The Phoenix suns stumbled and then fell down as they lost a critical game 1 of the NBA playoffs to the Portland Trailblazers at home in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday.
With this loss, Phoenix became the only home team to lose the first NBA playoff game this season.
Interestingly, the loss came against a Portland team who had just lost their best player, Brandon Roy, to a season ending injury. Without Roy, the Trailblazers were expected by some to be a pushover for the powerful suns.
But is was not so as Marcus Camby and Andre Miller were able to shut down Amare Stoudemire and control Steve Nash to put the Suns at a distinct disadvantage for the rest of this series.
If the Suns are to stand any chance of redemption, Amare will need to start playing like he has been late this season and not let them take him out of the game so easily.
The Suns play tomorrow night in game two and I expect they should come out with a little more intensity.
Tags: NBA Basketball
JOIN KENTUCKY DERBY HANDICAPPERS FOR THE 10TH ANNUAL “RUN FOR THE ROSES” FORUM AND FEAST AT GALLAGHER’S STEAK HOUSE ON TUESDAY, APRIL 27th AT 12 NOON
Who: Dan Illman and Mike Beer, handicappers, the Daily Racing Form; race caller extraordinaire Dave Johnson of Sirius Radio, who will serve as Master of Ceremonies; John DaSilva of the New York Post; jockey agent Drew Mollica; Lucas Marquardt of the Thoroughbred Daily News; Anthony Stabile, a handicapper for NYC-OTB; and Marc Malusis, WFAN radio/SNY television personality.
When: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 12PM Noon
What: 10th Annual Kentucky Derby Handicapping Seminar and Power Lunch
Where: Gallagher’s Steak House, 228 West 52nd St, west of Broadway, NYC
Price: $60
Reservations required: 212-245-5336
Media Contacts/Press RSVP: Cirillo World/John Cirillo, Jerry Milani, Kevin McCarthy, O: 212 972 5337, JC Cell: 914 260 7436, johnnycigarpr@aol.com, jerry.milani@yahoo.com, kevinmc.cirilloworld@gmail.com
Join thoroughbred experts as they predict the “most exciting two minutes in sports” at the seminar sponsored by the Daily Racing Form. In preparation for the Kentucky Derby, racing experts will gather at Gallagher’s Steak House on Tuesday, April 27th at 12 noon to offer their opinions on the first leg of the Triple Crown. Regional southern fare from Kentucky will highlight the three-course Power Lunch menu at the annual Kentucky Derby Handicapping Seminar. (Kentucky Derby is Saturday, May 1, at Churchill Downs in Louisville). Gallagher’s Steak House is located at 228 West 52nd Street, just west of Broadway. Reservations are recommended by calling 212.245.5336. The seminar is priced at $60, and includes the Power Lunch, forum, the Daily Racing Form cap, a commemorative glass, and DRF advance program lines. All fans will receive The Daily Racing Form Cap, made of soft cotton and featuring an embroidered DRF logo, retail value $14.95. The handicappers include: Racecaller extraordinaire Dave Johnson of Sirius Radio, who will serve as Master of Ceremonies; John DaSilva of the New York Post; Marc Malusis, WFAN radio/SNY television personality; jockey agent Drew Mollica; Lucas Marquardt of the Thoroughbred Daily News; and Anthony Stabile, a handicapper for NYC-OTB. The Derby Menu features: Starting Gate: Choice of either Soup: Kentucky Burgoo: Slow cooked Soup with shredded chicken, pork, beef, veal and vegetables or Salad: Spinach Salad served with apple onion vinaigrette. The Stretch: Choice of Bourbon Glazed Double Cut Pork-Chops Served w/whipped sweet potatoes; or Blackened CAB Steak served with Bourbon molasses butter; or Slow roasted salmon with Jim Beam Kentucky bourbon sauce; or Traditional Kentucky Hot Brown open-faced turkey sandwich with bacon and a delicate Mornay sauce, served with Louisville Hash Browns. The Finish Line: Warm Bread pudding, served with vanilla cream sauce
Tags: Misc
On March 22nd, during the end of the third quarter of the Miami Heat vs. New Jersey Nets at the Meadowlands, the Nets CEO Brett Yormark got into a much publicized shouting match with an errant fan who’d decided to adorn a brown paper bag over his head in regards to the woeful NBA Basketball Team’s performance, who were on a 14 Home game losing streak and eight games overall, as the Nets continued to be on pace to break the league’s all time losing record of 73 games set in 1972-73 by the Philadelphia 76ers, as New Jersey fell to 7-63 after losing to the Heat 99-89.
Yormark pointed a crooked finger at the unidentified fan after exchanging words with him before getting into a vocal shouting match, which apparently was ignited when Yormark asked why the fan was wearing the paper bag, a la the once renowned New Orleans AIN’TS.
Thus Chris Lisi, the man wearing the paper bag sardonically retorted: “Because They’re so Good!” Referring to the woeful Nets who are hoping that new Russian Owner Mikhail Prokhorov, listed as No. 40 on the Forbes Richest Person’s list, will help enable the floundering Franchise to reinvigorate itself, as the Nets are set to move to Brooklyn’s Barclay’s Center in 2012, while the club will have $23 million dollars available underneath the Salary cap this summer.
Current interim Head Coach Kiki Vandeweghe hopes to ride out the remainder of the season before returning to his normal General Manager duties.
Lisi and his brother who were seated in the second row Courtside, oblivious to who Yormark was, continued their shouting match until Lisi pulled out a set of tickets and Yormark stomped away as Security approached the scene.
On March 30th, Yormark set to right his much ballyhooed tirade by hosting a 30 minute Brown Bag lunch for Disgruntled Nets Fans Chris and (brother) Rob Lisi. The lunch comprising of Hamburgers, Fries and Salads was appropriately sent in Brown Bags courtesy of McDonalds for the five participants, as two New Jersey Nets Radio Broadcasters were also present.
And while still hesitant to apologize for his tyrant display courtside, Yormark’s antics seemingly have paid off, as the inspired Nets went on a mini-winning streak after the incident, taking three of its next four games to improve its record to 10-64 and thus insuring it won’t finish worse then the 76ers record of 9-73.
The lunch was held at the Nets Headquarters and streamed over the club’s website, which eventually shutdown due to the overabundance of people clicking onto it, which is probably the most traffic the site has received this year…
Tags: NBA Basketball
Major League Soccer will begin its 2010 season Thursday night at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington, after the MLS Players had threatened to strike if a new contract wasn’t reached prior to the league’s Kick Off game on March 25th.
The MLS contract had expired on January 31, with both sides agreeing to twice extend the deadline before negotiations broke down and players threatened to walk out in late February, as both sides seemed to be at an impasse. But with the help of a Federal Mediator, the two sides were able to hammer out an agreement and announced a new 5-year agreement on Saturday, March 21, just days prior to the imposed strike deadline.
Thus the league will go on and see the first game of 2010 feature the Seattle Sounders FC vs. the Philadelphia Union, who make their league debut this year as the leagues 16th team, while the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps are set to join the MLS in 2011.
The league’s 16 Teams will play a 30 game season and not contest any matches in June during this year’s World Cup tournament in South Africa, avoiding competition during the World cup’s first round, semi-finals and finals, before reaching the MLS Playoffs, where eight teams will vie for the crown in November, while you can catch the Sounders vs. Union on ESPN2 at 6:30PM Pacific…
Tags: soccer
By now you know that USA-1’s 4-man Night Train Bobsled driven by Steve Holcomb has ended America’s 62yr drought of winning the Gold medal in this prestigious winter event, as Holcomb not only made history by accomplishing this, he also set two brand new track records in the process during Day 1’s first half of the event, enroute to capturing America’s first Gold medal in the 4-Man Bobsleigh in 62 years…
Yet, unfortunately the just concluded XXI Winter Olympics at Vancouver, BC will most likely be remembered as the venue where 21yr old Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was fatally killed in a training accident just hours prior to the Opening ceremonies of the Winter Games.
And the track was obviously deluged with many critics, including Team USA female Bobsledder Shauna Rohbock exclaiming that the Whistler Sliding Centre’s track was simply “Stupidly Fast!”
And there was much carnage during the Bobsledding events, which I don’t know if any of the women’s teams suffered crashes? Although the 2-Man Bobsled saw at least three sleds crash during practice, not to mention Australia and Switzerland withdrawing from competition and a further four sleds barrel rolling during the first day’s competition.
The 4-man Bobsled competition wasn’t any less daunting, as a total of six sleds crashed on Day 1, nearly 25% of the sleds entered… While Liechtenstein, Netherlands and USA all withdrew from competition, as both Liechtenstein’s pilot Michael Klingler and the USA-2’s John Napier Suffered injuries during competition.
But it was the Netherland’s pilot Edwin van Calker who I think had the most courage of the entire event, as he sensibly told his coach that he simply was too “RATTLED” to compete in the 4-man event, claiming he simply lacked the necessary confidence to continue on.
van Calker had previously crashed during 2-man practice and then struggled mightily every time down the course thru the infamous Turn 13 which was nicknamed 50-50 by no less then Steve Holcomb after crashing during a training run when Teams first tested the circuit back in 2009, as Holcomb noted that only half of the sled’s were making it thru the overly fast corner…
Yet apparently van Calker is already receiving ridicule for withdrawing from the Games and bearing the brunt of bad jokes like: “Why did the chicken cross the bobsled track?” Yet no less than the reigning Swiss World Champion was forced to withdraw due to a concussion obtained during the 2-man event, while nobody seems to be belaboring Switzerland’s other pilot withdrawing for safety reasons after suffering two crashes, as a total of eight men’s sleds crashed…
Yet imagine the fury of partaking in this sport, not to mention Luge or Skeleton… As for me, the signature voice of Olympic Bobsledding will always be John Morgan, who is a former US Bobsledder, who’ve I’ve just learned watched his older brother die in a Bobsledding accident in Italy in 1981 on his very first broadcast assignment, as Morgan rushed to his brother’s side only to find he had no pulse…
As Morgan called the on track action from Whistler, he noted how the 4-man sleds that weigh in at 500lbs were dropping four stories in the first 150 meters of the undulating 16-turn course, which totaled a length of some 16 football fields whilst dropping a total of 50 stories! Not to mention the 71 miles of pipe needing 800 bends to pump the nitrogen underneath the concrete slabs foundation to keep the ice cool… As Day 1 saw a track temperature of 26 deg f, while Morgan called Day 2’s warmer surface “Soft Ice,” with a temperature of 31.5-32 degrees. But most interesting to me was the comment that they use sandpaper on the sleds runners, while reaching record terminal velocities of nearly 96mph!
Tags: Misc
