Almost historical

I have to digress for a moment. I know I still owe the blog more pictures from the wedding. I'm still going through all of them. For now I have to express some sports frustration.

I enjoy sports. I watch it when I can and when I'm interested. Like many I become much more interested during the playoffs, championship series and even during certain streaks.

This year has seen it's share of streaks. I think it's fascinating to watch as a team tries to accomplish something that hasn't been done in thirty years or more. I just knew that this year I would be witness to history. I would be the person thirty years from now saying "I remember that season" or "I remember when that happened."

So let's review...

The Patriots. Tom Brady was quarterback for the fantasy team that Tate Tefertiller and I co-manage. Certainly Tom was a big reason that we were in the money for the second year in a row. But there are plenty of other teams I'd like to see in the Super Bowl - namely the Cowboys. However, by the end of the regular season I was pulling for the Pats to win it all. But I'm not a fan of the Patriots. I'm a fan of the game. I'm sure that the 72 Dolphins were great but they've had some miserable spokesmen and honestly I'd like someone to shut them up. So this was the year. The Pats were going all the way. The Super Bowl was merely a formality. Oops, they lost. And with that loss came more talk from certain Dolphin fans and ex-players about them being the greatest team ever. Don't even get me started on strength of schedule for the 72 Fins or the fact that Eli Manning should have been a Charger. Just leave me alone about the perfect season that almost was.

The Tigers. I don't follow the Tigers as close as I should considering my strong Memphis ties, but I do try to keep up as much as possible. This year they make a push to be the first undefeated team in NCAA hoops since 1976. Somehow they manage to lose to Tennessee at home. Payton Manning was at the game.

Note the obvious Manning connection.

By this point I'm getting a little desperate in my quest to experience sports history. Let's talk Stars hockey for a minute. The Stars had a good season and were definitely the underdogs in their playoff series against the Red Wings (who went on to win the Stanley Cup). They get off to a horrible start - down three games to none. Only two times in history has a team come from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series. The first time? 1942. The second? 1975. The current year? 2008. How many years between 1942 and 1975? 33. Between 1975 and 2008? Thats right, 33. You can't make this stuff up. You could say it was in the stars for the Stars to win. They win the next two games. Then they lose in game 6.

I didn't see the Kentucky Derby. I did watch the Preakness and saw Big Brown glide to victory by over 5 lengths. Doing so he became the fourth horse to win both races and still be undefeated. Much like the Super Bowl, the Triple Crown seemed just a formality. 30 years since the last Triple Crown winner. Big Brown ended up going out of the gate at the Belmont at 3 to 10 odds AND...

It wasn't even close. It was so bad that Brown's jockey basically pulled him from the race and had him trot the final straight.

Best I can tell, there's not much on the horizon. The NBA playoffs seem pretty normal. Still too early to tell for baseball. Oh wait...baseball.

I will be able to tell my kids and grandkids that I remember when Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's home run record. I can then go on to tell them the heartwarming story of BALCO, performance enhancing drugs, scandal, grand juries and congressional hearings.

I'll be straining my memory for something else unless the Rangers find a way to win their first ever playoff series. That would be more than historical - it would be miraculous. And it would require them to actually make the playoffs.