What a game!
I have to admit that I did not watch the first half completely but I did watch from the half time on. Not sure what to think of the show during half time “The Who”. The light show was excellent but the music was pretty good. I can tell you one thing though - there was well over 10,000 (give or take a thousand) CSI fans in the house when the song “Who are you” came on. The crowd erupted with sing-a-longs for the entire song. I have so many favorite moments in the second half that I don’t know which one to post tomorrow. Come back tomorrow and see what I picked. Once again - Congrats go out to the New Orleans Saints!

Last nights game was one to watch and enjoy, well as a fan of the Bulls of course. With Ben G. Drew G. combining a total of 42 points you know it had to be a good game. Had they not lost last night they would walked into Portland with three wins and a better feel for that game. This link will take you to a video click provided by ESPN which shows some excellent moments during the game. The quoted piece below is from the UPI (United Press International) site - a site I visit almost on a daily basis to get an update of what happens in the world of sports when I’m unable to watch.

CHICAGO (UPI) — Nick Collison scored 21 points Saturday night — five of them in overtime — to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 109-98 victory over Chicago.

Collision scored the final point in regulation when he sank a free throw with more than a minute left to play and then put the Thunder ahead for good with a three-point play to break a 96-96 tie during the extra period, when Oklahoma City outscored Chicago 15-4. Click here to read more of their coverage…

It’s been awhile since we’ve seen the great one smack one out of the park but it might be sooner then later that that image will be back. Sosa is currently fit to return to MLB and he wants to come back in full force and from what people have seen he looks to be in great shape especially when it comes to his hitting. I would be really excited to see him sport a red “B” but I don’t know if Boston would even throw a bid for his skills. Check out the full story at this link and give it a complete read so that you can get a full view of what he is planning on doing. If any Red Sox decision makers are reading this (yeah right) please send Mr. Sosa a bid and who knows maybe he’ll come on over.

With the Red Sox taking game one last night it definitely feels like history repeating itself but I don’t count the Rays out yet. Matsuzaka had a great game going especially with his no-hitter until the seventh inning. Now that in and of itself is experience to hold up high, let’s see if the Rays can do a better job on the next one. I hope to see some more from the other guys in the crew that way the Rays can get it burned into their mind that Boston is here to take the championship and that they should just simply step aside.

Game one of the AL Championship Series starts tonight between the Red Sox and the The Rays. Just about everyone I have spoken to today and throughout this week I heard that most of them don’t think Boston will make it through the series. Well I’m here to say that regardless what they say I strongly believe that Boston will come out ahead and finishing the series with a comfortable lead.

The above image is brought to you by AccuScore and from what you can see they are presenting to you that the Red Sox have a slim chance of winning tonight. I would love to have Boston come in and kick some butt early in the game. Now… from what I read and saw it looks like Daisuke Matsuzaka will be the first to open the can of whoopass on the Rays.

I won’t be able to watch the game tonight so for those of you who can and are please come back and leave me so details as to the outcome of the game both positive and negative.

Even though I’m currently in PR (Puerto Rico) I will be looking into the game between the Niners and the Saints at 1 today. I read the following on ESPN.com/NFL about today’s game and I don’t think this guy is aware of the team that the niners are bringing.

Scouts Inc.: The Saints are reeling after two tough road losses, and they continue to have problems on defense. The offense has been productive, but QB Drew Brees must now find a way to be effective without TE Jeremy Shockey for the next several weeks. The Saints’ running game has stalled, while they depend on Brees’ arm to keep them in games. Meanwhile, the 49ers, who have won their last two games, will enter this contest with a fair amount of confidence.

Don’t get me wrong - I know that these fellas make a living predicting such moments but I really don’t think the Saints can mount anything that will cause the Niners to lose today. I will post some added details after the game.

I was unable to watch the boys in red and gold play today but I definitely had a chance to watch the highlights of the game. Right from the beginning it looked like the Seahawks were going to dominate the game but the Niners made sure that such a thing will not play out the way Seattle would of wanted it to. The look on Mike Nolan’s face was one that meant business and not of defeat. The Niners went on to win the game in overtime with a gorgeous field goal by #6 Joe Nedney. Congrats to you all for getting that win in Seahawk territory. Watch the highlights below and see what you missed.

VIDEO

I am still in shock even though it’s been about a day and a half later. Ohio State losing like they did yesterday is something that should be remembered forever. Yes I know that Michigan lost as well to the Irish but they didn’t lose the game as bad as OSU did to USC.

I watched each and every play that Ohio had but for some reason they couldn’t keep their minds focused on the game because every time they had an advantage it felt like USC presented a play that would throw them off.

I have to give the USC group some huge props because even though they were favored to win the game there were still some die hard OSU folks that wouldn’t accept it. Congrats to Mark and his troops on getting the job done.

LOS ANGELES - Mark Sanchez completed 17-of-28 passes for 172 yards and four touchdowns Saturday to lead top-ranked Southern California to a 35-3 win over No. 5 Ohio State.

Joe McKnight rushed for 105 yards on 12 carries for the Trojans (2-0), who hadn’t played Ohio State since 1990.

Damian Williams had three receptions — two for touchdowns — for 49 yards and Stanley Havili added a TD as part of a five-catch, 49-yard game. USC has so far outscored its two opponents — Ohio State and Virginia — 87-10 this season.

Todd Boeckman struggled for the Buckeyes (2-1), throwing for 84 yards on 14-of-21 completions. He was also intercepted twice.

Terrelle Pryor completed 7-of-9 passes for 52 yards, and ran 11 times for 40 yards, but Ohio State went without a touchdown for the first time in 142 games.

Before you watch the video below I would like to inform those of you who are sport nuts especially when it comes to baseball to realize that this woman is probably available for any team. Watch the video and let me know what you think.

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Watch the video again and notice that she went from a seated position to a full sprint then climbs two walls while extending herself completely to make a great catch and of course the graceful landing. She is something else. A hell of a nice catch.

Watching this game was bad enough - but like the title says, it could of been much worse. Betancourt could of made that night a night to remember but luckily he kept it to a minimum. Now if Manny would of gotten that home run instead of it falling infield then maybe I could of titled the post “Manny - keeping the game alive…” but it didn’t turn out that way.

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SEATTLE - Yuniesky Betancourt hit a home run and J.J. Putz survived a ninth-inning jam Wednesday to hand Seattle a 1-0 victory over Boston.

The Mariners won two out of three against the Red Sox, claiming the series despite a complete-game effort from Tim Wakefield (3-4).

Wakefield struck out eight and allowed only five hits, but one of them was Betancourt’s third homer of the year in the third inning.

Erik Bedard (4-3) got the win, limiting Boston to two hits and striking out eight over seven innings. Brandon Morrow worked a perfect eighth and Putz was called on to earn his sixth save.

To start the ninth, David Ortiz threw a scare into the Mariners by hitting a fly ball to deep right that stayed in the park. Manny Ramirez then walked, Mike Lowell popped out to shortstop and Sean Casey drew another walk.

That brought up Coco Crisp, but Putz got him to ground out to second to end the game

SEATTLE - Jose Lopez drilled a ninth-inning hit that drove in Wladimir Balentien Tuesday, lifting the Seattle Mariners to a 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox.

The RBI hit made a loser of Mike Timlin (2-3) and a winner of J.J. Putz (2-2) who pitched a scoreless bottom of the inning for the Mariners.

Ichiro Suzuki scored two runs and Raul Ibanez had two RBI for the Mariners, who ended a seven-game losing streak.

Seattle starter Miguel Batista was charged with three runs — two earned — on five hits in seven innings.

Manny Ramirez hit a three-run homer — the 499th of his career — for the Red Sox, who have dropped four of their last five games.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, trying to win his first nine decisions to start the season, left after throwing warm-up pitches in the fifth inning. His problem was described as shoulder fatigue. He gave up three runs — two earned — on four hits in four innings.

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Well with the next game just hours away you can pretty much assume that I’m looking at seeing Manny get that 500th hit. Even though they lost the last game I’m still hoping to seeing them pull off another win and if that doesn’t happen then at least I have Manny’s hit to look forward to.

PISTONS - 103
CELTICS - 97

Tonight’s game was pretty intense, I can’t wait until Sports Center puts the highlights together so that I can watch them all at once. Although Boston lost tonight - I can assure you that they will not go down with out a great fight. I plan on watching the next game in its’ entirety. Garnett, Ray Allen and Pierce are just too much to be contained and controlled. Can’t wait to see the butt kicking on the next game.

BOSTON (UPI) — Left-hander Jon Lester pitched the 18th no-hitter in Red Sox history Monday when Boston defeated the Kansas City Royals, 7-0.

Lester (3-2), who was diagnosed with a form of cancer two years ago, struck out nine and issued only two walks — the first in the second inning to Billy Butler and the other in the ninth to Esteban German.

After Lester, 24, walked German to start the ninth, Tony Pena ground out to third base, David DeJesus grounded out to first, and Alberto Callaspo struck out swinging at a high fastball.

Lester threw 130 pitches, 86 for strikes.

The Red Sox have had the last two no-hitters in the majors. Clay Buchholz had the other Sept. 1, 2007, against Baltimore.

Lester is the first Red Sox left-hander to pitch a no-hitter since Mel Parnell did it against the Chicago White Sox July 14, 1956.

Lester’s 2006 rookie season was cut short due to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but he returned in July 2007 and went 4-0 with a 4.57 earned run average in 12 games, 11 of which were starts. He was the winning pitcher in Game 4 of the World Series against Colorado.

This was Lester’s first career complete game.

It is just the second time the Royals have been no-hit. The LA Angels’ Nolan Ryan did it May 15, 1973.

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I was unable to watch the game last night or catch it on Sports Center this morning but regardless to me missing it I did hear it from the morning radio show as well as from my friend.

My hats off to Lester for producing such a great game. I am looking forward to seeing some more excitement on future games. Congrats Jon Lester and the Boston Red Sox.

BOSTON (UPI) — Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett combined for 55 points Wednesday and Boston held on down the stretch for a 96-89 playoff victory over Cleveland.

The Celtics took a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series and will try to close out the Cavaliers in Cleveland Friday.

Cleveland took a 14-point lead early in the second quarter, but the Celtics closed to within three at halftime and began to pull away late in the third.

The Cavaliers, however, closed within four during the final minute and Boston needed five free throws from Pierce in the last 15 seconds to protect its lead.

Pierce scored 29 points and Garnett had 17 rebounds to go with his 26 points. Rajon Rondo contributed 20 points and 13 assists.

Cleveland’s LeBron James scored 35 points, but only 12 of them came in the second half. Until the Cavaliers’ late push, James had managed just four points in the final two quarters.

Cleveland hurt its cause by missing 13 of 41 free throws and 13 of 16 three-point attempts.

With tomorrow’s game just around the corner I hope that the Cavs get their act together because I would love to see them match up against the other so called talents still fighting to win that ever popular NBA Championship.

Tue, Apr 8 Detroit W 5-0
Wed, Apr 9 Detroit L 7-2
Thu, Apr 10 Detroit W 12-6
Fri, Apr 11 NY Yankees L 4-1
Sat, Apr 12 NY Yankees W 4-3
Sun, Apr 13 NY Yankees W 8-5
Mon, Apr 14 @ Cleveland W 6-4
Tue, Apr 15 @ Cleveland W 5-3
With the exception of the Yankees you can see that Boston did some butt kicking when they visited Detroit and Cleveland. The two wins in Detroit and the two wins in Cleveland not only placed the Sox in a good swing but now Boston is heading back to NY to face them again tonight as well as tomorrow. I anticipate them winning those two games as well. I am noticing that not a lot of my co-workers dig baseball but they do recognize that Boston is looking good day in and day out. Now as far as the three losses to Toronto - let’s just say that I have no comment on those games.