Action Packed Weekend (including Thursday)

The first 8 over 1 upset in a seven game series the NBA has ever seen, the greatest athletic event that isn't headlined by human beings, and the fight to "save boxing"...this weekend was stuffed to the brim with great sporting events.

The Golden State Warriors have single handedly rejuvenated playoff basketball to the point where even the most casual fan was forced to take notice. They play a style of basketball that can only be described as "five guys emulating decapitated chickens", but they have the athleticism and talent to make what I just said a compliment. They run up and down the court, fill their lanes, and shoot rapid fire three pointers, making more than they miss. What allowed them to win the series was their ability to grab necessary offensive rebounds and get multiple second chances. I look at Matt Barnes as the glue guy on this squad; he seemed to play flawless basketball, especially in game 4. Baron Davis was hands down the league wide best player in the first round, but Stephen Jackson was Golden State's unsung hero. He never let the "soon to be MVP" Dirk Nowitzki get in any sort of rhythm and acted as a productive pest for the first six games.

Josh Howard's a dirty player, Dirk is the most overrated front running MVP candidate of my lifetime, and Mark Cuban (although entertaining) has enough bad karma against him that as long as he's the majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, they will never win a title. I could not imagine what would happen if Cuban bought the Chicago Cubs (which was rumored to be a possibility earlier this year). Wrigley Field would implode like a dwarf star and a black hole would probably form in its place.

In other words, I'm giddy like a school girl now that Dallas has been eliminated.



I know about as much about horse racing as my mom does about the west coast rap scene, but every year I make it a point not to miss the Kentucky Derby. I don't know what it is but I love the whole thing. It's debatable as to what is the most exciting two minutes in all of sports, but this has to be up there.

Maybe, and I'm just going on a hunch here, but juuuust maybe it has to do with the gambling related thrill. 4 buddies and I decided to make the race a little more interesting with a "two- dollar-a-head" pot on the floor (there were 8 quarters, Andrew Jackson, and three wet, crumpled up dollar bills...needless to say the stakes were huge). Since there was absolutely no chance one of our horses would actually win, we had the first to finish taking the pot. I chose "Nobiz like Showbiz" for the sole reason that I read an article in last week's Sports Illustrated all about him; figured I had a leg up on the competition. I don't really want to talk about where he placed, but the important thing is that we all had a good time.

The race was great, but just potato skins and mozzarella sticks in comparison to the Lobster Risotto that was Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
With months and months of heavy anticipation, its own reality show on HBO, and a steep price tag ($54.95), I had myself wondering if in fact this showdown could possibly live up to all the hype. What ended up being witnessed by millions was a careful Floyd Mayweather not going out and winning the fight, but instead making sure he wouldn't lose. Mayweather doesn't spar like the greats. He has unbelievable quickness; his hands move so quickly that I was regretting not shelling out the extra $10 to watch it in HD for fear that I wouldn't be able to see whether or not his jabs were actually connecting (they were), but he's not able to knock his opponents out with the ferociousness and consistency that all the greats have had (24 in 38 fights). I'm not even touching on his personality. I know most of it’s an act, but how can anybody like this guy? He refuses to respect his opponent and is a big reason why boxing is in such a low place right now. When the best pound for pound fighter in the world is a light weight and can't be liked or respected by the casual fan there's a huge problem. Putting athletic skill aside and just focusing on the type of person he is, besides A.J. Pierzynski and Sergio Garcia, Mayweather has got to be my least favorite professional athlete.

I'm not going to say this was the last big fight on the horizon because Hopkins vs. Wright is happening this summer, but it's definitely in nearly extinct company. In order to attract the casual fan, boxing must reinstate the heavy-weight division. Don King is currently doing his best to get a unified champion of the world, but the odds aren't in the favor of an American winning and until a popular, hard-hitting, citizen of the United States is the undisputed champion of the world, boxing will remain in the embarrassing state it currently resides in.