So can the rest of the fans at Roland Garros, where the match between thirteenth seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils and Italy’s Fabio Fognini was just completed. This match was actually scheduled yesterday, however, due to darkness, the game had to be postponed until today. It was so bad that the Shot Spot technology wasn’t working correctly (it uses shadows to determine where the ball landed, and since there were no shadows…). I just finished watching the match, in which Fognini upset the Frenchman. After watching this match, the score stands: Number of French Open matches watched: 1, Number of NBA Playoff games watched: 0. I can only assume that the gap will widen as the French Open continues, unless by some miracle the Celtics recruit Maria Sharapova to play for them.
Speaking of the NBA playoffs, it seems that we actually have something to pay attention to now. After the Suns figured out that the Lakers don’t want to move on offense and are content with just throwing up three pointers all day, they have used a zone defense to crawl back into the series. As for the series in the East, it seems like the Magic do want to play basketball after all. Although I don’t see either the Suns or the Magic making it to the Finals, it’s nice to see that they are at least putting on somewhat of a show for the viewers. I don’t happen to be one of those viewers, but I’m sure that whoever is watching…wait, what? No one outside of Boston, Orlando, Los Angeles, and Phoenix cares? No, that can’t be right, can it?
I’m not sure how many of you watched the United States’ international friendly against the Czech Republic on Tuesday night, but just in case you did and were concerned with the outcome of the game (the Czech Republic won 4-2), I have good news: this means very little. Very few of the players that you’ll see on the pitch for the U.S. in the upcoming World Cup actually played in this game. Rather, it was really a way for the coaches to get a last look at some of the guys before they made final cuts for the World Cup roster. I don’t want to give away too much (since I’ll be breaking down all the Groups for the World Cup soon), but I still like the U.S.’s chances to move on. While we’re on the subject of the World Cup, check out this commercial by Nike. If this doesn’t get you pumped for the World Cup, then I don’t know what will.
It seems like the majority of my readers agreed with me about Floyd Landis, as most people voted “no, I do not believe what Floyd Landis says about Lance Armstrong” in the last poll. The latest poll really has nothing to do with anything that I talked about in this post; rather, it is a discussion that I heard on the radio a few days ago. My local sports radio station was discussing whether or not MMA style fighting would be a good idea to offer as a sport or club in high school. I want to hear your opinions on this, so vote on the poll, and if you’d like to comment on the issue, leave one in the comment section or email me at aroundthecornsportsblog@gmail.com. Thanks guys.
– K. Becks