---

Bar Chat

06/03/2024

Stanley Cup Playoffs...Rangers lose...

Add-on posted early Tues. a.m.

Stanley Cup Finals

Edmonton wrapped up its series with Dallas Sunday night, 2-1, to take it 4-2, and now superstar Connor McDavid is finally within reach of a Stanley Cup, nine years into his sparkling career.  It’s the franchise’s first Cup final since 2006.

Incredibly, Dallas outshot Edmonton 34-10.  Good lord.  But McDavid scored the first Edmonton goal and assisted on the second by Zach Hyman, his 14th, both power play goals.

Game 1 against the Panthers in Sunrise, Fla., isn’t until Saturday, both teams getting a needed break.

But as many have said, the elephant in the room is who will watch this series?  Not exactly two big markets.  I’m certainly not watching every minute, but I’ll keep tabs on each game and tune in, especially in a tight third period.

At least it gives McDavid the national spotlight he deserves.

MLB

--Entering Monday’s game down in Washington, the Mets’ bullpen had thrown 109 2/3 innings since May 1, and allowed 61 earned runs for a 5.02 ERA, which ranks at the bottom of the league.  Their closers have blown the most saves (eight) of any team in baseball in that span.

Had the Mets been perfect in save opportunities, their record would be 31-28 instead of 24-35. But as that’s not realistic, had they matched their first month performance, they’d be 29-30, which is better than 24-35.

Additionally, heading into Monday night, the Mets had six losses when leading after 8 innings since May 5, when the next worst team had two.

And so the Mets were then leading 8-5 heading to the bottom of the ninth and the bullpen started to unravel and gave up two runs, but Jake Diekman came in to save the day, 8-7. 

Mets win!  Mets win!

--The Phillies are 42-19 after a 3-1 win, Monday over the Brewers (36-24), as Zack Wheeler was his usual strong self, seven innings, one run, moving to 7-3, 2.23.

Wheeler is 50-28, 2.97, over 4+ years with the Phils after the Mets failed to re-sign him and Philadelphia scooped him up in free agency.

--Sunday night, the Yankees continued to roll, now 42-19, with a come-from-behind 7-5 win in San Francisco, completing a 3-game sweep, as Juan Soto whacked two home runs, including a 2-run shot in the top of the ninth as the Yankees were scoring four to turn the game around.

For the Giants, Blake Snell, who signed a 2-year, $62 million contract with the Giants late in spring training and then tried to hit the mound for the big-league club when he probably wasn’t ready, gave up 3 earned in 4 2/3, 99 pitches, his ERA 9.51!  Snell has made six starts and has yet to go 5 innings in any of them.

--The Wall Street Journal first reported Monday that former Pirates infielder Tucupita Marcano is being investigated by MLB for violating baseball’s gambling policy – with the possibility of a lifetime ban.

Marcano, who has been out since last July due to a torn ACL and had been claimed by the Padres in the offseason, has been accused of betting on games involving the Pirates.

Other players also are facing possible disciplinary action for betting on baseball while in the minor leagues, according to the report.

College Baseball

--The regionals wrapped up Monday and of the 16 heading to the super-regionals, from which the final eight for the College World Series emerge, there are five ACC schools...NC State, Florida State, Clemson, Virginia, and North Carolina; the Tar Heels with a dramatic 4-3 win, Monday in ten innings, eliminating defending champion LSU.

--The Birmingham-Southern Panthers’ tragic, yet wonderful, story ended Sunday in a 11-10 loss to Wisconsin-Whitewater in a Division III College World Series elimination game, effectively ending the program’s existence as the school shut down May 31 due to financial troubles.

“Two options of us going into any tournament like this is win or no regrets,” Birmingham-Southern baseball coach Jan Weisberg said postgame.  “I have absolutely no regrets. I told the guys before we left Birmingham that I had a genuine peace about this final chapter. Whenever we either won it, there were going to be extreme tears of happiness but if we lost, I would not have any tears of sorrow.”

Birmingham-Southern was a 1,300-student college in Birmingham, Ala., that officially closed Friday after a nearly two-year battle to replenish its depleted endowment to stay financially afloat.  In October, the Alabama state treasurer declined a $30 million loan, and the school officially voted in late March to close.

Golf Balls

--The U.S. Women’s Open wrapped up after I posted and for the record, 22-year-old Yuka Saso now has two wins on the LPGA Tour, both in this event, which is very Andy North-like...North the former PGA Tour golfer who had three tour victories in his career, but two were U.S. Opens.

What’s more unusual about Saso is that when she won at The Olympic Club in 2021, she played under the flag of the Philippines.  She won at Lancaster three years later under the flag of Japan.  She couldn’t be prouder of both.

“Winning in 2021, I represented the Philippines.  I feel like I was able to give back to my mom,” Saso said.  “This year I was able to represent Japan, and I think I was able to give back to my dad.  I’m very happy that I was able to do it.”

--Fifteen-year-old Miles Russell accepted a sponsor exemption for the Rocket Mortgage Classic later this month, having made history by making the cut in a Korn Ferry Tour event.  He’ll become one of the youngest players to ever compete on the PGA Tour.

WNBA

--Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever fell to 2-9 Sunday night as they got destroyed by the New York Liberty, 104-68, Clark with just three points on 1 of 10 shooting from the field.  Eegads.

--Angel Reese, the Chicago Sky rookie who cheered Clark’s getting shoved by teammate Chennedy Carter the other day, is all over the sports pages Tuesday morning because she says people are paying attention to the WNBA not just because of Clark – but because of her as well.

“I know I’ll go down in history. I’ll look in 20 years and be like, yea, the reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person.  It’s because of me, too.  I want y’all to realize that.”

Oh puh-leeze.

And Chennedy Carter said she has no regrets over her flagrant foul.

NASCAR

--Austin Cindric took advantage of a Team Penske teammate’s misfortune to break an 85-race winless streak and claim this week’s race in Madison, Illinois.

As reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney came down the frontstretch toward the white flag with a healthy lead over Cindric, his No. 12 Ford slowed dramatically.

“I’m out of gas!” shrieked Blaney, who is winless in 2024.

Cindric roared past and went on to notch his second career win (his other the Daytona 500), beating Denny Hamlin.

Blaney finished all the way back in 24th.

NFL

--We note the passing of Hall of Fame offensive lineman Larry Allen, who died suddenly Sunday at age 52 while on vacation with his family in Mexico.

A mammoth figure, 6-3, 335 lb., Allen was a six-time All-Pro in 12 years with Dallas and two with San Francisco, 1994-2007.  He helped lead Dallas to the 1995 Super Bowl championship.

His six first-team All-Pro seasons were consecutively from 1996-2001.

“I hear people say Larry was the best offensive lineman in the game, and that’s just not right,” Cowboys teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Michael Irvin once said. “Larry was the best player in the league, and it wasn’t close.”

Stuff

--A 46-year-old man – a member of a group of ocean swimmers who regularly train in the waters north of San Diego – was attacked by a shark Sunday morning in Del Mar, prompting officials to block water access until later in the week.

The victim was bitten in the torso, left arm and hand and transported to a local hospital, where he was being treated for injuries officials described as significant but not likely life-threatening.

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.

-----

[Posted prior to late sports action...]

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Tues.

Stanley Cup Quiz: 1) Name the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup way back in 1992-93?  2) Name the one Canadian team that has been in two finals since then?  Answer below.

Stanley Cup Playoffs

--New York Rangers fans were on pins and needles Saturday night, the season potentially coming to a depressing end in Game 6 against the Panthers in Sunrise, Florida.

The Rangers had lost Games 4 and 5 by identical 3-2 scores, Tuesday in overtime down in Sunrise, and a really depressing loss Thursday at the Garden.

So New York had blown a 2-1 series lead and our three big stars on offense, Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, had one goal combined in the five games, Kreider finally scoring on Thursday.  Panarin, in particular, was having a good playoff in the first two rounds, and coming off a 49-goal season, but couldn’t get it in the net, and Zibanejad frankly has played awful.

[This trio combined for 114 goals in the regular season.]

Would the Rangers then show up Saturday?

Sort of...the Blueshirts were down 1-0 after two periods, but us fans weren’t optimistic, and then Vladimir Tarasenko scored at 9:08 of the third for the Panthers, 2-0, and it was over.

Yes, Artemi Panarin scored with 1:40 to play, but that was it.

Rangers lose the series 4-2, having lost the last three, and the last five games were all decided by one goal...2-1, 5-4, 2-3, 2-3, 1-2.  Phil W. immediately wrote before I turned off the TV and PC, “Florida was better,” indeed they were, and I didn’t lose any sleep over it.  As Tony Soprano would have said, ‘whaddya gonna do...’

Kind of like in the case of the Knicks, this Rangers team was fun, the players clearly bonded, and certainly provided a lot of excitement in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but it’s yet another case where the Presidents Trophy winner failed to then win the Cup...a streak now going back to 2013.

Veteran hockey writer Larry Brooks of the New York Post also summed it up:

“It has become an annual rite of passage, sort of like Daylight Savings Time. But instead of moving the clock ahead by an hour every spring, the Rangers add another year to their Stanley Cup drought.

“It will be 31 years since the last ride up the Canyon of Heroes for the Rangers, who were a very good team this year and a very good team through the first two rounds of the playoffs but could not quite sustain it against a bigger, stronger, more physical team in the conference final.

“There’s no shame to it. This wasn’t last year’s no-show defeat to the Devils.  The Rangers left everything they had on the ice in this six-game series in which they were brutalized, pounded and softened up through the opening three contests by a Panthers team that fattened up by winning the final three games of this conference final.

“Indeed, the Rangers left everything they had on the ice for the duration of the season in which they finished with the best record in the league and advanced to the conference final for the second time in three years.

“They just weren’t quite good enough....”

Florida now awaits the winner of the West....

--...In the Western Conference finals, Edmonton beat Dallas on Wednesday, 5-2, and then again Friday, 3-1, to take a 3-2 lead in their series...Game 6 on Sunday night in Edmonton, so the home fans will surely be stoked. 

For the Oilers, superstar Connor McDavid has 29 points in 17 games in the playoffs, including 25 assists, while fellow star Leon Draisaitl has 27 points, with 10 goals, though relatively quiet in the current series. 

NBA

--The Finals are set and it could be a great one...Boston vs. Dallas.

The Celtics completed their sweep of the Pacers in a series that was deceiving, three of the four games going down to the wire.

Dallas took out Minnesota in Game 5 Thursday, 124-103, to wrap it up, 4-1, as once again Luka Doncic (36 points on 14 of 22 shooting, 6 of 10 from 3) and Kyrie Irving (36, 14 of 27, 4 of 10) were a two-man wrecking crew.

This is the Mavs’ first NBA Finals since 2011.

Game 1 is not until Thursday, June 6 in Boston.  It seems that for the Celtics, Kristaps Porzingis will be available, recovering from a calf injury suffered in the Miami series, and this is big for Boston fans.

--In College Basketball...Wake Forest Nation (not exactly Sioux Nation) received some shocking, super positive news...Hunter Sallis is eschewing the NBA Draft, where he was likely to be a mid- to late-second-round pick, to return to the Deacs!

We’re talking a first-team All-ACC player who immediately becomes a top contender for Player of the Year.

Coach Steve Forbes had seemingly done another terrific job in the transfer portal (you obviously never know until you see these new guys play), but to have Sallis return...the Deacs are suddenly very deep.

Yes, a certain big donor whose name I’ve noted before no doubt played a massive role in getting Sallis back.

Similarly, former North Carolia star Caleb Love, who transferred a year ago to Arizona, is also coming back for a fifth season with the Wildcats...NIL money does help.

--If you missed it, I gave my tribute to the late Bill Walton in my Add-on early Tuesday morning.

So I just have to note the comments of Charles Barkley Tuesday evening on “Inside the NBA,” his first opportunity to note Walton’s passing.

“When I got that news yesterday it hurt,” Barkley said.  “Because you talk about great at basketball, great in life, great as a broadcaster, but just a good person. I never seen a person who was more joyful to be around, who was always in a good mood.

“The world is not as good of a place as it was yesterday. The world was better for having Bill Walton in it....”

--In the WNBA, Caitlin Clark won her first home game with the Indiana Fever on Saturday, 71-70 over the Chicago Sky, Clark with 11 points (2 of 9 from 3), 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

But towards the end, Sky guard Chennedy Carter checked (shoved) Clark to the ground, and Indiana general manager Lin Dunn, a longtime college and WNBA coach, wrote on X: “There’s a difference between tough defense and unnecessary – targeting actions!  It needs to stop! The league needs to ‘cleanup’ the crap!  That’s NOT who this league is!!”

Dunn is right.  Clark is being targeted.  The players are exceedingly jealous of Clark’s newfound, and earned, riches, which as the likes of Charles Barkley have said only benefits the whole freakin’ league, and it is also clearly a racial thing.  Everyone can see a really ugly incident coming down the pike...far worse than a shove.  Just my opinion.

Chennedy Carter, in the press conference after said “I ain’t answering no Caitlin Clark questions.”

Clark, for her part, handled it well.

MLB

--Friday night in San Francisco, Aaron Judge hit two home runs in a 6-2 Yankees win over the Giants, giving him a staggering 14 in the month of May, 27 RBIs.  He leads the majors with 20 homers.

Judge finished the month with a .371 average and a 1.415 OPS, becoming the first Yankees player ever with at least 14 homers and 12 doubles in a calendar month.  His 26 extra-base hits in May are tied for the third most ever by a Yankees player, trailing only Joe DiMaggio (31 in July 1937) and Lou Gehrig (29 in July 1930).

Judge’s 26 mark just the eighth time that has happened in MLB since the end of World War II.

Judge finished the month leading the majors in slugging (.648) and OPS (1.056), and, along with Juan Soto and terrific pitching, has led the Yanks to an AL-best 40-19 record.

Going back to last Wednesday, the Yanks beat the Angels 2-1 in Anaheim, as Luis Gil went 8 innings, one run, his record a sterling 7-1, 1.99, ending a month where he became just the 5th Yankees pitcher in the last 50+ years to have a sub 1.00 ERA over 35+ innings in a single calendar month.

On Thursday, however, the Yankees lost starter Clarke Schmidt for at least two or three months minimum with a strained lat, Schmidt having a breakout season pitching to a 2.25 ERA over 11 starts.

But that night, they beat the Angels 8-3 as Carlos Rodon threw six innings, 3 earned, in moving to 7-2, 3.09, though Anthony Volpe’s hitting streak ended at 21.

Saturday, the Yankees (41-19) continued to roll in San Francisco, 7-3, Aaron Judge with No. 21, Juan Soto with an RBI triple, his 50th ribby of the season.

Judge has 39 extra-base hits in 60 games, or a 105 pace for the season.  [Shohei Ohtani has cooled off...33 in 60.]

--The Mets were swept by the Dodgers at Citi Field earlier in the week, including a 10-3 loss Wednesday, and afterwards the club held a team-only meeting.

It was the culmination of a stretch that had seen the Mets go from 15-14 at the end of April to 22-33, the 7-19 in May, to that point, the worst in baseball, and to top it off, reliever Jorge Lopez, who gave up two runs, tossed his glove into the stands and then said the Mets were the “worst team in probably the whole f---ing MLB.”  He was designated for assignment hours later, after also lying about his interactions with manager Carlos Mendoza and president of baseball operations David Stearns, and then Lopez blamed the media for misinterpreting him.

As I’ve been writing, all Mets fans want the team blown up...especially the vastly underperforming core, including Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and Edwin Diaz (who was placed on the 15-day IL with a right shoulder impingement after blowing three straight save opportunities). [Brandon Nimmo normally gets a pass in such discussions, but he has hardly been lighting it up.]

Well, the Metsies, following the team meeting, defeated Arizona at Citi on Thursday and Friday, 3-2 and 10-9, after the organization also made some changes to the lineup, DFAing catcher Omar Narvaez and demoting third baseman Brett Baty.

The Mets (24-34) then lost Saturday to Arizona (26-32) 10-5, on a day they retired former outfielder Darryl Strawberry’s number.

The No. 1 overall pick by New York in the 1980 MLB Draft out of Crenshaw High in Los Angeles, Strawberry’s arrival to the big club was highly anticipated, and he was Rookie of the Year in 1983.

The Straw Man would play eight seasons with the Mets, eight seasons of 26+ home runs, three 100-RBI seasons, a 30/30 season, two years with 100 runs scored, a second and third in the NL MVP voting...he was everything.

But not quite everything, and that’s what disappointed fans, and the organization, who knew like in the case of Doc Gooden, Strawberry was having too good a time off the field and probably not reaching his true potential. General Manager Frank Cashen only offered Darryl a 2-year extension and Strawberry left for Los Angeles and free agency.  As Darryl said yesterday in the pre-game ceremonies where his uniform number was unveiled with the likes of Tom Seaver, Gil Hodges and Keith Hernandez, it was the biggest mistake of his life, leaving New York.

Mets lost Sunday, 5-4, the bullpen blowing it, allowing two runs in the top of the ninth.

The sword may be appropriate, but now I need to see how Wake basketball does.

--The Phillies dodged a bullet Saturday, literally, it seems, as a 106-mph line drive off the bat of the Cardinals’ Alec Burleson hit starter Ranger Suarez’s left hand, he exited after two innings, but X-rays were negative and it seems Suarez (9-1, 1.70) will miss one start, max....Philadelphia 41-18 after a 6-1 win over St. Louis (27-29).

--The Dodgers’ $325 million pitcher, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, improved to 6-2, 3.32, after six innings of one-run ball Saturday night against the Rockies (21-36), L.A. 37-23.

--Friday night, San Diego relief pitcher Jeremiah Estrada pitched 2/3s of an innings, no strikeouts, ending his consecutive strikeout streak at 13 batters in a row, believed to be the longest such streak since at least 1961.  Previously, that distinction had belonged to Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado, who struck out 11 straight last season.

Estrada has given up one run in 18 innings (0.50 ERA), while fanning 30, after one scoreless Saturday in a 7-3 win over Kansas City.

Speaking of outstanding relievers, Oakland has Mason Miller, who after Thursday’s action, had 11 saves, a 2.08 ERA, and 51 Ks in 26 innings.

--Chris Sale entered his start against the A’s yesterday in Atlanta, 8-1, 2.12, but he was drilled, 8 earned in four innings, ERA zooming to 3.06.

However, it was a no-decision as the Braves rallied to take a 9-8 lead, only to fall 11-9; Atlanta just 32-24, Oakland 24-36.

--The Orioles got word Friday that pitchers John Means and Tyler Wells will undergo elbow surgeries to repair ulnar collateral ligament injuries to their throwing arms.

UCL surgery will cause both to miss the remainder of the 2024 season, which has been a brutal year for pitchers overall.

Both have already previously undergone Tommy John surgery, Means in April 2022, Wells in May 2019.

But the Orioles continue to roll, 9-5 over the Rays Saturday, to move to 37-19, two games back of the Yankees in the AL East.

--Some tidbits from Wednesday....

The Cubs’ Shota Imanaga finally had a bad outing, 7 earned in 4 1/3, his ERA rising to 1.86 in a 10-6 to Milwaukee.

Kansas City’s Seth Lugo improved to a startling 9-1, 1.72, with six innings of one-run ball in a 6-1 Royals win over the Twins.

And the Pirates’ Paul Skenes picked up his second win (2-0, 2.45) with six innings of 2-run ball, 9 strikeouts, in a 10-2 Pittsburgh win over the Tigers.

--In light of Major League Baseball recognizing Negro League stats after 3 ½ years of painstaking research (and doing their best to eliminate barnstorming exhibitions, which was my big issue), I am in total agreement with those who want to rename the MVP awards after Josh Gibson.

The best pitcher awards are named after Cy Young, and best rookie awards are named after Jackie Robinson.  So this would be a good way to reintroduce baseball fans with Gibson, who is now throughout the record book in many categories, including best career batting average, .372, eclipsing Ty Cobb by six points.

--In College Baseball, it was a depressing weekend for Wake Forest fans. The Deacs lost the opener of their regional to VCU 1-0 on Friday, and then in an elimination game, with star Chase Burns on the mound for us against 1-seed East Carolina, Burns picked a bad time to have a dud, 4 runs in 5 innings, the Deacs trailing 4-1 heading to the top of the ninth.

But Wake rallied for five runs to take a 6-4 lead, Michael Massey in to close for the Deacs, only he didn’t, and the Pirates won it, 7-6...season over.

I won’t lose any sleep over this.  We had our big run last year and I will always be glad I went out to Omaha for the CWS, but as I said all this season, even though we were No. 1 from preseason through the first month, the pitching sucked, when last year Wake had the lowest team ERA in Division I baseball.

And then in the regional, the bats came through in just one inning out of 18.  That doesn’t cut it.

***The Regionals are wrapping up after I post...I’m also well aware of the Division III Birmingham-Southern story but their elimination game is also coming after I post.

All of this in my Add-on....

Golf Balls

--At the RBC Canadian Open, Hamilton Golf & Country Club, Hamilton, ON, Robert MacIntyre and Ryan Fox had the 36-hole lead at -10. Rory McIlroy way back at -2.

And then in the third round...Fox broke out to a 4-shot lead, only to lose it all and see Bobby Mac finish four up.

MacIntyre -14
Fox -10
Ben Griffin -10
Mackenzie Hughes -10...the Canadian a huge favorite for Sunday.

And with his father on the bag, Bobby Mac gets his first title...one stroke ahead of Griffin.

MacIntyre -16
Griffin -15

Rory T4 -13.

MacIntyre can be a huge fan favorite...just get rid of the rabbit ears.

--Since my Add-on, for the record, Grayson Murray died from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.  After withdrawing from the PGA Championship in Louisville, he had flown home to his Palm Beach Gardens home where he supposedly filled his townhouse with the exhaust fumes from his Land Rover, left running in the ground-floor garage.

Police were called to the residence after a neighbor heard a carbon Monoxide alarm go off.

And charges against Scottie Scheffler were dropped by the prosecutor in Louisville, specifically Jefferson County, Ky.  Mike O’Connell filed a motion to dismiss all charges against Scheffler following that crazy incident at the PGA.

--Auburn won its first-ever NCAA Men’s Golf Championship last Wednesday.

LPGA

--Lancaster Country Club, Lancaster, PA, has a reputation for being a tough track, and indeed it has been for the U.S. Women’s Open this week.  Thailand’s Wichanee Meechai was the 36-hole leader at -4, among just four players finishing under par, with the cut line +8.

And world No. 1 Nelly Korda was a casualty, missing the cut at +10, 80-70.

Another missing the cut was Lexi Thompson, who earlier in the week in an emotional press conference announced she was retiring from the game at the age of 29.

Thompson, winner of 11 LPGA events (and four others worldwide), made her Women’s Open debut at age 12 in 2007 at Pine Needles.

After Friday’s second round, Thompson said: “It was going to be a big week.   Just to have my family and friends and the amount of fans that were out there this week, that’s what we want,” she said.  “That’s what we want for the game of golf to grow.  Each and every tournament, I hope it continues to do so, whether I’m teeing it up or not.”

Tuesday morning, Thompson released a statement announcing her retirement – at least from a full-time LPGA schedule, and then hours later at a pre-tournament press conference for the Women’s Open, she tried to maintain her composure as she reflected not just on her career, but on her making her 18th appearance in the national championship.

Thompson said “Being out here (on tour) can be a lot.  It can be lonely,” and with that she began to cry.  She said the lifestyle has worn on her.

“I just think, especially with what’s happened in golf...a lot of people don’t realize a lot of what we go through as a professional athlete,” she said.  “I’ll be the last one to say throw me a pity party. That’s the last thing I want. We’re doing what we love. We’re trying the best every single day.  You know, we’re not perfect. We’re human.  Words hurt. It’s hard to overcome sometimes.

“I think we deserve a lot more credit than we get,” she added. [Thompson’s last remark was pity-party stuff.]

Thompson alluded to broader mental-health struggles of pro golfers a few times and admitted that she too has struggled over the years.  In 2018, she took a break from golf after “struggling emotionally” for a year and a half, and the pressures of life under the spotlight and the attendant mental difficulties were foremost on her mind Tuesday.

“I don’t think there’s somebody out here that hasn’t,” she said.  “It’s just a matter of how well you hide it, which is very sad.”

Thompson said she’d finish out the year – her main goal is to make another Solheim Cup team – and didn’t know how much she’d play in the future.

Stuff

--Because the Premier League had no team in the final of the Champions League finale Saturday at Wembley, my interest level was nil, but I caught the last 20 minutes of Real Madrid’s astounding 15th title (six in 11 years), 2-0 over Borussia Dortmund, both goals late, manager Carlo Ancellotti winning his seventh as a manager and player...five as manager, two as a player with AC Milan.

--Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky said her trust in anti-doping policies at the Olympics is at an “all-time low” ahead of the Paris Games following the latest doping scandal.

“It’s hard going into Paris knowing that we’re gonna be racing some of these athletes,” Ledecky said in an interview with “CBS Sunday morning,” which aired on Sunday.  “It’s tough when you have in the back of your head that it’s not necessarily an even playing field.”

And that sucks.

In April, the New York Times reported that 23 Chinese swimmers quietly tested positive for the same banned substance, trimetazidine, prior to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.  The World Andi-Doping Agency confirmed the report and said it didn’t push for the Chinese swimmers to be punished at the time because it had accepted the findings of a Chinese investigation, which said the positive tests were caused by contamination at a hotel kitchen.  [Trimetazidine is the banned substance at the heart of the controversy involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.]

--A Washington Post-Schar School poll reveals that after two years of Washington’s NFL franchise bearing the name Commanders, most D.C.-area fans don’t like it, 54 percent saying they either dislike or hate the name. 

Only 16 percent of Commanders fans think the team should keep the name, while most say they would like the team to change to a different name.  Again.

League rules stipulate that a franchise can change its name, logo and uniforms only once every five years.  There are exceptions, including a change in ownership, but doing so is obviously costly.

That said, among the alternative names that came up when pollsters asked the fans were “Redwolves,” “Warriors,” and “Red Tails.”

Way back when Washington was coming up with Commanders, I said “Red Clouds” was a no-brainer.  He was a noble, warrior chief of the Oglala Lakota, who kicked butt (think Red Cloud’s War).

Alas, no one listened.

[One of the names given the pollsters was “Red Skin Potatoes.”  Cracks me up.]

Top 3 songs for the week 6/6/87:  #1 “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” (Kim Wilde)  #2 “Always” (Atlantic Starr)  #3 “Head To Toe” (Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam)...and...#4 “The Lady In Red” (Chris DeBurgh)  #5 “With Or Without You” (U2)  #6 “In Too Deep” (Genesis)  #7 “Wanted Dead Or Alive” (Bon Jovi)  #8 “Big Love” (Fleetwood Mac)  #9 “Diamonds” (Herb Alpert / Janet Jackson)  #10 “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” (Whitney Houston)...C- week...)

Stanley Cup Quiz Answers: 1) Montreal is the last Canadian team to win the Cup, 1992-93.  2) Vancouver has been in two finals since then.  Other teams in the Great White North, where all beer is premium, to make the finals but come up empty were Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton and Calgary.

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Tuesday.

---