Jack's Blog

I'm reluctant to bury the Miami Heat just yet because a win on
Sunday gets them the home court advantage back again and would knot
up the series at 2-2, but they miss Chris Bosh more than I thought
they would. It is the "Big Three" not the "Big Two."
I'm reluctant to bury the Lakers , but I am burying the Clippers.
I'm also reluctant to bury Philly,but I do think they're in better
shape than Miami is. Philly is down 2-1 with game 4 at home , Miami
is down 2-1 with game 4 on the road.

I am burying the Phoenix Coyotes, but I had them buried even
before they went down 3-0.

On a local note here in Rutland congratulations going out to
Rutland High's Andy Cassarino who yesterday tossed a perfect game as
the Raiders blanked Mill River 8-0. Cassarino who is a sophomore
struck out 6 and went to a full count on only two batters. Cassarino
is the son of MSJ varsity football coach Jeff Cassarino.

What was up with the three balks last night? Two of them were legit one wasn't, but he Sox lead the league in balks. Who do you blame? I don't know, but the pitching coach has to take some of the responsibility.
The Red Sox infield defense is pretty good, but the outfield defense is horrible. The winning run last night scores on a short sac fly to right. What was Cody Ross doing?

I was wrong the other day when I said John Torterella was Bill Belichick. Torterella is more like Belichick than Belichick is himself. Have you heard any of his press conferences lately especially the one last night?

Castleton mens hockey coach Alex Todd will be our guest this morning at 9:30 on "The Really Big Sports Show" and we'll be talking about the NHL playoffs.

Tim Wakefield Day at Fenway Park yesterday was well done. If you were watching live and you didn't get a big lump in your throat when the kids from the Jimmy Fund walked in from Center Field you're not human. It was a nice ceremony.
On the lighter side or should I say on the heavier side, what was up with Doug Mirabelli? As one Boston commentator put it, Mirabelli looks like he ate Pokey Reese.
Another Boston radio show pointed out that Mirabelli acted like it was Doug Mirabelli Day and not Tim Wakefield Day It took him about 20 minutes to get from the outfield to the infield as he was waving to the fans all the way. Remember this was from a .231 career hitter.
That being said, it was neat watching Wakefield throw out the first pitch to Mirabelli with a knuckle ball.

It was a foul on Garnett so let's move on. The Celtics should be
happy they're 1-1 and not down 2-0 because they probably should be.

Let's skip ahead to a San Antonio-Oklahoma City Western Conference final

Henrik Lundqvist looks like a combination of the 2011 Tim Thomas
and the 1971 Ken Dryden to me. Maybe even better if that's possible.
Insightly Gmail Gadget v2

It's a little disturbing when you're watching a report on NESN on a
Dice-K rehab start and the first thing you see is a hit batter and a
home-run. I guess it's about the injury and not about the results
Andy Pettite was ok in his first start back with the Yankees, but
he wasn't great.

A few series have already started, but here are my predictions:
In the NBA Conference semi's: the Celtics over Philly in 6, Miami over
Indiana in 6, Oklahoma City over the Lakers in 6 and San Antonio over
the LA Clippers
In the NHL Conference finals: New Jersey over the Rangers in 7 and the
LA Kings over Phoenix in 6. The Jersey-Rangers series should be a war
and I know my LA-Phoenix prediction is somewhat skewed because LA is
already up 1 game to none.

Isn't John Tortarella at least a little bit like Bill Belichick?

Mike Lupica mentioned politics in his Sunday sports column again this week!