Sports this 'n' that

Congratulations to the St. Louis Blues, who won their first Stanley Cup Wednesday, defeating Boston, 4-1, to take the finals, 4 games to 3. The Blues entered the NHL in 1967, but, in a way, they did an even bigger solid for the Gateway City, avenging the then-St. Louis Rams' Super Bowl loss to New England 17 years ago. Never mind that the Rams eventually moved back to Los Angeles (and lost to the Patriots again in February), but for the city, whose last sports championship went to the Cardinals a few years ago, this was revenge finally served.
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Meanwhile, the NBA title may be headed north of the border, eh?

The Toronto Raptors lead the defending champion Golden State Warriors, 3 games to 2, headed into tonight's game at Oracle Arena in Oakland. The Warriors are leaving the arena after tonight, and moving across the bay to a new building in San Francisco for next season.

But an even bigger concern is if the Warriors can maintain the momentum of winning on Monday, after one of their big stars, Kevin Durant, went out with an Achilles injury in the second quarter, this after he'd been activated from the injured list for the game.

Former player turned TNT analyst and part time Capital One spokesman Charles Barkley lays the blame for Durant's latest injury on the Warriors, who, in his mind, rushed Durant back a wee bit too soon, due to being down 3-1 in games going into Monday, from a calf injury. Durant won't play tonight, but who's to say he doesn't pull a Willis Reed and try to return if there's a game 7 in Toronto? All we can say for now is, stay tuned.
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So the US women's soccer team blew away Thailand, 13-0, in a first round Women's World Cup game the other day, and have been accused of running up the score by know-nothing critics. As it was pointed out, one key component in determining who advances into the next round isn't just wins, but goal differential. The US is in the same pool as Sweden, which eliminated the Americans in the 2016 Olympics.

Heh, there've been some blowout games at the high school level 'round these parts over the years. Some people just want to vent because, well, haters gotta hate.

Somewhere in Bristol, Stephen A. Smith is asking someone to explain the game to him, since he knows about as much about soccer as he does boxing. Which is to say, not much.
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Have to get this in on what amounted to a botched assassination attempt on former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz over the weekend in Santo Domingo.

Ortiz is presently in intensive care in a Boston hospital, thanks to the Red Sox, after he was shot in the back. Police in Santo Domingo have arrested 10 people (!) in connection, as some believe this was a hit put out on Ortiz. I won't even make jokes about his TurboTax commercial being the cause of the problem, because it really isn't. He had to have offended someone really seriously bad to be have something like this happen.

We've heard the reaction from Boston, where Ortiz won three World Series rings before retiring after the 2016 season, but what about Minnesota, where he started his career?