Weekly Sporties

-Lost in all the celebrations following the Bruins' Stanley Cup Championship is the fact the Dallas Mavericks just won their first NBA crown a couple days earlier. Like all of America I was rooting for the Mavericks to beat the Miami Heat, mostly because I think this was the last chance anyone outside of Miami was going to have to win one for a while. The Heat were two wins away this year and that was without any kind of bench help. They are going to be at least 20% better next year with a full training camp together and the chance to sign better veterans who are desperate for one last shot at a ring. Frankly, everyone had to get while the getting was good.

-Another reason I was rooting for the Mavericks is because I want to see just how crazy Mark Cuban is going to go with the Championship celebration. For those of you who don't follow the sport, Cuban is exact the kind of owner you and I would be if we won the lottery and could afford to buy a professional sports organization: he sits just off the end of the bench during games, calls out the refs in public and I honestly think he considers himself the 16th man on the team. He was the first guy to pimp out the team charter and home locker rooms in an attempt to woo free agents to Dallas and has pretty much said money is no obstacle. Seriously, a diamond-encrusted championship banner is not out of the realm of possibilities. I'm excited to see how this turns out.

-Everyone is crapping on LeBron James following the Heat loss, as if the entire thing was his fault. Coming to his defense? The only athlete who could truly say they know exactly what LeBron is going through, Alex Rodriguez. However, considering Alex still hasn't been fully embraced by the Yankee fans despite finally winning a World Series (they have, at best, decided they have to support him as long as he still plays there, but would really prefer it if he were traded) and is pretty much the most hated man in baseball outside of New York, you have to assume James is thinking, "Dude, you're not helping."

-I will say this about all the LeBron hate: Cleveland, I am officially tired of hearing from you. The day after the Finals ended everyone in Cleveland was talking about how happy they were that the Mavericks won, that they will never forgive James and he will forever be public enemy #1 to them. Alright, guys, we gave you a year. That's enough now. He's a professional athlete who decided to switch teams, not the guy who stole your wife. How about concentrating on building your current team into a championship contender versus spending all your time worrying about what the other guy is doing. Win a title before he does and you'll forever have the last laugh.

-One last NBA note: two years after being drafted in the first round by Minnesota and subsequently being terrible while playing for his Spanish League team, Ricky Rubio has apparently agreed to a deal to come and play in the NBA. At the time he was drafted everyone thought Rubio was going to be the next great European passer and be a mix of Pete Maravich and Steve Nash. Now? He just scored 3 points in his team's 3 playoff games (and this is European basketball, where no one plays any defense). People would settle for him being Steve Kerr.

-The big news from the world of golf this week is that Steve Williams, longtime caddy for Tiger Woods, would be caddying for Adam Scott at this year's U.S. Open. Williams says he is doing so with the full support of Woods, who can't play while he is injured. Sorry to be the one to break it to you, Stevie, but you're about to get fired. Much like when your girlfriend suddenly lets you out of a social engagement you didn't want to go to anyway, it's a bad omen, not a stroke of luck. Tiger telling you to find another job for the week is a precursor to you working for someone else full-time. Frankly, I didn't think Williams was going to make it passed that interview last year in which he said if he had known what Tiger was doing with all those girls he would have said something to his wife. He hung on longer than expected.

-There are reports out this week that the NFL has been holding secret labor negotiations and a deal to end the lockout is 80%-85% done. I desperately need this to be true. Seriously, with the basketball and hockey seasons over the only thing I have to entertain me until college football starts are two (very-likely) Tiger-less golf majors and about 60 meaningless baseball games. I need mini-camps, off-season trades and free agency to hold me over. C'mon, NFL, don't make me care about a late-July, 3-game series between the Royals and the Red Sox out of a lack of other options. That would just be cruel.