Round up

For the next week I'm gonna be in Scotland enjoying the rolling countryside while mountain biking on one of the best trails in the world. I've got a Braveheart joke I could make here but I'll spare you from having to read it.

Anyway, since I'm gonna be gone I figured I would try and cover (i.e. predict) some of the sports headlines for the next week.

• The NHL finally has a collective bargaining agreement, with the player's union kow-towing before the owners. Rumors have already begun to fly that both sides have come to an agremeent with a hard cap in place (which the players had said they would never accept). If this is true teams with high salaries, like the Red Wings, will be forced into rebuilding mode since they will have to cut too many players too be competitive. It is still to early to predict what kind of an effect this will have on the Lightning, but if you head on over to Bolts Mag to get in-depth analysis of what the new CBA means for the Lightning.

• Matt Stinchcomb and Todd Steussie are cut, but Charlie Garner stays on to help tutor Carnell Williams. Walker restructure his contract so the Bucs can finally sign all their rookies.

• Lance Armstrong slips out of the lead for a few days before recapturing the yellow jersey. The team in the lead at the beginning has to work significantly harder than any other team since the riders are so close together. Lance and Team Discovery Channel decide to rest up a few days before beginning the assault on the mountains. Once in the mountains it becomes a two man race between Lance and Ullrich, with Lance eventually dropping the hammer on the German.

• ESPN overhypes the World Series of Poker, continuing to help develop a generation of compulsive gamblers.

• Michelle Wie takes the sporting world by storm when she makes the cut after day one. The sports world ignore her poor finish at the John Deere "Classic", and instead compares her to a young, female version of Tiger Woods.

• The All-Star game begins with Roger Clemens being the big story before MLB does its best to spin the event by promoting all the fresh faces in the game. By the time the Home Run Derby begins sports reporters will have forgotten about Clemens, and will turn their attention to attacking Barry Bonds. (And just for kicks, I predict the AL wins the All-Star game.)

• For the next few weeks we are going to be bombarded with Red Sox updates on the hour. It will eventually get to the point that ESPN will report on Manny's trip to the DMV on an off-day for the Sox. Red Sox nation will still wonder why everybody hates their team.

• And my final, bold prediction . . . the D-Rays will be in last place in the AL East when I get back next Sunday.