Sports Weekend

I was able to take in several major sporting events this weekend, and kept on most of the others, so here are some thoughts:
Dela Hoya v. Mayweather, I actually watched this with the high school guys from my youth group, and it was a suprisingly good fight. Dela Hoya, I thought, was the agressor and the biggest surprise. It is a wierd thing when the champ is not the favorite and Dela Hoya claimed a classic boxing axiom, "You have to beat the champ." His point being that Mayweather didn't, Mayweather never brought the fight Dela Hoya, and Dela Hoya was never in any danger of getting knocked out. Having said that, Mayweather was a ton more accurate, and clearly the better of the two. Watching it live, I agreed with Dela Hoya, I would have penalized Mayweather more for the way he fought the fight and kept the belt with Dela Hoya.
Suns v. Spurs, This did not disappoint. I think this series may actually be shorter, but with really good games. The Spurs have a mental edge that I do not quite understand, but if you lay off of Tony Parker he is going to kill you. Game 1 was not an abberation, Parker could average almost 40 a game if they keep that same style of defense.
Bulls v. Pistons, thanks for showing up Bulls. Expect game 2 to be closer (how could it not) and I think the Bulls might escape with one.
Cavs v. Nets, so far I am feeling good about my prediction that the Cavs will win the East. I have to confess that I really, at this point, have no desire to watch this series at all. Go Cavs!
Jazz v. Rockets, the story no one is talking about, the worst last 10 seconds of a game I have ever witnessed. Flat out awful. Van Gundy could lose his job over those 10 seconds alone.
Roger Clemens returns to the Yankees, aka the Evil Empire gets Darth Vader out of retirement. Clemens is a really good pitcher, no doubt about that, and he may well be able to dominate. The problem it seems to me from a baseball standpoint, is that you will never get more than six innings from him, seven tops. On team that is already desperately thin in the bullpen, as well as flat out bad in the bullpen, adding a lights out for six innings pitcher is a bit of a head scratcher for me. He'll probably only be able to pitch about 20 games, but you have to figure that's 120 innings for Clemens a good pitcher who probably won't give up more than three or four runs, and 60 innings of an awful bullpen that will give up three or four runs. Either way, you still are going to have to score 7-8 on average to win games when Clemens pitches (plus he got progessively worse as the season went on last year), and you are paying him 18 million to do it. Seems like a bad idea to me.
Tiger wins again, this could sort of be filed under "non-story" because the whole world knew it would happen because he had the lead on Saturday. As to the question of Jordan v. Woods and which one is more impressive, for me the answer is Tiger and its not close. The point is, I watched Jordan play throughout my childhood, and remember distinctly him taking over games and dominating, as I also remember Pippen, and even Kerr. There is no doubt that Jordan was a stud, and for my money the best to ever play basketball, but to compare the two is unfair. As Jordan pointed out he had help, and Tiger has, well Tiger. Jordan had freakish athletic ability, a crazy work ethic and referees. Tiger by all accounts is a terrible athlete, a crazy workout freak, and no referees. Tiger has to dominate without every physically engaging the person/people he s competing against. Jordan had the benefit of tough foul, a posterizing dunk, a steal, six straight threes or whatever, while Tiger has a fist pump. On top of this, every week Tiger has to beat the other 120 best golfers in the world. Every week.