Sports Agenda For Friday (4/14/11)
Big Story:
Happy Tax Da….oh wait, it's Monday. Oops.
Well, the NBA's version of the preseason, AKA the regular season, is over and now we get to separate the men from the boys. The Heat get to warm up their playoff run by starting off with a good, but not great Philadelphia 76ers team on Saturday.
We'll dive into that in a minute, plus the Fish take a series from Atlanta, and there's just some wild comments coming out about a guy I profiled on the site the other day, Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett.
And…..Here…..We……GO!
Heat: (vs. Philadelphia 76ers, Saturday 3:30 p.m.)
Yes, the Heat open the postseason at home against the 76ers….And yes, tickets are still available.
We've covered some of the Heat and 76ers' big points, but now let's remember something about the leadership of the Heat team with LeBron and D-Wade. Both of them have been to the NBA Finals. Several of the veterans have played in the Finals, so the leadership is there. The Heat have Wade, who can hit the clutch shot, and LeBron, who can create an opening for the last shot.
Of the teams left in the Eastern Conference, only the Celtics can matchup with having their leading players make it to the Finals.
Still, when it comes down to the final minute of a Game 7, I'll be more than happy to have either Wade or LeBron take that final shot to take a series. I just don't see a team, other than possibly the Celtics, who can matchup with the Heat.
Out west, I see danger on the horizon in the form of two teams: the Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Either one of them can matchup well against the Heat and probably beat them. But we'll see who is left standing out West.
Marlins: (@ Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 p.m. Fox Sports Florida)
Don't look now, but the Marlins just took 2 of 3 in Atlanta. Wednesday night's game was quite a pitching display by Josh Johnson, who carried a no-hitter into the 8th inning. Thursday night's game saw Brian Sanches notched the victory to bring him to 2-0 on the season. Logan Morrison continued to drive in runs, while Gaby Sanchez continued to be the toughest out for the Marlins. He's hitting .326 for the season and is bringing a big bat to the lower half of the order.
The only question now is, when will Mike Stanton get his first home run of the season. He's struggled as of late, but he's still recovering from an injury in spring training, so eventually he'll get his act together I'm sure.
Tonight's pitching matchup will see the struggling Javier Vazquez pitch for the Marlins against dominating Roy Oswalt for the Phillies. (Advantage: Phillies)
NFL Draft:
As the days continue to countdown to the NFL Draft, I continue to be fascinated by the utter annihilation of Ryan Mallett by the national media. Now look, if it were me, I'm not even sure I'd draft him, because where there's smoke, there's usually fire, pardon the pun.
But, NFL Networks' Jamie Dukes went way off the reservation yesterday when he said, "For the lack of a better phrase, he's kind of the first – and forgive this phrase – kind of the Caucasian street guy. And what I mean by that, he's got that Eminem, slash, ya know, Vanilla Ice thing that goes on. I just don't think, truthfully, people are accustomed to seeing a quarterback having a little street in him. And I think that's kind of unsettling."
Say what there Jamie?
So essentially, what Jamie is saying is that Mallett is too obsessed with hip-hop/rap culture, and that makes people hesitate to give him the ball. Man, I'd love to hear what Dukes had to say if someone said that a quarterback like Donovan McNabb was trying to be too white by playing as a dropback quarterback. Didn't Rush Limbaugh get fired by ESPN for saying something similar? Rush's was even worse, but I'm curious to see if there's a backlash against Dukes.
Maybe Dukes has a little too much cul-de-sac in him?
