Ratings way up

Lebron didn't win, but the networks sure did. TNT reported that a whopping 8.6 million viewers tuned in on average to the Eastern Conference Finals. As loyal readers know, the Clarion Content is a firm believer that the Nielsen ratings are bogus. Their number fails to account for anyone who watched this game in a public place (eg. a sports bar) or at a friend's house (counting 'households' skews their data). Regardless TNT had to be in a mood to celebrate. Viewership was up 37% over its 2008 conference finals coverage!

Sports links

We offer for your perusal two interesting sports links that have crossed our path recently.

The first link [here] is from a Cincinnati reader. It is a Samuel Beckett-ized interpretation of Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings quarterback situation. It stars Sage Rosenfels and Tavaris Jackson as Estragon and Vladimir. It is such a creative idea and well-executed.

The second link [here] is a short New York Times video of their sports columnist, William C. Rhoden, discussing the natures of jazz and basketball with trumpet virtuoso Wynton Marsalis. They muse on similarities and evolutions among other things in fascinating conversation (pathetically staged on a basketball court).

Et tu, Indians?

It doesn't look so bad...

On a night when the forty-five year long championship drought of the city of Cleveland was extended by the Orlando Magic, the Indians dropped another game to the Yankees. This one probably hurt a little bit more because it came with former Indian's ace, C.C. Sabathia on the mound pitching for the Yankees.

Sabathia made $89 million more this off-season than the Indians offered him in an extension last year. (Sabathia was traded to Milwaukee after refusing the Indians deal.) It had to be tough to swallow, Sabathia pitching for four and one-third no hit innings to start the game, while the Cavs were getting blown out.

What is the matter with Cleveland Coach Mike Brown? The Clarion Content has long contended that he is an idiot surfing the wave of Lebron James mad skills. How many times did the Cavaliers have to get beasted by the same plays in the same ways and he still didn't adjust!!! How many people, earning far less per annum, knew that the Cavs one chance at this point was to go small and play LeBron at the four? There are sloths that cover more ground than the Cavs centers Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace? Why are they chasing Rashard Lewis and Turkoglu around the perimeter? LeBron didn't stick around to discuss after Game 6.

Perhaps he was grabbing his Yankees cap and heading for the Jake where the Indians season appears all but over as well. The spectacular Victor Martinez is hobbling and poor Grady Sizemore can hardly swing with his hyper-extended elbow. How long before this generation of stars leaves Cleveland in the rear view mirror?

Sorry, Ohio.

Bounced

Meet the new manager Jim Tracy

Clint Hurdle was fired as the manager of the Colorado Rockies yesterday. The Rockies are an abysmal 19 up and 28 down. The Denver Post in balanced but critical article says that Hurdle made his bed via his bad relationships with his players. The beat writer says that Hurdle was never all that good a manager. He was a good egg within the community and he never criticized the front office. This enabled him to become the first manager in major-league history to start a career with five consecutive losing seasons and not get fired. He received a two year extension before the 2007 season, and then had a remarkable run to the World Series. Things fell apart quickly from there.

The Rockies have some talent, but will they be able to turn things around under interim manager Jim Tracy?

Read the whole story here.

Triple-Double

When does, "He had a triple-double," not say it all about a players performance?



Last night we saw an example. LeBron James was actually more dominant than his stunning 37 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists let on. At the critical juncture of the game the Cavs went to their patented "Okay everybody else standstill and clear out for LeBron" offense. James responded by winning the game 1 on 5. It was a phenomenal performance.

The Clarion Content has long said LeBron James is an even better passer than he is a shooter. Last night he demonstrated not only that, but his fiercely competitive will to win. During that critical stretch when his coach, bereft of ideas, called no plays, LeBron scored or assisted on 32 straight points, including the first 28 of the 4th quarter. The signature moment came with 2.47 left on the clock and the Cavs clinging to a two possession lead. James drove the lane, again drew triple and then quadruple coverage, LeBron made a brilliant wrap around pass through heavy traffic to Sideshow Bob Varejao who missed an uncontested point-blank dunk careening it off the back of the rim. What did James do? Chased down the offensive board, made the putback and one!

Imagine if this man had a decent supporting cast and a good coach.

A shocking return

Young Baker-Finch after his 1991 British Open triumph

This story was such a surprise to encounter this morning that the Clarion Content sports editor quite literally shouted out, "What?!?" causing heads to turn across the office. Ian Baker-Finch, the excellent CBS Sports golf commentator, and perhaps the single most famous case of the shanks EVER, is playing competitive golf this weekend. He has entered the PGA tournament at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas this week.

We are rooting for Ian Baker-Finch, to at least play respectably, hopefully to even make the cut. Long before the world had heard of the rapidly disappearing David Duval, Baker-Finch had sketched the path: tremendous talent, a bevy of PGA tour and international wins, a victory in a major, the 1991 British Open at Royal Birkdale, then a complete collapse, swing and game mysteriously gone. Within in three years things had gone so far downhill that his season totals read fourteen missed cuts and four withdrawals in 18 events. Less than two years after that he was out of the game and behind the microphone at age thirty-seven. What might have been for the Aussie dubbed, "the Dark Shark," never was. He became a cautionary tale for all.

Yet he didn't run and hide. He took a very public job and succeeded tremendously. He has been by all accounts an excellent announcer. He has played competitively only once since 2001. But as the New York Times noted, he plays four times a week back home with his buddies. Sometimes he beats them. They are PGA tour professionals. So maybe, just maybe.

Let it be known the Clarion Content is rooting hard for the classy Ian Baker-Finch this week.

Cleveland worried?

Uh oh Cleveland...

Is the city of Cleveland worried? LeBron just got a lot closer to being a New York Knick last night as the Orlando Magic again defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Clarion Content believes that King James is not leaving Cleveland if he wins the championship for the city. If. If? If! At the start of his series we were predicting the Cavs in a sweep. After Game 1 we were predicting the Cavs 4-1. Even this morning, we would not rule out or even bet against a Cavs miracle comeback from 3 games to 1 behind.

Last night James had spectacular moments offensively, but little help from his teammates again. His coach, Mike Brown, an embarrassing Coach of the Year winner, let the team down, too. How can he have slow, old, Ben Wallace assigned to chase Rashard Lewis through screens on the biggest play of the game? Why were Wallace and Varejao both on the court? And subsequently, why didn't Cleveland double Dwight Howard who killed them in overtime? Coach Brown? We have seen repeatedly the Howard has no game if he catches the ball further than six feet from the basket. In OT he torched the Brazilian Sideshow Bob catching the ball repeatedly two feet from the rim, and Coach Brown gave him no help.

Cleveland, no help, is becoming a recurring theme. The Knicks have plenty of cap room for 2010, they can bring in LeBron and help (D-Wade, Nash, etc.) Cleveland are you getting worried?

Syracuse closes the deal

Triumph

It was no surprise, as one of our transplanted upstate New York readers noted, Syracuse has been there and done that. They showed no fear as they won an extremely tight and dramatic National Lacrosse Final. The Orange tied the score with just 4.5 seconds left and won it overtime against upstart Cornell. It was more heartbreak for the Big Red, who have been the national runner-up four times since their last title thirty-two years ago.

Read more here.

Upstate NY reigns supreme in lacrosse

Lacrosse Nation Final Set...

The Cornell Big Red..................vs.................The Syracuse Orange

The Clarion Content admittedly has no love loss for the Duke Men's Lacrosse program. We root against the University of Virgina's team on more of a sports level. So, as far as we were concerned from the editorial desk here in Durham, we could not have been more pleased with the Men's lacrosse national semifinals last week.

The New York Times covering the story said that Syracuse, "crushed" Duke. But the story in their eyes was Cornell's Big Red, a team they said compared to a "a family station wagon" next to the Virginia Cavaliers, "sleek and powerful sports car." However, as it turned out "Cornell, a team noted for its conservative play and methodical pace, raced out of the gate and did not stop until it had stunned and humiliated the high-flying Cavaliers, 15-6."

As the Times had it,

"The two teams from upstate New York solidified the region’s reputation as the sport’s stronghold. With Le Moyne in the Division II final, facing C.W. Post; with Cortland in the Division III final, against Gettysburg; and with Onondaga Community College having already won the junior college title, the land of Genesee beer, Wegmans supermarkets and the Finger Lakes could also have all four men’s major lacrosse national titles."

Read the whole story here. We recommend it!

Nope

Ji Young Oh

Neither Clarion Content whipping post Michelle Wie, nor the Pink Panther, Paula Creamer made a charge finishing tied for third at 8-under at the Sybase Classic at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey. Ji Young Oh, according to the AP a 20-year-old, straight-hitting South Korean shot 2-under 70 on a raw, cold, windy day to win her second LPGA tournament.

Party Poopers

The fun police were out in force yesterday at Maryland's Pimlico Racetrack. The greedy ownership was already facing bankruptcy and a threat by the Governor of Maryland to seize the track through eminent domain. (perhaps the single most fascist concept to come out of America's slide towards becoming the new Soviet Union.) So these geniuses thought it would be a good idea to ban the spectators from bringing their own beverages, including beer, onto the infield.

Smart.

Their greed cost them. Fans were not impressed with 16-ounce plastic cups of Budweiser for $3.50 a pop. Attendance dropped a staggering 31.6% or by more than 30,000 paying customers. When will these idiots learn? Sports is going get a massive slap in the face in the next few years. Call it well deserved comeuppance.

Read more here in the Washington Post.

Another chance

Michelle Wie has another chance to win her first career LPGA tournament. Hopefully, the media hype machine hasn't deceived you, dear readers, into thinking she has already won one. Wie, to this point, is actually less athletically accomplished than the model née tennis player Anna Kournikova. Wie, however, is only nineteen, and is playing a sport with a much, much longer athletic window than tennis.

Can she pull it off tomorrow in the Sybase Classic at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey? Wie and fellow American, Paula Creamer, trail the leaders entering the final round by three strokes. Wie has consistently choked at the biggest moments of her young career. Creamer, who is affectionately known to her fans as the Pink Panther, on the other hand, has already won eight LPGA tournaments at the tender age of 23. Perhaps it is because she came through the junior ranks, playing against women her own age, learning to win tournaments. This was quite unlike Michelle Wie who was pushed by her parents and her sponsors to become a sideshow freak, attempting to compete against men twice her age.

It has cost her dearly. Tomorrow Wie has another chance to redeem her reputation as a loser. The LPGA tour desperately needs her celebrity. The LPGA has lost five tournaments this year because of hard economic times.

Read more here in the New York Times.

Crashing

Baseball season is long, unfurling like a tapestry, the tale begins in Spring and unfolds throughout the Summer and meanders on into the Fall. This is one reason baseball people, especially managers and front office types, like to use the worn cliche, "It's early." This is usually an attempt to restrain anger or panic in the fan base if the team starts slow or slumps at the beginning of the season.

This year, two Nation League teams that started out red hot are in major tailspins, and their leadership is desperately deploying the tired, "It's early. It's early." The San Diego Padres started out a season that many thought might see 100 losses a surprising 10 up and 6 down after an extra inning win over the Pirates on April 24th. Since that time they have only won three games, while losing sixteen! Crash.

The other, near as bad wreck of a promising start, has been perpetrated by the Florida Marlins. The Marlins started out a scorching 11 and 1. Nobody believed they were that good. But since then they have been an abysmal 6 wins and 17 losses. They can't be that bad can they? Crash.

Of the two squads the Marlins probably have a better chance at righting themselves. Although they play in a far tougher division than the Pads, nobody has run away with the N.L. East while the defending champion Phillies tread water. The Padres, on the other hand, already find themselves ten and 1/2 games back of LA, all but buried. Oh well San Diego, at least you can enjoy the weather. Stay classy.

Don't run on the field

Citi Field

They make the announcement before every major sporting event in America. "Don't run on to the field of play. You will be thrown out and arrested."

Some, likely drunk, idiot at the New York Mets new stadium, Citi Field, did not get the message or had a major malfunction because the New York Times reported, "A man who jumped naked onto the field of the Mets game on Tuesday faces up to a year in jail and civil penalties of up to $5,000, the Queens district attorney said. The man, Craig Coakley, 38, of Whitestone, Queens, was arraigned Wednesday on charges of third-degree criminal trespass and interference with a professional sporting event."

Smooth move, Ex-lax.

Two fun football links

We know it is the off-season for the NFL and even with the NBA playoffs, some terrific early season baseball, golf, hockey, NASCAR, etc. John Q. Public is jonesing for some football. Well here at the Clarion Content, we feel ya, and we have two cool football links for you.

Link one is seventy-four amazing photographs from the Florida Sun-Sentinel. Monday the Miami Caliente, South Florida's team in the Lingerie Football League, held its first minicamp. Brilliant. The action shots of these ladies catching passes and hitting tackling dummies are unbelievable.

The next one, in an effort to keep real, is from the opposite side, another perspective. It was forwarded our way by one of our Ohio readers. The site is called Women Against Fantasy Sports. It features tips for surviving football season with a fantasy obsessed spouse. It also has a glossary of terms for the uninitiated. And it has an apparel section featuring such gems as the panties that say, "Closed for fantasy season." Brutal.

Zach Greinke is a some pitcher...

but Roy Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball.


Greinke.................................................Halladay

The phenomenal Doc Halladay dominated the Yankees tonight, facing the bare minimum through six innings, pitching a five hit, one run complete game to move to 7 and 1 on the year. The guy is an MLB best 100 up and 43 down since 2003. And perhaps, just perhaps the Blue Jays are for real. The Toronto crowd was surely into the game, cheering the victorious Halladay and vociferously booing the former Blue Jay who started for the Yanks, A.J. Burnett.

The Clarion Content had been listening to Mike Francesa on the Fan noting over and over that the Jays had yet to play the Yanks, Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, rather feasting on the little sister of the poor, also known as the A.L. Central and the A.L. West while compiling the best record in the American League. In fact, the one hot team the Jays played, the Kansas City Royals, took three out of four from them at the end of April. Which brings us full circle to Zack Greinke is some pitcher.

The young Royal, Greinke, lost his first game of the season the other night, despite throwing an eight-inning complete game. He allowed one run and four hits, but lost 1-0 to the Angels and Joe Saunders. He is 6 and 1 with four complete games, a 0.51 ERA and opponents are hitting an anemic .184 against him. Wow! So while Doc Halladay is still the best pitcher in baseball, Greinke might be starting the All-Star game for the American League this year.

Don't miss

Referee Mark Wunderlich

Much of the hoopla surrounding Game 3 of the Western Conference NBA semifinals between the Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks will be about what the league office has now admited was a blown call. Dallas attempted to give a foul on Carmelo Anthony with seconds left in the fourth quarter. Despite an obvious shove by Antoine Wright, veteran official Mark Wunderlich didn't make the call. Anthony kept playing as Wright appeared to hesitate, and drained a game winning three pointer for a 3-0 series lead.

The league office about two hours later said, "At the end of the Dallas-Denver game this evening, the officials missed an intentional foul committed by Antoine Wright on Carmelo Anthony, just prior to Anthony's 3-point basket." The Nuggets still would have had the ball, they would have been down by two needing a shot to tie.

But Dallas should be kicking themselves. The officials always take heat if they don't let the players make the plays down the stretch. One hears the phrase the officials are trying to decide the game, so they swallow the whistle. Dallas was called for just three team fouls in the fourth quarter. They missed four late fourth quarter free throws. And the ever overrated Dirk Nowitzki was 0-4 from the field in the final 2.38 of the fourth quarter, 0-5, if one counts his desperation heave at the buzzer.

(Thanks to ESPN's Mark Stein for some of those handy numbers.)

Just for fun, don't miss either that the ref in question, Mark Wunderlich is from West Chester, PA, a Philly suburb all but adjacent to the hometown, Springfield, PA, of disgraced erstwhile fixer and NBA referee Tim Donaghy.

What? No seriously what?

Auburn football, all class all the time, ha ha. The tradition continues. Currently it is a NCAA mandated quiet period where college football coaches cannot talk to high school students. So what did Auburn recruiting coordinator Curtis Luper do?

He got a hold of limo, tricked it out with Auburn flags and the "AU" logo, sent seven assistant coaches, the maximum allowed by the NCAA on recruiting trips on the road. They are going to be visiting the parking lots of as many high schools in the state as possible. The admitted purpose of the trip is to attract high school players attention. No kidding. Auburn can't talk to them (officially) so they thought of another even better way to distract them from their studies?!?

"We can't talk to the players, so we're talking to coaches and principals and counselors," Luper said. Allegedly, they are not greasing any palms. But where Auburn's concerned, who knows?

Read more here in the Birmingham News.

Once a ho...

Always a ho.


Where's my pimp, errr, agent?

And therein lies the reason institutions get what they deserve when they hire the likes of Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Larry Brown or Rich Rodriguez. The case in point this week is Rick Pitino. Pitino, who despite a run of success at Louisville University that includes a 200-72 record and lots of success in the NCAA tournament, is floating trial balloons about returning to the NBA (where he failed with the Knicks and the Celtics.)

Yahoo Sports has reported that there is interest on behalf of the Sacramento Kings who recently dismissed coach Reggie Theus. They are owned by the deep-pocketed, Vegas connected, Maloof brothers. Pitino is reportedly a big fan of Vegas and is dying to get away from the fishbowl of Louisville where his extra-marital affairs have become the centerpiece of local gossip.

BCS gets raked over the coals

The Congressional Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection had a hearing in the Washington, D.C. this week to examine issues of competitive fairness and the extent to which public colleges and universities are adversely impacted by the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) system.

Noted monopolist, coordinator of the BCS and commissioner of the ACC, John Swofford was lambasted by Texas Congressman Joe Barton. Congressman Barton has introduced the College Football Playoff Act of 2009, legislation that would prohibit the marketing, promotion, and advertising of a postseason game as a "national championship" game, unless it is the result of a playoff system. Brilliant!

The Seattle Post Intelligencer quoted Barton, "This system is patently unfair. Before the first game, half the teams in the country don't have a prayer at winning or even playing for a national championship. You could have a playoff system that makes just as much money, but has the added benefit of determining the championship on the field."

The Seattle PI went on to note, "There are eleven Division I conferences within football and under the BCS format six of those - the ACC, SEC, Big East, Big 12, Big 10, and Pac-10 - are guaranteed $18 million each to distribute among their schools. Rush's contention was that the other five conferences - the Sun Belt, WAC, MAC, Conference USA, and Mountain West - only get $9.5 million combined whereas Notre Dame, an independent, receives $1.3 million."

As Congressman Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) pointed out, "Colleges and universities are funded by taxpayer money, and we have to ask whether or not the big, dominant conferences are engaged in uncompetitive behavior and negotiating contracts at the expense of smaller conferences and their schools. In other words, are the big guys getting together and shutting out the little guys?"

Sounds like anti-competitive, illegal, predatory, monopolistic practice to the Clarion Content's ears.