So let's see last time I posted LeBron didn't have a ring, Jeremy Lin was technically still a Knick, Rick Nash was a Blue Jacket, Zach Parise & Ryan Suter were out for new contracts, Zack Greinke was a Brewer, Ichiro was a Mariner, John Laurinaitis was ruling WWE with People Power and I was 18. Well all that's changed.
Lets start with the NBA, LeBron James finally won a Championship as the Heat beat the Thunder in the NBA Finals. Ray Allen later took his talents to South Beach with Rashard Lewis. Anthony Davis & Austin Rivers are off to the Big Easy as the newest Hornets. Jeremy Lin signed a tender with the Houston Rockets and Linsanity in New York came to an end when the Knicks refused to match the Houston offer. The Knicks dumped Jared Jeffries and brought back Ray Felton, Marcus Camby & Kurt Thomas in return to go along with Jason Kidd and Ronnie Brewer. Toronto nabbed Landry Fields in another RFA signing. The now Brooklyn Nets brought in Joe Johnson while re-upping Deron Williams, Kris Humphries, Brook Lopez & Gerald Wallace. Steve Nash is now a Laker, Lamar Odom a Clipper. Dwight Howard drama will certainly run through the rest of the off-season at the least.
Now to the NHL, Free Agency & Labor Negotiations are in full swing. Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were the most sought after targets on the market and both of them signed 13 year $98 million deals with the Minnesota Wild. Jaromir Jagr sees bigger things in Texas and signs with the Dallas Stars. Alex Semin is going to Carolina to join a team that now has 3/4 of the Staal brothers with the Draft Day addition of Jordan Staal. My Rangers lost Brandon Prust & Rulsan Fedetenko to free agency to Montreal and Philadelphia respectively while adding Taylor Pyatt, Jeff Halpern and Aaron Asham. The team also traded Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon and a 2013 first round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Rick Nash, Steven Delisle & a 2013 third round draft choice.
I'll try to get in an MLB trade deadline recap in tomorrow. I'm pleasantly surprised by the Ichiro to the Yankees deal, barring an injury in the next two days I'll be seeing him live this Wednesday when I go see my Yankees take on the 2nd place Orioles!
In WWE, I witnessed the end of the "People Power" Era in WWE as John Laurinaitis was "fired" by Vince McMahon at June's No Way Out (Great Show for a non Big 4 PPV). Monday Night RAW made TV History with it's 1000th Episode on July 23rd.
We are now back to football as NFL Training Camps are underway across the nation!
Now as far as my summer's gone, if you're following me on twitter (@mike_iannaccone) you'll know by now that I've been to my share of events since the last blog post which includes:
- WWE's No Way Out on June 17th at the iZod Center
- Braves-Yankees on June 19th at Yankee Stadium
- Indians-Yankees on June 26th at Yankee Stadium (The Dwayne Wise Game)
- Angels-Yankees on July 14th at Yankee Stadium
and here's my list for the rest of the summer:
- Orioles-Yankees on August 1st at Yankee Stadium
- Cardinals-Phillies on August 12th at Citizens Bank Park
- Red Sox-Yankees on August 17th at Yankee Stadium
- NY Jets Training Camp on August 23 & 24th at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park
- Panthers-Jets on August 26th at MetLife Stadium
I hope to add Mets-Astros on August 25th to my schedule because I'd love to go for Mike Piazza bobble-head day, hope my cousin has a clear schedule!
Oh yeah, 1 last thing...On July 9, yours truly celebrated his 19th birthday. I hope I get to keep doing this for a long time. I'll be back full time soon! Until then, STAY TUNED!!
