Gregg Popovich gets all chummy with Tim Duncan on Tuesday afternoon (Getty Images)

It may not strike you at first, what with Manu Ginobili needing until Game 5 to get going and Miami’s Big Three taking turns at being stuck in the mud – but the best thing about these 2013 NBA Finals may very well be the coaching on both sides. In a quick turnaround series that started just days after the Miami Heat finished off the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals, running the complete opposite to San Antonio’s extended break after being the Memphis Grizzlies on their end, Gregg Popovich and Erik Spoelstra have put together two masterful efforts on their teams’ behalf.

The question for Spoelstra, who is currently facing a 3-2 deficit in these Finals, is if this is even enough. He’s done his part, as a tactician, to get LeBron James and crew going on both ends. And yet, as it has been since 2010, it may not be enough.

Gregg Popovich doesn’t have nearly the same-sized obstacle. Bit of a self-starter, these Spurs are.

Leonardo Bonucci in 2012 (left) and Lorenzo Insigne in 2013. (Getty)

Spain's reign of trophy plundering terror continued by beating Italy in the European U-21 Championship final to defend their title. The latest addition to Spain's silverware stockpile comes almost two weeks shy of the one-year anniversary of the Spain senior team's 4-0 win against Italy in the Euro 2012 final. The Italian U-21s fared a bit better, only losing 4-2, but a hat trick from Thiago and Spain scoring their last two goals from the penalty spot proved too much to overcome.

So where will it end? Spain are also in the midst of the Confederations Cup — one of the few trophies they haven't won yet. If they can take that, you have to imagine they would grow bored of repeats and branch out to other competitions. The World Series? Super Bowl? The Ashes? Ice Hockey World Championship? The vikings of tiki-taka will not relent until they possess a jug full of tears from every nation on the planet.

It took 17 seasons of interleague play and the series will last only two games, but the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees are finally hooking up in the Bronx starting Tuesday night (weather permitting). It's the first time the two have met at the home of the Yankees since the 1981 World Series.

The two teams started off as New York neighbors, of course, and have met in 11 World Series with the Yankees winning eight of them. They're two of baseball's most iconic franchises, so in celebration of this meeting, we're taking a position-by-position look at some of their greatest players.

Johnny Football has game, but there's still work to be done. (Getty Images)

The recent Twitter assertion from Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel that he "can't wait to leave College Station" has many wondering if it's time to scout him as a 2014 draft prospect. Manziel, the NCAA's leader in total yards in 2012 and the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy, would certainly fly to the tops of many draft boards based on his athletic potential, and the fact that the NFL is far more hospitable to mobile quarterbacks than it has been. CBS' Mike Freeman recently spoke to a number of NFL personnel people about Manziel's prospects, and opinion is all over the place. One general manager told Freeman that Manziel could be a better pure passer than Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck, or Russell Wilson, while one scout said that Manziel "has Canada written all over him."

Projecting a one-year college quarterback to the NFL is tough to do, but we thought it would be an interesting exercise to put Manziel under the same "Shutdown 50" Microscope we give the best draft prospects every year, just to see what the tape shows. As you would expect from a kid who racked up the awards and numbers in his first collegiate season, there are an equal number of ridiculously positive and alarmingly underdeveloped sides to his game.

Pros: As a pure runner, Manziel is as good as any quarterback who's come down the pike. He's not a straight-line sprinter like Michael Vick or Robert Griffin III, but he's a lot more quick and elusive than, say, Tim Tebow. He reads open gaps well on designed runs, follows his blocks patiently, shows excellent acceleration at the second level, and gets around fast linebackers and most safeties. His performance on the ground against Alabama was a real wake-up call for a lot of people -- if he could do that against a feeder stream of pro-level talent, what could he accomplish at the next level? Manziel does possess a positive improvisational quality to his game -- with his mobility and pure guts under fire (so to speak), he will make plays other quarterbacks simply can't, because it wouldn't occur to them, and they're not physically able.

Has a basic and developing ability to roll outside the pocket under duress and make deeper throws into tight coverage. While he doesn't have a proverbial cannon for an arm, Manziel is able to make most NFL throws. Not only is he mobile, but Manziel will also keep things alive in the pocket with very quick feet -- he uses this attribute to read the field until something opens up. Has an outstanding feel for play action and can use it in an advanced sense, implementing the fake throw/playfake combo at times. With time and work, Manziel's passing ability should be able to fit nearly any overall concept.

Cons: Though he is able to think outside the box if his rushing lanes are closed up the middle, Manziel has been directed to read run too quickly at the collegiate level, and he'll have to learn to process more in the NFL. Primarily, he's succeeded in an offense where he's his own draw option a lot of the time, and that leaves him ill-equipped to do what all NFL quarterbacks must do, no matter how mobile they are -- stand in the pocket, look the defense off, and make the killer stick throw. Has a hitchy, slightly over-exaggerated overhead delivery that works for quick passes, but has him struggling at times with longer throws and timing routes. Automatically looks to run rather than throw when the pocket breaks down, which will not serve him well in the NFL. Tends to push the ball and needs to develop more zip on his release. Must learn to consistently re-set and drop the hammer when he's flushed out of the pocket.

Thanks to Daniel Paille's overtime goal, the majority of Chicago Blackhawks fans at the Saturday night's Game 2 left the United Center in a sour mood. But not so for the family of Sergeant Dale Dick.

Sgt. Dick had been away on deployment with the National Guard in Afghanistan for nine months, and nothing could spoil the evening for his wife and two children after they were surprised to see him standing next to Jim Cornelison during the national anthem.

What followed, as you can imagine, was a tearful and emotional reunion in the concourse:

Like many soldiers returning home from deployment, Sgt. Dick wanted to make the moment extra special for his family, so he reached out to the Blackhawks to see if they could make it happen. They did. His wife and children were called and invited to the game without being told what was in store for them.

Making the moment even more special: just before leaving for the Middle East, Sgt. Dick and his wife conceived a son. Saturday night marked the first time that he got to hold his newest child.

Appropriately, Father's Day was Sunday.

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

• Credit to Getty Images photographer Harry How for this incredible picture of Tuukka Rask, who looks about as heavenly here as he's been playing through the first three games of the Final.

• Doc Emrick's terms for "pass" get the Daft Punk treatment. This is incredible. [Deadspin]

• "Before this Stanley Cup Final is over, the Bruins will be our Boys of Summer — on skates. And at this hour they are a feel-good team on a par with the 1967 Red Sox, the 1970 Bruins, and the 2001-02 Patriots." [Boston Globe]

• Justin Bourne wasn't a big fan of how Jonathan Toews was used last night. "It’s pretty clear in hindsight that the idea was to trade Toews’ minutes as a wash versus Chara’s (anything gained is a bonus), and leave the rest of the talent to try to beat the Bruins. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong." [Backhand Shelf]

• Tim Hunter is unlikely to return as an assistant coach for the Washington Capitals. He's been given permission to seek employment elsewhere. [Washington Post]

• The Calgary Flames acquire prospect Corban Knight from the Florida Panthers. [Flames]

• If you're wondering how Martin St. Louis can be so effective at 38 years old, consider the dude's commitment to fitness: he started his offseason workout plan back in May after taking just two weeks off. [Tampa Bay Times]

• The New York Islanders are in the mix for Jonathan Bernier. [Newsday]

• Nine guys that might be paid to go away next month. [Last Word on Sports]

• Speaking of buyouts, Dany Heatley's injury troubles may make him ineligible for one.[Star Tribune]

• Is the branding for the AHL's Utica Comets too derivative of their parent club? I think it is. I'm not a fan of AHL teams looking like the baby version of another club. [PITB]

"Life moves prety fast..." (Beth Hall/USA TODAY Sports)Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema wants everybody to just slow down for a minute.

Bielema, echoing some of his SEC rivals, according to AL.com is proposing a rule change that would mandate a 15-second substitution period after every first down, allowing coaches to make defensive substitutions. This would severely limit the effectiveness of no-huddle offenses, a trend that is continuing to spread around college football.

His reasoning? The health and safety of players:

“Not to get on the coattails of some of the other coaches, there is a lot of truth that the way offensive philosophies are driven now, there's times where you can't get a defensive substitution in for 8, 10, 12 play drives," Bielema said, according to AL.com. "That has an effect on safety of that student-athlete, especially the bigger defensive linemen, that is really real."

The City of San Jose filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Major League Baseball on Tuesday, appealing to the courts to clear the way for the proposed Oakland Athletics ballpark in San Jose.

The lawsuit comes after years of stalling on what would be called Cisco Field and challenges MLB's ruling that the San Francisco Giants have territorial rights to San Jose.

San Jose has momentum to grab, since Oakland's O.Co Coliseum made headlines nationwide for a raw sewage leak that made both the home and visitor clubhouses unusable on Sunday. The A's and visiting Seattle Mariners had to share the Oakland Raiders locker room instead. After the game, A's pitcher A.J. Griffin said: "Make sure everybody finds out about this sewage thing. We need to get a new stadium."

San Jose was listening and seized the opportunity to ratchet up its clash with Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig, who was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, part of the lawsuit says: