Every now and then I hear from a friend or family member about how I haven't been writing for my Rockies blog as much. Well, what is there to say about this year's team? Is tracking Jonathan Herrera's starts really a worthwhile use of anybody's time? The other day I was listening to the Denver sports radio station in the car and two guys were arguing about whether Willy Taveras or Scott Podsednik should be the Colorado leadoff hitter. Apparently just leaving the spot open, or hitting the pitcher there, were not considered options.

That says all you need to know about the .375 '08 Rockies, who are just a hair ahead of San Diego to avoid the worst record in the majors. (Remember all that talk, much of it from me, about how good the NL West was going to be this season? So much for that. The Rockies and Padres are making San Francisco look decent by comparison.) The trouble about that saying all you need to know about the Rockies (that and their 4.80 team ERA) is that that leaves me with little to say.

Well... I bought the new Rays hat at a sports store at the mall in Broomfield. It's nicer than it looks on TV, with a little light blue drop shadow under the white letters. It's less of a ripoff of the new-ish Padres design than I thought. It's a nice color blue, too, although I was in the minority in really liking the solid green look Tampa Bay used sometimes before this year.

The NBA playoffs have not delivered on the promise eight 50-win teams in the West and a seemingly great Celtics team suggested going in. The unbelievable difference in the performance of every single team from their home games to their road games suggests either that none of these teams were as strong as we were led to believe or that the level of officiating in the league was even worse. I thought that San Antonio would look less vulnerable against New Orleans but it's still possible that the Spurs could win Games 6 and 7. Utah has less of a chance of pulling out their series against the Lakers -- Game 5 was their big chance to steal a game on the road, and they came up just short. The Celtics didn't even make it out of the first round before losing all of their confidence, and that has rendered the East playoffs close to unwatchable. The Cleveland-Boston series has featured nonstop brickery from both teams, and I was unable to watch more than a few minutes at a time of any of the East series involving Detroit and/or Orlando. The team that wins will probably be decided by how hurt Kobe Bryant's back is, and Kobe Bryant -- like the Rockies, presently -- is not that interesting to me.