Just for Sport

Every year, there is a short time (this year, it’s 12 days) which I refer to as the Sports Black Hole - it is the time between the Super Bowl and The Day when pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. During this Black Hole period, hockey and, to a lesser extent, basketball tide me over. Perhaps, then, this is the best time for me to write a bit about each. First, though, I want to mention the thing that is helping me cope with the Black Hole this year - umpiring.

On February 5th, the day after the Super Bowl, I stepped behind the plate for the first time and called balls and strikes. I also took my position in the field and performed umpiring duties there. It was a fairly uneventful game. I got to call a play at the plate. My strike zone was a little too small for the hometown fans, but it was consistent. We did blow a call or two. There was an infield fly that went uncalled, and a ball that should have been called foul was called fair. Nevertheless, the game went on. I am looking forward to a year (and hopefully more) of umpiring. I am proud to take this role in America’s Pasttime.

As for hockey, I have this to say: Sportswriters and television commentators need to grow up. Most of them speak as if they have been personally slighted by the NHL. Hockey? We don’t cover that inferior sport. These people are paid to cover sports, yet they only cover the ones they enjoy personally. Unfortunately, I have not been able to see as much hockey as I would like this year, although I did attend my first NHL game in October. It seems as if the NHL is committing suicide by allowing the majority of their games to be broadcast on a crappy network that’s apparently too good to be broadcast on satellite.

Having said that, this season has been an exciting one. For Stars fans, it has been frustrating. I was at the game where Steve Ott broke his leg, and that seemed to set off a steady stream of injuries that have crippled the Stars all season. Add an inconsistent Marty Turco to the equation, and it makes me more nervous as we approach the end of the season. I had all kinds of optimism going into last year’s playoffs, and it all got squelched in the first round. I don’t know if I can handle another collapse. Stay tuned…

As for basketball, I’d like to get everything I have to say about the regular season (both pro and college) in one post. So, here are my mid-February Final Four picks. As always, you never know who’s going to end up in what region, so I tried my best to come up with four teams that are fairly spread apart. I’ve got two fairly obvious picks and two underdogs, listed here in alphabetical order:

Florida
North Carolina
Notre Dame
Texas A&M

In the pros, I see only six legitimate contenders for a Finals berth: Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago. If you forced me to pick right now, I would say Dallas vs. Detroit, although anything can happen in the West. I’ll probably have more to say when the regular season is up, but not until then.

On Friday, watch for a preview of both the Rangers and the Cubs.