead, I’m going to throw a bunch of quick hitters at everyone (to catch up on what I’ve been missing) and in the future, I’ll avoid mini-series with mammoth posts so that I don’t bog others (and myself) down to much.

Big Brown Can’t Deliver- It didn’t surprise me that Big Brown couldn’t pull off the illustrious Triple Crown. I put a bet on him (with a friend who picked another horse because they liked the name) and fully expected not to collect, but figured since the other horse was 28-1 I might as well play the odds. When I heard about the cracked hoof, I all but counted out Big Brown because to win the Belmont Stakes after sweeping the first two legs of the Triple Crown, everything has to be perfect. The draw has to be good, the horse has to be in tip-top shape, and you have to run a flawless race. Big Brown was 0-3 in those categories, and finished dead last (yikes – bad choice of words there) after Kent Desormeaux pulled up in the final turn.

{Big Brown failed to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978}

NBA Finals – Game 2 Preview- I’ve got the Lakers pulling out the win in Beantown tonight. There is no way that Kobe (errrr Black Mamba) will shoot as poorly as he did in Game 1, and the Lake Show won’t miss as many wide open jumpers as they did late in the first game. The key to tonights game will be what Kobe does when he gets the basketball in his hands (Oh yea Chad, great call on that one. Way to go out on a limb. You’re freaking Nostradamus with that bold prediction). He has to attack the basket at every opportunity, and now pull up for jumpers 12-18 feet from the basket. When he gets within a few feet of the bucket, the shooting lanes open up for his 3-point sharpshooters, and he also allows Lamar Odom an opportunity to crash the weak side boards. If your Phil Jackson, my gameplan is to let Kevin Garnett get his, and shut down the rest of the team.

(Kobe will score at least 35 and lead the Lakers to victory in Game 2)

Fantasy Baseball Update- After sitting in fifth place for a couple of weeks in Terry’s Tire World IV, I dominated the team in the first place (owned by Alicia Glendenning), and jumped right back to the top of the league. This week I’m playing Luke Glendenning, my arch nemesis in every league we’ve competed in, and after a 10-0 lead early in the week, he’s taken a Sunday afternoon 6-3-1 lead over me (having one of his best offensive weeks all season – figures). As for Justin, I’ll let him tell everyone where he’s at in our league.

Cubs Update- Can we find a starter that will pitch 7 innings on a consistent basis? Maybe we should go out and get Livan Hernandez at the trade deadline if the Twinkies are looking to deal. The bullpen as getting taxed big time, and I’m just afraid that it will come back to bite us later on in the season. In other news, Ryan Theriot is having a breakout season that I didn’t see coming. He’s getting on-base at a .400+ clip, and has been making contact in nearly every at-bat. Here’s a shakeup in the lineup that I wouldn’t mind seeing (and stop the presses – it still doesn’t involve Soriano leading off). Why not try Theriot leading off, Fukudome second, Ramirez third, Lee fourth, and Soriano fifth. Ramirez is getting on-base over 40% of the time, and this would allow Lee more RBI opportunities than he already has. The offense has struggled a bit in the last week, and maybe a switch to a lineup like this could spark the offense once again.

}”The Riot” is one of the many reasons the Cubs have been as good as they’ve been in 2008}

U.S. Open- While the masses will tell you that The Masters is their favorite golf tournament to watch, I’ll take the U.S. Open any day of the week over Augusta. I love seeing how the players manage the shaggy five-inch rough, the lightning fast greens, and the fairways so narrow most people would struggle to throw the ball and keep it in the short stuff. I love that the PGA has paired the Top-12 players in the world into four groups for the first two days of the tournament. We rarely get to see Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson paired with one another because it’s always a crap shoot on where they will be on the leaderboard come Saturday and Sunday. Now, we get to see them both in the same pairing to kick things off on Thursday and Friday. The question on everyone’s mind is whether or not Tiger is going to be playing at 100% following left knee surgery he underwent more than five weeks ago. He’s playing on a course he thoroughly dominates on (Torrey Pines) which gives him yet another psychological advantage over the field. He’ll answer that question in the first 18 holes.

(Will Tiger’s knee hold up in the most physically demanding tournament pro golf offers?)

One final note that has nothing to do with sports. I was forced to go see the move The Strangers on Saturday, and it has taken the top spot as worst movie I’ve ever seen in my life. It wasn’t overly scary, had little dialog, featured two main characters that made idiotic decisions throughout the movie and had arguable the worst ending to a horror film. On a scale of 1-10, it received a -48. DON’T SEE IT!!!