It’s been playoffs playoffs playoffs here at CATB central this week. My Knicks advanced out of the first round of the NBA playoffs to take on the Indiana Pacers in the semi-finals. Things haven’t gone quite the way I’d like as the Pacers lead the series 2 games to 1 (as of this post).

As for my Rangers, they took the Washington Capitals to a Game 7 in one of the closest series I’ve ever seen. Each game decided by 1 goal. Truly a goalie dominated series! Game 7 is currently being played so I don’t know who won, but the Rangers are up 3-0 after 2 periods, so I’m feeling pretty good (Fingers Crossed!)

The first round of the NBA playoffs wrapped up this week. How’d the Anvils do with their picks? Wally’s Spurs, Nate’s Heat, Jason’s Warriors, Dev’s Pacers and Joey’s Knicks all advanced. The big surprise was Roger’s upset pick of Memphis over the LA Clippers coming true. I can admit now, that in the original script Roger picked the Clippers. I drew the wrong jersey and didn’t notice until I was adding the text. Whoops!

In hockey news, the first round of the NHL playoffs are in full swing. Fingers crossed that my New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks advance. I also have the Anaheim Ducks, St Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks, Ottawa Senatoirs, Boston Bruins & Pittsburgh Penguins going to the second round.

Basketball & hockey playoffs plus baseball… I love this time of year!

Monday, April 29th was a big day for gay sports. NBA player Jason Collins became the first male, North American pro athlete to come out as gay in the pages of Sports Illustrated. The link to the story can be found here. Kudos to Jason. Well done, sir!

Speaking of the NBA. How did the Anvils do with their first round NBA playoff picks? Well, Wally & Nate correctly predicted sweeps by the San Antonio Spurs & the Miami Heat.
Jason & Joey have the Golden State Warriors & New York Knicks both sitting at 3-1.
Roger surprisingly is at 2-2 with his upset pick of the Memphis Grizzlies over The L.A. Clippers.
Dev’s prediction of a sweep by the Indiana Pacers over the Atlanta Hawks did not come true as the series is tied 2-2.
Dave’s Brooklyn Nets came back from 2 games down to trail the Chicago Bulls 3-2.
Casey is doing the worst, by far. His Houston Rockets trail the Oklahoma City Thunder 0 games to 3. Poor Casey.

NHL playoffs begin this week! I love this time of year!

I was away at a conference for work last week. As a result it looked like I wouldn’t be able to get a comic together for this week. When I got home I saw that the NBA Playoffs were being played, which gave me the idea to revisit last years NHL Playoff comic (CATB 34). This time I decided to use the guys from the Anvils as opposed to just drawing random characters. I have to say, it felt good to draw the guys again. Softball season is just ramping up, so you’ll be seeing more of the Anvils soon.

Oh, and yes. I stand by my picks (except maybe Memphis).

Sorry the comic’s a bit late this week. I’m off to Las Vegas for a conference and there’s tons to do, including finishing this week’s comic. Not sure what the status of next week’s comic will be… stay tuned!

One of the fun parts of drawing these Casey flashbacks is deciding what Casey’s hair will look like.

It’s finally spring, my Knicks are having their best season in over a decade, the Rangers are still in the playoff hunt, and the Yankees have kicked off the baseball season. This is truely my favorite time of year. NHL & NBA playoffs are right around the corner!

All of the gang’s NCAA brackets were busted midway through the tournament. George & Spencer still have a chance of picking the champion though as they have Syracuse winning the whole thing. Good luck boys!

Oh, and yes, there will be more flashbacks.

Casey and the guys did pretty well with their NCAA March Madness brackets, at least in the first round. Poor Joey took a pounding, but everyone lived to see their final four match-ups advance. Gonzaga’s loss in the second round knocked Casey and Dougie out, but as of this post George and Spencer are still alive.

Here’s the boys’ picks to win it all: George/Spence: Syracuse, Joey: Indiana, Dougie: Kansas, and poor Casey had Gonzaga. At least baseball is just around the corner!

Winter finally gives way to Spring this week as our hockey storyline comes to a close.

My hockey team, the Tigers, finished our Fall/Winter season with a disappointing 2-14 record. It was out first season as a team however and we learned a lot, so we’re all looking forward to a more successful Spring/Sumer season.

I recently picked up a graphics tablet based on some rave reviews from Twitter. I’ve never really used one before and was a little surprised how difficult it is to use right out of the box. With a lot of practice I hope to get it figured out soon. In the meantime, I hope you’ll continue to enjoy my traditional scribblings.

Also – It’s NCAA basketball tournament season here in the states. Follow along with Casey, Dougie, Joey, George & Spencer’s brackets on the Casey At The Bat Facebook page!

Sorry the comic was a little late this week. It was a busy weekend and I fell a bit behind.

The GLBT Expo was fun, if not comic-friendly. I banged out a bunch of sketches, and it did serve as a good experience for when I decide to exhibit at an actual comic con.

Someone forgot to bring the postcards with the hockey association’s URL on Saturday, so I made sketches whenever we needed one. Here’s one of them. I need to work on my penmanship.