I don’t necessarily have a good sense of who is going to win the Kentucky Derby, but I feel pretty confident about ruling out some horses that aren’t going to win it. It’s not certain that these horses will end up in the race, but they are being pointed towards it as I write this. They are all fine horses, but for one reason or another I just don’t see them winning it all.
The MLB season is a month old. Let’s take a look around the league.
Red Sox and the AL East
After a slow start, the Boston Red Sox have gone 12-13 and taken over first in the AL East. That record includes sweeps of Baltimore, Minnesota and the New York Yankees. The Red Sox beat the Yanks every which way, including hammering them, in extra innings and simple eking out runs. Once again for the Yanks, their biggest problem resides in their pitching staff. Their other problem is associated with the age of the club. Most of these guys are injury prone. Nothing seems to be working for the Tampa Bay Rays. They are bedeviled.
If you are only going to take a bit of time getting ready for the Kentucky Derby then you’ll want to get to know these five names. There is a pretty good chance that one of these five horses is going to be wearing roses late Saturday afternoon.
Pioneerof The Nile
If you follow the Kentucky Derby at all this year then you are going to hear a lot about synthetic tracks and the effect they will have on the Derby. It’s a big issue, but not one that is easy to comprehend if you aren’t familiar with the basics. This will help.
Barring an unforeseen circumstance, both my heart and my money are going to be behind Pioneerof The Nile in the Kentucky Derby. There are a few reasons to be concerned about him, but I am sold on the Santa Anita Derby. I like him for several reasons, but the biggest is quite simply because of his trainer, Bob Baffert. Baffert is my favorite part of my favorite sport, and I find him almost impossible not to cheer for.
I can’t put my finger on why, but I have especially enjoyed the start of this baseball season. I usually enjoy it, but this year has been especially good. As I have been watching, though, something has jumped out at me – some players really piss me off. I like some teams more than others, but I don’t really have a huge problem with most teams. I can’t say the same about some players, though. Here are five who really get my blood boiling:
For the first time in a lot of years I am probably not going to be sitting down to watch the draft today – too many things to see and do in New York to waste six hours in front of the TV. I like watching the draft, and there are things I will miss about it, but there are also a whole bunch of things I really won’t miss at all about watching the coverage or the accompanying analysis on other channels. Here are some of them:
As I have thought about the draft this year I have spent a lot of time thinking about Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree. His catch (if you don’t know what catch I am talking about then you don’t watch enough college football) is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Besides that, and all of his other highlight reel performances, there is a whole lot to make this guy compelling. He has the size and the hands to be an all-time great, but he doesn’t have the prototypical speed that receivers use to get away from corners. He comes from a system that was wildly productive, but his quarterback has been disregarded to the point of irrelevance because of the gimmicky nature of that offense. The stress fracture in his foot has limited the evaluation teams have done and have created some questions and uncertainty. Despite the questions, his ridiculously impressive list of accomplishments and obvious skill have him as the top receiver on virtually every list, but there seems to be decreasing confidence in the security of his position on top as time progresses – Jeremy Maclin is rocketing up many lists.
It’s always fun to look for the guys who are getting noticed in the draft process that certainly weren’t getting noticed before now – the guys who toil at obscure schools in obscure conferences. Here are five guys that are getting good buzz out of small schools this year. Telling that four of the five players on this list are corners – teams are absolutely starved for cornerbacks and the major conferences just haven’t come through with good prospects this year, so teams are looking further and further for opportunities.cause of small school corners that Dominique Rodger-Cromartie came out of Tennessee State and looks like a very legitimate pro. You may notice if you follow such things that I have left two of the bigger small school names off this list. Johnny Knox of Abilene Christian was the fastest wide receiver at the Combine, so he’s getting more than enough attention without me, and Rhett Bomar of Sam Houston State is a well known story. The former Oklahoma QB is also an idiot, and I try not to write about idiots more than I have to.
In many years, the NBA playoffs provide exciting rivalries, and endless close games that could’ve gone either way. But this may be a year where the playoffs are a bit of a dry run until the two top face off in the Finals.
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