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So much for the early obituaries for the Miami Heat. They easily beat Indiana 115-83 to take a three games to two lead. There could be suspensions after a series of flagrant fouls.
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Happy Wednesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for May 23, 2012 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.

1. Quick Hits

  • The Los Angeles Kings are heading to the Stanley Cup Finals after eliminating Phoenix in overtime of game 5, 4-3.
  • So much for the early obituaries for the Miami Heat. They easily beat Indiana 115-83 to take a three games to two lead. There could be suspensions after a series of flagrant fouls.
  • NFL owners mandate thigh and knee pads for players for the 2013 season. Some players may object feeling the extra equipment slows them down.
  • The Golden State Warriors will build a new arena and plan to move from Oakland to San Francisco for the 2017-18 season.

2. Identity Crisis

Now that the L.A. Kings are in the Stanley Cup finals their visibility should improve. It's not that they're having trouble identifying the Kings around the country, they're having problems in L.A. One TV station showed the Sacramento Kings NBA logo by mistake. Another showed the Sacramento Kings mascot in error. So to set things straight, the Kings came up with this "infographic" for the media. One item of note, is zero. That's the number of "Years the Kings have either played in Sacramento, thought about playing in Sacramento, or invested in a feasibility report on a potential move to Sacramento." Hopefully that clears things up.

3. The Great DH Debate

The other day I stated the case for uniformity. With interleague play virtually every day next season, I feel both leagues should build their rosters and play by the same rules. As for your point of view:

From S.B. I vote no DH in the National League. I hate the American League game. (In the National) I've seen pitchers come up and get a big hit and I've watched managers actually manage.

R.H. I do like the disparity of the leagues, I wouldn't want them to change it. What I do hate about interleague is that it's the same teams facing each other. I'd like to see MLB do like the NFL, where the NL East plays the AL West one year and the AL Central the next. But of course, money talks so you get Mets/Yankees every year.

And H.K. has a unique twist: To me, it would make more sense for the teams to play by NL rules in the AL parks, and vice-versa. Then, at least in both places, fans would see something unique.

4. The Olympic Spirit

As you gear up for the London Olympics, it's worth noting that many Olympic sports have come and gone. The New York Times highlighted some of them the other day. Their choice for the #1 Olympic sport to bring back is tug of war. It was contested between 1900 and 1920 with Great Britain the only country to win two gold medals in the sport. I can't believe that the Times didn't advocate the return of live pigeon shooting. It was competed once at the 1900 Paris Olympics. Granted it was quite messy, but I'd advocate just announcing its return... just to hear PETA's reaction.

5. A M-o-o-ving Experience

Damn, we missed it. Once again in Switzerland they held their annual cow fighting contest to crown the "Queen of Queens." A bunch of cows basically head butt until a winner is determined. The winner can fetch upwards of $50-thousand at auction, and to make sure there's no funny business, there's rigorous drug testing. Ah, but in the end, win or lose, the competitors all wind up in the same place, the dining room table. Which makes it a sport, you can really eat up.

Happy Birthday: Tennis great John Newcombe. 68.

Bonus Birthday: Orioles manager Buck Showalter. 56.

Today in Sports: 50 years ago today, the Philadelphia Warriors get the go-ahead to move to San Francisco. 1962.

Bonus Event: Also 50 years ago today. Joe Pepitone of the Yankees did more than just introduce hairdryers to locker rooms. He hit two homers in one inning. 1962.

Spanning the World has been rescheduled on NBC's Today Show for Thursday, May 31.

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