The old Dave Stieb special

Way back when the Blue Jays ace was a man named Dave Stieb, it was a simpler time; no steroids, PEDs or greenies were on anyone’s mind, just good ol’ fashioned baseball.

During the late-80’s, Stieb had become the go-to guy on the Jays and was well deserving of the extremely rich contract Toronto threw his way at the time. It was a very unique one too; basically it consisted of ten years of team options with increasing pay amounts. But that’s not the point of this post.

Stieb became notorious for failing to get a no-hitter after carrying bids into the ninth inning. In 1988, during consecutive starts he actually had two outs in the ninth with two strikes on before giving up hits. In 1989, he lost a perfect game in the ninth inning with two outs on. He would eventually get his no-no in 1990, the only in Jays team history, but that’s not entirely relevant to this, again.

Yesterday in Oakland, trying to avoid a sweep, the Boston Red Sox’s Curt Schilling pulled what has commonly been called, “The Dave Stieb special”. Carrying his bid for a no hitter – the first of his career – in the ninth, he seemed on cruise control getting the first two batters to ground out meekly. Enter Shannon Stewart. After leaving one pitch a bit too much on the plate, Schilling kissed his no-no goodbye after a liner into right field dropped.

So after hours of hard work, Schilling won’t go down in history for anything more than bloodying up a perfectly good sock.

Just like everyone thought it would happen

King James was shut down by the brutally efficient Spurs last night in San Antonio. We knew this would happen and there shouldn’t have been really anyone who actually picked the Cavs unless you are a naive LeBron fan of a Cleveland die-hard.

LBJ was confined to 4-of-16 shooting and only had 4 points going into halftime en route to a total 14. San An’s superstar , Tim Duncan scored 24 points while dominating the glass and picking up 13 rebounds and five blocks. Combined, the three headed monster of Duncan-Parker-Ginobili scored a whopping 67 points.

It’s looking like my prediction of this series lasting even five games might have been over-estimating LeBron.

The Intern on: LBJ vs. The World

Tonight kicks off the final push towards the most sought after prize of the NBA, the Naismith trophy. I would love to be able to say that I am looking forward to it but, all in all, I am honesty very apathetic to the whole situation. All that this series will accomplish is illuminate how weak the Eastern Conference really is. It’s not even the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. the San Antonio Spurs its Lebron James vs. the Spus. You know that it’s sad when the only way that the Cavs can even stay in the series is if LBJ has an ungodly performance every night. None of this “passing up on the last shot so Donyell Marshall can jack up a brick” type garbage.

This series will also highlight Mike Brown’s embarrassingly awkward ineptitude. I honestly don’t think Mike Brown could coach a good house league team to their championship trophy let alone an NBA team. This series has the makings of being a proverbial re-enactment of the battle at the Alamo. The Cavs will hold off the Spurs for as long as they can but will eventually crumble under the sheer ferocity that is the San Antonio Spurs.

I say the Spurs in Six.

Sens get Ducked

Anaheim's 6-2 win last night gave the NHL their first Stanley Cup champion ever from the "Golden State" and their first Pacific coast champion since the Victoria Cougars won the trophy way back during the 1924-25 season. The Ducks win also snaps the streak of either Canadian teams or the Detroit Red Wings winning the series in years that end in 7.

The highlight of the game and low-light of the series for the Senators was when -idiotically, Chris Phillips skated from behind the net with puck and proceeded to bank it into his own net off of Ray Emery. This gaffe proved to turn into the game winning goal and might just thrust Phillips into the same spotlight that Steve Smith, who years ago scored on his own net in the finals, is stuck in. Just one of those bone-headed plays that Cup winners manage to avoid and Cup losers always remember.

Also, the fact that Antoine Vermette horribly fanned on a penalty shot later in the game should be well noted. Not to mention he nearly hit the linesman with slap shot after the puck careened into the corner after the botch. Somewhat reminiscent of Daniel Alfredsson’s slap shot at Scott Neidermayer after the second period of game 4; but not nearly as obvious.

Congratulations are definitely in order for mother and father Neidermayer, whose sons played outstanding for the Ducks over the entire season. Neidermayer, who should win the Norris trophy as the best defenseman, took home the Conn Smythe trophy for being the MVP of the playoffs. While many of the Ducks could easily have taken it, there shouldn't be many arguments against the captain.

Now with only the AHL's Calder Cup left to be rewarded, the hockey season has effectively -and thankfully- has come to an end. It wasn't a moment too soon.

And by the way, if you'll remember who I picked to win the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe trophy...

http://dansramblings.blogspot.com/2007/04/nhl-playoff-preview.html

Even the Intern saw this one coming...

But wait! There's more hockey news... sigh...

The New York Islanders decided they don't want Alexei Yashin any more so they've decided to buy out the remaining four-years on his massive deal he signed after leaving the Senators. Now a free-agent, Yashin has conveyed through his agent that he'd like to go back to Ottawa, the place that drafted him and he grew to despise. While this move could help the loser Senators, props should be given to Yashin if he makes it back to Ottawa. It takes a lot of talent to completely skip the whole "building a good team" phase and come back for the peak.

The Toronto Maple Leafs also decided to compound their mistakes by signing one of the jokes on their team, Nikolai Antropov to a two-year contract extension for roughly $2 M per season. This will ensure his ass will be the press-box, taking up a spot on the IR until the end of 2010. There's always the long shot that someone will trade for him, but how many GMs in the league are as inept as the one running the Leafs?

The saga of Billy Donovan

In one of the strangest turns of events in sports that haven’t involved Ron Artest, A-Rod or Barry Bonds, Billy Donovan took every one in Florida, the media and fans of basketball - both college and NBA - for a nice spin over the past few days.

Donovan, who is coming off two straight NCAA titles with the Florida Gators, built a dynasty of sorts at the school. But with his highly touted five starters leaving school for greener pastures, it seemed Donovan would be in tough for next season at least.

He even had turned down a job opportunity at Kentucky, one of the more prestigious basketball schools in the nation and didn't pay much attention to possible NBA suitors.

So, with the front seemingly calm, a proverbial bombshell dropped when the Orlando Magic announced that Donovan would be making the leap to the NBA to become their coach. It was to the sweet tune of $27.5 M as well.

Here comes the twist, after the ink had dried on the contract and on all of the presses, he changed his mind. Turns out he didn't really want to leave Florida State after all.

Now, with the messy situation of having signed the contract, Orlando now is trying to get Donovan out and bring in Stan Van Gundy.

This whole situation reeks and Billy Donovan claims a spot on the jack ass list for sure. Why leave two teams out of the loop while you hem-and-haw over where you want to work; especially when you're under contract. I wasn't a fan of his coaching work to begin with and his character should now seriously in question, wherever he ends up.

Sens in Ducking trouble

With last night's loss at home the Ottawa Senators are a game away from giving the Anaheim Ducks their first Stanley Cup. With the 3-2 win, the Ducks have the Sens on the mat and with the series heading back to Anaheim for game 5 tomorrow night, it doesn't bode well for Ottawa fans.

I might've said it before on this page, but it should be reiterated anyway, I don't care who wins any more. I now just want hockey season to end. There's no way a sport played on ice should have its championship going on in early June. It's ridiculous. Just the fact that the temperatures in Ottawa were in the mid-20's C before game 4 only helps state my case.

Here's hoping that Anaheim locks up the Cup and becomes the first team since Victoria, when they had a team long ago, to win the championship being based from the Pacific coast. Yes, I actually did some research for that one.

The NBA finals have finally arrived

It’s come down to LeBron vs. the Spurs defensive toughness for the Naismith Trophy. While the number of times that Manu Ginobili flops and Bruce Bowen tries to roll LeBron’s ankle will be under scrutiny, well at least it should be, all eyes will be on how LeBron performs; will he be the player from the first two games of the Detroit series or will he show up as the King who scored 29 out of the last 30 to seal a win on the road and sway the balance of the East?

It shouldn’t be hard for the Spurs match up wise except for handling LeBron which should end up as Bruce Bowen’s duty. Offensively and defensively, Tim Duncan should easy be able to take care of Big Z in the paint. While Larry Hughes is a better than average for the Cavs, he’s not going to be able to stop Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili when he’s off the bench. This shouldn’t be a long series with a parade marching down the streets of San Antonio in the near future.

Pick: Spurs in 5.

The Intern's pick: Spurs in 6