If you're a fan of sports, then waking up on Monday might feel like somewhat of a downer after Saturday. There's obviously a LOT to cover but let's give it the once-over shall we?
1. Draft "grades" are stupid. Mainly because you're attempting to grade something without knowing whether or not any of the players drafted are going to play or not. What we should be doing, right now, is grading the 2011 drafts of the teams. Those are the drafts whose rookie contracts are getting ready to roll off and we have a good idea how the teams did.
2. American Pharoah is now the only horse to have a shot at the Triple Crown. That said, were I his owners I'd run him in the Preakness, and then give him some time off to rest for the Fall card, including the season-ending Breeder's Cup. With all of the big races later in the season running a 3 year old a mile and a half (a distance it's probably never going to run again) on the heels of two tough races does more to damage a horse in the long-run than help it. Oh, and the Woodford Reserve Turf Stakes was one of the better horse races you'll ever see.
3. MayPac was, unsurprisingly, not the super-fight of the Century that it was hyped to be. Mayweather is a smart man. He waited until Pacquiao was incapable of doing the things he needed to do in order to win the fight, before he agreed to fight him. Instead of two of the best pound-for-pound fighters slugging it out, we got a typical Mayweather dance that was overpriced, and left people with a bad taste in their mouths.
I do think that this could signal the beginning of the end of the pay-per-view era of professional boxing. And good riddance. As Al Hayman's Premier Boxing Champions series continues to prove: the best boxing matches could, and should, be fought on Network TV. Also given that Showtime boxing has elevated its status to become a true challenger to HBO and you have several outlets where the biggest fights can occur, on free TV or tiered cable. Charging $100 (or even more ridiculously, $30/head time capacity at a bar) effectively priced a large percentage of the population out of the watching the fight live. I refused to buy the PPV, and my local bar (which typically carries all of the fights) elected to not pay the exorbitant fees. As such, I followed the fight on Twitter. I'll DVR it when either HBO or Showtime airs it on their networks and feel like I haven't missed out on anything.
4. Clippers vs. Spurs - Game 7 What was initially threatened to be overshadowed by the "other" events of the weekend ultimately turned out to be the best event of them all. This was a classic basketball game with two teams throwing haymakers at the end, and with Chris Paul, limping around on one hamstring, ultimately sinking a beautiful shot to clinch the win for the LA team.
It was also a heroic last stand for what was one of the greatest NBA runs of all time for the Spurs, who will undoubtedly have to consider finally admitting that Duncan and Ginobli are aging players and will begin the process of drastically altering their roster going forward. If you missed this game to watch the horrid undercard for MayPac, you really lost out.
All of that and I still haven't mentioned the Stanley Cup Playoffs or the fact that the Houston Astros are currently playing out of their minds. I also didn't mention that Rory McIlroy is pretty good.
All in all it was a great weekend to be a sports fan. One of the better ones in recent memory.
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