NBA

Last night, it was Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.  Kobe and the Lakers won Game 1 with some last second heroics, and the Nuggets needed to put that behind them and collect themselves for Game 2.  It was a back-and-forth battle between the two teams all the way until the end.  Kobe Bryant was, of course, at it again with 32 points.  But it seems like the true star of this series is Denver’s Carmelo Anthony.  It’s as if he has something to prove.  He lit it up again for 34 points, and helped lead the Nuggets to a Game 2 victory.  This series is shaping up to be one of the best Conference Finals ever, and Carmelo Anthony is truly establishing himself as a bonafide superstar in the NBA.  Denver 106, LA Lakers 103.

NFL

There has been some off-season QB controversy in Cleveland.  Last year, they jockeyed quarterbacks between Derek Anderson and Notre Dame stand-out Brady Quinn. Well, they were both rather disappointing, and new head coach Eric Mangini said the QBs would battle it out for the starting job.  Well, yesterday Mangini publicly said (and also informed the press not to read that much into it) that Brady Quinn has the slight edge in the competition.  Of course, the press ran with this, practically dubbing Quinn the starter.  In reality, the Browns woes extend far beyond just who’s under center.

MLB

And in baseball, the ice-cold New York Yankees, have recently been… red-hot.  They have been on an 8 game winning streak, and were looking for #9 against Baltimore.  Their star pitcher, Joba Chamberlin, was unfortunately knocked out of the game in the first inning after being struck by a line drive.  The Yankees Robinson Cano and Hideki Matsui hit some clutch home runs to keep the Yankees on top, and get their 9th straight win.  Wow — for a team that looked like they were headed nowhere fast, they look pretty fantastic.  And lets not forget that A-Rod will still be joining them.  NY Yankees 7, Baltimore 4.

Finally, there was a major trade announced in baseball yesterday, but it didn’t exactly end perfectly.  Reportedly, the San Diego Padres intended to trade their star pitcher Jake Peavy to the Chicago White Sox.  Normally, that’s all there is to it.  But later on in the day, Jake Peavy rejected the trade and decided that, for the time being, San Diego was the right spot for him.  More notably, this is certainly self-interested, as many experts think that Jake Peavy wants to stay in the National League, and also wants to play for a contender (possibly the Braves or Dodgers).  For those wondering why he wants to stay in the National League — it’s essentially because pitchers keep track of all the batters they face.  They face players within the league multiple times over the course of a few seasons, and they learn how to pitch to them.  Switching leagues basically means that you need to start researching batters and hitting styles from scratch.  We’ll see how this story develops.