Morning Perk: Derby, Sweeps, Preds and Passes

Monday morning. Your alarm goes off for the first time in two days, you head back to the office and then spend the first few hours of the workday planning how you’ll survive until closing time on Friday. Luckily, Poker Central and Death Wish Coffee have you covered. The world’s strongest coffee gives you a “Morning Perk,” recapping the weekend sports action on Monday and then the best from across the internet on Friday.

When you spend the whole weekend flipping from channel to channel, trying to figure out which sporting events deserves your attention on a minute-by-minute basis, that is a good weekend. This was one of those weekends, as there weren’t enough hours on Saturday and Sunday to follow it all. From the “most exciting two minutes in sports” to playoff action in two sports and a potential World Series preview, this weekend had it all.

Win: Always Dreaming
Place: Lookin At Lee
Show: Battle of Midway

Full #KYDerby results: https://t.co/8yonbRgV3R pic.twitter.com/XUsasZhGbn

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 6, 2017

Before we get into who won the Kentucky Derby, how much was bet on the Kentucky Derby? A mind boggling $209 million, that’s how much. Those bets were all decided in just over two minutes, as Always Dreaming led wire-to-wire to win the Kentucky Derby on a muddy Churchill Downs track. Most casual bettors, myself included, usually do most of their wagering based on cool horse names and unfortunately, my picks, Irish War Cry and Battle of Midway, came up a few spots short.

8 wins.
0 losses.
1 ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals. pic.twitter.com/4NZZeMGoXm

— ESPN (@espn) May 7, 2017

Always Dreaming was one of the pre-race favorites so there was no Kentucky Derby upset and the Cleveland Cavaliers have yet to be upset this post-season. They’re a perfect 8-0 after sweeping the Toronto Raptors to punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals. LeBron and Co. now get a few days of rest, as the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards are all even at 2-2 on the other side of the bracket.

JOHN WALL pic.twitter.com/4IrhwVA8ab

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) May 7, 2017

The reason the Wizards are tied with the top-seeded Celtics, the play of John Wall over the last two games. Wall has looked like the best point guard in the league and when he pulls moves and passes like this, that is hard to argue against. While I don’t have a horse in this fight, I can’t wait to watch Wall and Isaiah Thomas go toe-to-toe for the rest of their series.

History = MADE. See you in the #WesternConferenceFinal. #STLvsNSH pic.twitter.com/2Gh7Cgxbcd

— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) May 7, 2017

Daniel Negreanu didn’t even have the Nashville Predators getting out of the first round and rightfully so, as they were up against the top-seeded Chicago Blackhawks. A few weeks later, the Preds are into their first Western Conference Finals in franchise history. They got through the St. Louis Blues in the second round and now await the winner of the Anaheim Ducks vs. Edmonton Oilers series for a historic trip to the Stanley Cup Finals.  

Kyle Schwarber doing his best Derek Jeter impression for the #Cubs.#Yankees #MLB pic.twitter.com/8cI2DardSt

— Mark Suleymanov (@TheMARKOut1) May 8, 2017

Speaking of finals, a month into the MLB season, we could have just seen a preview of the World Series. The New York Yankees have the best record in the American League and just swept the defending champion Chicago Cubs, at Wrigley Field. One of the only positives for the Cubs during that three-game stretch, was this Derek Jeter-esque catch by outfielder Kyle Schwarber but alas, it was all in vail. The Yankees won in 18 innings yesterday, to prove that they are the real deal.

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