Dallas Sports Big Night

Last night Thursday April 10 was a big night for Dallas sports teams. The Stars played their first playoff game of 2008, the Mavericks played another must win game to ensure a playoff birth and the Rangers attempted to get above .500 for the first time in, second year manager, Ron Washington's tenure. And the Masters kicked off.

The Stars played a tough game and shutdown and shutout the Ducks to win game one of their play off series 4-0. All the scoring occurred on power plays which are a true strength of this team. The game was very physical and the Stars never backed down.

The Mavericks won in the final seconds with a three pointer by Dirk. The fact that he was wide open for the three amazed me. It just goes to show that very little defense is played in the NBA.

The Rangers played a double header to make up for the game that was canceled the previous day due to weather. Kevin Millwood started game one and looked great. His ERA is 1.29. Wow, that's definately what the Rangers need. Not only was the pitching good, but when the batters got on base they were moving. Ian Kinsler and Michael Young both stole bases which lead to a run in the first inning and 2 runs in the 7th. The top of the order really produced and that's what this team needs.

The Masters also started play and of course all eyes were on Tiger. It was great to watch and ESPN did a great job with their coverage in HD. The Masters in HD is awesome! The white sand bunkers are incredible and cut of the grass is evident, it's truely amazing how good HD is when it is done correctly. I was excited to hear David Feherty calling the play at 15 I really enjoy his comments, and he's a really funny guy. Tiger played an even par 18 and had no birdies, one eagle, and two bogeys. The leader after day one was Justin Rose at 4 under par. I expect the leaders to be around 6 or 7 under par after round 2. Don't count Tiger out and watch out for the current champion Zach Johnson. Even if you don't like to watch golf on TV you really need to find an HD TV and watch just a few minutes of the coverage on ESPN/CBS.

Have a great weekend and go sports!

Musings About Billy Packer

I'm a huge sports fan, but certain play-by-play or color commentators really annoy me and they point out either the obvious or are just inaccurate in their calling of the game. Some commentators are worse than others and one of the individuals that I can't stand to listen to is Billy Packer, I'm not the only one that can't handle Mr. Packer my brother-in-law's cryptonite is one Billy Packer. Here are some musings on Mr. Packer's Final Four effort, thanks to Mr. Wheeler.

• Two to three seconds after the ref blows the whistle for a blatant foul, he says "nice steal." Nantz replies "no steal," but rather than admit he blew it, he goes into Packer mode and tries to cover it up with another comment.
• Referring to a Derrick Rose pass on a fast break, "That was a perfect pass on the break. I didn't even realize he saw the trailing man filling the lane." The only problem is the "trailing" man was in front of Rose the entire way down the court. Rose would have had to be blind not to see him.
• Speaking of a previous final four game between UCLA and Memphis, he commented about the matchup between Bill Walton and Keith Lee, when Walton went 21 for 22 from the field. The game was in 1973, but Lee took Memphis to the final four in 1985 (later vacated due to NCAA rules violations).
• With several minutes remaining in the first half of the KU/NC game, he said "it's over." As we all know, NC came back to cut the lead to four. Late in the game, when questioned about his proclamation, he claimed (somewhat arrogantly) he never doubted the game was over. Really? He needs to go back and listen to the comments he made when NC was making their run.