Hello Friends,

How are you doing? Well it's another Red Sox Yankees weekend at Fenway Park and the only thing missing is Roger Clemens isn't pitching and the Yankees are 13 1/2 back. So what happens next?  Does Clemens resurect the Yankees season every 5 days? Does A-Rod have another embarrasing moment on or off the field or do the Red Sox just start putting the nail in the coffin and praying it's not another 1978 season. Dont worry Red Sox fans it shouldn't be. These aren't those Yankees but they are still the high priced and talented George Steinbrenner Joe Torre led Yankees so who knows and the Yankees are always interesting and worth a headline so we'll see.

June is also time for the Finals in the NBA and the NHL Stanley Cup Finals as well. First the NBA. I'm happy to see the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals again. Kind of a boring team to watch but I love the way they play and win and I especially enjoy those parades down the Riverwalk the best championship celebration site in sports I think and after that Tony Parker gets to marry Desperate Housewives Eva Longoria sorry I don't have a picture of her but you can imagine her in France where they are getting married July 7. Anyway  back to basketball it would be nice to see Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli my favorite player on the Spurs and Parker and the rest of the team win again for Spurs fans that is. It's an odd numbered year and the Spurs aren't going for a repeat so things could be in their favor this year. I think it would be fun to play Lebron James and the Cavaliers for NBA fans watching and I get tired of the Pistons boring defensive style even if they aren't quite the Bad Boys of the 1980's. As I always say we'll see.

As for the NHL for those hockey fans who are watching the Anaheim Ducks are dominating so far at 2-0 in the series but I'm looking forward to the series going back to Ottawa and the Canadian fans spirit. That's what I think makes the games exciting for those who watch and I hope Ottawa can bring back the Stanley Cup to Ottawa and Canada although it looks like Anahiem is the better team at this poiint.

Finally a couple of things what do you all think of Kobe Bryant wanting a trade out of Los Angeles and the Lakers and where should he go if he gets out of his contract? Also just in Billy Donavon has decided to leave the University of Florida Gators and two national championships to go down the road in Florida to the NBA and the Orlando Magic. I think that could hurt his legacy bacause great college coaches aren't  often great in the NBA or NFL ala Steve Spurrier and Billy Donavon's legacy will be hurt because he won't have the same control he did in college and those coaches are often disappointed. Meanwhile the one's who go to college coaching like USC's football coach Pete Carroll often have great success.So good luck Billy Donovan, but my opinion is you'll be back in college coaching again like your mentor Rick Pitino and also John Calapari. So we'll see what happens and let me know what you think as always friends.Best wishes and have great and productive days friends and talk soon again.

Hi friends,

I've been off the blogs for a few weeks both for personal reasons and also I couldn't find the blogs at the new site right away until I got in touch with one of my friends here who I share e-mail with. Thank you. You know who you are. Anyway I'm doing well and ready to talk some sports again and it's great to hear from you always.

Anyway we're at Memorial Day weekend and before we start god bless our troops and veterans and always remember those in memoriam. Our country and way of life would never be the same without your sacrifices. Thank you so much for helping to give us our freedom.

It's also a great sports weekend with the NBA and NHL playoffs in full gear and starting to wind towards the championship series Baseball is heating up. We've got the Indianapolis 500 and Coca Cola 600 NASCAR race for racing fans and over in France the French Open tennis tournament starts today so we have our fill of sports.

In the NBA Western Conference Finals Utah won big at home last night 109-83 over San Antonio but I still think the Spurs have the methodical edge and should win in 5 or 6 games but remember they had a 2-0 lead on the Lakers in 2004 and lost in 6 so it's not over fellow Spurs fans but I still like the Spurs head and heart. They should play Detroit in the finals but I have to see Lebron James and Cleveland at home before I make a final analysis there and the games have been close already. We'll see.

In the NHL I'm excited to see a Canadian team the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup finals for the third season in a row. Hockey ratings aren't big in the United States and what NBC did going to the Preakness was like what they did with Heidi and pro football back in the 1960s but it doesn't get nearly the ratings so few people care. In the finals I'm going to pick the Senators head and heart to beat the Anaheim Ducks a great hockey team themselves but it's time for Canada and their passionate hockey nation to bring home the Stanley Cup though it may go 6 or 7 competitive games before it's decided. Watch some hockey friends and give it a chance friends. I don't know what else they can do to get more pouplar besides hard core hockey fans but then again I'm not a big UFC fan but I give them credit to like their sport as well as fans of other sports I don't follow or like much.

The baseball season is going along nicely for me so far with the Red Sox starting to run away and hide with the division as long as it's not 1978 when they lost a 14 game lead to the Yankees but I don't think these are those Yankees. My other team the Milwaukee Brewers got off to a nice surprising start at 24-10 but have come back to earth a little with a 4-11 record since against tougher cometition. Still they have a good young team with players like Prince Fielder, JJ Hardy,  RicKie Weeks and others. Still they play in a weaker division this year the NL: Central so they're still in the division lead and doing ok. But I don't want them to be a division winner like the 82-80 Padres or whateever they were from a few years ago so I hope they continue to get better and win as a good young team that they are not just because the rest of the division is down or bad.

As for Roger Clemens I wish him well in his comeback and I think he should open at Fenway Park because his return is dramatic and it should be at the most dramatic place where he stated his career in Boston. That's just my opinion.

So in closing have a good weekend friends. Be safe happy healthy and have fun whatever you do and always remember the true meaning of Memorial Day weekend as well friends. It's great to be back and talk soon again. Thanks for all your support and have great and productive days always. Best wishes. fenfan

Hello sports friends,

Well it's been an exciting week both on and off the football field, we have some new NFL coaching hires and a legendary coach leaving. We have a great exciting and historic Super Bowl matchup coming up and for those of you who are hockey fans we have the All Star Game on Wednesday night and a lot of exciting college and pro basketball as well.

First we'll start out with the Super Bowl matchup and I like it because both teams the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis formerly Baltimore Colts are historic franchises who haven't been there in awhile, we have a future Hall of Fame quarterback the Colts Peyton Manning who finally made the Super Bowl and got past his nemesis team the great New England Patriots in the AFC and the Bears who are a long standing traditional franchise who got past another great feel good story team the New Orleans Saints in the NFC.

Also in a historic and cultural aspect there are two African American coaches Tony Dungy of the Colts and Lovie Smith of the Bears who are in the Super Bowl for the first time, but I just like to think of them as great coaches and football people so we'll leave it that although there is the historical aspect since two African American coaches are coaching in the game for the first time and people will mention and recognize it and while it is a big deal they should also be recognized as great coaches in the big game and that's the way I'll look at it from here. Also incidentally the Steelers hired Mike Tomlin another African American coach and while I know little about him, with the Rooneys history of hiring two great coaches the last 38 years in Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher I am hoping the Steelers will have similar success with their new head coach. Hopefully Mike Tomlin will have similar success in Pittsburgh and with the Rooney rule named after Dan Rooney in Pittsburgh to interview at least one minority candidate, I think  it  is a significant and good hire to hire an African American in Mike Tomlin as well. One other note, I  like talking sports and not necessarily focusing on racial aspects of it, but I thought it was important here so I've hopefully been respectful, we'll leave it at that and go on talking more about sports.  

Another great NFL coach Bill Parcells of the Dallas Cowboys decided to step down and while it was sad to see and I thought he had a few more years of coaching it was time for him to step down at 65 years of age, refocus and see what he wants to do with the rest of his life and career. I dont think the Terrell Owens situation had a lot to do with Parcells leaving. I think Parcells was just mainly burnt out and it was time to do whatever he does next. He didn't have the success he and the fans wanted in Dallas but I think that had to do more with the players and a young team than anything rather than his coaching. Being successful and winning a championship takes a lot of time, hard work and some luck and I don't think but hope that Parcells won't be judged on his time in Dallas because he had a lesser team than he did at some of his other stops. And after winning two Super Bowls in New York where could he really go with his career from there. Unless he won more Super Bowls he wouldn't be judged as good as his time in New York and those championship years  in New York would probably be judged as being better anyways so it was kind of a no win situation for Parcells anyways and he has retired again when he was ready to leave.

As for the Super Bowl I'm looking forward to a good game between the Bears and the Colts. As I said Peyton Manning he is finally in the big game whether he wins or loses although a Super Bowl win will definetly increase his legacy along with the big win over the Patriots. Also I think that Rex Grossman is definetly underrated as a quarterback. While nobody's perfect and he is harshly judged as the Chicago quarterback, he has come on got through his mistakes and gotten his team to the Super Bowl with a 19-6 career record so I think people should be quiet about Rex Grossman at least for the moment and appreciate what he and the Bears have done to get to this point being in the Super Bowl. As for the game I don't think it will be a blowout about 7-10 points either way and I'm picking the Bears by about 3-4 points in a mild upset, but we've all been wrong so I'll be interested to hear what you think. Enjoy the coverage and enjoy the game because NFL football wont be back for 6-7 months as far as games are played, a long offseson indeed for all of us football fanatics.

Finally you know I'm a hockey fan and I'm looking forwaed to the NHL All Star Game being played in Dallas. Now I know All Star games aren't the greatest and not all of you sports fans are into hockey, but I enjoy the fast paced excitement of it and this week in Dallas they had some All Star festivities before the game which I didn't get to attend unfortunately because of work, but they had a celebration for 1999 Dallas Stars Stanley Cup winning team and they had the Stanley Cup there which I've always wanted to see and touch. Oh well I probably couldn't touch it but after seeing the Steelers and Packers Super Bowl trophies at their team facilities it would have been neat to see the Stanley Cup which is arguably the best, oldest since 1893 and most distinguished trophy in sports no matter what people think of hockey.  I mean players, coaches and some lucky fans drink from the Cup when they win. Name a trophy in another sport where you can do that. Oh wel somewhere along the line I'll see the Stanley Cup someday. In the meantime we'll just keep rooting and watching sports as fans and by the way I did get to wear Rocky Bleier of the 1970s Steeler championship teams four Super Bowl rings on my fingers so how lucky was I there! I met him at a speaking convention where he spoke and I still e-mail him occasionaly to this day. I also met Terry Bradshaw in a similar circumstance. Anyways have great and productive days and best wishes as always. Best wishes friends and talk to you later.