MISC

The biggest sports story of the day was Bruce Jenner’s official coming out as Caitlyn Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair.  It’s quite a stunning shoot.  We’re all familiar with this story by now (it received plenty of media coverage), but everyone’s still talking (and will continue to talk) about how brave he is to have made this decision. Jenner was the poster male of athletics in the 70s.  Now, he has the courage to pose on the cover of a major magazine depicting his real self.

BASKETBALL

In the NBA, LeBron James publicly addressed the media saying that he thought he was playing the basketball of his life, which is saying a  lot considering the scope of how many great years he’s been in the game.  Then again, Michael Jordan hit his prime right around the same time (late 20s — which is astonishing if you think about the human body’s proclivity for breaking down).  LeBron will need to play his best basketball, because Curry and the Warriors are hungry for the title. Game one of the NBA Finals is Thursday evening.

FOOTBALL

In the NFL, despite having a rather woeful offense these past few seasons, the Carolina Panthers have still been relevant.  They earned a first round bye two years ago, and last year they made an amazing run to snag a wild card playoff spot, and capitalized with a first round victory over the Arizona Cardinals.  Now the Panthers are convinced that QB Cam Newton is their fixture for the future.   Reports are saying that they are nearing a long-term deal with Newton for at least 5-7 more years.

HOCKEY

This weekend all eyes were on the hockey world, as we were treated to TWO Game 7s with Stanley Cup Finals on the line.   First up, it was the Tampa Bay Lighting heading to New York to take on the Rangers.   The Lightning brought all they had and upset the Rangers on their home turf.  Tampa Bay fans haven’t had this much to cheer about in a long time so they are ecstatic that they get to see their ‘Ning (the Team nickname) in the Finals.  Tampa Bay 2, NY Rangers 0.

Then, it was the surging Anaheim Ducks against the Chicago Blackhawks.  The Ducks may be the hot surprise team now, but it’s hard to count out a highly experienced Blackhawks team that has 2 Stanley Cup Championships in the past 4 years.  The Hawks were just way too much for the Ducks, and despite a Ducks’ comeback, the Hawks were simply… more mighty (no pun intended from the Ducks’ original team name ‘The Mighty Ducks’ — yes, after the Disney film.)   We now have an exciting Stanley Cup Finals between the Blackhawks (Goliath) and the underdog Lightning (David).   Chicago 5, Anaheim 3.

BASKETBALL

In the NBA, even though the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kevin Love won’t be playing in this year’s Finals, the talk shows are still discussing his future.  Many think he is going to leave Cleveland and head to Los Angeles (where he went to college).  Kevin Love, however,  says that things are progressing well with his shoulder recovery, and he plans to be playing opening night of the 2015-2016 season wearing a Cleveland Cavaliers jersey.