French Open Finishes, NBA Finals Just Starting

Serena, Nadal win French
- In what should come as a shocker to no one, Rafael Nadal was once again victorious at the French Open. Nadal, who had only lost even two sets three times in 59 matches before being taken to the limit by Novak Djokovic in the semifinals this year, breezed by David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 for his 8th French Open Championship.
- No other player has won more titles at any individual major, and Nadal, known as a clay court specialist even put up with outside distractions to finish it off this time. There were multiple rain delays which seemed to mildly affect his focus but much more jarring was the masked man who ran out onto the court (and in Nadal's general direction) with some sort of burning towel. While his intentions were unknown, it certainly could have been precarious if security had not impaired his progress before he made it very far.
- On the Women's side, Serena Williams won her 16th Grand Slam Title overall by defeating Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4. Although it was only
Williams' second win at the French, she is now the 4th woman ever to win all four majors at least twice (She's won the other three at least four times). Williams, thought to be the most physically imposing female player ever has now won 31 combined Grand Slam event when you add in her 13 doubles titles and 2 mixed doubles titles.

Heat Surge Back to Tie Series

- With about 3 minutes to go in the 3^rd quarter, the Miami heat were down by one. A defensive resurgence headlined by Lebron James’ incredible block against Tiago Splitter, and a handful of 3-pointers by Mike Miller and Ray Allen, put Miami on a 33-5 run to a 27-point lead. Miami held on to that lead for a 103-84 win to tie their best of 7 finals series at 1.

- James only scored 17 points, his lowest of the playoffs, but he did add 7 assists, and seemed to be running the offense through him. James was helped by Mario Chalmers who added 19 points. Danny Green, of the Spurs led San Antonio with 17 points, including a perfect 5-5 from the 3-point line.

- The Spurs just fell into a funk where they missed a bunch of shots and couldn’t get a stop on the defensive side. The series now goes back to Texas for Game 3 tomorrow night at 9 eastern.The series now becomes a best of 5, first team with 3 wins will be the 2012-13 NBA Champion.

Stanley Cup and French Open Finals almost set

Stanley Cup Finals almost set

-  Although both conference finals are still going on, it looks as though the NHL champion will be either the Boston Bruins or Chicago Blackhawks.  The Blackhawks rallied on a 3rd period goal by Marian Hossa to beat the L.A. Kings at home for the first time in these playoffs and Boston won a nailbiting 2OT after crushing Pittsburgh in the first two contests. 
- The Blackhawks, who were the regular season's best team, sport a 3-1 series lead while the Bruins lead 3-0 against Pittsburgh who was the East's top seed.
 - The Penguins and Bruins play tonight and the Blackhawks and Kings play tomorrow, each game obviously being a potential elimination game.


French Open Finals this weekend

- The French Open Women’s finals will showcase two opponents very familiar with each other. Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova have played each other 15 times, with Williams coming out victorious in all but two of those matches. Williams has won 30 straight matches, the longest such streak of her long decorated career. The two women will play on Saturday morning.
- On the Men’s side, the four remaining players are all ranked in the top 6. #1 overall seed Novak Djokovic will take on Rafael Nadal while David Ferrer (the #4 player in the tournament) will take on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (#6). The winner of these matches (played today) will face each other on Sunday for the men’s finals championship.  Nadal is known as a clay court specialist so it may be considered an upset, strangely enough, if the #1 overall seed defeats him.
- In the men’s double’s championship, the American Bryan brothers will face Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil. If the brothers win, it will be their 14th doubles championship, a record.

MLB Suspensions and NBA Finals Tip Off

MLB Looks to Suspend Many

- ESPN reported yesterday that Major League Baseball  is looking to suspend about 20 players, with superstars Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez for alleged steroid use. According to ESPN, MLB will look to suspend 100-games, the punishment for a second violation of the league’s performance enhancing drug policy.

- MLB struck a deal with Tony Bosch the founder of Biogenesis of America, giving the league the needed ammunition to suspend those players. It was rumored that Braun and Rodriguez’s names were linked to Biogenesis prior to the season, when both players denied the rumors. Bosch’s agreement will give the MLB the opportunity to say that the use of Biogenesis was the first violation, and the later lying of the connection to Bosch would count as the second violation, leading to the 100-game suspension.

- These suspensions would effectively end the seasons for all the players. The Yankees (Rodriguez’s team) have played 58 games ,and the Brewers (Braun’s team) have played 57, after the suspensions there will be 5 or fewer games left for the players in the regular season. Braun was the NL MVP in 2011 and Rodriguez is a 3-time AL MVP in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

Heat-Spurs set for Finals
- After an anticlimactic Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Miami Heat will play the San Antonio Spurs for the 2013 NBA Title. The Spurs easily dispatched their Western Conference Finals opponent, the Memphis Grizzlies via a 4-0 sweep.
- It will be the first trip to the Finals for the Spurs since 2007 when, ironically, they went up against a 22 year old Lebron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers team and swept them. We're willing to go out on a limb and say that Lebron will not be swept this time around and he may be looking for some measure of revenge against the Spurs.
- Additionally, we're willing to bet that Greg Popovich will not hold multiple starters (Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Danny Green) out of any of these games as he did earlier this season against the Heat. That maneuver, which he used to rest them for a tough upcoming stretch, was punished by a huge fine, even though Popovich was simply looking at the long term well-being of his team.
- Game 1 is Thursday night in Miami.

Game 7 and Big Win for USA Soccer

Game 7 tonight
- The winner take all game 7 of the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals is tonight at 8:30 back in Miami and all the pressure is on the presumed NBA champions, the Miami Heat.
- Of the 20 ESPN pundits who picked the winner of the series, only 5 picked the Heat to win in 7 games. The rest picked the Heat to win in 5 or 6 games, which will give you an idea of how big an upset it would be if the Pacers, who are playing so well as a team with big man Roy Hibbert and all around player Paul George contributing so much. On the Heat's side it's turned into the "Big One" instead of the "Big Three" as Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade have all but disappeared (except in the media where Wade is complaining about not getting enough shots).
- The Heat get big man Chris Andersen back tonight after he was suspended for shoving Pacers F Tyler Hansbrough.
- Hibbert was fined $75,000 after Game 6 for cursing and using the phrase "no homo" to complete a response to a question. Hibbert had arguable his best game of the series in game 6 without Andersen playing to guard him.

US Defeats Germany

- Three Soccer stories in three weeks?! The US National Team defeated Germany 4-3 in an exhibition game on Sunday. Clint Dempsey lead the US with two goals, within 5 minutes, mid-way through the second half.

- Jozy Altidore scored his first international goal in almost two years, and then German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen misplayed a pass that ended up in his own goal three minutes later giving the US a 2-0 lead. After Germany scored a goal in the 51^st minute to cut the deficit in half, Dempsey struck. First from a cross by Altidore, the second just a short while later he struck from about 5 yards outside of the box giving the US a 4-1 lead. The two goals for Dempsey moved him to 2^nd all-time in the US National scoring list.

- Though the Germans mounted a furious comeback, they fell just short. The German team was only playing one player from its A-team that won a world cup in 2010 and a Euro Cup in 2012. Altidore looks to take the reigns from Dempsey and teammate Landon Donovan as the best US front line player. He just scored 31 goals while playing for a team in the Netherlands, a record for a US Player in a European season.

Heat Up 3-2 and Ellsbury Stealing 3+2

Huge 3rd Quarter Leads to Heat Victory
- Facing a 4-point deficit at halftime, Miami Heat head coach Eric Spoelstra must have a particularly inspirational halftime speech. His team came out and outscored the Indianapolis Pacers 30-13 in the third quarter to take a 13 point lead into the 4th, where they cruised to victory taking a 3-2 series lead back to Indianapolis on Saturday night.
- Lebron James scored 30 points and grabbed 8 rebounds while dishing 6 assists. In the pivotal 3rd quarter, James either scored or assisted on 25 of the 30 points the Heat scored. He gave his teammates a tongue lashing prior to the 3rd quarter and they responded big, although the Heat continued to get subpar production from Dwayne Wade (only 10 points) and many think he's still injured.
- The series continues Saturday night back in Indiana as the Heat will look to make it to their third straight NBA finals and to defend their title from last year, while the Pacers will look to push the series to a deciding Game 7 which would be Monday night in Miami.



Ellsbury sets record

- Ever since he got to the big leagues, Jacoby Ellsbury has been thought of as one of the fastest players in the MLB. He stole 50 and 70 in back to back seasons earlier in his career but hasn't stolen more than 40 in the 4 years since then, mainly due to injury. Well he must be healthy now because he set a Red Sox record by stealing a whopping 5 bags in a 9-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night.
- Ellsbury got on base 5 times with three hits, one walk and by getting hit by a pitch. Of the 5 steals, one was an elusive steal of third base, something that does not happen all too often, but Ellsbury was feeling it and abused Phillies Catcher Erik Kratz who couldn't do much to stop Ellsbury's kleptomaniac ways.
- The win puts Boston 2 games up on the Yankees for #1 in the division. The two rivals will face each other this weekend for a series that could see the return of a number of injured players. As Mark Teixiera and Kevin Youkilis for the Yankees and Clay Buckholz of the Red Sox are anticipated to see their first action in quite a while.