from the why i enjoy sports department... for me today began with an early morning car crash. i was jolted from a standstill on the 405 this morning by a mercedes ramming into me from behind without even braking. I'm fine despite some stiffness in my neck but the disruption and subsequent shock caused me to turn around and come home for the day so i could get comfortable and start the process of dealing with insurance companies and possibly doctors.
the opening day of the tournament is a solid vacation day choice so to wind up at home, (literally,) by accident on this day, was ironically pleasant. i kept the volume low and glanced enough to keep up with games as i gave statements over the phone and accomplished some of my normal work.
by the time the evening session rolled around i focused in on the usc-k state game. the trojans responded especially poorly to k state's pressure around the perimeter and their point guard hackett seemed defeated by it. it was disappointing to see sc lose but still exhilerating to see all of the outcomes unfolding as they do: four games staggered by a few minutes at four sites around the country four times per day, (for these first two days of the tourney.) it is truly a spectacle of madness. i missed the caesar's palace sportsbook of years gone by when every missed free throw draws a collective groan and every slam dunk a cacophonous roar.
as usc lost, cbs let me see the end of the duke-belmont game, which in spite of the turnout is what the tournament is really all about. i flipped into the upper reaches of my cable system and found sam cassell was on tv only in a celtics uniform. i had no interest in that one and never returned to it.
when ucla finally took the court, my sports evening was in full bloom. besides the number one seeded bruins opening game, the lakers were in utah, the kings were in phoenix to play gretzky's coyotes and despite the void of charisma in the men's tennis game, nadal was in the desert to play james blake. that's two, nine, 30 and 31 on my cable system and i worked it like a champ. the slightest hint of a carl's jr commercial got my thumb busy and tonight, the advertisers lost.
ucla took a big lead early but the game was still entertaining. the kings and coyotes scored 10 goals in regulation and i must have missed eight of them in real time. the lakers jumped on the jazz right out of the gate and for a change, maintained a comfortable lead throughout.
blake outplayed nadal but lost the first set. he outplayed him again in the second set and won the crucial points to take it 6-3. they were on serve at 4-3 in the third when i had to grin to myself...who would have thought i would spend more time watching the tennis than any of the other games? it was refreshing to see a tennis match that commanded my attention, which had much to do with the blake being the only american player i deem interesting enough to watch. blake took nadal's serves early and put his opponent off balance by drilling returns at his feet all night. nadal for his part showed his class by winning most of the pivotal points on which the match turned. he lost two crucial points in a row in the second set which blake gained confidence from but when the critical points came around again in the third set, (yes, in the infamous eighth game,) blake wilted and nadal came to life. in a matter of five minutes, the 2+ hour match ended with a whimper. still, i won because i was glued to the tv set for tennis.
the kings-coyotes game went to overtime and eventually a shootout. neither team will play in the post-season but it's still a great game and the four-on-four hockey for the ot was exciting and the shootout took an extra round for anyone to beat a goaltender and lo and behold, it was the king's patrick o'sullivan with the game-winner. (4 for 4 in shootouts on the season.)
back to channel nine for the lakers where the jazz pulled to within nine but the lakers closed it out. kobe was super down the stretch except for one ill-advised three. at game's end kobe made an over-the-shoulder-while-spinning-in-the-air 40-foot pass to odom for a dunk and turned to jazz fans while tugging on his jersey to emphasize his number 24 and make a case for his mvp campaign. the clinton campaign has nothing on kobe and while some laker fans in the arena could be heard chanting "m-v-p," another threw a water bottle from on high to the surface of the court and others boohed a malicious, malevolent boo. i wish kobe was a more respectful and classy kind of superstar. i wish he was all the young kevin love seems poised to be. but he is not and i have been disappointed enough by this simple fact. i am ecstatic the lakers are in first place. gasol and ariza are readying to return and the playoofs loom.
what a day. (what a night!) oh, and look at that? while a dull baylor squad that had no business in the tournament got bounced today without fanfare, a flip to espn finds the snubbed sun devils of arizona state beating the southern illinois salukis in the nit by 15 with 30 seconds left.
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