Sports Rewind

 Curlin over Street Sense by a nose.

** I have never been a horse racing fan but after watching the Kentucky Derby a couple weeks ago and seeing Street Sense come from the 19th spot to win was out of this world.  Saturday in the Preakness, Street Sense came from the 9th spot to take the lead down the stretch only to be caught by Curlin who won by a nose.  That gave me goosebumps.  Very exciting, but sad hearing that both horses might not run in the Belmost Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown June 9.

** HBO is great for a lot of reasons (Sopranos, Entourage, etc) and boxing is normally one of them.  They showed the De la Hoya vs Mayweather fight the next week after the fight took place but watching Jermain Taylor vs Cory Spinks almost makes me want to stop watching boxing all together.  First of all, Taylor won't fight anybody who can punch (or so the commentators said).  Second, which goes along with the first, Spinks was gawd awful.  He just ran around the ring and tried to throw a punch every once in a while.  You know how boring that is?  Taylor said after winning bye a split decision (yeah, one judge actually had Spinks winning, no idea how that was), 'You want my belt?  You can't just run around the ring and expect to get it.' 

 Pavlik will hopefully take on Taylor next.

The undercard had a great fight though.  Kelly Pavlik from Youngstown, Ohio, took on Edison Miranda.  These two had a fantastic fight going back and forth smacking each other with great shots until the referee stopped it in the 7th round after Miranda was having trouble standing upright.  Pavlik might be somebody Taylor would have trouble with because he's a big hitter.

** Congratulations to Roger Federer for ending Rafael Nadal's 81 match winning streak on clay at the Hamburg Master's on Sunday.  That was an unbelievable streak and will make the French Open, which starts this Sunday, super exciting.  I highly doubt Federer can win six straight matches on clay vs top notch competitionbut if anybody can do it Federer can. 

** The NBA Playoffs are still boring and I will not write more than three sentences on them.  The Jazz stand no chance vs the Spurs and the Cavs stand no chance against the Pistons.  That's two sentences.  More than enough about the NBA.

 Is that Lebron screaming or crying or both? 

** Tuesday night is the NBA Draft Lottery.  Obviously only the top two spots really matter.  One team will get Greg Oden, one team will get Kevin Durant.  The Memphis Grizzlies will have the most balls in the lottery and would most definitely choose Oden as would the team with the second most balls, Boston.  The Milwaukee Bucks have the third most balls and good grief would it be nice to see Oden in green next winter in Milwaukee.  Then again, the Bucks had the No. 1 pick a couple years ago and wasted it on Andrew Bogut.  If the Bucks ended up with the third pick, Florida Gators center Al Horford would be a nice selection.  He would help immediately.

** Wednesday's UEFA Champions League final between AC Milan and Liverpool should be worth watching.  AC Milan will be looking for revenge.  In the 2005 final between the same two teams, Liverpool came from 3-0 behind to win on penalties.  All three of Liverpools goals came in an eight minute span of the second half.  Milan will be looking to take the trophy back to Italy.  Milan's Kaka has been the best player in the Champions League by far.  Against Manchester United, Kaka completely dominated both legs himself.  I'd love to see an English team bring the trophy home, but honestly it's hard to see Milan losing.  Prediction:  AC Milan 3-1. 

** Saturday's FA Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium between Chelsea and Manchester United (ppv here in the States), was dull in the first half.  Both teams lacked their normal gusto but the second half showed why both teams were the best in England this year.  The game was still scoreless through 90 minutes.  United had a fantastic chance to win the game in extra time but Ryan Giggs couldn't put the ball in the back of the net.  United skipper Alex Ferguson thought his team deserved a penalty because Chelsea defender Michael Essien had taken Giggs down.  No such luck.  A couple minutes later Didier Drogba had the ball at the top of the box.  Drogba slid the ball to Frank Lampard who one-timed it back to Drogba who popped it pass United keeper Edwin van der Sar for the win. 

 Drogba's one-two with Lampard for the winner was a great goal.  Even a United fan can admit that.