Lynn University Fighting Knights Men’s Lacrosse faces off for the first time in history

Senior attack man Joey Bacarella scored the first lacrosse goal in Lynn University Men’s Lacrosse history when he beat Wheeling Jesuit University goalie Joe Amsler in front of the net at the 8:37 mark of the first quarter to give Lynn their first ever 1-0 lead in their first ever game of NCAA Lacrosse, but Wheeling went on a scoring spree to take the game 14-5 in Boca Raton. Lynn University Men’s Lacrosse, also known as the “Blue & White” stopped the first shot attempt in school history when goalkeeper Taylor Ferrino made a save on a shot earlier in the contest with 13:21 remaining in the first quarter. Ferrino had 14 saves in the loss. Wheeling Jesuit University Cardinals Men’s Lacrosse would not be quiet for long, attack man Landon DelPrince made his way into the crease with 6:51 left in the first and fired a shot past Ferrino to tie the game at 1-1. At 2:40 in the first quarter, the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead, but Lynn freshman attack man Brian Kiel evened the game at 2-2 with his first ever collegiate goal with just over a minute left in the quarter. Middle man and fellow freshman Tyler Janvrin got the assist, his first of three in the contest. With 17 seconds left in the first, DelPrince invaded the Lynn defense again to give Wheeling Jesuit a 3-2 lead as the first quarter horn sounded. Lynn also nabbed 10 ground balls in the first 15 minutes of game play; a ground ball is equivalent to a rebound in basketball and leads to offensive possession for the attacking lacrosse team. The Cardinals also recorded the first ever penalty in Lynn University history when Wheeling Jesuit’s middle man Bryce Brochu got tangled up and knocked down a Lynn player at midfield. The penalty seemed to be the ignition switch to even more intense, aggressive play for Wheeling Jesuit. Lynn had zero penalties in the first half, but Wheeling Jesuit was rough and rowdy setting the tone with six penalties. The Cardinals shut-out the Fighting Knights 2-0 in the second quarter to take a 5-2 lead going into halftime. The halftime festivities included a Boca Jets 13-and-under exhibition. “I want eight goals in the second half,” Lynn Coach Brian Kingsbury told his players just before the third quarter started. But Wheeling Jesuit scored five out of six goals in the third quarter to push the game out of reach at 10-3 going into the fourth. The Cardinals took advantage of a winded Lynn team by incorporating the wheel play over and again on offensive possessions led by superb passing by the Wheeling Jesuit players. Tyler Johnson had two goals in the third for the Cardinals and DelPrince added his second of the game combined with winners by Aaron Gutentag and Brian Frank. Lynn got on the board late at the end of the third to avenge the shutout when Daniel Egan broke free for a scoring opportunity and connected past Amsler, who recorded eight saves in the game. In the final period, Wheeling doubled Lynn 4-2 on goals scored. The Cardinlas were led by Tyler Wickett’s two goals in the fourth a, Bryce Bochu and Jared Baranowski, who each had a goal apiece. Brian Kiel connected again for Lynn for his Fighting Knights leading second goal of the game and season, and also had eight total shots on goal, and Harrison Lynch scored Lynn’s last goal unassisted. The Lynn University Fighting Knights played their first game in program history at neighboring Pope John Paul II High School in Boca Raton while the finishing touches are being put on Brian Campbell Stadium at Lynn University. Brian Campbell Stadium opens on March 30, with a 12 p.m. game against Colorado Mesa. Next up for Lynn is a March 5, matchup against Notre Dame de Namur at 7 p.m., Pope John Paul II High School, 4001 N. Military Trail in Boca Raton. Admission is free.

Marin Cilic Wins 2014 Delray Beach Open by The Venetian Las Vegas Over Kevin Anderson in ATP 250 Thriller in Delray Beach

Marin Cilic’s tennis play at 2014 The Delray Beach Open by The Venetian Las Vegas® was sizzling hot! Yellow smoke was literally billowing off of each serve, forehand and backhand winner, that Cilic hit on the blue hard Plexipave courts of Delray. Cilic outlasted 2012 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships winner Kevin Anderson, 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (7-9) and a deciding 6-4, in a thrilling three-plus hour match to win the 2014 Delray Beach Open and according to the ATP Tour, $81,500 in prize money. Cilic also improved to no. 25 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Cilic was the seventh-seed in the tournament that featured 32 ATP players including John Isner, Tommy Haas, and Kei Nishikori, among other top-pro tennis players. To get to the finals, Cilic, of Croatia, bounced Germany’s Benjamin Becker in the first round, wild card Ryan Harrison 6-3, 6-4 in the second round, T. Gabashvilli 6-2, 6-3 in the third…and Big John Isner 7-6 (5), and 6-3 in the semi-finals. Fan favorite Isner, reached the semi-finals for the third consecutive year at the tourney. He was coming off of an ankle injury he suffered in Australia, and seemed to move very well on the Plexiplave once again in Delray. Throughout the tournament, Isner’s issue was his composure. The big guy, Isner is 6’9’’ often played far down in size compared to his competition, smacked tennis ball’s completely out of the stadium on Tuesday and Friday resulting in astonishingly, only warnings from the chair umpire. But, that’s understandable, because Big John Isner is fun to watch and likeable, and most likely if one of us had the chance to be the chair umpire, would have been awe of his athletic ability and probably not even issued the warnings. Isner though, struggled in the first set of each of his four matches played at the 2014 Delray Open. Isner came storming back in his first three matches at the tourney, often relying on a serve that pushed 138 M.P.H. but could only muster winning three games against Cilic in the semi’s. Eventual Champion Cilic built momentum over five straight days of play to take the Delray Beach crown, and is 18-4 in matches this year with two titles won. Bob and Mike Bryan won their third doubles title in the last six-years playing in the Delray tourney. The Bryan’s defeated F. Cermak and M. Elgin 6-2 and 6-3. Andy Roddick made his ATP Champions Tour debut for the American team and won three straight matches over Sweden’s Mats Wilander 6-3 and 6-3, Mikael Pernfors 6-3 and 6-2, and Croatia’s Goran Ivanisevic 6-4 and 6-3. Prize money totaled $474,005 at The Delray Beach Open, a men’s pro-tennis ATP 250 tourney held yearly each February at the Delray Beach Tennis Center in beautiful Delray Beach, FL.

Define TEAM - First-Class MIAMI HEAT

Just got to work... Up until 2 a.m. watching all the post-game interviews/NBA Finals Press Conferences. Surreal to me b/c during my sports reporter days I met Ethan Skolnick (Palm Beach Post) he used to write for the Sun-Sentinel and Tom D'Angelo and others I met asking questions to LBJ and Dwayne Wade. That's really neat that the county changed the name officially to MIAMI-WADE County, I thought that was classy... And the Birdman, every other team gave up on the Birdman because he's had his personal issues, Miami signs him to 10-day contract and the guy becomes the missing glue in the Championship puzzle. Most of all I want to share the definition of team last night in terms of those Heaters... Team - Where you win a game with 12 players on the team but only five of those players score all 95 points. Bosh, Miller and Allen (star of game 6, courtesy of hitting !Canasta de tres puntos!) combined to score no points and go 0-14 last night. But, if you watched the game, Bosh wouldn't allow Tony Parker or Tim Duncan to drive the lane, Miller played tenacious defense and Ray Allen moved the ball, played shut-down defense and provided a bit of offensive flow. Spurs coach Greg Popavich said that LBJ and D-Wade played Hall of Fame basketball last night and what can you say about Shane Battier setting an NBA Finals game record with six-three-pointers. King James said it best: "this team is just amazing." Happy for Pat Riley, all the Heat players, and one last thing about team - the Miami Heat shut down Danny Green last night, all-time leader in three-pointers made in an NBA Finals. They shut down Parker and Battier covered Duncan when he missed with 20 seconds left. First-Class Heat!

The Greatest NBA Game Ever! Miami Heat win in overtime 103-100 against San Antonio Spurs in Game 6 of 2013 NBA Finals!

Very tired from watching the greatest basketball game ever last night. San Antonio Spurs up by four points with 28 seconds left and their best free throw shooter at the free throw line. Security comes in and puts a yellow rope around the court to stop fans from running on the court because evidently these fools thought San Antonio would win the championship in 30 seconds... The gold trophy is wheeled over near the Spurs bench surrounded by guards, and there's actually a guy polishing that big old gold basketball trophy... Manu Ginobli misses first free throw, makes second and then Miami scores quickly ala LBJ (Lebron James) misses a three pointer, Mike Miller tips out the ball and Lebron hits the seond attempt another three pointer. Referrees who decided their Las Vegas payoff was more important than calling the game fairly have the nerve to call another foul on Miami and Kwahi Leonard, another Spurs great free throw shooter, goes to the free throw line. He misses the first one and Miami is down by three. Heat down the court and miss a three, then one of the big three (Chris "I look like a Raptor dinosaur and play as fierce as one" Bosh) gets the rebound and passes it out to Ray Allen, who actually has the know how to get his feet behind the three point line and jumps three feet in the air, releasing the most beautiful 22-foot jump shot in the history of the game of basketball and swoosh... Tied at 95-95! Five seconds left and Spurs get the ball and Ginobli takes four steps in Miami's lane without jumping (throughout the world that is called traveling and the other team, Miami in this case gets the ball) and the referrees must have had silly putty stuck in their whistles because the whistle isn't blown. Miracously Ray Allen comes up with the ball and Miami survives to overtime. In overtime, again San Antonio is up by three and looking for more when Bosh blocks a Tony Parker three pointer and with Miami finally up three points and San Antonio Spurs needing a three pointer, they get it to their best three-point shooter this guy Danny Green who happens to be the all-time leader in three pointers made in an NBA Finals courtesy of all the three's (I believe 26 three pointers in just six games) he's hit against the Heat in these finals, Green gets the ball on a corner three point attempt and I'm not kidding when I say Bosh flapped those Raptor Dinosaur wings and came out of nowhere to block Green's shot and the Heat win 103-100. Earvin "Magic" Johnson, the great L.A. Lakers point guard called the game one of the greatest he's seen. I'm calling it the greatest I've seen.

Just What If The Stars of The 2013 NBA Finals Were “Grunge Era” Band Leaders

If San Antonio Spurs monster power forward Tim Duncan were a guitarist leader of a “Grunge” era band he’d remind me of Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins. That bald head and scruff, so tall yet with the head just barely titled toward the ground. Add that demeaning meanor… and he’s definitely the front-man for the Smashing Pumpkins. If Duncan shreds like Billy Corgan does on guitar in two out of the next three games San Antonio will be singing along with Duncan ala Billy Corgan to “Today! Is the greatest! Day I ever saw… Can’t wait for tomorrow! Tomorrow’s much too long!”

My hypothesis is the Heat Win Game Four

If the Miami Heat were to win tonight, Games One and Three, will be wiped away. A win gives the Heat a brand new series. What will happen? It's a guess... But hypothesis would be that the Heat will somehow find a way to win and the reason why is an educated guess. And that educated guess, is that the Heat will play much better in Game Four. Common! Danny Green is the leading scorer in the series. Bull mularkey! It will not be a fresh face... The reason why Miami plays well in Game Four is that they're the best road team in the NBA win percentage wise on the road. It won't be easy... Miami steals one late, Lebron drives from the top of the key down one! Miami Heat 95 San Antonio Spurs 92

Miami bench too much in Game Three

As much as it would be the right thing to do in making the guesswork a San Antonio Spurs blowout... Manu Ginobli will be back in Game Three, Duncan and Parker will be a given and Neal should be the star off the bench as the Miami Heat probably key on stopping Green. For Miami, they will have to once again making a living at the free-throw line, especially on the road. A ton of things even out here in the third game, as much as the Spurs are the right choice, this is the game Miami will win in a squeaker. The reason is quite easy… San Antonio can’t continue to triple team Lebron James and expect Bosh, Wade, the Birdman, Chalmers, Cole, Miller and Allen to do nothing. Miami has too many key bench players. Miami Heat 101 San Antonio Spurs 100