Random Thoughts on the Sports Weekend

Lets just say I hope there isn't a curse on the blog, as I watched the Rays fall to the White Sox 5-1 last night. On tap today my thoughts on the sports action due up this weekend.

1. NCAA Baseball Regionals
I know this may not be the most popular thing going this weekend, but I am quite exited to watch the #1 national seed Miami in action on Saturday. It will be my first trip down to Mark Light Stadium and I know a couple of the Hurricane starters. The NCAA didn't do the #1 team any favors as they stacked the Coral Gables regional with preseason top ten Missouri and Ole Miss along with the team that boasts the national ERA leader in Bethune Cookman's Hiram Burgos. Anyways, for those of you with ESPN U you get the privilege of keeping tabs on this and the Cal State Fullerton regional so enjoy some great college baseball this weekend.


2. NHL Finals, Game 4, Red Wings at Penguins, Saturday 8:00 PM, NBC
The first two games dominating blow out Detroit victories. I don't have anything against Detroit but there was no intrigue. Game 3 was tailor made for NBC, as the Penguins and Sidney Crosby (2 goals) fought to a 3-2 victory at home to get back in the series. If I had to guess, I think we will see more of this in game 4. Sidney can't do it by himself though. Hossa is starting to come alive, but they haven't gotten anything out of Malkin so far during the Cup. Ah it is great to actually have hockey back on a network I can find.

3. College Softball World Series-ESPN all weekend
Has softball always been this interesting? I guess it has been all my good friends over at UCF that have got me into it this year, but I have never really found it that interesting in the past. I have been hooked to ESPN coverage so far and by the end of the weekend the pairing for the World Series will be decided. Oklahoma City is one of those unique corners of the world this weekend where you can find the reasons you like sports in the first place. It's all about hard work, determination, teamwork, and the purity of the sport with these girls. Side note on Softball: Congratulations to Allison Kime, the UCF ace, for inking a deal with Rockford in the NPF. She starts her first game for the Thunder this weekend.

4. MMA
No this will not be another Kimbo Slice bashing routine. Kimbo Slice is pretty irrelevant to the sport of MMA right now. How can a guy be part of the feature fight on the first network broadcast of his sport be irrelevant? The reason is a secondary MMA organization, EliteXC, decided to buy their way on to CBS. What the mass public aren't realizing is that their is an organization called the UFC that is leaps and bounds over EliteXC. Unfortunately, it does more harm to this sport then good. Kimbo becomes the poster child and people's ideas of MMA skew more towards the line of John Mccain's famous "human cockfighting" reference to early MMA instead of seeing the great controlled sport that it has become. The rest of the card is truly sad as well and just looks to please the mass audience with setup stand-up brawls. Actually even though it is not a UFC event, the WEC's featherweight championship between Jens Pulver and Urijah Faber is the bout of the weekend. With Faber being the current titleholder in the WEC and Pulver being the one time lightweight champion of the UFC, this has the potential to be one of the biggest fights in the smaller weight classes of all-time. My MMA experts tell me the rest of the card has some quality bouts as well. Both events start at 9 on different days with EliteXC being on CBS this Saturday and the WEC being on Versus this Sunday. While I admit that even I will probably watch Kimbo's fight, it has to be watched from the right perspective. Watch it for entertainment but not to critique the sport.



An Extra Note: While the Scripps Spelling Bee isn't exactly a sporting event, I will be watching. The kids always make it interesting and with Erin Andrews on the "sidelines" this year, it should only enhance the broadcast.