Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Emphasis On Winning
Sunday
April 20, 2003
Congratulations are in order for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who defeated the Washington Capitals in triple OT to advance to the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They will face the New Jersey Devils in that round. I'm not sure what that means for the tickets I bought for the Game 7 vs. Washington that now won't happen. Do they transfer over to the next home game (Game 3 of the New Jersey series) or do I have to call up Ticketmaster and have them make the switch? This is a new thing for me here.
It was interesting to see how ESPN handled the local "blackout" of the game, as the Sunshine Network owned the Tampa broadcast rights. They ran ESPNews over ESPN during the game, then when SportsCenter got bumped to ESPN2 due to the game running late they ran SportsCenter on both ESPN and ESPN2. Then it was back to ESPNews until the 3OT game ended...
I talked with Chuck Deskins today; there should be a decision made tomorrow or Tuesday on the research director spot. Wish me luck...
I recommend trying the "Propel" fitness water if you get a chance. It's low sugar and surprisingly tasty. I've literally gone through four 500mL bottles of it today alone.
The NBA playoffs are on TNT right now, and let me tell you these new rules about flagrant fouls are annoying. One flagrant and you're thrown out of the game. What is this, the WNBA?!? I mean c'mon, is this really the same league that featured those classic Celtics/Lakers physical battles (and Celtics/Pistons) back in the day? I guess the "Bad Boys" Pistons really ruined it for everyone (after that is when the NBA started "cracking down").
But for NBA fans, the playoffs are loaded with talent. McGrady, Kobe, Shaq, Garnett, Duncan, Stoudamire, Webber, Big Ben, Jermaine O'Neal, I could go on and on. Silly rules aside, the NBA playoffs are quite fun to watch. And luckily if the Kings and Mavericks both win their first round series (and they're both up 1-0), they'll face off in Round 2. I can't get enough Sacramento vs. Dallas. Last year's series between those two teams was outstanding, and their regular season games this year were spectacular as well.
My friend Scott Sabol from WSAZ in Huntington is about to start as a meteorologist at WJW ("Fox 8") in Cleveland later this month. Scott's an Ohio native, and it's a great opportunity for him. Plus it'll be all the more fun to bug him about the Indians falling short in the stretch run with him actually in the city...
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