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You are browsing the archives of 2009 April.

Today it only took seven innings for the Arizona Diamondbacks to score for Dan Haren, who once again pitched a brilliant game. After he was pulled for a pinch hitter, Ryan Roberts came up and delivered a single to right center field to score Chris Young and give Arizona a 1-0 lead. The lead eventually climbed to 2-0 on a Conor Jackson walk…

More and more often than not I will find myself chortling at all the LeBron James fans labeling themselves as Cleveland Cavaliers fans. They simply are not Cavs fans — they are LeBron fans. I know a few Cavs fans who have perpetuated the idea of being a fan of the team way before even the days of Zydrunas Ilgauskas or DeJuan Wagner. Those are the fans I respect and admire. LeBron James entered the league as an 18-year-old out of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School (Akron, Ohio). Four years into his highly touted and voluptuously…

Not only is Kevin Garnett missing for the remainder of the Boston Celtics’ post season, but so is Leon Powe. Hell, do you remember the 1987 Boston Celtics? A year after competing in their fourth consecutive NBA Finals appearance, the whole team fell to injuries. Larry Bird, debilitated to a pulp. Kevin McHale, skills eroded to a mere frazzle of what he was before. Robert Parish, a shell of what he was in previous years. This is the end. . . my beautiful friend. The end. . . my only friend. The 2008 Celtics ring a similar doorbell…

So, the Pittsburgh Steelers just won yet another Super Bowl. Does that mean they’re going to take a few months off and get out of shape? I don’t think so. A great Greek philosopher named Aristotle once said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” The Pittsburgh Steelers embody this quote to the letter. That’s not taking anything away from the other 31 teams in the NFL, as they all put in the hours in the weight room and on the practice field, as well. But the Steelers have had an off-season that’s been shorter than every team in the league, sans the Arizona Cardinals.

I’m writing this just a few hours before Game 2 of the Celtics-Bulls series. I only mention that for series perspective. Fans and media (and even some players) tend to over-react to any one game of a series. I’m not, and my perspective and predictions about this series and the Bulls’ Derrick Rose is not a function of either game 1 or what may or may not occur in Game 2…or Game 3…or…Game “whatever”. Every rose has a thorn, but this Rose IS and WILL CONTINUE TO BE a thorn…to the Celtics and future opponents in his career. I’m not basing this just on his 36 points (tying the great Abdul-Jabbar’s playoff record for a rookie) or his 11 assists. I think that production-wise, that was a freak game…almost 20 points greater than his season average.

It’s still early, but the Los Angeles Dodgers started the 2009 baseball campaign by answering some of the preliminary questions about the youth and inexperience of their roster. The Manny Ramirez contract negotiations, and eventual re-signing, captured the national headlines. But many seemed to wonder, outside of the aging $45 million fan favorite, if the roster had anything left to offer for a legitimate pennant chase. After 13 games played, Ramirez is batting .326 with 2 homeruns, with opposing hurlers still pitching around the game changing right hander. As a result, the supporting cast has provided the punishment. Third year player, Andre Ethier, has jacked 4 out of the park in the opening weeks, nearly missing a 5th on Sunday.

It’s all NFL draft, all the time this week. Join Mark and his guests Robert and members of the SJ Mock Draft Team as we debut the final version of the SJ Mock Draft. We’ll talk about our own mocks, sleepers and fallers and risers. And as always, Mark will keep you up to date with everything happening at Sportsjabber.net. Join us by calling in at (347) 884-9289 or log on to www.blogtalkradio.com/sports-jabber and hit “Click to Talk”. Or, if you’d prefer to be talked about but not heard, you can use the chat feature and ask your question off-air.

People follow a team or a player for a lot of reasons, or sometimes for no reason at all. Look at that whole TJ/Roethlisberger thing, for an example. Looking back, as far as I can remember, I can’t recollect any period of time when I didn’t get excited for baseball season. Growing up was rough. We moved a lot. I was shy. But baseball, in so many ways, saved me. I was a tomboy, athletic, and could outplay any boy my age. We played in the streets of Cleveland, using the sewers for bases, under the street lights till someone or everyone got called in for the night. My Dad always worked two jobs, but some of my best memories were when he’d come home late at night and throw me pop flies till I am sure he wanted to die. Maybe it was an escape for him too.

Well, at least we won. Finally, a strong starting effort does not go wasted, although it took until the ninth inning to put any doubt into this game. The Arizona Diamondbacks, behind eight solid innings from Doug Davis, defeated the San Francisco Giants on Saturday afternoon 2-0.

What’s up with NASCAR allowing children to race cars? Okay, so they’re not technically children, but they’re teenagers…same difference. If your age ends in “teen”, then you’re a child in my book. So, no matter, as most teenagers shouldn’t even be allowed to have drivers licenses. Heck, most of them shouldn’t even be allowed to SIT in a car, unsupervised.