CUP!

They Did It!!! The Chicago Blackhawks have won the 2010 Stanley Cup! In what can only be described as arguably the biggest turnaround  in the history of professional sports, the Blackhawks have come full circle since the passing of their late owner Bill Wirtz in 2007. In a contest where the score is (relatively) misleading, Patrick Kane scored the winning goal in overtime to give the Hawks the 4-3 win! The goal which was scored not only  in electrifying fashion, but also by the thinnest of margins, to the point where for a few blissful seconds Kane was the only one in the arena that knew it went in. Overall though, the game summarized what the Blackhawks have been about all season : timely scoring chances mixed in with superb defense, efficient penalty killing, and fabulous goal tending. Just a perfect end to a truly remarkable and historic season.

Yes we all know that the Hawks have been an afterthought in Chicago for many decades. Yes we all know that Dollar Bill Wirtz took every chance he could over the last 14 years of his life to alienate any fans of his franchise that he had left. It wasn't that long ago, that the Chicago Wolves of the AHL were out-drawing Blackhawks games in attendance. None of that matters now, as the Blackhawks are now not only the toast of Chicago, but the rest of the NHL. The only worries both long time fans plus newborn Hawk fans have to concern themselves with now is how many players return for next year, and how many more Stanley Cups will the Hawks win this decade?

That's another matter for another time. As of right now, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the Hawks for allowing fans like myself to finally be able to laugh about the following names : Mike Smith, Theo Fleury, Darryl Sutter, Craig Harstburg, Alpo Suhonen, Bernie Nicholls, Bob Probert, Alex Zhamnov, Jocelyn Thibault, Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, Kyle Calder, Mark Bell, Michael Nylander, Lyle Odeline, Steve Poapst, Eric Daze, and any of the other stiffs over the years that have the blueprint of mediocrity attached to them which has plagued this franchise for several years of my hockey existence.

So CHEERS to the Blackhawks for winning arguably the toughest championship to win in teams sports, for becoming the feel good story of Chicago, and for paving the way for a possible dynasty that will run roughshod throughout the rest of the NHL for years to come!

GO HAWKS!!!!!!

Well That's One Way To Start...

In case you didn't see the Major League Debut of Stephen Strasburg 7 inning, 94 pitch, 14 strikeout and equally impressive ZERO Walk performance, here's a highlight reel of it. I must admit that after having my doubts when he was drafted initially, he looked really impressive tonight. I had been told that his curve-ball was the best anyone had seen since Dwight Gooden. After watching it tonight against the Pirates, it might be better than Doctor K's. I won't even mention how lightning quick that fastball looked, how well he located it, and how silly the Pirates looked at the plate.

I couldn't help but be reminded of Kerry Wood's 5th career start in 1998 when he struck out 20 Houston Astros and came within an eyelash of a no-hitter. One major difference between that start and Strasburg was I feel much better about Strasburg's mechanics than I did Wood (then again I liked Mark Prior's mechanics too, so take it with a grain of salt). Another interesting correlation is that both Wood and Strasburg had the same manager in Jim Riggleman. You recall that earlier this season Riggleman apologized for leaving Wood in games too long and for letting Wood's pitch-count reach the 120's on several occasions. Well apparently Riggleman wasn't paying lip service to his apology because he didn't even let Strasburg throw 100 pitches tonight, even though he certainly had to be tempted to let him take the mound in the 8th inning.

Anyway, I know it was against the Pirates - who don't really know how to play against anybody not named the Chicago Cubs, but still this was a debut that belongs as one of the best of all time. There are only two other pitchers that struck out more hitters than Strasburg in their debut, and they are J.R. Richard in 1971 and Karl Spooner in 1954. It bears pointing out though, that BOTH Richard and Spooner needed 9 innings to get to 15 strikeouts. So considering they got 6 more outs, it really adds to how remarkable Strasburg was tonight.

Hopefully it's the start of good things to come for both him, and for the ever increasing attendance figures of National fans.

Money Talks (B.S. Runs The Marathon)

Big shout out to my guy and fellow UD Flyer Rossi for supplying this info to me last week. I've been meaning to get to it, but got a little sidetracked. In case you were ever wondering what profit vs overhead your favorite schools basketball program pulled in this year, the good folks at CNNMoney.com have the answer for you here. Some interesting numbers that stick out:

1. Last season's National Championship participants didn't make any money. Butler University broke even, while the Dookies took a $2,000,000 dollar loss.

2. The biggest margin loss belongs to Karl Malone's Alma Mater Louisiana Tech at 307%.

3. The biggest Profit Margin belongs to Ohio State at 71%, followed closely by the University of Illinois at 67%. Out of the top ten schools in Profit Margin, four schools are in the Big Ten Conference.

4. The most expensive program out there in terms of actual dollar also belongs to the Dookies, but what's really interesting is the 2nd most expensive program running...MARQUETTE! Can't say I would have guessed that, but here we are.

5. The program that brought in the most raw dollars belongs to Louisville and their Wandering Wang of a coach Rick Pitino. They managed to bring in $25.5 million this year.

In terms of my beloved UD Flyers, the numbers are pretty intriguing. There's only 7 other programs with a higher profit margin. Of those 7 schools, Dayton's not even a tenth of their size enrollment wise. They're knocking on the door of bringing in 8 figures in terms of revenue, which begs the question...Is Dayton spending enough money to be taken seriously, or does more need to be spent in terms of recruiting?

One thing I do know for sure, every school hates when numbers like these are published for three reasons. One, if they're hemorrhaging money like say Northern Illinois University, it's embarrassing to the alumni and students. Two, if they are showing that they're making a substantial profit but there's no Elite Eight or Final Four appearances, the alumni and students begin to wonder if they are being taken advantage of. The third reason schools hate when this information gets out, is because it gives people like me ammunition in the argument against keeping it illegal to pay these players. I've often said these players bring in a ton of money for their schools, and they should be paid accordingly. The concept of a "student-athlete" is one of the biggest myths out there in sports, and it's time we all stop kidding ourselves and just accept the fact that these players are merely employees of the school and nothing more. Last time I checked, employees should be paid for their work.

Anyway, I hope you find actual tangible dollars basketball programs bring in as interesting as I do.

LeBron Update Part III

So after firing Vinny Del Negro and telling everyone that they wanted to hire a Head Coach with previous head coaching experience, they hire Tom Thibodeau...who has NEVER been the head coach at either the Division One college level, or the NBA. Ummmmm....OK? That kind of doesn't seem consistent, but whatever. I can't help but wonder if Tom took a page out of the Vinny Del Negro interview book, and did nothing but talk about how important defense is in the NBA, to sell himself to Gar-Pax? At least with Thibodeau, there is a much bigger body of work to show that he actually means it when he says it.

The only thing that really matters though, is how this will affect LeBron James decision to join the Bulls. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports is reporting that this coaching hire will really help the Bulls land James. The connection being that, not only William Wesley telling people that LeBron really wants to play for the Bulls, but also that Tom Thibodeau also signed with William Wesley's Creative Artists Agency (CAA). OK. On the surface it seems like a stretch that a middle man having the same agency as a coach would be enough to get the biggest superstar in the NBA to sign with your team. I will not discount however, the power and influence that CAA has, as well as Wesley.

We'll obviously see where this goes, but for the time being I'll raise the LeBron Clock to 40%, and hope like hell it becomes 100% less than a month from now...

Why I Never Get Excited For the MLB Draft

There seems to be a collective effort on the part of Major League Baseball to put some weight behind their marathon that is the MLB First Year Player Draft...all 50 rounds of it. This year's draft is particularly intriguing because of Bryce Harper. Harper has been called "Baseball's LeBron James" as recently as a year ago. He hits 500 foot home runs and receives all kinds of glowing praise about his play. Harper also has the reputation of being a Ryan Leaf-type of entitled jerk as well. So it looks like the Washington Nationals are going to have back to back Scott Boras represented number 1 picks that will be the cornerstones of their franchise for this decade, and will get more than their share of attention as well.

That's all well and good, but there's a reason I won't be particularly intrigued by this draft. The reason being that Kenny Williams is still making the White Sox draft picks. In case you don't remember how Williams has gone 0-for the 2000's (unless Gordon Beckham rebounds) with his first round selections, here's a trip down memory lane that I found on Chicago Now.

Gaunlet

Just a quick run-through of opinions from last night:

• We've all seen the clip of Armando Galarraga getting completely screwed out of his perfect game. In case you didn't, here it is. I believe one of two things should happen. Jim Joyce should just quit, or baseball should finally adjust to modern times and fully embrace instant replay to get the calls right. This is an obvious case where having replays in a non balls-and-strikes situation would have benefited the game, as history would have been made. To his credit, Joyce has handled it with a pretty substantial amount of regret and remorse. Still, that doesn't excuse one of the worst calls from an umpire in baseball history since Don Denkinger.
• Not worried about the Hawks loss tonight. It was too much to ask the Hawks to win 8 straight playoff games, let alone to sweep the Flyers. The Flyers played very well, and more importantly seemed to be playing with seven players out there, particularly in the passing lanes. Good for them. The Blackhawks will now have to adjust to what the Flyers did, and I'm confident that they will do precisely that on Friday night. And I hate to bring this up Philly fans...but Kate Smith is still dead.
• File this one under Weird. Ken Griffey (Call Me, Call Me) Jr has decided to retire....today? This just seems a little fishy to me, simply because he deserved better than this. Junior (when healthy) was one of the greatest baseball players to ever play, and that's not being hyperbolic. He was everything that the term "5 Tools" was invented to describe the first 11 years of his career. It seemed perfunctory that when he retired he was going to hold all of the records. Obviously that ended up not being the case, but he certainly did achieve some historic numbers with 630 career home runs. Of course he was never the same player after signing with the Reds in 2000. Absolutely injuries robbed him of his elite player status, and sure there was the report earlier this season that he was asleep in the clubhouse when the Mariners were expecting him to pinch hit. Who knows if it's true or not? Personally I believe it was since players sleeping in the clubhouse is way more common than people realize (looking at you Lee Smith, and Kyle Farnsworth). Regardless, I guess it sort of makes sense he retires this season considering another great player retired in the same year in Frank Thomas. Still, this really could have been handled a little better, especially for a player that's about close to a lock for the Hall Of Fame as a lock gets these days.

LeBron Update Part II

There's been a little more news regarding the possibility of LeBron joining the Bulls. The first piece of news to hit this morning was Michael Jordan's former agent David Faulk going out of his way to say that Chicago is the last place LeBron James should go because "he will always compete with Michael Jordan...He should not play in L.A.; he will always compete with Kobe Bryant. LeBron needs his own identity." Thankfully John Jackson did most of my homework in terms of summarizing my reaction. I'm beginning to wonder if David Faulk has ever watched a sporting event, because that opinion is the most ridiculously illogical thought one could possibly offer about LeBron. Should Larry Bird not have gone to the Celtics because of the 5 MVP's and 11 championships Bill Russell won as a Boston Celtic? Or better yet, should Kevin Garnett not have gone to the Celtics because of the 3 championships, and 3 MVP's Larry Bird won? I won't even get into how many great players the Lakers have had over the last 50 years...

The second piece of news involves James himself being interviewed by Larry King. When asked if the Cleveland Cavaliers have the inside track he said, "Absolutely...Because, you know, this city, these fans, I mean, have given me a lot in these seven years. And, you know, for me, it's comfortable. So I've got a lot of memories here. And so it does have an edge." It's anybody's guess if he really means that, or if he's just trying to give himself an "out" by putting the ownership of the Cavs retaining him directly on the Cavs Front Office.

Either way though, James has tipped his hand one way or another. I still personally believe that the Bulls have a good chance to get him, but since he said what he said, I'm going to lower the LeBron Clock to 35%. Again though, as Doctor Manhattan pointed out in the film Watchmen "I would only agree that a symbolic clock is as nourishing to the intellect as photograph of oxygen to a drowning man."