This week in sports

Hi all,

It’s the calm before the summer. The last two weekends have been slow with sports. Don’t get me wrong; the NBA and NHL playoffs are in full swing. I just have not gotten into them. This weekend starts the great month of May with the first leg in horse racing are Triple Crown: The Kentucky Derby. The hype starts at 4 P.M. on the first Saturday in May. Listen for the playing of “My Old Kentucky Home” around 5:30 P.M. and the “Run For The Roses” gets under way at 6 P.M. The Derby is one of the toughest things to pick in all of sports because, all the horses are three years old and this is the first time in their life their running a mile and ¼.

Congratulation to Danica Patrick and Ashley Force for being the first women to win in their respective motor racing series. Danica won two weeks ago in an Indy Car Race in Japan. It was here first win in 52 career starts in the Indy Car Series. Way to good Danica, now go out and win at Indy next. Ashley Force is the first woman to win a NHRA Funny Car National Event. In the final of the Southern National in Georgia over the weekend she beat her father John Force a 14-time series champion. John was going for his 1,000th round win. Ashley is also the first woman to lead the Funny Car points at any time in the NHRA’s 33-year history. Way to go ladies.

This past weekend was the NFL Draft. I have written before about how I don’t like the draft and the fact that it’s a crapshoot. One of the other reasons I don’t like it is all the so-called “Draft Experts” that make mock-drafts and try to predict the first round. I did find evidence on just how bad their so-called experts are. The guys over at Cold Hard Football Facts.com have tracked the records of four experts for first round picks over the past three years. Lets just say the “experts” nail, on average, about 4 percent of the 220-plus players selected in the NFL draft. I don’t see how these people like Mel Kiper Jr. keep their job. Mel is the worst of the lot.

Finally, some sad news to report on the passing of Don Gillis, a longtime Boston sportscaster. I will remember Don as the host of Boston’s Channel 5 Candlepin Bowling program on Saturday mornings. I miss Candlepin Bowling, it was part of my childhood and I remember watching Candlepin Bowling, Candlepin Doubles, The Pro Bowlers Tour, and ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Candlepin Bowling ended on January 27, 1996. I miss those good old days.

I hope to be back with another post this week with my picks for the

Kentucky Derby.

That’s my take: I would like to hear yours

Jamie Lazaroff