↵The Opening Pitch: The best sports team in America today? ↵
↵↵It is not the Steelers, despite two NFL titles in the past 4 years. Not Urban Meyer's Gators, despite two college football national titles in the last 3 years. It isn't the Red Wings, on the verge of yet another Stanley Cup title. It certainly isn't LeBron's Cavs. ↵
↵↵It is Northwestern's women's lacrosse team, which yesterday captured its fifth straight national title, capping an unbeaten season. ↵
↵↵The Wildcats have dominated the decade in women's lacrosse despite being a Midwest outpost in a sport traditionally ruled out East (see today's men's final between defending champ Syracuse and upstart Cornell). ↵
↵↵Making it all the more remarkable, the program didn't even exist at the varsity level before the decade began. Now, they are the hot destination for the best recruits -- at least the kids from Maryland or New Jersey or Carolina or New York who care about winning national titles. ↵
↵↵Northwestern's football team once embodied futility in team sports; its lacrosse team now represents the very best. ↵
↵↵Orlando 2, Cleveland 1: Think the Magic were sick of hearing about LeBron's Shot? I'm not saying Anthony Johnson's elbow to Mo Williams' face was intentional -- but it was certainly cathartic. ↵
↵↵The combined foul total of 61 in the game tells the story -- LeBron's shot (may have*) saved the Cavs' season, but even more, it accelerated bad feelings that began when the Magic took home-court advantage from the Cavs in Game 1. ↵
↵↵What should worry Cavs fans is that they could easily be down 3-0 in this series, and while LeBron is playing brilliantly, his teammates are not. The Magic are the better team, and even the Cavs admit the matchups are brutal for them. ↵
↵↵(*Remember: "LeShot" only remains mythical if the Cavs pull out the series; if they don't, you won't be able to remember it through the haze of chokery.) ↵
↵↵Lakers-Nuggets Game 4: It could so easily be 3-0 Nuggets. It better be 2-2 by the time we finish tonight's game in Denver, if the Nuggets want to have any chance at all of winning this series. ↵
↵↵Indy 500: Helio! And yet, the biggest story seems to be Danica's 3rd-place finish -- and talk of her bolting for NASCAR (which should be a no-brainer for her). Will this be the last Indy 500 with "Danicachet?" (Meanwhile, rain Sunday means a Memorial Day noon spectacle at the Coke 600.) ↵
↵↵MLB Talking Points: Peavy was right not to leave the Padres - 9 straight Ws! ↵
↵↵• Interleague's most impressive: Twins sweep Brewers ↵
↵↵• Big Papi Watch: Only CONSIDERING dropping him in order? ↵
↵↵• Mem Day Must-Track: David Price starts for Rays ↵
↵↵• Replay Update: What is it about Fenway? ↵
↵↵• Fantasy Studs: McCarthy (CG SO) | Dunn (2 HR, 6 RBI) ↵
↵↵NHL Playoffs: The Wings are showing the Hawks how it is done in late May. ↵
↵↵NFL Offseason: Jeremy Shockey hospitalized in Vegas after being rushed out of a pool party on a stretcher. Allegedly, he was merely dehydrated -- that seems like a pretty big deal for not drinking enough Gatorade. If you are an athlete and you are being covered by TMZ, you have a problem. (He has since been released.) ↵
↵↵NBA Draft: Nick Calathes will play in Greece. Somewhere between Childress and Jennings, there is Calathes, a marginal NBA talent from Florida, who will skip out on the NBA next season to play for the best team in Europe. ↵
↵↵It's not for everyone, but it's a great move for him: (1) The money, which will be equivalent to being drafted in the Lottery, even though he is a marginal 1st-round pick at best; (2) the seasoning, playing for a team at least as good as a bottom-feeding NBA team; (3) the marketing, as he will be much more attractive to NBA GMs after a year of pro basketball (he can opt-out after his first year). ↵
↵↵NBA Coaching Carousel: Jay Wright will one day make a great NBA coach -- he may be the college coach with the best chance of making the jump to the pros. It's not happening now, though; why leave his Top 10 program? ↵
↵↵CFB Offseason: Who will be the 2009 Coach of the Year? Houston Nutt is a pretty popular pick to have this year's breakthrough BCS team. ↵
↵↵The Last Word: How do you say "It's over" in Mandarin? Cavs fans can breathe easy now; LeBron isn't going to leave in 2010 for New York -- not after the Cavs sold a sizeable ownership stake to a business group in China. ↵
↵↵Why is that the decisive factor in the debate? LeBron wants to be a huge global brand -- not merely playing in the biggest U.S. media market. If the Cavs can become "China's Team" -- with LeBron as the star -- that will be a very big thing for LeBron. About 1.5-billion-people big. ↵
↵↵Dan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/danshanoff. ↵
↵This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.