Monday, May 07, 2007

Warm Nights, Open Windows



Tonight presents an embarrassment of riches for an old sports fan like me. But before I get to that, because I'm sure many of you could not care less, there are other, more significant news stories moving at this hour.

One, in particular, really interests me and that is how Sen. Barack Obama is gathering support not only from Democrats, African-Americans, but (get this) conservatives, including some of those who played a key role in helping George W. Bush to the White House.

You can read this story from The Times of London at MyWire .


According to Sarah Baxter, Washington correspondent for The Times,"Disillusioned supporters of President George W Bush are defecting to Barack Obama, the Democratic senator for Illinois, as the White House candidate with the best chance of uniting a divided nation.

Tom Bernstein went to Yale University with Bush and co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team with him. In 2004 he donated the maximum $2,000 to the president’s reelection campaign and gave $50,000 to the Republican National Committee. This year he is switching his support to Obama. He is one of many former Bush admirers who find the Democrat newcomer appealing.

Matthew Dowd, Bush’s chief campaign strategist in 2004, announced last month that he was disillusioned with the war in Iraq and the president’s “my way or the highway” style of leadership – the first member of Bush’s inner circle to denounce the leader’s performance in office.

Although Dowd has yet to endorse a candidate, he said the only one he liked was Obama. “I think we should design campaigns that appeal, not to 51% of the people, but bring the country together as a whole,” Dowd said..."


On of the great things about MyWire is its global reach -- thus, you can read stories such as this one or others from papers in China, Japan, Korea, India, and the alternative U.S. press.

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All right. May I set up the evening before me, even if you are not a sports fan?

* The Detroit Red Wings, my father's team, and therefore mine, leads the San Jose Sharks, 2-0, early in the second (of three) quarters. If Detroit wins, the Sharks are eliminated and the Red Wings advance to their conference finals.

* The Detroit Pistons are leading the Chicago Bulls, 83-66, in the fourth (of four) quarters in game two. If the Pistons win, they'll be up 2 games to 0, and well on their way to the NBA conference championship series.

* The Golden State Warriors, this year's Cinderella team, will face Utah later tonight in the first game of the second round.

* The San Francisco Giants and their new ace pitcher, Barry Zito, face the New York Mets here in the city by the bay tonight.

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UPDATES: The Pistons easily dispatched the Bulls. And only one period is left in the Sharks's season. Assuming the Red Wings hold on, my family roots will have been satisfied.

Now, we turn to my adopted home. Can the Giants and the Warriors both win? It's way too early, no patterns are apparent yet.

UPDATES2

The Wariors trail the Jazz by two after the first quarter. The Giants trail the Mets, 1-0 in the fifth inning. So my Bay Area favorites are losing even as my two Detroit teams won. The Wings just polished off San Jose, 2-0.

Could my four favorite teams actually all win on the same night? The odds are way against this, but right now, we are 2-0 and in two close games here on the west coast.

***

The Ginats and Warriors have just surged into the lead. The Giants lead, 6-1. The Warriors are in a more competitive game, but are maintaining a slight lead.

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The Warriors are up by 5 after three quarters with 12 minutes to go. The Giants have an impressivelead late in their game. Maybe my fantasy of a 4-0 night is not so unrealistic, after all?

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Finals: Giants win, Warriors lose. Oh well, 3-1 is pretty good. I'll take a .750 winning percentage anytime.

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