There’s a lot of stuff I want to talk about, but I’m also sort of busy. So let’s make this quick. Which means, yes – BULLET POINTS! Pretend this is one of those annoying sports shows where you have to talk about ten things in three minutes or less, except I only have five things, which means you have 1.5 minutes to read this, starting now:
* Does anyone really care about hockey? I mean, seriously, I’m tired of my baseball highlights getting interupted by hockey, a sport only slightly less boring than soccer and tic, tac, toe.
* Why’s everyone dismissing the Celtics? For some reason, people assumed Cleveland had to beat Boston just because they had a good record during the season. But this is the Celtics that won it all in 2008. And they didn’t do well last year because Garnett was hurt. But the Celtics clearly have more weapons than the Cavs. So why was everyone acting like it was a major disappointment for Cleveland?
* For that matter, why is everyone down on LeBron James for his performance? I’m not big on coddling millionaire athletes, but, come on — everyone has a bad day at work every now and then. (You should have seen me last Wednesday — way off my game!) My guess is the same people who bagged on LeBron would LOVE to have him play for theirfavorite team.
* Are the Padres finally starting to show their true colors? I was honestly just about to write here how the Pads might actually, possibly, could be for real. Then they lost three straight. As I write, they are playing the Giants, which means they could be out of first place tonight.
* Jamie Moyer is awesome. I know I wrote about him before, but once again, the guy continues to amaze me. First, he shuts out the Braves — at age 47, the oldest to do pitch a shutout — then he accumulates a 5-2 record. And he hasn’t needed to nap in the clubhouse once.
The great thing about Moyer is he doesn’t throw harder than the mid-80s. Just like the great Gred Maddux, he doesn’t need brute foce — Major League batter know how to hit 100 mph fastballs. Instead, he uses offspead pitches and placement. Pitchers like Phil Niekro (318-274, career) and Charlie Hough (216-216) both pitched well into their 40s. But Niekro (I think this is a photo of him in his final year) were both knuckleballers, which means all they had to do was throw a ball 50 mph. but have enough stuff on it to make the batters look like those whiffing apes in the Bugs Bunny cartoon.
If Moyer doesn’t make the Hall of Fame, I’m pledging right now to become a hockey fan.
So, please, HOF voters of the future — vote for Jamie. Because, like, I really, REALLY hate hockey.
