From today’s b, the paper

These are the days of fresh batteries on my couch. Decision, decisions, decisions. It’s not about what to watch as much as when to watch it.
These couple of weeks of NHL and NBA playoff slugfests conflicting with Orioles games drives my remote control and its power source to the brink. And I can always count on missing a goal or a home run when I hit “previous.” I’ve been woefully inept this week.

Wednesday night, it was Game 6 of the Stanley Cup playoffs vs. the O’s in Minnesota. Yesterday, it was O’s-Twins all afternoon and Celtics-Lakers, Kobe vs. everything in green all evening. That Game 5 Stanley Cup classic was a doozy and cost me innings Monday night. And the DVR is not a solution for this live action.

Every night you could watch 10 baseball games, but none of them have the urgency of “championship” round anything. It’s been a pretty spicy week to be a sports fan, and that’s before I take off early tomorrow morning for the Belmont Stakes.

The Orioles are the most-exciting-but-almost-dreadful team to watch in years. They are baseball’s box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get — and the only thing you can almost always count on is that they won’t have a big lead early. If they win, they win it late and in dramatic fashion. They’re young enough to be interesting but inept enough in so many ways to frustrate you to tears. I’m just glad Nick Markakis’ big afternoon Thursday got someone’s batting average over .270. If they could hit the ball, I’d almost consider them a wild-card contender.

Detroit was by far the better team in the Stanley Cup Finals, but that didn’t detract from the excitement. Pittsburgh came two seconds and two inches away from tying Game 6 at the buzzer, but in the end, the Red Wings richly deserved hoisting the goblet. By the way, my disdain for the Pittsburgh Steelers has bled into their black-and-gold counterparts on the ice, and booing the presentation of the Cup at the Igloo on Wednesday night was a disgrace. The NHL are still built around the sportsmanship of the Stanley Cup chase. If the actual players can shake hands at the end of six gritty games (and one three-overtime memory maker), then the fans of Pittsburgh should be respectful enough to applaud the efforts of Chris Osgood and company. Bush league, but it’s what I’ve come to expect from sports fans these days, especially in Pittsburgh.

I attend the Ravens’ practices each Wednesday when media members are allowed, and you can’t help but be impressed by the effort and details being put in by many members of the team after the 5-11 debacle last fall. Everybody is fighting for a job, it seems. Joe Flacco arrived this week amid rumors of Troy Smith’s ascension to the starting quarterback role, but I’m not writing off Kyle Boller just yet. Welcome to Coaching Test 101 John Harbaugh: You have a full-fledged quarterback controversy.

I have to admit that before last night, I hadn’t watched an NBA game in seven years after watching 50 or more a year for 30 years. But there’s just something about those purple and gold and green and white uniforms together on a parquet floor that makes even skeptics and cynics like me tune in. The league finally got its dream matchup. Let’s hope it lives up to its hype.

And here’s a bonus: If you want real drama, find your Euro Cup soccer game of choice over the next few days on ESPN. There’s no passion like European soccer passion. The games start at noon most days but run “unopposed” on my remote. Finally, my batteries can get a rest!

Nestor Aparicio, owner of WNST-AM 1570, writes about sports and more. His column appears Mondays and Fridays. For more, go to wnst.net.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.