Morning Line Archives: June 11-17

JUNE 11-17

The Stanley Cup Finals will end this week, while the NBA Finals begin.  The Los Angeles Kings get another chase to close out the Cup when they host the New Jersey Devils on Monday night for Game 6. If the Devils win a third straight do-or-die game, we have a decisive Game 7 back in the Meadowlands on Wednesday. TheSportsNotebook will continue its game-by-game coverage and have closing thoughts on the season later in the week. (Actually we’ll do it next Thursday. On Wednesday, June 20, the NHL Awards will be presented in Las Vegas, and we’ll wrap up everything the following day). The awards show will be on NBCSN.

Meanwhile, Miami and Oklahoma City will tip off the NBA’s final battle on Tuesday and Thursday in OkC. Game 3, the first of three straight in South Beach (the Finals goes 2-3-2, unlike the other rounds) will be on Sunday night. ABC will carry the games. TheSportsNotebook has already started Finals week with a historical look at what happens when two great stars, in search of their first ring collide. On Tuesday morning we’ll preview the entire series and the usual game-by-game coverage will follow the rest of the week.

In baseball, The Road To Kansas City—the site of the 2012 All-Star game—is going to get more coverage with the All-Star game less than a month away. TheSportsNotebook will pick one position per day to evaluate from Monday thru Friday, and then on Sunday night there will be weekly wrap-up to look at the overall divisional races.

The world of racing is a little quieter now, with the conclusion of the Triple Crown, but even if racing on four legs is done (at least on a major level) until The Breeders Cup in November, there’s still racing on four wheels and TheSportsNotebook’s NASCAR consultant, my brother Bill, will give us his thoughts on Sunday’s race in Michigan and we’ll take a look at the overall standings.

Isaac Huss continues his Suffering Sports City series. Having told us of the travails of his hometown Minneapolis, and empathized with Denver and Oakland, Isaac took on some real pain this week, with his look at the woes endured by Cleveland, as they get set to watch (endure?) a Finals appearance by LeBron James.

The Historical Museum here at TheSportsNotebook is well-stocked, with 32 different articles that explore a notable region of the country in every year from 1976-2007. Whether it was a celebration of championships, or a lot of near-misses, read how fan bases might have experienced different years here in the modern era.