Welcome Back Smorgasbord - King James, Terrelle Pryor and More!

The blog, much like LeBron James during the fourth quarters of the NBA Finals, has been on hiatus for a few weeks but we are back now to our regularly scheduled program. I will be back with columns every Wednesday and Friday with shorter posts sprinkled in here and there when thoughts and/or events come up. Since I have not commented on anything in a couple weeks here, what better way to jump back in than with an extended smorgasbord! Here we go…

- Where else can we start other than King James? Just when we thought he had fully arrived after the Boston and Chicago series he follows it up with a complete mental breakdown on the biggest stage of his career. (I must say that I had originally planned to do a column after the Chicago series saying how LeBron had finally arrived and was playing the way we all had envisioned him playing for so long…I’m glad that I didn’t have the time to write that post with how silly it would look just two weeks later!) Make no mistake - that was no choke job by LeBron. He wasn’t bricking foul shots or missing layups. He wasn’t throwing terrible passes or missing rebounds. He simply did not show up mentally following the game two loss for reasons that none of us can understand. Why did he stop attacking the basket? Why did his suffocating defense disappear? What in the world was going through his mind? Whatever it was, it was probably the same “thing” that pushed James into teaming up with Dwayne Wade in Miami in the first place. Whether it is a lack of a killer instinct, an unusual level of self-doubt that we typically do not see with players of his magnitude, or something else that none of us can put our fingers on, it is obvious that eight years into the NBA LeBron still does not have that “it” factor. Will he get there? I don’t know. My guess is that his talent alone will lead him to at least 2 or 3 championships and we will forget about many of these indiscretions. (It will be much the same way that we forget how badly Michael Jordan was criticized, called a gunner and how he couldn’t win the big one before he won his first title. That just sounds silly knowing what we know now.) At this point, however, I think we are close to realizing that he will never reach the absolute peak that his physical abilities call for because of something missing inside.

- Can somebody please explain to me what Cam Newton has that Terrelle Pryor doesn’t? Even if you consider Newton the better prospect, it cannot be the difference between the 1st overall pick in the draft and a 4th or 5th rounder as the reports are saying Pryor will go in the supplemental draft. Personally, I think both have a long way to go to be even a reasonably decent starting quarterback in the NFL and there is a good chance that neither amounts to much at that position. Both, however, have the same incredible upside with their tremendous physical abilities. Heck, I would even guess that as an athlete Pryor will grade out better than Newton. Just weird to me that some teams would value Newton’s upside to be that much more than Pryor’s despite the fact that it was Pryor who was a 3-year starter playing in a pro-style offense and not Newton. I will have much more on Pryor in Friday’s post.

- Game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals is tonight and what a crazy series it has been. Vancouver has squeaked out three 1-goal wins at home while losing the three games in Boston by a combined score of 17-3. Roberto Luongo, Vancouver’s goalie, has looked like two different players at home and on the road while Boston has reached this point on the back of its own net minder, Tim Thomas. I like the Canucks to win a close one tonight. You win games like these on the backs of your superstars (hey Penguins fans, Max Talbot is THE SUPERSTAR right?) and the Canucks have more of those players than the Bruins. Either way, I am sure looking forward to the game tonight. Nothing in sports is better than a game seven, and maybe no game sevens match the intensity and excitement of those in hockey.

- Major League baseball is over 40% of the way through its season and the lack of storylines continues to be a trend. Derek Jeter is now on the DL postponing his 3,000 hits bid, which was inevitable anyways. Almost every team in baseball is still alive for the postseason. There are a few players, Jose Bautista and Curtis Granderson come to mind, having fantastic seasons but nobody who is doing something that approaches historical. Scoring continues to be down and there are more pitchers having good years but again, none are doing anything historic. The teams we thought would be good, the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Braves, Rangers, etc. are good and outside of the Twins and Indians, the season has gone pretty much as expected. Really, the biggest story in baseball is the hometown Buccos and their quest to end the streak of 18 consecutive losing seasons. As we sit today, the Pirates are 33-33 and only 4 games out of the division lead. If the Pirates can continue to play at or around .500 I suspect the story will continue to pick up steam nationally.

- Speaking of the Pirates, it will be interesting to see what management does as the trade deadline approaches if they continue to hover around .500 and stay somewhat in contention. From a team building prospective, they should still be in “sell” mode but a run at .500 in August and September, especially if there is no football going on, would be a tremendous financial opportunity for the club and that is part of management’s job as well. I will have a lot more on this next week and my thoughts on what I think the Pirates should do if they continue to play good baseball into mid July.

- Pitt and Penn State have agreed to renew their rivalry on the football field starting in 2016. I know this is a big deal for the alumni bases but sorry, I can’t get excited over a football game five years from now. It is ridiculous that this game has not been played in over ten years and even when it resumes, it will lack the tradition and history the rivalry should have.

- College football is covered in scandal. The NFL is in danger of missing a portion or all of its upcoming season due to labor negotiations. The NBA and NHL have never been more popular. Is this the beginning of the end for football as America’s favorite sport? Probably not, and I suspect that the NFL and the Player’s Association will work something out in time because there is too much money to be lost but with a game that violent and that popular I think it is only a matter of time before the popularity decline begins.

- From my standpoint, the labor negotiations have been this year’s version of the Brett Favre comeback story as the most heavily covered story by the media that the general population doesn’t really care about. Most people could care less about how the two sides split up the $10 billion pie (despite the posturing by the player’s association and the owners blaming the other one) and really only care about whether there will be a season or not. I have kept an eye on the negotiations and court rulings from a general business interest but boy do I get annoyed when I have to listen to the daily updates on Sportscenter or on Mike and Mike when they are talking labor negotiations in mid-May. Despite being force-fed coverage of the lockout for the past four months, it will only be in the next couple of months when the pressure to get a deal done really picks up as fans start to become worried about a season actually being missed and players and owners alike realize that there may not be checks coming in the very near future.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Update

{Editor's Note: The site that runs this blog was down since Thursday night so this entry is going up much later than anticipated. With that occurrence, we will hold off until Monday with the MLB catch-up.}

I am writing this as they drop the puck for game seven of the Detroit-San Jose series, the only series in the second round that has given us any drama and if it wasn’t for the Red Wings rally from a 3-0 deficit this really would have been a boring round of Stanley Cup playoff action. If you are like me you were shocked to see the Lightning sweep the Caps. That’s four straight years Washington has failed to make it out of the Eastern Conference semifinals, twice losing in the first round, despite having Alex Ovechkin and a loaded roster. Despite being the coach of all four of those playoff failing teams, early rumors suggest that the Capitals are going to bring back coach Bruce Boudreau. That one certainly falls under the category of puzzling to me. Here are a few more NHL observations with the occasional update as I flip back and forth between the Sharks-Red Wings and Bulls-Hawks.

• Like I said, I was pretty shocked to see Tampa Bay roll the Capitals the way they did. I thought Washington’s deep and talented forward lines would overwhelm Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson and make it a rather short series in the Capitals favor. Boy, I could not have been more wrong. It just goes to show how different the Stanley Cup playoffs can be. Get a hot goalie, have a few stars on your roster and start playing good hockey at the right time and you can make a deep run. (With the Bulls currently steamrolling the Hawks on ESPN I have turned my attention to the Sharks game where San Jose earns the first power play of the game 11 minutes in.)

• Penguins’ fans taking solace in the fact that the Lightning swept Washington should stop. Just because Tampa Bay looks like they might have gotten on a roll now doesn’t make losing three straight elimination games, two on your home ice, any more excusable. If anything, Pens fans should be wondering “what if” after the Caps suffered another postseason collapse. (Beautiful power-play goal scored by the Sharks’ Devin Setoguchi off a no-look pass from Joe Thornton! Sharks go up 1-0! You might recall that I picked the Sharks to hoist the Cup from the beginning of the playoffs so I am certainly pulling for them tonight if for no other reason than that pick….as far as you know anyways.)

• I patted myself on the back enough yesterday talking about my Heat selection (and I am sure I will get plenty of flack if Miami slips up along the way) but I did want to remind people that I predicted it would be tough sledding in the playoffs for the Penguins without their stars. I took a lot of grief from Penguins fans about Fleury, our defense, and our role players being able to get on a roll but the simple truth in sports is that stars win championships, not role players. With a healthy Crosby and Malkin back next year, the Penguins will be right back on the short list of Cup contenders.

• One other quick Penguins thought before we move on. I love the idea of bringing Jaromir Jagr back if he is willing to come aboard at a reasonable contract. When I say reasonable, I mean one that is not much above the veteran minimum. Jagr can still put the puck in the net, as evidenced by his play at the World Championships, and he would be an instant upgrade on the power play. If “Jags” looks old or isn’t fitting in personality wise, the Penguins could easily give him the boot. If Jagr truly wants to play one more season in the NHL and only for a team that has a chance to compete for the Cup, I really don’t see a better fit than the Penguins. For the team, it could mean a potential low-risk, high reward proposition.

• Although it didn't come as much of a suprise as the Capitals being swept, it was still pretty hard to believe that the Flyers would also lose four straight at the hands of their longtime rivals in Boston. That means the Eastern Conference’s top two teams were both swept in the conference semifinals…pretty hard to believe. Philly’s injuries combined with their ongoing goalie rotation made this sweep a little easier to understand.

• I don’t think many people had a Tampa Bay-Boston matchup in their Stanley Cup playoff bracket. It should be an interesting contrast of styles as well with the defensive-minded Bruins taking on the high-scoring stars of Tampa Bay. I just like the way Roloson is competing in goal right now and think the Lightning have too much fire power for Boston up front. I’m taking the Lightning in six. (Goal by the Sharks! Logan Couture stuffs one in with less than a minute remaining in the 1st period, 2-0 Sharks. Bulls still up big, looks like we’re getting the Heat-Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals.)

• Over in the Western Conference, Vancouver finally rid themselves of their own playoff demons and advanced to the conference finals with a 4-2 series win over the Nashville Predators. The Canucks won a hard fought series in which every game was decided by two goals or less but it never really felt like they were in danger of losing control of the series. The series win has to make goalie Roberto Luongo feel good. Luongo is often considered one of, if not the best goalie in the NHL and had failed to get his team past the 2nd round of the playoffs in his previous three attempts. Luongo was even benched during the Canucks’ first round series for poor play but back-up Cory Schneider was injured in his lone start and Luongo led his team to a game seven win in which he may have established some playoff mojo. If the Sharks are able to hold onto their lead tonight, it would become a battle of the playoff-cursed franchises in the Western Conference Finals.

• What an incredible game seven between the Sharks and Red Wings. Just another example of why nothing in sports beats a game seven and that is especially true in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I thought the Sharks were going to blow not only a 3-0 series lead but a 2-0 and then 3-1 game seven lead in front of their home crowd but somehow, someway the Sharks were able to hold on for a 3-2 win. The Sharks advance to what should be a wonderful Western Conference Final with the Canucks. Many will probably proclaim that this series will be the real Stanley Cup Finals as either team will be heavily favored in the Finals against Tampa Bay or Boston. As you probably guessed, I am sticking with my original pick and taking the Sharks in six over the Canucks.