SU caught much of the Rangers game last night and was just settling in for overtime when the Caps snuck in that late goal.  I think the Rangers do better when I don’t pay attention.  Many of you may have missed it but relatively new SU subscriber E. Mass (our first under-40 commenter) made some poignant comments last night about his favorite team.  A few excerpts in case you missed them:

“I’ve watched quite a bit of them and I can say that they put in more effort, collectively, than I’ve seen from any other New York team….Every single player puts in 110% effort, and I think game 4 of the first round is when I realized this squad is my favorite. The Rangers were already up 2-1 in the series and down 1-0 2 minutes into the game. They were playing with house money and could have easily phoned it in with 2 more games in NY ahead of then. Instead of phoning it in, they came back pissed off and scored a gritty goal, bringing the game to OT and ultimately winning it there, in Pittsburgh. Even if you don’t like hockey, and it’s not for everyone, I’ve never seen guys work harder every second of every game than the Rangers this year.”

Meanwhile, P. Bok brings this perspective from down South on the choices that young guys make picking a sport:

“I think that some of these athletes at some time want to play another sport (Terrell Owens, Manny Pacquiao) but they are locked into where they have the most opportunity to succeed. Look at someone like Russell Wilson. Football is not a bad choice for him. With the O-Line around him, the offense run by Seattle, and the rules to protect the QB, he is basically playing flag football out there. Yes, he may have had a shot for baseball before choosing football (his numbers are actually not that bad for a 2B) but he will eventually cash in playing football (and will use baseball as a bargaining chip). For those kids that are 6’5″ and 315 pounds in high school their choices are limited. College football teams have 85 guys. College basketball teams have 14. Certain athletes get bored with baseball and don’t want to play it… not to mention hitting a baseball is a lot harder than people realize (same with fielding one)”

You have to give props to the Clippers for getting that series to a game 7 and winning a second time in San Antonio.  They are long known to be a “soft” team but they have shown a lot of heart in this series.  They need to seal the deal now and take the final game.  A Golden State – LA Clippers Western Conference finals would be a great series between 2 teams and 2 coaches that really don’t like each other.  In an era where athletes on opposing teams are sometimes hugging more than competing (the exception being the KC Royals against anyone), it’s refreshing for the fans to see a little hatred out there.  The Cleveland-Chicago series will also be a war.  In contrast, no doubt this weekend Big Papi will hit his 289th career homerun against the Yankees and every Yankee player will look to give him a big hug afterwards.  SU says enough of that already.