AMERICAN SPORTS TODAY

 Today, sports.  In the past I've posted on Tampa, Florida, because this seems to be the city for sports champs.  Today, I'll expand the kudos to the entire state, for their excellence has been almost remarkable.

To begin, the Florida Panthers are in the Stanley Cup.  Not sure who will oppose them, for the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights will play game 5 tonight, with Vegas leading 3-1.  The Panthers, incidentally, are located in Sunrise.  Sunrise?  That's in Broward County, in the Miami metropolitan area.  Population, around 100,000.

It hasn't been easy, for the Panthers had to come back from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Boston Bruins, who had set NHL records in wins (65) and points (135).  Earlier last month Florida was ranked #12 in the NHL, with the Bruins at #1.  The Florida star is a 25-year old American, Matthew Tkachuk

Or maybe like Tampa, I need to focus on Miami, for their NBA Heat was at one time 3-0 against the Boston Celtics.  Now, 3-2, with game 6 also tonight, in Miami.  Maybe because of injuries, but Boston is  currently favored to win the match this evening.  What this game has come to is 3-point accuracy.  The latest NBA power rankings has the Celtics at #1 and Heat way down at #22.

In Major League Baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays comfortably leads the American West.  However, they have never won a World Series.  The latest rankings show the Rays #1 in the MLB.  The Miami Marlins have won two, in 1997 and 2003.  They are doing okay, but not great this year.

Otherwise, there are some surprises:

• In the AL Central, the Twins are #1 with Tigers #2.  Yes, Detroit Tigers.
• AL West, Rangers lead, with Astros #2.
• The National League leaders are the Braves, Brewers and Dodgers.

Florida has three National Football League teams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins.  Both the Bucs and Dolphins have won two Super Bowls, while the Jags have not been to any of those games.  Miami is the only NFL team ever to go undefeated, and that was way back in 1972.  The White House re-honored the team in 2013, with QB Bob Griese, President Obama and Coach Don Shula.

At the college level, the Florida State softball team will be in the Women World Series.  They already have the t-shirt.  OKC stands for Oklahoma City, the site of this annual event.

Oklahoma is #1 and will also be in the World Series.  However, they were really lucky, in that their 48th straight win (lost only to Baylor this year), breaking the college record, came today as follows:

The Sooners have currently won 48 games in a row, through May 27. That puts them alone on top, with a chance to extend further in the 2023 Women's College World Series. Oklahoma's only regular-season loss in 2023 came to Baylor in February. The 48th win of the season came in Game 2 of the super regionals — the Sooners trailed 7-4 in the seventh and down to their last out and last strike when Kinzie Hansen sent an 0-2 pitch over the fence for a three-run bomb. OU then came back to take the lead in the top of the ninth and hold off Clemson to advance to its seventh-straight trip to the WCWS. The record-breaking win, that beat Arizona's record set in 1997, was even more significant because of what was likely the Sooner's last game played on Marita Hynes Field.

For the record, my fantasy baseball teams are #1 in head-to-head and rotisserie leagues, and #2 in a RL.  I change my players virtually every day, letting go lagging veterans, and adding hot hitters and pitchers.  This is the main reason why I'm doing so well.  In the head-to-head league, I have 203 moves (this is unlimited for the year), and the #2 team has 77, with #3 18.  In the RL, my #1 team has had 174 moves, with #2 21, #3 14 and #4 14 moves.  My #2 team in a RL has had 175 moves, while the #1 team ahead of me, only has one.  The last place team has 22 moves.  Under these conditions, I can't believe the #1 team is far ahead of me, and catching up so early the season will  be nearly impossible.

Mawar is back to being a super typhoon at 180 MPH.  While the Phillipines watches with concern, all projections has the eye turning north, weakening, missing Taiwan and probably also moving sufficiently east of Okinawa.  But you never know.

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