I’ve had lots of sports-related thoughts on my mind lately. No one thing is too unbelievably important — but some could be interesting. I’ll let you people decide, and if anyone wants to chat sports — I won’t be doing much of anything today before 5 p.m.
First, Tuesday’s Cornell-Syracuse game was one of the best games of any sport that I’ve seen in my life — anytime two teams of that caliber meet, it will most likely go down to the wire. But what an individual performance by junior Joe Boulukos. Seven goals, one assist, and my co-workers thinking that he and I bear a resemblance — great day for Joe.
Not only that, but what an atmosphere at the Carrier Dome — over 4,000 strong (divided pretty evenly), 30 goals, and an upset of the defending national champs. Just great stuff.
Second, great job by the polo teams this weekend. I have never ridden a horse, let alone ride a horse with a mallet, but hey, I’ve been to the Belmont Stakes. Anyway, let me actually praise the teams. Whenever you win a national championship or even come in second, whether it’d be in underwater basket weaving or polo, you deserve recognition. Great job guys and gals.
Speaking of which, a girl e-mailed me on the club water polo team. She told me she wanted us to run a story about her team to get the word out about water polo — she said nobody at Cornell really knew about the sport. I agreed when she told me that she was once asked how the horses do in the water.
Onto more important things — yesterday, in my first appearance on a slow-pitch softball diamond in just about a year, I flourished. My team won about 31-3, I went 2-for-3 (I struck out once because I wanted the game to just end already), and I was the in the middle of a 5-4-3 double play to end the game. If only the Yankees could be so good.
Speaking of A.L. East teams, if I see one more ad for Fever Pitch, I am going to vomit. Jimmy Fallon is annoying, Drew Barrymore is ugly, and the Red Sox won’t win again in my lifetime. You can quote me on that Bostonians.
And for God sakes, can people, mainly Jayson Stark and Peter Gammons, stop saying the Twins are going to win the World Series? They are good, but please, “the Patriots of baseball?” I don’t think so. The pitching is good, but that offense, except for Shannon Stewart, is average at best.
Moving on — how about the football schedule? I predict either 9-7 or 10-6 for my Giants and a playoff berth. But to be honest, I could care less about the implications of Eli playing in San Diego. I can assure you Eli will complete more passes in that game than Philip Rivers. You can hold me to that one too.
And please, if the Giants do halfway decent this year, give Tiki Barber some credit already. The guy is the heart and soul of that team and he’s a class act on and off the field, not to mention he’s easily among the top-5 running backs in the NFL.
How about the NBA playoffs coming up? Yea, I don’t care either. The one thing that would intrigue me is if the Bulls or Wiizards went deep into the playoffs, or if Reggie Miller carried the Pacers to a title. I hate him, but he’s clutch. Speaking of the Pacers, anyone hear Jermaine O’Neal saying that raising the minimum age requirement in basketball would only hurt African Americans? Despite the fact that I think there are too many high-schoolers in the game (I guess I am a heavy proponent of college living), I think he’s got a point. Obviously the kids are good enough — LeBron, Kobe, Garnett, and Amare Stoudamire to name a few — so show them the money. I mean, come on, it’s not like NBA players use fundamentals anyway.
I’d love to chat more, but the Yanks have two on with nobody out against Curt Schilling. That’s my cue to go.
Chris Mascaro is the Sun Sports Editor. He May Be Tall will appear every other Thursday this semester.
Archived article by Chris Mascaro