Summer is over. I know it’s hard to believe, so just let that sink in for a moment. I’ll give you time.

via GIPHY

Okay. Now that you’ve gotten all of the tears out, it’s time for me to take you on a journey through this past summer in sports. Think of this as a short repast from everything you’ve been reading. Whether it be Brave New World, The Catcher in the Rye or even another article on this website, this year’s weekly Jake’s Takes are going to be better than ever. I’ve been honing my skills and working on my craft all summer, and I’m ready to kick this school year off on the proverbial right foot. So, sit right back and enjoy this first Jake’s Take of many to come this year, as I will be your tour guide on our expedition through a recapitulation of summer through the sports-tinted lenses of my eyes.

Blackhawks Bring the Thunder

The Chicago Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lightning faced off for the Stanley Cup this past June, and, as you could have guessed by my witty title, the Blackhawks won. They got the job done fairly handily too, outscoring the potent Lightning offense 13-10 in six games. This series, though, was much more about the goaltending, and Chicago had the clear advantage there. Corey Crawford, the 2014-15 William M. Jennings Award winner, saved 151 of 161 shots on goal for an unprecedented .938 save percentage in the Stanley Cup Finals. That’s just unreal. Those are video game numbers against one of the best offenses in the NHL. With his performance in the Finals, I feel that it is safe to say that Corey Crawford has cemented himself amongst the elite goaltenders in the league.

Warriors > Cavaliers

Pardon my use of the “greater-than” symbol, but there is simply no other way to put it. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers with finesse and skill. This Finals was not important merely because LeBron James was a contender, but there was a great deal of history made by the Warriors. It was the first time that two different players on the same team won the Season MVP (Stephen Curry) and Finals MVP (Andre Iguodala) in the same season since 1980, when the awards were claimed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, respectively, and it wasn’t since 1975 that the Warriors had been able to hang a championship pennant from their rafters. It’s the history and, what I call the LeBron James Factor, that this year was so important, and it will be a long, long time until another team can come along and knock Golden State from their status as the NBA’s Golden Franchise.

This is Why We Need Feminism

Now, I’m not one to get political, but we’ll take a short break from that for this segment. Becky Hammon made history in the NBA as the second woman, but first full-time coach in league history; Lisa Boyer was a volunteer assistant on the 2001-02 Cleveland Cavaliers’ staff. Some of you more brash readers may be thinking, “How can a woman be qualified to coach? She can’t even play.” That, my friend, is where you would be wrong. Hammon set the Western Athletic Conference record for points scored with 2,740 in college; she’s eighth on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list with 5,841 points in 450 career games; and, more recently, she led the San Antonio Spurs to the Summer League Championship as the head coach. That should be enough to shut up any doubts that some may have. In conclusion, Becky Hammon, go you. You do you, and keep on winning.

Cards Have Other Teams Seeing Red

There’s almost nothing negative to say about the play of the St. Louis Cardinals this season. Through the first ⅔ of their schedule, the Cardinals have amassed an indomitable 77-43 record, good for the best in The Majors, four games better than the next-best Kansas City Royals (73-47). Let us not forget that the Cards are doing this all without the ace of their starting rotation, their starting left fielder, their starting first baseman and a beaten and battered pitching corps, of which only a select few have not missed time due to injury. That just makes the lore of the 2015 St. Louis Cardinals that much greater, and a deep postseason run will solidify everything that the John Mozeliak and the entire St. Louis front office have preached since 1892- a next-man-up mentality and an ever-strong farm system of home-grown talent. It’ll be tough for any team to catch up to the Cardinals this season, but watch out for the strength of the Dodgers’ rotation or the Pirates’ electric bats in a short postseason series. Other than Dodgers and Pirates, there really is no competition to St. Louis in the NL, but hiding in the AL, lurking in the shadows, the Kansas City Royals loom large as a very possible World Series contender.
Well, that’s it. One take down, many more to go as the school year progresses. I hope you’re just as excited as I am to finally get this year going to showcase all of the great things that FHN (or whatever school or city you come from) has to offer. Thank you for reading, and have a great rest of your day.

All stats from hockey-reference.com, basketball-reference.com, baseball-reference.com and mlb.com