Lakers in 7

It took me a while to recover from the Suns elimination. We all saw it coming, but it's disappointing for a true fan if and when it happens. This series was especially topsy-turvy. It started with the Lakers looking like gang-busters. Then the Suns achieved some parity at home. At 2-2, my expectations went up. Plus the game 5 in LA was a barn-burner and the Suns almost stole it. At that point, it looked like a 7-game series all the way. But then the Lakers were back to being the Lakers of game 1 and 2, that too on the road in game 6 and the Suns fell short. The Suns zone was just not the same in game 6 and neither was Ron Artest. He killed the Suns and so did Kobe with 37 points. It was one of those days when Kobe looked unstoppable. He made sure the Suns needed a comeback again in the fourth quarter, but he also made sure the comeback didn't get the Suns all the way back.

Now, the Lakers and Celtics are in the finals and the NBA and the TV channels are happy. This is probably the second best thing to Kobe-V-Bron if not better. I pick the Lakers to win it in 7 only because they have the home-court. I would totally pick the Celtics if they had the home-court. We all saw what the Celts did to the Fakers in 2008. Granted, the Lakers are better now and the Celtics are a little older, but still I would have picked them in 7 if they had 4 home games. But the Lakers do have home-court and I think they are going to need it, It's gonna be a tough, close, hard-fought series. The Celtics are no joke as Cleveland and Orlando figured out. They will scratch and claw and harass the Laker bigs and thats probably where the series will be decided. Lets get the series started.

In MLB, there was a near perfect game today. But the first base umpire screwed up the call in the ninth inning with 2 outs. It was kinda tragic, but what happened later was interesting. Armando Galarraga, the pitcher saw the safe call and flashed a great smile! It was refreshing to see a pitcher react like that. Most pitchers conduct themselves like they are the biggest a-holes. It was interesting to see this guy react in such a normal way at such a interesting point in the game. The umpire later profusely apologized and genuinely felt bad for screwing up history. He also apologized to Galarraga. In the post-game presser, Galarraga was once again graceful and decent. He pretty much pardoned the umpire saying everybody makes mistakes and nobody is perfect. This dude is a class act! Nobody would have blamed him if he was resentful and most pitchers would have been. This could have been true history in a sport where most historic occasions these days are tainted by steroids. But the umpire stole it from Galarraga. It's time for instant replay in MLB.