Powerful Preds provide passion
Wow. Nashville in the Stanley Cup Finals. Who would have thought it?
Not many considering the following:
- The Preds were 2-4-1 in their final seven regular-season games, and scored exactly one goal in five of those;
- They were 30-to-1 picks to win the Cup at the start of the postseason;
- They have toppled the Blackhawks, the Blues and the Ducks to get their, and those three teams were among the top-six in highest points since the start of February;
- They ended the regular season with 94 points, the fewest among all playoff qualifiers.
And here they are.
Four wins from winning the whole thing.
The energy at Bridgestone has been surreal and last night's quick start was capped by a couple of empty netters for a 6-3 win that secured the Western Conference finals. How efficient were the Preds? They scored six times on 18 shots. By comparison Pekka Rinne had 38 saves.
If it kind of feels like a dream, well, that's OK.
Sometimes magical runs in sports can feel that way. When the hope for a win becomes the expectation of a win.
And the Preds are there. Riding the magic and the energy and emotion to a place they've never been and few thought they'd ever reach.
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) celebrates a basket against the San Antonio Spurs during the second half in Game 4 of the NBA basketball Western Conference finals, Monday, May 22, 2017, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) How the West was won
The West was won when Kawhi Leonard rolled his ankle midway through the third quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
At that moment the Spurs were up 21 over the Warriors, and since he left that game - and you could make an argument that any team in the league that loses its best player would crumble - the Warriors have cruised.
If Leonard had not gotten hurt, would it have been a competitive series? Maybe, but we don't think the Spurs would have had enough in the tank to beat the Warriors four times. In fact, the West was won for all intents and purposes when Kevin Durant headed to Golden State.
That team has too much for anyone, unless LeBron does crazy LeBron things, and even then, we're not sure that will be enough. The Warriors are the first team to start a postseason 12-0 and are 27-1 in their last 28 games.
Maybe a healthy Leonard could have extended this series to six games. But that would have only delayed the outcome, not changed it in our view.
So now the Warriors wait.
They wait on the Cavs, and have nine days until the start of the Finals. And let's remember next season, when teams are talking about rest, that these playoffs are flushed with rest.
The Warriors have played 12 games in 37 days in these playoffs with more than a week left before Game 1 of the Finals.
New England Patriots' James White scores the winning touchdown during overtime of the NFL Super Bowl 51 football game against the Atlanta Falcons, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) NFL rules change
Adam Schefter reported that the NFL is changing its overtime rule.
For a lot of folks, that would be welcomed news and the start of an interesting discussion.
"Good," may be the first thought. "Each team should get the ball, especially in the Super Bowl." (Yeah, it's still a little raw for Falcons fans.) "Maybe they'll modify the college version," could be another thought.
Nope and nope.
Now the discussion about giving each team the ball is a fine one and taking the chance of a coin flip out of the outcome deserves discourse. We believe that if you don't want to lose, don't let the other team in the end zone, but we can at least see the merits of that discussion.
Again, that's not the change.
Schefter is reporting that the NFL is changing its overtime period from 15 minutes to 10.
Yay.
But wait, there's more silliness. The NFL is saying its for player safety.
Do what? Player safety? Seriously?
According to NFL Nation, there were 20 plays out of the more than 32,000 snaps in the NFL last year that happened between the 10:00 mark and the end of the overtime period.
So eliminating those 20 snaps - roughly 0.6 percent - is the NFL's next safety step?
Ah, the NFL's jazz hands at work again. Wonder what Gisele thinks about this?
This and that
* The Braves beat the Pirates 5-2 behind a gutty effort from Mike Foltynewicz, who needed 103 pitches in five innings but allowed only one earned run. Also of note, Ender Inciarte had five hits and Brandon Phillips hit is 200th career homer.
* Dick Vitale signed a contract extension with ESPN that runs through the 2019-20 season.
* Interesting story here from Mean Gene Henley, TFP all-around ace, on some familiar local names trying to play hoops for some big cash.
* More from Mean Gene here as UTC men's hoops coach Lamont Paris continued to add to a large recruiting class with Duane Moss.
* Tennessee added graduate transfer James Daniel, who led the nation in scoring at 27.1 points per game in the 2015-16 season as TFP UT ace David Cobb informs us.
* More college hoops. The Porter family is going to make Missouri and The Conz a heck of a lot better next year.
* More legal troubles for Matt Elam, the former Florida safety who has been arrested twice since Febraury.
Today's questions
Let's play a little True or False. Hey, it's Tuesday after all.
True or false, you enjoy listening to Dick Vitale call a college basketball game.
True of false, the overtime change is good.
True of false, a healthy Kawhi Leonard would have made the Western Conference finals a challenge for the Warriors.
(And remember the rules, leave your answer and provide a T or F for the group.)
Marvelous Marvin Hagler was born on this day in 1952. Drew Carey was born on those day in 1958. Jeopardy grand champ Ken Jennings was born on this day in 1974. Bonnie and Clyde were gunned down on this day in 1934. Sam Snead died on this day in 2002.
As for a Rushmore, on this day in 1984, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released. It was terrible, and considering the dream team of Harrison Ford, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were all prominently involved, it also was extremely disappointing.
In fact, considering how great the first one was, Indiana Jones 2 is right there with the most disappointing sequels of all time.
What else makes the rotten Rushmore of sequels? (And yes, Weekend at Bernie's II was awful, but you had to expect that. Think of great movies that awful sequels.)
Go.