Some interesting things going on around the world of sports this week. Here are some questions to ponder from the "lesser" sports. Are horse racing and boxing on their way to oblivion and is Tiger going to join them?
1.) Tiger Woods dropped to #8 in the world golf rankings. Care to guess when he was last ranked that low?
2.) Animal Kingdom won the Kentucky Derby after going off at 20-1. Which athlete that won this week went off at much bigger odds? Thoughts on television ratings this year versus twenty years ago?
3.) Manny Pacquiao beat Sugar Shane Mosley rather handily, as expected. Guess how many pay-per-view packages were sold? The all-time record was how many? And who is Pacquiao going to fight next? It ain't going to be Mayweather and there really isn't anyone else out there. Too bad for boxing fans, Pacquiao is a boxing genius.
4.) The Lakers got swept by Dallas, but the other three series have been really good. I like Chicago, Miami and Memphis in a bit of an upset. And by the way, I had Dallas. Really.
5.) The Caps have to fire Bruce Boudreau after getting rolled by the Lightning 4-0, but I don't expect the Flyers to do the same to Peter Laviolette. But, you would think 30+ years of failure would cause them to consider addressing the goaltending position for a change. I like the Lightning against the Bruins and expect the San Jose Sharks to come out of the west.
6.) Justin Verlander of the Tigers threw the second no-hitter of the season and the second of his career over the weekend against the Toronto Blue Jays. How many current major league pitchers have more than one no-hitter to their credit?
7.) The Pirates are .500 this late in the season for the first time since June 11, 2005 when they were 30-30. That year they nosedived to 65-97. We'll see what happens now. Baby steps.
Answers tomorrow along with a bunch of links. A lot of new Pirates posts and audio up on my Extra Innings blog.
