Week in Sports: The Good, Bad & Ugly

There’s no love lost between the Steel City and Beantown.

The Good

The black and gold to face-off in NHL Eastern Conference Finals: 

It may not be a matchup of the NHL’s “Original Six,” but the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins are set to square off in the Eastern Conference Finals starting next week. That Original Six nonsense is overrated anyway.

Both teams claim black and gold as their club colors and both teams defeated their semifinal opponent in a convincing five-game series. The Pens topped the Ottawa Senators and the Bruins bested the New York Rangers.

Pittsburgh and Boston are similar towns in mentality, if not in size, and these two teams have an underrated rivalry in the league that dates back decades. Expect this series to be one of the best of the 2013 playoffs—a season rife with exciting postseason finishes.

That handshake is anything but amicable.

The Bad 

PGA golfer Sergio Garcia makes racist remarks about Tiger Woods:

The feud between legendary golfer Tiger Woods and no-name Spaniard Sergio Garcia wasn’t even something casual golf fans knew existed until The Players Championship last week. ‘Casual golf fans’ being, for the most part, those who watch mostly because of Tiger Woods.

The two were paired up on the second to last day of the tournament and actually finished the day in a tie for first place. Although after a meltdown in the final round, Garcia pointed the finger at Woods for distracting him the day before. Woods shot back that he wasn’t surprised to learn his “rival” was complaining about something.

A few days after the event Garcia upped the ante by making a racist remark about Woods, suggesting that the he could lure him to dinner at the U.S. Open by serving fried chicken. The required hollow apology by Garcia followed, as did the required acknowledgement and acceptance of said apology by Woods.

PR protocol dictates Tiger officially acknowledge the apology, but he’s not one to forgive or forget.

Of course Ireland’s Rory McIlroy couldn’t resist weighing in on the controversy, insisting the media was making a “mountain out of a molehill.” Making the U.S. Open all the more interesting next month.

Warning: Steve Nash is not as friendly as he looks.

The Ugly 

Steve Nash attempts to avoid paying child support: 

Los Angeles Lakers aging point guard Steve Nash’s divorce from his ex-wife Alejandra Amarilla was particularly ugly back in 2011. Rumors of infidelity on both parts swirled and the split came on the heels of the birth of the couple’s third child.

This week it was reported that Nash was trying to prevent Amarilla from moving to California in a custody battle which TMZ described as “bizarre.” She currently lives in Arizona, a state that doesn’t require child support be paid if the income of both parents is nearly equal.

Nash’s ex says she just wants their kids to be closer to their father, but he’s trying to prevent the move. It’s nasty fight that’s simmering to a boil, as both sides have lawyered up. However, Nash’s legal maneuvering to keep his kids away, well it’s just unpleasant.

This could be fun. Hopefully it will be.

And the Awesome!

The Pacers just may give the Heat a run for their money:

Count me among those who said the Miami Heat were just killing time waiting to collect their second consecutive NBA Championship in 2013. After all, they got to the Eastern Conference Finals in just nine games.

It didn’t seem that any team in the East, or even the West, had a chance at challenging them this year. Although, so far, it looks like the Indiana Pacers might just give them a series. They got to the Eastern Conference Finals in 10 games.

The Heat barely scraped by the Pacers in Game 1, winning 103-102 on their home court. Indiana repaid the favor by defeating Miami by four in Game 2, winning 97-93. The games were both competitive and riveting.

Which proves we may very well be in for something a bit more exciting than most of us had initially anticipated.