Take me out to the ball game...

Got to enjoy another game at Yankee Stadium this past Wednesday. Went by myself, but made some new friends, enjoyed a hot dog and a beer, got to see one of my favorite players, Andy Pettitte, pitch and unfortunately fracture his ankle (boo!), but the weather was sunny and gorgeous and New York won the game. It was nice to see so many families out at the game and it was a pleasant surprise to see not so many dads out with their kids, but so many dads out with their DAUGHTERS. Girls like baseball, too! So good on you, dads, for spending quality time with your kids and instilling a love of the game in both your sons and daughters!

A quick thought on the Roger Clemens verdict

Roger Clemens is not guilty of lying to Congress during the MLB steroids investigation. This case is oddly reminiscent of the not-too-distant John Edwards misuse of campaign funds case. In both, there really wasn't enough evidence to convict. In both, the defendant is an arrogant, entitled, selfish sleazeball who you kinda just want to punch in the face...but that doesn't make them criminals. Unfortunately, it's not against the law to be an a$$h-l-. And I say this as someone who used to like both these guys, Edwards moreso than Clemens. The good news is now we can move on and we don't have to hear about either of these guys anymore. Or, at least one can hope.

Here endeth the rant.

Yay Yankees for winning 10-games in a row - *this* is the kind of sports news I want to write about! My team is making me proud - can't wait to see you guys in person at Yankee Stadium again next week!

Matt Cain throws Giants' first perfect game

Congrats to Matt Cain on the San Francisco Giants' first perfect game, and only the 22nd perfect game in baseball history. I'm not a Giants fan by any means, but a game well played is a game well played, and a perfect game is still an elusive accomplishment and something any pitcher as well as his team should be proud of - because a pitcher can't do it without his team. Special shout-out to one Giants player who caught a ball at the wall for an out - former New York Yankee Melky Cabrera. While Robinson Cano was definitely worth hanging on to more, was always sorry to see Melky go - glad to see he's doing well with his new teammates. You can read more about it here.

A good day for sports fans...

There's something for everybody today! Watching the UEFA Euro 2012 Netherlands-Denmark soccer match right now - Michael Ballack was commentating in the studio! Love him! (Rooting for Germany to win the whole thing of cours!!) But if you don't consider soccer a real sport - and don't tell the boyfriend if that's the case, he'll get very defensive - we have the Yankees-Mets Subway Series continuation, Game 7 between the Heat and Celtics in the NBA playoffs, Kings vs. Devils in the Stanley Cup race, Pacquiao vs Bradley in boxing later on, and of course, the Belmont Stakes, though that's much, much less exciting now that I'll Have Another has been scratched and once again, we have to wait another year for a possible Triple Crown. The point is, it's a veritable sports smorgasbord today, even for non-mainstream or less popular sports. Now, the problem begins if you're a total sports fan and you have to choose what to watch, what to DVR, and what to catch on Sports Center...here's hoping very few of you end up in a Sophie's Choice situation!

OKC! OKC! OKC!

Ok(c)...I'm not an Oklahoma City fan. But I love me an underdog. And I love me an underdog that wants the win, that's hungry for the win...and watching the Thunder-Spurs game right now, OKC is gunning for this win. Their fans are in it. Their fans are so cute I just want to put them all in my pocket, all those middle-aged white people in their Thunder shirts, cheering and screaming at the top of their lungs at every Thunder basket at this point. That's what you want to see, in the game, in any game - excited fans, but also, and maybe more importantly, excited players. The boyfriend complains all the time that the Yankees aren't hungry for the win any more and he's got a point - they've been there, done that. But the Thunder look hungry. Even just watching the Kings-Devils game on NBC Sports, I told the boyfriend that I didn't feel any intensity - neither team looked like they needed that win, and yet, they both did really need it. I expected to see some of that passion in the play of the Kings players, seeing as they're in the same situation as the Thunder - underdogs and new kids on the championship road block - but I see it in this game. I always say that there's so much back and forth in basketball scoring that you don't have to watch until the fourth quarter, and that's pretty much when the Thunder pulled ahead and stayed ahead. They're up by 6 right now with less than 15 seconds on the clock, after trailing for most off the game, and barring any last second deals with the devil, they're going to the Finals. I think the crowd in that stadium might spontaneously combust from all the excitement. I love it.

Here's to the underdogs, and to wanting the win, whether you're on the court/field or in the stands! You go, OKC! :)

On a day when work is sending my blood pressure through the roof, a little sports humor to the rescue

Work is killing me today. Almost literally. I can feel my blood pressure rising and either my eyes or my brain are going to explode from the hundreds of names and thousands of scholarships (in veeeerrry tiny print) I'm proofreading for our yearly high school scholarship issue, so this column here by Steve Rushin on SI.com was a welcome relief and had me chuckling and, more importantly, my blood pressure dropping. For anyone who has ever watched sports and not known all the rules, or maybe only got half the rules plus lingo at most, if you were lucky and really paying attention OR for any true sports fanatics who are virtual encyclopedias of sports knowledge, I really enjoyed this read. It made me feel both more stupid AND less stupid as a sports fan at the same time. But totally in a good way, since at least for a few minutes it kept me from thinking about killing myself and/or my co-workers. Sports (and reading!) to the rescue - making the world a better (safer) place in action!

Weekly sports musings: basketball, hockey, rugby, oh my!

I have no horse in any postseason race anymore, and so my interest has waned. A lot. Since I haven't watched a game since the New York Rangers were knocked out of the Stanley Cup race, I guess I'm still not a hockey fan. Since it was the Devils who did it, I'm kinda glad the L.A. Kings are one win away from their first championship.

Speaking of underdogs who have gone from an 0-2 deficit to a 3-2 lead, the Oklahoma City Thunder not only ended the Spurs' 20 game win streak, they've pushed San Antonio to the brink of being out of the race. Now, while I'm not a fan of any team in the NBA finals, there are teams I'm actively rooting against. Well, team. I'd much rather see the Spurs or Thunder in the Finals than the Celtics or Heat. Of course, only one team from the east and one from the west will make it, and both the teams I prefer are in the west - so whichever team wins from the west I'd like to kick the ass of whichever eastern team makes it in, although a complete underdog victory for the Thunder would be just awesome. But if a team from the east has to make it to the finals, the Celtics are the lesser of two evils - I have a LeBron James voodoo doll hidden under my bed that I like to stick with sharp pins during a game. I don't want the Heat to win. But I really, really, REALLY don't want LeBron to get a championship. LeBron is not as despicable a character as Kobe Bryant in my book, but he's disloyal and greedy and full of himself and for this female sports fan, yeah, that counts. I hope he gets to enjoy his big fat Miami paycheck and zero championships.

On another note, the boyfriend and I were watching college rugby championship games this week with Dartmouth versus Arizona. Maybe it's because it was a college level game and not professional, but the game just seemed pointless and dumb. First, it was only 20 minutes long - and regular season games are only 14 minutes. I feel like PAL games (obviously not rugby games, though) with 5-year-olds last longer than that. And I don't understand the point of a game where you can only pass the ball backwards. And where you get tackled but the other team doesn't try to strip you of the ball, where you just politely hand it off to one of your teammates. And where balls were being passed and run up the pitch and the other team wasn't doing anything to stop them. Maybe it's because I only saw one game. But as of right now, I just don't get it. I do, however, like their uniforms. Look at those massive thighs! 



Anyway...lest you're asking yourself, "Weren't you watching this with your boyfriend?," indeed I was, and I made the thigh comment to him as well, but softened it with saying he would look good in a rugby shirt - jersey? I have no idea - but he would.

Celtics vs. Heat tonight at 8:30 p.m. EST, Kings for the Stanley Cup win tomorrow at 8 p.m.

Johan Santana makes Mets history

Congratulations to Johan Santana on his no-hitter yesterday for the New York Mets. As we all know, I'm an avid Yankees fan, but I don't hate on big achievements (especially if it doesn't affect my Yanks!) and I especially don't hate on New York teams. Apparently it's the first in Mets' history, and while a no-hitter is not as rare and therefore not as special as a perfect game, it's still a big deal, especially in a day and age where the almighty pitch count rules and very few starting pitchers actually finish a game. (I'll be honest though, guys and girls - I had to ask my boyfriend the difference between a perfect game and a no-hitter - a no-hitter explains itself, but in a perfect game, there are no walks, hit-by-pitches, etc. and no one even gets on base). Sports lesson of the day, y'all! Enjoy your weekend! :)