RetiredLawyerSportsOp April 30, 2026 Scoreboard

  It’s May 1st. May Day. A perfect time to take a peek at what’s going on in the sports world as we approach the midpoint of Spring. 

Let’s go first to hockey. The NHL is in the beginning stages of the race to crown another winner of the Stanley Cup. Eight series in total, four per conference. 

In the Eastern Conference, two series are over. One was a sweep with Carolina eliminating a game Ottawa club in four games. Then Philadelphia, a team nobody thought much of, took care of Pittsburgh and the legendary Sidney Crosby in six games. The deciding Game 6 went to overtime tied at 0-0 before the Flyers scored to end the game and series. 

Still up in the air is what will happen with the remaining series. Buffalo, the team with the most points n the Eastern Conference during the regular season, drew a battle-tested Boston team which is very familiar with the Sabres. While Buffalo leads the series three games to two, the Bruins have looked like the better team for much of the time. 

In Games 3 and 4, the Sabres played like a dominant team, holding the Bruins to one goal in each game while scoring 3 and 6 goals. In Game 1, Buffalo had to make a determined comeback to win, scoring three goals during the last eight minutes to secure the victory. 

Otherwise, it has been all Boston. The Bruins return to TD Garden on May 1, hoping the knot the series once more. It would not be at all surprising if the two teams had to play a seventh game to determine a winner. 

Montreal and Tampa Bay have been competing fiercely in the other series. Montreal is the youngest team in the playoffs. TBL has won the Cup in 2000 and 2001 (defeating Montreal 4-1 in the finals) and was in the final round in 2022. 

Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy is one of the premier goaltenders in the league—a shoo-in for the Hockey Hall of Fame. He has once again shown how elite he remains, repeatedly  turning back Canadiens’ scoring chances. Jacob Dobes, the Montreal net minder, has been equally as brilliant. 

I am sort of biased here. Having been in the Bell Centre in early April, I hear the passion of the crowd which so overwhelmed me when we saw the New Jersey Devils play. Plus I love the rapturous music from the highly-talented Montreal organist; she is beloved by the Canadians fans.  

Game 6 is in Montreal. The Habs have a chance to close out the series at home. The place will be rocking—both inside and outside the Bell Centre. Tampa Bay will literally be seeing red with the rouge sweaters adorning the players and the Montreal fans. 

There have been three overtime games thus far. The last four games ended in a 3-2 score, and all have been one-score victories. I can see this series ending in Canada as much as I can see it returning to Florida for a deciding Game 7.

Turning to the Western Conference, things have been a bit wilder. Only one series resulted in a sweep. Overall points leader Colorado took out the Los Angeles Kings. Even there, the first two contests were 2-1 scores before the Avalanche showed their superiority. 

Everybody else will be playing a sixth game, and possibly a seventh game to see who advances to the next round. Anaheim and Minnesota both had the opportunity to end their particular series on home ice. Upstart Utah returns to Salt Lake City facing elimination at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights. 

The Golden Knights have been a different team since John Tortorella took over behind the bench. VGK went 7-0-1 in its final regular season games and has been very aggressive thus far in the playoffs. 

VGK has won the last two matches in overtime by identical 5-4 scores, erasing a 2-1 Utah lead in the series with three straight wins. I would not at all be surprised if VGK ends this series on the road.

Anaheim and Minnesota winning their respective series would be considered mild upsets. Minnesota did their part, eliminating Dallas. They draw Colorado next. So did Anaheim, ousting Connor McDavid and his Edmonton mates. The Ducks await either VGK or Utah. 

So we know that Carolina and Philadelphia will meet in the second round. Whichever teams emerge from the other side of the Eastern bracket will have their hands full.

Moving to the NBA Playoffs, two series in the Western Conference are over. The top two seeds, defending champion Oklahoma City swept Phoenix in four games, while second-seeded San Antonio took care of business, downing Portland in five games. 

In the remaining undecided series, the Los Angeles Lakers, despite returning Austin Reaves to the lineup for his added scoring punch, couldn’t banish a Kevin Durant-less Houston Rockets team on Wednesday night. Up 3-0, the Lakers hold on the series felt tenuous at best, especially with Reaves and superstar Luka Doncic out and Houston going with the second-youngest starting five in NBA Playoffs history. 

LeBron James is showing the wear on his 42 year old body and the supporting cast isn’t able to pick up the slack. It is no gimme that LAL wins at home on May 1st; if they don’t could Houston accomplish the unthinkable by winning a Game 7 down 3-0? It’s never been done in NBA history. 

In a bruising, heated affair, Minnesota went into the last night of April with a 3-2 lead on the Denver Nuggets. While Denver’s Nikola Jokic led all scorers, the T-Wolves have a statistical edge despite losing key player Donte Di Vincenzo to an Achilles tendon tear and having star Anthony Edwards sidelined. 

It didn’t matter. Minnesota put a solid effort together to eliminate Denver. Missing Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray performing badly doomed the Nuggets. Which set off a unique celebration in the Twin Cities, as the Wild and T-Wolves advanced to the second round together on the same night, 10 miles apart, for the first time ever.

The Eastern Conference saw all four series with 3-2 leads entering Thursday night’s action. #4 seed Cleveland leads #5 seed Toronto. What is more surprising is that #8 seed Orlando, a team with enormous potential but which seemingly underperformed in the regular season, leads top-seeded Detroit. The Magic can close out their series with a home win. 

When Boston hits its three point shots, the Celtics win. Shoot poorly from behind the arc and the C’s are doomed. With the return of Joel Embiid from injury, Philadelphia looked energized. Enough so that they have forced a Game 7 in Boston. 

The New York Knicks have had their hands full with a scrappy Atlanta Hawks team which has shown very little fear. Jalen Johnson and C.J McCollum had played outstandingly for the Hawks. NYK star guard Jalen Brunson has had difficulty with the Atlanta pressure defense. Big man Karl-Anthony Towns and O.J Anunoby have been strong for NYK.

Remember this—both Atlanta wins were by one point. That’s how close the Knicks came to sweeping their rival. Which is why the first half outburst in Game 6—where NYK opened up an incredible 51 point lead showed how effective the Atlanta defense had been until now and how good NYK can play. Game, set and match convincingly to New York.

While James Harden has led the Cleveland offense in scoring, his defense and turnovers have plagued the Cavs. Scottie Barnes has shined for Toronto. I can easily see the Raptors winning at home. That means a Game 7. I pick Cleveland. 

Detroit is the biggest enigma in the NBA Playoffs. While star Cade Cunningham has averaged 32.6 points per game, his teammates have struggled mightily. Conversely, Paolo Banchero and his mates have done nearly everything right to put the Pistons in the predicament that the top-seed faces. It will be ugly in Motown if the Pistons lose the series—especially with Orlando big man Franz Wagner out for Game 6. 

Looking ahead, I still see OKC and San Antonio prevailing in the next round, thus giving NBA fans he series they want to see. It might be a little tougher in the next seres, whoever they draw.

In the East, a Knicks-Celtics series will always be a tough one. Knicks-Philly too. If it is Orlando and Toronto, that will be difficult to gauge who wins.

Baseball has hit the 30 game mark. It has been especially for two underperforming teams. The Boston Red Sox fired Alex Cora, who took the team to a World Series win, and Philadelphia jettisoned Rob Thompson, who was very successful there until the start of this season. Carlos Mendoza is definitely on the managerial hot seat as the high-payroll New York Mets continue to flounder with the worst record in baseball. 

New York Yankees fans were apoplectic when, after opening the season 8-2, the team stumbled badly. Then lowly Kansas City came to the Bronx and the Yankees swept the Royals. A nine game road trip which began in Boston and continued in Houston and Texas produced a 7-2 mark. The team’s 20-11 record is tied for MLB’s second-best with Cincinnati and defending champion Los Angeles. The top team record-wise is Atlanta, which sports a 22-10 record. 

Aaron Judge has started the season slowly and his batting average reflects it. Still, batting behind the remarkable slugging of Ben Rice, Judge has walloped 12 home runs and driven in 20 runners. Rice is batting .327 with 11 round trippers and 23 R.B.I. The remainder of the lineup needs to pick things up to take the pressure off of Judge and Rice. 

What New York has is great starting pitching. The sensational Cam Schlittler has continued his success from when he was called up last season, posting a 1.51 E.R.A. with 49 strikeouts and only 6 walks issued. Stalwart Max Fried is right there with Schlittler with a 2.07 E.R.A. and an identical 4-1 record. 

Will Warren and Ryan Weathers have also performed well in starting roles. Star pitchers Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole are on minor league rehab assignments and will join the team in May. If they perform adequately and the hitting continues, a somewhat leaky bullpen won’t be as much of a burden. 

The Dodgers are in dogfight with San Diego in the NL West. This was expected. For a moment, the Padres owned first place over the Dodgers. Expect a close race throughout the season. Justin Wrobleski continues to shine for LAD, going 4-0 with a 1.50 E.R.A. Shohei Ohtani has a 2-1 record and an incredible 0.60 E.R.A. He is hitting .273 with 6 home runs and 13 R.B.I. Ex-Yankee Michael King and Randy Vasquez lead the Padres’ mound staff. 

The vagabond Athletics lead the AL West, with surging Seattle on their tail. Cleveland and Detroit own 16-16 records for a tie in the lead in a mediocre AL Central. Munetaka Murakami has slugged 12 homers and driven in 23 runs for a 14-17 Chicago White Sox team. There may be something to root for on the South Side this season.

Each NL Central team sports a .500 or better record. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ expected spiral after opening the season with some nice wins has begun. 

The NL East has some bad records behind Atlanta. Miami just took 2 of 3 from the Dodgers in LA, the final game a 2-1 win over Ohtani. 

Arizona remains nicely positioned in the NL West at 16-13. Colorado, thanks to playing the woeful Mets, is at 14-18. San Francisco, under former University of Tennessee coach Tony Vitello , is floundering in last place.

  Just a few more updates. Denison hasn’t lost a game since the second game of the season. That’s why the Big Red are 35-1 with a 34 game winning streak heading into the final weekend of the regular season and then to the NCAC playoffs. 

In Centennial Conference action, Franklin and Marshall compiled a three game winning streak to end the regular season. The Diplomats needed two losses by Gettysburg, Swarthmore and Ursinus to make the playoffs. That didn’t happen and Swarthmore was eliminated via a tie-breaker. Ursinus made it to the main draw with a victory over G-burg.

Senior Matt Hollender from nearby Short Hills, New Jersey put up a monster season for F&M. He batted .453 in 37 games, amassing 62 hits, 26 for extra bases while driving in 54 baserunners. F&M led the CC with a cumulative .341 batting average and the most doubles with 95. Unfortunately, the pitching was sixth in the CC with a bloated 7.05 E.R.A. And the defense was seventh. That hurt. 

Top of the heap UCLA seemed bored with Sacramento State this past weekend, coming from behind twice and then dropping the finale of the three game set. I guess the Bruins are human—they have lost 5 times.

A revenge game at UC Santa Barbara was on tap on Tuesday. UCSB had the best Division I E.R.A going into the game. UCLA took care of business, routing the Gauchos 15-3. 

UCLA heads to chilly East Lansing to take on below .500 Michigan State. UCLA should keep its conference record unblemished. 

Rutgers, after taking two of three from Ohio State in Piscataway (I saw OSU club the Scarlet Knights 9-0 on Friday), lost to a visiting UConn team on Tuesday. RU has to travel to Southern California to meet a very fine USC team, ranked #21.

And I did watch the thrilling last rotation of the NCAA Division I Women’s Gymnastics Championship. Gymnastics dynasty Oklahoma eked out a stunning win for their eight title. A high-scoring floor routine from Faith Torrez capped a comeback victory over LSU. 

I won’t get into the specifics of the NFL Draft there than to say that the New York Giants and New York Jets both did well. Things could be looking up at Met Life Stadium in 2026. 

Finally, the news that the NCAA is going to expand the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments to 76 teams is ludicrous. It only benefits the Power 4 conferences. Where’s the equity? Where’s the drama? It’s more “show-me-the-money” in the long-term.

That’s it. The RetiredLawyerSportsOp Scoreboard through April 30, 2026. 

Fifty Year Anniversary

  I am going to stray bit from the normal topics within sports that I tend to cover on a weekly basis. For on April 26, 1976, I began a 37 I/2 year journey as a practicing attorney, starting my career as an Assistant Deputy Public Defender in the New Jersey Public Defender’s Appellate Section. That is now 50 years ago. 

My first inkling that attorneys did something special came from my parents meeting with their attorney. It was for a will and then a closing on our house in Highland Park. He had an office at home which had plenty of red rope folders strewn around, with an impressive wooden desk and big-backed chair.

I was 4 years old at the time. It seemed to be very important stuff. I never forgot. 

My next exposure to the law came from Perry Mason, the late 1950’s drama starring Raymond Burr. Somehow Mason always exposed the real criminal instead of his client being found guilty. I still feel some pangs of sympathy for Harrison Burger, the overwrought prosecutor who repeatedly lost to Mason. 

Other shows throughout the years made me think about the law. The Defenders, with Eli Wallach and Robert Reed, based in New York, was another part of my following the law. Whenever I go near the courthouses in Lower Manhattan, that show is what I think of first. 

I took note that many successful politicians had legal backgrounds. John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon battled for the presidency in 1960; Kennedy was a Harvard Law grad while Nixon received his law degree from Duke. Robert Kennedy was his brother’s Attorney General. 

My father took in a tenant whose office was nearby his dental practice. That tenant was a known politician in Edison and Middlesex County. He was bright and knowledgeable. He was also top of his class at the College of William & Mary and at Georgetown Law School. I admired him. 

I knew that I didn’t want to be a dentist. The path I wanted to follow was the law. 

Even if I had to learn that, on our cross country trips, the roadside signs calling for the impeachment of  Chief Justice Earl Warren were based on desegregation in the South. It was a hot topic—those signs were still dwarfed by the sheer amount of placards advertising Burma Shave. That’s what the Supreme Court did—decide the law for the country if it was questioned. 

I was fairly good at writing. Very good at history and current events. With a a nearly-eidetic memory. That helped me get good grades in high school. 

My goals were simple from 8th grade on: keep excelling in the classroom and somehow be accepted at my father’s alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College. My 8th grade yearbook covered that and I made good on my wishes. 

I majored in Government at F&M, because that’s what many lawyers did and this was what F&M called political science. Outside of a few history courses, this is where I did best. 

My G.P.A. was okay. I needed a boost. As a result, I applied to and was accepted as part of the first students F&M sent to the Washington Semester Program at American University. In combination with a summer internship for my congressman (a lawyer from Perth Amboy) which extended into the fall semester, I was exposed to it all—people from around the country who came to Washington to make the place better. So, so many of them were lawyers. And I actually went to the U.S. Supreme Court to watch cases. I was even more hooked. 

When it came time for me to take the LSAT, I faced a huge hurdle. I was not a great standardized test taker. I needed to blow the score out of the water. 

I did okay, but not well enough. While the classmates got accepted at their choices, I was sitting on the sidelines. Until we received a call from a strange man touting a new law school in Wilmington, Delaware which would take in those who didn’t make the cut at the established schools. 

Founder/Dean Alfred Avins sold my father enough to believe that accreditation would happen by the time I would take the bar exam. We said yes, and I was off to Delaware. 

I was an above-average student at DLS. I excelled in Medical Malpractice, Torts and a Legislative Internship with the Majority Leader of the Delaware State Senate. 

The school reached accreditation two weeks before the bar exam. Somehow, I passed the exam—the standardized Multi-State be damned. 

Then came the onerous wait for a job. We graduated after the bar exams were done—a measure to protect us in case the American Bar Association was late with its verdict on our status. 

The interviews were numerous. In D.C. and New Jersey, the only state I sought licensing. Just as numerous were the rejections. I lived at home. My parents worried. Doubt crept into my mind. Had the three years at DLS been worth it? Would I have a law career?

Then suddenly I received a phone call from the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender, Appellate Section in East Orange. Would I come in for an interview? The answer was of course yes. 

What got me into the good graces of the man in charge of the office were three things: Did I like to work? Did I like to drink ( I said yes even though I was nearly done with that phase of my life)? And had I really played college baseball—they needed a good player on their team which competed in the Essex County Lawyer’s League. 

With that all answered in the affirmative, my resume was forwarded to Trenton. I sat through two interviews from higher-ups in the administration of Stanley Van Ness, who held the title as Public Defender. 

Marcia Richman and John Cannel gave the green light to my application. I later learned that I was a test case for DLS as the first hire from the school for the OPD. Had I known that, I might have freaked out. 

Here was this 25 year old, who never had written a brief in law school, let alone take a legal writing course of some substance, now a part of an elite unit which would elevate to the best in the land when it came to defending the death penalty. 

I struggled and stayed late, mentored by the Deputy and his assistant. Bill Norris and Cynthia Jacob were essential to my growth as an attorney. Two very smart and talented individuals who took the time to teach me. 

I guess that I did well enough that I reached the New Jersey Supreme Court twice with cases. While the outcomes didn’t go my client’s way, I thought that this was amazing—here I am arguing before one of the top state Supreme Courts in the country. From a school which wasn’t even ten years old. I did go on to win a few cases in the Appellate Division which made the law books. 

The powers that be in the OPD shifted from time to time. So did my duties. 

I was given the opportunity to run the Designated Counsel Section within the Appellate Section for conflict cases. I worked hard. Days and nights. Weekends aplenty. Understaffed and over utilized. In freezing cold and incredible heat when the heating and A/C systems routinely failed. 

I loved that job. Those who supervised me and those who worked with and for me from the private sector did some really special things. I kept the courts happy, which meant that I kept the OPD happy.

My performance must have been good, because I received a promotion to a higher managerial title. It’s also through the DCS that I met an attorney who had a cousin who she perceived I might like. That blind date in Glen Ridge has lasted for over 44 years, with two children and a son-in-law. 

After sixteen years first in East Orange (I met my editor there) and then Newark, it came time for me to move on when new leadership feared my entrenchment would be an obstacle. I called in my favors and landed in the Union Trial Region in Elizabeth, which covered the county I resided in. 

Juvenile law found me and I found Juvenile law. We had a happy marriage for 22 years before I retired—again the result of a change in management which would have made my job as the untitled leader of the unit even more intolerable. 

I must have made a lasting impression on my colleagues, opposing counsel, support staff, probation and even the judges who passed through Juvenile. While I always thought I could have done a better job or been more acutely aware of the Rules of Evidence, somehow I escaped major errors, didn’t accumulate any complaints and did my best for the clients whom I served and for the parents who loved them despite the circumstances. 

Hard to believe that was 50 years ago. It may have been a meritorious legal career. But in retrospect, even over 13 years removed from representing minors charged in complaints that would be crimes if adults, it seems like it was yesterday that a young man, not knowing what he was really doing, began representing others. 

I guess I am still that legal geek who watched LA Law, Boston Legal and a whole host of lawyer-driven TV shows, looking for reality in their cases. Or who devoured John Grisham books about legal heroes. I marvel at how many law school graduates went on to other careers, using their knowledge and insight to succeed. And I still follow the opinions of the U.S. and New Jersey Supreme Courts.

Every once in a while, I have dreams of trying juvenile cases before a judge. It’s amazing how many strategies I never knew would work, did, and then some. In my sleep, I win every case. That’s not at all the way it worked. 

I don’t regret being retired. It was time to move on to new adventures. This weekly blog is the result of my twin passions: the law and sports. From this perspective, it allows me to look back fondly as to my time as a Public Defender and the three careers I forged within the agency. 

The journey of the boy from Highland Park became complete on April 26,1976. Even with his love of sports, the siren call of the legal profession determined his path forward all those years ago. It was then up to the man to chart his own course.