NBA starts, Heat lose, and some World Series notes
Wilson's black beard
For many people like me, sports are a major topic every morning. Today, however, basketball and baseball are hot topics even for those not majoring in Advanced Sabermetrics. Why? The NBA started its regular season last night and the World Series starts tonight.
The major talk of the NBA offseason was LeBron James and his move to the Miami Heat to join up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Many people were ready to hand the title to the Heat immediately and suggested that the regular season record of 72 wins (by the Chicago Bulls) would be broken. Instead, Wade has battled some nagging preseason injuries and the Heat opened the season with a bad loss to the Celtics last night, 88-80. Boston was far and away the better team and has more depth, but expect Miami to go on a long winning streak or two along the way. Orlando will also compete in the East.
In the West, the Lakers are still the team to beat, but remember the name Kevin Durant. Durant is a superstar in the making with the Oklahoma City Thunder1 and figures to compete for the MVP this year.
In baseball, the World Series begins tonight between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants. The most important thing to know is that neither team has won a World Series in their current cities – the Giants won when they called New York their home in the ’50s. Some other facts and notes:
- Cliff Lee is Texas’ star pitcher who was with the Phillies in the World Series last year, was traded to the Mariners and then again to Texas just a couple months ago.
- Josh Hamilton is the MVP-caliber hitter on Texas who battled years of drug addiction and seems to have cleaned himself up.
- Ron Washington, the Rangers manager, admitted to doing cocaine last year after testing positive in a drug test.
- Nolan Ryan, Hall of Famer and former Texas pitcher, acquired partial ownership of the team in August after a bankruptcy auction.
- Bengie Molina was traded from San Francisco to Texas during the season, so he will probably get a ring regardless of who wins!2
- In San Francisco, Tim Lincecum is the ace pitcher with a wild delivery and long hair. He’s only 26 and already has two Cy Young Awards (best pitcher).
- Brian Wilson and several other relief pitchers for the Giants have grown jet black beards and the fans’ mantra is “fear the beard.”
- Cody Ross was picked up by the Giants late in the season and made a name for himself by hitting four home runs already this postseason.
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Read on:
TheCommishOnline – World Series Preview
WSJ.com – Nolan Ryan Group Wins Texas Rangers
(image taken from NYTimes.com)
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