Jay GreesonGame 6
Warriors-Raptors in the last game at The Oracle tonight. A Golden State win means Game 7 on Sunday night, which would cap a Father's Day off with the U.S. Open and a Game 7. Yes please.
Hard to know what will happen in a series that has been dominated by the road team.
Hard to know how the Warriors will react after all the hubbub after Kevin Durant's Achilles' tear.
Hard to know if the Raptors not named Kawhi are ready for a moment this big?
We get those answers tonight.
As for predictions, hey, we're game.
Golden State's edge in experience will be noticeable tonight. It was huge in the final two minutes in Game 5 - on the floor and on the bench considering the backlash that Raptors coach Nick Nurse got for that momentum-redirecting timeout he took in the fourth quarter that allowed the Warriors to regroup.
Still, we'll set the over/under on Klay+Curry at 60 tonight - and that's an expectation that the Warriors will need that many from those cats to force a Game 7.
For the Raptors to win tonight, there has to be someone other than Kawhi who becomes a central figure and reliable offensive option. Whether that's Kyle Lowry or Serge Ibaka or even Marc Gasol, any of them will be acceptable.
I got the Warriors tonight. Maybe that's wishful thinking in hopes for a Game 7 this weekend.
Thoughts?
And Game 7
How did that happen?
St. Louis won the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night. Sorry Spy.
(Side note: Not unlike that one guy you know who is actually a normal and decent Alabama football fan, and you wonder, "So there are a couple of them," Spy has forever been a Boston fan of all sports and actually is rather decent about it. So there are a few of them, too.)
That said, it's hard to drum up too much sympathy for Boston supporters since in the last calendar year the four major sports have ended with a World Series, a Lombardi, an NHL runner-up and the Celtics making the conference semifinals.
This morning, though, the reflection has to be on the magnitude of the Blues' complete 180.
It's easily the greatest in-season turnaround in sports history, right? St. Louis lost 22 of their first 37 games and was in last place in January.
After a disappointing 7-9-3 start and being shut out three times in four games, the Blues fired coach Mike Yeo. (Side question: You have to wonder what Yeo was thinking watching the Blues slide into the playoffs and ride a hot rookie goaltender to their first Stanley Cup, right?)
You also have to wonder what it was like watching Games 6 and 7 for the guy who put $400 on the Blues to win it all. He collected $100K and told Darren Rovell that he would not hedge - or sell his ticket for $75,000 before Game 6 - because he felt it would be bad karma for the team he was rooting for. (Seriously. Here's an interview with the bettor, Scott Berry, before last night's clincher.)
Hey, I'm not a hockey guy and I'm not going to pretend to break down power plays or line changes. I did not watch a moment of this series.
But, the storylines and the incredible baseline of this comeback - mainly on the strength of a rookie in the pipes who started the year in San Antonio - is one of the reasons we all love sports, right?
Even you Spy.
Music and the savage fan
One more glorious - wait for it - part of the Blues' five-month jubilant run from DFL to LSC (Dead ((bleepin) Last to Lord Stanley's Cup) has been the fans celebrating.
Part of that has been the Blues reignited and remind us all of the greatness of "Gloria," the 1980s anthem by Laura Braingan. Video here, and man did we forget how bad the lip-syncing was in the early days of MTV.
It's a perfect stadium anthem because while no one knows the verses, the entire building can join together on the chorus. It also got me thinking, best stadium songs. And don't bring me "Who let the Dogs Out."
This conversation is about those surprising songs that the first time you see the crowd connect with you think, "Wow this is cool."
I know Fenway is forever connected with Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" and that's awesome in its awesomeness. A sneaky good one is the Georgia Tech fans and the "When you say BUDDDD-Weiser, you've said it all" song.
What else is out there that is cool? Whatcha got?
This and that
- We, among others, have spilled a ton of ink on the UT football struggles of the past decade. Blame DD. Blame Butch. Blame Currie. There are no shortages of targets that deserve some finger pointing. Some of it is just plain ol' bad luck. Consider this: With news that offensive lineman Melvin McBride is retiring from football because of health issues, that means nine players and six O-linemen have hung up their helmet for various reasons. That's a kick straight to the shins for depth, especially at OL.
- Braves played. Braves won. Braves are alone in the first place. Giddy-up. (And yes, I lost $5 to Wells, who had the over-9. C'mon Mike Soroka.)
- One more NBA thing to watch. If Draymond Green gets a T, he could get suspended for Game 7. So there's that. And know this: If this one gets out of hand for the Raptors, I would risk a mortgage payment in-game that Draymond gets T-ed up and storms off the floor as he is taking his shirt off.
- We got about 45 golf entries. A vast majority of them have Brooks Koepka's name on them. Here's the list of tee times for today's first round. Yes, Tiger puts a peg in the ground at 5:09 Eastern.
- Wow, the travels and commitments of being a big-time college football coach. Here's our long-time buddy Wes Rucker on how UT assistant coach Tracy Rocker missed his son Kumar's historic no-hitter last weekend. Why? Because the bigger Rocker was out recruiting.
- Who steals a bobcat? Seriously? For shame. Did anyone else think it was actually, you know, like a mini-bulldozer when you saw the headline? I know I did.
- Twitter visor-tip to Charlie Rymer, the former Golf Channel ace, who posted this on social media. Yes, that's a place offering "Axe Throwing" and reminding people that it's BYOB. Yep, hard to imagine doing some axe thrown' without some cold Co-Colas, right?
- "My Home's in Alabama" is an all-timer gang. "I'm in the heart of Dixie, because Dixie's in the heart of me" is a classic line. Luke Bryan and the rest of those BroCounty gasbags ain't producing anything close to that friends.
Today's questions
It's Thursday. Remember the mailbag friends, and unless something comes up, the hate mail has been rather limited this week.
Let's play a little Throwout a Guess Thursday.
News is coming down that the NCAA is going to send notice of allegations to six major college basketball programs and, according to Dennis Dodd, two of them are big-time programs.
OK, here's my guess - we'll go Arizona and Kansas as the big-time programs with LSU, Auburn, Oklahoma State and USC as the other names on the list. Thoughts?
As for today, June 13, let's review.
Grease premiered 41 years ago today. Travolta has sneaky strong Rushmore friends.
On this day in 1970, "The Long and Winding Road" hits No. 1. It was The Beatles' final No. 1 song. Thanks a lot Yoko.
On this day in 1922, Charlie Osborne contracted a case of the hiccups. It lasted for the next 68 years. Charlie died 11 months after his hiccups stopped. Wow, 68 years of the hiccups.
The Olsen twins are 33 today. That makes you feel a little old, no?
As for a Rushmore, does Gloria at the Blues game crack the Rushmore of stadium-songs connection? (Sweet Caroline at Fenway is a no-doubter right? We can grant Spy that on this day right?)
Go, and remember the mailbag.