Explosive weekend
What’s your “sports” plan this weekend? If your answer is “I don’t know,” then something might be wrong with you. But then again, I’m sure you’re all too excited for the weekend, aren’t you?
The sporty weekend for all sports fans started Friday morning with Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics. This was followed by the semifinals of the French Open (men and women). Starring last night was fan favorite Maria Sharapova in the women’s finals of the French Open. Game 7 of the Miami-Boston series will be played Sunday morning and the live telecast of the Pacquiao-Bradley fight from Las Vegas will be good for lunch today; with the delayed telecast lasting until around mid-afternoon today over GMA 7. The weekend will be capped by the men’s finals of the French Open. Now that’s a loaded weekend. And we haven’t even mentioned games of Euro 2012, the PBA and the playoffs of the Filoil Pre-season Collegiate tournament. All these and more will dominate the weekend for those couch potatoes whose best friend or wife will be “RC”, i.e. remote control.
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a weekend like this, hasn’t it? Beyond the headlines, the action is something else. At the French Open, we saw how Djokovic was on the brink of elimination and still recovered to oust hometown boy Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals. When you face four match points against you (not for you) and still manage to rally and overturn the match, you’ve got to be one amazing athlete. But that’s not it. He had to face Roger Federer in the semifinals and also came out on top to prove that he’s the hottest player today. On the other hand, Rafael Nadal was his usual dominating self in running over David Ferrer in the semis to stage yet another encounter with Djokovic. On the women’s side, you have to admit that Sharapova, who faced relative unknown Sara Errani in the women’s finals last night, is why many men have turned on to women’s tennis. There are times when the scores don’t matter as we all admire her beauty on the court and somehow ignore all the yelling that she does. Am I right or am I right? Nadal and Djokovic. A match-up made in heaven. They’ll trade punches tonight and come out with bruises and puffed up faces as if they fought on top of the ring. Since we may never see Pacquiao fight Mayweather, this is as close as it gets. And this one could go the distance.
For Miami and Lebron James fans, I’m sure they were ecstatic when the Heat won Game 6 in a lopsided manner. James simply took over in Boston, drilled in 45 points and sent the series back to Miami for a rubber match/Game 7. The crucial element here is the momentum that the lopsided win will give Miami when it hosts Game 7 at home. Games 2, 3 and 4 were close and the blowout should serve as a big boost to Miami’s chances to make it back to the finals. A win will for Miami will justify the presence of the Big 3 with the Heat and more questions on the need for the Big 3 of Boston. On the other side, a Boston win will justify the extended run of its own Big 3 with plenty of thanks to Rajon Rondo. So what will it be? We’ll find out today.
The interesting thing to note is that Game 7 will be played in full before Manny Pacquiao takes on Timothy Bradley Sunday noon. Talk about powerful negotiations! The Pacman himself made sure there would be no conflict between both events since he’s a diehard Boston fan and will most likely watch Game 7 from his locker at the MGM Grand Hotel. It’ll be part of his warmup routine before he takes to the ring. The irony is that a Boston win (or loss) will fire up Pacquiao against Bradley. On paper, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be close, but Bradley is better than many people think. He’s athletic, tough and has decent speed. But all these aren’t enough to give him a chance to upset Pacquiao. The Pacman will be faster, more powerful and in better shape than before. He’ll confuse Bradley all throughout the match and score a fan-friendly win by late KO or decision.
It’s only proper that the Pacman serve as the main event of the explosive weekend comprised of the NBA playoffs, French Open semis and finals, and the Pacquiao-Bradley fight. When the dust clears, fans will be calling out for a Pacquiao-Mayweather that may never happen at all. But you never know. Pacman vs Money might just highlight another explosive weekend in November.
Time-out: Happy birthday to Cholo Verches, the chief laundry-man of CSV Laundry. >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.