Wednesday Night Sports Night

With both my girls feeling better, a clean house and no soccer game, last night was a rare TV night for me. Three events were on the docket: Devils-Sharks, Portland-Clips, NBA GameTime. As always, I have some thoughts about each

--I was very excited to see that the Devils were on NHL TV. Unfortunately they gave up three first period goals. Up to now, I have tried not to jump off the bridge. I have tried not to get on the "Fire MacLean" bandwagon. After watching the Devs for the first time this season, I can officially say that I am worried that this team won't be able to bounce back. I thought having some youngsters on the team would be a good thing (and still might be in the future), but as I see it now, these guys are not ready and it is clearly hurting the teams. I'm not sure what is going on, but the guys played with no passion and they were sloppy. I have to ask where is Zach Parise this season?

--My interest in the NBA has steadily grown over the past three years, mostly thanks to up tempo teams like Phoenix, Golden St, Dallas and Portland. One of the best things about living on the West Coast is the ability to watch the late games while skipping the boring Orlando-Boston match-ups. This year, it looks like there will be two new teams whose games I will watch - the OK City Thunder and believe it or not, the LA Clippers. I am really enjoyed that Portland-Clippers game.

Some specific comments on the Blazers game:

• Brandon Roy is just the man. I love that he went to UW. I love that he continues to give back to the community. I love his game. He ended both quarters with big time three's - makes me wonder where he ranks on the list of Players Who You Want Taking the Last Shot.
• How is Greg Oden still injured?
• Blake Griffin is the real deal. A lot of people assumed that the Clippers curse would derail his career before it even got started. Last night not only did he make his debut, but he was magnificent with 20 points, 14 boards and 4 assists. My favorite thing about him is his energy - not sure he can keep it up over the course of 82 games, but luckily for him he has the talent to go along with the hustle.
  
• The key to the clips will be Baron Davis this year. If he can stay motivated and interested, the Clippers will make the playoffs.
• Do we go with Family Guy or Harry Potter as a source of nickname for Griffin?
• Chris Kaman is an ugly ugly guy. How is it that even after he cut his long hair he still looks like a yeti?
• That being said, I think Kaman and Griffin are very complementary of each other. They are going to put up some quality numbers.
  

--Finally, I want to say that this new technical foul call is a joke. In the second quarter of last nights game, Andre Miller was given a T for throwing his hands in the air in complaint of no foul being given. Miller missed the shot and the Clips had already grabbed the rebound and were in transition when the ref blew his whistle to stop play. I have two issues with this. First, basketball is a physical and emotional game. Of all the major sports, it's the sport where trash talking has the deepest roots. Players talk. Emotions run high. I had no problem with Stern trying to clean up the league's image by giving heavy fines for fighting or by instituting a dress code, but by calling T's for any little demonstration, the league is going to turn its players into robots. Second, as shown by the above example, it is totally ruining the flow of the game. I hate the end of games - you know, when fouls make 30 seconds of game time turn into 7 minutes of actual time. I want to see up and down bball with no stops in the action. This is going to lengthen games and make them brutal to watch.