Black Mamba Bites

The LA Lakers opened the NBA Finals last night with a no-doubt 102-89 win over the Boston Celtics at home.  Kobe Bryant had a mere 30 and has the look of a guy who is hell bent on avenging the 2008 championship loss to Beantown. Cannot imagine the Lakers don't win the series.

Word is the NHL schedule for next year could see the playoffs end as far out as June 17th, 6 days later than game 7 is slated for this year which was pushed out because of the three weeks lost due to the Olympics. How the hell does that make sense?  Game four of the Final goes tonight in Philadelphia.

The Baltimore Orioles are 39-89 since the 2009 All-Star break, and weren't exactly world beaters before that. They've had and have a pile of top flight prospects too in Matt Wieters, Brian Matusz, Adam Jones and more than a few others. Just goes to show prospects don't necessarily mean legit "pros".

The 10 Worst Blown Calls in Sports History. Speaking of, Tom Verducci at SI.com says that the call blown by Jim Joyce that cost Detroit Tiger Armando Galarraga a perfect game could change baseball.  Sure, but wouldn't you think the series of blown calls in last year's playoffs - as one example - would have prompted that even moreso?  If you've seen hilites of how Joyce and the Detroit Tigers squad and fans handled his appearance yesterday, you have to be impressed with all parties.

Honda dealerships in Ontario are picking up the tab at this year's Honda Toronto Indy on the Friday of the event, once more famously known as the Molson Indy.  Free admission.  I'm going to go out on a very sturdy limb here and suggest the only reason they're giving away tickets is because nobody is buying them.  Crazy, I know.  Somewhere in the Rogers Centre, there's an idea taking shape.

Speaking of the Rogers Centre, Toronto Blue Jays attendance ought to see a boost over the next few days, what with the New York Yankees in town.  The Jays will have their best attended series of the season so far this weekend.

The Sports Pickle presents A Xenophobe's Guide to Hating All 31 U.S. World Cup opponents.  Awesome stuff.  If you didn't know, the World Cup starts in one week.  Global productivity slides at approximately the same time.

Totally clutch athletes.  Or at least a few of them.

Cannot believe that the "Chris Pronger stole a puck" story is getting the run that it is.  Who.  Freaking.  Cares.  Question mark.

Don Cherry finally said or did something original, a first for him in at least a decade, and even that was a rip off job of something that's decades old.