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New Yorkers love to think that basketball is the "city game," their city for sure. Well if you're scoring at home, going back only 17 years, Texas has won seven NBA championships, New York zero.
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Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for June 14, 2011 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.


1. Quick Hits

* The Stanley Cup final is coming down to a seventh game tomorrow night in Vancouver. Boston won game 6 last night 5-2. The home team has won every game.
* Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he'll pay for Thursday's championship parade in Dallas.
* Rodney Dangerfield lives. The Mavericks are rated by Bodog the fifth choice to win the 2012 NBA championship. The favorites? Miami.
* Derek Jeter is just six hits shy of becoming the first Yankee player with 3,000 hits, but he left last night's game with a strained calf.
* Plaxico Burress will work with the Urban League to prevent gun violence. Well done.

2. Hate Filled

Wow, you would have thought that Dallas didn't win the NBA title, but that Miami lost it. All that invective being tossed in LeBron James' direction. I wondered about it on Facebook, at "Len Berman's Top 5." Some of your responses:

* Nathan H. "LeBron brought such a lack of class with his 'Decision' TV Show that it's no wonder he turned so many people off."

*Lon S. "Hate the hate Len, and I don't really get it. Must be all this social media, and people's ability to write what they think at any moment. Not what they would say to someone face to face."

*David L. "Here's why: from LeBron's mouth: 'At the end of the day, all the people that were rooting on me to fail, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today.... I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that.'"
Editor's Note: And so the King hath spoken. Take that little people!

3. Let's Go Rangers

When I look at "Today in Sports," it always makes me smile. Having covered sports in New York for over three decades, I'm often asked what were the best moments? Invariably, the Rangers winning the Stanley Cup is right up there. It wasn't just the 54-year drought. It was the passion of Rangers fans. It was the incongruity of President Bill Clinton placing a phone call to Brian Leetch when it was over. But most of all it was the peace that existed on the streets of New York that warm night. There were no arrests, not one. This, a year after Montreal won its 24th Stanley Cup and fans rioted on Ste. Catherine Street. I was never more proud to be a New Yorker, 17 long years ago.


4. The City Game

New Yorkers love to think that basketball is the "city game," their city for sure. Well if you're scoring at home, going back only 17 years, Texas has won seven NBA championships (San Antonio four, Houston two, Dallas one), New York zero. And if you add New Jersey, it's still zero. Does calling basketball the "lone star game" lack panache?

5. Look Both Ways Before Crossing

And take a look at this near calamity at the Canadian Grand Prix. The steward in black goes to clear some debris from the track.

Love the play by play call. "That's not pretty, is it?"

Happy Birthday: The only player to win Rookie of the Year, MVP, and Cy Young. Newk, Dodger pitching great Don Newcombe. 85.
Bonus Birthday: Welcome to Medicare. The Donald, Donald Trump. 65.

Today in Sports: The New York Rangers, at long last, win the Stanley Cup. 1994.
Bonus Event: Let's run it up the flag pole. The U.S. of A. came up with this red, white and blue flag thing, with 13 stars and 13 stripes. And that's why today is Flag Day. 1777.

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