Sports Redux: Bostonist's Wide World of Sports

No games last night of local interest. So let's take a spin around the country to see what's going on in the rest of the sporting world.

We'll start in Arlington, Texas, where the Red Sox are about to begin a three-game set with the Rangers. Daisuke Matsuzaka goes tonight against Brandon McCarthy. Big D is still buzzing about this week's announcement that the Cowboys and their new stadium will host Super Bowl XLV in 2011.

Elsewhere in Texas, a columnist for the San Antonio Express-News counts down 14 tidbits about the NBA lottery, which ends with a wag of the finger at the Celtics (and the Grizzlies) for tanking the season, saying that karma rewarded them with bad picks. The fact that someone from San Antonio would complain about tanking a season means it's time to take the Irony Meter into the shop; it's blown a fuse.

Next we'll move on to Salt Lake City, where the Jazz represent America's only hope at sending the suddenly-despicable Spurs home early. But since the Utah press is using words like "desperate" and "panic", our optimism is a bit tempered.

On to San Francisco, where ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski spends some time with the diehard kayakers of McCovey Cove, who are waiting impatiently for Barry Bonds' record-breaking home run. The best part of the column is the story of Bonds' #700. A ball flew towards the bay, and mayhem ensued, with people jumping out of their kayaks in a mad scramble. Only trouble was, the ball was hit to the other side of the field, and some jokester was just having a good time. Heh heh.

Next stop is the Northwest, where some basketball fans actually have hope. Sigh. Greg Oden is visiting Portland, partly to visit his presumed new home, but mostly for a synergy meeting with Nike. Now that's a connection that hadn't even occurred to our Inner Conspiracy Buffs yet. In Seattle, though, there's a sense of nihilism that even the expected arrival of Kevin Durant won't bring any joy to a city that's blatantly fallen out of love with its Sonics. We'll take him!

In St. Louis, the tragic story of Josh Hancock, the Cardinals pitcher killed in a car crash last month, has taken a turn to the sickening. Hancock's family is reportedly suing the bar where Josh got drunk the night of the crash, the tow truck company whose truck Josh slammed into, the driver of said tow truck, and the driver of the car that the tow truck was towing. They haven't yet sued the maker of Josh's SUV for not being indestructable, or sued the Cardinals for employing Josh and causing him to be in St. Louis that night, but give them time. Also, just by reading this paragraph, you may be hearing from the Hancocks' lawyers: fair warning.

In Detroit, the Pistons and Cavs finished Game 2 with the exact same result and the exact same final score of Game 1. Feel the excitement.

One place where there is legitimate excitement is Canada. A rich Canadian is buying the NHL's Nashville Predators, and there are several cities among our Neighbours to the North that think they might be on the receiving end of a franchise move for once. (Well, twice - the Atlanta Flames moved to Calgary.) Winnipeg is dreaming. Hamilton is dreaming. And the metroplex of Kitchener/Waterloo thinks it might be in the running, too. We feel a little bad for the hockey fan in Tennessee, but if this works, Quebec and (dare we say) Hartford can keep their dreams alive a little longer.

Correctly-centered Earth picture from BC's Dept. of Geology and Geophysics.