R.I.P. Josh Hancock

 

It was a sad story over the weekend, hearing about Josh Hancock’s fatal accident in St. Louis. Hancock was one of those guys that make a Major League team function. He wasn’t a superstar, but rather a guy who ate up innings out of the bullpen. Tony La Russa even said that the Cards wouldn’t have won the World Series without him. That’s quite high praise for any athlete.

The strangest thing was that Hancock was in a similar accident just three days before his death. It’s a horrific story and Hancock will surely be missed around the league.

Heat of the moment sends Miami packing

 

The Miami Heat’s defense of their 2006 NBA title went by the wayside Sunday afternoon, when they were swept by a sharper, more engergetic Chicago Bulls team. These aren’t your older brother’s Bulls of the 90’s, but make no mistake about it, they are for real. Led by star guards Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon, the Bulls have a mix of inside and outside guys, highlighted by the prowess of big man Ben Wallace and the versatility of former Duke standout, Luol Deng. They are a young team, but could take the Bulls deep into the playoffs.

The Heat, on the other hand, limped into the playoffs. Shaq hasn’t been the same big man he once was. Dwyane Wade hurt his shoulder in February and opted to rehab instead of having surgery. The early departure from the playoffs, however, should give Wade the incentive to be operated on.

It was only last year that the Heat were champions, but now it seems like both these teams are headed in opposite directions. The young Bulls are up and coming, while the heat continue to look older and older everytime they take the floor.

Check out highlights from the Heat’s run to a championship last season:

Welcome Randy

 

So Randy Moss, the NFL’s bad boy, will be donning a Patriots uniform next year. I’m still not sure how I feel about this. There’s no question that I am sold on his talent and ability on the field. But the Pats have long had a “team first” mentality and Moss is the antithesis of that attitude. However, rumor has it that Moss will be restructuring his current deal to free up some cap space. That’s an admirable thing in itself and a scenario which doesn’t typically arise in professional sports.

With all personal issues aside, the Brady-Moss connection is probably the best quarterback/receiver tandem in the league, although an argument could be made for Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison. Either way, the Pats look like the frontrunners to win next season’s Super Bowl. They have sured up their receiving corps and strengthened their defense, so I don’t see why that can’t happen.

Share your thoughts with other Pats fans here in the Fan Zone.

This one’s for you Dale

 

I am by no means a NASCAR fan. In fact, I am probably the farthest thing from it. I find it ridiculous that racers can drive around a track for hours at a time and consider it a sport. With that said, I think what Jeff Gordon did this past week was one of the most honorable and kind-hearted things I have seen in sports in a long time.

Gordon, who tied Dale Earnhardt Sr. for sixth place all-time on the career wins list, held out a flag with Earnhardt’s No. 3 on it as he made his victory lap at Phoenix International Raceway. It was just a small gesture, but one that did not go unnoticed by Earnhardt’s son, Dale Jr. The father, who was killed at the Daytona 500 back in 2001, was one of Gordon’s fiercest competitors. The carrying of the flag was just one minor way Gordon had hoped to honor his former friend.

In a time when sports mean so much to society, this small gesture by Gordon means so much more than many people realize.

Give me the sweep boys

The Red Sox have finally done what they hadn’t in 17 years: sweep the Yankees at Fenway. And with the sweep comes a four-game lead over the Bombers in the East. Yes, it’s April. Yes, it was only one series. But every game counts. Last night was no different. The Sox were even able to tie a Major League record, combining to hit four home runs in a row off rookie starter Chase Wright. That’s pretty impressive no matter who an opposing team trots out to the mound.

Although it’s a great start, the Sox don’t have much time to relish their wins. They are back at it again this weekend in the Bronx. The pitching matchups don’t look nearly as solid as they did in this first series, but the bats are coming around and maybe they can use their offense to propel them to another series win.

On a sour note, Daisuke hasn’t look nearly as good as advertised. At times he has flashes of brilliance. Then he goes out and gives up four straight hits. Hopefully he will start earning his millions.

Check out more photos of last night’s season finale here.

Going for the sweep

 

The Sox haven’t exactly played their best baseball over the last two nights, but they have done enough to win and that’s really all you can ask for. Beckett was shaky yesterday but settled down nicely to make sure that the Sox would hold on. Friday night, Curt Schilling looked more like he did on Opening Day than he has in his past two starts. Luckily Jason Varitek and Coco Crisp found their strokes and picked up the offense in a thrilling comeback win.

Now the Sox have built a 3-game lead in the A.L. East and are one win away from a sweep. The ball rests in the hands of Daisuke Matsuzaka as they look to punish the Yankees. Even though the Bombers haven’t exactly thrown an All-Star lineup out there this series, it’ still nice to beat a good team in the early part of the season. After all, every win counts.

Share your thoughts with other Sox fans here.

Beckett is money in the bank

 

I have to say that although Josh Beckett has only made three starts thus far this season, he has been incredibly dominant. He looks to be in top form this year so far, posting a 3-0 record and an ERA under two. This season may just be a ceremonial passing of the torch from Schilling to Beckett. Beckett will seemingly be the ace for the next decade if the Sox so choose to sign him.

The Sox have a series coming up against Toronto which should be a good A.L. East matchup, but let’s be serious. We are all looking forward to Friday night when the Yanks roll into town. The Sox have their rotation lined up to be Schilling, Beckett, and Matsuzaka, which is the exact way you want things to play out. More to come later on the series…

Virigina Tech tragedy

 

When I heard the news about the shootings at Virginia Tech this morning, I could barely believe it. It seems that every few years outrageous shootings rear their ugly head in the news. Why does it have to be like this? What could possibly make a group of people commit such a heinous act? It makes me sick to my stomach to think of all those poor students who never had a shot of escaping.

I remember hearing about Columbine some 8 years ago and thinking it was the worst possible scenario for a school shooting. Now, here we are in 2007 staring at the worst school shooting in U.S. history. I know I have a tendency to blog about sports all the time, but it’s times like these you realize games really don’t matter. There are people dying out there. I just hope the death toll doesn’t get any higher…

Share your thoughts about the incident here.

Yankee woes? Not yet.

 

Don’t get too excited Red Sox fans. This seems to happen every year. The Yankees get out of the gate slowly, weather the storm that comes with early-season injuries, then when July rolls around you look up and they have a ten-game lead over the Sox. And yes, it may be easy to say that things are different this year because now even Rivera might be hittable. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. When Wang returns he will anchor the staff as he did last year and things can only get better from there. I’m not saying I’m happy about any of this, I’m just trying to be a realist.

As far as the Sox go, they have strung together two solid games in a row, getting awesome pitching performances from Tim Wakefield and Curt Schilling. The bats have seemed to come alive also, with 18 runs in the last two contests. The hype around Matsuzaka has died down a bit, and for good reason after Felix Hernandez stole the show at Fenway last Wednesday. Matsuzaka will be a good starting pitcher in the big leagues, but I’m not expecting him to re-invent the wheel out there. Hopefully they can keep the winning ways going, however.

Hampton hampered AGAIN

I think the Mike Hampton situation is pretty funny. Not that I take another man’s pain as my comedic relief, but this whole thing is ironic. He goes out and signs an 8-year, $121 million contract and yet he hasnt pitched a full season since 2004. I don’t know why he was ever signed to such crazy money in the first place. If I’m not mistaken, the Rockies were the team that offered him the ridiculous deal. Which, if you think about it, makes no sense at all. He has a knack for giving up home runs and that’s the game’s worst park to pitch in.

I feel bad he’s out for the whole 2007 season, but teams need to do a better job identifying injury-prone players. Otherwise, people will just continue to laugh at the obsurdity of paying these guys such outrageous money.

Commiserate with Braves fans by visiting http://www.forums.mlb.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ml-braves&redirCnt=1.