Karna never sleeps

The Yard covered our first sporting event Las Vegas this past weekend. We have a lot of catching up to do and we started at the Thomas and Mack Center. The San Diego State Aztecs were in town to face our Running Reb’s in a Mountain West showdown. It was a compelling matchup and 18,000 Las Vegans showed up to root on our team. It was a raucous crowd and we admit that one simple question changed our entire perspective when we were at the concession stand, “Do you want Grey Goose or Kettle One?” We have never been asked that question in over 35 years of attending games at Pauley Pavilion. It caught us off guard but we went with the Goose.

Yard bylaws require the staff to follow most major sports except hockey, soccer and NASCAR. The Yard is a homer and there are not enough American stars in hockey. Most of the stars in the NHL have just too many vowels in their names to garner interest or accurate reporting. Soccer is only compelling every four years and only if the US makes World Cup pool play. The NASCAR stars seem like fun guys who like to drink beer, drive fast and brawl with each other in random precision. We just cannot commit an afternoon to watching cars drive really fast in circles. We did not plan to follow lacrosse either and did not even know there was a professional indoor lacrosse league.

We read that the Boston Blazers had a racy halftime show featuring scantily clad women giving lap dances to the team’s mascot. Apparently, the team apologized for the halftime promotion that “wasn’t executed as spelled out to us.” It sounded like a hell of a promotion that was executed to perfection. We are checking to see if the Blazers have any Las Vegas dates. Las Vegas is jonesing for a professional team in any sport and lacrosse could be a fit.

Karma has been an ethereal wrapper of sports consequence since early man. Good karma has rarely been congealed down to its core elements. Good guys finish last and all of that. Bad karma is noted, tallied and tweeted about for all of mankind or at least to those with connectivity to social media. Lebron tweeted, re-tweeted, and then tried to un-tweet his gloat about the bad karma his former team suffered when the Cavs were lapped by the Lakers on 1/12/11. The Karmaliers went on to lose another 15 games in route to 26 in a row. On the verge of setting the record for most losses by any professional franchise, they got a Friday night game against the poster child of NBA futility-The LA Clippers. Donald Sterling is the ruddy poster boy of that franchise’s bad karma. It is well deserved and fully vested. The Cavs won and now enjoy as much chance of making the playoffs as our Donald’s Clippers. The Washington Wizards having lost 25 straight road games played the Cavs two nights later and ended that streak in Cleveland. Karma is fleeting. Lebron, you still have a karma deficit that will be recovered on national television in Boston in late May.

Ben Roethlisberger, you just threw two interceptions and failed to rally the Steelers to their third Super Bowl Title in six years, what are you going to do now? He is definitely not going to Disneyland with Aaron Rogers. The Magic Kingdom wanted no part of the not too gentle Ben even if he had rallied the victory. The Yard hopes Ben is not headed to another college bar restroom to grope a coed but it is a long off season and there could be a lockout. He did not get convicted for that incident but Commissioner Goodell suspended him anyway. Righteous Roger did not suspend him for banging the casino hostess in Tahoe who cried foul in an attempt for a civil payday. Apparently, Big B can foul a casino hostess as long as he can beat the civil suit but no more drunken coeds for Ben. Ben, karma can be expensive.

March Madness is within our headlights. UCLA might actually make the tournament in a down year for the Pac-10. The UCLA women have a better shot in their tournament. The University of Connecticut Women’s basketball team is to be commended for their amazing persistence during their 90 game winning streak. It is the longest streak in women’s basketball history and most likely will never be broken. During the hoopla and the quest to win 89 in a row, Uconn coach Geno Auriemma demanded respect and recognition for his women that they did deserve. But Geno, your women Huskies did not break the men’s basketball record of 88 games in a row. That record will never be broken either. It is a compelling story and a great thing for Uconn and women’s basketball but can anyone please reply with one epic matchup during the Uconn streak? Did anyone race home to catch a game on TV?

John Wooden’s Bruins beat Digger Phelps four times before his Fighting Irish ended the streak. The Bruins had wins over Bob Boyd’s # 2 ranked Trojans, Bobby Knight’s Hoosiers, Lefty Driesell’s Terps and Jerry Tarkanians 49’ers. UCLA beat every Pac-8 Team six straight times. The Bruins won twelve tournament games and three NCAA Titles during those 88 games. Chick hoops is chick hoops just not NCAA men’s hoops. It is just not the same level, importance or history. We do not cover women’s basketball, either.

Luck happens when perspiration and preparation meet opportunity. John Wooden