Channel Surfing 4/19

So my first idea for a blog entry is called channel surfing. In these posts I’ll discuss the different things I watched/kept an eye on that particular day/night.  This will be when there are a lot of different things going on and I can’t simply focus on one thing.   These will be far from well-crafted articles and more like random thoughts at the end of the day.  You can expect actual articles as well as running diaries and game reviews in the future, depending on how things pan-out.

Alright enough chit-chat lets get down to the Nitty Gritty:

My “night” started fairly early because of the snow storm happening in Oshkosh kept me indoors.  (That’s right a snow storm in mid April)

4:30pm PTI: Nothing really to report here the usual from Wilbon and TK.

5:00pm Sports Center: Enjoyed the insider/outsider segment.  I didn’t watch the schedule reveal but that is what the Internet is for.  I am not one to sit here and break down the Packers’ schedule game by game but I will give a brief synopsis and thoughts

• As is customary for the reigning Super Bowl champ they open on a Thursday v. New Orleans.  I like this.  Great match-up, at home, extra time to rest and prepare for Week two
• Besides the Division foes, they play the NFC south, which is pretty tough and the AFC west, which is pretty easy.  Their 2 wild card games are V. St. Louis and @ New York Giants they balance each other out.
• Bye week is Week 8, break at the mid-way point is nice
• Open the season at home, close the regular season with 2 home games (1 on Christmas 1 on New Years), Play on Thanksgiving v Detroit.  Love all of that.
• 5 National games: opening night, 2 Sunday Nights, 1 Monday night and Thanksgiving.  I’ll take it but another Monday night game would have been nice.
• Overall a nice looking schedule but any schedule looks pretty good when you’re World Champs. 
• All of this is rendered null and void if the lockout is not resolved. (Expect an article on that some time soon)

6pm Start of Brewer Game:

           

I spent most of my next hours watching this.  Did end up tuning out near the end to watch Knicks/Celtics, more on that later.  Great win for the Crew.  Anytime you can take one from the reigning Cy Young champ and the ace on the league favorite it’s a good win.  But this one was real nice for a few more reasons. It came off another win in which the bullpen was used up and Randy Wolf was able to go 6 strong allowing most of the bullpen to rest.  I’m always a long-term guy but even more so in baseball. The rule of thumb to make the playoffs is taking 2 out every 3 games at home and going .500 on the road. With a win tomorrow the Crew will be .5 games off that pace, which is explainable by the Pirate’s rainout.  Also vastly improved defense and clutch hitting tonight.  All of this without the starting right fielder and best starting pitcher, things are looking up.  All that being said, a 9-0 game is a blowout so I switched to…

Approx. 7:30pm Knicks/Celtics:

Caught bits and pieces of the 3^rd and 4^th quarters of this one and all of the final 2 minutes.  Solid game.  It’s tough for me to get into a pro game late in the game though.  Ray Allen did his thing, Carmelo showed why he’s one of the best in the league and Boston showed why they are still dangerous.  They have so many offensive options coming down the stretch that score in different ways. KG inside or from 18 feet, Paul Pierce outside or going to the hoop and Ray Allen from range.  Knicks fans should not be discouraged by this game.  Both Billups and Stoudamire were out down the stretch and that is a problem.  I like Toney Douglass more than Billups at this point but even then a rotation is good. Melo had to do everything himself and that’s not going to win ball games.  The Knicks should get at least 1 in MSG.

8:30pm Mavericks v. Blazers

Full disclosure, I’ve been a Mavs fan since middle school all because of Dirk. I do also really like the Blazers because I like teams with a starting 5 with no holes.  OKC and Denver also fit this category.  I spent the first 3 quarters writing this post so I wasn’t paying that much attention but it seemed like every time I looked up the Mavs hit a 3 and then Portland got a lay-up.  I’ll do a mini-diary for this forth quarter, just recording anything that catches my interest.  Times will be marked in time left in the game.

10:06- Portland has a good frontcourt but I think their backcourt is way overrated. Particularly Matthews, Fernandez and Batum.

9:09 Apparently Jason Kidd is throwing up. Gross.

8:50 Dirk hits a sweet shot to put the Mavs up 80-76

8:24 Dallas on a mini-run after Peja hits a 3. They play Whoomp! There it is over the PA.

            Sweet!

7:17 JJ Barea is the Puerto Rican Earl Boykins

5:43 Commercial break- Gieco commercial mentions Stevens Point. Nice!

1:26 I was distracted by Words with Friends for a bit but Dallas pulls away 99-86

28.1 Foul on Portland, please just let the game end. Also found out the next 2 games in

            this series will be on TNT.  Liking that.

0:00 That’ll do it. Dallas wins 101-89. Dallas leads series 2-0. Lots of doubters coming

into this series, I was not among them. Not saying the Blazers can’t comeback but

Dallas did take care of business at home.

Well that was fun, at least for me.                         

11:55pm Time for bed.  Final thoughts from other things going on that I didn’t watch.

• Admirals lose 3-2 in overtime after leading 2-0 with 4:09 left in the game. Trail the series 2-1 still in Texas. Bummer.
• Blackhawks thump Vancouver. Just delaying the inevitable.
• Sharks and Kings tied at 5 as I go to bed.  Pavelski with a goal in that one.
• The Magic bounce back and beat Atlanta.  Somehow Dwight Howard has become the most underrated player in the NBA.

Streak for the Cash update:

Man U to win: Loss

TB Rays to win: Win

Mavs to win: Win

Current Streak: 2

Longest Streak: 8

Record for Month: 26-17 (.605)

TTFN