Tuesday 4/30/24
Derrick White is just an all-around good basketball player. A winning player. Not an All-NBA guy, not a star, but the kind of player about whom a team says, "We wouldn't have won without him" and can say it a fair amount.
Tonight we may get the final call of Jack Edwards' career, and tomorrow Mike Gorman's. Gorman is among the last announcers in sports that makes you want to tune in, no matter what the state of the team is, nor how humdrum the fare--a preseason game--just to hear him. It's not so much what he says, but the presentation, the mood that's created. No shtick, none of that assembly line Syracuse broadcasting style that sends me packing.
I've watched the Bruins blow plenty of 3-1 series leads, so I'm not counting this one over yet, but a Boston/Florida rematch would be pretty compelling.
The NHL playoffs feel a little flat this year to me. On the whole I'd say these first round series have not been particularly dramatic, no real stories have emerged. You usually need a push from the lower seeds for the first round to sparkle, but the likes of the Capitals were overmatched by the Rangers and it never felt like they belonged on the same ice with them.
Trend in recent years: A lot of people from other cities come to town for Red Sox games, turning Fenway into a de facto home ballpark for their team. This happens especially with fans of National League teams. I saw a great many Cubs fans over the weekend, and by Sunday I knew who the Red Sox' next opponent was without checking the schedule because their were Giants fans everywhere.
Luis Aparicio--my second favorite baseball player of all-time--turned ninety yesterday. Would have loved to go to a game and see him play the field.
