This week the NHL playoffs began, the NBA got ready for its own postseason and baseball just kept on rolling. In other words, there was a lot going on. We'll visit a correlation between vegetarianism and home runs, one coach's conceited words and another's misguided ones.
3. Not-so-Skinny Bitch. Milwaukee Brewers star Prince Fielder finished 2007 with 50 home runs, a statistic that left Brewers fans with a great deal of hope for the future. In his first 12 games of this season, however, Fielder is hitting under .250 with zero big flies.
As the Mitchell Report revealed, our national pastime has been nothing less than tainted by players periodically injecting themselves with Lord-knows-what (in their Lord-knows-where). So, is Fielder off the juice? Oddly enough, those dissatisfied with the slugger's numbers in the young season aren't blaming steroids but rather the fact that Fielder became a vegetarian in the offseason after reading Rory Freedman's renowned book "Skinny Bitch."
Prince, I admire you for taking a stand against animal cruelty. I'm not going to advocate that you give up vegetarianism, but I am going to say you fire your nutritionist (if you have one) and get one who can get you back on the home-run (but meat-free) diet. Starting this whole vegetarian thing without a stronger game plan was an error.
2. They want the puck, and they're gonna score. Ottawa Senators head coach Bryan Murray challenged his playoff opponent's integrity this week when he told reporters he believed the Pittsburgh Penguins threw their season finale against the Flyers in order to get a shot at his Senators in the first round.
"They wanted to play Ottawa ... It was fairly obvious from the drop of the puck," Murray told reporters, citing the fact that the Pens had scratched injured phenom Sidney Crosby from the Philly game.
Undoubtedly, accusing an opposing team of intentionally losing is unprofessional. But maybe Murray had a point! If I coached a high-profile NHL team, I'd certainly want to play Ottawa, a team that, through a gradual drone of inconsistency, free-fell from first to seventh over the course of the regular season. And the Penguins already hold a 2-0 series lead over the team they allegedly selfishly "wanted" to play. Nice job trying to inspire your players, Bryan, but it seems all you did was motivate your opponents to prove themselves, and for that you've committed a big mistake.
1. Knick pride. The Isiah Thomas nightmare not only didn't come to an end this week, but it worsened. Since Jim Dolan hired Donnie Walsh as team president and general manager, Walsh has made no move to fire Thomas and repair the endless joke that is New York Knicks basketball.
This week, Thomas implied that the Knicks would win a championship while he was still leading the club. He was reported by the New York Daily News as stating, "We will deliver something that everyone will be proud of," and that Knicks fans haven't been "proud" since 1973.
Isiah, with any luck, Knicks fans won't have you around to make them "proud" next season. And while we're on the subject of pride, team supporters generally have a little bit more of it when their club has won more than 23 games this late in the season. In other words, there's no reason you should even think Knicks fans remotely respect what you've put together. This time, it's the whole situation - the non-firing, the horrible comments, the embarrassing season that won't seem to end - that earns the Knicks an ongoing calamity.
Jeremy Strauss is a sophomore majoring in environmental studies. He can be reached at Jeremy.Strauss@tufts.edu.
