Since the last update, the Los Angeles Lakers won yet another NBA title, the Chicago Blackhawks broke a 49-year drought by winning the Stanley Cup, World Cup soccer has turned the world into a frenzy and history was made at Wimbledon with the longest tennis match ever played.
As for the local Minnesota angle, the Twins haven't exactly dominated interleague play as in year's past, the Wild are preparing for the draft (after signing James Sheppard, much to this blogger's disapproval) and the first-ever Prep Championship Series was played at Target Field, crowning three baseball champions.
Let's break it down.
Sheppard signing is a waste
I don't think it's any secret that I am not James Sheppard's biggest fan. In fact, I think the 22-year-old is a waste of time for the Wild to keep pumping money and energy into in hopes of trying to make him the superstar-player former general manager Doug Risebrough promised everyone.
GM Chuck Fletcher signed the forward to a one-year, $803,250 deal. I'm sure glad we retained this guy who put up these kind of under-achieving numbers last season: Two goals and six points in 64 games.
From what I read of the GM's comments, he doesn't want to give up on Shep just yet since he is still a young player. The problem is, I see nothing from this hockey player, if you can even call him that. And what about when they gave up on Benoit Pouliot and Petr Sykora last season before they really gave them a chance?
It's not like Sheppard's going to be rolling in dough, but he needs to start producing something, anything, on the ice. Two goals for a forward is pathetic.
Prep Championship Series
This year, the Minnesota State High School League held its championship baseball games for the three classes at Target Field last Saturday. Tickets for the entire day in the lower level were a steal at $10 apiece. And the weather cooperated as well.
I took in the Class 3A game between Eden Prairie and Burnsville with my friend Chris. High school games are seven innings, but for this one it was the beginning and the end that were the parts to watch. Home-team Burnsville looked like it had a few nerves on the big stage as it committed three errors in the first inning (and four total for the game).
Eden Prairie jumped out to an early lead, and it looked like the men in red would have no trouble winning the title. Things got interesting in the sixth inning though when Burnsville's bats came alive. Two home-run bombs were hit in the inning, one to the left-field bleachers, and the other a blast to the bullpen. Those were certainly the biggest highlights of the game.
The Eagles eventually prevailed with a 7-5 win.
Huh? What?
I'm not much of a basketball fan, so I didn't really follow the NBA playoffs, or the storied Championship Series between the Lakers and Boston Celtics. It went seven games before the Lakers won in their star-studded arena.
If you asked me to make a pick, I'd pull for Boston because 1) It's always nice to root against the "top-dog" of Los Angeles, and 2) Kevin Garnett left the Timberwolves and has achieved greatness. Go figure.
I also am not a soccer fan. Sorry, but I'd rather just watch hockey. So you can imagine I'm not glued to my TV set to watch all the world-wide action. Soccer may be the world's most popular sport, but folks, it's not the most popular in America. We're a football (yes, American football) country.
(Not great) history at Wimbledon
Wimbledon just started this week, and already it's been full of excitement. The first round matches are set up so highly-ranked players should (theoretically) have an easy time of it. In other words, we shouldn't be seeing the long five-setters that have taken place so far.
But the biggest moment of the tournament (I don't know how you top it) was the longest match in tennis history between American John Isner and Nicolas Mahut. It took 11 hours and five minutes over three days for the ranked Isner to finally prevail: 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68. No, that's not a typo.
At Wimbledon, the deciding set cannot end in a tiebreak, and the winner must win by two games. This match broke records, but it certainly wasn't the championship thriller between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick fans were treated to last year.
For a match to go on that long means no player could muster winning two games in a row. They held serve and couldn't break the opponent. Isner had the edge of serving first, putting him ahead in the game count, but he couldn't finish it off until the fifth match point on Thursday.
It may be the longest tennis match in history, but it definitely wasn't the greatest.
As for the Twins...
They boys of summer are doing OK. In one of the weakest divisions in baseball, they should be able to hold a bigger, more comfortable first-place lead over their opponent (mainly, the Detroit Tigers). Interleague play used to mean a string of wins for the club, but this year they've been dealt the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Colorado Rockies to give them some stiff competition.
The Twins have also run into their fair share of aces, making them work for their wins. They were able to pull out a series win in Philly with an amazing comeback victory last Saturday. But then they dropped the first two at border-rival Milwaukee Brewers.
On the injury line, Orlando Hudson is back, J.J. Hardy still is not. And in the bad-move department, call-up Danny Valencia and Brendan Harris are left riding the bench as Michael Cuddyer has made a (temporary?) move back to third base. His strong arm belongs in the outfield.
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