North: Random thoughts on big sports weekend
Time for some of my random thoughts!
• Everyone is nervous about the Chicago Blackhawks series against the Minnesota Wild, and I guess I didn't get the memo why. Go Hawks!
• If superstar Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs win a sixth title this year, Duncan will have had a more remarkable career than the five-time winner Kobe Bryant has had with the L.A. Lakers.
• More people seem to be rooting for Manny Pacquiao than Floyd Mayweather in the big fight this weekend at the MGM in Las Vegas. I think it's due in part to his cockiness, but more because of his out-of-the-ring problems - especially his violence against women. ESPN has done a great job covering the event in Sin City, and even the mostly puff pieces have been entertaining.
• Don't look now, but the Cubs might actually be doing it right!
• White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson was on my Fox Sports radio show I co-host with Andy Furman on Wednesday morning. I asked him how weird it was going to be announcing a game in an empty Camden Yards. Hawk said he wasn't really sure since it had never been done before, but he knew it would be different. Meanwhile, L.A. Dodgers Vin Scully said he might have trouble doing a game without the crowd noise. Unfortunately, a cold weekday game in April at U.S. Cellular Field sometimes doesn't have much of a crowd either.
• Tiger Woods announced on Twitter he would have a "busy summer" of golf as he named five more tournaments he planned to play in. It's an usual move for Woods, so maybe he has turned into a rock star like the Rolling Stones, who announce concert dates. Can you say diva?
• I miss my guy Doug Buffone already.
• The NFL draft should be moved to earlier in April. Instead, it will battle TV time with the NBA playoffs, the NHL playoffs, MLB games, the PGA, the Kentucky Derby and the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. It's just too much at one time; the draft will still do well ratings-wise, but it would have dominated more if it had been scheduled earlier.
• The New York Mets are playing some great baseball, and I really didn't see that one coming. The Washington Nationals are playing bad baseball, and that one I did see coming. From the handling of star pitcher Stephen Strasburg to volatile manager Matt Williams to general manager Mike Rizzo, a South Side guy, they just haven't gotten it done. No team in baseball has fallen shorter of expectations than the Nationals.
Enjoy a sports-filled weekend!
Program notes:
Follow me on Twitter@ north2north, and listen to Fox Sports Daybreak with Andy Furman and myself from 5-8 a.m. Monday through Friday on Fox Sports radio, and check me out on iHeart radio or Foxsportsradio.com.
• North's column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com.