This is the second installment of “The Week in Sports”. I’m excited to once again give you the scoop on the world of sports. Honestly, feel free to lay back and not watch SportsCenter at all during the week, I’ll hook you up. I’ll set you up with all the information you need. So, let’s get started. We have some big things going on this week. The U.S. Open is in full swing, interleague baseball is still going on, the NBA and NHL have crowned their champions and Shaq wants to fight a giant.
Golf: The U.S. Open is being played in Farmingdale, New York at Bethpage Black. Bethpage is a public course, which is amazing that it’s so highly acclaimed that it can host an event such as the U.S. Open. It also hosted the Open back in 2002. Tiger Woods is the defending champion. He took home the $7,000,000 purse at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California last June. Thursday was rained out, so the festivities didn’t begin until Friday morning.
NBA: As soon as Orlando lost at home, this series was over. Everyone knew it, but we didn’t want to disrespect the Magic by saying it. They followed the overtime game four loss with another home loss 99-86 to give the Lakers a 4-1 series win. I thoroughly believe that if Orlando played against L.A. ten times, the Lakers would win nine of those games. They just had something that Orlando didn’t. It’s sad and pointless to dwell upon, but a Cleveland/L.A. series would have been a lot more exciting.
USA Soccer: The Americans (#14 in the FIFA world rankings) are playing in the Confederations Cup in South Africa. They are in a pretty nasty group. They’ve already played Italy (#4) and lost 3-1, Brazil (#5) and lost 3-0 and still have to play Egypt (#40). The top two teams in each division advance to the finals to play against two teams out of New Zealand, Iraq, South Africa and Spain. There is no doubt in my mind that that FIFA rankings are a bunch of malarkey, I love the U.S. team but there is no way they are the fourteenth best team (especially after this showing).
MLB: Another name was leaked from the supposedly anonymous 2003 steroid list. Sammy Sosa (who knew?) is the newest name to pop up as a definite steroid user and abuser. This is seriously getting really annoying from a sports writer as well as a sports fan’s perspective. I’m tired of hearing about steroids. Some of the biggest names in baseball history have at least been linked to steroids. From Bonds to A-rod to Clemens and now Sosa, Major League Baseball’s black eye never seems to get a chance to heal before someone smashes it again.
NHL: There might be more than one outdoor game on New Year’s Day. This recent annual event, known as the Winter Classic, has been hosted by the Buffalo Sabres at Ralph Wilson Stadium (against the Penguins) and the Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley Field (against the Red Wings). The scheduled event this year will be the Boston Bruins hosting the Washington Capitals at Fenway Park. NHL sources say that there might be a doubleheader with Calgary hosting another Canadian team at Mcmahon Stadium. If you thought it was cold on January 1st in Buffalo or Chicago, you better wear your toque to snowy Calgary.
MLL: The Denver Outlaws and Toronto Nationals are setting the early tone in Major League Lacrosse with identical 4-1 records. Kyle Dixon of the Washington Bayhawks is the scoring leader with 14 goals, 4 two-pointers and 5 assists. Yes, I said “two-pointers”. If you didn’t already know, the MLL has the equivalent of a three-point line in the NBA where players can score two-pointers if they find a way to beat the defense and the goalie. If you haven’t already, check out this league on ESPN2, you won’t regret it.
Here’s the national TV schedule: http://majorleaguelacrosse.com/television/gameoftheweek/
The odd and random: Saratoga Racecourse may not be opening until July 29th, but apparently nobody told the area moose population. A moose was seen roaming the grounds early in the morning last week. No word as to whether or not any of the jockey’s saddled it up and rode it around the track.
Shaq “Fu” O’Neill wants to brawl with an Asian giant. Shaq wants to fight, Korean 7-footer, Hong Man Choi, the man who embarrassed Jose Canseco. Personally, I’d love to see this fight. It would be amazing. 
*Do you like any sports that you want me to cover next week or any sports stories you want me to mention? This is your article, not mine. Have at it. Throw me an email cosburn@thefatherlife.com
30 year old freelance writer and The Father Life‘s resident beer columnist and sports editor. He also writes about fine beverages for drinkingmadeeasy.com and Chilled Magazine. On top of that, he writes about college and professional lacrosse for insidelacrosse.com. He’s also written for Genesee Valley Parenting Magazine, the Democrat and Chronicle Newspaper and ESPN.com. “Osburn on Tap” appears monthly in THE FATHER LIFE. For questions, comments, or if you have a story idea for Chris, throw him an email cosburn@thefatherlife.com. Also, follow him on twitter http://www.twitter.com/chrisosburn