Covering University of Colorado sports, mostly basketball, since 2010

Monday, April 26, 2010

Monday Grab Bag: A good weekend

A little late with the bag, but a lot of stuff to touch on...

The Sox always come from behind: I mentioned a few weeks ago that with the awful hitting, and awesome pitching, the Sox will be in a lot of close games this year. Thankfully, they won each of the 3 close ones they played over the weekend. After having been written off by this guy, the Sox get late homers in each game to win. Friday night, it was Andruw Jones (who hit his just as the internet radio feed cut out.... that sucked) hitting a blast in the 9th. Saturday, after a solo shot from Captain Paulie earlier in the inning, Alex Rios slammed a 2-run shot to complete the improbable 3-run 9th inning comeback. Capping it off yesterday, Captain Paulie was back to hit a solo shot in the 8th to give the Sox the lead they'd eventually head home with. 3 cardiac wins certainly makes everyone feel better about themselves.... except for this guy. Yeah they still suck, but let us fans feel good for one frickin' day.... yeesh.

(Andruw Jones is very happy that Alex Rios hit his blast on Saturday. That old man on the right is our "Utility Infielder,"Omar Visquel. From: SouthSide Sox)

Speaking of Captain Paulie: He's definitely hammering the un-holy heck outta the ball right now. Watching his two homers from Saturday and Sunday, I can't shake the feeling that he's getting an extra 15ish feet on his swings this year. Both of those swings would be warning tack (if not worse) outs last year. Now, they're massive confidence building bombs. Before you ask, the dude's not on HgH (While not fat, per se, the dude is definitely not caring around extra muscle). I can only figure that this is the last gasp his bat has before it peters completely out for the rest of his career. I'll take it while I can get it.

(Paulie's game-winning shot from Sunday. From: The Trib)

The Blackhawks also come from behind: That game should've been over. With less than 2 minutes left in the game, and control of the series on the line, the Hawks were not only down but Marian Hossa had committed a stupidly rash 5-minute major penalty to put the Hawks against the wall with a man down. It was such a foregone conclusion, in my mind, that the Hawks would lose that I turned the TV off and went back to listening to the Sox game. Then, out of the blue, fans started cheering at a random moment at Comiskey. The announcers surmised "The Hawks must have won, because the fans in the suites are going bonkers." Nope, they hadn't won, they had just improbably scored. Short handed, the Hawks got a loose puck and raced down the ice. The puck just happened to find Patty Kane in front of the net with 13.4 seconds left. Incredible. Feeling like a dope for leaving the Hawks in such dire straits, I didn't even change the channel during the overtime intermission for fear that the hockey gods would punish me for my wandering thoughts. In overtime, Hossa redeemed himself by screaming out of the penalty box, and straight to the open weak side of the net. After a shot/pass across ice, he gleefully tapped in the easy opportunity to send the UC into pandemonium. Frickin' awesome! The Hawks regain the series lead 3-2, and I learned yet another lesson in playoff hockey. As for Hossa's hit on Predator Dan Hamhuis: while stupid, the NHL deemed it legal.
(Winning is awesome. From: The Trib)

The Bulls also come.... no wait, they suck:
Well, at least the Del Negro era is almost over... couldn't we have at least gotten another lottery pick out of this mess? Also, this just in: LeBron James is good at basketball.


NFL Draft: Outside of the whole "Tebow" thing (giggle), the draft had some interesting surprises. Wow, Carolina got Claussen cheap. Even if he "busts," in previous years he would've gone first easy. Teams really are freaking out about the whole "character" thing. Just look at how far guys like Claussen and Dez Bryant fell... but if the whole league only values "character" and "intelligence," then why did Myron Rolle not get drafted? Because Oxford is scary, i guess... How can you question a guy's passion just because he wanted a once-in-a-lifetime chance to forward his education. That's bullshit.

Buffs draft news: There was none. Not a single Buff got even a flier 7th spent on them. Sure, some players like Pat DeVenny (Seattle), Ben Burney (Browns) and Riar Geer (Broncos) will get a UDFA shot at the NFL, but it's kind of sad to be the only Big XII team without a draft pick (Especially when the league got the first four picks of the draft). Neil Woelk has helpfully put together this list of shitty schools with draft picks to make us Buff fans feel bad. Thanks Neil! At least the Gary Barnett era is officially over, and we can get back to focusing on how terrible Dan Hawkins is.

Happy Monday!

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