Under!

Opening night of the playoffs and I didn't manage to catch a minute thanks to a night of Foo Fighters "Back and Forth" documentary in theatre's for a night, followed by Toronto FC on the PVR.  Doesn't sound like I missed too much in the way of electric games, though the Washington Capitals scored late to tie the New York Rangers before beating them in overtime.  Nashville did manage to win in Anaheim by a 4-1 score.  They were the lone visitor and underdog to win.  

Real Madrid downed Tottenham 1-0 to punch their Champions League semi-final dates with Barcelona.  The two will now face each other four times in 18 days adding those two games with a date in Madrid Saturday, and a Copa del Rey date next Wednesday.  Expect magic.  Real's Cristiano Ronaldo took the time to remind everyone that Barca are indeed human.  I have this feeling that Real just might down them in Champions League play.  Real manager Jose Mourinho has now reached the Champions League semis with four different teams, a record.  Damn impressive.  The other Champions League quarter saw Schalke finish off Inter Milan's disappointing campaign with a 2-1 home win.  They'll face Manchester United next in the semis, and United are in fine, fine form of late.

It was only the first day yesterday, but it was interesting to note that TSN Radio brought interviews with sporting types under the age of 40 to the airwaves. The Fan590 had me convinced it wasn't doable. On the downside, The Jim Rome Show wasn't on the air as originally advertised, with TSN instead picking up the ultra drab Dan Patrick and his show.

It pleases me to no end that New York Yankees starter AJ Burnett is now 3-0 after he pitched the Yanks to a win over Baltimore last night, which gives him one more win than the Boston Red Sox.  Let's hope he can finish ahead of them on the season. 

This spot has the 25 most terribly awesome ESPN baseball head shots.  Be sure to check out Toronto Blue Jay Travis Snider's entry.

Since Manny Ramirez "retirement", ESPN writer Buster Olney was discussing his Hall of Fame possibilities and essentially said he'd vote for Mark McGwire, but not Man Ram. Basically, his premise is that MLB did nothing to police juicing in the 90s/early 00s - as evident in there being no rules against such use - so how can you penalize everyone? But Manny broke an actual rule, so a different story.  I've been saying the same thing for year's.

The good news for TFC after last night's draw with the LA Galaxy: they're undefeated in four, and haven't choked a game away they were in with just minutes in the game like they so often did the past two seasons especially.  Julian De Guzman is looking closer to healthy, and made some solid plays last night, as did Adrian Cann for the second straight game.  Alen Stevanovic is a player. The bad: while they were playing one of the better teams in MLS last night in the visiting LA Galaxy, they took a step back from their play on Saturday in San Jose, and you really can't afford too many draws, especially at home. As for the Galaxy, David Beckham leads the league in yellow cards, so there is that.  Beck's picked up his fifth of the season last night and will now miss a game.  Post-game, Beck's ripped the officiating in the MLS, saying the refs are becoming the stars of the league.  Ouch.

Five NHL playoff games, and a mere 19 goals total.  Hope you were all pounding the under.


So after Kobe Bryant calls an official a "faggot" and then says he "didn't mean it like that", he gets nailed for a $100,000 fine.  Twitter brings the following courtest of DeKev:   "So a homophobe, a rapist, and a black guy walk into a bar, and everyone's like 'Can I have your autograph, Kobe?'"

David Beckham insists this Pepsi ad in which he hits three garbage cans with a shot is legit.  Frankly, I believe it.



Looks like last night's Sacramento Kings season closer may have been their last in north California, with a move to Anaheim likely.  Nice of the owners, the Maloff brothers to not even show up.  The announce crew got pretty emotional with it.



We'll call this backyard wrestling move "Powerbomb gone wrong".