End of Week Recap: April 30-May 6

Its time to get back to my original form of blogging, that being all my opinions on every major thing that happened during the week. In addtion to my basic material, I will be kicking off each week recap with a new segment called: ''Hardass/Softass''. This will be where I will feature the softest and hardest person from the week (sports related or otherwise). So as my good friend Judge Mills Lane would say, "Lets Get It On!"

Hardass of the Week: Floyd Mayweather Jr.

I dont even know where to begin with this guy. All week the only thing this guy did was run his mouth about how he was going to crush and dominate Oscar De La Hoya. Mayweather may not have dominated, but he kept to his word and defeated De La Hoya in their title bout Saturday night. In one of the closest fights boxing has seen in a while, Mayweather ended up winning in a split decision by a score of 116-113. In true hardass fashion, Mayweather announced his retirement from boxing in his post-fight interview. Stephen A. Smith who shockingly is a boxing fan told the public that he guarantees there will be a rematch sometime in the future between these two.

Softass of the Week: Tracy McGrady

"If this team doesnt get out of the 1st round, its on me."

"IF THIS TEAM DOESNT GET OUT OF THE FIRST ROUND, ITS ON ME"

Yes, both of these comments were stated by Tracy McGrady prior to his first round series with the Utah Jazz. McGrady said it the first time, and shouted it the second time. Normally, this would make someone end up on my hardass list- however, what I witnessed happened Saturday night made my soft radar go bananas. The Houston Rockets lost to the Utah Jazz 103-99 in Game 7 of their first round series causing Tracy McGrady to lose yet again in the first round of the playoffs. Ill admit I instantly felt bad for T-Mac watching him walk off the court a loser once again. However, after watching McGrady break down to tears in his press conference I immediately revoked any of my sympathy towards this man. When someone acts like such a tough guy before a 7 game series, saying how it is his team and everything is on him, then there is no way you can cry after you lose. If you are going to act like a man before the series, then you need to act like a man after the series as well. No one died. No one got hurt. No one needs to cry. T-Mac needs to go back home to his 12-story mansion, his 50 million dollar contract, his 80,000 ft backyard and shut the hell up. Congratulations T-Mac, I can no longer officially root for you anymore. QUE LASTIMA!

Po the Playoff Predictor:

Sticking with the NBA Playoff theme, I would like to take a couple sentences and express a little hardness myself. As I walk down the hall of my dorm on this lovely May night, I take pride in many of my neighbors nicknaming me 'Po the Predictor.' Reason for this is due to me nailing all 8 first round NBA series with the Pistons, Bulls, Nets, Cavs, Warriors, Jazz, Spurs, and Suns all advancing to the 2nd round. Accomplishing that is a great feat in itself- however, I decided to take it one step further. I woke up Saturday morning, brushed my teeth, took a trip uptown to Wendy's, watched a little TV, and then told myself I was going to throw out some more predictions. I predicted that 'Street Sense' would win the Kentucky Derby...WON, I predicted Floyd Mayweather would win his fight...WON, and i predicted the Pistons and Jazz would be victorious... BOTH WON.

2nd round Predictions:

Pistons/Bulls- The Baby Bulls proved they have grown up a little bit as they have finally won a 1st round playoff series for the first time since the days of a guy named Michael Jordan. The Pistons have continually showed their dominance by advancing to the 2nd round for what seems like the 100th year in a row. Personally I hate both of these teams , but I have a feeling the Pistons will prevail in 7 games due to their pure experience.

Cavs/Nets- Obviously this is going to be a bias opinion, but i think that the Cavs will end up winning this series in 6 games. I feel the fatigue of the Nets will eventually catch up to them as the series gets deeper. The Cavs havent lost a game since April 8th, and have also not stepped foot in an official game in almost a week. I expect the Cavs inconsistency to kick in as they will probably lose Games 2 and 4, but will ultimately prevail and advance to the conference finals.

Warriors/Jazz- The Warriors are the feel good team of the playoffs. Deron Williams is the most underrated player in the NBA. Carlos Boozer is a flamming douche bag. Stephen Jackson will murder you in cold blood if he ever sees you in a dark alley. Don Nelson gets drunk before and after every game he coaches. Mark Cuban will buy a ticket to the Warriors home games and will root for the Jazz. The Warriors will win this series in 6 games.










• Suns/Spurs- Steve Nash=2 time MVP, Tim Duncan=YAWN, Winner=Suns in 7 games, *Im keeping this one short, so everyone can stare at Eva!!!!!*

Double the surface, Double the fun:

Another interesting event occurred this past week in the world of tennis. As we all know, Roger Federer is the unstoppable #1 player in the world. As we all know, Rafael Nadal is the thorn in Roger Federer's side as he is ranked #2 in the world. Each man has his own dominant court surface- Federer his grass, Nadal his clay. Every time these two meet on grass, Federer wins. Every time these two meet on clay, Nadal wins. Geez if only we could somehow combine surfaces and then see who the better man ends up being. Hahahaha yea what wishful thinking...............OH BUT WAIT, as it turns out there was some genius that decided this phenomenon was possible. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal faced off in the first ever grass/clay court match in tennis history. The playing surface was exactly that- 1/2 grass and 1/2 clay. This unbelievable creature displayed itself in Switzerland and had the Swiss crowd buzzing. The end result was Nadal defeated Federer in 3 sets which I guess proved once and for all who the better tennis player is. Now all Nadal has to do is win about 10 more Grand Slams and he can officially make that claim.

Fun Facts of the Week:

Juan Castro has the most plate appearances without ever getting hit by a pitch with 2,324 appearances. (Credit: Laura Bernheim)

Robert Horry just recently improved his first round playoff series record to an amazing 15-0. He has never lost a first round playoff series in his career. (Credit: Stuart Scott)

BASIC KNOWLEDGE.........