The ROOT of sports blog for Friday June 4th

Welcome to the Root of sports. This week has had Soooo many interesting stories. Big Ben Rothlisberger started practicing with the Steelers again, and Espn has to make a huge deal of that. We had some upsets in the French open, The huge miss call that caused Armando Gallaraga of the Detroit Tigers his perfect game, all the drama of the NBA and NHL finals, LeBron made a Comment to Larry King that for some reason makes everyone think he's gonna stay in Cleveland, And Tiger Woods qualifies! woww!

NBA- The

Long Awaited Rivalry was renewed once again as the Lakers and Celtics Kicked off game 1 of the NBA finals on Thursday. Lakers (57-25) look

to avenge their loss to the Celtics in the finals 2 years ago. The Celtics (50-32) look to become a somewhat surprise winner of this years championship after much expected the Cavs to be in their place.

The Lakers beat Boston Thursday night 102-89. The Lakers pretty much dominated the whole game led by Kobe Bryant with 30 points, and a helping hand from Pau Gasol with 23 points. One of the more interesting moments was when Ron Artest of the Lakers got into a wrestling match on the perimeter with Paul Peirce. Boston looks to rebound from a disappointing loss in Game 2 Sunday at 8:00pm.

In other NBA news, Lebron James Tells Larry King that the Cavs have an " edge" in resigning him for next season. Also the General Manager for the Cavs departs. This changes everything involving Lebron.

MY OPINION- I thought Kobe Bryant played very well Thursday, and i thought that the Celtics played like complete crap. All in all its pretty much what i expected to happen. Im gonna be focusing on Ron Artest in game 2. Hopefully he'll get into it with Paul Pierce some more. And i really dont care much about anything going on with the Cleveland organization right now. Obviously everything is shaken up and we'll just have to wait till late July to see whats gonna happen to Cleveland next season.

NHL- right now the Chicago Blackhawks are leading the finals 2 games to 1 against the Philadelphia Flyers. The finals have been packed

with tons of action from both teams. Game 1 was dominated by goal scoring with Chicago winning 6-5, Game 2 was all about the goalies with Chicago taking that one 2-1, and the Flyers prevailed in game 3 winning 4-3 in a dramatic Overtime. Chicago can win the championship this weekend winnig both games Friday night and Sunday.

MY OPINION- Yaaa baby! the finals are heating up! After The Flyers won game 3 we now have a series. I'll be paying close attention to Carcillo of the flyers to heat up the action on the ice. Its game 4 and tempers are heating up, hopefully the refs will let them drop the gloves! Philadelphia should still treat this Game 4 as a must win situation because they definitely dont wanna go back to Chicago Sunday in a 3 game to 1 deficit. You DONT wanna miss the finals!

MLB- We had a ton of drama this week in baseball when Detroit pitcher Armando Gallaraga was headed for a perfect game Wednesday night against the Indians when 1st base umpire Jim Joyce called Jason Donald of the Indians Safe. It was an obvious blown call once you saw the replay. Jim Joyce later admitted that he blew the call. Joyce received tons of criticism that night by the MLB analyst and th

e Detroit fans. Jim Joyce said he was devastated. Gallaraga gave Joyce the lineup the next day at the game. As Jim Joyce entered the stadium fans booed him as others cheered to show support. Joyce was overwhelmed from all the drama and had tears in his eyes. The commissioner of baseball had a chance to overturn the call Thursday but decided not to. He'll now be focusing on more replays for the MLB.

In The American league, the Baltimore Orioles Fired their Manger Friday after a horrible start to their season (15-39) and they have now lost 8 in a row. 5 games separate the teams of the AL east as the Yankees are 2 games behind the Rays, followed by Boston and the surprising team of the league Toronto. Minnesota leads the AL central 2.5 games over Detroit and Texas is tied with Oakland for the lead of the lackluster Al west. The Yankees are the hottest team in the American league as they currently on a 5 game wining streak.

In the national league surging Atlanta is now 3 games above the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL east. The St. Louis cardinals are tied with the Cincinnati reds for the lead in the NL Central. And the surprising San Diego Padres are 1.5 games ahead of the L.A Dodgers in the NL west. The Atlanta Braves have now won 9 in a row and have shot up the NL east, and until somebody can beat them they look like the top contenders in the National League. On the other hand, the Arizona Diamondbacks have lost 10 in a row and find themselves on the bottom of the NL west 12.5 games behind Sand Diego Padres.

An interesting series to watch this weekend is the Padres against the Phillies. San Diego should get the best Philadelphia team as the Phillies try to chase after the Braves. Also the Minnesota Twins try to break a 3 game skid against the Oakland A's Friday night as the A's Fight for the lead of the Al west. That 3 game series will help us understand the Oakland team a little bit more and see if they are for real about leading the standings.

MY OPINION- Wow for some reason i have really enjoyed baseball lately, even with my team (the Cleveland Indians) playing horrible. The drama with all the umpires arguing with the managers has become really entertaining. And just as you become a hater of Umpires and just as you think that all they are is a bunch of Hard ass old guys bored of life you get the Jim Joyce incident. I think that opened eyes to many. Ya Jim Joyce made a horrible call Wednesday but this reminds us that we are all human and we all make mistakes. I like to see the sportsmanship in games as much as i like to see things get mixed up between teams or rivals. Thursday was a great display of Sportsmanship between Gallaraga and Joyce before the game, it was something you dont see very often and it became heart warming. The ONE thing i dont get is WHY did the commissioner keep the call the same?? He had the chance to make things right! Thats interesting to me, i really dont know what to think about that, but i dont like it. Maybe he likes the drama too. It HAS to be good for the already boring sport.

Im also on the Band wagon for the braves! they have proved that they can play some real baseball. Atlanta is no fluke. Im also interested to see weather or not some of these surprise teams(padres,reds,A's) are for real or not. Baseball season is definitely starting to heat up.

NFL- Big Ben Rothlisberger participated in OTA's with the Pittsburgh Steelers this week for the first time since being accused of sexual assault in March. The commissioner suspended Rothlisberger for the first 6 games of the season. Most of the off-season practices for the steelers have already taken place but there are still 5 left for Ben to participate in. Big Ben was interviewed after the practice, he didint say much, he said he was glad to be practicing with his team again and is ready to get back to work. Rothlisberger could have his suspension reduced to 4 games due to good behavior.Payton Manning underwent neck surgery this week and is in good condition and will be ready to play in September.

Jeremy Shockey or the New Orleans saints had an incident in practice this week. He apparently collapsed and had seizure-like symptoms. Jeremy claims he is OK and will continue to practice.

Many OTA's are underway for NFL teams and there are still many player awaiting new contracts (better contracts), many sitting out of practices until they get there way.

MY OPINION- I really dont think much of this stuff going on right now in the NFL is a big deal. Unless your a steelers fan i dont think anybody is concerned about Big Ben. When he got on the practice field this week he became a huge story all over sports center. The media needs to take a break on the NFL for now. Theres gonna be players EVERY offseason that arent happy with their contracts, and as for Rothlisbereger, we need to just put this incident away! I am soooo tired of hearing about him and i think i speak for many sports fans around the country.

Nascar- Kurt Busch won the Coke 600 last Sunday holding of Jammie McMurray. Once again, Kurt's win was overshadowed by drama concerning little brother Kyle. With laps closing down Kyle Busch made a risky move and cut down Jeff Burton's Tire, causing Burton to finish deep in the field. Kyle went on to finish 3rd. After the race was over Burton was seen yelling and somewhat shoving Kyle Busch. In an Interview Burton said that he likes Kyle and his aggressive style, until it effects him. Kyle said that Burton was just mad for the way he raced him.

This week's race takes place at Pocono where Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin have found the most success. Qualifying took place Friday with Kyle Busch winning the pole for Sundays race followed by Bowyer, Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin rounding out your top 5. Tony Stewart qualified 6th, Jeff Gordon 10th, Kevin Harvick 22nd , And Jimmie Johnson 26th.

Kurt Busch tries to win 3 in a row as Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. try to silence the critics. As for Busch vs. Burton, they both said Friday that they want to put the incident behind them and just race.

MY OPINION- To me, Sunday's Coke 600 was a very boring race. Especially After the week before offered one of the most exciting races we've ever seen. I was waiting for someone to crash late in the race to make things exciting and even tho it did happen, It never really sparked anything else. Jammie McMurray should have won the race but he found himself cursed after the late caution. Kyle Busch says he's making a change. Too bad. Obviously he hasn't on the racetrack, still making aggressive moves, alll take and no give. But after the race was over when Jeff Burton went to go yell at Busch, The "old" kyle would have punched him, but noooo lets make the sport dull again. Nascar says the gloves are off for this season. So TAKE THEM OFF DRIVERS!

World Cup- The world cup starts a week from yesterday and most the teams have made their way to South Africa. The USA faces of against Australia tomorrow after beating Turkey last week 2-1. USA's Jozy Altidore had an ankle injury but he Will be healthy for the world cup opener against England. Rio Ferdinand, the captain of the England team will not play in the world cup after injuring his Knee yesterday. Defender Michael Dawson will take his place.

MY OPINION- The Wold cup starts in One week and USA's first opponent is England. Just because Rio Ferdinand of England is out means nothing. England is far more superior. USA needs to play the best game of their lives and then some if they want to beat England on Saturday. USA's final tune-up game is tomorrow against Austria. A win would be a much needed confidence booster.

WHAT TO WATCH AND PICKS.

NHL Finals

Blackhawks vs. Flyers

Friday 8:00 pm-Vs

Sunday 8:00 Pm-NBC

* After this Weekend i think the Chicago Blackhawks will be leading the series 3-2 with the Flyers winning game 4 4-2 and Chicago prevailing in game 5 2-1.

NBA Finals

Celtics Vs. Lakers

Sunday 8:00-ABC

* The Lakers will win Game 2 by 10 points leaving Boston searching for answers.

Nascar

Pocono Raceway

Sunday 12:00-TNT

* I pick Denny Hamlin to win Sunday's race, in a dominating fashion too.

World Cup

South Africa

USA vs. Australia

Saturday 8:30 AM-espn

* USA wins 3-1

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