Flint Township View

No Triple Crown winner and a look at NHL and NBA playoffs

Fat Guy Corner


 

 

The Preakness Stakes runs this Saturday, and we will have no Triple Crown winner in 2022.

The Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike has withdrawn from the race. Owner Rich Dawson wants the horse to have ample rest before its next race. I personally hate Dawson’s decision to skip the Preakness. I wanted to see if the last race was totally horse racing luck or if this horse is legit.

My opinion is Rich Strike would not win the Preakness Stakes and finish trailing the field by many lengths. However, I guess we will never know.

The early favorite for the race is Epicenter at a 6-5 morning-line favorite. The horses Simplification and Ethereal Road raced in the Kentucky Derby and will now test their luck in the Preakness. When I gander at this field I really think Epicenter is the horse to beat. The Fat Guy is putting his hard earned cheddar on Epicenter this Saturday to win.

The NHL Playoffs have hit round two on the ice. How about all those game seven winners? Let’s tip our hockey sticks to game seven winners: Tampa Bay, New York Rangers, Calgary, Carolina and Edmonton. It’s hard to believe that six of the eight series went to seven games!

Let’s look at the second round matchups. The Eastern Conference has a dandy series in Tampa Bay and Florida from the sunshine state. The Florida Panthers high-scoring offense against the two-time back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. I am going to pick Tampa Bay to win based on one guy — goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. Tampa wins in seven games.

The other Eastern Conference series is the Carolina Hurricanes against the New York Rangers. I think Carolina is the most under the radar team in the playoffs. I like the Canes in six games.

The Western Conference has Colorado taking on St. Louis. The Colorado team swept Nashville so it’s like they’ve been on a week vacation. I forgot they were in the playoffs to be truthful. I like Colorado in six games.

The battle of “Oh Canada” features the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. I say, if you have not watched Connor McDavid from Edmonton, make sure you do in this series. What a tremendous hockey player he is. However, I love the Calgary Flames to grind out a series win in seven games. Let’s drop the puck and get round two started. He shoots he scores!

The NBA is down to four remaining teams looking to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The Eastern Conference has Boston and Miami looking to advance to the NBA Finals. The Celtics, who won a game seven against Milwaukee, will be favored over Miami. The Celtics play great team basketball and good team defense. I ask, can Jimmy Butler carry the Miami Heat to an upset of Boston? I say “no” he can’t give me Boston in six games.

The Western Conference has the shocking Dallas Mavericks taking on the Golden State Warriors. The show Luka Doncic put on in game seven against the Phoenix Suns was incredible. I cannot believe the Suns were absolutely destroyed in game seven at home by 33 points. Can the Dallas team upset the heavily favored Golden State team? I say probably not as the Warriors have too many offensive weapons in my eyes. I like the Warriors in six games to advance to the NBA Finals.

The PGA Championship is this weekend in Tulsa, Okla. The golf course is Southern Hills Country Club where the golfers will try to win the PGA Championship. It should be an exciting weekend of golf as numerous big time players will be in attendance. The boys in Vegas have installed Scottie Scheffler as the favorite to win. The Fat Guy is going with Viktor Hovland to win this weekend.

The Detroit Tigers are awful! They irritate me every single night.

I can be reached at thefatguy@mihomepaper.com.