Lowell’s stay in Buffalo

After Mike Lowell treated his Pawtucket teammates to a $750 tab at Outback on Friday, he had a pair of hits in eight at bats during a two-game set against the Bisons. Nothing spectacular, but it was interesting to watch Lowell take swings in the cages beneath Dunn Tire Park. A certain zing comes off the bat of a guy who’s got World Series MVP in his credentials. He spoke with us Western New York scribes for a few minutes after the BP session on Saturday and explained the thumb guard he’s wearing.

“I think the original design came from the Bruins,” Lowell said. “There’s is a little more of a contact sport than ours.”

Lowell insists he’ll be ready and rarin’ come Tuesday as the BoSox return to action against the slumping Toronto Blue Jays.

BTW, the Bisons finally put a two-game series together, sweeping the PawSox.

Envirun — a great day

The 5K circuit started for me Saturday at the Envirun, which ran a beautiful loop around Goat Island. My time wasn’t great (just over 27 minutes), but not bad by my standards. Let’s just say we’ll take it. All in all a great day, and the weather held off just long enough.

P.S. Just realized some of the photos came out sideways. I’ll fix that soon.

Leading Off: Robinson kills UB’s momentum

From Saturday’s Niagara Gazette:

Just when you thought UB basketball was back, Andy Robinson, who led the men’s basketball team in scoring last year, made what can only be chalked up as a ridiculous mistake by posting on his Facebook site that he’d pay to have a paper written for a class he’s taking.
What makes the mistake so crucial is the timing. UB was finally riding a positive wave after signing two quality recruits in Titus Robinson and Mitchell Watt.
Robinson (Andy, not Titus) will probably get a simple slap on the wrist for the infraction, largely because he was blockheaded enough to post it where everyone could see. Coaches and administrators were given a chance to catch him before the gaffe became really costly. We’ve criticized good guy Reggie Witherspoon in the past for squashing momentum by rotating too many players in and out.
This time, one of his players did it for him.

What am I … crazy?

Wait, don’t answer that. In my quest to rebound from two weeks of Travel Tuesday, I’ve been running like mad. We’ll see exactly how that translates this weekend as I’m planning on running two different runs in Niagara County.

The first — the Envirun on Goat Island — has what race organizer Paul Kranz calls “the most scenic 5k course in Western New York.” Running around Goat Island isn’t a bad day’s work.

I’m planning on following that up with an appearance at the Stomp Out Stigma 5K at Niagara University (last year’s inaugural event pictured above). I’ve already told Bill Newton, one of the race organizers, that although the brain says it’s in the planner, the legs might not agree. We’ll see. Hopefully, I’ll have pictures and results from both.

Lowell in Buffalo

I’m not a Red Sox guy, but even I’m interested in catching Mike Lowell at Dunn Tire Park this week. He’s on a rehab assignment, and word is his ailing thumb is good enough to return to the bigs. He’s expected back in the BoSox lineup by Tuesday. And by the way, how do the Bisons stink so bad? There’s so much talent on this roster, and yet the Herd has hardly been Heard. In fact, those bats have been sigh-lent. The funny part, of course, is that locals are saying they don’t want to the Blue Jays to move their affiliation here because the organization whisks kids through the minors too quickly. Yet the Baby Jays, er, Skychiefs, errr, Chiefs, are well ahead of the Bisons.

Anchorman challenge, part 2

So, I’m the first to admit the first part of the Anchorman hockey challenge was an abomination. My only saving grace is that Matt Pearl was almost as bad as I was in picking the NHL’s first-round matchups. I mean, c’mon, I handed him a gimme in Ottawa and he still only has a three-point lead?

Here’s the standings, although I’ve cut and pasted these. I hope he’s not cheating.

MATT: 11 points
Montreal over Boston in 5 (2 pts)
Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 5 (2 pts)
Washington over Philly in 5 (0 pts)
NJ Devils over NY Rangers in 7 (0 pts)

Detroit over Nashville in 5 (2 pts)
San Jose over Calgary in 4 (2 pts)
Colorado over Minnesota in 6 (3 pts)
Anaheim over Dallas in 7 (0 pts)

TIM: 8 points
Montreal over Boston in 5 (2 pts)
Ottawa over Pittsburgh in 6 (0 pts)
Washington over Philly in 5 (0 pts)
NJ Devils over NY Rangers in 6 (0 pts)

Detroit over Nashville in 5 (2 pts)
San Jose over Calgary in 5 (2 pts)
Minnesota over Colorado in 6 (0 pts)
Dallas over Anaheim in 7 (2 pts)

Anyway, here’s what I have for the second round, and I realize I’m in close to the wire on these. Play starts in an hour.

Montreal over Philly in 5: The Flyers played really well in round one. Really well. But the Canadiens have yet to show their depth and this is where it starts to surface. Carey Price wasn’t bad in Games 5 and 6, even though that’s the knock on him. Still, the wake-up call was a good one for Montreal, and I’m expecting the Habs to come out with a lot more focus.

Pittsburgh over N.Y. Rangers in 6: I realize this goes against everything I said in the first round, but I think Pittsburgh is better than the Rangers. Period. I’m still not sold on the whole Pens phenomenon. They’ve got a long way to go before they can say they’ve accomplished anything. But they’ll have too much for the Blueshirts.

Dallas over San Jose in 6: OK, while the Sens pick was a bad one (really Tim?), this has plenty more merit. I like the Sharks, but they’re not as solid as people assume because of that long win streak. And the Stars are having a Marty Turco party. He stones the Sharks in 6.

Detroit over Colorado in 6: Pearl’s on this one. The Red Wings are good, and deep. And while the Avs are having a great time at the old timer’s reunion, Detroit’s talent will rise to the surface here.

OK, Pearl, there you have ‘em. Sorry in advance for the dramatic turn of events in the second round.

Rethinking major league baseball

Maybe it’s too much time in the sun. Maybe it’s reading all these stories about Western New York becoming a megalopolis, although I’m still iffy on that one. But after reading a story in today’s St. Petersburg Times, maybe it’s time we rethink the possibility of Buffalo supporting major league baseball. Here’s the thing: It’s not just the crowds Buffalo gets (the Bisons rank second in IL attendance through the first few weeks), but the proximity to other teams in the AL East or Central. How many people would come in to see Niagara Falls if the Herd met the Tribe? Or how about if the Jays came down the QEW for a series? I’m guessing Buffalo could do better than the 8,269 that showed up at Tropicana Field on Tuesday to see the Jays and Rays battle for third. Just like we’ve done with the Sabres, using the city’s proximity to bigger cities to bump up attendance figures, a baseball team would probably draw visitors, especially since a trip to the falls during July while in town to see the Bisons-White Sox series sounds a lot more appealing than a trip to WNY to see the Bears at the Ralph in December. Wouldn’t the Orioles draw pretty well here? How about the Red Sox? An interesting note in the SPT column above - only three teams have been worst in league attendance in MLB history for seven straght seasons, and all three failed to see an eighth season. Tampa is flirting with its eighth straight season at the bottom of the MLB barrel this year. Time to swoop?

Watch the Dolphins fall …

It’s another Travel Tuesday - last week that meant Wrigley - and this week I’ve been lucky enough to find my way to sunny Fort Lauderdale, which is about as picturesque as it comes. So while sitting by the pool, I opened today’s South Florida Sun-Sentinal, a great paper that gets overshadowed by the Miami Herald. Anyway, the Sun-Sentinel ran the obligatory NFL draft story and a good column about how Bill Parcells is already manipulating the system, then came a realization of how far the Dolphins have fallen. The Sun-Sentinel runs a standing feature on the front page about Jason Taylor’s dance routines on “Dancing with the Stars.” On the front page of the sports section! Wow. I wonder what recipes Ronnie Brown favors? Or what Ricky WIlliams grows in his garden? Wait, I think I have an answer on that one. It just shows you football ain’t what it used to be in this town. Let’s go a step beyond - one of the Sun-Sentinel’s writers is even blogging about Taylor’s experiences on the show. Lemme say it again. Wow.

UB recruits look legit

Everyone looks good on Youtube, but take a peek at the video below of incoming UB recruits Titus Robinson and Mitchell Watt. The Bulls seem to have landed a pair of big-timers in this class, and here’s the great news for UB — the coaching staff thinks it’s made better in-roads with the class of juniors available to sign a year from now. Could be a revival in Amherst soon.

Bad sign for Bills

Either Bill Parcells is on the scheduling committee, the NFL thought a game between formerly bitter rivals who’ve done little but stink it up for the past few seasons would make for great television, or — as we Western New York conspiracy theorists would prefer — the National Football League is out to get Buffalo. Seriously, why would the league strip the Bills of their biggest game, one that people here talk about from the day the season surfaces, even if the Dolphins are winless when the teams play?

I haven’t bought into the notion that the NFL genuinely wanted out of Buffalo — until this. One of the few things the league can control is scheduling, and to pull this rug out from under Bills’ fans is a shameless maneuver.

I couldn’t agree more with our old friend Chuck Pollock of the Olean Times-Herald, who echoes those sentiments in this column.