Friday Night Beer: CWS and Hockey Talk

A few notes while I watch the twice-rain delayed LSU/North Carolina CWS game on TV.

• Considering both rain delays, it's surprising to see the stands as full as they are tonight. Attendance may be slightly down this season at the CWS, but that might have more to do with $4 gas making it even more expensive to travel to the games. Some have speculated that the stadium debate soured people on the CWS, though I kind of doubt that.
• ESPN did a nice job not covering the streaker who tried to interrupt the ninth inning; kind of broke the tension in a tie game.
• Hope the Dawgs from the Georgia Sports Blog have a good visit. (If they don't, they'll probably blame me for my restaurant suggestions...)
  
• Nice to see that the opponents of the new stadium finally admit why they fought against the new stadium so hard. It was strictly financial, as they lose the money they charge folks to park on their yard. MECA and the Yard Parking industry had a lot in common with their opposition... and now even the Save Rosenblatt folks have realized that South Omaha is going to win with the new stadium.
• Nice feature on incoming UNO freshman hockey player Alex Hudson in the World-Herald. Not only is he breaking ground as the first black hockey player to suit up for the Mavericks, but more importantly, he's going to be adding some needed size and physical play to a Maverick squad that seemed to rely a little too much on speed in recent years.
• Out of the corner of my eye at lunchtime, I swore I saw the WWE's Vince McMahon being interviewed on CNBC today. Speaking of fake sports, I see that the NBA is embroiled in a debate over officiating. Some believe Tim Donaghy's charge that the league is fixing games. Others aren't sure. Either way, it's going to take more than a Boston-LA "Finals" to win back the respect the NBA lost many years ago.
• OK, now it turns out Tiger Woods won the USA Open with a torn ACL and a couple of stress fractures in his leg? Now that's impressive. I'm not a Woods fan, and I still think he gets way too much attention when he's down the leaderboard. But it's going to be interesting to see how Woods comes back. If he comes back totally healthy, he just might pull off that "Tiger Slam". Or maybe he's developed so much upper body strength that his legs simply are going to be unable to support that swing. It will make a fascinating story next spring.