It Is Over

The Miami Heat are NBA champions. I am not too happy. I would have liked to have seen the Thunder win. When the Heat went up 3-1 they went into tonight's game with the attitude to finish it, and they did.

Lebron got his championship. Now where will he go to win another one?

Time to look toward next season. Football is just around the corner and of course we have baseball.

Over Par

Three inches to the left or two inches too far could make the difference between winning and losing in golf. Another US open has come and gone and despite Webb Simpson posting a +1 and shooting a great final round score the true winner of this year's tournament was the Olympic Club. It gobbled up professional golfers and spit them out. Not a single tournament score under par. I would hate to see what would happen if mere mortals played that course.

Even Tiger Woods who usually has his mojo on for that final round found himself quickly consumed by the difficulty of the course. In a matter of the first six holes (coined the toughest opening six holes in golf) he found himself with three bogeys and a double, ouch!!

For us peasants who love the game, playing and watching it helps to see those professionals struggle. Jim Furyk who was tied or in the lead since some time on Friday found himself on the tee at 16 having three holes left to secure a win hooked his tee shot far left into the rough and dash any hopes he had to win. It is US Open moments like that that bring hope to the rest of us. You can look at the television and say "yep, I've done that".

Another example of mortality is Lee Westwood hitting one into the trees and the ball never coming down. I didn't think professionals ever lost a golf ball except for an occasional water shot.

Then there are always the great moments, John Peterson's hole in one, Webb Simpson's comeback and the cool play of a 17 year old amateur.

PGA, thanks for another great US open!

Thunder and Heat

During these summer months when the weather gets really hot and it collides with a cold front it produces Thunder.

The NBA finals are set with the Oklahoma City Thunder playing the Miami Heat. Kevin Durant and Michael Westbrook against the big three from the Heat, James, Wade and Bosh. Who will it be?

I am hoping that a cold front comes to the Heat and produces a Thunder win. We saw the Thunder down two games to none and looking almost left for dead by the Spurs come back and win the next four games. We saw the Heat go up two zero on the Celtics only to almost lose it when the Celtics won three straight.

Will we see the Heat of games 6 and 7 and the Thunder of games 3-6? If so we will see quite the series. I am not a big Heat fan and I will be pulling for the Thunder. I do want to see some good games and some games that come down to the wire. I would like to hear who everyone is pulling for. Please leave me a comment on who you like in this series.

We saw when the Celtics played good defense and made their shots they prevailed. It was when they let LeBron have his way that they found the Heat taking control. The Thunder will have to play good defense and be able to make their shots to win this series. It won't be easy for either team but lets hope it is entertaining.

Twins No Nos

You might think I am going to do a retrospective on Minnesota Twins pitchers who have hurled a no hitter. Like last year's Liriano no hitter, or Eric Milton's 1999 version or how about the 1994 no hitter thrown by Scott Erickson. That would be fun but instead I am going to talk about the Twins connection to all three no-hitters thrown in baseball this year.

The first one.

• On April 21st the Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0 and the Chicago pitcher was Philip Humber who threw the ultimate no hitter, a perfect game.
• Twins connection: He was part of a trade between the Mets and the Twins. He didn't pitch much for the Twins and was released and pitched for the Royals and eventually came to the White Sox. The Twins could use him this year.

The second one:

• On May 2nd Jared Weaver pitcher for the Anaheim Angels facing the Minnesota Twins proceeded to throw a no hitter. Winning by the score of 9-0.
• Twins connection: The Twins were the victims.

The third one:

• On Friday June 1st the New York Mets shutout the St. Louis Cardinals 8-0 with Johan Santana throwing his first no hitter and the Mets first in franchise history.
• Twins connection: Johan used to be the ace of the Minnesota Twins pitching staff until they traded him to the Mets for a handful of players including Philip Humber.

Three interesting Twins connections to the 2012 no hitters. Congratulations to Humber, Weaver and Santana.