Tuesday, April 26, 2011

04/26 (Grizzly) Quickie

Pop over to Quickish to keep up with all the best commentary on the biggest topics: the NBA Playoffs, the NHL Playoffs, the NFL lockout, the NFL Draft, Jim Tressel and more.

*Grizzlies stunning Spurs: It's not a question of jumping on the Grizzlies bandwagon. The question is: How could you NOT jump on the Grizzlies bandwagon?

*NFL Lockout: I just like to envision the awkwardness as players all head to their team facilities, and the coaches awkwardly have to give them the silent treatment, per NFL orders.

*NHL Playoffs: Canucks-Blackhawks Game 7 is a must-see. Chicago is the defending champs -- and conference 8-seed. Vancouver had the best regular-season in the conference; they started the series up 3 games to 0, then the Blackhawks won the next three. Now, the finale is in Vancouver where the atmosphere will be desperate. Amazing.

*Jim Tressel: When Kirk Herbstreit is abandoning Tressel, you know it's over. I appreciate that Herbie went national with his stunning sentiment, but I also suspect that he wouldn't have done it without knowing which way the wind was blowing; he wants to be on the right side of history here, and it must have been stunning for Tressel to hear it. Still: To his credit to say it.

With Tressel, it's "when," not "if" he is going to get fired. Just as it is "when" not "if" Urban Meyer will be brought in to replace him. Aside from Florida, there are probably three jobs in the country worthy of Meyer: Ohio State, Notre Dame and Texas. He doesn't want the latter; the Irish are untouchable until Brian Kelly is mediocre for a few more years. But Ohio State could be available exactly when Meyer feels refreshed and ready to come back to his home state's team, the team he grew up rooting for. It's a perfect fit -- and an inevitable one.

*Should the Knicks re-sign Chauncey Billups? Absolutely. Because, contrary to Carmelo's sentiments, it isn't about winning 50 games in the regular season. It's winning 4 or 8 or 12 or 16 in the postseason. For the Knicks, winning 4 is a good start; winning 8 is overachieving. Keeping Billups gives you the best chance of either.

-- D.S.

1 comment:

Robyn said...

I have barely wrapped my mind around the idea of Tressel being gone, much less Urban Meyer replacing him. I don't know if I hate Urban Meyer because I hate Florida, or because I just hate him. But I also know how quickly "their" hated guy can suddenly become "our" beloved guy.

Also still pondering something from your 4/7 post.

You said: "I feel the same way about other athletes/teams that have a vibe of inevitability of winning: The Patriots, the Red Sox and Yankees, Duke basketball, Ohio State football."

It seems strange to me to see OSU lumped in with this group, especially when every person in this state (OH) is collectively holding his/her breath every time the Buckeyes play. To me the losses are more inevitable than the wins. We live in Ohio, therefore we're in a constant state (so to speak) of misery about our teams!

Strange to think we're hated for winning...