Copyright JPG Enterprises 

Imagine a world filled with only numbers. You have entered the dimension known as JPG Land. Just what exactly is JPG Land? Well, for starters, it’s an unchartered territory known to a stat fanatic by the name of John Giagnorio.

The 22 year-old Chicago, Illinois native is in his final semester studying to be what else but a statistical mastah at Stanford University. Somehow, his warped psychology about psychoanalyzing and overevaluating meaningless numbers has become a phenomenon. Ah. But what would this world be without my good adopted laid back n’ snappy Californian buddy using some sort of crazy stat to prove his absurd logic.

In the bizarro world of JPG Land, something known as OPS in baseball is his way of defining who the best players in the game are. In other words, if Josh Hamilton’s OPS isn’t better than teammate Milton Bradley, then obviously he doesn’t stack up even if he has more homers and a lot more RBI’s.

So, what exactly is OPS? I like to call it Obsessive Philosophy Syndrome. Of course, that’s not it’s true meaning but just my way of making a joke out of this JPG statsession which evolves around on-base percentage and some other crazy formula probably having to do with slugging percentage. If not, then I’m completely lost as to what the heck it means.

Maybe it would be better if this crazy individual explained it because I’ve essentially given up. I don’t judge players on solely insane stats but rather by performance on the field and at the plate. You can’t always use numbers to say whether a player is better than another. I like to take in games and see some of the intangibles which aren’t part of the number formula which JPG references way too much.

So, why am I doing this? Because the stat fanatic demanded it at this time of hour. Hey. The encouraging news is I do have plenty of energy. Especially since I’ve returned to the gym and decided it was time to get back in shape. So instead of being tired, I am far from it.

Can numbers really decide every crazy detail when it comes to whether an individual is pro or con on an athlete? Depends on who you are. If you’re Giagnorio, the decision is easy as pie. Everything’s a stat to him in his world.

For someone like myself, I can’t go for that. Sure. I use numbers at various times. Without a player putting up respectable stats, it’s useless. However, sometimes you can pick up things which don’t go in the boxscore or stat sheet. That’s where grit and intangibles come in to play. Or as I want to define, the will to win. What will a player do to help their team prevail? Will they do the small fundamental things which aren’t in any stats? That’s how I decide whether I like a player.

And just maybe that’s what makes me dizzy when it comes to JPG. His formulas can be tantalizing. All the references. It’s insanity I tell ya!

So, what does this have to do with sports? Ha. If you knew or heard this kid, you’d understand a heck of a lot better.

I guess we’ll just call this the first part of trying to properly evaluate the stat fanatic who is soon going to enter the real world where meaningless numbers won’t mean as much in a place where you must apply yourself to situations. But hey. Maybe he needs to find that out for himself.

What is the Legend of Voltron exactly? Well, if you grew up watching this awesome cartoon, then you know what I’m referring to. The five lions by the Voltron Force forming into the mighty Voltron: Defender of the Universe.

At this point, you’re probably wondering what the heck a nostalgic cartoon made over two decades ago has to do with sports and music? Absolutely positively zilch! What I do know is that Voltron was a phenomenon which was fun to watch as a kid. There was something about those five lions teaming up to become the mighty Voltron fending off evil King Zarkon and his Planet Doom cronies attempts to invade Planet Arus. 

Zarkon’s main advisor the ugly Witch Haggar always seemed to devise schemes creating Robeasts in attempts to destroy Voltron. Though she’s clever using her witchcraft as much as possible to even trick Planet Arus ruler Princess Allura during one episode, the Voltron force comprising of leader Keith (Black Lion), Lance (Red Lion), Hunk (Yellow Lion), Pitch (Green Lion) and Sven (Blue Lion) always came to the rescue patrolling the five lions to reform Voltron. Ironically enough, it was the beautiful Allura who would replace Sven learning to occupy the Blue Lion so they could still form Voltron after the Norwegian was injured by Haggar during an episode.

Such courage allowed her to successfully defend Planet Arus and be a true leader despite being sort of young. I always figured she was 17 or 18. It turns out I was in the right area code. Has there ever been a prettier female cartoon character? Yeah. That always worked against the evil Prince Lotor (son of Zarkon), who was quite taken with her. 

The Princess had her own mental strain where her dead and buried father King Alfor’s ghost often visited to help Allura out in time of need when it looked like the empire might crumble. It was his image which helped her rediscover where four of the five keys to the lions were. She and Keith were able to find the final key from her friendly mouses who were hiding it. Once that key to the blue lion was discovered, Voltron could finally once again defend the universe in a cool world where good prevailed over evil.

If you’ve ever watched it, you could see the appeal. At the time, it was pretty advanced. Who would’ve ever thought to create such a high tech superpower which could be formed by a team of five to fight all combatants and protect their world? Sheer genius no doubt.

So, what brought this entry up? It was just something I punched in on YouTube out of curiosity. Remarkably, a bunch of mini episodes came up from the original series including the cool intro which gives the viewer an idea of what they were going up against. Plus the cool transformation into Voltron.

Amazingly, there’s still an official site as well. All in all, pretty cool to say the least. Voltron still lives.

And so here we are in a brand New Year with much to get accomplished. Hope everyone’s resolutions come true in what hopefully will amount to a great 2008!

So, what are my resolutions? Well, one is to continue making this place as fan friendly and as big as ever. This is my third year blogging. So I’m very committed to doing whatever it takes to provide unique insights on what’s happening around the sports and music world.

In the mean time, enough about myself. There’s only so much I can say when it comes to what I want to do. This is the year and we’ll leave it at that.

So, what about some other sports figures, etc? What should be their New Year’s resolutions? Let’s take a look:

1.Isiah Thomas-a videotape of his playing days with Detroit, a full length mirror along with some new golf clubs.

2.Jim Dolan-Sports Management and Public Speaking 101 courses along with a case of Jimi Hendrix albums.

3.Bill Belichick-an actual wardrobe that doesn’t include those hooded sweatshirts along with a hidden mini-camera used for the Pats’ next three opponents.

4.Roger Clemens-a very good high priced lawyer along with a renewed faith in God much like butt buddy Andy Pettite.

5.Alex Rodriguez-a new PR spokesperson along with a huge October helping the Yanks win their 27th World Series.

6.Stephon Marbury-a vintage tape from his Lincoln days along with a chance to leave New York and go help another team.

7.Jason Kidd-after a severe migraine keeps him out of another game, a chance to go back home to California to the Lakers and play alongside Kobe Bryant.

8.Eli Manning-a videotape of his brother Peyton Manning along with some fire in his belly.

9.Eric Mangini-a personality along with an actual offense which doesn’t bore fans to death.

10.Sidney Crosby-a young Kevin Stevens and some better teammates.

It’s been a while since I have been able to update this blog. And for that, all I can do is apologize to those out there who have read our entries over the past year-plus.

Unfortunately, due to computer issues, I wasn’t able to update things here at HB and give my daily thoughts on what’s gone on in the sports world, etc.

However, after nearly seven weeks away from this space, I’m extremely happy to be back in business thanks to some nice upgrades which I think should benefit this site and everyone who makes it their business to read it.

I might be also looking into making some changes as well. If there are any interested sports fans who want to blog and become part of Hitting Back, please feel free to email me at kovy274hart@aol.com.

We need to cover as much as possible. In order for that goal to be reached, I am going to need some help from knowledgable fans out there so we can make this the kind of informative and fun place I always envisioned it could become.

There’s certainly plenty to cover on this second day of December six days away from my birthday.

Where to begin? We’ll start with baseball.

If you’re a baseball fan, there’s little doubt that the Red Sox are now the premier baseball organization. Thanks to another dominant postseason from ace Josh Beckett, Boston won their second World Series in three years. To think that they did it in eerily similar fashion as when they broke The Curse by coming back from 3-1 down against Cleveland to win the ALCS before easily sweeping the Series against the surprising Rockies.  

Now, Theo Epstein is in the bidding for Twins’ ace Johan Santana. But is it legit or just to make his main competitor the archrival Yankees panic and pay a heftier price by parting with pitching prospect Phil Hughes along with Melky Cabrera and a mid-level prospect to get the two-time AL Cy Young winner?

What do you think? The Sahhhxxx don’t seem willing to part with either future star center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury (a Twin need) or promising starter Clay Buckholz. Instead, they’re offering a package which includes an underachiever like Coco Crisp and recent cancer conquerer Jon Lester.

I’m in the minority on Santana. On paper, the southpaw is arguably the best starter in the game. However, he’ll turn 29 next March and probably has 3-4 peak years left. Is he really worth parting with a pitcher the Yanks once deemed untouchable and a young center fielder who really made strides last season in helping the Bronx Bombers turn around their season?

While it’s true the Yanks don’t boast a dominant ace, they’d be sacrificing a significant part of their future and downgrading in center plus parting with another prospect (Alan Horne???) to acquire a starter who’s never displayed October dominance. Also, let’s not forget that Santana isn’t a guy who can throw a ton of pitches. With the Twins, he’s been basically a 100-105 pitch pitcher. Think that’s a plus when the postseason comes around? Especially against disciplined hitting teams such as Boston who work the count and get up pitch counts.

We haven’t even examined how much it could cost to re-sign Santana long-term. Twenty million-per-year isn’t enough for Santana and neither is four years. Is it really smart to commit say seven years at an average of 22.5-23 million for any pitcher? It’s not like the lefty is 25 or 26 here.

I just feel that this deal is all wrong for the Yankees and a typical move. Why not keep Hughes and have a possible future rotation which features Chien-Ming Wang, Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy? With more promising starters in the system, the Bombers should be particularly deep in the future.

One other question. Why give up all this when you can acquire a much more affordable younger starter like Dan Haren who’s signed for the next three years at about $17 million total?

It seems to make a lot more dollars and sense to go for the 27 year-old ace in the bay. Maybe too much sense for new Yankee chief owner Hank Steinbrenner.

Meanwhile, over in Queens, Omar Minaya and Mets brass finally had enough of Lastings Milledge’ act surprisingly dealing the talented former 2003 first round pick to the Nationals for outfielder Ryan Church and catcher Brian Schneider.  

This deal came out of left field which is kind of sad that the 22 year-old prospect couldn’t net more in return. It could speak to just how minimal Milledge’s value became due to his childish antics on and off the field. Maybe if he just showed he cared a little and hustled out balls down the stretch, he’d still be in the Amazin’s plans.

Which is why we can’t comprehend the ridiculous reaction from Met fans. Do you really want this joker on your team? A guy who does possess talent but never was consistent and didn’t always play the game hard. It’s precisely why he became the odd man out while outfield prospects Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez are still around.

Church isn’t a bad player. He is capable of 20 homers and 75 RBI’s while the defensive minded Schneider is a better throwing backstop than ex-Met Paul LoDuca. He’s not much of a hitter but can deliver at times. Just ask Met fans about their team’s epic collapse.

Is it an awful deal comparable with Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano? No because Minaya addressed two needs to fill out the Mets’ lineup. There’s nothing wrong with valuing hustle, grit and defense.

There’s no question Milledge has a lot of ability and could comeback to haunt his former team in the future. Maybe the kid needed a change of scenery.

We’ll find out soon enough.

-Today we’ve been keeping track of the Mets and Pirates on Kids Camp Day at Shea. What started out as a promising day for Oliver Perez and teammates now looks like it will disappoint those who attended expecting a sweep over hapless Pittsburgh. That’s because after dominating the first five innings and having a one-run lead on a David Wright sac fly which scored Jose Reyes back in the first, the southpaw imploded in the sixth allowing five Pirates to cross home plate.

After giving up back-to-back singles including an infield hit to opposing pitcher Paul Maholm, Perez threw away Cesar Izturis’ sacrifice bunt into right field allowing the tying run to come home and putting both runners in scoring position. It looked like he’d escape further damage when he got consecutive Pirates to pop up. However, a hard struck ball by ex-Met Xavier Nady ate up Wright at third allowing both runners to score putting the Pirates ahead by two. It was properly ruled a two-run single. Unfortunately for the ex-Pittsburgh ace, the inning wasn’t over. Former Yankee Josh Phelps deposited a Perez offering into the left field bleachers to suddenly make it 5-1.

Perez did fan his final batter of the day for strikeout No. nine but when you consider that he allowed only one baserunner (Phelps infield hit in 2nd) through the first five, this was a disappointing day against his ex-club. It’s what makes him so baffling because he can be so utterly dominant at times. But sometimes the wheels fall off which has to have a few Amazin’s fans scratching their heads.

The bright spot for the Mets on the day was the continued improvement of outfielder Lastings Milledge, who got a run back with a solo shot to left in the sixth for his second dinger of the series. He’s driven at least a run in four of the last five and five of seven.

The Pirates took full advantage of a Wright miscue to push across three in the seventh highlighted by a Phelps double for his third hit of the day. A Ruben Gotay sac fly and Reyes solo homer (seventh of season) sliced the deficit to 8-4.

This SNY poll about Mets’ home run celebrations going to far is silly. Just to prove it, 78 percent said no. Do the Mets sometimes excessively celebrate homers? Yes. But only a hot dog like Milledge will get the brunt of it because of how inexperienced he is which might help explain the beaning he took last night. Other Mets such as Reyes, Wright, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado are more respected for what they’ve accomplished on the field. When a young kid struts around, it can show up opponents.

In the mean time, Matt Capps struck out Shawn Green swinging to retire the side in order to salvage the third game of the series for Pittsburgh. The 23 year-old former 2002 seventh round pick has quietly saved nine games for them while improving across the board in his third season. Not bad.

For the Mets, it was a lost opportunity to get a sweep against an inferior opponent. But as SNY analyst Keith Hernandez noted, “Sweeps are tough to come. The final game is always hard to get.”

If Willie Randolph’s first place club takes care of business against the Nationals in a four-game series this weekend, I’m sure most will be happy. If you’ve ever listened to WFAN in New York, you can’t satisfy everyone. Fans always want to second-guess every move Randolph makes and micro-manage. Do you think that’s because he’s a former Yankee? Maybe they’d rather Art Howe in the dugout.
The Phillies are playing some good ball and could cut the deficit to four with a win over Washington in the City of Brotherly Love. At last check, they were leading 5-2 in the home sixth. Red hot 2006 NL MVP Ryan Howard hit his 29th homer to put them up one in the third and classic underachiever Pat Burrell drove home two more a couple of innings later.

Somehow, this team has hung around despite injuries to key pitchers Brett Myers, Tom Gordon and Freddy Garcia (out for season). Many people had Charlie Manuel fired after another slow start but you have to tip your cap to the beleaguered skipper who has his ballclub playing very well lately with Pittsburgh coming in next.

The question is can they be consistent enough to challenge the Mets? Who knows? I just feel like the Mets are better than both the Phils and Braves. Everytime either gets close, they slip up.

-In other baseball action, Ken Griffey, Jr. slugged career home run No. 588 against Milwaukee earlier. The Brewers were still ahead 5-4 in the eighth. Former Met Ty Wigginton hit his 16th as the D-Rays attempt to comeback in Baltimore. They’re now down by just one after trailing 6-2 after a five-run third by the O’s. The White Sox were leading the Tigers 2-1 with two runs in in the fourth on a Scott Podesednik RBI double and Josh Fields’ RBI groundout off Detroit ace Justin Verlander.
-Tonight, the Yankees aim for a four-game sweep of Kansas City. Kei Igawa (2-2 6.67 ERA) takes the mound against Jorge De La Rosa (7-10, 5.61 ERA). Coming off a 7-1 win in which Alex Rodriguez slugged career home run No.499, Joe Torre’s club will look to stay hot and win their seventh straight.

They know there’s little margin for error with 62 games remaining and still 6.5 behind first place Boston and trailing wild card leading Cleveland by 4.5. The good news is there’s still plenty of season left and they have closed the gap on both and still have games against each (6 vs Bos and 3 vs Cle). But any slip up now could prove costly.

After tonight, the Yanks head to Baltimore where they’ll complete a game from last month and play three more this weekend.

-We’ll end with this. With all the attention focused on Barry Bonds, it’s nice to see Craig Biggio having a flair for the dramatic in his final season with the Astros. The versatile 20-year veteran has delivered two very special moments this year for baseball fans in Houston. He recorded a milestone with his 3,000th career hit with a single to center in the home seventh back on June 28 against the Rockies.

Even more special was that he finished off the night with five hits including coming around to score on Carlos Lee’s walkoff grand slam in the 11th to celebrate in style. Biggio became the 27th member of the 3,000 hit club and according to Elias Sports Bureau, the first player to ever reach the mark in a five-hit game. Distinguished members George Brett (1992) and Tony Gwynn (1999) had four hits when they got to 3,000.
The 41 year-old Biggio recently announced that this will be his final season. So, how did he respond hours after the announcement? By hitting a go-ahead grand slam in an exciting 7-4 win over the Dodgers this past Tuesday night. The performance even impressed his defeated opponents who had nothing but praise afterwards:

Former teammate Luis Gonzalez: “It was typical Biggio. It was kind of meant to be for him today. He’s a great ambassador for the city of Houston. All the things he does on the field and off the field, he’s been first-class his entire career. … It was only fitting that he hit a grand slam tonight. I just wish it hadn’t been against us.”

Manager Grady Little added: “It was a special day for [Biggio]. I have a lot of respect for what he’s accomplished. He’s made the difference in a lot of games throughout his career and he made the difference tonight.”

Here was Biggio’s take on things:

“Emotionally, it was a tough day. To have this happen is amazing. I still think I’m going to die early with all that has happened this season. I didn’t even feel like I was touching the bases as I ran around them. It was just magical. It was a special, special night.”

In an era where so much negative attention is focused, Biggio is a throwback who personifies what sports should really be about. And to see a player who did whatever was good for the team whether it was converting from catcher to second or going to left field is what makes him so special. He’s done it all with the same team. Something you don’t see a lot of in many sports today.

Biggio has now played in an even 2,800 games and has 3,017 hits, 287 home runs and 413 stolen bases to go with 1,160 driven in. He’s also been a seven-time NL All Star and four-time Gold Glove winner (all at 2nd). He might not get the recognition of a Bonds or A-Rod but is certainly worthy of attention for the kind of career he’s had.

Kudos to the former Astros’ 1987 first round selection (22nd overall) out of Seton Hall for working hard to put together a respectable career. Biggio is the definition of class.

We should be getting back out to the ballpark this weekend and putting together some stuff finally after a nine day hiatus off. It’s tough being sick sometimes.

I also promise to get out the second part of The Baby Bomber Report so you can keep track of possible future Yankees down the road.

Aside from that, we’re also going to try to get into what else is going on in the sports world. What’s our take on Michael Vick? What about this NBA scandal? What are our thoughts on Barry Bonds as he marches closer to Hank Aaron’s record? Find out what we have to say on this and other things going on!

See ya all later.

We’ll be on the air discussing more on the Chris Benoit family tragedy.

It certainly has been a bizarre couple of days since the WWE star wrestler’s body was discovered along with his wife Nancy better known as Woman to wrestling fans along with youngest son Daniel at their Atlanta Georgia home.

At present, evidence points to a double murder suicide. It’s hard to fathom. One wonders if that will stand up after they further analyze everything. I guess only time shall tell.

One thing for sure. We’ll be on the air to discuss the sad topic:

Hard Hits

The number to call in is 646-652-2543.

See ya’ll later.

It was billed as LeBron vs Tim Duncan but this NBA Finals evolved into the Tony Parker coming out party. The 25 year-old point guard for the Spurs was utterly brilliant in helping lead his team to a sweep of the overmatched Cavaliers- finishing it off in style with 24 points on an efficient 10-of-14 from the floor as his team held on for an 83-82 Game Four victory before a disappointed capacity crowd at Quicken Loans Arena.

The soon to be future Mr. Eva Longoria had a terrific last week, averaging 24.5 points and shot 57 percent for the entire series to become the first player from Europe to take home the Finals MVP trophy. It was very deserving for the often overlooked guard who terrorized opponents this Spring with his frenetic drives to the basket and clutch play.

The former 2001 28th overall selection finally got out of superstar teammate Tim Duncan’s shadow with a splendid postseason which culminated in the Spurs’ third NBA title in six years and fourth overall in the past nine. Oddly enough, all four have come in odd years with the first coming in 1999. The last three have come in 2003, 2005 and now 2007. So does that not bode well for a possible repeat next year? We’ll have to wait and see.

For now, a jubilant Parker was at a loss for words about how much it meant:

“This is like a dream. I don’t want to wake up,” he said after wiping away tears.

You have to start putting the Spurs in that modern day dynasty category now. Four titles in nine years is impressive enough in any era. Especially in a cap era where more players change jerseys and it makes it even harder to keep your nucleus intact. Regarding his team’s place in history, Parker remarked:

“I don’t care where we fall in history. I just feel blessed, honored and privileged to play on a team like this.“

And really, that’s all that matters. He and valuable sixth man Manu Ginobili have teamed up with the NBA’s premier power forward to win three more championships this decade. They have bought into coach Gregg Popovich’s defensive team oriented brand of basketball. Some have unfairly labeled their style as “bland or boring.” What’s so bad about playing the game hard at both ends and getting rewarded for your commitment?

In the end, winning is all that matters. Just look what Duncan had to say:

“It never gets old, it never gets old. Unbelievable. Such a great run, a great journey, a great bunch of guys.”

So where does his fourth title rank?

“This one’s sweeter. The road that we took to get here was as tough as we ever had it. Guys persevered, we had great performances from one to 12.”

The quiet stoic superstar who never loses focus is so modest. His team was very impressive during this run. And it started in similar fashion to how championship No.3 resulted. By dropping Game One at home to Denver before coming back to take four straight in impressive fashion, even reducing Carmelo Anthony to near tears after going up 3-1.

Maybe their only real challenge came from the offensive minded Suns. Many will still point to the Game Five suspensions of Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for why the Spurs were able to prevail in six but who really thinks a team that doesn’t play enough defense would’ve beaten them?

What separates the Spurs is their intensity on the other side of the floor. They lock in defensively and make it extremely difficult on opponents. In the second round win over Phoenix, they bruised and battered Steve Nash wearing the two-time league MVP down. He still put up good numbers but really had to work for it.

The younger Jazz were no match in the Conference Finals for an experienced bunch who reduced Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko to non-factors in another five game conquest. Despite a brilliant series from second-year guard Deron Williams and solid numbers from Carlos Boozer, it wasn’t enough to offset the balance of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili who torched Utah.

If they made the Jazz look ordinary, then they dismantled the inexperienced Cavs in the Finals. The only player on their roster with Finals experience was backup guard Eric Snow. It really showed in this series. The Spurs hammered the Cavs in the first two games with extraordinary play from their dynamic trio. With Parker and Ginobili slicing and dicing Cleveland and Duncan doing his thing down low, LeBron didn’t have enough support to threaten them. That was a series theme.

The Spurs’ perimeter D forced sharpshooter Daniel Gibson into many misses from downtown. The rookie who took apart the Pistons was never allowed to get into a comfort zone often looking rushed. That was bad news for the Cavs because he was the only reliable outside threat they had. Sasha Pavlovic had several open looks but couldn’t make San Antonio pay for doubling and sometimes tripling LeBron.

Though the Cavs were competitive in their two home games with a chance at the end, they just weren’t able to execute in the halfcourt. In their Game Three 75-72 defeat, even their young superstar couldn’t save them. Though James was probably fouled by Bruce Bowen on his desperation three-point attempt from 28, it was likely before the shot meaning two free throws with seconds to spare. It probably wouldn’t have been enough time to pull out an unlikely victory.

So how did James perform? He still wound up with respectable numbers (22.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 6.8 APG) but shot only 36 percent and turned the ball over 23 times. In Game Four, he went 10-for-30 even though he finished with 24. The versatile forward also handed out 10 assists and added six rebounds but did have six turnovers as well summarizing how frustrating a series it was.

The bottom line here was he didn’t have enough help. Drew Gooden performed admirably but nobody else really stepped up. Not having that second star to take some pressure off LeBron’s back definitely hurt. Hopefully, the Cavs are able to deliver that so they aren’t so uncompetitive the next time they reach a Final.

Just how sad was this series? There’s little doubt that they got killed in the ratings by The Sopranos season finale last Sunday. But overall, this might’ve been the low point for the NBA because that’s how bad it was. The Cavs never held a halftime lead and didn’t really give you the sense they could win. The scores were so lowscoring in Cleveland that at times, it was unwatchable. In fact, their 322 points was the lowest total for four games.
Even when the Cavs showed you a little something by starting out the fourth quarter last night with an 11-0 run to take a three-point lead, the more experienced Spurs never panicked down the stretch getting some clutch scoring from Ginobili, who scored 13 of his game high 27 in the final 12 minutes of the season. He dropped in a dagger from downtown from the left side of the key which pretty much finished Cleveland.

With another ring, Mr. Big Shot Robert Horry won his seventh title. He also won two with Houston, three with the Lakers and got his second with the Spurs Thursday night. He truly is blessed.

Parker dedicated the victory to teammate Michael Finley. The 34 year-old veteran shooting guard joined San Antonio last year after playing his first 10 seasons with Phoenix and Dallas. He finally is a champion which is nice to see.

The Spurs finished the postseason with an impressive 16-6 mark. In fact, their .727 winning percentage is the highest in Finals history. Not too shabby.

With four NBA crowns, Popovich trails just Red Auerbach (9), Phil Jackson (9), John Kundla (5) and Pat Riley (5) for the most in NBA history. Not a bad list to be a part of!

And so, that concludes this NBA playoffs. It wasn’t a great one but we’ll still remember LeBron’s heroic Game 5 performance at Detroit in which he carried his team to a double overtime victory by scoring the final 25 and 29 of the last 30.

It might not have been a kind Finals experience for the young superstar but he’ll learn from it and only get better which is a scary prospect for the rest of the league.

We’ll see you all this Fall!

Any time the Yankees and Red Sox get together, it’s a big series no matter what time of year. They meet 18 times during the regular season and always seem to be battling each other for the AL East.

Though Joe Torre’s ballclub has taken the division nine years running, there’s a feeling that that could change this time around. Given the Yanks’ up and down start along with three of their starters DLed, nothing this weekend has changed that line of thinking.

After Andy Pettite turned in a splendid performance Friday night which should’ve resulted in a ‘W’ to start the three-game set at Fenway, Torre panicked by going to closer Mariano Rivera in the eighth after he told reporters he wouldn’t. The 37 year-old future Hall of Famer entered the game with two runners on and a three-run lead. By the time the inning was over, he had allowed three consecutive hits as the Sox rallied for five in the fateful eighth to comeback and win 7-6.

It was Mo’s second straight blown save. Naturally, questions arose as to what’s wrong with the great closer? But he really hasn’t gotten much work this season. The location last night was off just like it was last Sunday against light hitting second baseman Marco Scutaro, who walked off in Oakland.

The bigger question is why has Torre not shown any belief in his bullpen. It has more depth than past seasons. And why did he go back to Luis Vizcaino when the reliever struggled the day before only to be bailed out by more A-Rod heroics? Who knows but the skipper sure gave him the quick hook before going to Mo.

Now Rivera has been many things throughout his illustrious 12-year career but a two inning closer isn’t one of them. Especially at this stage of his career. Recent history shows that No.42 for as special as he is doesn’t fare well when coming out of the pen with runners on base. Part of it could be because he throws strikes. And with runners on, that affects where some of his fielders might play. It also gives the opponent a chance to activate runners and force even more chaos.

If you’re Torre and you’re not even a month in, was Friday so important to have to go to Rivera? He has other options such as Scott Proctor, improving tandem Brian Bruney and Sean Henn or even Kyle Farnsworth. He’d already used Mike Myers who didn’t get the job done against Big Papi.

You really have to question what the thinking was. Was he that worried about blowing all of a four-run lead? Who knows? In any event, the strategy backfired and left the 11-year skipper open to second guessing.

If Friday was brutal, Saturday wasn’t much better as the Bronx Bombers sent Jeff Karstens against Josh Beckett. Though they got five off Beckett who started the season extremely well, the rehabbed Karstens was ineffective in his first start, giving up all seven runs in 4+ to lose. The big blow came off the bat of David Ortiz, who hammered a pitch to deep right around Pesky Pole for a 7-4 lead in a game the Yanks once led 2-0 and 4-2.

Beckett meanwhile settled down after a shaky first two frames to improve to 4-0.
A-Rod stayed hot by getting two more hits but for the first time in five games didn’t go yard. The third baseman has been unbelievable so far hitting a ridiculous 12 dingers and driving in 31 in the team’s first 16 games. He has been dangerous everytime up.

Where would the Yanks who are only .500 (8-8) heading into Sunday night’s ESPN Game be without him? We’re rather not know. It would be scary. That’s what happens when ace Chien-Ming Wang who’s returning Tuesday in Tampa, Mike Mussina and Carl “DL” Pavano all have missed starts.

Aside from that, they also have been without Hideki Matsui, who is scheduled to come off the DL Monday. Johnny Damon has also been banged up and missed some starts in center and Jorge Posada sat out yesterday with a bruised forearm after leaving Friday night’s game early in favor of Will Nieves.

So it’s not surprising where the Yankees are at this stage. Will they get swept by Boston as Daisuke “Dice K” Matsuzaka takes the hill against rookie Chase Wright? The odds certainly are stacked against them. By the end of the night, they could find themselves in an early hole four out. With the Blue Jays and Orioles both improved, it won’t be as easy to climb out of.

However, this isn’t exactly unchartered territory for this club. We’ll certainly know more about their plight in a couple of months.

I don’t have much time to talk about this now as I’m about to head out to MSG for Thrashers-Rangers Game 3 tonight.

However, I can’t help but notice like probably everyone else the terrible tragedy which took place at the Virginia Tech campus in which 33 students died on campus due to the insanity of Cho Seung-Hui, who then took his own life ending the deadliest campus day shooting ever.

It’s hard to comprehend what could’ve motivated the South Korean to commit such a horrible act to so many innocent people. One can never know what leads an individual to do such things.

It is very disturbing to say the least. My heart goes out to all the victims, their families and friends plus every student who attenda Va Tech.

I’m going to post the link to an article on the situation which took place now for people to read:

Va Tech Massacre True Tragedy

The one question which will come up is pretty simple: WHY???

And maybe it’s answered a little in what was said about Seung-Hui from a couple of sources at the university. The 23 year-old sounded very troubled. Maybe they should’ve seen this coming. But who ever thinks something as crazy as this could actually happen? It reminds me all too much of that awful day in Colorado almost a decade ago at Columbine.

One thing I wonder about is why guns are so easy to get in some states. I have always been a firm backer of gun control. If people don’t have them, maybe this sort of thing wouldn’t happen. Of course, it’s a very touchy issue depending what side you’re on.

In any event, as I leave now, it makes the game I will enjoy meaningless. Sure, it will be fun. But when you compare it to people’s lives being taken for no real reason, it really makes you appreciate what you have.

May God be with all those people.