What a time of the year this is. College Saturday, NFL Sunday (and Monday), World Series and the NBA season is kicking off tomorrow. The Suns play tomorrow along with the Heat and the Fakers. I am really not as excited as usual for this season because of 2 reasons. I decided I don't like the Heat and this season is going to be all about the Heat. I don't think they are going to win 72+ games nor the championship, but they are going to be VERY good and thats going to be very irritating the way ESPN has been covering this team so far. Of course the other reason is that the Suns are without Amare and probably are not going far. I am not a pre-season dork, but they have a horrible 2-6 record. They have some talent, but no size. What's new? So a lot will depend on chemistry and Nash. You look at the Suns and you are certain that their defense can never get worse, but they always seem to make that happen. With Hedo and the advancing age of Nash and Hill, their defense will be even worse this year. But overall I will reserve judgement on the team until December. I am hoping they are good, but I am afraid they'll be mediocre. As for the others, I have been a Laker hater all my life, but am suddenly finding myself hoping they beat the Heat in the Finals. Thats how much I don't like LeBron in a Heat uniform.
The World Series nobody wanted or expected is here - Giants versus the Rangers. I am very curious to see the TV ratings on this. Both SF and Dallas are decent sized television markets, but the rest of the country don't follow these teams and the East Coast will be basically checked out of this series. Plus, even locally, the Rangers are not that big a franchise though I am sure the local area is very excited about them now that they are in the World Series. But as a team that has never won a playoff series from a predominantly football region, the Rangers are not one of those big-ticket franchises. The Giants are at least decent locally. Of course one of the most amazing things in sports is how with every advancing round in the playoffs, the hype and the fan-base of the team grows exponentially. I don't want to call these people band wagoners, but they are something. They are not your serious sports fan for sure and they come out of the woodwork in droves as the team advances each round. The SF Bay Area is currently firmly in the grip of World Series hype. Neither team was picked by anybody to even make the playoffs, but they are now in the World Series. This series will feature some tremendous pitching match-ups much like the previous rounds of the playoffs. The series should kick-off with a Lee-Lincecum match-up. Should be fun. I don't know who I like in this series. I don't care who wins, I will be watching
NFL doesn't stop for the World Series and they don't have to given that the horrible, regular season Tennessee-Jacksonville game last Monday crushed the Yankees ALCS game on TV ratings. So the national sport continues after all the brouhaha all last week about hits and helmet to helmet collisions. Too many concussions and too much noise later by the defensive players on how the league is over-reacting. May be they are, but I like the basic idea that the player need to be tacked, not necessarily hit. Oftentimes, the defender hits the offensive player because he can, not because he need to. The way I see it is, the league is legislating against unnecessary hits. Those have always been part of football, but I don't mind taking them away. Doesn't really change the game for me that much. I don't watch it to see the "jacked up" highlight hits. I don't mind protecting the players better given that the athletes are constantly getting bigger, stronger and faster in these days of advanced health sciences and medical advancements. The game is constantly becoming safer and thats good. Injuries are part of the game, but it's sad to see guys get injured. For instance, today, Romo got hurt and is out. I don't want anybody to get injured, but I especially get frustrated when bad teams that I don't like suffer injuries. Suddenly the bad team gets a convenient excuse for their incompetence. The Cowboys are exactly in that situation - an incompetent team that is 1-5 with an injured QB now.
The NFL results this week were all over the place - like the Raiders and DMF crushing the Broncos 59-14. You really have to parse through the standings to figure out which team is doing what. It's about time we throw the pre-season rankings out. Speaking of rankings, in college, once again a number 1 seed lost and now, BCS says it's Auburn's turn to lose. They have them at one after they beat LSU. Not sure why the BCS hates Oregon and Boise State, not to mention TCU, Michigan State or TCU - the other undefeated teams. But they don't think Oregon is number 1 even after they pummeled UCLA 60-13. And this is the UCLA team that crushed Texas 34-12. Oregon is ranked number 1 in the coaches and other polls, but not in BCS. Of course some of these undefeated teams, may be even Oregon will lose and we will be watching these ranking go upside down a couple more time before all is said and done.
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