Just what the Doc ordered...

Grrrr... So I wrote this entire article on Monday and Blogger decided to hiccup on me and *POOF* it was all gone. I was infuriated at all the time I had lost and all that remained was the headings and images for this article. I was too frustrated to write again that day so now its Wednesday and I finally have as promised, my top 5 sports news stories of the past week (well its 10 days now, but oh well...) This has been a pretty slow week in terms of big tings going on in the world of sport but ya know me... I'll find something to criticize and analyze. So in no particular order here they are...

#5: Sunset - Is the road over for the Phoenix Suns?
This year we have not seen much in the way of upsets in the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Conference series is all tied up at 2-2 and it involves the two teams predicted by most at the start of the playoffs. The only "story" in the east, is Shaq playing injured and if that is going to hurt the Miami Heat's chances to go to the finals. The Western Conference, just like previous years is where the drama is at and for the first time in this years playoffs the Phoenix Suns are in a deep hole as they face elimination. The series is at 3-1, as the San Antonio Spurs have placed a damper on the Suns high powered offence and have a stranglehold on the series. The Suns were the most entertaining team to watch, all season and heading into the playoffs, their style was questioned "will it work in playoff basketball?" Truth of the matter is I really don't want to see a Detroit Pistons v/s San Antonio Spurs Final, as both are highly defensive teams and it becomes a half court game. But the dilemma lies here... Offence wins games.. Defense wins championships.. But the latter also creates some really boring basketball. So a team like the suns sacrificed defense to try a faster style of game based around offense and after tonight they might be going fishing or golfing or whatever they do in the offseason.. Then once again we will be forced into watching defensive basketball and the fact that the style did not work for the Phoenix Suns may deter other teams from trying this run and gun style of play.

#4: The NHL - Will changing the rules help change its fate?
The NHL and the NHLPA held talks last week that continued into this week and word around is they are closer to a deal for the coming season. They have a deadline to look at because they are risking the loss of a lot of advertising dollars if they do not come to an agreement sooner rather than later. In the past month, a group has offered to buy the NHL , and several other groups have started putting together ideas for a new hockey league. With all this happening the NHL decided to take two days out last week to look at the rules and ways to change the game to make it more entertaining. Now, I do understand that everything needs to evolve, and the NHL, NFL and NBA are all considered forms of entertainment, but this sport goes way back and I would think changing the size of the net considerably and reducing the size of padding the goaltender wears may hurt the integrity of the game. I don't mind implementing some rules that have worked in International hockey and are used throughout the European league but the game of hockey has strong roots and changing it up into a made for TV event is just ruining it for the real fans of the game.

#3: Danica - Women have an advantage racing cars
Women are said to have a faster response time in their movements than men. They are said to have better hand eye coordination, they tend to have smaller feet, they even tend to be lighter in weight... all this taken into consideration I wonder why Danica Patrick was only the 4th women to enter, as well as be successful in the car racing circuit. I personally cannot attest to being a fan of the sport, the closest thing I watch is Formula 1 racing but this news story was all over the place last week as Danica was set to race in the Indianapolis 500 one of the most prestigious races, the equivalent of Daytona for nascar or Monaco Grand Prix for F1. The stage was set for an exciting race and she held a lead well into the race, even after making a couple of rookie mistakes she was able to place 4th. I decided to look into the history of this sport and from reading a lot of articles I concluded that this is a huge step for women in sports. Boxing, Golf and Car Racing have always been sports heavily dominated by men and this is a big breakthrough for a woman to do so well and open the door for more women to try their hand at it. Golf opened its gates to women not to long ago and more and more female boxers are emerging after this weekend I hope to hear of more women taking part in professional car racing circuit because of all the sports mentioned this one seems to be condusive to the strengths women posess over men.

#2: What's up Doc - The Jays have a WMD!
The Doc is showing us why he was the Cy Young winner two years ago. The Blue Jays may not have a bloated payroll or a line-up full of all-stars but what they do have is Doc Halladay their own "weapon of mass destruction" Going into the season people did not know what to expect as the previous year had been disappointing after a cy young season but the Doc has come back strong. He has a 8-2 record through the end of may with an E.R.A of 2.54. At the rate he is going he is in line for another Cy Young nod. Besides his stellar pitching performances his teammates have emerged as sluggers this year. They don't lower their heads when they are down by 2-3 runs going into the 7th .. They have had a lot of comebacks this season and we are only two months in. We may not have an A rod on our team or a Pedro but we have now got a group pf players who seem to want to win. They are young and they are battling with the best of them and with a winning record for both the months of April and may we can be assured that this Blue Jays team with the Doc leading them thru is ready to fight for a spot int he playoffs in the near future. The Blue Jays are fun to watch again!

#1: Lotto649? - Who will answer the Raptors Prayers
The NBA lottery is the equivalent of hope for all the teams that failed to see any time in the post season. The Milwaukee Bucks proved why this is called a Lottery... They were able to take the 6% or so odds they had and turn it into a #1 pick. If the raptors would be so lucky... Now as workouts begin and rumours fly abound we all begin to speculate who will end up where. The Raptors have their best draft position in a while 2 first round and 2 second round picks. Will the Bucks use their number 1 pick and draft the big man Adrew Bogut? How far will Hakeem Warrick drop after his NCAA performance? Will Lebron James get the offensive weapon he needs to help take the Cavs to the post season? These are all the questions going around.. But my question... Will Rob Babcock do anything to erase the raptor fans memories of what he did to us last year.. Vince Cater for a stacked Injured Reserve List, Rafer as our starting point guard and "Hoffa" as our answer to the "big" problem. I believe this year we shouldn't be drafting out of need we need to draft the best available at that pick. Good players are not just good for the team but they are also trade bait.. If we draft another bust we will be picking in the lottery for years to come.

Vince Lombardi has left a huge mark on the world of sports. He has said some of the most inspirational words to those in professional sports so I chose his words to complement my article today.
"In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail." - Vince Lombardi