(Not so) rapid reactions

By Dr. Jekyll

Apologies for the hiatus, but when life gives you Stanley cup and NBA finals and a world cup, sometimes forget to share opinions. With that being said, here are some (not so) rapid reactions to the past few weeks in sports:

The Los Angeles Lakers remind me that every sport constantly needs a bad guy. I’m not an NBA fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I tune in to watch them lose… Andrew Bynum makes me feel like a failure at life for doing what he does at my age. Originally, I ate cake while watching the game for enjoyment, now it’s eating feelings…

Strasmus came early this year in DC, as the resurrection of the franchise is in the hands of ohmygodthiskidcanpitch… For how awful it is that Baltimore has more opponent fans in the stadium than O’s fans, it really makes me more likely to make the trip up to “Fenway South” a few times each year… MASN2 had coverage of the Strasburg start, MASN covered the O’s vs. Yankees. That’s like having the Super Bowl on ESPN2 and the “Puppy Bowl” on ESPN…

I really hate Chris Pronger, and Duncan Keith was robbed of a playoff MVP trophy in the only sport where the playoff MVP trophy is just about pointless…

I watch soccer games on mute, thank you vuvuzela. Also, ESPN should have Spanish announcers do the World Cup as well; they’re much more active…

Speaking of active, Rajon Rondo is the reason the Celtics will win this NBA finals, as opposed to ’08 where they won in spite of him…Kobe Bryant is still “the next Michael Jordan”. No knock on LeBron, but when Kobe takes over, it’s a beautiful thing to watch…

Everyone throwing no-hitters every week is getting annoying. Want to make an anniversary less special? Have one every other day. See what I mean…?

Soccer won’t make it big in the states for one reason: that all of our best athletes play football or basketball. And the moment they’re good enough to play at an international level for soccer, they’re shipped to England (not that I particularly care)…

The realignment of the conferences will be the death of age old rivalries, but will eventually lead to the playoff system over the BCS that we all desperately want…USC is doomed, Lane Kiffin will miss Oakland, if such a thing is possible…

Magic fight back, Lakers stumble back to L.A.

By Dan Rodgers

The Orlando Magic have made the Eastern Conference finals a bit more interesting now that they've won two in a row. The series heads back to Boston with the Celtics looking to close out the series up three games to two. The Magic seemed to have found their way offensively, after struggling in the first three games and only breaking 90 points just once. They have since scored 96 points in their game four win and exploded last night with 113 points in their game five win.

I don't really have much to say until the Magic win game six. However, I do want to bring to everyone's attention that we in the sports world have already experienced a historic 3-0 comeback involving a Boston team. As a New York fan, it would be sweet revenge to witness two Boston collapses in one year. All that would make it even better, is if the Red Sox participated in it as well in October.

Boston/Orlando Game 6: Tomorrow

Okay, now on to the Western Conference finals. The Lakers seemed to dominate to the first two games, winning by 21 points in the first and 12 points in the second. However, the Suns have recorded back-to-back nine point victories to tie the series at two games apiece. The series heads back to L.A. and the Lakers all of the sudden don't seem to have an answer for Amar'e Stoudemire. Pau Gasol seems to be way too soft to take care of Amar'e, and since Andrew Bynum is still not 100% it should be interesting to see what the Lakers try to do to neutralize Stoudemire.

L.A./Phoenix Game 5: Tonight

Rodgers That

Let the boys play

By Dan Rodgers

It that in today's world of sports the officials play a greater role in the outcome of games. Even in baseball, when all the official has to do is call balls and strikes, declare whether or not the runner is safe or out, and determine foul or fair balls, they still make questionable calls that can affect the outcome.

Andrew Bynum recently made comments, "It's hard to win when it's five against eight." This with the implications that the referees were playing for the other team because Bynum was called for traveling twice against Dallas and there was ten more team fouls called on L.A. then on the Mavs.

The MLB has made recent adjustments to help the umps. They have now instituted replay on any questionable home-runs to ensure the correct call. I don't see why they don't allow managers a certain number of challenges like in the NFL. If a manager feels a ball was foul and not fair they can challenge. Sounds like a good idea to me.

The thing that bothers me the most is in the NFL. The "method" for spotting the ball could be the most flawed system of all time in any sport: The refs put the ball in the spot closest to where they think the runner was down. Are you kidding me? They have to come up with something a little bit more effective than that. Maybe a microchip in the ball and then a sensor that lines the entire field? I don't know but something else...

The NHL is a bit more efficient...I mean nothing is perfect but that is decent...

Tennis also has a good system, the players can challenge and there is replay to look at any disputes...

Sports aren't perfect...but due to the high revenue streams and the ridiculous amount of money everyone is being paid, there should be a better method...

Rodgers That