Weekly Rant!

Well let me start with the obvious as the Los Angeles Lakers took back the home court advantage with their game 3 win at the Boston Celtics. Is it me or did any one else notice that Ray Allen followed up one of the greatest shooting performances in NBA playoff history with quite possibly the worst shooting performance in NBA playoff history? And this just in...there has been a Kevin Garnett sighting. If the C's can find away to get the big 3 to play at a high level at the same time then I may change my tune on how I think this series is beginning to shape up. Right now it is Rondo vs the Lakers. Help wanted!

Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks for defeating the very game Philadelphia Flyers in six games Wednesday night. Kind of brought me back to 1994 when my New York Rangers ended 54 years of championship obscurity by winning Lord Stanley's cup. The Blackhawks didn't have to wait quite as long, just a shade under 50 years, but the wait for Chicago ins is finally over. Happy for Patrick Kane, one of the catalyst of Team USA's run at a gold medal these past olympics. Was that a USA, USA,USA chant I hear?

How about all the hype surrounding Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg going in to his major league debut Tuesday night against the less than stellar Pittsburgh Pirates. Very few are the times that I can ever remember someone actually living up to any hype. Strasburg however...exceeded everyone's, including mine. I do not care if it was the Pirates, Strasburg went seven innnings, had 14 strikeouts including stretches were he struck out the side in the third, sixth and seventh innings. He was so dominate that he finished off the last seven batters via whiffs in route to his first major league win. Yea he's good. Real good.

So according to boxing promoter Bob Arum, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Neveda is the front runner for Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao to meet for the worlds mythical pound for pound crown. Seriously? Bob Arum should know better. 50,000 fans went to the new Cowboys stadium in Dallas to see Manny fight (or chase) Joshua Clottey to a 12 round unanimous decision. Miguel Cotto just headlined the first bout at Yankee stadium since Muhammed Ali and Ken Norton fought in 1976 and drew over 2 million viewers on HBO, making the event the most watched program on the network this year. Fights in Vegas are passe. With all the momentum boxing is garnering, you need history making events. Listen, go back to Dallas, put more than 100,000 thousand people in that new stadium, and make it the biggest event ever. Only in America!

College football is seeing much anticiapted movement the past couple of weeks. It looks like the Big 12 as we once knew it is all but over. Nebraska has a verbal agreement to join the Big 10 with Mizzouri not to far behind. Truthfully the Big 12 could survive such an exodus, but the possiblity of Texas joining the Pac 10 would spell it's demise. If Texas goes, so will Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. That would leave Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Iowa State and Mizzouri if the Tigers don't jump ship to the Big 10. The Big 5? Not very compelling. With all the possible changes ready to take take place, it looks like the BCS system is going to remain intact for years to come. Bummer.

By Ephraim Vega
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