Sport Watch

Filed under: NHL

CHICAGO — Off flew Jeff Carter‘s helmet, down with a thud came his body. The United Center crowd roared with glee, tickled red by the mid-ice pratfall.

This is how the Stanley Cup Finals were meant to be played, with gnashing of teeth and smacks to the head. Game 1 was more like a breezy ski run down a white mountain, straight ahead, without poles. Game 2 felt as if it took place inside an MMA cage.

That Carter happened to be crushed by his own Philadelphia teammate merely added spice to a night that ended in a delirious flurry, with Chicago hanging on desperately to a 2-1 win that gave the Blackhawks a 2-0 edge in the championship series. For all we know, goalie Antti Niemi was unconscious for the latter part of the evening, because that is as good an explanation as any to explain his otherworldly, turn-back-everything-but-the-clock performance as time wound down.

View full post on FanHouse Main

Filed under: Lakers, Suns, NBA Playoffs

PHOENIX — Michael Jordan had the shoulder shrug. And now Kobe Bryant has the pat.

When the dust settles on Bryant’s brilliant career and the highlights all have been spliced together, this one certainly will make it.

With 34.2 seconds left Saturday night at US Airways Center, the Lakers guard put up a 23-foot jumper right in front of Phoenix’s bench with Suns forward Grant Hill practically doing chin-ups on his forearm. It didn’t matter.

Bryant made the decisive bucket that would lead his team to a 111-103 win over and a third straight trip to the NBA Finals. Before Bryant ran back up court, he gave Suns coach Alvin Gentry a pat on the butt, as if to say, “Nobody can stop me.”

It was similar to when Jordan hit his sixth three-pointer of the first half for Chicago in Game 1 of the 1992 NBA Finals against Portland. With the Bulls on their way to the second of six titles, he simply shrugged for the camera.

“After I knocked down the shot, I just heard (Gentry) mutter something like, ‘That’s B.S., you know,”’ said Bryant, giving his version of the shot that put the Lakers up 107-100 and on their way to securing a 4-2 win in the Western Conference finals. ”Something to that effect about the shot. Just made me smile.”

As for Gentry’s version, “I said, ‘Good defense. (Bryant) said, ‘Not quite good enough.’ … He just patted me.”

View full post on FanHouse Main

By Shelley Hitz.
Even when you cannot make it out to walk or to an aquatics or yoga class, there are exercises you can do daily to improve flexibility, strength and conditioning when you suffer from arthritis. You can flex your legs while sitting in a chair facing forward, simply by moving your leg outward while keeping your foot on the floor and holding it there for a few seconds, then retracting it until your foot is behind you, then alternating to the other leg. Interlocking your fingers and slowly flexing your wrists to the left and the right for a few minutes a day can help tremendously to increase flexibility and reduce pain in the wrist area.

For your upper back, you can stand upright in front of a table, then lean over and place your hands on the table and tuck your chin back toward your collarbone. Once positioned as such, lift your upper back upward and simultaneously take a deep breath. Hold that position for 5-10 seconds and then relax while exhaling. While doing this, lower your spine slowly as you move both shoulder blades forward as if toward Read more…