It was a pretty crazy Memorial weekend in the sports world.

MOTORSPORTS

First, the traditional Indianapolis 500, one of the biggest races on the circuit.  And this year, they had a spectacular, unbelievable finish.  JR Hildebrand was set to win the race.  He had maintained the lead throughout the final laps, and could already taste the milk (the traditional victory beverage of choice) on his tongue.  But, in the very final lap, on the VERY LAST quarter-of-a-mile JR Hildebrand‘s car skidded against the wall (something that isn’t abnormal) and blew his tire.  It caused his car to swerve out of control and he failed to cross the finish line first.  This cleared the way for Dan Wheldon to cruise past the checkered flags and win the Indy 500 at just 23 years old.  This is one of the most epic last second collapses in sports history.  So close, and so guaranteed, just to lose it just seconds before you thought you were going to win it all.  Tough break for Hildebrand.

FOOTBALL

And in college football, the end of an era.  After some serious recruiting violations and that his players were exchanging Ohio State memorabilia for tattoos of all things (only a small part of a bigger picture that players were accepting gifts), Jim Tressel will resign as head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes football program.  Tressel helped build Ohio State into the juggernaut that it is today, and this specific problem wouldn’t have been such a big deal if Tressel didn’t lie to NCAA officials about it.  As they say, the cover-up is typically worse than the crime.  Now, with Tressel out, assistant coach Luke Fickell has been selected as the interim coach while the program sorts things out.  And it’s almost certain that their star QB, Terrelle Pryor, won’t don a Buckeye jersey next season.  He’s under scrutiny for accepting cars and other gifts.  This could be the demise of the Ohio State football program over the next couple seasons, which opens the door for new royalty in the Big 10 (which now includes Nebraska).

BASKETBALL

And finally, Tuesday is the night we’ve all been waiting for:  Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat.  The Finals have a different playoff schedule. It’s 2-3-2.  The Heat will host the first two games, then we head to Dallas for the next 3, and back to Miami for the last two.  The main storylines:  Can the Big 3 that Miami assembled this off-season finish their quest of  domination and start a championship run?  After all, if they win this, they are only going to get better next year as others will want to join the party.  Will Dirk Nowitzki finally add a title to his resume?   And you can add Jason Kidd to that as well (who’s 38 and still hungry for a ring).  Will Dallas’ bench be too much for Miami to handle?  Will LeBron James show up in the ultimate clutch when it counts the most?  It’s going to be a very exciting series.  And it all starts Tuesday night on ABC at 9pmET.