The Weekend Wrap: Chris Farley, The Cross Bronx Expressway, and How a Father's Love Won the Revolutionary War

Sometime during the 9 hours I spent on the couch on Saturday, I realized this was a great weekend for sports - plenty of exciting action going on. In case you were busy shopping for mom or dozing off on the couch (as I was), here is what we learned this weekend…

Early Leads for the Favorites in the NHL Playoffs

• The Pens and the Red Wings are legit after dominating both games 1 and game 2
• Gino Malkin punching Derian Hatcher in the face is further evidence that he is one of the best all-around players in the game.
• The Flyers blue line is starting to look like the Continental Army in The Patriot. Can Jaroslav Modry be Philly’s Benjamin Martin?
• Detroit clearly doesn’t have enough offense. They have had 6 different players score each of their six goals this series.
• No one envies Marty Turco (32 saves on 34 shots in Game 2)
• Both conference finals may not go as deep as we originally thought, but hey, Red Wings- Penguins is looking pretty exciting right now.

So Much NCAA Lacrosse

• Notre Dame is now 1-1 in first round games in the rain that go to overtime (and improve to 1-0 under such conditions at home)
• UMBC is a legit program who will continue to improve.
• Johns Hopkins knows how to spell redemption (R-A-B-I-L)
• Canisus? Anyone know where that is? Did they have a game yesterday?
• Bucknell played Army on Saturday – unfortunately it was not in lacrosse (they were two deserving teams who I am sure we have not heard the last of)
• Denver proved that the west can play lacrosse also just not quite as well as the east
• Ohio State showed that Ivy League lacrosse is not what it used to be. (Cornell’s loss is a tough set-back for a promising program)
• Navy made sure there was one solid upset this year

Darrell Rasner is Benjamin Martin…or at least Aaron Small

• Darrell Rasner improves to 2-0 holding both Seattle and Detroit to 2 runs in 6 innings.
• Rasner’s performance is further evidence that the Yankees can’t keep thinking in terms of Chamberlain-Hughes-Kennedy. They have a generation of solid, young pitching waiting in the wings. It would be foolish to not ensure that each got a fair shot.
• Robbie Cano is on a six game hitting streak. Not quite batting on the interstate yet – let’s say he is still stuck in traffic on the Cross Bronx.
• Jason Giambi is hitting .333 with vast increases in on base percentage in his last seven games. I am upgrading him from “useless” to “not exactly hurting us.” Let’s see how long he stays there.

…That’s Spanish for “THE NINO”

• Sergio Garcia will win have at least one big tournament victory under his belt
• I need to do better at not falling asleep when the final group is on the 72^nd (and 73^rd) hole.
• TPC Sawgrass is one beautiful course. I would pretty much give anything to hit a couple wedges into the 17th green. (ok maybe a nine iron!)
• If Paul Goydos can be that cool about losing a tournament I have no business throwing my putter in the bunker after three-putting a birdie putt.
• In golf, the better player always wins. You can get all of the bounces you want; the player who hits the ball best from tee to green wins the tournament. This week, it was Sergio. Garcia led the field in driving accuracy and greens in regulation, which compensated for his average putting performance.