Humpday Ramblings

- NBA free agency starts tonight, and it couldn't come soon enough, if I had to deal with another month of endless speculation on the future of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, I'd want to kill somebody.  Pretty much already do.  Fortunately it will only be inundating all forms of sports media for another week or two, then we can finally put to rest three tedious years of speculation about the free agent class of 2010.  I'm not the biggest NBA fan in the world, but even someone who was would have to admit that more attention being paid to off-court rumors than on-court action is ridiculous.  I mean this year's Finals came off like a nuisance that had to be endured before the important stuff started.  The famous cliche is: "Root for the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back", and the degree to which pro basketball elevates the individual over the team is troublesome for me.  Big part of why I don't follow that game as closely as I do others.

- Some gems penned in this blog on June 2nd illustrate how quickly things can change in the sports world:
   
"Last week's stretch of great baseball has pushed the Twins into a comfortable lead over the Tigers in the Central"

"Carl Pavano seems to employ the "chuck it and hope" approach best characterized by Livan Hernandez' short stint with the team two seasons ago"

"Nick Blackburn, who has been (gulp) the early-season stopper on this club"

Since then the Twins have stunk, Pavano has been lights out, and Blackburn has been bad enough for me to dub him Nick "BP" Blackburn.  (The BP stands for batting practice, not British Petroleum, although the latter would've been fitting, as they're probably the only ones who had a worse month of June than Blackie did)  Fortunately this is baseball, so really about 50 more games or so before we need to worry about where the Twins are in the standings.  Previous years have taught us two things, any Twins team within 5 games on Labor Day is within striking distance and if the division comes down to head-to-head games against the White Sox and Tigers, the hometown nine are probably in pretty good shape.  Today's victory against the Tigers to win the series and remain in first place would seem to reinforce that second point, all the better it was Blackburn and Kevin Slowey, the teams most embattled starters, who had strong outings in the last two wins.  Now would I complain about a Cliff Lee trade and runaway division victory?  Hell no.  Unfortunately, things never seem to work out that easily, see you in September.

- NHL free agency also begins tonight, nestled deep within the shadow of the NBA version, like everything else about the league.  A correction from the Wild post of a few days ago, as the salary cap was finalized at $59.2 million, rather than the $57 million I speculated it would be.  The cap is set as a fixed percentage of league receipts, so no telling what it will be until it gets locked in.  At any rate, this extra $2 million changes things a bit for the team, but not drastically, since there are still quite a few spots to fill and not a lot of dollars to do it.  NHL rules allow teams to go over the cap, but penalize them by reducing their cap next season by the amount they went over the previous one.  So although it's still unlikely they'll make a big signing, it is possible we'll see a couple of smaller ones.  A rumor being thrown around recently was the signing of New Jersey defenseman Paul Martin, which perplexes me.  Sure he's a hometown guy, grew up in Elk River and played for the Gophers, but does this team really want to tie up more money in another defenseman?  Unless there's a trade on the horizon, this is an odd fit to say the least.

- The Vikings released their training camp schedule a couple of days ago, and the abused housewife in me leapt for joy!  It's like my alcoholic husband is finally coming home from the penitentiary, and I can welcome him with open arms.  Even bought a case of PBR tallboys to feed him once he hunkers down in his favorite easy chair.  Ahhh, the memories, he really does love me, just gets a bit crazy when he drinks, black eyes heal but love is forever!  Fortunately this season I have therapy in the form of certain NFC Championship game on the DVR at home, it was recorded many months ago to be watched again when the pain had faded and a reminder was needed. Got it penciled in for the evening of July 14th, the day after the All-Star game when Planet Sports stands still, which means I will spend the evening of the All-Star game removing all sharp and/or dangerous objects from my home in preparation.  By the way, I didn't see "Favre's Return" marked on the calendar during the third week of camp, should I be worried?

- Finally, this joke has been made many times, initially by Bill Simmons in his draft diary two years ago, following the swap of Kevin Love for OJ Mayo, but it's too good not to revisit.  If Rudy Gay signs with Minnesota as a free agent, the Timberwolves can officially usher in the Gay-Love Era.  I always love that one. Hasn't been a name combo that much fun since Brian Gay was paired with Kris Cox at the PGA Championship, because, as we all know, Gay loves playing with Cox.