This is definitely not what NASCAR officials had envisioned. The Car of Tomorrow was meant to make Sprint Cup racing more competitive. That’s what they’ve got in the standings – Hendrick Motorsports no longer has a monopoly on Cup points – but it comes at a cost.

Because every CoT is essentially the same, it’s a lot more difficult for a driver to catch and pass the leader. That puts more importance on qualifying, and on the pit crews. The driver is arguably less important than before the CoT was introduced.

Adjust your handicapping accordingly. Meanwhile, this is the Top 10 in the Cup standings:

1. Kyle Busch 2050
2. Jeff Burton 1908 (–142)
3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 1779 (–271)
4. Carl Edwards 1713 (–337)
5. Greg Biffle 1658 (–392)
6. Jeff Gordon 1646 (–404)
7. Jimmie Johnson 1644 (–406)
8. Clint Bowyer 1633 (–417)
9. Denny Hamlin 1630 (–420)
10. Kevin Harvick 1566 (–484)

Can Big Brown go the distance?

It might sound like a crazy thing to do, but betting against Big Brown in the Belmont Stakes on June 7 might be a real good move. Big Brown is only getting 2/7 for the Belmont, so it would take a big bet to make any money. He may be a heavy favorite to win, but there are a couple of issues that could stop his run for the Triple Crown in its tracks.

First off, Big Brown has developed a crack in one his front hoofs. He has had problems with them in the past, and if he’s not 100% then I doubt that he can win. The second potential obstacle is the distance of the track. Brown is not a distance-bred horse, and the Belmont is the longest race in the Triple Crown. He’s going up against a field of horses bred for long races, such as the mile and a half track at the Belmont.

The Lakers took a beating Sunday night against the Spurs, losing 84 to 103

Perhaps you’ve heard by now how important home-court advantage has been in these NBA playoffs. The San Antonio Spurs (-5.5) won Game 3 at home Sunday for the second series in a row to avoid an 0-3 deficit, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 103-84.

This is a big step up for the Spurs, who were 12-1 to win the NBA championship after losing the first two games of their Western Conference final in L.A.; the Lakers were 5-7. San Antonio crawled out of the same hole to beat the Hornets in the second round.

While the emotional Spurs-Lakers series embraces the drama of Euro-style basketball, the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons are efficiently beating the holy tar out of each other. The Celtics took a 2-1 series lead in Detroit with their first road win of the playoffs, enough to lift the C’s to 2-1 in the NBA title futures market. The Pistons are competitive at 11-2.

We finally know who will play in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals – although we suspected this matchup for quite some time. It’ll be the Boston Celtics and the Detroit Pistons, following Boston’s Game 7 win on Sunday over the pesky Cleveland Cavaliers. Cleveland finished that series 6-1 against the spread.

Chauncey Billups is expected to start against the Celtics in Tuesday’s opener at the Garden. Detroit will have enjoyed a six-day break, while the C’s have been extended to Game 7 in both the first two rounds. The grind of playing a defensively tight series against the Cavs has to be taken into consideration.

The Los Angeles Lakers are counting on the same fatigue factor when they host the winner of Monday’s Game 7 between the New Orleans Hornets and the visiting San Antonio Spurs. The Hornets and Spurs have each won on their own floor, but unlike the Cavs-Celtics, the home team has yet to cough up the cash.

Bet on the NBA Western Conference Finals and NBA Championship here.

If the Boston Celtics want to win the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series against the Cleveland Cavaliers they have to win game six in Cleveland. The thing is, the Celtics haven’t won a game in Cleveland since 2004. Let’s hope they can replicate Wednesday’s game, where the Celtics beat the Cavs 96-89. In that game, Kevin Garnett scored 26 points; Rajon Rondo picked up 20 points and 13 assists; and Paul Pierce scored a team-high 29 points.

“We’ve got some work cut out for us as we go out here on this road and try to close this out, which is the most important thing for us right now,” Pierce said.

“The second quarter - we had a lot more energy,” said Garnett, who led all players with 16 rebounds. “Offensively, Rondo hit some big shots, got us going, got us in the flow, and we carried it over to the third quarter.”

The sportsbooks have the Celtics at 5/8 odds to win the Eastern Conference Championship, and 7/4 odds to win the NBA Championship title.

Maybe they will actually start foiling up. The Western Conference final between the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars hit the fan Saturday night when Chris Osgood butt-ended Mike Ribeiro, who responded with a wicked two-hander across the chest. Neither man will be suspended for Monday night’s Game 3. Detroit goes into Big D as a road favorite with a 2-0 series lead, outscoring the Stars 6-2.

The Eastern Conference is unfolding in similar fashion. The Pittsburgh Penguins won the first two games of their series against the Philadelphia Flyers, both games ending 4-2. The Flyers are already missing defenseman Kimmo Timonen, and they lost another blueliner Sunday when Braydon Coburn was hit in the face with a puck at the start of Game 2. Coburn’s status for Tuesday’s Game 3 was unknown at press time. The Flyers have won nine of their last 10 games at home; the last nine times they’ve faced the Penguins, the home team won.

The Detroit Pistons will look to build on a 2-0 lead vs. the Orlando Magic in Game 3 tonight (at 8 ET on TNT). The Pistons took the last game at home and although critics are saying that the Magic have to play a perfect game tonight to win, the Pistons aren’t quick to write this team off yet.

“When they are making shots on the perimeter, they are tough to stop,” Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince said. “We got to start manning up and put more pressure on those guys and make them get off that (3-point line).”

The Pistons have made five straight appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals. And for the second consecutive season, the Magic are staring up at a 2-0 series deficit against the Pistons.

Still, oddsmakers like the Magic as 4-point favorites over the Pistons with the over/under listed at 187. The Magic are 3-0 SU at home in the playoffs and 3-4 ATS.

The Utah Jazz at Los Angeles Lakers game follows the Pistons at Magic game at 10:30 p.m.

Want more? Here’s the complete NBA playoffs schedule.

The biggest surprise of this year’s baseball season is the Oakland Athletics. Theses guys have continued to turn their heads to everyone who’s expecting them to do horrible this season. Currently, the team is tied with the Angles for the best record in the American League and has no signs of fading.

Because of their success thus far the A’s ran a promotion for the fans to increase attendance to the home games:

One dollar would be shaved off plaza level ticket prices to Sunday’s game for every hit the A’s collected Thursday.

The 2,500 plaza level tickets available as of Thursday were going for $24. Factor in the A’s 20 hits, and those seats are going for the bargain price of $4. The 20 hits were the most for the A’s since they banged out 24 on June 26, 2005 against the Giants.

Even with this loss of revenue for the team, their lack of money has never stopped them from winning in the past. One thing they will gain from this is the support that they need to keep this streak going. This year I’m rooting for the underdog and that underdog is now the dog on top!

Shaquille O’Neal’s star is on the wane. The Big Cactus is 35 years old and coming off his worst season since joining the league in 1992. His arrival in Phoenix wasn’t enough to get the Suns past their archrivals from San Antonio. Maybe Shaq should pack it in.

Except, why would he? O’Neal may be ancient in NBA terms, but he’s still a better than average center. His 17.17 Player Efficiency Rating was right up there with Tyson Chandler (17.56 PER). O’Neal’s production should drop a fair amount next year at age 36, but David Robinson was still good for 14.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game at that age.

O’Neal also has the chance to win a title with the Suns, presumably with a new coach who can sympathize with Steve Kerr’s makeover. And there are 40 million other reasons to stay that Shaq has coming over the next two years.

Before the Big Brown Experience took over the Triple Crown trail, Pyro was the favorite to win this Saturday’s Kentucky Derby: 5-1 at the end of Pool 1 wagering and 4-1 for Pool 2. Now you can get Pyro at the blue-light special price of 7-1 to win the Run for the Roses.

The competition for Pyro isn’t limited to Big Brown, though. Colonel John has impressed horseplayers with two wins in two starts as a 3-year-old, including the Grade I Santa Anita Derby. That was good enough to push Colonel John into a tie with Big Brown at 4-1 for Saturday’s race. However, no horse since Sunday Silence in 1989 has completed this Derby double. Even Point Given couldn’t get it done in 2001.

Pyro fell from the top spot after finishing 10th at the Grade I Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, but the polytrack surface at Keeneland may simply not have been to his liking.