Sports Agenda for Friday (2/18/11)
Big Story:
Well, the Heat are at the All-Star Break, the Panthers are still the Panthers, it's Wittels time for ESPN, the Marlins finally report for Spring Training, and then there's the NFL and wait for it, hope on the horizon for a labor deal?
Heat:
It's All-Star Break time for the Heat and when they return, it'll be all systems go for the stretch run of the regular season. LeBron and Wade will probably get booed at the All-Star Game, I'm shocked! But when they return to the floor for the Heat, they will face a tough run towards the end of the year including home games against the Lakers and Spurs and another game against the Celtics to name a few.
My guess right now is the Heat will finish second in the conference to the Celtics and end up in the conference finals against them. That is of course assuming there's no injuries to either team, course we know what happens when you assume.
Marlins:
Oh my god it's baseball season! Well, we can call it baseball season, though when you go to a Marlins game it's more like watching batting practice based on the size of the crowds. The Fish's pitchers and catchers report for spring training today which means the Marlins are five days behind most other teams and apparently are fighting to be the third best team in the NL East.
Seriously though, the Marlins should be able to pull that off. The Fish don't have the starting rotation that the Braves or Phillies do, but they have some talent. Course given their history, I'm fully expecting them to trade it all away by the time the trade deadline hits. Seriously, we can't have a good team going when the new stadium opens up.
Here's a thought, what IF Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria decided to open up the checkbook BIG TIME and decided to go after Albert Pujols to be the star attraction when the new Marlins Stadium opens up next year. Course there's about as much of chance at that happening as there is of Rick Scott embracing something that doesn't benefit big business over the citizens.
Panthers: vs. Detroit Red Wings (2/18/2011)
The Panthers take to the ice against the dreaded Detroit Red Wings….this should end well.
On the bright side, the Panthers are in last place in the southeast division, so at least they can't sink any further there. Course they're not in last place in the Eastern Conference yet, so there's still room to go to drop there. C'mon guys we know you can't do it!!!
Wittels & FIU
We finally get to see Garrett Wittels go after the Ventura-streak again today. It's going to be during a three-game series against Southeastern Louisiana. If he gets hits today and tomorrow then he'll go for the record breaker on Sunday.
NFL Labor Update:
Not much here, but they are in mediation now with the feds and are going to negotiate for the next 7 days in a row. So here's hoping that the zillionaires can come to an agreement and continue to charge us hundreds of dollars to sit in the nosebleed seats and drink watered down drinks and eat day old popcorn.
