This afternoon/evening provides a sports day that is not too shabby. Although I'll Have Another has pulled out of the Belmont Stakes and his chance at the Triple Crown, it is still a fun race to watch given the mile and a half distance involved. The race gets going close to 3:30pm PT. If you haven't seen it, check out Secretariat's record-breaking run from 1973. ESPN included Secretariat on a list of the top athletes of the 20th Century, and this video is evidence that maybe the horse was deserving of the ranking.
After Belmont Stakes, Game 5 of the Stanley Cup gets going at 5:00pm PT with the Los Angeles Kings looking to close out the New Jersey Devils and win their first ever Cup. That is followed at 5:30pm PT with the tip of Celtics-Heat in game seven of the Eastern Conference finals. LeBron James put together an amazing effort in game six at Boston to force game seven. I happen to be a Celtics fan (my dad's originally from Boston), so I'll be rooting for the Cs. At the same time, if the Heat do win this one, I kind of want LeBron to get a ring. People ride him mercilessly and winning a title might shut some folks up for a little bit. And while I do like Kevin Durant, Thunder owner Clay Bennett can burn in hell for what he did to Seattle.
The evening wraps up with Manny Pacquiao taking on Timothy Bradley. A welterweight title is on the line, but for a guy like Pacquiao, the belts don't really matter as much for the viewing public. Everybody wants Pacquiao-Mayweather, but for now, Pacquiao faces a tough challenge in an undefeated Bradley. I believe Bradley is the first undefeated fighter Pacquiao has faced since 2003. Bradley is no slouch, so this could be a fun fight. It will get going after the Celtics-Heat game wraps (according to promoter Bob Arum, Pacquiao is a big Celtics fan).
After the jump I've posted some videos for the Belmont Stakes and the Pacquiao fight. Head over to SB Nation's YouTube channel to check out all the videos the studio has put together. This Belmont Stakes video might be the most random video they've created. I recommend subscribing to the channel as the studio will be giving out a new iPad to a random subscriber when they pass the 15,000 subscription mark.
Belmont Park
Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley