TED SOBEL SPORTS AUDIO VAULT: Your Inside Access to TOUCHING GREATNESS

What’s left of the Clippers season, my empty seat in their media area.

The Clippers are done but at least they hold a new NBA playoff record as the first team to ever win the first 2 games of a series and then lose the next 4 by double digits…obviously something that nobody’s proud of. Just hours after being eliminated in Memphis, the Clips were back home doing their exit interviews knowing this would be the last time they’d be together as this collective team before changes will be made. And it really was a very special locker room that will be hard to duplicate. Of course, they’d take a lesser group and an NBA title.

The big question is, what will their club look like next season? Will Chris Paul re-sign longterm (if not they’ll be taking several gazillion steps backward), will they re-sign head coach Vinny Del Negro, which of their 6 free agents will remain in Clipperland including Matt Barnes who we spoke with today not knowing if he’ll be leaving for a 10th NBA club?

CP3 was still shaking his head in disbelief when I asked him how he ever got ejected in last night’s game 6 when he said and/or gestured nothing to the refs. He looked me right in the eye and basically said…your guess is as good as mine (smartly avoiding any fineable comments).

For whatever reason, Jamaal Crawford, DeAndre Jordan, and Lamar Odom were not made available for us to speak with…but here are the 6 who gaves us their thoughts as they headed into the golfing (or fishing) season.

CP3 chats with us about his future (photo courtesy of Ralph Lawler’s facebook post)

Chris Paul:

Blake Griffin who we got to laugh a few times about what happened the past few days:

Caron Butler:

Chauncey Billups who’s not ready to hang up the sneakers just yet:

Matt Barnes who ended his season after a playoff career high of 30 points:

Grant Hill who’s not sure if he’ll play again or serve slurpees (which he likes):

Coach Vinny is set to speak with us on Monday morning as we get to play Monday morning quarterback (or point guard) with him…and then who knows?

The Clippers made huge strides this season winning the Pacific Division for a first time, they set records with overall wins, home and road, and it was a fun ride while it lasted. But the bottom line is that Lob turned into ‘Sob City’ very quickly something that I reminded everyone of these guys that we all can’t get up in the regular season which only sets up the playoffs…guaranteeing you ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Trainer Doug O’Neill’s horse

As the horses enter the sloppy track at Churchill Downs my mind has been made up for this wet Kentucky Derby. The rain that was expected happened throughout the day which had me pick Revolutionary as of 2 days ago and I’m sticking with jockey Calvin Borel’s horse, followed by Verrazano, Goldencents and Orb (who’s getting plenty of late action). I see that Revolutionary has been bet down as the 5-1 favorite which shows you just how wide open this race is.

My betting plan would be to play my top 3 to win along with boxing them all in the exacta…and adding some place money on Goldencents and Verrazano

My rooting interest (outside of any betting) is definitely Goldencents with trainer Doug O’Neill a longtime friend and here are his words that he texted to me yesterday. “They’re calling for rain tomorrow. I think if that happens, it could be a real advantage for us. Speed horses, which we’re one, tend to have an edge. Rain or shine, we’re real excited about our chances. THX!” And it’s also easy to want his very likeable jockey Kevin Krigger to to become the first black jockey in over a century to win the ‘run for the roses’.

O’Neill certainly deserves some nice karma after getting screwed out of a great chance at winning the triple crown last year. Or as in my responding text to him wrote “Good racing luck, Doug…and I’ll Have Another winner with Goldencents!”

In the new pressbox which is closer to the foul pole than home plate!

On my way down to the Ducks Stanley Cup playoff game in Anaheim, I stopped at Angels Stadium to get a few minutes with Angels manager Mike Scioscia. His over-priced roster is not living up to their expectations (an understatement) for a 2nd straight year still just surviving well under the .500 mark, so I needed to go to the source and one of the best skippers in the bigs and see where he’s coming from?

Mike doesn’t often reveal too much of his true inner feelings but it doesn’t mean I can’t try…and I did ask if he’s feeling the heat personally now with such another slow start? However he responds though I always like speaking with Sciosh, who’s one of the real good guys anywhere.

Mike Scioscia with Ted Sobel:

It’s not a good sign when your starters on back to back nights are Joe Blanton (0-4) and Jason Vargas (0-3). BRUTAL!!! Good luck tonight against the O’s Skip.

Oh and by the way, am I the only human who thinks that the best trade of the year would be Scioscio for Don Mattingly? Mike is a National Leaguer who still thinks the game that way, and Donny is an American Leaguer who would fit great with the Halos and handle any ego that doesn’t live up to his hype or paycheck…besides it’s a personal pleasure professionally for me to deal with both of these true gentleman. THINK ABOUT IT and let me know if I haven’t totally lost it! 😉

Clippers assistant Mark Iavaroni says there’s no panic on his team

No need to mince words now…the Clippers must win tonight in Memphis down 3 games to 2 or head home with their injured tails between their legs. The most hurt of course is Blake Griffin who’s still a game-time decision with his high ankle sprain and Chris Paul has an aching thumb which will be hurting a whole lot more if they don’t get the W.

I spoke with Clippers assistant coach Mark Iavaroni before game 6 and we covered everything that could be an issue in this one:

Good luck coach and it would be nice to have a game 7 to attend on Sunday at Staples. Catch all the action on KFWB Newstalk 980 starting at 5:30 today with ‘Lob City’.

Chatting up the draft with Ron Marmalefsky (L)

THERE’S A DRAFT IN HERE!!!!
It’s been quite awhile since I put together a podcast of note for you loyal followers out here…but I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaack. And it’s a very in-depth look at last weekend’s NFL draft with my longtime friend Ron Marmalefsky (AKA Ace) who’s as knowledgeable a draft expert as anyone you’ve seen on TV or elsewhere.

We take it a step further than most by going over every team (division by division) with grades and analysis on how the new season shapes up for all of them.

I broke it up into two segments, first the NFC and then the AFC where your Super Bowl champion Ravens are enjoying the old phrase “just the fax” for some of their off-season success. And I bet you won’t be able to guess who was Ron’s pick as your quarterback sleeper in this draft??? And if you do…you’ll win one BIG congrats from us!

And if you’re a true football fan…you will sit through every minute of our detailed breakdown and savor it all from your favorite to rival team or anywhere in between. If not, you’re just a glutten for punishment. Enjoy! 🙂

NFL Draft-Part 1 (NFC):

NFL Draft-Part 2 (AFC):

CP3 had to be 1 on 5 too often in game 5

The Memphis Grizzlies came into L.A. and not only stole home court from the Clippers but stole their thunder in this series with an easy 103-93 win at Staples Center and a 3 games to 2 first round lead. One of the key storylines was a Blake Griffin high ankle sprain that was kept from everyone until around gametime and the big redhead was only able to play 19 minutes on it before calling it a night which made Chris Paul’s job even more intense.

Here I was asking CP3 and his coaches the past several days why he wasn’t shooting more instead of waiting for crunch time and now he was simply TOO MUCH of a one-man show scoring 21 of his game high 35 in the first half and was joined ONLY by Jamaal Crawford in double figures with 15. Paul ended up 11 for 24 from from the floor and 11/11 from the free throw line but it was far enough as the Clips had NO answer AGAIN for the 2 Memphis bigs. Former Clipper Zack Randolph led his club with 25 pts. and 11 boards while Marc Gasol added 21 and 8 and now it’s back to Tennessee where the Griz look to turn the Clips into ‘Flop City’ on Friday night and ruin what was hoped to be a very special post-season in L.A.

The following are postgame comments that I gathered…
First cautiously optimistic Memphis coach Lionel Hollins, who I always liked to watch as a player (I’m one of the few left around here who remembers him with a uni on):

Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro who’s job could be on the line this week if his guys don’t figure out a way to pull this series out with 2 straight wins:

Blake Griffin who’s listed as a gametime decision for game 6 and it would be minor miracle if he was even thinking about being near 100%:

Clippers guard Jamaal Crawford told me his team hasn’t lost confidence yet…BUT:

Clippers forward Matt Barnes is a fighter and is far from allowing the Grizzlies to get into his head:

Clippers guard Willie Green has surprisingly only played a few minutes of garbage time in this series but he’s always gracious about allowing me to get his thoughts and he’s well past the ‘put me in coach’ phase:

And finally Griz defensive specialist Tony Allen was the last one standing in his locker room when I ran in there late–and he gave me a few thoughts on where his head is at now while first praising teammate Tayshawn Prince who’s come alive scoring 7 of his 15 pts. down the stretch:

So it’s now ‘Do or Die’ or any other cliche you want to use for the Clips and we’ll see what they’re made of tomorrow night as at least 5-6 pt. road underdogs while Clipper Nation prays for a game 7 at home on Sunday. At least you can enjoy every minute of sweat from Memphis on KFWB Newstalk 980 starting at 5:30 with ‘Lob City’. 6:35ish first tip.