2008 Stanley Cup Finals: Red Wings lead 3-2, Game 6 Wednesday, NBC
Commentary: Why Detroit Sucks Video

SCOTT JACOBS

The tension was building. The morning was approaching. Lord Stanley’s Cup was in the building for Detroit’s taking. The Red Wings up 3-1 in the Stanley Cup Finals had been here before. They led the Stars 3-1 but fell in game five, at home. This time, in the same situation, only with a NHL title on the line, they lost, again. Only this game took a little longer.

The Red Wings were 35 seconds away from winning the cup in the third, when Pittsburgh’s Maxime Talbot’s wrister beat Chris Osgood, and the Pens kept their unlikely, fading cup hopes alive. Then just 50 minutes and 3 seconds into overtime (not a typo) Petr Sykora (who told an NBC reporter sitting right next to the team’s benches that he was going to score earlier in the overtimes) did!

It was incredible. Hockey fun just too much to take in.

Sports the way they were meant to be played.

Overtime without commercials. Sudden death, flying bodies everywhere trying to stop that little black puck from getting near that crease. And the most exciting announcing in sports. You can have Mike Breen. I’ll take the best hockey announcers over an NBA announcing crew of Jackson, Van Gundy, and Breen any day.

Back to the game. The Penguins were outshot 58-32! They led 1-0, 2-1, and couldn’t hold on.

It didn’t matter. They fought, they clawed, and now Pittsburgh is going back to the Steel City where they’ll try to push the Wings to a winner take all game seven.

Just uh, wow. And boo to ESPN for shameful coverage. Youknow they would mention the Sykora type bit if it was in baseball, football, or even women’s softball. But in hockey, the details get lost in the terrible coverage. One of the guys on Sportscenter was talking about how its good to hit the black circle into the net. Really? How about taking the sport seriously, especially during the freaking championship round.

O well, ESPN won’t can’t ruin this. For one night hockey returned to its glory days. And I was thrilled to watch it all the way till the bitter and stunning powerplay goal end.

A phenomenal game. An epic game. The type of game you expect the Penguins to lose, because this was the perfect script for Detroit to win a Cup. In sudden death, in front of their home crowd, in comeback fashion. But that never happened.

Fleury’s 55 saves prevented that.

An absolute crushing loss for the Wings who totally and completely outplayed the Pens.

But it’s that scoreboard that read 4-3 in three overtimes that matters.

So you can take your stats and shove them.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have two more wins to go, to complete this crazy franchise turnaround.

Whether they win or not, tonight/this morning they put up one hell of a fight.

I can’t wait for Wednesday Night!

SCOTT JACOBS

Chumps. Losers. Degenerates. D-Leaguers. No namers.

Your 2007-2008 Miami Heat!

For the worst team in basketball, not even two years removed from its first and only championship, the Heat have suffered through their worst season of basketball ever. Nope, not even their innaugural year, in which they lost 17 games in a row can top this nightmare, because people were just happy to see a pro basketball team in South Florida. Now, 20 years into what has been a rocky, wild, up and down run, the Miami Heat have hit rock bottom.

It’s not just their record, which is the worst in basketball. It’s not the fact that Shaquille O’Neal, now rejuvenated with the Phoenix Suns is completely defacing the franchise and the likes of Ricky Davis and Chris Quinn. It’s not the fact that Miami’s 54 points against Toronto were the lowest put up since the shot clock era. No, it’s all of that and so much more.

Miami’s season was almost predictable. Okay, so no one could have expected this, but the signs were there. During the off-season, Riley was unable to lure a pair of Milwaukee Bucks free agents to South Beach (Of course the irony is that the Bucks have lost to the Heat twice, the only team in basketball to do so). Miami lost James Posey, Eddie Jones, and Jason Kapono to free agency and got NOTHING in return. Miami’s free agent signings of note: Penny Hardaway (eventually cut) and Smush Parker (an expensive buy out) were morbid failures in every sense of the word.

The ship was sailing. The championship team was just a shell of itself.

D-Wade didn’t get into the action until eight games into the season. By that time, Miami was already five feet under. Shaq played half asleep when he was in, although he mostly just found really nice suits to wear when he didn’t feel like playing, on the bench. Pat Riley took a ton of heat (pun intended) for his team’s lack of heart, killer instinct, lack of continuity.

A few days before the season Riles shipped out disgruntled Antoine Walker to Minnesota for Ricky Davis and Mark Blount. The idea was to give the team some life. In some respects it worked: Davis is the only player to play every game for the Heat this year. But the problems really came when injuries starting attacking this team like the plague: Wade came back and was oft-injured, playing through pain, clearly not the same player he was in those NBA Finals in 2006. Shaq was a no show, half hurt, half gone. Alonzo Mourning was lost for the season in a heartbreaking way.

Since then? Well, Wade is out for the year. Shaq is gone to the Suns. Shawn Marion has missed 7 of his last 8 games, Udonis Haslem is hurt, Alexander Johnson is hurt, Jason Williams, Dorrell Wright is hurt. The list just goes on forever.

It’s weird too. I was interviewing the Heat back on November 16, 2006, a few months after their championship run, and I remember a reporter asking Riley what he was most thankful for: “having 15 healthy players” was his response. Two days later Shaq got hurt, and the downward spiral has continued ever since.

Why did Miami score 54 points against the Raptors? Well, for one they trotted out seven players. Bobby Jones and Joel Anthony (No, not Billy Joel) made up their bench. Ricky Davis, Earl Barron, Chris Quinn, Daequan Cook, oooh does it even matter?

Miami had a team of all D-Leaguers on the court at one point in a recent loss. Seriously, who is Kasib Powell?

Riley took his much publicized scouting trip to see Derick Rose and Michael Beasley, and Eric Gordon, and all those fun faces. They would all look good in a Heat uniform. Here’s the thing though: Don’t you just get that gut feeling that Miami will somehow get the 4th pick. Like this season has been so bad, that the odds will somehow bite Miami in the backside? And outside of Beasley and Rose who else will help the Heat right away? That was a trick question: anybody.

Finally, this was Miami’s first four subs off their bench against the Knicks (who are actually not as pathetic right now thanks to the Heat): Joel Anthony, Stephane Lasme, Kasib Powell, and Blake Ahearn. O Miami, the season is almost over. Hang in there for a handful more of games and this nightmare will soon be over. And heck, maybe Kevin McHale will jump from the T-Wolves to the Lakers and dump Kobe Bryant in your lap. Well, someone has to dream. Right?