Week in Review

Great sports week pretty much. State of Origin kicked off in Brisbane, Australia (that's rugby folks) with a thrilling win by Queensland over their blood rivals New South Wales (more on this later). The Sox took 1 of 3 (more importantly, the middle game to make sure the Yankees gained zero momentum from either win) and kept them at 9.5 games, which is now 12.5 games. The Celtics are screwed for the next 10 years and I'm NOT diving deeper into this, it's just not worth it to stay up crying all night.

I'm going to start by talking about the AL East. Ok, I know a lot of Yankee fans out there are in denial. They believe it's early and that there is still time and they're going to bounce back. Look guys, it's not early. It's almost June and the season is almost 2 months in. You're under .500 and looking up at the Blue Jays AND Orioles. Don't look now Yanks, but you have something much more important in view, the Devil Rays. They're only a game back and you need to be conscious of them.

It's not really that shocking to be honest. They're losing games they've won in the past. Proctor walking in not one, BUT TWO RUNS TO GIVE ANAHEIM THE LEAD!? When was the last time you remember a Yankee team blowing games like that? Right now, it just isn't there year and if they're going to get on track, they need to dominate Boston in Fenway this weekend.

Meanwhile, Boston is the best team in baseball. There's no other way to put it. They have the best record, they're bullpen is nearly untouchable, and they seem to get key hits from even the most down on their luck players. J.D. Drew getting a clutch RBI today as well as Dustin Pedroia (who is playing extremely well right now) hitting what would be the game winning homer in an epic at bat against Eric Gagne. This the kind of stuff that championship teams do. Now, I'm not stupid. There is a long way to go in the season yet. But for people to say "oh it's still early" when you're calling late may series' "vital to your season" there is something wrong with your team.

Also, I wanted to chime in on Michael Kay doing his best Billy Packer impersonation defending A-Rod after he practically gave a low blow to Dustin Pedroia in game 2. It was appalling and disgraceful. This is the same guy who went out of his way in a pivotal playoff game to try and knock the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's hand (sneakily at that). Look, I know it's YES and they have to support your team, but have some damn pride. When you do stuff like this, you make an ass out of yourself and your network. He made a cheap and dirty play. He should of been suspended for it. If this were the NBA and something "inadvertent" happened like that, he would of been suspended probably 3 games. MLB needs to go back and look at that tape and suspend him retroactively for it.

Champions League final was Wednesday also. Nothing special. Pipo Inzaghi has a game to remember with two goals (one that went off his shoulder and probably should of been disallowed). The game itself though, was nothing spectacular. Liverpool couldn't break Milan's defense and Dida made critical saves around EVERY corner. If you needed further proof that Serie A is a complete and total sham, this is it. Milan was and is the best team in Italy. It's not Inter. Inter was just lucky they didn't get docked points (and they probably should have) for the whole match fixing scandal. Like I said though, not a real special game and nothing really note-worthy in it. Congratulations to Milan and their fans on winning in Europe. Win the league next year like you deserve to.

Origin Time! For those unfamiliar, State of Origin is a blood feud between New South Wales and Queensland (two states in Australia). I know people from both sides and when it's Origin time, there is general hatred for each other. Well, the two teams (known as the Blues for NSW and Maroons for QLD) play a three game set regardless of outcome. That means that no matter who wins the first two games, they play the third game. QLD won game 1 25-18 in a game that in all honesty, wasn't and shouldn't have been as close as the score says. They won the series last year with a stunning turnover try late in the game from Darren Lockyer (a legitimate legend for the simple fact that he scored the winning in try in Origin, the Grand final , AND TRI-NATIONS...IN THE SAME YEAR!) in what was probably my favorite rugby match that I've ever seen. Well, for the first 40 minutes, QLD dominated and throttled NSW except for about 3 minutes at the end of the half. They were frustrated. They had two trys disallowed and one should of counted (both were called forward passes) and every time they got inside the 30 meter zone of NSW, they were unstoppable, but they also made stupid mistakes and got genuinely unlucky. Trailing 18-6 at the half, they came out in the second half and they started off just like they did in the first. 1000 miles an hour and just running NSW off the field. Big difference though, no unlucky breaks. They got the first big try of the half to cut it to 18-12 and then I saw probably one of the most boneheaded plays ever where a NSW player tried to make a near impossible pass, and threw it directly to who else but Darren Lockyer who easily ran it right into the center of the goal line for the game winning try. Jonathan Thurston was my player of the game. He seemed to be everywhere and he had some tremendous kicks including the gorgeous one that gave Greg Inglis his first try of the game.

UFC was alright. An underwhelming show aside from Jackson's upset and Houston Alexander knocking Keith the hell out. I can't wait for Henderson vs Jackson. My gut tells me Henderson slaughters him, but I said the same thing about Liddell so ya never know.

Less work this week means more upsets. Keep reading and as always, I love reader feedback at akileese@gmail.com