Armchair Weekend in Review (March 30-April 1, 2007)

by user JB82

For the last weekend this year, the Final Four dominates our look back at the weekend that was.

• The first semifinal between Georgetown and Ohio State was to have been a battle between both teams' big men, Roy Hibbert and Greg Oden. While both players were non-factors, the Buckeyes put an end to the Hoyas' magic carpet ride, 67-60. 15 points from Mike Conley, Jr. helped the Buckeyes' first appearance in the national title game since 1962, which was the last time was OSU won the title with a bit player named Bob Knight on the roster.

• Florida dodged rumors about their head coach's possible departure to Kentucky and made quick work out of UCLA, 76-66. Thus, the Gators and the Buckeyes will meet for the national title. Sound familiar?

• Let's not knock the women here. Rutgers punched their ticket to the championship with a 59-35 win over LSU, while Tennessee bested North Carolina, 56-50, with the Lady Vols outscoring the Lady Heels 20-2 down the stretch.

MLB preseason ends and regular season begins

• MLB unofficially brought its preseason to an end with a game honoring the US civil rights movement. The defending champion St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Cleveland Indians, 6-1, in the first "Civil Rights Game" which was played at Auto Zone Park in Memphis, Tennessee, home of the Cards' AAA affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds. MLB hopes that this will beomce a yearly event, and I'm in agreeance with them. Now about Buck O'Neil getting into Cooperstown...

• Then for the Cards, it was the opening night of the 2007 regular season. In a rematch of last year's National League Championship Series, the New York Mets got revenge for last October by the same 6-1 score. This game featured a brilliant play by Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran in throwing out Cards shortstop David Eckstein at the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning.

NBA Highlights

• The game of the week came from neither Detroit of Phoenix, but from Boston. At the TD Banknorth Garden, Boston Celtics guard Delonte West made two free throws with 1.9 second left to give the C's a 98-96 win. This game was notable for the fact that both teams did not have any of their stars in the starting lineup (Lebron James and Paul Pierce, respectively.)

• The Phoenix Suns continued their dominance in the Western Confernece thanks to a 126-104 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Leandro Barbosa led the way with 29 points, while Steve Nash poured in 23, Amare Stoudamire 24, and Shawn Marion 20.

• Richard Hamilton's return gave the Detroit Pistons a shot in the arm, as well as a 92-88 win over the defending champion Miami Heat. "Rip" scored 19 points in his comeback after four games out with the flu and a concussion.

Across the Pond

• Liverpool got well-prepared for their Europe match with a 4-1 drubbing of Arsenal, while Manchester United got the same result against Blackburn. Despite Chelsea's 1-0 win away at Watford, the Red Devils continue their presence atop the Premier League table, leading the Lions by six points.

Fast Track

• Jimmie Johnson won his third race in four weeks at Martinsville, but don't look for Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon to invite him to Easter dinner next weekend. The defending Nextel Cup champ beat out the current points leader by six tenths of a second to win the Goody's Cool Orange 500.

• Meanwhile, in sunny St. Petersburg, Florida, Helio Castroneves took the checkered flag in the IRL IndyCar Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The Brazilian driver known as "Spiderman" scaled the catchfence for the second year in a row there and for the first time since last July at Michigan (we took that weekend off).

Odds and Sods

• This faithful reporter would have written that American swimmer Michael Phelps did the previously impossible by breaking Mark Spitz' record of 8 gold medals in international competition (including the Olympics). But, a disqualification on his team's part in the men's 4x100 meter relays put the kibosh on that. Still, Phelps' feat is amazing, tying Spitz in the record books. We may have lost our touch in baseball, basketball and even ice hockey, but Phelps is giving US sports fans a good deal of hope and amazement.

• Youth wants you to know that Morgan Pressler won the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Pressler, at the tender age of 18, got the win thanks to Suzann Peterson, who all but pulled a Jean van der Velde by falling behind to finish one stroke behind by blowing up on the last three holes.

• Condolences to Minnesota Twins fans and others associated with the organization on the passing of long-time radio voice Herb Carneal on Sunday at age 83.

Thus endeth year one of the AWIR...

I want to thank everyone for their support of this regular feature of AGM. When I started this a year ago next weekend, I simply gave my opinion on four stories from the weekend's headlines. If you've been around from the beginning, you'll have noticed that it has evolved to a virtual all-around look at the world of sports over three (sometimes four or even five during the US Thanksgiving weekend) days. To quote the Grateful Dead, "What a long, strange trip it's been."

With that said, a blessed Easter season to you all. Year 2 begins next weekend even though it will be a holiday. And let's all be good sports, too.