Now that the pretenders have been eliminated and the contenders are fighting it out to see who gets to the conference finals, it’s time to reassess the match ups.

In the east the Pistons have a 3 games to 1 strangle hold on the Orlando Magic and appear poised to make yet another east final. In the other match up The Boston Celtics look like world beaters at the garden, but continue to struggle on the road as they are still winless on the road. LeBron James has struggled in every game, so if he can get his game together the Celtics could be in serious trouble. The Cavs can even the series tonight with a win at home. Oddly enough the Celtics won the most road games in the regular season in 34 and are the only team left in the playoffs NOT to win one on the road. Funny how things change when the games matter.

In the Western conference the Lakers cruised to two home victories to take what most people thought was a commanding lead in the series, but once the scene moved to Utah where the Jazz are the NBA’s winningest home team, the Jazz evened the series with two tightly contested games and now that series is a best of three. I still expect the Lakers with newly minted league MVP Kobe Bryant to advance to the Western finals.

The same can be said in the other semifinal with New Orleans winning their two home games and San Antonio winning their two. With every one of the four series, the teams are so closely matched; I can see why the home court advantage means pretty much everything, but I still wonder why one of these teams can’t rise up and take a game on the road.

I’m guessing the teams with the most remaining home games will advance. So it looks like the Lakers, Hornets, Pistons and Celtics will be playing for a spot in the NBA finals. And like I’ve stated before - the whole country is waiting for a Lakers/Celtics match up, so let’s hope the two teams hold up their end of the revenue bargain.

...But it's the Cubs who spew venom

The Arizona Diamondbacks made their annual trip to Wrigley field this past weekend and what a weekend it was. The D’backs came to Wrigley field with the best record in baseball and the Cubs returned home after a lackluster road trip. Thankfully, the Chicago Cubs caught a few breaks, got great pitching, timely hitting and swept the Diamondbacks and now find themselves back in first place.

The opener of the series was a great pitchers’ duel with Dan Haren going for the visitors and Ted Lilly going for the Chicago Cubs. Each starting pitcher went seven innings with Lilly turning in his best game of the year. After last year’s playoff disaster Lilly definitely had something to prove and he did - allowing one run while striking out a season high 10. The Cubs also got some timely hitting as they scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth with two outs and Lilly even got into the action with a run scoring single of his own. The bullpen held the lead and the Chicago Cubs took game 1.

The last two games of the series were pretty similar, with both starting out as pitchers’ duels. That story changed once Arizona’s bullpen got involved. Saturday’s game saw the Cubs break open a close game in the home half of the seventh inning. It was that man again Kosuke Fukudome capping off a six run inning with a two run homer that had the Wrigley faithful chanting FU-KU-DOME!!!

The last game of the series was supposed to be the best of the three, with future hall of famer Randy Johnson going head to head with Big Z Carlos Zambrano. Apparently Mother Nature wasn’t impressed with the match up as heavy rain hit the Chicagoland area all night and all morning with temperatures dropping into the mid 40’s. When the rain finally did stop, the game was delayed a little more than an hour. Both managers decided to scratch the top guns and replace them with lesser known pitchers. Very good game nonetheless and once again the D’backs bullpen was to blame for the loss. It was that lucky 7th inning again as Reed Johnson hit a two run game tying home run and little used pinch hitter Daryl Ward came up with his second clutch hit in as many days in the 8th to give the blue shirts the lead. The Cubs ran Kerry Wood out in the ninth to nail it down the three game sweep was complete.

Well it looks like the Sports Illustrated cover jinx has now hit the windy city. Ever since the Chicago Cubs graced the cover of the long standing sports magazine they have been sinking in the standings faster than a stone tossed in Lake Michigan. In fact the Cubs are 3-8 since the magazine hit newsstands and now find themselves in second place 2 ½ games behind the Cardinals after dropping two of three this weekend in St. Louis.

I thought the SI curse was supposed to be relegated to pro football, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Cubs’ fans will try and use any plausible excuse to rationalize anything that goes wrong with the team. They now have 2 more games in Cincinnati before they return to the friendly confines for a 10 game home stand which happens to be the longest of the season.

Funny tidbit last night as I was flipping through the channels at 8:45 local time, both the Cubs and White Sox had the bases loaded with a chance to win their respective games. The Cubs were trailing 5-3 and the Sox were trailing 1-0. Both looked like they were poised to post victories, but after some bad base running by the Cubs and a game ending double play by the Sox, suddenly at 8:51 local time both hometown teams came up losers.

This week marked another possible end to a great coaching career as Pat Riley stepped down as head coach of the Miami Heat. Big deal some people say as he has done this before, but I have a feeling this one is going to stick. He's getting older, so I don’t think he’d be up for another rebuilding process & I certainly don’t think he could swoop in & steal somebody else’s thunder like he did two years ago.

Mr. Pat Riley holds a very special place in my childhood as a kid growing up in LA. He was the coach who led the Lakers to four championships in seven years & let’s not forget they had a chance to win two more. His brand of basketball was labeled "showtime" & it was exciting and like nothing anybody had seen. Growing up watching the Lakers compete for the title year after year was not only an unbelievable achievement, but the style & ease with which it was done was remarkable. I remember watching the games with my dad & then going out on our court trying to mimic the moves of Magic Johnson & Kareem Abdul- Jabbar.

The heated rivalry between my Lakers & the Boston Celtics in the eighties taught me how to be competitive, respectful of your opponent & more importantly taught me that it was ok to really hate something. The demeanor in which way Pat Riley stood on those sidelines chewing his gum in his designer suits with his slicked back hair. He just looked the part of half mob moss & part basketball genius.

Even when coach Riley left LA for New York, I still followed him in the papers daily to see how he was doing with his new team. When he left NYC for Miami I knew he was up to something great & sure enough he built another winner & won a championship two years ago. Now his current team is in turmoil, in a rebuilding mode and he is taking the high road & walking away from the sidelines.

  Some people in the media are giving him grief as he is the president of basketball operations & the person who put the personnel in place, but I am giving him a free pass from the criticism as he is as close to a childhood hero as I have. Thanks for the memories Pat, you will be missed.

It’s rivalry week in Cub world as tonight marks the second time this month the Cubs & their rivals to the north the Milwaukee Brewers square off at Wrigley field. After the three game set at Wrigley the Cubs head south to St. Louis this weekend to fight it out with the hated Cardinals.

As play starts today the Cubs see themselves clinging to a one game lead over the Cards & are two games ahead of the Brew crew atop the tightly contested Central Division. Although it’s early, the Cubs need to defend their home field & keep the pesky Brewers at bay.

Tonight’s game should be a great pitching match up with runs being a premium. Ben Sheets goes for the visitors & Jason Marquis for the Cubs. Sheets is coming off a slight arm issue which led him to miss a start. He’s owned the Cubs at Wrigley the last couple of years and looks to win his 3rd straight at our ballpark. Marquis has fared great against Milwaukee in his career, but has pitched well of late.

Wednesday’s game should also be great. It’s another nationally televised game by ESPN which is always fun for our neighborhood. Ryan Dempster pitches for the Cubs & The Brew counter with Jeff Suppan. After being the closer on last years team, Lou Piniella decided to gamble & make Dempster a starter & so far it has really paid off as he has been arguably the team’s best pitcher.

Thursday’s game is the finale of the three & extremely special for me as I am invited to watch the game on a friends rooftop across the street from Wrigley field. I have never been on one of the rooftops, but I’m told it’s a great experience. All the food & drink is included & the view looking into the Wrigley is unbelievable. Since Wrigley field is uniquely positioned right in the middle of a full fledge neighborhood the Cubs are the only team in professional baseball to have rooftops with a full view of the game. So to say this is incredibly unique is an understatement. I’ll have more to say about this after Thursday’s game.

The NBA’s second season began last week. That’s right the playoffs are in full swing. Although it’s still the first round, you can already tell who the teams to beat are. The Lakers have come out of the gate screaming. Kobe Bryant had 49 points last night & completely took over the game against the Denver Nuggets when he needed to. His troops know they have a legitimate shot at the title this year & nobody on that team wants to be the reason they don’t win.

The San Antonio Spurs are using a combination of veteran moxie & home court advantage to take a two games to none lead over the revamped Phoenix Suns. The Suns better protect their home court this weekend or someone is going to have some serious explaining to do because they paid a very steep price to acquire Shaquille O’Neal & the sole reason they brought him to the desert is so they can hoist that championship trophy.

In the East it looks like there are three elite teams. The Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers & the Detroit Pistons.  The Celtics look to be the class of that conference, but LeBron James is to tough to count out & Detroit has been there before & know how to win close games. But let’s be honest the Lakers & Celtics are on a collision course to meet in the NBA finals & with so much history between these the two storied franchises ratings would be through the roof.

Being from LA myself I am amazed at how fast the Lakers went from mediocre to contenders in a mere four months. It would also be extra special for Phil Jackson because he is one championship ring away from becoming the winningest coach in NBA history passing former Celtic great Red Auerbach and that would really steam the Boston faithful. So hold on & stay tuned it’s going to be a great and remember..........We are all witnesses.

In a New York state of mind. In what could possibly be described as the Haley’s comet of baseball. Chicago was bombarded with tons NewYorkers this week as both the Mets & Yankees were in town to play this week. In fact the last time this occurred was 1983. The Cubs swept their brief two game set with the Mets, outscoring them 15-2 with the first game being televised by ESPN which was pretty cool that a national audience got to see the Cubs flex their muscles a bit. Carlos Zambrano & Ted Lilly respectively dominated the struggling Metropolitans each giving up a run in a combined 13 innings. Tuesday’s game was broken open late with a Ronny Cedeno grand slam that had the Wrigley faithful all in a frenzy.

Things have not gone as well for the south siders as the Yankees have taken the first 2 games of that series. The White Sox are in first place in their division, but they haven’t played like it & they haven’t been able to avoid the big inning allowing the Yankees to put up crooked numbers & score in bunches and once the Bronx bombers get to the 8th inning the game is virtually over with Joba Chamberlain & Mariano Rivera nailing it down. The White Sox best shot comes today when Gavin Floyd takes the mound as he has been the Sox most reliable pitcher early on. The Yankees will counter with the young and unpredictable Phil Hughes.

The Chicago Cubs continued their winning ways last night in Colorado taking extra innings to extinguish the Rockies. In doing so the Cubs currently have the best record in baseball they are riding a six game winning streak and have won 14 out of their last 17 games. In fact they are off to their best start in over 30 years. Although it is still very early in the season to get overly excited we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, so let’s keep in mind pennants are not won in April, but they sure can be lost in the first month.

More importantly though with last night’s win the franchise has moved into very elite company as they become just the second team ever to reach the ten thousand win mark. The New York/San Fransisco Giants being the only other team to achieve this historic plateau. Think about this for a quick second the lovable losers have won more games than the mighty New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Those two teams are considered the gold standard in baseball not the Cubs so congratulations on that.

Anyway back to hot start the Cubs are off to. The current lineup really seems to be firing on all cylinders & all of this without the help of the $14 million dollar man Alfonso Soriano who is on the disabled list for at least another week. The newly acquired Reed Johnson a Toronto Blue Jay cast off is really holding things together at the top of the order. He has been a great sparkplug & the other players really seem to be feeding off of his energy. Derek Lee has been his usual stellar self solidifying himself as one of the top ten players in the league and Kosuke Fukudome seems to be doing something great on a nightly basis, whether it’s stealing a base, stretching a double into a triple, or taking a walk and letting the guys behind him hit with runners on.

The nightlife around of Wrigleyville is already starting to heat up, so you can imagine if the Cubs keep this up the neighborhood should be rocking a little more than usual this summer.

After a very long five year wait & with rumors circulating for months, Stone Temple Pilots with Scott Weiland back in the fold is reuniting & staging a big summer tour. They also have plans to go into the studio in the fall for an album with all new material. STP was one of my favorite bands in the late 90's & I was extremely upset when they broke up. The De Leo brothers have a really distinct sound & I'm really looking forward to seeing if they can recapture the magic they once had as they were one of the biggest rock & roll bands in the world at their peak. 

  Since 2003, Scott Weiland has been passing the time as the front man for super group Velvet Revolver, but was recently relieved of his duties by the other band members for what Slash called "personal issues & erratic behavior" Talk about a pot calling the kettle black. But Slash and his personal problems are a whole different can of worms. Anyway, I'm guessing the main question will be not if the music is great but if Weiland can behave himself. He has had so many run-ins with the law whether it's been with drugs, alcohol or a whole slew of other personal problems, I'm hoping the tour rocks & they reclaim their spot as one of the best rock & roll bands of my generation.

Get ready hockey fans & don’t make any plans for the next couple of months. The NHL playoffs start tonight & here are a few predictions I am laying out. In the Western conference the San Jose Sharks are playing the best hockey out of anybody in the league. The Sharks have Joe Thornton who is an absolute stud & I see them beating the old & tired Detroit Red Wings with 43 year old goaltender Dominik Hasek before knocking heads against the defending champions the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference finals. In the Eastern conference the Montreal Canadiens are clearly the gold standard but, I think the New York Rangers are poised to make a deep run this year. They have battle tested veterans in Chris Drury, Jaromir Jagr & Brendan Shanahan & veteran leadership goes a long way in the playoffs. The great unknown is the eastern conference with the Pittsburgh Penguins and superstar Sidney Crosby & the Washington Capitals with Alexander Ovechkin where youth is being served. If either of these two kids get hot, watch out because they can carry their respective teams for a round or two. That would really be something to see a San Jose Sharks versus Montreal Canadiens NHL final.