Stay Away

We may not see the Blackhawks for a while around here, and that's a good thing.  They have packed enough clean underpants to stay west for the start of the conference finals against San Jose, and now just need to finish off Vancouver tonight after that obese, hairy man holds the tuning fork to his temple and burbles out "O Canada."

The Canucks had enough uncharacteristic discipline to play like the Predators in game five, stealing the early lead and falling back to trap in the neutral zone and create a patient defensive shell.  That strategy will backfire, however, if they revert to taking dumb penalites and allowing the Hawks second and third chances off rebounds.

Attempts failed to stash both Chicago baseball teams in the underbelly of the Hawks' plane and jettison them somewhere over the forests of British Columbia.  They would have ended up eventually going native in some kind of MLB Lord of the Flies.  Or creating their own peaceful tree city, like giant pinstriped ewoks.

Get used to life with Starlin Castro as your full-time shortstop.  The talented kid with too many necklaces is capable of both the spectacular and the ridiculous, and time will tell Lou Piniella's patience for the latter.  Bad throws will happen, dropped grounders will happen, but loafing after a ball cannot.  I am sure Lou made that clear after last night's bed-wetting, no matter the reports of the conversation provided by interpreters.

The torture that is the Sox playing the Twins in Minnesota may not feel exacly the same without the plastic grass, the echoing PA announcer or the body-bag of an outfield "wall," but I have no reason to believe that fresh air will dull the pain.  Two games from ten back.

And NBA Hell, thy name is the Atlanta Hawks.  They have to be facing the big existential questions now, after an embarrassing ouster by Orlando that saw them swept by an average margin of 25 points.  What was the point of their season, how far are they from a title, and what will somebody overpay Joe Johnson?