Fair Weather Fans

Wow! What a weekend. I want to start this post by letting you know where I stand. I am and always will be first and foremost a Raider Fan. You may not like it, but that is the way it is. I do not call people who bad mouth or berate their favorite teams a true fan of that team. People who leave the game before the clock expires or before the last out are not true fans, either. I do not care if you are trying to beat the traffic or if "Ain't no way they can pull it off." or "They got this one in the bag." Those are all excuses to not support the team. The players have to be there and I should be there as they head to the locker room, just in case they happen to look to see how many fans hung in there with them. If you call yourself a fan, be a fan. All the costumes like great on T.V., but that does not make you a fan. You see those same people, game after game, booing their (alleged) favorite team as the game appears to slip away. Fans can give the players an extra added will to win if they keep the positive cheers going. I will let it go, for now. but I'm not done.

The Belmont Stakes were held this past weekend. Big Brown was the favorite. Came in last. A horse that was a 38-1 long shot won. Big Brown had a cracked hoof. He held 3rd most of the race. the jockey pulled him up after the second turn. A sign of a problem with the horse. Jockey's know the horse they are riding. Post race...the doctor and the trainer throw the jockey under the bus by announcing that there was nothing wrong with the horse. My take...the horse was in too much pain. Had I bet the race, I would have lost. I applaud the jockey for his work in not risking anymore damage to the horse than what happened.

Game 2 of the NBA playoffs. my prediction died. But still think the Celtics are done. I became fed up with the NBA during the 2nd round of the playoffs. The refs used to attempt to hide not calling fouls in key games or at key moments for big teams, but what I witnessed last night was down right disrespectful. The Celtics have spent 2 games manhandling the Lakers and the refs refuse to call a foul. The Lakers lean too hard on a Celtic player and the whistles blow all over. There was a loose ball foul involving Fisher and a Celtic. Fisher was fouled, but the ball went out of bounds. The ref that was on top of the "mess" said he "did not see it". He turns to another ref who was not near the play and he says "Celtics ball." I was done at that point. It was clear to me that the refs were trying to control the outcome of the game. Lot's of people are saying "if the Lakers had gone to the paint more, they would have gotten more foul calls." So, explain to me, since I am not a basketball person, the only time the ref is allowed to call a foul is when the player in in the paint. The Lakers did outscore the Celtics in the 4th period 30 something to 1 which proves the Lakers have what it takes to beat Boston, if they do not panic. I expect to see a reversal of the way the calls go when the game comes to Los Angeles, tomorrow. It appeared that the NBA wanted the Lakers and the Celtics in the finals and now it looks like the NBA wants the finals to go 7 games. thus, the home team will win the first 6 games and the refs will "try" to call a fair game in game 7.

That's it for now. I will vent more at a later time.