Sportsy Monday

What a sport-erific weekend it was: The Mavs continue to impress, Dirk most of all; the Stars provide as much counter-point as one could ever want; the annual crapshoot known as the NFL Draft provided hours (and hours and hours) of TV and radio fun, and the Rangers finish April in first place. It was the kind of weekend that lends itself to more than a bit of scattershooting:

Mavs withstand Memphis' best shot

The little Mavericks went up three games to none against Memphis on Saturday afternoon with an 94-89 OT win. You got the feeling that the Grizzlies (still giggling over that monniker) sort of shot their wad (yech) in this one, leading for most of the game. Dirk put an emphatic "I don't think so, buddy" to that with a cold-blooded 3-pointer with 15 seconds left, forcing overtime. The Mavs cleaned Memphis' clock in the OT period, leaving no doubt about who is the better team.

I have doubted Dirk's grit in this space before, and my foot is still hovering over the brake pedal - it's Memphis, not Phoenix or SA - but let's enjoy the journey here. You have to beat Memphis to get to the Spurs (or the Kings??), and Dirk has dominated this series. He's done everything you could ask from a superstar so far. Time will tell if he can do it against stiffer competition, but let's remember that Houston was no great shakes last year, and they made him look bad.

We have to give props to one Erick Dampier as well. Big Damp (yech again) is doing exactly what he was brought here to do: pulling down tough rebounds, keeping balls alive, and hustling his rather prodigious rear off. Again, it's Memphis, but, again, you have to go through Memphis to get further into this thing.

Tonight is Game 4, and Memphis has their backs to the wall. Anything is possible, and it's must-see TV tonight. All I'll say now is this: Three games in and you have to really look for things to complain about.

Your Dallas Stars - oy vey

As if to emphasize how well the Mavs are doing, we have Your Dallas Stars and their shocking flameout in 5 games. So much went wrong in this series that I'm struggling to boil it down.

You have to start between the ears of the guy between the pipes, don't you? Turco is now 0-3 in first round playoff series. While he didn't ever look really terrible, he never looked very good. There weren't any truly soft goals, but he didn't come up with the Big Save either. Jose Theodore, a guy who carries some party-sized question marks in his bag, was clearly the better goal tender. And this after Turco had a great regular season and came into the playoffs healthy and successful.

Dave Tippett clearly hit the panic button in Game 2, making wholesale changes in lines which had produced 112 points in the regular season. To me, the first period of Game 2, which saw the Stars go down 3-0, a deficit that even the most furious comeback I've ever seen could not overcome, is where the Stars lost the series.

Big names up and down the roster came up short, with Bill Guerin heading the list. Oh sure, he finally showed up in Games 4 and 5, but it was too little too late. I think we've probably seen the last of Guerin in a Stars uniform, which saddens me. His arrival a few years ago was the biggest thing to happen since Brett Hull signed. Guerin, unfortunately, ends his Stars career as a disappointment.

The options this off-season are not wonderful. We're married to Turco for several years to come. Tippett probably deserves to go just for his panic-attack in Game 2. Guerin is almost certainly gone, as is Jason Arnott (who has taken some real heat in the local and national press - were they watching the same games I was?). Changes clearly need to be made down on Warren Parkway.

NFL Draft - wait and see

This weekend's NFL Draft held many surprises, the biggest of which was the order in which Vince Young and Matt Leinart were taken.

If I haven't made it clear before now, let me state for the record that I am a HUGE Vince Young fan. I am wearing my National Championship T shirt as I write this, and my post on the Rose Bowl is one that I am very proud of. But, I have significant doubts about Vince's ability to excel at the next level. Those doubts are compounded by reports that the Titans may dump Steve McNair sooner rather than later. Vince is a TREMENDOUS athlete, but I don't know...

Leinart, on the other hand, was an absolute GIFT at #10 for Arizona. The Cardinals have a history of screwing up everything they touch, but Edgerrin James and Matt Leinart in the same off season, added to the two outstanding receivers they already have, should do wonders for season ticket sales in the new palace in Glendale.

There's really only two things I want to say about this past weekend:

1. I think Kevin Blackistone went a little overboard in his column on Sunday (which I can't find online) regarding the "rift" between Jerry and Parcells, but I do wonder where the heck the Pear-Shaped Football Genius was all weekend.

2. KTCK's draft coverage is the best on the planet. Let's face it, the draft is about as exciting as the Greater Greensboro Open. But Hitzges, Sturm, Rhyner, Spagnola, and co. made it as entertaining as humanly possible. My kids were into it while we were in the car on Saturday, and that says something.

Rangers do more than survive April

After everything that went wrong during the first month of the season (and, boy, just about everything did go wrong at one time or another), the Rangers wake up on May 1 in first place in the AL West.

This is partially due to the wheels reattaching themselves here in the past two weeks. It's also partially due to the fact that everyone in the AL West is off to a crap start.

Regardless, things are better than we ever could have imagined after that first, dreadful week of the season. The new closer seems (after one appearance) to be a lot better than the old closer, the starting pitching is a strength (huh?), and the offense has come around.

One assumes the Angels and As are not going to continue as they've started and they will get their respective acts together. However, Ranger fans can point to the scoreboard, for the moment, with some pride.