It was a great weekend for sports and a great weekend for the underdog. I'm happy to see the Detroit Pistons proved me wrong last night with their defeat over the Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Let's hope their streak continues.

Now I was a bit disappointed to see Smarty Jones lose his bid for the Triple Crown. Although I watched the Belmont on tv, I could hear the anguished yelps from the crowd as they lost hundreds - maybe thousands - of dollars on a "sure thing." I wanted to see history in the making, but it was not to be.

When it was all over, I found myself rooting in retrospect for the underdog - Birdstone - who came up from behind at the last moment. In fact, I think it was a bit of schadenfreude because I'd bet on "Read the Footnotes" at the NY OTB for the Kentucky Derby and he'd let me down.

Anyhow, what irked me at the end of the race was that no one really talked about how Birdstone gave a tremendous effort. When it came time for interviews, the cameras turned from the winning trainer Nick Zito to a "smarting" John Servis. That showed an utter lack of class.

I'm always annoyed at how television has to get that "agony of defeat" shot of the losing player or team. Why couldn't we have praised Birdstone instead of eulogizing Smarty? Birdstone's owner (Marylou Whitney?) was gracious in her interview saying that she felt "just awful" that Smarty lost and that "everyone loved Smarty." NBC didn't even give her a chance to be happy for her victory.

The Calgary Flames also saw their dream deferred on Saturday with their overtime loss to Tampa Bay in game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals. They have another chance to win the cup tonight. But everyone wanted to see them - the underdogs - win at home. Tonight, they'll have to win the cup on the road in Tampa, a town whose fans have rarely seen snow, much less an ice hockey championship.

Isn't it sad that in this day and age the Canadian team is the underdog in the Stanley Cup? Calgary - and Canada - deserve to bring their coveted Cup home. Let's hope they succeed.

Perhaps the most incredible underdog victory of this past weekend came from unseeded Argentine Gaston Gaudio in the French Open Finals. He was playing against fellow countryman Guillermo Coria in one of the best matches I've seen in a long time.

A Washington Post columnist lamented on Saturday that tennis had gone to the dogs. He complained that the sport lacked stars, and, of the stars that were left, most were injured or in semi-retirement. Maybe I'm the only one who watches tennis anymore, but Gaudio and Coria proved to me that the sport is alive and well. Gaudio came from two sets down to defeat Coria 8-6 in the 5th. Conner and McEnroe - nay, Rodgers and Hammerstein - could not have created a more exciting spectacle. What drama! What movement! I was enthralled.

Of course, the real story with the Gaudio-Coria match was the fact that both men hailed from Argentina, a country that has been an economic underdog for several years now. With two compatriots in the French Open final, Argentina was assured a victory at last.

Now, if only we could get two Canadian teams in the Stanley Cup finals...