More Stanley Cup Finals Goodness

Honestly, is the NBA Finals really going on? If that snorefest of passing, dribbling, isolation, pass in then out for the three still going on?

Even my beloved Spurs can be heard to watch sometimes. That's bad coming from a diehard.

On the ice, the excitement and action have been much more entertaining that nba.

Not just because I'm a Pittsburgh Penguins fan doesn't skew my view of the leagues. Hockey is all out war for three 20 minute periods. Hits, checking, face offs, power plays, on the fly changes and non stop action. The opposite of the NBA.

The Real Finals
I don't know what the TV numbers are but I'm sure the NBA finals ratings were higher than Sir Lord Stanley's Cup Finals. I do know they were a better entertainment attraction.

Game seven will decide who takes home Sir Lord Stanley's Cup on Friday. Will the Detroit Red Wings keep the Cup one more year or will the upstart but strong Penguins return the favor and hoist the Cup at Joe Louis Arena.

It's been a hell of a Finals. As a Pens fan, it has sent me through the ringer. Games one and two were fun to watch but the results were painful.

I felt down about the next game considering it was a must win for the Pens to avoid going down 3-0. They stormed back to win three and four and leveling the series at two.

What happened next was a reality check. Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury gave up five goals in about half a game and was pulled. The score stood as a 5-0 final. Any momentum the Pens had built up slammed against a brick wall.

To say The Flower rebounded in game six is a vast understatement. While the Pens hacked away at Chris Osgood and were stone walled, Fleury held his own when he had to. The game finished 2-1 in favor of Pittsburgh.

Fleury was the hero and Rob Scuderi the savior. Scuderi stopped the puck at least three times on a furious finish in front of the Penguins net. Otherwise overtime and only the Hockey Gods know what would have ensued.

Game seven is Friday night....bring it on and Let's Go Pens!

Moral Victories
After the second period, my friend sent me a text saying the Red Wings have a moral victory in that they were only down 1-0 after being out shot so much. I replied that if anything Pittsburgh has a moral victory after being pound federal prison style 5-0 in game five.

Plus I told him that moral victories are for losers and vaginas who grasp a straws when they can't win. The only thing that matters is the scoreboard.

Spurs eliminate Hornets, Pens vs. Red Wings, Lady Coogs host ULL

Spurs eliminate Hornets

Well, as much as I love my Spurs, I didn't think they would pull off the series against the younger Hornets. Losing the first two to have a two game deficit didn't look good for the defending Champs. What it boiled down to is the Spurs experience against the Hornets youth. The Hornets are no pushovers. And I thought the Hornets would run the Spurs into the ground. In game seven, it was pretty much a Spurs controlled game. The Spurs dictated the pace of the game and never let the Hornets threaten until the closing minutes of the game. The Spurs bench also put in some quality minutes to help keep the lead large in the second and third periods.

Down the stretch, some of the Hornets took ill advised shots and some desperate shots when they really didn't need to. On the other end, the Spurs worked the clock and scored key baskets to keep the Hornets at bay. Greg Popovich made all the right adjustments through out the series. He solved the Spurs problems in the third period in time for game seven's third period.

Hornets and fans should be proud of their team. I certainly didn't see the Hornets being this good. They held their own against the Mavs and sent them packing. Then they take the defending champs to a game seven. No shame in that.

Stanley Cup Finals

Detroit Red Wings finished of the Dallas Stars to advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs. I'm looking for a great series. The Red Wings have experience and titles but the Penguins are very youthful. They are going to test the Wings defense. They are high flying. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are a powerful one two punch.

I'm not surprised the Pens are in the Cup finals. I am surprised they made it this year. I thought they were a least one year away. Instead youth has been served.

It's going to be a hard fought series and will probably come down to who is the hottest goalie. I'm going to go with the Pens in seven.

Lady Cougars host ULL in Super Regionals

The Lady Cougars will be hosting a super regional in softball as they take on Louisiana-Lafayette. It's a best of three series. The 53-9 Coogs will rid the arm of pitcher Amgel Shamblin. She was on fire at the regionals by pitching a 3-0 record with three hits allowed and one run scored for a miniscule .37 ERA.

LouisianaLafayette is no slouch. The come in sport a 49-12 record. The are coming off beating a higly ranked LSU team to reach the super regional rounds. It's going to be a though match up for the Lady Coogs.

Go Coogs Go!

Is it too early for the Pens vs. Red Wings?

At the very bottom of this blog, you will find my sports allegiances and the teams I root against. The Pittsburgh Penguins are listed as one of my favorites. I've been following them since the Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Kevin Steves, Tom Borrasso, Kjell Sammuelson and Ulf Sammuelson Stanley Cup winning days. Actually I followed the team before the Cup wins.

Since then the club has gone bankrupt, was on the verge of folding or moving to another team. They assembled some young talent along the way. They added Sidney Crosby and a year later they added Evgeni Malkin. The Pens started playing some good hockey again and there was talk about them turning into an eventual Stanley Cup contender. The Penguins have a 3-1 lead over Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference finals.

I'm excited that the Pens have reached this point. I didn't think this would be the year they would make a Cup run. I thought the Malkin and Crosby were about a year or two away from being ready for the grind that is the NHL playoffs. Instead they've been tearing through the opposition. The only loss on the Pen's postseason record hasa been a loss to the Rangers.

With both the Penguins and the Red Wings holding 3-0 leads over the Flyers and Stars, respectively, we should see them in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Red Wings have been in the Finals four times since 1995. Losing the Cup in '95 but winning three times in '97,'98 and '02. The Penguins haven't been to the Cup finals since winning back to back titles in '91-'92.

It will be the young, up and coming Penguins against the grisly veteran team of the Red Wings. I give a slight edge to the Red Wings on experience. The Pens have youth and can skate and score at will. The Red Wings have been in the trenches and won't let the Pens skate all over them. Red Wings in six.