Blaine Train: The Express Part II

By Blaine Fentress
lancewilkerson.com Senior Writer

Hello there, with more soul than you can shake a stick at, it is I, the great and powerful Blaine Train. 
 
Last week, we dealt with weather.  This week, back on sports.  And, there is so much to choose to comment on.  So much so, the Train has started to pick up a little steam.  The animals on the tracks dead ahead better get their butts in gear because, the train has now turned into:
 

The Blaine Express, Part 2

Plenty of topics, very quick opinions, here we go:

Tiger Woods:  Just give it up already.  This year is a wash.  Yes, your play in the Masters was better than I thought it would be.  But, you have gone downhill so quickly.  Even your swing coach doesn't want any part of you.  The signs are just everywhere.  And, if you are playing with an injury, why keep going this season.  It won't get any easier for you.  The shadow that your scandals and the aftermath as put over the game is huge, too huge.  I know that T.V. ratings are important, but you can come back next season.  The ratings will still be good.  Just get your head right and get ready for next season.

Conference Realignment:  The rumors are just rampant.  Mizzou to Big Ten?  West Virginia to SEC?  Nebraska? Notre Dame? Rutgers?  You know what, it doesn't matter what you think, as long as the conferences go after what will get them more cash, they don't care about you.  Nope, not al all.  Your opinion doesn't matter to these conferences.  They want money....MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY.  When Penn State went to the Big Ten and made the conference eleven teams, things might have been brought up and then, we stop caring.  When Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College left the Big East to the ACC...yeah, some of us might have brough up a stink or two but, we stop caring.  When the Big East went to 82 teams and had a three month long basketball tournament, we thought there were too many teams in the conference but...we stop caring.  They are going to jack things up as long as they can.  Why else are there talks about a 68 tournament field this year?  They want money....MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY.

NHL Playoffs over NBA Playoffs:  I know that there are still more people who care about the NBA over NHL.  Part of that is because basketball still remains more popular in this country than hockey.  NHL really doesn't have a good broadcast deal right now.  Versus does show the games but, it isn't carried on all cable providers and up until recently, Direct TV didn't carry it as well.  While the NBA has TNT, ESPN, and ABC...the only other thing hockey has is NBC.  Still, with that being said, so far this season...I WILL TAKE NHL PLAYOFFS OVER NBA PLAYOFFS.  Folks, look at the story of the Montreal Canadiens.  They go into the playoffs without much hope, they had to open up against the Washington Capitals.  But, they took it to them.  Next up was the Pittsburgh Penguins.  They have Sydney Crosby and a host of other talent plus, their arena will be torn down after this season, they are a team of destiny.  But, Montreal just went 7 games and closed down Mellon Arena.  Now, they are on their way to the Eastern Conference finals.  While the NBA had some ---yawn---- series sweeps, the NHL had lower seeds beating the higher seeds.  Yes, I do like superstars and the NBA has more of them but, I will take exciting games over stars any day of the week.

Steroids...again:  Brian Cushing had a dominate rookie season with the Houston Texans.  He had 87 tackles, 5 sacks, and 4 interceptions.  He won the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.  AND...he tested positive for HCG, also known as the pregancy hormone, something that is considered a masking agent for Steroids or Performance Enhancing Drugs.  He has been suspended for four games at the start of the season.  I think it should be more.  Look, if professional sports wants to really...and I mean REALLY ... crack down on what happens with PED's, they need to up these suspensions.  Four games will be important to Cushing, but I would have said up to half a season.  That would have sent the message more cleary than ever before.  The NFL is the king of all professional sports, the last thing it needs right now are questions about steroids coming out again.

Preakness:  Go with Super Saver, Calvin Borel will not steer you wrong.

National News:  I am not going overly-critical on National and Cable News Networks...but their coverage again of Nashville was just down right sad.  It wasn't mintues or hours that it took before they realized it was as bad of a crisis as it was, it took them days.  Again, I work in the business, so I won't go all critical here but, they could have done more and got to the story quicker than what they did.

LeBron:  We will end here.  He is ... DONE AS A CAV.  Look, outside of James, there really isn't a good team here.  They lost to Boston because the Celtics defended the heck out of LeBron and he didn't have any support at all.  I think that there are greener pastures out there and I think he will have plenty of dollars thrown at him.  Meanwhile, Cleveland is about to lose their one superstar in the city and man, that team will be hitting the floor in a giant THUD.

That's it, hope you have a good weekend.  And, until next week, the Train rolls on...