Records, Repeats, Retirement and an inevitable Rehiring ...

A little update before I get to my regular article...

I want to take a minute to thank my dad for being such a great inspiration to me and I hope to one day garner the level of respect he does from all those around him. Happy Fathers Day to my dad and all the other dad's out there.

I have been swarmed with stuff over the last few weeks and this weekend I got a chance to get away. I went up to the lake and it was great (despite returning with numerous mosquito bites)

I got a chance to finally watch Mr. & Mrs. Smith and I really enjoyed it. The action sequences were great and there was a surprisingly witty banter that was present through the entire movie which created for a unique relationship between the two stars. Overall good entertainment and worth the $10. My next mission is to make some time this week and go watch "Batman Begins".

"It is time for us to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever, the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it." - Vince Lombardi

Here is my usual rundown of my top 5 sports stories for the past week (more like 10 days but oh well!) ...

#5: The NBA Playoffs - Repeat?
Over the past few weeks I have made it pretty clear that I am not a fan of either of the teams battling it out in this years NBA finals. I sit here on this Sunday afternoon going over box scores for the first 4 games and not surprisingly no team has scored 100 points yet in this series. On the other hand, both teams have taken care of their home court and as we head into game 5 we are all locked up at 2-2. There have been some unsung heroes in each game .. The latest being Lindsay Hunter who scored 17 points. Manu Ginobli has been completely ineffective over the last two games and one may say he is injured but this is gut check time. In order for the Spurs to prevent the Pistons to repeat their feat of last year they are going to have to pull it together and win the game tonight on the road. With Tim Duncan shooting around 30% over the last 2 games and Ginobli struggling this is looking to be a very uphill climb for the best team during the regular season. In previous years Duncan always had David Robinson right beside him and the time has come now to get others to step up be it Ginobli, the streaky Tony Parker or a role player like Nazr Mohammed.

#4: TKO - The end of an Era
19 years ago he was the youngest heavyweight champion in the boxing world. Last weekend as he lay slumped over at the end of the 6th round of his bout versus Kevin McBride it was evident the road has come to an end. This is the same man who tried to bite off the ear of his opponent several years ago and once again his desperation was evident as he attempted to break McBride's arm along with some cheap shots. Tyson at the age of 20 had a bright future looking ahead but he squandered all that in the years following as he had a 3 year stint in jail followed by a bankruptcy charge. Boxing is not really my thing but I too have sat down with my dad to watch a few of these great fights I watched the Tyson v/s Buster Douglas in 1990 and I watched the infamous fight against Holyfield. Boxing is a skill sport and when watching it at the Olympic level every 4 years I gain a new appreciation for it but an athlete like Mike Tyson eliminated the idea of "sport" from the event as over the last few years it been a lot about the money he is being paid rather than the fight itself. Last weekend he looked old and tired and probably not to anyone's surprise he came out the next day and announced that he has decided to walk away from the sport. He spoke in a press conference saying ""I'm sorry I let everybody down, I just don't have it in my heart anymore." In my eyes he had taken the heart out of the sport a long time ago.

#3: Lockout - Is history going to repeat itself?
As the 11th hour approaches the NBA labour talks have hit a lot of bumps. For sometime last week things were looking bleak as both sides lashed out at each other. Not brought to the heights of the NHL labour dispute yet but things are looking like they can get ugly really fast. There are the issues of contract lengths, minimum age to enter the league and harsher drug testing that have taking the stage as the main negotiating topics. In these talks we have also heard about implementing some clause for player asking for trades publicly (a.k.a Vince Carter) which may lead to the value of the player being lost. The current contract that ends on July 1st is very much in favour of giving the players a bigger piece f the pie and the player agents are not going to let this go easily. I personally feel that if the maximum contract lengths are not changed much they need to allow the contracts to be heavily loaded in the he early years rather than the last year being the highest where the teams are stuck in the 6th year of a contract with a player not even worth half of what he was. Also there needs to be a deal made in order to prevent these trade and don't show up to play and go back to your old team stuff where players are still getting paid for these antics a-la Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning. There is a lot of talking still to be done and things began to look up towards the end of the week when the two sides met for 10 hours and are presumable close to a 6 year deal. Until then I shall keep my fingers crossed and hope this league doesn't see the same fate of the NHL.

#2: 400 and counting - A-Rod reaches a landmark
Congratulations!!! On June 8th 2005 Alex Rodriguez became the youngest member to join the 400 Home Run club. The Yankees have had a very shaky start to their season and this is definitely one of the bright spots of the season to date. It is most definitely a personal achievement but helps lift the teams morale as well as the owners as their money spent shows some signs of return on investment. For years A-Rod was a big money player playing on a losing team and now he stands in the spotlight in a Yankees uniform and says hitting this 400 hr in that uniform made it even better. Yet, it was only a month ago where everyone down in the Bronx questioned his role on the team and he took a lot of smack from the media. This feat completed by A-rod did not get the hype it may have elsewhere though as the team has other things its worrying about. In a time where the sport is tainted by steroids linked to all the power hitters in the game A-Rod looks like the knight in shining armour but he has a long ways to go. (Read more about this here)

#1: California Love - The Zen master is back in La La Land
"Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Baaack" ... To the tune of Mase, the L.A Lakers have wooed back one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport. Just a year ago the Zen Master, Phil Jackson walked away from this very team for reasons that included his inability to coach the All-Star Kobe Bryant. The Lakers need a high profile coach to keep their fans believing and there was no better out there than Phil Jackson. He had ties to the team even when he was away from them, his girlfriend happens to be the daughter of the owner Jerry Buss and all if there was anywhere he would couch after leaving a year ago was right back in LA, a high profile team which has Hollywood as its backdrop. His differences with Kobe were also very evident as he detailed the issues he had in a book that was published last year but over time and several lunch dates later, it seems that they are ready to give it a shot. "I think it's a matter of trust and rebuilding the trust that we've had," Jackson said. "I have talked to Kobe. He called me this morning, congratulating me on the job, and I felt confident that's he's confident that we can go forward. I think that was the important part." The day Phil Jackson walked from the Lakers last year also prompted Shaq O'Neal to ask to be moved. I still believe Kobe Bryant is the "virus" and I shall watch closely to see how this rekindled relationship works out over the course of the next season.