Picking Indy can be difficult

Sunday celebrates the running of the greatest spectacle in racing, the 88th Indianapolis 500. A full field of 33 drivers will attempt to go 200 laps around Indianapolis Motor Speedway's famed 2-1/2 mile oval in their quests to win auto racing's most prestigious single-day prize.

The Indianapolis 500 has lost some popularity in recent years with the Indy Racing League taking over, which has left many excellent drivers at home on Memorial Day weekend and many people fretting over the possibility of a less than 33-car field. But this special race still always delivers the danger, drama and disappointments that racing fans love.

As far as predicting the winner of the race goes, that can be a difficult task because a lot of racing luck is involved. It's impossible to know which drivers will crash, which cars will break down before 500 miles, and which teams will have poor pit stops.

Winner - Hondas captured the first seven spots on the grid, but my pick for the third consecutive year will be Helio Castroneves (9/2). The Indianapolis 500 is all about his team owner Roger Penske. Penske owns a record 13 wins in this race, including the past three. Penske cars will last 500 miles. Penske teams won't lose the race in the pits. Castroneves has won two out of three at Indy, and finished as the runner-up last year.

My second choice is Sam Hornish (5/1). Penske's newest driver is a two-time IRL champion and has taken over the seat of last year's Indy champ Gil de Ferran. Already a winner of many races, Hornish won his first race after joining Penske, so why not his first Indianapolis 500 too?

• Also on Sunday is the running of NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. Driver Robby Gordon will pull double-duty and attempt to finish the 500 and 600 for the third straight year. Last May Jimmie Johnson swept the All-Star Challenge and Coca-Cola 600 in successive weekends at Lowe's.

Prediction- Again, betting on racing involves a lot of luck. But my pick is reigning points champion Matt Kenseth, who won last Saturday's All-Star Challenge.

• The Finals are set, and as of Wednesday evening one game was already in the books, in the National Hockey League. In Game 1 Calgary and Tampa Bay both showcased their speed and physicality as bodies were crashing throughout. It's great to see the players on the teams with the 19th and 21st highest payrolls battling to have their names etched on the oldest trophy in North American team sports, the Stanley Cup.

The hopes of a nation ride on the Game 1 winner Calgary Flames, who after seven consecutive seasons of failing to make the playoffs are the second team ever to beat three division champions on the way to the Finals. Captain and top playoff goal scorer Jarome Iginla, who is black, is trying to return the Cup to Canada for the first time since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens.

The player to root for on the Tampa Bay side is captain Dave Andreychuck. At age 40 and in his 22nd year, Andreychuck is the oldest player and has played the most regular season games of anyone to participate in his first Cup Finals. The player to watch is Martin St. Louis who led the regular season and leads the playoffs in scoring. Even though he won't admit it, St. Louis has extra incentive having been shuffled between Calgary and the minors during the first two seasons of his career, and then clearing waivers throughout the league before being picked up by the Lightning.

Predictions - I already picked Tampa Bay over Calgary in 7 last week, but on a game-by-game basis there should be value in taking the road teams in this series. Calgary was a stellar 9-2 on the road, including five consecutive wins, going into last night's game, while posting a terrible 4-5 record at home. Tampa Bay so far is a solid 5-2 when visiting.

• In the NBA, the question is what is more painful to watch? Is it Los Angeles Laker center Shaquille O'Neal missing free throws, or the entire Indiana-Detroit series? For overall and constant aesthetic deformity, one would have to side with the Indiana-Detroit series.

In Game 1 Indiana scored a meager 30 points in the second half, and still managed to win 78-74. In Game 2 both teams reached newer depths of futility, mustering up a measly 72-67 final score. This series is a perpetual reminder that the NBA no longer is "fantastic," and that it sometimes can be flat out awful.

Joe Ellison is the Nevada Appeal Betting Columnist. Contact him at editor@nevadaappeal.com.