Sports Agenda For Wednesday (5/3/12)
Big Story:
Well, Amar'e is done for the series, but will forever have a place in dumb sports history; the Marlins won *hang on Elizabeth…this is the big one*, Drew Rosenhaus is delusional, there's a shock, and FIU finds a new home.
Quote of the Day:
"Anti-intellectualism has long been the anti-Semitism of the businessman." – Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Miami Heat (off Wednesday, @New York Thursday)
All I have to say about Amar'e Stoudemire is, "what a moron."
Your team is still alive and you do damage requiring minor surgery on your hand.
Well, at least the Knicks have the typical built in excuse they're looking for.
First it was Isiah, which was true. Then it was the general manager, then it was Mike D'Antoni.
Eventually, someone is finally going to realize that Carmelo Anthony is NOT. THAT. GOOD.
He can score…if you give most guys in the NBA 25 shots, they'll probably put up 25 a night at least.
Everyone knows his defense is a turnstile and let's face it, he's a cancer in most lockerrooms concerned with one thing…himself.
Seriously, great players make the players around them better. (See James, LeBron)
Carmelo gets his points and the rest of the team is left standing there saying, yo Melo, you can't win this alone.
Melo in some ways reminds me of an immature Kobe Bryant.
Kobe is the same kind of player, except Kobe likes to play defense.
But he couldn't win a championship alone, he needed Shaq first and then Pau Gasol later.
For the Heat, they can't count out the Knicks just yet, but they can go a long way towards putting them on ice with a victory Thursday.
I honestly don't see New York giving Miami much of a fight, especially since D-Wade and LeBron play some of their best basketball in the Garden.
In the next round, the Heat will get the winner of the Orlando-Indiana series.
If it's Orlando, Eastern Conference finals here we come. Indiana would provide a little resistance.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, it will be one of the following teams: Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston.
Boston and Chicago are the most dangerous of those teams.
But the Knicks have passed the morgue and are on their way to the cemetery in this series.
A win Thursday will put them in the ground with Game 4 simply being there to shovel the dirt on them.
Marlins: (@ San Francisco Giants, 10:05 p.m., Fox Sports Florida)
Ricky Nolasco pitched lights out against the Giants early Wednesday morning and got help from Edward Mujica and Heath Bell to secure a 2-1 victory.
Wait, did I just write Heath Bell saved a game?!?!
WOW.
Bell pitched a perfect ninth inning to help power the Marlins pitching.
Since Nolasco is 4-0 at AT&T Park, my guess is the Giants may want to talk to him if he hits free agency next year.
A homer from Stanton along with a Hanley Ramirez RBI in the fourth inning after Jose Reyes stole second and made it to third on a wild pitch.
Still, the Marlins have some of the ugliest batting averages in baseball.
Gaby Sanchez is hitting .197, at least he's not Pujols those.
Hanley is hitting .209, Jose is hitting .224, I mean these are some really ugly numbers that would typically get some guys sent down to AAA.
Guillen is going to get these guys right somehow or another.
But back to Nolasco, he's been the most consistent Marlins starter this season.
He's now 3-0 with a 2.76 ERA. Not bad after one month, not too bad at all.
Drew Rosenhaus=Delusional:
If you don't know who Drew Rosnehaus is, let me put it this way: Combine Rush Limbaugh with Jerry Maguire, that's Drew.
Rosenhaus said on WQAM yesterday that you can't judge whether a guy made a good decision to leave school early until you see what kind of career they have.
Rosenhaus has been raked across the coals by fans who said he got Olivier Vernon, Lamar Miller, and Brandon Washington to leave school early.
Miller was projected as a first round pick and plummeted to the fourth round because of his lack of pass-catching skills and suspect blocking ability.
Vernon managed to get drafted in the third round, but the rest of the former Canes will be roster filler in camp until cutdown days come.
It's not Rosenhaus' job to tell kids to leave or stay, I get that, he like most Americans are only in it for the money.
But anyone with a half of a brain can tell the Canes players came out too early.
Why did they do it?
Probably so they could finally find out if pro football pays them better than UM boosters do.
FIU:
The Panthers of FIU will have a new conference home next year, Conference USA.
As Jason Parker of CBS4 Sports said, "well, they're in the AAA of the Big East now."
It's true too.
FIU goes from the bottom of the barrel of Conferences up a level to a more respected, but still far from a powerhouse conference.
Still, I think it's a stepping stone for FIU.
If Cristobal can keep winning, the Big East will come calling.
Why you ask?
To gain access into the fertile recruiting grounds of South Florida by having FIU playing conference games each week.
It's all on Cristobal now….win, and you're in.
Struggle in Conference USA….you'll be the equivalent of Tulsa and UTEP…not good, not good at all.
It should bring a little excitement to FIU and the step up in competition will be tough for the Panthers, but they've proven themselves as a strong team in the Sun Belt, but much like Texas A&M and Missouri are about to find out, moving up in competition isn't always pretty.
All that and more on CBSMiami.com/sports
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