Fine Spring Weekend!

Back by popular demand (or really by the request of a small following), I thought I'd chime in on game one of the Detroit-Dallas series, the woes of the Tigers, and what to expect this weekend!

The NHL playoffs finally escaped their self-imposed hiatus last night with the Wings taking on the Stars in game one at the Joe. True to form, Marty Turco still hasn't managed to win a game as a pro in Joe Louis Arena where he actually had quite a good record (18-5, I believe) when he played for the University of Michigan. Somehow, he has become snakebitten and he didn't get any help at all from his teammates who took lazy penalties and never managed to get their legs moving. It sure looked like a round two hangover and a lot of tiredness from the four overtimes it took them to dispatch of the Sharks on Sunday. Entering the third with a 4-1 lead, Detroit just shut it down, providing for a boring finish where neither team looked like they cared much about game 1 anymore. They had both shifted thoughts to game two where hopefully Detroit can maintain their streak of 2-0 series leads.

Meanwhile, sitting in the front row last night were Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi who are in town to take on the Tigers this weekend. Yeah, those Tigers ... the ones who clawed back from their 2-10 start to almost reach .500 at 14-15, only to tank two straight series against the Twins and Red Sox. They're sitting at 15-21 now and probably going to get their hats handed to them again this weekend in a three game set with the Yanks. They've given up almost seven runs a game for the past seven days and only managed to win when they threw ten on the board against the Sox Wednesday night. Everyone said this was going to be a great offensive team before the year started ... too bad no one knew just how offensive the pitching staff was going to be.

Finally, this weekend I'm looking forward to watching game two against Dallas as discussed above, but I'm also anxious to watch some of the carnage on the 17th hole at Sawgrass in the Players Championship. You've got to love a hole where the pros are hitting an 8- or a 9-iron into a relatively large green but can't shake the giant lake from their heads. Water balls galore make it fun to watch, especially if things are tight down the stretch. Sergio opened up with a 66 and the lead yesterday, but fear not rest of the field ... his putter should fall apart again any moment. Enjoy the weekend!