Weekend Wrap

Did anyone else watch the NHL Draft? If so, you can safely call yourself a geek. (If you've seen, in whole or part, the NFL, NBA and NHL Drafts this year, you can rightly be classified as nuts or a blogger or both.) The draft itself wasn't terribly exciting, however I was struck with the difference in perception between the three sports who care to televise their entry draft.

The boys over at the NFL are fighting to keep college underclassmen out of their draft activities. The NBA honchos long ago gave up that fight, but now are drafting high school players with tons of remorse (mostly for the potential of lost investment income). The NHL, conversely, drafts just about everyone at any age. Well, that's an gross overstatement, but the fifth pick overall, Blake Wheeler, is a high school junior.

In stark contrast to Dick Vitale's laments during the NBA draft, the TSN guys covering the NHL entry draft were more surprised the kid went so early, not that he was so young. Wheeler was considered a late first round, early second round choice, before Wayne Gretzky's Phoenix Coyotes made him the fifth selection overall. The announcers didn't worry about Wheeler's future or the devastating effect his departure left on the college game, no, they wondered if Wheeler would skip his senior year of high school and head for the Canadian Junior system instead. (If the NBA starts to draft high school juniors, Dick Vitale will need even more medication than he is on now.) Different sport, different perspective.

Another interesting hockey note came in the form of Ottawa's move to ship Patrick Lalime out of Canada's capital. The Sens have always been considered a Stanley Cup contender except between the pipes. Lalime has caught most of the criticism over the Sens premature exits, so his trade alone isn't the story. What makes Lalime's sudden removal raise an eyebrow is that Dominik Hasek is rumored to be the Sens new goalie. I would think a press conference is forthcoming. The Dominator returns, Part II. Or is that Part III, now?

On to golf, where I am left to consider what exactly a Booz Allen is? I realize it's a company that bought naming rights to this past weekend's PGA Tour stop, but I had never, ever heard of it before. Now, their marketing half suceeded, as I now recognize the name, but I still think it sounds more like a stop on the Pro Bowlers Tour or NASCAR circuit than a PGA Tour event.

In the tour stop, Adam Scott outdistanced Charles Howell III. Scott and Howell are nearly clones. Tall, young, thin, owners of trendy clothes, picturesque swings and tons of talent. While the golf world awaits Tiger Woods' return (I didn't know he was gone), youngsters like these could be golf's second biggest continuing story within two years.

Then there is our national pastime, where the San Francisco Giants remain atop the National League West. They are doing it with smoke and mirrors. The smoke is commonly known as Barry Bonds and the mirror is Jason Schmidt. Bonds is, well, Bonds and Schmidt has peeled off ten straight victories and is probably the best pitcher in the league over the last two seasons. One great hitter, one great hurler and a cast of veterans picking up the pieces in between.

My local nine, the Detroit Tigers just spent the weekend sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks out of town. The Tigers, the worst team in American League history last year, have thirty-five wins thus far in 2004. They had forty-three all of last year. An even lousy July would yield enough wins to surpass last year's total. Thankfully.

Then there are the Texas Rangers. The Rangers were awful last year. Not Detroit awful, but still really bad. They were just as bad the year before. So, what do the Rangers do? They ship out Alex Rodriguez, the highest paid and arguably best player in the game, this off-season and lo' and behold Texas finds themselves in first place in the competitive American League West.

Texas can flat rake with Michael Young, Alfonso Soriano, Hank Blalock and company and are getting enough pitching to contend. Kenny Rogers has been amazing and should be an all-star. I can't decide which of the three teams is the best story this year, but it's nice to have a choice.

Overseas, Euro 2004 is down to the semi-finals. The final four are the Czech Republic, Greece, Holland and Portugal. My head thinks the Dutch will finally emerge as champions, but Portugal is the host and my heart likes them. So, we can expect either the Czechs (who are very, very good, as well) or the Greeks (think heavy underdog, like Villanova's hoops title) to claim victory. This tournament has been topsy-turvy since the opening match and I guess I should expect more of the same in the semis.

Finally, from the I-know-you-don't-care department, the Edmonton Eskimos lost their second straight CFL game to open the 2004 season. The defending Grey Cup champions are one of my favorite teams in sport and I hate to see them look so bad, so early. Especially, when losing to British Columbia and at home to boot. However, I am still thrilled about the title, so this year I may just have to enjoy my memories of the 2003 crown.