Friday 12 May 2006
Bulls busted, Bonds busted, Cubs busted
The NBA play-off's continue at a rate of two games a night. The final is not until June and will be without the Bulls who bowed out to Miami Heat in 6 games.
The NBA season is a long slog, 82 games over 9 months which does truly deliver the very best team at the end - you don't get many FA Cup type upsets when you play 82 games - however the excitement of the play-off's prove to me that at least a third of the regular season games are pointless.
The current state of play in the East and West conference is as follows:
East
Miami Heat 1 - 1 New Jersey Nets
Detroit Pistons 2 - 0 Cleveland Cavaliers
West
San Antonio Spurs 1 - 1 Dallas Mavericks
Phoenix Suns 1 - 1 Los Angeles Clippers
The weather has turned a bit grey here in Chicago the last few days, which matches the Cubs' fans outlook on their season's prospects. They are way below .500 after 35 games and already getting left behind in the haul to the play-off's. They did however manage during this week's series against San Francisco Giants, to stop drug cheat Barry Bonds getting the single home run that he needs to draw level with legend Babe Ruth's 714.
Much debate continues in the bars and media here if the game should even acknowledge known steroid user Bond's 'achievement.' Clearly he was and is a great player but I don't expect English football fans or its officials to be quite as lenient on say, Alan Shearer coming out as someone who has used performance enhancing drugs for the last 5 years.
Meanwhile the south side White Sox continue where they left off last season. I watched them last week steam-roller Seattle and the current 'world champions' again have the best record in the country.
The 'soccer' season has started in earnest but with a lot less fuss than baseball and basketball. Because Chicago Fire's new stadium in the south-west of the city won't be ready until June 25th, they have been forced to play their first 12 games away from home, a tough schedule by anyone's standards. They lost their opening game of the season to FC Dallas, but they are undefeated in their last 4 games. The Fire play Youri Djorkaeff's New York Red Bulls tomorrow.
To celebrate the opening of America's newest sports stadium at Bridgeview, an All Star League team will entertain Chelsea on August 5th. ¶ 23:22
The NBA season is a long slog, 82 games over 9 months which does truly deliver the very best team at the end - you don't get many FA Cup type upsets when you play 82 games - however the excitement of the play-off's prove to me that at least a third of the regular season games are pointless.
The current state of play in the East and West conference is as follows:
East
Miami Heat 1 - 1 New Jersey Nets
Detroit Pistons 2 - 0 Cleveland Cavaliers
West
San Antonio Spurs 1 - 1 Dallas Mavericks
Phoenix Suns 1 - 1 Los Angeles Clippers
The weather has turned a bit grey here in Chicago the last few days, which matches the Cubs' fans outlook on their season's prospects. They are way below .500 after 35 games and already getting left behind in the haul to the play-off's. They did however manage during this week's series against San Francisco Giants, to stop drug cheat Barry Bonds getting the single home run that he needs to draw level with legend Babe Ruth's 714.
Much debate continues in the bars and media here if the game should even acknowledge known steroid user Bond's 'achievement.' Clearly he was and is a great player but I don't expect English football fans or its officials to be quite as lenient on say, Alan Shearer coming out as someone who has used performance enhancing drugs for the last 5 years.
Meanwhile the south side White Sox continue where they left off last season. I watched them last week steam-roller Seattle and the current 'world champions' again have the best record in the country.
The 'soccer' season has started in earnest but with a lot less fuss than baseball and basketball. Because Chicago Fire's new stadium in the south-west of the city won't be ready until June 25th, they have been forced to play their first 12 games away from home, a tough schedule by anyone's standards. They lost their opening game of the season to FC Dallas, but they are undefeated in their last 4 games. The Fire play Youri Djorkaeff's New York Red Bulls tomorrow.
To celebrate the opening of America's newest sports stadium at Bridgeview, an All Star League team will entertain Chelsea on August 5th. ¶ 23:22
