Cavaliers nip Pacers 109-108

The Cleveland Cavaliers put forth an uneven effort and allowed the Indiana Pacers to put together a fourth quarter that put them back into the game and with a chance for the underdog to win.
Fortunately for Cleveland,former Cavalier C.J.Miles was short with his jumper and Cleveland escaped with a 109-108 win in game one of their series..
LeBron James scored 32 points and dished 13 assists with Kyrie Irving adding 23 points.
Cleveland will host game two Monday night....

Swashbucklings

1) The Cavaliers defense had its problems again in this game,but when the game was on the line,Cleveland stepped up with the Pacers inbounding with ten seconds and kept the ball out of the hands of Paul George.
Evcn if C.J.Miles drills the jumper to win the game for Indiana,that was exactly the type of defense that you hope to see when the game is decided...

2) LeBron James played in his 200th playoff game in the victory.
James threw down the pictured dunk and set the packed house down with screams...

3) Tyronn Lue is going to stick to a tight rotation as Iman Shumpert and Derrick Williams didn't play in this one.
I'm willing to bet that that both Shumpert and Williams will play a bigger role sometime during the playoffs.
Lue played matchups in last years playoffs,he is likely to do so again...

4) Kyle Korver did play 15 minutes,but Indiana was prepared for the sharpshooter,didn't leave him alone and played him tight enough that he was only able to launch one shot-a two pointer that he made.
Korver had big games (25 points per game) against Indiana earlier this season and the Pacers figured that into their defensive plans in game one...

5) Kyrie Irving did score 23 points,but he did it on 11 for 27 shooting and just 1 of 9 from three point range.
Combine that with a missed layup late in the game and Irving's numbers looked better than they were..

6) Yes,Cleveland was lucky to escape with a win,but despite defensive breakdowns and many missed opportunities,the fact still remains that the Cavaliers won on a day that they were far from at their best.
The main thing is the win,I'll take that everytime.

Indongo incinerates Burns

In an lopsided bout in Glasgow,Scotland, Julius Indongo added the WBA junior welterweight title to his IBF title in the same division in a lopsided unanimous decision over Ricky Burns.
I scored Indongo a 119-109 winner (11-1 in rounds) and even the round that I gave Burns could have gone to Indongo..

Indongo backed Burns up by using his reach and kept Burns off his back foot,unable to do anything remotely threatening to the native of Namibia.
I (and Ramon Malpica) picked Burns,but this was one of those fights that a minute into the bout,you could see that if Indongo didn't make a tactical error and was able to continue to fight in the same manner that he started,that this fight was decided...
I picked Burns because I had seen less than a minute of Indongo in the ring against anything remotely resembling even top 50 competition,but it's clear that he'll be a handful for anyone in the 140 pound division and that includes Terence Crawford.

Indongo is very tall for a 140 pounder (nearly 5'11) and has an awkward style that is aggressive,yet with some skills to go with the size.
Of course,you would have to favor the more tested Crawford,but Indongo brings enough to make that fight an interesting one.
Crawford has beaten fighters with similar size before (Viktor Postol),so the taller fighter is not something Crawford hasn't seen,but Indongo moves forward unlike Postol,who was more of a boxer and he throws more punches.
I'd like to see that fight get made after Crawford's May fight against Felix Diaz,who is far from a light touch and I think that fight is makeable.
The IBF signed off on this fight since it was a unification fight and would do the same for a Crawford fight,but if that fight cannot be made next, Indongo's next foe will be the IBF mandatory Sergei Lipinets,who is 12-0 and a PBC fighter.

Big fight weekend next week in the challenge coming up.
I'll be back later tonight with a look at the Cavaliers nailbiter over Indiana..

Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge has a one fight weekend,but it's a significant fight that is either a on-line or YouTube bout as the WBA and IBF junior welterweight belts will be unified in Glasgow,Scotland as WBA champ Ricky Burns meets IBF titlist Julius Indongo to unify their titles.

Ricky Burns is reminds one much of WBO lightweight champ Terry Flanagan,who fought last weekend-technically sound,not a lot of pop and not quite good enough to beat the elite of the division,
Julius Indongo was literally an unknown as he had never left his home country of Namibia or fought even a top twenty contender before traveling to Russia and wiping out Eduard Troyanovsky in less than a minute.
Watching that fight,you'd think Indongo is a destroyer,but he's only knocked out eleven of his twenty one opponents.
Has Indongo suddenly found significant power or did he just catch Troyanvosky cold or unprepared?
Burns is good enough to give us a better idea on Indongo after Saturday as his history shows that he loses to really good fighters,while having enough to beat merely good ones.

Boxing fans should be rooting for Indongo to win as after the bout the four titles will be divided between the winner and Terence Crawford,who not only owns the WBC and WBO belts,he also owns a decision over Ricky Burns,in which Crawford won almost every round,making a rematch to unify all the titles unlikely to happen as I can't think of anyone. not even Burns that wants to see that fight again.
An Indongo win,especially if he can stop Burns,which has never been done,not even by Crawford would make a Crawford-Indongo fight possible and intriguing.

I lead the boxing challenge 41-36 over Ramon Malpica and both of us are picking Ricky Burns by a unanimous decision...

Cleaning out the inbox

After the recent all baseball inbox,I'm going to clean the rest of the inbox and start fresh into the weekend.
I've gotten a few questions for Q and A from different sources and I'll be doing that sometime over the holiday weekend,so if interested,you still have time.

The Cleveland Cavaliers might have wobbled down the late season stretch like a jalopy with four bald tires,but even though the Cavaliers blew the Eastern Conference's top seed-the real season begins Saturday afternoon as the second seeded Cavaliers begin the playoffs against the seventh seeded Indiana Pacers.
There is plenty to be concerned about,but few,if any,people consider anyone but Cleveland to be the favorites to win the East.
My pick in this one:Cavaliers in five...
I'm going to have as much coverage as I can have,which basically means,if I see the game,I'll write about it.

A few goodbyes:

Goodbye to Steelers owner Dan Rooney,who died yesterday at the age of 84.
Normally,I wouldn't have much to say about the owner of the Steelers,who have whipped the Browns constantly over the last almost 20 years,but I've always had a place for Dan Rooney,who was one of just two owners (along with Ralph Wilson of the Buffalo Bills) that voted against Art Modell's theft of the Browns to Baltimore.
No matter my hatred for the Steelers,I'll always think well of Dan Rooney for that...

Goodbye to former Texas Tech running back James Hadnot at the age of 59.
The thunderous runs of the hulking Hadnot led the defunct Southwest Conference in rushing in 1978 and 1979 after being converted from tight end two weeks before the 1978 season.
Hadnot was a punishing,physical rusher and preferred to run defenders over rather than running by them.
Hadnot was a third round selection by the Chiefs in 1980 and spent four years in Kansas City before finishing his career in the USFL with the San Antonio Gunslingers.

Goodbye to "Pretty Boy" Larry Sharpe at the age of 66.
Sharpe was best known as the first big pro wrestling trainer at his wrestling school "the Monster Factory" having trained many stars in the wrestling game such as King Kong Bnndy,Bam Bam Bigelow and Raven to name just a few.
I'll always remember Sharpe best for his television matches from the first year that I was a fan of wrestling.
Sharpe was given a few television wins in order to raise him above the level of the television "enhancement talent",but at the arenas would lose to anyone above that level,although he was often the victor in his preliminary matches...

In a recent inbox,I wrote about Mary Katherine Ham of CNN and the Federalist.
Ham hit home for me as she wrote about her love for the Masters,yet she never has played golf.
As a golf fan of both tours that doesn't play golf,her words were more eloquent than I would written on my memories growing up,but the feelings were similar.
Mary Katherine Ham is a coming star in print and television.

We finish with a Deadspin post that was written before Georgetown hired Patrick Ewing as their head basketball coach.
It discusses the fifty year war between John Thompson,who still wields the most power at Georgetown (if he didn't,why would Georgetown hire someone that has never been a head coach at any level or ever coached in college at all?) and DeMatha coach Morgan Wooten and his successors.
It's a great remembrance of Washington basketball and all of the heat and controversy that involves...

First Week-On the Signing Front

Wow.Week one of the minor league season is now in the books and I figured I'd make a quick rundown....

Before I begin,I'll be doing another Q and A in the next day or two-drop me questions here,Facebook,Twitter or if we are actual friends- email.
I love the Q and A sessions and I have received some minor league baseball questions,so look for that soon!

I have three podcasts set for the baseball downtime,so the podcast will be back soon with three great guests-two returning and one new!

With all three teams that are close all opening their seasons at home in week one with one or two series,there was plenty to do and see,but the downside was that there will be eight days in between the last game and another game.

Let's start with the local bunch with the Hagerstown Suns.
I only attended one game for each series of the homestand-1 against the Asheville Tourists (Colorado Rockies) and the final game against the Lakewood Blue Claws (Philadelphia Phillies),as to be frank,I had games/teams in other locales that I wanted to do as well.

The chronically understaffed Suns didn't really change much at the Muni,but I didn't see anything to complain about as far as changes go,so things weren't that bad.
The Tourists featured two first round picks in 2015 (Compensation round) third baseman Tyler Nevin (son of former big leaguer and current Giants coach Phil Nevin) and 2016 first rounder (4th overall) fireballer Riley Pint.
I decided to go the Frederick Keys route on the Sunday,which was far more fun due to a great meal with Doug Hopkins afterwards,but in doing I missed seeing Pint,who reportedly was hitting 100 MPH on the radar gun against the Suns.
Earlier in the series,Pint signed all three cards that I had,but Nevin was missed as a grapher with a pile of cards and other items nailed Nevin and left the rest of us grasping for air.
Luckily for me,there was always Derreck Chupak,who in his visit later in the series,helped me with Nevin and was able to get him on all my stuff...
Other interesting additions was 2016 fourth rounder Colton Welker and former Ohio State Buckeye Jacob Bosiokovic,who chatted with me about the Buckeyes...

As noted,I attended just one game against Lakewood and the top overall pick in 2016 Mickey Moniak.
I suspected the Moniak show would attract graphers from the circuit for a crazy environment and I go to games for fun and relaxation-that didn't seem like fun to me.
I passed on Monday in order to do Fightheads and I thought Harrisburg with Bill Cover on Tuesday would be more fun even with a lesser team (Hartford) than battling graphers.
I hit the final game of the series with a grand total of just five cards-1 for the aforementioned Moniak and 4 for a reliever named Harold Arauz,
I had gotten quite a bit of the Blue Claws last year at Williamsport,the short season affiliate of the Phillies and with a few more additions from Doug Hopkins ( I did stuff for him in Harrisburg),I was left with just five cards.
I told Arauz that he was the main player that I needed tonight and he quizzically looked at me and said "Moniak?".
I said I had more for him (Arauz) than anyone and when he signed,my night was just about finished,
I wondered whether it was worth trying to join the crowd for Moniak (the graphing crowd was there for him,the actual crowd-not so much) and decided why not and he was quiet,but efficient and knocked my Bowman's Best card out.
I watched the game and enjoyed the quiet as noted earlier,the undermanned Suns staff wasn't able to do as many of the on-field skits as normal.
I decided to skip the bus crowd and went home as I had to leave for work within the hour.
The Suns early season six o'clock starts allow me to stay a lot more than later in the season when the games start at seven.
I'm planning on a different plan of attack for the hometown team this season.I'm going to try keeping things to just one or maybe two games a series,
I'm hoping that a small reduction in games will allow me to have more fun in Hagerstown...

I spent Sunday with the Frederick Keys and the visiting Carolina Mudcats.
The Mudcats are in their first year with the Milwaukee Brewers,who are new to the local circuit.
As a result,almost all of us have tons of cards for the Mudcats.
Mike Landucci had earlier added Trent Clark on his 2016 top 100 (Clark would be the only top 100 pickup of the opening week) for me,so I was able to add Clark on his Midwest League top prospect card.
I always love doing the league top prospect sets and except for the top 100 sets,those are always my top of the list to have signed.
2014 first rounder Kodi Mederios was very nice in signing a few different cards with the best additions being his 2015 Midwest and 2016 Florida State prospect cards and also nice was former sandwich pick Jacob Gatewood,who signed all 4 cards that I had.
The best get might have been promising hurler Marcos Diplan,who is fast moving up the top prospect charts.
Diplan signed his Midwest prospect card and his Pioneer league All-Star card and stopped to do it-very nice.
After a dinner with Doug Hopkins,I went home to watch the end of the Masters and skipped the Suns.
I always enjoy the Frederick Keys,the graphing access is usually great,the employees almost always friendly (there was one usher a few years ago as the exception) and I usually have a good time there,although I don't get to watch games there as much as I wish that I could.

Tuesday was spent with Bill Cover for the Hartford Yard Goats and we were met there by Fred and Mike Landucci.
I've never had a bad experience in Harrisburg and of the three stops,it's likely my favorite to watch a game in.
The AA game is a better quality game and moves faster as a result.
Harrisburg also has one other factor-my man Nate DeFazio.
Nate is my favorite employee among my minor league stops,always thanks me for coming to Harrisburg,talks for a bit and is pleased to see me (and Derreck when he is able to come),which is a welcome change from another spot-Ha Ha!!!
The Yard Goats weren't loaded with prospects,but a few interesting cards were inserted into the finished collection for mine (and Doug's)
Outfielder Omar Carrizales was extremely nice in signing three cards,starter Ryan Castellani pitched well in his start and signed two cards,before joining what appeared to be his family and former Texas Longhorn Parker French signed five cards (combined between Doug and mine).
I always like my Harrisburg trips and look forward to more as the year goes by.

I now have eight days off and after looking forward to the return of the game for the fall and winter,this break is a little longer than preferred.
Upcoming teams
Delmarva visits Hagerstown (Unsure on this,a very light prospect team,they make several trips to Hagerstown and not a lot of cards combined with other stops)
Salem visits Frederick-Will definitely be doing the Red Sox after missing many of those players at Greenville last year.
Lakewood and Charleston in West Virginia-First long trip of the year sees the Blue Claws again,a early chance to do the West Virginia Power and Blake Rutherford with the Yankee affiliated RiverDogs.
Reading visits Harrisburg-More cards than expected for the Fighting Phils with young outfielder Carlos Tocci and second baseman Scott Kingery.
Kannapolis visits Hagerstown-This one will be a missed series as I'll be in Charleston and Harrisburg before missing a 10;30 am game due to a work meeting.
Doug Hopkins is swapping his Reading cards for me to do as I give him my Kannapolis cards to work on...

Those games will take care of April and set the stage for May....

Cleaning out the inbox-Baseball Version

On a beautiful day for baseball (and the Giants home opener),it's time for an all baseball cleaning out the inbox!

ESPN discusses an opinion that Buster Posey is now the best defensive catcher in the game.
For years,the Cardinal backstop Yadier Molina had gotten that nod,but with the advent of the numbers crowd and their interest in catchers pitch framing abilities,I can see where Posey has risen to the top of the heap.
Between his offensive numbers and defensive capabilities,Posey is the best catcher in the game.

Two articles from the SABR Baseball Card Blog grabbed some attention.
The first dealt with former Pirate fireballing southpaw Bob Veale.
Veale was one of more overlooked pitchers of the 1960's with the Reds Jim Maloney and was one that few wanted to face due to his power arm and sometimes less than accurate control.
Veale also wore glasses and the article shows his various Topps cards and the different looks in the them....

The other article deals with the 1968 Topps baseball game insert set.
The game was built with Topps packs as one card was found in each 1968 pack.
I never played it as a game,but I did always like the cards and tried to collect them as much as I could.
In this years Topps Heritage set,there is a similar set available as short print inserts with the current players.
It's a nice touch and I'm going to try to get that set sometime...

The baseball hall of fame brings a pair of links to the party with one writing about well-traveled outfielder and designated hitter Rico Carty.
Carty had two interesting facts in 1970 as he won the batting title hitting .366 as an Atlanta Brave and as the first player to be voted as an All-Star game starter as a write-in candidate and only one of two ever (Steve Garvey 1974 was the other).
Carty was also a DH for the Indians and put together three strong years in Cleveland.
Carty's knees was the main reason that he became a DH and that wasn't uncommon for the first era of the hitting specialist that saw so many aging stars that could still hit,but not field or run keep a place in the game.

The second was really interesting as it took an in-depth look at the move that Bud Selig managed to buy the Seattle Pilots after just one season (1969) in Seattle and move the team to Milwaukee.
It discusses the Pilots problems,how Milwaukee filled their interim time after the loss of the Braves and all the maneuvering that landed the Pilots in Wisconsin.
One thought to ponder when you play the what if game is what would have happened had Selig never brought baseball back to Milwaukee.
How many of all of these changes to the game would have been different with someone other than Bud Selig as the commissioner?

Hardball Times writes about the career of the recently deceased Bill Hands and does so through his baseball cards.
Hands was an excellent number two starter for the Leo Durocher led Cubs of the late 60's and early 70's and it shows one of those awful Topps airbrushing jobs with Hands shown in a painted over Twins uniform,yet clearly pitching at Wrigley Field long before interleague play was in place.
Hands passed at the age of 76.

We wrap up with the Petaluma Press Democrat writing about their hometown resident and San Francisco Giant home game host Amy Gutierrez.
Gutierrez enters her tenth year doing Giants games and even though I'm not always a fan of sideline reporters,Gutierrez rarely enters the field during the game,stays on the outside for the most part for her new segments and then does the postgame interview.
She does an excellent game of blending into the AT&T Park experience and meshes well with Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper as part of the best local broadcast crew in the game.
Gutierrez talked about her time with the Giants,her children's book series and the issues that come with the job with raising two children.

Lomachenko dominates Sosa-Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge rolled into Maryland of all place for three fights and two more in England for a big fight weekend.
I outscored Ramon Malpica nine to six on the weekend to move my lead to 41-36 on the year....

The first ever card at the new MGM casino in Oxon Hill Maryland featured what some consider the best fighter in the world as Vasyl Lomachenko won every round from Jason Sosa and forced his corner to throw in the towel after the ninth round to retain his WBO junior lightweight title.
Lomachenko did not score a knockdown on the game Sosa,but steadily pounded the challenger and rarely took a punch,let alone one of value.
The knockout win gave me three points (win,result and round called) to Ramon's one.

As for Lomachenko,who might be boxing's most avoided man,who knows what's next.
None of the other three champions (WBA Jezreel Corrales,WBC Miguel Berchelt or IBF Gervonta Davis) seem to have any interest in fighting him,which is why Jason Sosa took his shot.
Orlando Salido,who defeated Lomachenko in a fight that saw Salido miss weight and fire low blows consistently over their fight that should have seen Salido lose points,but weren't before Salido won a narrow split decision.
That rematch would be interesting as Salido has been the only opponent not only defeat Lomachenko,but even give him a challenge.
However,Top Rank (Lomachenko's promoter) thinks Salido has overpriced himself to avoid the rematch.
A move to 135 pounds could see two challengers to make Lomachenko work in WBA champ Jorge Linares or WBC champ Mikey Garcia,but if the WBC has their way,those two will fight each other next.
Other than those two,I don't see anyone capable of giving Lomachenko a mild challenge under 140 pounds and that could mean more squash matches like last night....

The undercard saw Oleksandr Usyk win a unanimous decision over former U.S.Olympian Michael Hunter to retain his WBO cruiserweight title.
Usyk badly hurt Hunter in the 12th and scored a knockdown when the ropes held a badly hurt Hunter up on his feet.
This fight should have been stopped in that round,but it wasn't-if Maryland is going to become a fight staple in Oxon Hill-they had better start training some quality referees.
I scored Usyk a 117-110 winner (9-3 with the knockdown),but Hunter showed some good things.
He needs more seasoning,but he could be back down the road.
I'd love to see Usyk against IBF champ Murat Gassiev or WBC titleist Mairis Breidis in unification fights,which would be close and entertaining contests.
Ramon and I each scored one point for the win,as we did for the other fight on the HBO broadcast as
there is a looming star in the light heavyweight division in Oleksandr Gvozdyk,who steamrolled Yunieski Gonzalez in three rounds.
Gvozdyk dropped Gonzalez twice in the round,sending him staggering around the ring before finishing him off in leaving him face down on the canvas.
The light heavyweight division is suddenly filled with promising big punching contenders in Gvozdyk,Artur Beterbiev,Joe Smith among other solid contenders in Elieder Alvarez,Sullivan Barrera and the rising in weight Badou Jack,so lots of good fights could be made-lets see what happens....

In Manchester,England,Terry Flanagan retained his WBO lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Petr Petrov.
I scored Flanagan a 116-112 winner,but from what I saw against the solid,but unspectacular Petrov.
Flanagan might want to stay away from the top two lightweights in the above mentioned Linares and Garcia.
Ramon and I each earned two points for the Flanagan win.

In a travesty on many levels,Liam Smith defeated Liam Williams when a severe (and rare) double cut on Williams eyelid forced his corner to resign after the ninth round.
The bout was scheduled to be for the "interim" WBO junior middleweight title that will be more than likely upgraded to the full title when Canelo Alvarez vacates the division,but Smith missed weight and left only Williams to win the title.
And then the worst part,I had Williams ahead six rounds to three at the end of nine,but near the end of the round,I thought Smith clearly charged in with malice head first and headbutted Williams causing the cut that would end the fight.
It was ruled a clash of heads and had Williams continued and had the fight been stopped due to that cut,the scorecards would have been consulted.
Instead the corner looked after their fighter over the chance of victory,gave Smith an undeserved win and kept the title vacant.
Smith's stoppage win gave me two points and Ramon one...

More on these and other boxing issues Monday on Fightheads..