I have been watching the NBA Finals with interest.  For those of you who have not been following the series, Dallas is leading Miami 3 games to 2 in the best-of-seven event, with the next two games scheduled to be played in Miami.  The Heat are certainly the most vilified NBA team in basketball, and it all came about quite suddenly when LeBron James decided to walk away from his hometown fans in Cleveland (Akron) and to “take his services” to Miami in an effort to win an NBA title.

I must admit, I have never been a fan of the Mavericks’ vain owner Mark Cuban, mainly because he seems to always hog the spotlight away from his team at every opportunity.  It is refreshing to observe that he has been mostly invisible during this series and has let his team shine on the National stage, led by Dirk Nowitski.   Dirk has certainly, thus far, stolen the spotlight away from the Miami divine trinity of James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh.  That is the way it should be, an owner should be mostly invisible and to let his team take center stage until the team has captured its championship.  I certainly am rooting for Dallas to best Miami as is most of the nation outside of the county limits of Dade County, Florida.  Then it will be okay seeing Mark Cuban accept the trophy from NBA Commissioner Daniel Stern, an option which will be as much a joy to Cuban as it will be chagrin to the covert interests of Stern and the NBA (who I believe would love a dynasty to begin in Miami). 

Congratulations to the Lady Sun Devils of Arizona State University, the girls had a lot of fun in winning the NCAA Women’s Softball Title for the second time last week.  Of the 30 titles ever rewarded in this sport, 23 have been won by PAC-10 teams.  Led by star freshman pitcher Dallas Escobedo, the Lady Devils compiled a 60-6 regular season record followed by an 11-0 World Series record.  In 77 games, the team committed only 6 errors including none in post-season play.

Moving on to the NCAA men’s baseball, the Arizona State men have traveled to Austin, Texas to play the Longhorns in a best of 3 Super Regional.  The winner will advance to Omaha as one of the eight teams in the College World Series.  These are two storied NCAA baseball franchises, ASU has won 5 National Titles and Texas, not to be outdone, has won 6 Titles.  The Sun Devils won the first game last evening 3-1 and have taken a 1-0 lead.  Take care Longhorn (and Sun Devil) fans; you gotta (sic) have heart.

The NHL has not taken a back seat to the NBA in their very exciting Finals this season.  Vancouver won the first two games against Boston in Canada with late goals.  Boston came back at home to blowout Vancouver twice to even the Series at 2-2.  Last evening Vancouver won another close game 1-0 to go up 3-2 in the best of seven series.    So far, for both teams, it has been survival in their own city.  I think that it is a travesty that the NHL is almost unavailable on U.S. television during the regular season, games being limited to low subscription channel VERSUS (and local television in NHL cities) on cable and satellite television.  At least the Finals are on NBC and fans across the nation can watch.