After Further Review A sports commentary by Phil Watson
Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert rendering Miami Heat lukewarm
Give the Miami Heat some credit for media savvy, even as they’re getting run out of their Eastern Conference semifinal series by the Indiana Pacers. Dwyane Wade was so bad Thursday night that he evoked statistical memories of the immortal Eric Snow and in the process of not making excuses for Wade’s health, the Heat [...]
Call it what it is: Los Angeles Lakers choke away Game 2
With two minutes to play, the Oklahoma City Thunder trailed the Los Angeles Lakers by seven in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series. More startling was that Oklahoma City had mustered just 68 points to that point in the game, two nights after ringing up 119 in a blowout of the Lakers. There [...]
Big Ten caves quickly on college football playoff
Once you realize that, in order to figure out what is going on with college football, you must suspend logic and reason, the whole process really gets simpler. Instead, you just look for the money trail and I am seeing lots of it on the roads leading to campuses in locales such as Ann Arbor, [...]
Los Angeles Lakers have no answers in blowout loss
I’m starting to think we’re seeing the next stage in the evolution of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The first stage was the Seattle SuperSonics getting pounded night after night before and shortly after drafting Kevin Durant No. 2 overall in 2007. After the move to Oklahoma came the arrival of Russell Westbrook and the firing [...]
NHL’s Western Conference Finals not the same old, same old
It may not be a marquee matchup in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes isn’t lacking in drama and storylines. It’s just that the majority of those storylines emanate from the utter lack of familiarity these franchises have with being at this level [...]
Los Angeles Lakers limp back to Staples for Game 7
It was just 12 days ago that the Los Angeles Lakers opened the playoffs with a blowout victory over the Denver Nuggets and only five days since the Lakers opened a 3-1 series lead with a Game 4 win in Denver. The Nuggets clawed their way to a 102-99 win at the Staples Center in [...]
Bounties, concussions and now Terrell Owens? Tough offseason for the NFL
Give the National Football League credit for doing its level best to keep putting a good face forward. Last offseason was awful, what with the lockout and the worries that there might not be a season in 2011. But that experience was a cakewalk compared to the body blows the league is taking right now. [...]
Andrew Bynum can’t back up bravado as Los Angeles Lakers pushed to Game 6
Los Angeles Lakers’ center Andrew Bynum keeps stubbing his toes on the speed bumps as he tries to transition from being just another face on the bench to being one of the centerpieces of the franchise. His latest trick was his declaration Tuesday morning that “closeout games are actually kind of easy.” Taken by itself, [...]
Washington Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg problem their own creation
It’s been almost 20 years since I dabbled in some coaching, serving as a pitching coach for an American Legion baseball team in suburban Detroit. It was at that time that I attended a clinic and heard a lament from an old-time baseball guy, whose name escapes me even as his message does not. He [...]
Stanley Cup Playoffs: Are LA Kings the new favorites?
There were several teams mentioned as Stanley Cup contenders at the start of the playoffs a few weeks ago. Let’s take a quick inventory of those teams, shall we? Pittsburgh Penguins? Gone. Vancouver Canucks? Outta here. Boston Bruins? That title defense didn’t last long, did it? St. Louis Blues? Wait a second. No one thought [...]
