A Great Month of Sports

Lately we have been blessed with a plethora of excellent sporting events; The recently ended NBA Finals and NHL Finals were some of the finest series competitions in years....but let's not forget about golf, tennis AND the World Cup. Aside from the NFL season, this is arguably the best few weeks in sports.

I know, I know. In my last blog post I just trashed soccer however last week my sons and nephews explained the genius of futbol (soccer) and how the world cup works. After this indoctrination, I have a better understanding of the game but still reserve the right to disparage it due to the lack of scoring and screwball referees.

In the game against Slovenia, Team USA came out flatter than a day old open bottle of 7-Up. They managed to tie the match at the 80 minute mark and then kick in one more goal to go up 3-2 but wait......while 2 of our guys were mugged on the penalty kick, the ref from Mali waived off the goal without offering up an explanation. That's the sort of crap one would never see in an NFL game. Baseball yes (See: No-hitter/perfect game fiasco last month). Corrupt/incompetent refs are rampant in the sport so it has a ways to go before it climbs up out of the gutter.

There was no doubt that hockey and basketball finals were the best in years. Can you think of 2 more blue collar cities than Philadelphia vs. Chicago in hockey? Or two more storied franchises playing for the Larry O'Brien Trophy in the NBA? What a treat. I'm sure that the Flyer-Blackhawk series set a record for sausage and beer consumption. Pipefitters local #185 vs. Pipefitters local #203 while LA-Boston is, well, LA-Boston.

The end of these series set the table for the 2nd best golf tournament in the world to be played on the world's 3rd best golf course (behind Pine Valley and Augusta, respectively). The US Open is the finest test of golf on the planet. Deep rough requires accurate tee shots and precision iron play. The fastest greens this side of the Old Mississippi, the Old Girl, make pros often look like 30 handicappers. The course designers also have a few tricks up their sleeves for the weekends that make it great way to spend 4 days perched in front of the tube while sneaking in a round or two of golf on our own. Thank goodness for Tivo.

And when the golf ends later today, The Championships (Wimbledon) commence tomorrow. It just doesn't end. Two weeks of outstanding tennis will essentially begin with Father's Day festivities and then wind up with the countdown to Oceanside and the first time the family is all together since 2005. O-side this year will be a big deal.

And so the summer of 2010 will pass by in the blink of an eye even though it hasn't even officially begun yet.....where does the time go?