By JOHN P. WISEOne Great Season
+ Boise State's athletic department has earned itself the dreaded lack-of-institutional-control tag by the NCAA. An internal investigation launched in 2009 found more than 60 football players received illegal benefits totaling less than $5,000. For those not named Rain Man, that's about $80 per player, which in my opinion is harmless. But the NCAA nudged the school to self-investigate for possible violations in other sports, particularly women's tennis, where a player received "impermissible educational expenses and entertainment," according to a report in USA Today. The school will meet with the NCAA Infractions Committee next month.
+ My hope of seeing another Lakers-Celtics matchup in the NBA Finals took another hit Monday night when the Lakers blew a double-digit lead in the second half and lost to Dallas in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. A day earlier, Boston was thoroughly outplayed at Miami in Game 1 of their series in the East. Silver lining check: I think many experts still think the Celtics will beat the Heat, and salvaging a win in tonight's Game 2 will give them home-court advantage and valuable momentum heading into Game 3 in Boston. Also, the Lakers lost Game 1 in their last series against New Orleans, and ended up winning in six.
+ The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs have been just as exciting as the NBA tournament. Yet another game was decided in overtime Monday night, as Boston beat Philadelphia on a David Krecji goal 14 minutes into the extra session. Just a day after the news of Osama bin Laden's death was announced, sending Philly fans at the Mets-Phillies game into a frenzied series of "USA! USA!" chants, the pregame rendition of "God Bless America" at the Wells Fargo Center was outstanding. But back to the hockey; four of the eight second-round games (one in each of the series) have gone into overtime, and six of the games overall have been decided by one goal. In case you still don't get why playoff hockey is outstanding, you have two chances to find out tonight when Washington takes its 0-2 deficit to Tampa Bay and Vancouver visits Nashville for a rubbery Game 3.