Starting Five

Original Six

1. United Center Ice

Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals was even better than Game One of the NBA Finals. Why?

— The game extended well into the third overtime, ending after 108 minutes and 12 seconds after Michal Rozsival’s shot glanced off two Chicago Blackhawk teammates, Dave Bolland and Andrew Shaw, and past Tuukka Rask for the game-winner (When is the last time Tony Parker did that? Right? Riiiight?)

–It was the fifth-longest game in Stanley Cup Finals history.

–It featured a dude named Tuukka Rask.

–It was the first meeting in the Stanley Cup Finals between these two Original Six franchises, which is the name given to the sextet (Detroit, Montreal, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs) who WERE the NHL between the years 1942 and 1967. Boston’s first season in the NHL was 1924 and Chicago’s was 1926 and Bill Hubbell probably already knew that.

–Because Chicago trailed by two goals midway through the third period but then managed to tie it up. You will recall that the Bruins trailed by three goals in Game 7 of Round 1 of these playoffs versus another Original Six squad, Toronto, and came back to tie it, force OT, and then win. The Bruins have now played three of the six OS franchises in these playoffs.

–Because look at the Blackhawk logo. I mean, c’mon.

2. You Have Got To Be KIDD-ing

Former Maverick/Sun/Net/Maverick/Knick Jason Kidd, who retired four minutes ago, is hired by the Brooklynettes. Kidd is No. 2 all-time n the NBA in assistusises. No. 1 all-time, John Stockton, is currently sipping Country Time lemonade on his front porch in Spokane. Is Kidd a Hall of Famer? Of course. Does the fact that Deron Williams gave him a thumbs-up validate his hiring? Somewhere Jerry Sloan, who happened to coach Mr. Stockton for his entire NBA career –and coached Williams as well, who instigated the terminus of Sloan’s tenure in Salt Lake City — is howling.

3. Driving Rain-ge (See What I Did There?)

 

So the officials at Merion Country Club sent out a few golfers this morning for the first round of the U.S. Open. Do they not have Doppler 4000 at the PGA Tour? A few brave souls made it all the way to the seventh hole and at last update were seen heading toward the Flemish Cap. Honestly, if you’ve seen the forecast for this weekend the U.S. Open may –may –finish up before the British Open. But don’t count on it.

This is why majors should always be played in domed golf courses. They probably have one in Dubai, no?

Now, we are not exactly Shipnuckian in our ardor for the game, but we will blast this tune as an anti-rain dance in hopes that play resumes at some point this weekend.

 

4. Matt Taibbi on Bradley Manning and Chumpbait

Another insightful and incisive piece of writing from America’s fiercest journalist. If you think Bradley Manning is a quarterback or starred in “Silver Linings Playbook”, go directly to No. 5.

5. Left Turns

Tragic, of course, that Jason Leffler died last night in a dirt-track accident in New Jersey. Leffler, 37, a fringe driver on the Sprint Cup circuit, leaves behind a five year-old son.

Curious, to me at least, that his nickname was “Left Turn.” Couldn’t every race car driver have that sobriquet, after all?

But here is where my mind –and yours –begins to wander onto larger topics. Why is it always left turns? In auto racing? In track and field? In baseball? I have long held that Major League Baseball should devote one day of the season –hell, I’ll take spring training — to having baserunners go clockwise instead of counterclockwise (Roger Clyne song alert!)

Back to our topic: Why in sports do we always go left? Here’s one theory. I have no idea if it’s true. Of course, The Sensationalist Times claims there’s an alternative league already ahead of me. I think they are Onion-ing this, though.

6. We Three Kings

Tonight -0r, in an hour or so — in Oslo Great Britain’s three brilliant contemporaneous middle-distance runners — Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram —will reunite on the Bislett Games track for the first time since 1980. All three men set the world record in the mile at some stage between 1979 and 1993, and none besides those three held it in what was the golden age of (European) middle-distance running.

On August 1, 1980, all three men ran in one race (Cram was just 16) and on that same evening both Coe (1000M) and Ovett (Dream Mile) set world records. Within a few weeks the trio headed to Moscow for the 1980 Olympics, where Coe earned the gold in the 1500, a.k.a. the Metric Mile and where this photograph, one of the best in the history of track and field, was snapped. And not with a phone.

Reserves

In a 48-hour span on SportsCenter, both Neil Everett and Andy North appeared wearing physician’s lab coats. North went the extra mile, draping a stethoscope around his neck. Is it “‘Let’s Play Doctor’ Awareness Month?”

Rajon Rondo defeats two sports journalists in Connect Four while playing both simultaneously. Unfortunately, for me this says more about sports journalists’ than it does Rondo.

 

Remote Patrol

NBA Finals, Game 4

ABC 9 p.m.

The most intriguing sub-plot: How to inveigle Gregg Popovich to provide an answer of any substance in length during the quarter timeout. Me, I’d head the other direction. We obviously realize that Pop is brilliant and testy. But he does appreciate a mental stimulant. And he appreciates terseness. So if I’m Doris Burke I just stand next to Pop and begin playing “Password.” You know that he’ll catch on. “Helterrrrr….” You know what? Forget it. I’d rather watch that episode of “Password” than Game 4.