Friday's Notes

I'll start where everyone else seems to start, with Brett Favre. Don't be mistaken, the NHL and NBA playoffs are both reaching a climax. Yet most media outlets see the Favre-saga as the most crucial news (alright, it's right up there will the NBA Free Agent class). You've gotta love Darren Sharper taking advantage of the media, though. As soon as Favre's ankle surgery went public, the Saints safety put a bullseye on it. ABOUT TIME! Isn't everyone in the NFL fed up with #4's charade? Why has it taken so long for somebody to publicly declare that they want to end his career? And, to be honest, they'd be doing him a favor. Yea, Favre was MVP-like last season, but eventually he is just going to tarnish his legacy with 40-some year old play.

Next up...the Celtics. I hate to compare them to the Bruins, because they seem to want it more, but the parallels are still there! I can only imagine how nervous the Celtic die-hards are at this point. You get the sense that the Magic playing with their backs up against the wall has swung the momentum in their favor and made them the better team in the series. Now, home court seems to be a huge factor in the NBA Playoffs, and the Celts have a chance to close this thing out at the Garden tonight, but the Magic know that they are one win away from forcing a Game 7 in their own playground. This may not be as bad as the Bruins, where the fans saw the bleeding and knew that it couldn't be stopped, but the hopeless feeling is undoubtedly setting into the minds of some.

The real Dice-K is back! After nearly no-hitting the Phillies and seemingly turning the corner, he returned to his normal form last night against the Royals. 4 2/3 innings, eight walks...eight! I've never been a big fan of Dice K, and that right there is the reason. From his erratic tendencies to his long windup, he's an absolute nightmare to watch. I said that the Sox were showing signs of hope a few days ago, but it's going to be hard to sustain it if they can't get Dice-K under control or get some consistency out of Lackey and Beckett.

Time for the Bruins part of this blog. Via James Murphy of NESN, I heard an interesting and scary rumor today. The rumor had the Bruins trading for expensive center Vincent Lecavalier. While the B's have contracts big enough to equalize the financials (Bergeron, Wideman, Ryder, and Thomas), it doesn't make sense for Boston to absorb Lecavalier's cap hit (7.27 mil) for the next four years. Not to say Vinny isn't a great player, but he was accused last year of going through the motions... and the Black and Gold already have too many guys like that.

Is anyone pumped for the World Cup this year? I'm not a soccer fan, necessarily, but I'm definitely looking forward to the WC. While soccer is hardly noticed in North America, it's the World's biggest sport on it's biggest stage. Yea, it stinks that the US team will struggle to get out of their own group let alone advance into the medal rounds, but it's captivating TV nonetheless. And yea, while we don't care about the US team's success, it's nice to see fans in Spain, Germany, Argentina, or Russia cling to their team as if it decides whether they live or die.