Live from the Palace…
8:40: And we're underway. Rip Hamilton's in the starting lineup. We'll see how good he looks.
8:41: Billups misses his first free-throw attempt, and Ray Allen buries his first 3-pointer. Neither is a good sign.
8:42: Hamilton drains a mid-range jumper. That made every Pistons fan breathe a bit easier.
8:46: Celtics just had a possession where neither Pierce nor Perkins got across half-court. Nice hustle there. Still only 10-9 Pistons, though.
8:48: First Automotion routine of the night. They are in all white, because Automotion always makes you think of vestal virgins.
8:50: Speaking of white, why did the Penguins do a White-Out for Game 3? Did they not notice that it was the Red Wings that were wearing white for the game?
8:52: To clear up a common misconception, Rip Hamilton doesn't keep wearing his mask because he likes it - he actually hates it. Unlike Antonio McDyess, who got to ditch his fairly quickly, Hamilton is stuck with his permanently. He has broken his nose so many times that another break would require surgery and mean he would miss several weeks of action.
8:55: 17-13 Celtics. Anita Baker is here ... and Rip scores in her honor. 17-15.
9:01: If you find my blog boring, or you want some idea of what it is like sitting between Dana Wakiji and I on press row, you can read hers at http://info.detnews.com/redesign/blogs/pistonsblog/index.cfm.
9:02: Two more baskets for Ray Allen. He's got 10 points in 11 minutes, which, as I mentioned, is not a good sign.
9:03: Rodney Stuckey at the buzzer to pull the Pistons within 24-23. I've been asking this since training camp - how did that kid fall to the 18th pick?
9:05: Or maybe not. Refs just looked at the replay and ruled the shot came after the shot clock expired, so it is 24-21 at the first quarter.
9:07: There's a fan behind me screaming that he hates the media, and they need real fans in these seats who will make some noise instead of watching TV.
9:11: Good lord, these quarter breaks last forever. Kid Rock is here - no idea if any of the Pistons will score a basket in his honor. Besides, he's never told me to tie my shoe, like Anita did.
9:13: Jason Maxiell with a turnaround jumper, just before Hamilton and Sam The Alien bank knees.
9:15: Ray Allen 3-pointer. Still not a good sign. Also might help if Rasheed Wallace scores a point in here somewhere.
9:17: Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is here. The drummer from the RHCP (Flea?) once played the national anthem for a key Pistons playoff game. On the drums. Just him. That was very odd.
9:20: Sam The Alien is matched up against Stuckey. If I've done the math correctly, Sam was 97 years old when Stuckey was born.
9:26: They are already breaking out the Rip "Rocky" video - he's from Philly, you see. And he has 13 of their 28 points. Prince, McDyess and Wallace have a combined three, which is not what you are looking for.
9:29: Billups hits a 3-pointer. Now he has 13, and the Pistons are down 32-31 ... except that Paul Pierce scored before I could finish typing. 34-31.
9:31: OK, this could be big. Garnett picks up his third foul with 3:11 left in the half. Pistons need to make a run right here.
9:33: And they start their big run with a 24-second violation. Nice job.
9:39: Billups hits one of two free throws to pull the Pistons within 39-36 with 1:11 left in the half. He's missed more free throws in the playoffs than he misses in four-month stretches of the regular season.
9:41: Detroit's starting guards have 31 points. The starting frontcourt? Three, on 1-of-11 shooting. McDyess and Wallace have 14 rebounds between them, which is something, but not much.
9:44: Boston leads 40-37 at the half.
9:47: The Pistons held Boston to 36 percent in the first half, outrebounded them 23-22 and had KG on the bench for the last three minutes, so they should be winning. But Prince and Wallace's combined 0-for-10 is killing them.
9:49: Kevin "Big Game" Garnett is 2-for-10 with one rebound and three fouls, and none of the Boston Big Three have gotten to the free-throw line. How is Boston winning this?
10:04: The second half is about to start. Way to market a game to East Coast viewers - a second half starting after 10 p.m. between two Eastern Time Zone teams.
10:06: Garnett and Prince start the second half by hitting jumpers, which should please fans of both teams.
10:10: Someone on press row just asked if we are seeing Rasheed's last half as a Piston. It's possible, although that's what we all thought after his meltdown last year. And, as I type this, he hits a 3. 50-47 Boston.
10:12: KG picks up his fourth foul, and a T on Perkins. A fifth on Garnett would be massive.
10:14: Sheed's bitching after getting his fourth. He needs to shut up before he gets the magic technical that would mean a suspension for Game 7.
10:19: Prince 3-pointer gives the Pistons a 56-54 lead - their first since 10-9. Garnett's on the bench - can they take advantage this time?
10:24: 62-58 Pistons, and the Celtics pick up an offensive foul. Garnett's still out - this is a key moment in the game.
10:30: Wow. I have no idea how the refs just called an offensive foul on Paul Pierce. It was the same play as the Brent Barry-Derek Fisher contact from the other night, but if they had given Barry a foul. To make it worse for the Celtics, he hit a 3-pointer that was taken down, and then the Pistons got two free throws at the other end. So what could (should?) have been a 64-61 game became 66-58.
10:33: Sam the Alien just called for traveling. He might want to retire right now. During the game.
10:34: Rip's late jumper makes it 68-60 at the end of the third. 15-6 run with Garnett on the bench.
10:39: Celtics start the fourth with a shot-clock violation. Garnett's back in, but can he take over a game? Actually, yes, he can, but will he?
10:41: Ten-point lead. Can the Pistons, to use their own phrase, step on Boston's throat?
10:42: Just for the record, Doug Collins is going to be Chicago's new coach. That's the most bizarre decision since the Pierce foul call a few minutes ago.
10:45: Rasheed picks up his fifth foul, and KG makes two free throws. 70-67 with 9:05 left, and Boston's throat is definitely unstepped upon.
10:46: Wallace is 1-for-8 with five fouls. Yes, he has nine rebounds, but this is a very small effort from him. On the other hand, he hasn't gotten ejected.
10:51: Pierce splits a pair of free throws, and it is 70-70 with 7:35 to go. Your Detroit Pistons, always making life difficult.
10:54: Maxiell with back-to-back baskets. Rasheed who?
10:58: Celtics, 75-74 ... make that 77-74.
11:00: Rasheed's back. Turnover and a missed layup. And two more points from Pierce. That's seven straight, and the Celtics lead 79-74. A 19-4 run, sparked by Pierce and Garnett, and the Pistons appear to be done.
11:07: Anyone put it past Rasheed to hit a huge shot in the last minute?
11:10: Celtics call timeout with 1:07 left. It's 85-79, and they have the ball. Sheed may never get a chance at a big shot.
11:13: Boston turned the ball over, but Hamilton missed a 3-pointer and this game is practically over ... except that KG just missed two free throws. Still six points.
11:16: That was Sheed's chance. Terrible miss.
11:20: Game and the season are over. See you in November.
Monday Wrap on Tuesday
Pistons-Celtics: There's No Such Thing As Momentum
People always talk about which team has the momentum in the NBA playoffs. It doesn't matter. At all. The Pistons were supposed to have it after ending Boston's unbeaten record at home in Game 2, and Boston won Game 3. That meant the Celtics had it, since they had gotten the road-game gorilla off their backs, but then they lost Game 4.
So I suppose now the Pistons have it, right?
Three things matter in the NBA postseason - home court, energy and shooting. Yesterday, the Pistons were at home, played hard - especially Antonio McDyess and Jason Maxiell - and made shots. That's why they won the game.
Speaking of McDyess, it is great to see him playing so well. He's a good guy, and he's come back from horrific injuries to both knees. This was someone that was one of the 10 best players in the NBA, and he basically lost three seasons to knee injuries, and has worked incredibly hard to get back to where he is now. Unlike the rest of the Pistons core, he doesn't have a ring, and he desperately wants one.
Red Wings-Penguins: Shoot The Puck!
In the hockey playoffs, there is a type of momentum that matters - the hot (or cold) goalie. Right now, the Penguins don't look like they could score on Chris Osgood if the NHL let them have three pucks. Actually, if the Pens did get three pucks, they would just immediately turn all of them over to the nearest player in a red jersey, so I guess it wouldn't matter.
Marc-Andre Fleury is looking a bit rattled in the other net, but can you blame him? At this point, he knows that his only chance of winning to keep the game 0-0 until the ancient Red Wings like Nick Lidstrom and Chris Chelios have to go to bed.
Tigers: Consistently Inconsistent
Speaking of endless 0-0 games, the Tigers lost 1-0 in 13 innings to the Anaheim California Angels of Los Angeles last night, meaning they've now scored one run in 24 innings. The Tigers are averaging a decent 4.9 runs in their last 14 games, but 49 of those came in the three wins against Seattle and the 19-3 blowout of the Twins.
Ron Gardenhire said last week that the Tigers remind him of "piranhas", but I think he had the wrong animal. They are more like pythons. They can devour massive amounts in one gulp, but they are only hungry once a week.
Horse Racing: Daytona Is In California?
There were three major races on Memorial Day - the Gamely and the Shoemaker at Hollywood Park, and the legendary Met Mile at Belmont.
The Shoemaker was supposed to decide the West Coast's best turf horse, and Daytona made a pretty good argument for himself. He sat behind Ever A Friend for most of the race, then kicked by him in a tough stretch duel.
Daytona won the Hollywood Derby in November, but people were impressed by Ever A Friend's win in March's Frank Kilroe Mile, so this was supposed to the championship match. If it was, Daytona won a unanimous decision, and now he appears headed for a showdown with Kip DeVille in October's Breeders Cup Mile.
Diamond Diva tried to steal the Gamely by jumping out to a big early lead, but Precious Kitten ran her down in the stretch. Diamond Diva did finish second, which is a nice finish given the presence of major-winner Ruthierenne.
In the Met Mile, Commentator got into a speed duel with First Defence, and Divine Park took advantage by blowing by both of them in the stretch. Commentator is unbeatable when he gets a comfortable early lead, but at 7, he can't handle sustained pressure duels.
Cricket: Aussies Hang On
The Australians won the First Test against West Indies on Monday when they bowled them out for 191 to win by 95 runs.
Why is this important? Because I had told Justine Larbalestier that watching the Test would be something fun and relaxing, because there was no way her beloved Aussies could lose. I looked like an idiot when they were at 18-for-5 in their second innings, but they recovered to 167 and bowled out the Windies with time to spare.
When you are trying to impress famous authors with your witty cricket comments, it helps if they don't blow up in your face, so well done, Australia.
Perspective
The Red Wings are hosting Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals on Saturday. At the same time, the Pistons will be hosting Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Tigers are playing a home game against the Twins. It's already being called "Super Saturday" - the biggest day in Detroit sports history.
But here's a different way of looking at it. If all three games sell out, which they probably will, the combined crowd will still be more than 20,000 fans smaller than Michigan draws for every home football game.
True Boxing Champions
You may have noticed the new link at the top of the page called "Boxing Champions". It is my attempt to get back to the "good old days" of boxing, where there was one champion in each of eight weight classes. These days, there are 17 weight classes, but I'm trying to keep us at one champion for each.
It's a pretty simple process that I've been using for years. You have to win the title in the ring. That's why I have the truly mediocre Zsolt Erdei as the light heavyweight champ, even though there are several fighters in the division who are clearly better. Erdei beat Julio Gonzalez, who beat Dariusz Michalczewski, who beat Virgil Hill. It would look more "right" if the champs had been Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver and Bernard Hopkins, but Jones would never go to Germany to fight Michalczewski, and DM wouldn't come here. That's the champ's prerogative.
The problem with lists like this is that you have to decide how to fill vacant titles. The Cyber Boxing Zone doesn't consider a vacant title to be filled unless someone unifies all the sanctioning-group belts, which means they now have 10 vacancies in 17 divisions.
I'm more liberal, because I like having champions instead of vacancies. I use a variety of ratings to come up with a consensus top-five in the division, and I award the title whenever the #1 fighter fights someone else in the top 5. That tends to provide for a lot of champs without watering things down.
John Terry’s Tears
John Terry has had an enormously successful soccer career. He's the captain of Chelsea Football Club and the captain of the English national team.
Today came the moment that will define that career. It isn't one he's going to enjoy.
Terry missed the penalty kick that would have clinched the UEFA Champions League Final in Moscow, and Manchester United took advantage by winning the shootout 6-5 in sudden death.
With heavy rain falling, eight of the first nine shooters scored. The only miss came from the most unlikely source, as Cristiano Ronaldo ended the greatest season in recent memory with a terrible attempt.
That gave Terry a chance to end it, about a half-hour after he had made a phenomenal play to prevent Manchester United from scoring a winning goal.
However, his plant foot slipped on the wet grass and his kick sailed softly past the left post. Two rounds later, Edwin van der Sar saved a weak shot by Nicolas Anelka, giving United its second major championship in 10 days. Both titles - the English Premier League and the European Championship - came over Chelsea.
After Anelka's miss, both Ronaldo and Terry fell sobbing to the field - one in relief and one in agony. Players from both teams tried to console Terry, including Manchester United's Paul Scholes, his long-time England teammate, but he ended up weeping on manager Avram Grant's shoulder.
I'm not a fan of Terry or Chelsea, but this is tough. He was playing after dislocating his elbow on May 11, and he played an outstanding game, but he's only going to remember the helpless feeling of his foot sliding out from under him at the worst possible time.
Jim Leyland Hates Jason Grilli
Jim Leyland isn't too impressed with Jason Grilli's observation that letting Sean Casey go has hurt the Tigers' chemistry. (Video is safe for work, but only because the 872 curses have all been bleeped.)
The interesting thing is that he also goes off on Carlos Guillen, although without mentioning his name. Guillen was quoted recently as saying that he didn't think the expectations put on the Tigers were "fair".
Going to be an interesting summer, especially if they don't get this turned around.
Monday Wrap: Goldfinger
You probably had no idea that Auric Goldfinger won the first Buick Open, did you?
Actually, that's Hall of Famer Billy Casper, who was in town Monday to help kick off the Buick Open's 50th anniversary celebration. The guy on the right is the legendary Brian Bateman, who won last year's tournament - a bit of a letdown after the tournament had gone Jim Furyk, Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods in the previous five years. When was the last time the PGA had five winners that good in a row?
Tiger is going to be back this year - he missed last year after the birth of his daughter - so there should be massive crowds in Grand Blanc next month. He's also holding a clinic at Comerica Park, which might allow us to answer the question "Could a pro golfer hit a ball over the massive scoreboard in left field?"
Postseason Lull
The Red Wings are about to start Game 6 against Dallas - they need to end this nonsense and blow the Stars out. Letting them win Game 4 was nice, but losing Game 5 was a bit silly. They don't want them to get to Game 7 on a three-game winning streak - it would be rather humiliating to be the first franchise to blow two 3-0 leads.
Meanwhile, the Pistons will end their week-long holiday when they play Boston in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday. A month ago, I would have predicted the Celtics would rout Detroit, but now I think the Pistons will win the series in six games. Maybe all those first-round losses for Minnesota had more to do with Kevin Garnett than with Flip Saunders.
Tigers in Freefall
(That headline makes me want to see a tiger wearing a parachute.)
Three weeks ago, I said I thought the Tigers were in "decent shape". Since then, they've gone 5-12, which doesn't exactly make me look like a genius.
Thus far in May, they've gone 2-1 against the Yankees and 2-11 against the rest of baseball. The worst part is that they've been this bad while getting good pitching - the offense has gone back into the tank. You know things are rough when Matt Joyce has almost as many homers in the month as the rest of the team combined.
Oh, and if Brandon Inge wants to be an everyday player, he might want to score more runs for the month than Armando Galarraga. Right now, it's 1-0 in favor of Galarraga.
Shock Lose - Laimbeer Fails Again To Go 34-0
The Shock are 1-1 - they blew out Houston on Saturday and lost to Minnesota on Sunday. They aren't as good as they looked against the Comets, and they aren't as bad as they looked against the Lynx. They are a high-end team that has had about a week of practice and whose top two players - Cheryl Ford and Deanna Nolan - are playing hurt. Given the Olympic break, nothing is going to matter in this league until September anyway.
Big Brown Rolls
Yes, Big Brown beat a terrible field today, but he certainly made it look good. He sat quietly behind Gayego and Riley Tucker for the first three-quarters of a mile, and then he calmly stepped on the gas and blew the field away. Gayego and Riley Tucker had run their brains out - they finished last and next-to-last - and Big Brown kept up without any apparent effort.
Like the Derby, his final time isn't going to be that impressive, but that's because Kent Desormeaux didn't ask him for a big effort. Once Desormeaux realized that the race was over with an eighth of a mile to go, he just relaxed and let the horse cruise to victory. No sense wearing him out with the mile-and-a-half Belmont only three weeks away.
In other news, it was announced before the race that Three Chimneys Stables has bought a significant portion of Big Brown's breeding rights. That's bad news for anyone who wants to see the horse run, because they will almost certainly do what they did with Smarty Jones and retire him after the Belmont. That means we could have a Triple Crown winner - the first one in 30 years - and he'll finish with six career races. That's great for Three Chimneys and Big Brown's owners, but it is terrible for the sport.
Oscar Pistorius and the Olympics
Oscar Pistorius is a great story. He runs world-class times in the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes despite the minor handicap of not having any legs. He was born without shinbones, and had both legs amputated at the age of 11 months, but runs with the aid of j-shaped carbon-fiber blades.
There's been a movement in the last couple years to let him compete in the Olympics. The International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) had ruled that he was ineligible, because the Cheetah Flex-Foot blades gave him a mechanical advantage, but the Council of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned that decision today.
At this point, it's pretty much a moot point. While he's faster than 99.99% of the population, his best time in the 400-meter dash is over a second slower than the Olympic qualifying standard, and the South African 4x400 relay team isn't good enough to make the Games, either.
Of course, that could change - he has top scientists fighting over the chance to design better legs for him, so he could improve his speed. It probably won't come in time for Beijing, but I'm sure the technology will be vastly improved in time for London 2012.
Which is exactly why, given the International Olympic Committee's stance on "natural" athletes, he shouldn't be allowed to run. Does the IOC really want to open the door to "vastly improved technology"? They are leading the fight against any kind of performance-enhancing drug, but now they are going to let in athletes with high-tech prosthetics?
Their argument is that Pistorius was born with a handicap, and the blades only let him do what able-bodied athletes can do with normal legs. On some levels, that's true, but what do they do when athletes start choosing to have these things installed?
*waits*
Done screaming?
If you don't think there are people that will get their legs amputated to have a chance to win a gold medal, you don't know anything about top-level athletes. They'll pump their bodies full of drugs, knowing it could kill them by the age of 50, so why wouldn't they go cyborg?
Would it happen a lot? No, but how many times is too many? If Oscar Pistorius wins a gold medal in London, and five people decide it's worth a shot for 2016, is that OK? How about the first swimmer that has his feet replaced with flippers?
This is amusing for me, because I've been working on a novel involving Pistorius. The idea was that, with him banned from the Olympics, someone would come up with a billion dollars to hold a Festival of Human Potential in Dubai this fall, and let anyone compete. Steroids? Fine. High jumpers with spring-loaded ankles? Great. Boxers with artificial jaws? Come on in.
In 2008, it would be Oscar Pistorius and a lot of drug offenders, but by 2012, who knows what science could do. Put up massive amounts of prize money, sell the TV rights and let the party begin. I know I'd watch.
Maybe the IOC figures that they can stop the Cyborg Games by letting in Pistorius. But once they start down this road, they aren't going to be able to go back.
Preakness Pick
The betting has started on the Preakness, and Big Brown is 1-9. That means you are going to get back $2.20 for a $2.00 bet - so you better be awfully sure he's going to win.
Let's see what he's got to deal with:
1 - Macho Again: Has never won a race of a mile or longer. The Preakness is 1 3/16 miles, so you can't like his chances.
2 - Tres Borrachos: Is 0-for-3 as a 3-year-old. I'm not going to bet he breaks that streak against Big Brown.
3 - Icabad Crane: Looked pretty good winning the Fredrico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico last month, so he's got a victory at the Preakness track. He'll pass horses late, but not nearly enough of them.
4 - Yankee Bravo: He'll be running faster than any horse on the track at the end, but he's going to be miles behind Big Brown when they hit the stretch, and he's going to have traffic issues.
5 - Behindatthebar: Scratched on Friday due to a bruised hoof.
6 - Racecar Rhapsody: My computer loves this horse - has him rated clearly #2. He's quite consistent, and will probably finish second or third, but he's not the type of horse that is going to take a big jump forward to beat Big Brown.
7 - Big Brown: His Kentucky Derby wasn't that spectacular - my software gives him an 86, which is the worst speed rating of his career - but he's beaten every horse that's run against him. The other thing is that he's got a massive early-speed advantage over the rest of the field. Unless he falls down coming out of the gate, he's going to get an early lead, and no one's passed him yet.
8 - Kentucky Bear: Ran a strong race in the Blue Grass Stakes last month, but the two horses that beat him got crushed in the Derby, so it is hard to get too excited. As good as anything else in the field.
9 - Stevil: No. Hasn't come close to winning a race since October.
10 - Riley Tucker: Has finished in the top three in five of his six career stakes races. That's good. He hasn't won any of those races. That's bad.
11 - Giant Moon: He lost the Gotham Stakes by 47 lengths in March. Has been pretty good in his other races, but 47 lengths?
12 - Gayego: I thought Gayego was overrated going into the Derby, and he lost Big Brown to almost 30 lengths, so I haven't changed my mind. Still, in this terrible field, he's probably second best.
13 - Hey Bryn: Lost to Big Brown by 16 lengths in the Florida Derby. That's inspiring.
Randy Moss - the ESPN analyst, not the football player - just said this is the worst Preakness field he's seen, and he's been there every year since 1971. It is certainly bad, but I'm not sure who is left. War Pass is hurt, and Eight Belles was the only horse that finished within 10 lengths of Big Brown in the Derby. She's dead.
Big Brown has to be the pick. Gayego second and Yankee Bravo third.
By the way, there was a major run today - the Pimlico Special returned after a year's absence due to the financial issues in Maryland racing. It's a shame, because the Special used to be a huge race. Seabiscuit's win over War Admiral came in the Pimlico Special, and it was also won by horses like Citation, Whirlaway and Assault. Even in the 21st Century, it was won by top handicap horses like Eddington, Invasor and Mineshaft.
This year's field was pretty bad, but there was one major winner in the field - Student Council. He won last year's Pacific Classic, and he picked up his second major by chasing down Gottcha Gold in the stretch. That's an enormously important victory for his owners, because a horse with multiple Grade I victories is going to make a lot of money in stud fees.
The other interesting race at Pimlico today was the Black-Eyed Susan, which was won by Sweet Vendetta. The filly is owned by her breeder, David Cassidy. Yes, that David Cassidy.