Full Couch Press

Let The SEC Have Its Rematch

2011-11-20T08:56:00.001-08:00

All this squawking about LSU/BAMA BCS Championship rematch is a waste of time. No should be opposed to this game as if it goes down, the BCS- which already has half a foot off the ledge- will barely struggling to keep from falling to its death. Before I get to into that, let's talk about the important stuff.

ISU beat the OSU!! The #2 team in the nation.

Before Friday Iowa State was 56 games in the hole against teams ranked in the top 6, having never won a single game. What business does Iowa State have winning a game against one of the best offenses in the game? What a game! What a win! And like a true Cyclone fan... let's ruin it right away!

What does this win mean long term? Momentum, everyone's favorite sports buzz term. Iowa State has Oklahoma and Kansas State up next. Winning one of those games would be perfection, but considering Oklahoma just lost to a stumbling Baylor team, and Kansas State only put up 150 yards of offense last night... I think looking ahead at two wins isn't too pie in sky. Still, we are ISU... we don't have the best track record of winning games when we need a win. This win is awesome and we should be proud. In fact everyone seems to be singing the praises of the team, and our coach.

Is Paul Rhoads too hot to stay in Ames? Call me naive but it is hard to find a more down-to-earth, stand up guy than Paul Rhoads. From Ankeny, loves ISU, and wins games that ISU would most likely lose if he wasn't around; Win in Lincoln, win in Austin, beat an undefeated offensive juggernaut, ranked #2 in the BCS... You better believe programs with bigger budgets, bigger fan bases, and better recruiting bases are going to come calling. It would be hard to blame him for bolting if he does, but good grief that would be hard to swallow. So if Rhoads leaves, what MOMENTUM does ISU have left to keep rolling.

Young, Talented, and Climbing the Totem Pole? Remember 4 years ago when Kansas was a loss to Mizzou away from the National Championship game? They had a young QB, a strong running back, a tough defense, and pretty good receivers- now? They're lepers. Granted, before that year they were terrible and today they have retaken their rightful place as a laughing stock, but I'm pretty sure in a year or two Jayhawk fans will look back and remember that year fondly, even if it was followed by some of the most putrid football in Big 12 history. My point is, can Iowa State climb the mountain even once based off of it's young talent? And if we get there, will ISU fans be grateful for the ride and live with the inevitable decline? ISU is in Ames, Iowa. Recruits will never be able to look beyond that and our budget will always be in the bottom half of the league. I'm a realist and all I want is one or two seasons of football glory. If we can play in two or three reputable bowl games, get into the top 10 for a month or two, or -gulp- a BCS game. I'll take my memories and go home. (God I feel dirty for wanting to play in a b.s. BCS game.)

But for now? Let's just enjoy this impossible victory. Highlights anyone?

Now about LSU vs. Alabama. Don't fight it. A bunch of pointless barking and in the end your complaining bares no weight. If the rematch does go down. Great. I wont watch, you probably wont watch, and neither will millions of other hungry football fans. The only real argument that the BCS will weigh is will anyone watch a regional rematch? Obviously I'm just a guy with a blog, but I'd like to think millions of Americans will vote against it and that result will tell the BCS they got it wrong. You know what NEVER gets it wrong? Playoffs. Oh and you know what? I watch almost every playoff game in the NFL. I watch one, maybe two bowl games, based off what Iowa schools are in the playoffs.

Go Cyclones.

Madness Creeps into the NBA

2011-03-24T07:22:00.000-07:00

This guy needs to stop whining.

"I mean, I just listen and read. I think it's over. Derrick Rose has it. I haven't really read or heard a media guy who is going another way at this point. I'd be shocked if he doesn't win it," Stan Van Gundy in this ESPN Article.

Anyone who watches a Magic game knows two things Stan Van Gundy is absolutely exhausting to watch and Dwight Howard is good, not great.

This season is a testament to Dwight Howard's skills. Before the Magic's major trade where they dumped Carter, Lewis and Gortat for Richardson, Turkuglu, and Arenas the team was 16-9. That's 7 games above .500 in a division where big men are no where to be found.

The MVP is a player that all opponents focus on, game plan for, and know if their team loses it's most likely because the prospective MVP was the player who beat them. Dwight Howard may be a force defensively but his offense is sad and everyone who goes up against the Magic knows they aren't taking too big a risk letting him get the ball. His jump shot is non existant, he has roughly 2 post moves (shoulder in and push), and he if gets to the line it's a coin flip he'll cash in. The reason Orlando is constantly looking for better shooters is because its superstar can't shoot, which means he can't carry the team.

But the Magic's problem is much worse than offense.

If Dwight Howard is to be considered the MVP he should have had his team with a 3 year solid starting line up rolling. Nope, 3 major players gone midseason.

Okay, well since he's the "best big man in the league" they should be clowning big men league wide right? Nope, at this point in the season the Magic have 26 loses, here's the teams to which they've lost:

Utah - 2x

Toronto

San Antonio

Milwaukee

Portland - 2x

Denver

Phili

Atlanta - 2x

Dallas

New Orleans - 2x

OkC

Boston - 2x

Detroit

Chicago -2x

Memphis

Miami -3x

Sacramento

Golden State

Lakers

What do you notice there? Title contenders with bonafide big men, most of whom are in the playoffs. Plus if you look at that record what else do you notice? Out of the five serious contenders for the 10-11 MVP crown (Rose, Howard, James, Duncan, Howard) he's lost 9 games so far. The Magic's record against teams with elite talent is 6-9. Yep, sounds like the Magic's MVP is really pulling through for them there...

Sure reporters will espouse the greatness of Howard on TV and occasionally in print so he wont stone wall them, but he can't be a true MVP candidate because he doesn't have the basketball skills a team can rely on, and he doesn't ever truly dominate the part of the floor he's famous for "owning." So I think the media talking about the Bulls (currently 1st in the east, the 2nd team in the league to 50 wins, no quality SG, with bigs battling injuries all season) young superstar as the MVP is warranted.

NBA Season in Full Swing

2011-01-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

It's my favorite time of year, the NBA season is not only in full swing, but the trade talk is hot. No professional sport has a better trade season. Baseball's deadline is soft and the big names never seem to get moved, the NFL's deadline is far too early so no one gets traded because every team feels they're still in it, (seriously how great would the NFL trade deadline be it if were Thanksgiving weekend? THINK OF THE HUGE NAMES MOVING!) and I'm not an active enough fan of the NHL to care.

But the NBA... names are flying all over the place, draft picks are exchanging hands like dollar bills, and every team is shopping for something. I know the Bulls don't have anything they want to give up, and they shouldn't give anything up, but a starting 2-guard would be an awesome pick up. Stay strong Chicago, I'm hoping on taking a pilgrimage to the United Center in March!

This season has been great. Feels like 2008 all over again; so many things happening league-wide to get excited about. I am addicted to twitter rumors and SI Truth & Rumors. Speaking of which, I just saw this baby:

God this is a stupid, stupid idea. Raymond Felton basically is Steve Nash. What trace amounts of offensive creativity are missing in Felton's game are found in his defense. Nash can only get worse while Felton can only get better. I've said since Felton's rookie season he is the most under-utilized player in the league. The Bobcats didn't know what they had and obviously didn't know how to coach him. Now that he is an uptempo system the Tar Heel Felton which propeled his team to a 2005 NCAA championship can shine. Before December pundits were bad mouthing Amar'e saying he was looking like a bad pick up because the team was struggling. Well what do you know? Felton started playing like a stud and boom they are the hottest name in the league right now. The Knicks are gonna get in the playoffs and Amar'e will be considered their MVP candidate and that is a shame, Felton is the man there and he should get first billing. Stay away from Nash New York! You've got the 1, 3, and 4 figured out. Look for a bruiser down low.

Now a quick one off:

NCAA football sucks. Great regular season, but just like Gruden said the game is way too long, tradition and misconceived perception way far too heavily in rankings, and the post season is a joke. What sport other than NCAA football has more of a wet blanket ending? 35 bowl games and most people care about their schools bowl & maybe care about the farce of a "National Championship." You want to know why ticket sales are so dreadful for these games (including the BCS?) Because NO ONE wants to see an exhibition game! THERE ARE NO STAKES! Set up a playoff and see those stadiums fill up. People love a game where the outcome means something.

ISU-Nebraska Comes To An End

2010-11-08T08:32:00.000-08:00

And we'll never see them again*

What a way to end this rivalry. So said to say. Listened to KXNO all week and heard people call in about it. I didn't feel like it was a huge deal but now knowing *the only way we'll see them again is in a bowl that kind of sucks. Prior to this decade it was crazy one-sided but there have been some awesome games in the last 10 years. 2004 being my favorite.

This year... damn what a terrible ending. You've got 30 seconds, all your time outs, you're playing at home, and came back from the dead? Try and move the ball to win in regulation. That would blow the stadium up. Instead, we went with the scared move of waiting for overtime. If you're on a roll, you don't do anything to kill your momentum and overtime jitters will kill it. If you have your opponent reeling on the ropes, you go for the knock out, not wait for the bell.

And overtime, I'm 100% behind that call, but you can't have your punter throwing the ball. Put in Arnaud or Tiller to hold, the other team may sniff it out but at least that ball pass would have had a better toss. Teams are always putting their QB in as the field goal place holder. You can't run that play with that kid as your QB. Get all the way to the finish line only to run out of gas in the final stretch... ouch. Well atleast we'll be able to unload our angst on the Buffs. Go Clones!

On The Door Step : 2010 NBA Finals

2010-06-14T12:54:00.000-07:00

At this point in the game (Celtics up 3-2) the finals have come to the same conclusion that they did two years ago. Everyone loved the Lakers going in and are suddenly bewildered by the fact that the Celtics have taken a scary lead. Coming in everyone thought Kobe and his crew were rolling to fast and looked to good for the old, tired, not-quite-world-beating Celtics. Well the problem is people can't seem to realize the Celtics have an army of guys who are confident with the ball, can make their own shot, and defend like their careers depend on it. The Lakers have good pieces, some really smart players, a quality defense, but when things start to look sketchy the ultimate Alpha Dog Kobe decides he needs the ball and all the other Lakers shrivel up an lose their confidence.

The announcers pretty much foreshadowed what the second half of last nights game was gonna be. Kobe needed to dominate. Why? Hasn't anyone learned anything from Kobe's domination? When he dominates it is him with the ball, ruling the roost. The difference between him and Artest is that Kobe makes shots. Players freak out and lose confidence when Artest gets the ball because he is a black hole and will miss shot after shot. Kobe does the inverse; players sitback and watch him dominate completely forgetting they are in the game. It's almost like hypnotism. They don't even realize they aren't gonna get the ball back because they have supreme confidence that Kobe is gonna make his shot. Then all of sudden when Kobe has iced everyone on his team because he's hit 17 shots in a row for his team without facilitating anyone else no one understands why the role players are bricking up a 100 shots? Come on.

Artest 2 for 9, Gasol 5 for 12, Fisher 2 for 9

As a Bulls fan this team puts me in a tough spot. I hate the Lakers but it's hard to not love Kobe's skill and Phil Jackson will always have a soft spot in my heart for the six rings he won in Chicago, but he is coaching like a fool. You cannot let Kobe try and win the game in the 3rd quarter. He may hit 20 shots in a row but it kills the rhythm of everyone else on the floor. Fish and Gasol are good and letting Kobe do what he wants is wasting their talents and advantages. I still think this team could steamroll if Pau was the #1 option. Take it to the paint and let the undersized Celtics foul him all night. Instead Phil pushed his team from down 6 at the half, to down 13 going into the 4th.

I hate to go there but I think MJ and Lebron are the perfect example. In the third you play team ball and let the other team worry about when the superstar is gonna unleash his wrath. If let the bull out of its pen before it is necessary, the opposing team could weather his assault and gain confidence. You want that tension and worry to last until it's showtime in the 4th quater. Phil iced his own team and instead of understanding that he called the Celtics brutes and lucky. Say what you will but they are a game away from winning and now your entire roster is gonna be anxious in the definition of a "must win" game 6.

Go Celtics.

I am SO PROUD! Rhoads is our Coach!

2009-10-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

Driving home from work yesterday I did something I pretty much never do. I switched from the 1460 KXNO to 1700 The Champ during a commercial. Big mistake. Some goon over there was trashing Rhoads for this video. They played a bite of Ferentz during the press conference where he said Adam Robinson was out and then the Rhoads locker room cheering. First off, that's ridiculous. Let's compare a Priest at a funeral to one at wedding while we're at it. This Champ guy was saying Rhoads' "behavior" in the locker room was embarassing. Saying he was uncool and not collected like Ferentz. Please. Obviously this guy doesn't get it.

Iowa State never wins in Nebraska. We've all heard it's been 33 years and who cares how we did it, we did it. It was pretty amazing to watch, and there was a lot of luck involved but that's football. Sometimes the ball bounces into the in-zone, sometime it bounces out at the 2 yard line.

Matt and Miller had a nice anecdote a few months ago where they said Paul Rhoads was playing foosball with a recruit and some players this past summer. That should explain everything. Paul Rhoads is a D-1 coach who wants to be on the players level and have fun. Iowa State football is always gonna be different. If we have to get fired up in a way that the Iowas, Californias, Auburns, and all the other "where's our respect?" teams. We will take any joy, any win, any reason to be proud of our team and celebrate it like 12 year olds on Christmas morning.

So if we see Rhoads get all hyped up next week after another win, good. He may not be thinking, it but football is a game and I am glad we can revel in it like is.

And since I never posted it here... check out our Iowa State Homecoming celebration.

Don't Kid Yourself, The Celtics Are Done

2009-04-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix wrote a great knee jerk piece about the Celtics right the ship. That would be fantastic if he had considered the Celtics needed Rondo to post a triple-double, Rose to be in foul trouble throughout the first half, Out rebound the Bulls nearly 2 to 1, and still need Ray Allen to explode for 28 points in the second half. Yeah I'd say the Celtics title hopes are alive and well. Oh wait Ray Allen needed to hit every shot in the last minute to secure a win where both teams scored more than 110 points? Nevermind.

The Celtics are done. Last year they were THE defensive juggernaut. They didn't lose a single home game in the playoffs. This year they have surrender two 100 point games back to back on their home court, and they nearly lost both. I'm a huge Bulls fan who was giddy as a baby horse running across the plains after watching Rose's playoff debut but I have not grown any sense of title possibilities. The Celtics BARELY WIN A HOME GAME and all of a sudden they are back in the hunt? Games 3 & 4 are gonna be fun.

I hope to talk Blackhawks next. peace!

Baseball is Ruined

2009-02-09T03:38:00.000-08:00

Maybe the worst part of all of this government steroid witch hunt is the media coverage it stirs up. I think most fans are past the point of caring who is on steroids. We assume 90% of the league takes them and we only get upset that someone breaks the fourth wall and turns our little game into something other than a diversion.

Does anyone want to take a stand on the "steroids issue"? I think not. I think most fans just want all this nonsense to go away. The only time I care about steroids is when I hear a player making more money than I'll ever see in my life benefits from doing this drug.

Now as far as baseball? It might as well be 1996 or '97 right now. When two consecutive off season feature two of the best players in the game being taken down by their drug lust I think you're credibility is shot. None of these leagues want to dig up this garbage. Police the league? Why? So sportswriters (maybe the only people who live and die by "majesty" of the game) can feel they are wasting their lives? To set a good example for kids? Hell no. Bud Selig and his peers are only cleaning up the game because the government and the beat writers are holding their feet to the fire.

I'm gonna wager that Bud Selig (if he is a baseball fan at all and not just a business man) loves Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Not only were their accomplishments so grand and flashy but they did it because they wanted to own the field, not make friends. I loved Michael Jordan because he wanted to kill everyone who wasn't wearing a Bulls uniform not because he was a stand up guy who was drug free. When Barry hit his record breaking homerun a couple years ago everyone was talking about Selig's reaction and prescene. Did he want to be there? Was he just praying for Barry to retire? Of course he didn't want to be there. He wants people to talk about the game and not about him, and who didn't want Barry to retire. Barry staying in the game takes away the whole fun and boyish fan aspect of the game. It's no longer something from our youth we love to watch and get riled up over. Suddenly it's something we have to chew on and take a political stand about. That's why everyone hates Barry now, his drug use took the baseball out the situation and brought it all into reality. I don't want reality, I want diversion, feats of strength, and spectacle.

A-Rod being outed at this point is like if Michael Jordan turned out to be a robot in the early 90's or if Payton Manning secretly used some sort of magnetic ball that was stuck to his receivers hands. This steroid era is horrible because it has burned up the backdrop to the play that is baseball. Its hard to get into the drama of the game when some keeps reminding you that one particular player is cheating. Um dude, in case you haven't realized by now... they're all cheating. That's basebal.

Logos: Make or Break Your Team

2009-01-05T08:04:00.000-08:00

A coworker of mine is back at work today after a semester abroad in England. So we do the usual yuckin, hear a few stories about London (one of which included Absinthe, Fried Chicken, and crawling naked on the kitchen floor...), and eventually we got into the usual swing of the A.M. shift. What does this have to do with sports? Well after your brain liquifies from being up so early you give into the gigantic stupidity of the internet and sometimes stumble upon accidental greatness. Via Sean, I give you sportslogos.net. A vault of pretty much every school or proteams logo history. Here are my five favorite collegiate logos(in reverse order of awesomeness:

5)Virginia Cavaliers, 1978 to 1993

Not a Virginia fan or anything but this guy is hilariuos. If I were a Cavaliers alum I would constantly talk about swashbuckling opponents.

4) Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions, 2001 - present

Yikes. If these guys were any good this logo alone would scare the piss out of me.

3) Oregon State Beavers, 1973-1985

How can anyone be taken seriously with this as a logo.

2) Florida Gators, 1979-1991

Flordia needs to return to this logo. If I was an alum I would only buy gear that had this incorporated in some way. Really good late 70s/80s feel. Fun.

1) Illinois Fighting Illini, 1989-2003

When I was a kid I had an Illini sweatshirt with this logo on it. It was awesome. I have no clue what happened to it but seriously, awesome. Too bad they had to ditch it.

Oh It's The Best Time Of The Year

2008-12-22T04:01:00.000-08:00

Or so the song says! For all the lame duck teams pounding floating around the league, yesterday was a great day of NFL-ing. I love Matt Cassel and wish the Bears could get him... however it seems like more and more the Patriots will once again do the coldblooded thing and keep it stricly business.

What could have been an ugly, dragging Sunday of Christmas shopping turned out to be extremely pleasant. With my lady doing some shadowing for a class I drove all over the east bay buying up last minute gifts and listening to Gameday on ESPN radio. The highlights and updates were great. Just about every team I wanted to win and lose did (except for Philly! [and they were the most important piece to make Sunday perfect). The Vikings lost at home to the reboot Falcons, Seneca & the Seahawks brought Brett to near crying, Detroit continues to look like trash, The Dolphins kept the dream alive, the 49ers pulled out a miracle, and two teams (Giants & Panters) I loathe ended up going to overtime and making for quite good theatre.

The only thing left to make this weekend perfect is a Bears win & word from the Giants that they wont rest their starters next Sunday : )

IN OTHER NEWS! Dwyane Wade & the Miami Heat showed so real grit and poise by holding off the Lakers Friday night & The Celtics can truly cast last season aside this week by beating the Lakers and achieving the hottest start in NBA history. My favorite Christmas sporting memory is the Heat beating the Lakers in overtime back in 2004. It would be icing on the cake if the Lakers lost 3 important games to eastern contenders in under a week by Kobe missing buzzer beaters.

Lastly, the Cubs need to stop messing around and pick up an odd school vet pitcher and get rid of Alf or Derrek Lee, no room on this team for two supposed superstars who can't pull their weight. And if the rumors are true that DeRosa is on the block... I may just cry.

So Much For The New School

2008-11-26T11:14:00.001-08:00

I hate Lebron James. This guy is a starting to love himself and his press just a little too much. Last week Lebron tells everyone he ain't going anywhere, and then last night he comes out with a new shoe that celebrates New York and says that NYC fans should be excited for July 1st, 2010. I know he has to answer these questions and he isn't gonna close any doors and kill his marketability but please for the sake of us basketball fans who want to hear about something over than a summer that is two years off just put an end to this and tell these fools that yes you deal a lot with New York, yes Jay Z is your best friend, and you don't want to talk about your impending free agency until some team hoists the larry o'brien trophy.

After years of the gangster, me-first image in the NBA players like Dwyane Wade, Lebron, Chris Bosh, CP3, and Carmelo were supposed to be team players who worked for the team, kept their image clean, and didn't jerk us around. Well now the ring leader (figuratively obviously) is jerkign around the entirely NBA league by entertaining the mass of completely uncreative glut of basketball sportswriters. Quit being an ass buddy and tell em to search for a real story. Us fans can only read the same story so many times (and we still have a year and a half to go).

I am not a fan of Lebron. I can only stomach so much force fed greatness, and this year is shaping up to be the year of Lebron; front runner for the MVP, hot start (not that we haven't seen this before... hello 2005...), and a supporting squad that has expectations as high as they come. There's no way getting around the fact that we're gonna hear a lot about this kid, but please can we focus on something other than his prospects TWO SEASONS AWAY!

I can't be the only one who is getting close (please, I would never) to hoping for a career altering injury just to flip this whole thing on it's head.

Front Offices & The Tale of the Bottom Line

2008-11-05T07:07:00.001-08:00

The Cleveland Browns are foolish. Profootballtalk.com posted that Brady Quinn may have been held off this long to see if Derek Anderson was worth retaining and to keep Quinn away from an escalator clause. Other reasons that have been bantered about are placating screaming fans, feeling that Anderson was a one-year phenom, and Crennel doesn't want to go down with his QB. There may be credence to some of that but in any event the Browns are stupid.

Functional (borderline great QBs) are hard to come by in this league. Anderson may have overperformed last year but this year he has more than your fair share of locks to pick. His #1 receiver keeps dropping balls, his #1 Tight End keeps screwing the morale, his posession receiver, Joe Jurevicius, is down for the count, his schedule this year is murders row, and he suffered a concussion in August. Quinn may end up being good but if the Browns let Anderson go they will end up regretting not keeping the faith. If they need encouragement talk to the Rams, Chargers, and Jets (that's Warner, Breese, and Pennington incase you need help).

Now in the NBA Joe Dumars is a smart man, and apparently, a good samaritan. Not only did he set up his franchise for next season and there after (barring injury), but he set up Denver to finally be decent. First a look outwest; Denver needs more than anything a floor general and a true point guard. Chauncey can fill both of those rolls perfectly. He's getting old and may fade within the next three years but if he relies on his passing and leadership he could command that team up for 4 or 5 years. Now Detroit, brutal deal. They unloaded the man who kept the locker room cool for someone who will essentially be used to scrape the fat off their payroll. Who cares if they dont take the east this year. Joe came to the realization that no one else did. The top of the east is cramped this year and if they want to survive they need to get fresh blood.

If Denver gets smart they could work this to be a factor in a couple years when Kobe falls off and the Texas teams get ugly (they are all old and morale/leadership challenged). Iverson, while supposedly a legend, will end up looking like a cast off from this whole thing. Its pretty apparent his fate is sealed now. He's a mercenary from here on out. If he gets a ring it wont be because he lead anyone there From here on out he's a weapon and maybe even a sixth man. Ouch.

Off With His Head

2008-10-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Let's not mince words; Mike Nolan deserved to lose his job. Poor in-game decision making, undermining his developing quarterback (who thanks to Nolan's offensive incompetence, will be labeled a bust), and making horrendous off season offensive player acquistions cost this man his job. Most coaches handle the media with the procedural acumen of a surgeon, but if you watch Nolan's press conference (all available at cbs5.com) you notice this guy is to football what Dan Quayle is to politics.

So Nolan's gone and now the question is who put the guy in this position in the first place. Time to use that 20/20 hindsight. Anytime the woes of the 49ers is brought on ESPN (awful stadium, bad coach, tight wallet) the owners, the Yorks, are always mentioned. In this situation I completely concur. Only a fool would allow a rookie head coach to also be the general manager. Only a complete moron would let a main who knows nothing about quarterbacking make the most important draft pick in your franchises history, and only a completely uninterest dolt would let a coach not repair a fraying a offensive line as its major piece (Larry Allen) is guarenteed to retire. Not only did Nolan coach this team poorly he may have made it worse off than it was before he showed up.

That might be harsh but even the best parts of this teams offense (Gore, Bruce, and believe it or not Alex Smith) have been demoralised at this point. Their coaches complete deer in the headlights approach to offense and player management nearly destroyed this team. Thank God the interim coach is a legendary former player who is known as a cheerleader. This teams season may turn out to be a little less ugly thanks to Singletary coming swooping in to save their egos.

Next moves: Offensive coach, rebuild the line, retain Alex Smith and roll him out more. He's not a bust, he's just been badgered, run through the playbook ringer, and underminded to the point that his coach decided to go with a mistake prone backup as his primary option. The 49ers have the opportunity to pick him up for cheap and take the pressure away, something he needs.

Blame Lou For 08

2008-10-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

There, I said. Sweet Lou managed these playoffs like a rookie. If the playoffs are first and foremost about pitching than the second line of duty is counteracting the pitching you're going to see. Lou's line-ups were horrible. The Dodgers pitchers are all strikeout men, and what did Lou do? He fed them the man with the least plate control at the top of our line-up every game. That is just poor managing. What we should have been showing the dodgers was:

1) Theriot

2) DeRosa

3) Soriano

4) Rameriez (I wish he could bat third but he can't handle it mentally)

5) Lee

6) Edmonds

7) Soto

8) Fukudome

9) Pitcher

Now our pitching... What the hell was that about? Dempster, a guy who only proved this year he can handle a season, is our game one (which you've got to have in a five game series) guy? Hell no. In a five game series you need to burn your opponents bats in the first game. Harden should have been on the mound blowing them away. Dempster is best served as a 2 or 3 not the guy on the front line. I would have thrown big Z out there but it was pretty obvious his stuff was messed up.

It's sad, really sad. I had an extremely hard time watching the games, and every time they put Lou's face up there my blood started to boil. See you next year. Hopefully by then Lou will be able to get past the egos in the locker room and manage the line up in the right way.

Nat'l League Playoffs

2008-09-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

I love how the national league has shaken out. What an interesting setup:

Cubs-Dodgers
Brewers-Phillies

The Cubs may be the 3rd or 4th most popular team in baseball but I seriously doubt they can pull the ratings in MLB is hoping for. The rest of those NL teams? forget it. The Phillies pose the only true threat (if they post a better showing than last year), the Dodgers are lucky to be there, and no one cares about the Brewers.

I don't want to get into matchups and predictions (mainly because as a Chicago born Cubs fan they scare the shit out of me), but if you were to equate this NL post season to a movie or a concert who would it be? These cities represented are pretty large and respectable (minus Milwaukee), but it just feels like something is missing. It's kind of like one of those Tom Hanks movies that by all accounts was great (Castaway, Apollo 13) but pale in comparison to his rap sheet. I don't know what's missing but there is a feeling that just isn't there...

I'm hoping as the Cubs win a game this will all change but until that moment I'm gonna hold my MLB breath.

Rubbing It In

2008-09-23T07:19:00.001-07:00

While casually watching last nights MNF Jets v. Chargers game it was impossible to escape Ron Jawarski's absolute man lust for Brett Favre. He doesn't need to be impartial but please! give us the appearance of objectivity buddy.

At the start of the evening everybodies least favorite PTI guest told us the Chargers were the perfect opponent to open up the pass attack and really debut the Jets offense. Okay... let's not forget the Chargers have Jammer and Cromartie, two of the best corners to ever play together.

So as the game progress and the Chargers made Favre look foolish it wasn't necessarily his fault. It was him learning the system and building his confidence before the 4th quarter heroics.

That just makes me sick.

So in honor of Jaws and the entire Favre fanclub (formerly known as the football experts at ESPN) I have started a little on the right of this blog. While watching the Jets v. Pats game I turned to my brother right after the game changing Favre interception and said "Right now I think the Jets could use the most accurate quarterback in NFL history." Incase you don't know, that's former Jet QB, Chad Pennington.

We're not being treated to one last hurrah by this former legend, we're all getting a lesson in what a jilted lover does in desperate attempt to show they are worth loving. You're day has passed Brett, go home.

The Following Need To Stop

2008-09-18T04:21:00.000-07:00

1) Giving The Ohio State University any type of love just because they are the Big Ten power.

The Big Ten are like the NFC West; someone has to win and that team is going to suck. The Big Ten are ruining post season college football. What team has reached a post new years day bowl and deserved to be there for the last four years? It's pathetic.

2) Just because you have Brett Farve does not mean you are gonna be any better.

Brady goes down with a knee injury and all of a sudden a team with a legitimate defensive coaching genius will lose his prowess? Their receiving core will lose its stealth kill drive? The Jets, a team that barely held on to beat the worst team from last season (one of the worst of any season), and we start bathing them in praise? NO! Having Brett Farve doesn't tell us anything other than the fact that you're gonna see interceptions thrown at piss poor moments. As soon as Mr. Farve through that interception sunday that lead to a Patriots TD I told my brother that he gave the game away. Sure enough the Pats won by SIX POINTS! Yeah, let's favor the Jets...

3) I feel really bad for Brewers' fans

AND I'M A CUBS FAN!!! The Brewers roster has a lot of promise and they just cannot pull it together. It's really sad. Their window is about two weeks from closing for about four or five years. CC will be gone, Sheets will be overpaid and their starting rotation will be possibly the worst in the league. It's really, really sad.

PTI Has Life After Kornheiser

2008-08-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

You know I join in with the dislike for Rick Reilly's sports Pkg work on sportcenter (and his writing always seems to be topically a week or two late) but he is really good at winging it chopping it up on PTI. In my opinion the level of PTI quality is 1a) Tony 1B) Wilbon 2)Reilly 3a)Bob Ryan, 3b)Dan La Batard 4)Adande 5)Mariotti 6)Shaughnessy. Generally I hate the B teams (but that wont keep me from changing the channel), but some are okay in small doses; i.e. La Batard & Ryan.

Now we can all tell Kornheiser has not a care in his soul about PTI, because he has spent the majority of the summer not working. So we gotta look down the line to who is gonna replace him, and if the rumors of Reilly's big money are true, he is a shoe in to be the guy on PTI and earn that paycheck. He just needs to cut down on that goofy laugh a bit. In my opinion he has really redeemed himself with this PTI performance.

Too Many Fan-Boys Reporting On Favre

2008-08-05T04:40:00.000-07:00

Too understand all the Favre love and Packer front-office loathing, you need look no farther than last season's Favre coverage. The season long cliche was his game management and "playing like a kid." I guess when you have spent a good chunk of your career covering a three time mvp with a pension for the dramatic you're more than likely to accrue some form of screwed up Stockholm Syndrome. So now that the old "gunner," as he's been playfully labeled, is been pushed out in favor of a promising young arm, it's pretty natural to see the talking heads cry foul. As always is the case, surface level reporting, will more than likely result in outrage and protest.

The Packers are making the right decision. Sure Farve was great, but if the Packers don't dump his wishy-washy ass, they will be left behind in a league where competent and smart QB's are at a premium. The Packers have survived two-plus years in obscurity before, but for a teamed with a young talented roster, it would be a crime to spend the next four to five years mining for a new quarterback when they have Aaron Rodgers, a promising young replacement. Pull back the curtain of cheese betrayal and see that the Packers are a lot smarter than the "experts" give them credit for.

Driving home from work Sunday morning, FS-Radio was discussing the resigning of Ryan Grant. Too hear someone qualify his contract with only playing 10 games in the 07-08 season is hilarious. Ryan Grant rushed more yards than anyone than L.T. in that period and yet we have to justify his money, while players such as Cedric Benson, Reggie Bush, DeAngelo Williams, etc. were given millions for their college swashbuckling without proving a single thing at the NFL level. As far as I'm concern, Ryan Grant was underpaid.

All this emphasis on Favre may actually be the best thing to happen to the Packers. Can casual fans name any receivers beyond Donald Driver? Unlikely, and when it comes time to cash in... chances are having low name recognition doesn't exactly help in contract neogotians. So the Packers, have a proven back, a young burgoening roster, and the able quarterback waiting in the wings to showcase his skills after Carson Palmer style wait. The Packers are quietly building towards a future that resembles that of the Patriots.

Exmaning The Issues

2008-08-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Since the draft I have kept my mouth shut with pretty much anything considering the NBA off season (minus Baron) because I wanted to see how the Bulls would handle their business... but it doesn't appear they are gonna sort out issues with resigning Ben Gordon so I'm gonna break my silence and give a few thoughts on each teams off season. Let's start with the west (from last seasons worst to first).

Sea-OKLAHOMA Usurpers
When you consider their offseason term-oil its no wonder they didn't pull in any big free agents. Kevin Durant and Jeff Green are only gonna get better, they drafted exceptionally well for a team that waste countless picks on garbage centers. If Westbrook holds up as well as he did for UCLA they are gonna be a solid offense. Defense... I'm expecting them to allow about 109 points plus per game.

Memphis Grizzlies
Rudy Gay is going to be a horse next year. Great backcourt brewing in Memphis; Conley will get a handle on running the point, Mayo will command a double team by the all star break, Rudy Gay will continue his ascent to star, and who knows maybe even Darko will come out of the cellar and show us something.

Minnesota Timberwolves
Sota and Memphis really turned both their offseasons around with their draft night trade. Neither team drafted the right guy, but both traded for the perfect fit. Tall white guy in the cold north, and lively black guy in hip south. Not to get too stereotypical or anything but Mayo is starting in probably the perfect market for him. Back to Sota; Love will be a great Twin tower for Big Al. Everyone else may be scraps but that team will rebound like no team has in years.

Los Angeles Clippers
Baron, Camby, Ricky Davis, Jason Hart... that is qutie a bit to replace Brand and Maggette. And I'm buying it. That is a whole of the former core out the window. Not only that but Sam GIVE-ME-RESPECT Cassell is gone. Sam may have been a veteran but to me he equates to running a marathon while wearing sky boots, he just weighs down everything you're trying to do, and kills any plans you may have made. Baron, Camby, and Kamen can right this ship (barring injury).

Sacramento Kings
I have no idea what this teams plans are. They draft players way ahead of when they should, dump everyone, and have they have no real opportunity to make the playoffs this season or the next. Hmmm... Maybe the Maloofs see that and are just saying screw it, dump the salaries and work for 2011-12.

Portland Trailblazers
I'm not gonna lie to you and say I know who Rudy Fernandez is or what he can do but if all the hype is true about this squad, than watch out. Greg Oden will have some growing pains, but in all reality, he is the fourth or fifth option offensively on this team behind Roy, Aldridge, Outlaw, Bayless, and Frye. Basically, who cares about his offensive, if he just owns the paint defensively this team will be a top four seed come the playoffs.

Golden State Warriors
Between drafting projects, signing malcontents, running a system that requires a high quality point guard (and not having one), and putting too much faith in a coach who blames everyone but himself... this team is screwed. Golden State is going to have a disaster of a season and fingers will be pointing at everyone.

Denver Nuggets
I really like Carmelo Anthony. I kind of like Allen Iverson. I don't like George Karl. The only thign this guy can inspire is a mutiny at this point. He will be this seasons Scott Skiles. His system and demeanor turned from friend to the squad to all right guys, 48 minutes and we can go home, try not to embarassass me. It appears Allen Iverson is destined to retire ringless.

Dallas Mavericks
You know you have no true superstar when you're owner is always the first person mentioned. Mark Cuban, at one point may have defined Maverick, but he now defines idiot. He has mixed the worst cocktail of brash fandom and ear to the rails of punditry. What was the point of bringing in Jason Kidd? He's slow, can't shoot, and hasn't lead anything in 6 years. This teams big offseason move was getting a new coach and resigning DeSagana Diop. Hooray, here comes the lottery!

Phoenix Suns
At no point from his entire career would I have teamed Shaq with Steve Nash. They are oil and water. Both awesome, hilarious guys, but basketball to one is running through walls, and the other is passing around it. If you ask me, we may see Shaq traded again this year. Unless Shaq gets injured (and I have never rooted for someone to take a fall), there is gonna be some serious soul searching come late December. I may be the only person alive who considers the Suns best chances of winning starting a rookie over the MDE.

Houston Rockets
As long as this team sorts out its issues with Carl Landry I see conference finals, maybe the NBA Finals. Considering your tempo has to be slow when you are running with Yao, there is no better teammate for him than Ron Artest. Brillant move. Just looking at this depth chart I get excited. Starting Five: Alston, McGrady, Artest, Landry, and Yao. Bench: Battier, Scola, Brent Barry. That screams achievement. Maybe 60 wins, and in the west is a large statement.

Utah Jazz
Back in 2004-5 I loved Deron Williams, but since he has joined the dark side and teamed with Sloan... I hate him. They may not be traditional rivals of the Bulls, but I hate this team more than any other. Sloan is the scum of the league. I know this crew will be a top four seed but I just want to take this opportunity to say I hate this roster under Sloan. Individually I would take all these guys, but together they make me sick. I hate, HATE the Jazz.

San Antonio Spurs
I'm not to happy about these uglies either. Sixth Seed, and a lot of fines for Ginobilis flopping.
New Orleans Hornets
Ever since Michael Redd got a max deal I cringe when I hear teams max out their franchise player. I love Chris Paul, but give your team some free agent wiggle room man. If you want three or four rings as opposed to one, maybe two, you have got to take less money. No I don't see the bubble bursting for Chandler this year, but you're skating on thin ice when you expect 82 games from Chandler, Peja, and a PG who is so small and so aggressive. If Paul doesn't settle down his knees may soon become neighbors with Baron Davis.

Los Angeles Lakers
Andrew Bynum is going to take this team down. When it takes you this long to rehab a knee at that young an age... it's bad news. LA's roll players are gone, Pau and Odom were exposed, Phil doesn't know how to defend the pick and roll, and we may be a 5 game skid from Kobe taking a sub machine gun to his locker room. Sadly, someone has to win this division and it ain't gonna be Kings or Warriors so its gonna be real interesting with the Lakers, Clips, and Suns.

TO THE EAST!

Miami Heat
Pat Riley may be a better G.M. than coach at this point. He built the team that one the rings, and if it weren't for Dwyane Wade's injury and Damon Jones doing the moonwalk everytime he brought the ball up the court the year prior, there may be two banners hanging in south beach. Chalmers, Beasley, Wade, Marion, Haslem. Besides, having no centers (sorry but Blount would be better used as an arena bouncer) this team is dangerous. In the playoffs, and if the rooks adapt quickly, top four.

New York Knicks
Until Stephon Marbury is moved, this team is doomed.

Milwaukee Bucks
This team did almost everything they needed to do to right the ship; Get rid of Yi, get a wing player who can ball with Redd, and draft well. Next Stop! 8th Seed in the Playoffs.

Charlotte Bobcats
This team needs a coach who understands what a stud Raymond Felton is. He is the forgotten son of the '05 Draft. If only this team could get some production out of Sean May and Jared Dudley, I think they could roll. Oh well, someone has to be the also rans. I just wish they had zero offiliation with M.J.

Chicago Bulls
Until they do something with either Gordon, Nocioni, or Hinrich I will consider them lottery bound.

New Jersey Nets
This owner must want to clear house before the 2010 offseason. This roster and coaching staff will look completely different come the 2010-11 season.

Indiana Pacers
Now this team is puzzeling. They have a lot of pieces I like but some I despise. First of all, I will never give a thumbs up to a team coached by Jim O'Brien. What part of his past gives me any confidence in his obilities. Second Troy Murphy should not start on any team. They should be hot to trade because built the way they are I wouldn't go to a game unless the tickets were free.

Atlanta Hawks
This team refuses to succeed. Childress is gone (and rightfully so), Josh Smith is still scouring for a big offer, and Marvin Williams just will not blossom. Mike Bibby is destined to take a dive ability wise and Mike Woodson has no record of quality management. These guys may make the playoffs but with a reorganized Miami... I wouldn't put money on it.

Philadelphia 76ers
I don't think Elton Brand did the honorable thing, but he did do the smart thing. In the east I don't get as excited when teams get their act together (that just means more competition for the Bulls), but I do recognize good rosters. Andre Miller, Thaddeus Young, Brand, Dalembert. If this teams adds a couple quality bench players and some overall depth... they could be in the top four, Hell Brand, Young, and Miller might push them there on sure promise alone.

Toronto Raptors
Smart move giving it over to Jose Calderon. That along with the Jermaine O'Neal pickup should help them get into the Top four this year. Barring injury I really like this squad. O'Neal really needed a change of scenery. He is a smart guy, he knew Indiana had no intentions of competing as soon as it got rid of Artest. Maybe now that he is north of the border and there is no expectations on him, he'll really play.

Washington Wizards
I really thought the Wizards would lowball Arenas. Last year proved he is not that valuable. Sure he will help them make the playoffs but he can be gotten to and Butler has proven to be a stick that can stir a quality cocktail. This franchise has no title chances for the foreseeable future, but they will produce some nice highlights.

Cleveland Cavs
Last summer I was saying this team needed to push for Raymond Felton, and I feel they need him even more. He can run, defend, pass, and shoot. Delonte West is nice, but he is not the perfect complement to Lebron. Get somone you can trust to bring the ball up court and I dont care about the supporting cast, as long as Lebron is there, the Cavs would be dangerous. No title this year, sorry guys.

Orlando Magic
This team needs to dump Redick, get a point guard with size, and work on Howards turnovers. Until than, sorry.

Detroit Pistons
I could not have been more pleased with this franchise when it took down the 04 Lakers, but right now, I just want them to shut up. For all the love Dumars gets, he has become a scaredy cat. He lucked into Chauncey a few years back, and made the biggest mistake of his career by not becoming best friends with Larry Brown. They could have won 3 or 4 championships if Dumars had conceded his ego to Brown's and just played ball. All that, and they still will be either the top 2 or 3 seed in the east.

Boston Celtics
Quiet, yet quality offseason. Replacing Posey with Walker was a perfect move. Walker may not have the experience and NBA IQ of posey but in two years or so he'll be just as dangerous. This starting five has atleast one more season of brillance. Ray Ray may take a half step back but Rondo is poised to breakout this year. There should be no questions about his quality. I doubt they'll come rushing out the gate this season (too much yapping from Pierce, and no need to kill from Garnett anymore), but they should be the number seed. Every other team in the east has too many issues.

Okay. So if you're still with me... I am really excited for this season. The west may have been brutal last spring but this year is really gonna tell a tale. Houston needs to kill November and December, The Lakers need Bynum to play, and can the Hornets do it again? Oooh boy. Last year I watch as many Celtics games as I could, this year the teams on my radar are The Rockets, The Celtics, of course the Bulls, but most of all The Heat. Dwyane Wade is too good and with Chalmers and Beasley, their lack of size may not matter.

My Life Is Forever Changed

2008-07-14T05:01:00.002-07:00

Take a moment to take this in:

I have never, in my entire life, and I say this with zero sarcasm, felt more proud to have a connection to Iowa. The Iowa Chops. Formerly the Iowa Stars, American Hockey League affiliate to the Dallas Stars, has reaffiliated to the Anaheim Ducks, and changed their name to the Iowa C*H*O*P*S. PERFECT! Now that in itself is pretty damn hilarious but look at that pig. I could get that thing tattooed across my chest. Oh man, keep your eyes a rolling. Notice anything else from that page? WE'VE TRIMMED THE FAT! YES! This franchise is something that I all Iowans should be proud to support. The food jokes will never end. Why have some fierce, too-serious-for-its-own-good name like the Thrashers, Lightning, or Hurricanes? The Iowa C*H*O*P*S. COME ON! The store website is the The Chop Shop. I cannot get enough. I am so enamored that I just bought a hat. I will proudly wear that hat everyday of my life.

Now I'm hoping it looks better than that once it arrives (i.e. no visible stitching), but this cap has two the necessary attributes to be part of the Pat Boberg closet: A) funny B) awesome. Once Marieta and I move back to Iowa I will have season tickets, a jersey, a decal on my car, and one fo those cones shaped like a pig snout you can yell through to start rallying cries(no they don't have them yet, I'm just hoping).

I would love if somehow Iowa could retain the rights to the Chops and use it for future pro teams. Having football, basketball, and baseball teams all named Chops lends itself to so much marketing and Iowa pride. I know there aren't many examples of cross sports name doubling (giants and cardinals are the only two off the top of my head), but damn it! Iowa could do it! What a great name! Too all you who are gonna look down on this name as cartoonish and not serious. ITS ONLY A GAME! GIVE UP THE PRETENSE! HAVE SOME FUN!

82games.com

2008-07-04T09:35:00.001-07:00

So I made a quick stop by my old college message board, Strangetalk, and I was intrigued by the NBA draft talk in the sports section. Some people were unsure about the Bulls pick of Rose. I shared my piece about Rose, but it got me to thinking about the effectiveness of their current roster. So I took a swing over to 82games.com

If you're looking for stats, in any fashion, 82games has it. I perfer plus minus because it gives you a measure for how effective certain players are for your team on/off the court. Lets compare the Bulls "key" players to the Celtics key players.

So these break down stats that "key" players accrued vs. varying levels of quality opponents. Why Boston? Because they are the freaking champs. Breakdown? sure. Apparently all of the Bulls starters took a collective dump against quality opponents this year. A lot of that should be placed on coaching, angling for future contracts, and trade rumors, but that is sad.

As expected Gordon is pathetic. An undersized two guard with a streaky shot, no handle, and poor defense can't handle high quality opponents? THAT'S AMAZING! Noc was bad for business but not tragic, I've already given my thoughts on the waste of cap space that is Capt. Kirk, and Deng... can we just assume he is never gonna bulk up and get nasty in the paint? His skills are like KG lite, with zero attitude. What could possibly help this team? hmmm... maybe a confident floor leader. If Derrick Rose can run like Rondo, shoot like Nash, see like Kidd, and defend like Paul (all of which has been advertized)... We're in business.

Don't Get Fooled Again

2008-07-02T05:42:00.000-07:00

Baron Davis is a businessman. The world of sport is full of fools who say "it's a business," but close to none of them understand what that means. Baron does. Sticking in a town like Oakland may turn you into a local hero when you retire, and running to a team to satisfy your championship thirst will cool a long time itch, but Baron saw this as a life opportunity.

Baron became a heavy in the sporting arena after being the most dynamic member of the 07 Warriors, the team to upset a colossal favorite for the NBA title. Now he could have parlayed that into a couple of endorsements and a bigger contract, but he took his newfound name recognition and used it produce a film, chum up with some hollywood a-listers. You know when you're in high school and become snowblind to the fact that there is so much to life besides those four years? Well Baron has clear his eyes and now that sees that he has another 50 plus years to live after the NBA and if he wants to be anything beyond a broadcaster or name drop of sideline greats, he needs to get busy.

So the Clippers, great move. Of course, you'd want to play with the Lakers but another superstar on that team may make Kobe uneasy, and they don't have cash to pay him a respectable salary. Now the Clippers, he can be the major motivator their missing, elevate his and Elton Brands game, and by being the Media capitol of the world (sorry new york), he can set himself up for life. I love this move. So he leaves Golden State in the dust. So what? Only being here a year it is easy to see from their moves, coaching, history, and management that this team is lost. Stay here and Baron sinks to a footnote, leave and build a franchise upon your burgoening image of cool.

Besides breaking down how smart of a move this is for Baron, NBA fans should be wondering what this may mean for other big names in the league who are in small markets. Lebron? if he is smart, he'll leave. Wade? Miami is on the brink of being the next big thing in America, stay where you're at. Durant? If the Sonics move to Oklahoma City, leave at first sign of daylight, if they stay in Seattle, he better do something historic because Seattle is out in the middle of nowhere and in a timezone that really hurts his visibility.

This is why the summer is the best part of being an NBA fan. The trades, moves, and conjecture. So what next? Sign and Trade Gilbert to Knicks? Bad for Gil next year, but great for the rest of his life.

Find A Comfy Chair, We Have A LOT To Talk About

2008-06-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

There is so much on my mind with the impending draft that I'm just gonna throw up on this keyboard and hopefully it doesn't come out too messy. I could not be more excited right now. T-minus 36 hours and counting till the Derrick Rose Era begins in Chicago. Hells yes. I would love to break down Rose/Beasley but I'll leave that for SI and Espn. No No, I'll save the D Rose discussion the moment I hear Emperor Stern say those beautiful words "With the first pick of the 2008 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls take..."

Let's dig up the 3rd act drama of this past NBA season. The West Conference is a meat grinder, and it will remain so for atleast the next two seasons. Without considering seeding, the western conference playoffs next year will definitely (barring major injuries) have 1. The Lakers 2. Spurs 3. Suns. 4. Houston 5. Hornets 6. Trailblazers 7. Dallas 8. Jazz...

Now the 7th and 8th spot are always up for grabs. You cannot have Eight locks. So who is gonna be fighting for the last two, or if it gets really ugly the last, spots? Warriors possibly, Denver that shipped has sailed, Wolves are starting to turn it around, Sonics are about a year away from making any noise, Clippers have too many injuries and inner turmoil so... it looks like a repeat of 2007-08 season.

This post season isn't helping any of the struggling teams, and it isn't hurting any of the playoff teams. Which western playoff team doesn't have their house at least in some sort of presentable fashion? Denver, well that is why I value the Blazers over them. Oh you want to bring up the Warriors are better than the Blazers? Well that may be true, but half the warriors are free agents or fighting for a contract extension so that has disaster written all over it. The Warriors turn around and playoff run has come with some pretty poor timing. The Warriors cannot afford to extend all their key ingredients, their coach is old, their bigs are just undersized enough to lose the paint in every game, and their draft picks from last, this, and probably next year are all in the middle of the first round making their future/bench look bleak. The Warriors are the epitomy of a team that needs to make some serious noise in free agency/trade market or in 2 years they will begin another playoff drought. Maybe not 13 years sitting outside the playoff gate, but 4 or 5 easily.

Now back to the top of tomorrow draft, I'm loving the trade talk for the Heat. While I do think Beasley will great, I don't think Wade should be playing with a rookie big man at this point. Bigs take longer to adjust and to keep Wade in South Beach the Heat need impact now. Hello O.J. Mayo. Up until a couple of years ago I didn't really understand the idea behind taking someone too high in the draft. Well payroll importance and attributing playing time/franchise value to 1, 2, 3 picks weighs pretty heavy on a GM, Coach, and Roster. So O.J. is not the two pick he is most definitely a three pick. Maybe you don't see the difference or think the Timberwolves have attractive pieces, but I disagree. Now before you call me crazy consider the contract lengths and the towns in question.

The Miami Heat trade the No. 2 Pick, Marc Blount, and Daequan Cook to The Minneasota Timberwolves for the No. 3 Pick and Antoine Walker.

Stop laughing. Okay, this would pretty much negates last seasons Blount/Walker trade but hear me out. Walker's contract ends next summer in a team option (and unless Riley is blackmailed, he will let Walker go), plus he will be so thankful to get out of Minnesota that he may actually play. Now Blount's contract is a year longer than Walker, and he is only a inch above useless, but Daequan Cook as a littler sugar to a very bitter deal. Daequan can cook and he's fearless. The Wolves didn't exactly wiff on Rashad McCants but with his injuries and poor defense they may be ready to give up on him and secure a sure shooter. Miami frees up cap space for next summer, Minnesota get Beasley and will have a crushing frontline with Jefferson and Beasley. Antoine Walker has never been so useful.

With my last words I want to slap Jason Kidd in the face, or maybe Bryan Colangelo. Jason Kidd is finished. Sure he can see the floor, but he can't defend anyone with speed or strength, and he's proven for the last five years straight he can't lead anyone or anything. Coach K and Mr. Colangelo appear to be in love with Jason Kidd a la 2002. Jason Kidd 2008 is the savior that nearly let him fall out of the playoffs and once they arrived in the first round he layed the most stank egg since Dirk hit the floor in Oakland the year prior. Gingerly pushing Chauncey Billups to backout of the deal and telling Tyson Chandler thanks but no thanks may have been the stupidest moves this team has made. Here's to hoping we get that Gold!

Celtics Win

2008-06-18T07:57:00.000-07:00

Thank you Tim Legler. I guess the obvious answer to my laughing and finger pointing would be "How could you not pick the lakers? look at their conference, offensive scoring ability, and how soundly they defeated their playoff opponents." Okay, that's fantastic but the Celtics had heart, a crushing defense, and there is no Lebron James in the west. Okay, Kobe may be the crowned the best baller alive but I don't see him taking a team of pure scrub to a 7th game. I didn't see Kobe turning it on and burning the Celtics for 40. I didn't see Vlad (the Laker's equivalent of Wally) getting out in anyones face like his life depended on it.

I said it back when the Celts were matching up with the Pistons. As soon as the Celtics got by King James it was downhill. Neither the Pistons or the Lakers were as determined as Pierce and KG.

Okay, I would keep this going but I'm starting to get motion sickness from this bus jostling. More later.

Game Four- I missed out

2008-06-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

Since I was out doing some job shadowing last night, and in an area with no radio reception, I completely missed out on the game. I did receive a few first half updates via my phone, but I completely missed out on the second half fireworks. Here's pretty much all I've seen to this point.

So looking at it... Holy Moses. What a game to miss! I don't have enough to critique the game so I'll speak the series as a whole.

Phil Jackson has been exposed. To what teams does Jackson lose? Defensive centric teams. The Pistons in '04 and the '08 Celtics. Why do these teams kill him? Well he may be great motivator but he's not much of a defensive stalwart or even a true offensive innovator. Red Auerbach's criticisms are starting to ring true. It's really hard for a life long Bulls fan to say but MJ, Scottie, Shaq, and Kobe are his bread and butter. Sure we can say the triangle helped but the triangle is starting to be exposed as a free flowing motion offense that relies heavily on a juggernaut of a star. Phil didn't take the Knicks gig four years ago because he knew there is no one on that roster that he can rely on to be the man. While we reconsider Kobe's legacy, maybe we should do the same for Doc.

For learning on the fly, Doc Rivers is doing really well. Granted he also is benefiting from superstars but he's rotating the right guys and utilizing injured players to the max. The one thing he cant skate on is his dealing with the press, he comes off as a gomer. Listening to Phil's subtle press maneuvering and criticisms is surgical in compared to Doc clumsy mutterings.

Maybe I'll post more later.

Back to Business: Another Look at Game 3

2008-06-11T06:36:00.000-07:00

I am not a Celtics fan, but I do not care for the wild swing in Kobe Bryant coverage over the last 9 months. The dude is bad business. Why do I root for the Celtics? Because the team has three of the best guys in the game, KG plays every game of the year at full steam (graduate of the school of MJ), and I love their history/nose to the grindstone player catalogue. What is not to like about the Celtics game play. People will always talk about the Chicago Bears as a team that needs a rocking running back (Gale Sayers/Walter Payton/Thomas Jones) and Linebacker (Dick Butkis/Mike Singleterry/Brian Urlacher) and the Celtics will always be known as the team that takes passionate players (Bill Russell/Larry Bird/KG) and add bench players that earn their stripes through hardwork and defense to win. They have flash but in a way that isn't wild chucking or running, they bruise and stand tall. If the Celtics play any other way you know that coach and roster need to be cleared because they wont win and wont fire up their fanbase.

Now game 3. Was it the time change? the quick foul calls in the 1st quarter? Doc Rivers inability to make in game changes or understand when to rotate players? Probably all of the above. I tell you one thing. It wasn't the Lakers. They brought the same sad game (minus a few huge threes from "the machine"). Phil must be getting a little motion sick from the Celtics. I seriously thought Doc Rivers was gonna keep up his A- finals coaching after the Celtics took a four point lead in the third quarter (and Phil looked like he thought the same), but what happened next? Oh KG decided he needed to start taking 20 foot two point fade aways, Paul Pierce picked up a fifth foul and stayed in the game for the remainder of the game.

Now others will say you don't win the finals by benching your stars when your team is battling. I disagree. If the heart and soul of your team is making his worst Dirk Nowitzki impersonation you could easily justify a late 3rd quarter/early 4th rest for your frontliners. Plus, Powe was itching to get in Gasols face, Big Baby is hurting for minutes, and as saw last night Posey/House/Ray Ray are actually a damn solid backcourt.

So Game 4, Doc Rivers should be talking about aggression and considering rotating lineups a little more late in the 1st and 3rd, plus the early 4th. Much has been made of Ray Allens one-on-one Kobe defense, but I see it differently. I think Ray is playing him pretty tight (minus leaving his feet for Kobe's pump fake around the 1 minute mark last night). Thibs could easily tune up Ray's Kobe D by grinding into him that when once you've left the air you he shouldn't be working on blocking the ball (leave that to the front court kids), Ray needs to stuff his palm as close to Kobe's face as possible. It's a lot harder to hit an open shot when you can't see it. How do we know that?

And There Go The Fans

2008-06-11T06:05:00.001-07:00

The NBA will be suffering from this for a LONG time. It's one thing when analysts say the refs are wrong or the calling is too tight, but when a ref spills the beans on foul calling corruption... ouch.

In the steroid allegations you can always tell yourself that your team is clean and there are no positive tests, and with Spygate we just don't know what the Patriots taped and how much it would truly help you, but EVERYONE has watched an NBA game and gotten torqued off by the refs at one point. And the game in question, the Kings-Lakers game 6 from 2002? Come on, 27 calls in favor of the road team in the 4th quarter alone? That just screams of bad news. David stern can say what he wants but I believe Donaughy.

Why would anyone buy the argument that this guy is trying to have his sentence reduced? He only has to serve 33 months max. That is not even three years, and since he isn't a violent offender he'll probably be out in more like 20 months. If I were him I would just give up any goods the fed wanted because I have nothign to lose and it only raises my profile for interviews when I get out. This guy has 60 seconds and sitdown with HBO Sports written all over him. He'll have a tell all and he's good. Might as tell everything he knows.

Now how will the NBA fare with these allegations? Oh its bad, possibly a years worth of NHL lockout bad. Fans who are just starting to dip their toes back in the pool after the "thug" years are gonna jump right out. Why invest time or money into a game that has such serious issues of corruption. Every playoff game, or playoff seeding game, that has suspect calls/no calls is gonna be looked over with very critical eyes. Plus, every wild theory about David Stern and his draft fixing, Robert Horry hipcheck allowing ass will be given credibility. It's a sad situation but they brought it on themselves.

Whats the fix? Everyone is calling for third party drug testing in pro sports, so I see no reason why we can't have third party officiating. The experts always talk about how hard it is to call an NBA game, with the speed of the game and all, well why is it that there an entire websites dedicated to discuss individual referees and how their assignments determine the outcome of each game. I understand the NBA wants to protect its independent production but if you want fans to buy in at this point, completely transparent referees may be the next move.

The Garbage That Was Game 3

2008-06-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

The Celtics should have won this game. The Lakers took the fourth but it wasn't anything Kobe, Sasha, or Phil did. Here are my initial reactions:

Paul Pierce was snake bit when he was hit with his first two fouls. He just couldn't get over the foul worries.
KG cannot sell a blind man on his jab step. I wouldn't be surprised if Phil tells his bigs to not worry about KG and the paint because he just wont drive there. He will swing to the left or right but he just refuses to crash the board.
DOC RIVERS CANNOT HANDLE 4TH QUARTER ROTATIONS. Paul Pierce played the majority of the 4th with five fouls and worried he was gonna kicked off the floor. Put in Powe, play Perk/KG/PJ. Just sit Paul for five or six minutes to cool him down.
The Lakers offense has completely turned into trash. Much will be said about the Sasha 3 with under two minutes to go; but their movement was off and they were basically held down. For all the talk about shoddy ref work, The Lakers did not take advantage as much as they should had.
Kobe and Pierce pretty much switched roles. Kobe was quiet in game 1 and a grump, and Pierce sulked and worried in game 3. Game four should be a interesting because both coaches should basically be saying Drive to the hoop! Drive to the hoop! Drive to the hoop

More Tomorrow, time for sleep

Celtics need Two, Lakers need Four

2008-06-09T04:25:00.000-07:00

Yeah they got the calls, yes they have homecourt, and yes they nearly coughed that one up last night, but the series is 2-0 Celtics. Before we get to wait was easy to see, get to the numbers war.

Rajon Rondo 4pts, 6 rbs, 16 Asts / 2 turnovers.
Leon Powe 21pts, 6-7 field goals, 9-13 free throws

A year ago there were a handful of questions surrounding how the supporting cast would fare with the Big Three. Rajon Rondo was completely unproven and Leon Powe was a season away from playing in the Euro League. After Rondos season (and most definitely his post season) you can pretty much guarentee he's a Celtic for life (barring injury). Ray Allen will playout his contract and be gone but Rondo is there to stay. Powe? Um inspired play, but let's wait and see.

Much will be argued over the importance of the near collapse and the amount of calls the Celtics got last night... but I think the smart talk should be in the turnovers. Pierce and KG accounted for 9 turnovers. I understand a lot of that came during "garbage time." If you want to buy the BS that the Lakers learned somethign from the 4th quarter than I am pretty sure you stayed up past your bedtime to see the final buzzer. Everyone in green had packed up and were getting ready for their flight to LA by the 8 minute mark of the 4th. Up until one minute left in the game they were playing not to lose; extremely poor ball movement, no one was getting set, and the shot selection was pathetic.

The parallels in analysis between this series and the 2004 Lakers-Pistons series are pretty large. Before the series the Pistons were lucky to be there (and if you only saw the the first two rounds of the Celtics post season you can't argue that statement). No one was saying there was any pressure on the Lakers before game one. All the interviews with Kobe were smiles and pats on the back.

Reporter: Hey! You made it! Do you feel vindicated? Do you mind if I act like your best friend after I spent the last four and a half years trashing you?

Kobe: Are you kidding, let me soak this in?

(KG, Pierce, and Rondo all build a considerable amount of rage. Phil shaking his head in realization that Kobe thinks he's already won the title.)

So what next? Well Magic said it best after MJ made his Lakers look stupid back in 91; winning by 2 points or 25 points does not matter, it's only winning. The Lakers are where they were a week ago (less a lot of ego), and KG, Pierce, and Ray Ray are two games away from validating their careers. This game might have turned into a near disaster but we're about to see some green intensity like never seen before.

Lakers will win Game 3, Game 4 is a toss up, and Game 5 is where we will learn a lot. This game is going 5 at a minimum. Here we have the best post season in 5 years and it will not end with a sweep. All those high ratings and the best oncourt drama (no manufactured "shaq/kobe" garbage) in years, there is simply no way Emperor Stern, The Zen Master, or the Black Mamba will let this Finals turn into a four game slaughter (even if that would give nba like myself supreme satisfaction).

Holding Back After Game One

2008-06-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

The stupidest thing you can do as a fan or spectator is to make grandstanding comments after game one of a playoff series. However, what you can do is trash about "experts" and "analysts" who gave poor pre-series predictions. Let's begin.

Did you hear the one about how the Lakers are the best passing team since the championship knicks teams? Yeah, well Boston kind of quelled that storm in game one. Some fool in the SF Examiner thinks the Lakers "big three" is better than the Celtics "BIG THREE." I'm really starting to love all the talk about the Lakers impending dynasty. Oh and let's not forget the Kobe being the MVP and how he terrifies everyone on the floor... Last I checked Michael never lost game one in the finals...

Why is there zero love for the Celtics from the talking heads? Yes, I understand that to win the finals you need to have a Mt. Rushmore coach (Only coaches to win Finals in last 15 years? Jackson, Popavich, Brown, Riley, Tomjonavich), and more often than not a hall of famer (Duncan, Shaq, Jordan, Olajuwon). So maybe Doc Rivers is the luckiest coach to make the finals in 20 years, but I think three hall of famers (one who is armed with a Bill Russell defensive and team play mentality) make up for it.

There are a million storylines to go with in this finals, and Pierce getting injured just made it that much greater; but give some credit to the boys from New England. Garnett will defend like his life depends on it in the 4th, Ray Ray will hit big shots and nail the free throws, and Pierce (if available) is going to dominate (who defends him). Watch those game one highlights. Who is going to guard KG? His release is SO high and Pau gives him far too much space. With physical play from KG, Perkins, Big Baby, and PJ Brown on Pau, Odom, and Turiaf you better believe Kobe has to be the man in the 4th quarter... because even if he does see offensive sputtering from his opponents, his teammates will give up all their opportunities till the Celtics right themselves.

See you Sunday

Say No To Knee Jerks

2008-06-03T17:19:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend there has been lots of talk about the Lakers being the better team. I guess on paper they appear to be. They have a the hot shooters, a deep bench, a killer player, and a coach that every team wants (not to mention his 9 rings), but snoozing on the Celtics is pretty dangerous.

The Atlanta Hawks really through this post season into a frenzy. By taking the Celtics to a game seven, the Hawks made every part of the Celtics a question mark, but shouldn't this Piston series have shown the general public something? The Pistons had the experience, the confident coach, and rampaging offense, but it only took six games and the Celtics used their bench in a similar fashion to the regular season to take the Pistons down.

I see the finals going 7 and I see Boston winning. There's a lot of talk about will the Celtics show up and live up to the hype. Well if we have to do this nonsense let's go with the facts. First the much talked about Ray Allen-Kobe fracas. So if this garbage still exists we know Ray will wake up to give Kobe a piece of his mind, and even if its dead we know Kobe will use it to get up. There's something to work with. Apparently, Paul Pierce loves to work his magic in his home state, so the road games are going to be intense. Kendrick Perkins owned a good portion of game 5, KG dominated game three in Detroit, and there is no record of Pau being a playoff masterpiece so... I would say, stay off the bandwagons. This is more of a coinflip than you are being lead to believe. More on this later. Right now, I gotta work.

All Time Greats and The Chicago Situation

2008-05-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

Last night Marieta argued with me to change the channel during the lottery because we had to pack after eating dinner and wanted to watch something we would both enjoy. I said as soon as I find out the Bulls pick (figuring 7, 8, or 9). You should have seen me light up with the move up, followed by the number one pick in the draft. Now, after reading a lot of conjecture about who Chicago should pick (a lot of system fitting, paint scoring, and trade talk) I have come to my conclusion about why the bulls need to take Derrick Rose.

When someone asks you for all time greats who comes to mind? Jordan, Magic, Bird, Kareem, Bill Russell, Walt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, and possibly Shaq. They are the only sure fire all-timers. Now you may disagree but look at the transcendies of these players.

Jordan is the only guard to lead a team with no post threat to a championship - let alone two threepeats!

Magic is a 6-9 all in one player who killed Dr. J in his rookie year finals debut series. He defines the 80s.

Bird was a shooting revelation, motivation king, rebounding, jumping, energy freak.

Kareem has five championships, took two franchises to the heights of the sport, scoring record, ahead of his time in talent to this day.

Russell, 11 championships

Walt, anything he wanted to do on the floor he could do, and eventually learned to change his game when his body changed

Oscar, averaged a triple double for the first three years of his career.

Shaq has been to the finals 8 times of a 15 year career with 3 finals mvps.

That list is dominated by centers, which Rose and Beasley are not. Michael, Magic, Bird are the outliers. Freaks. Position defiers. So if we look at Rose and Beasley who has a better chance of transcending his position and/or becoming a modern game wonder? Its no secret, in the modern game what do all champions need? Guards, but more importantly Point gaurds. Tony Parker, Chauncey Billups, Derek Fisher, Ron Harper, Avery Johnson... they may not all be amazing point guards but they were solid enough and specialized enough that they didn't take over the offense and pushed their offense.

The Bulls need to take Derek Rose. The Western conference is showing what next in the league. Every team (except for the nuggets) in the western playoffs has an assertive PG; Lakers-Fisher, Hornets-Paul, Spurs-Parker, Jazz-Williams, Rockets-Alston, Phoenix-Nash, Mavericks-Kidd (although they should start Terry), and as stated earlier the Nuggets are trash. If the Bulls take Rose in two years they would be a top two team in the East. Its obvious the Cavs only need an O-Coordinator and their set for three or for years, But the Pistons and Celts both have really solid PGs.

Now power forwards have been really impressive over the years but their names don't come to mind as easily as the above list. Beasley will be good, maybe great; but just like in football, the person who touches the ball the most needs to be damn good. In my opinion if John Paxson does anything than select Derrick Rose he needs to be fired.

NUMBER ONE PICK!!!

2008-05-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

THE BULLS HAVE THE NUMBER ONE OVERALL PICK!!!!! THE SECOND GREATEST DAY IN BULLS HISTORY!!!!

First thoughts?

1)Saddly, Michael Beasley should be our choice (sad because we NEED paint points, and I LOVE Derrick Rose)

2)Mike D'antoni is searching through his knicks contract for an exit clause!

3)We can have any coach we want!

4)Playoffs here we come.

Check Please!

2008-05-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

With the Draft Lottery tonight I thought I would take a peak at the top earners in the league as reported by hoops hype.com. Salaries are close to reseting and payrolls will be refreshed come July, but come around the Finals its nice to laugh at dumb GMs. Only three of the Top 10 (or 11 since there's a tie at 10) highest paid players in the league deserve their paycheck. Look at the fiscal foolishness in the league Pre-"Spurs Copy-Cat Mania" or Before the "C.B.A. Got Its Act Together":

Stephon Marbury, 2003, Phoenix gives him a 4 year $76.8 million extension (signed through 08-10)
Michael Finley, 2001, Mavericks sign him with a 7 year $102.2 Million contract (they buy him out 5 years later)
Allen Iverson, 2003, the 76ers extend four years $76.7 Million (The Iverson experiment has failed)

Now Shaq is a dinosaur, and KG will be falling apart when his contract ends, but how can you say those teams were in the wrong? KG made the Celtics relevant and Shaq brought a Championship to the Heat. Looking down this Kidd is garbage, Jermaine O'Neal just can't go anymore, and Webber may not have deserve his paycheck but atleast those guys were worthy franchise guys at some point.

And Down Go the Royals!

2008-05-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

I am not trying to dog a cancer survivor/world series winner/no hitting pitcher Jon Lester, but you know that locker room is gonna be full of Royals jokes. Come on, how could they not...

Now, I don't want to talk about this, but I have must. Byron Scott lost that game last night. If you watched that game last night than you know the Hornets lost to the Spurs. To know why, check out the box score. Explain to me why Peja played 44 minutes when he was shooting garbage? Morris Peterson played 24 minutes with 2 for 7 shooting. Please. Byron obviously got a case of Veteran Fever. Julian Wright, hard nosed D-centric rookie, was an energetic piece that kept the team moving and stuck like glue to his opponent. It was obvious from the first quarter that Manu was gonna hit some series shots. Why leave Morris Peterson in when Bonzi Wells would distrupt his shot so much more. Why let Peja over help when you know Julian Wright would cover Bruce hardcore and those open 3s would dry-up.

These Playoffs just got a hell of a lot less fun... The Spurs AND Detroit still alive?!? Goodbye ratings, hello boring ball.

Basketball, LOVE IT

2008-05-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Did you see that Celtics-Cavs game 7? I loved the refs in the 4th quarter. They just let them play, possibly to a fault. Missed calls on both ends, but no ball whistles. God I loved it, and it was nice to see Lebron cry in his beer at the post game press conference.

Now, let me just say. The FOOLS who will tell you the Pistons are poised to beat the Celtics are getting a little head of themselves. The Pistons fell apart vs. Lebron and his cast of garbage last year. The Celtics kept Lebron down until Game 7 where nothing was gonna keep him caged. Lebron needs no great sidekicks. He could use B and B+ players but with his highly flawed teammates, coach, and personal defense he carried that team to the brink of defeating a monster of a team. The Pistons on the other hand got reversed swept last year when Lebrons third and fourth options last year were Donyell Marshall and Drew Gooden.

ESPN has been saying he has no sidekicks on that team but lets list the shooters: Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, Wally Sczerbiak, Delonte West, and Damon Jones. All those guys can hit open shots no problem and 5/6 can hit a contested shot with few issues. I expect them to get a better O-Coordinator and win the Central next year. They are disgustingly close.

So how do I see the Celtics-Pistons going? 6 games, Celtics. Yeah, that means they gotta win a road game, but you know what? The Pistons have proved the last couple years that when they face a monster team or opponent they are more likely than not to start crying and pack up camp.

Go Hornets!

Why NCAA Football & Basketball Suck This Year

2008-03-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

So I'm watching the tournament the past couple of days and I realized that I don't have a horse in this race. Yes I want Kansas to represent the big 12, and I would love Drake to go deep (too late for that); however, I really don't care. After some confusion about this whole ordeal I have figured it out.

Earlier this week I was watching Pardon the Interruption and Michael Wilbon made a very true comment. There aren't any GREAT teams this year. I don't care about UCLA, Kansas, Memphis, or UNC. They don't seem that good. I think last years Florida would destroy them all. For the past few years there have been some amazing teams; Florida repeats, UNC and Illinois were insanely good in 2005, UCONN was a powerhouse for years... Great teams.

Now am I bothered by the fact no team stands out this year? Eh... a little bit. The same goes for NCAA football? Who was amazing this year? No one. The upsets were amazing, but maybe they shouldn't be considered upsets if supposedly great teams lose to schools from the bottom or middle of the pack. Maybe those "great" teams were just overrated. USC with Bush/Leinart, Texas w/Young, Miami w/its crazy stable of backs around the turn of the century, and maybe Florida w/Tebow next year. Great teams.

So I'm thinking about these teams and what compelled me about them was that they drew emotion and ire from me. I loved some and hated others. I think the need for great teams plays into our need for visible dichotomy. America loves favorites and underdogs, Hereos/Villians, Republican/Democrat, With us or Against us, etc. For some it takes a lot to invest yourself in an issue if you can't take your stand on face value. That means work (which points out how lazy we can be). Some teams just make you hate em, or love em: USC- hate em when they are crowned before the start, Duke- hate em when they are in contention, Patriots- a lot of people hate em, but how can you hate Tom Brady he's so good.

Am I rambling? I just wish I could care about one team in this tournament enough to tune in. I have yet to watch a good chunk of any games in this tourney. I'll probably watch a few due to working at a CBS affiliate, but otherwise, I don't care.

Pass The Rock!

2008-03-06T10:27:00.000-08:00

LET'S GET NBA CRAZY!

I think this year (while being the most exciting in the past 10 years) has some of the most awesome and heinous trades ever perpetrated. Shaq to Phoenix ruins their inside collapsing offensive game and J Kidd in Dallas makes them defensively slow. Kidd can't defend all the young and up tempo guards of the west. Let's take a look at the standings as of today:

Sorry this is so ugly... The East? Pathetic. New Jersey is 9 games under .500 today. That is ridiculous. Yes, I think the NBA playoffs need to be remade to allow only .500+ teams in damn the conference but I don't want to talk about that. Dallas is disgusting since picking up J. Kidd. Besides the obvious of pulling J Kidd in the final minute (because he can't shoot), the man can't keep up with the west. Giving him an extension will kill Dallas for years to come. Giving up Devin Harris has pretty much doomed them. I understand the feeling their window is closing and they need to strike now... but they made the wrong move. I'm calling it now! Dallas will not make the playoffs.

In the east? How does it feel Chauncey? or should I say Rip? Never buy into the whole "This game means more to them" nonsense. If you are a true competiter every single game means everything to everyone. Michael Jordan changed the game. Having a mental edge over an opponent can push you to great things. By winning the last two games in Detroit and Boston the Celtics have said "We own you." Who cares if they haven't been together for years (or even a single year). The maturity of the players, the lessons they learned, and the fact KG is the main piece make this team work. You can't take anything from KGs minneasota years other than he is a tremendous competiter. Illegal player signing, incompetent coaches and front offices, no first round picks for years, malcontents, the ONLY bright spot is KG. In closing I just want to say the players and coaches in Detroit must be feeling the pressure. Yes they've been near the championship throughout the decade but this line up may be only good enough to get there and lose when players with stronger wills (Lebron, KG, Wade) meet them at the finals gate.

J Kidd is done, if Shaq doesn't get to the playoffs he may be embarassed into retiring, and the Pistons are falling down the mountain.

The Dude Was Being Strangled

2008-02-22T11:34:00.000-08:00

Coming out of a coffee shop on the corner of Pacific and Montgomerry I notice up the way a short dude is STRANGLING a tall bald dude. Why? No idea. Now I would have ran and stopped the situation but as soon as I saw it others came over and the tall dude falls over to the street. As I advance on the sitch it is apparent Napoleon is not giving up the goods for his reason and walks off. People are saying "where are you going? We have your picture," and the like. He doesn't care. About 5 feet short black hair, thick well kept beard, bean shaped head, wearing a button down dark blue shirt and jeans. Walking off and obviously pissed.
First time I've seen a dude strangled in person. Pretty crazy. He appeared to be all right as I passed them and walked back to work.
In other news my starting five will crush Antwan's starting five!
ME:PG: Chris PaulSG: Michael ReddSF: Lebron JamesPF: Shawn MarionC: Al Jefferson
Antwan:PG: Baron DavisSG: Manu GinobaliSF: Kobe BryantPF: Amare StoudamireC: Dwight Howard
Now why does my crew kill his? Defense, passing, teamwork, and versatility. I may not be a big James fan but he is crushing and Chris Paul is the Man. That is all.

Trade Dealine

2008-02-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

Thursday was another NBA trade deadline and in great contrast from last year; trades were huge and abound. The only teams that stood still in the first half of the season appear to be WEST: Golden Sate, The Clippers, EAST: Wizards, Pacers, Celtics, Bucks, Knicks. That means that 23 out of 30 teams were swopping players. Pretty impressive. I don't know last year for sure but it was more like 5 or 6 teams involved in trades.

I'm not gonna break down the trades more than to say The Bulls are geniuses for somehow figuring out how to dump Big Ben on someone, The Cavs are fools for picking up two notorius malcontents, The Suns are complete wildcards, Seattle and Portland are gonna be insanely good in like 2 or 3 years, and I want the Hornets in the finals. God that would be a story, bad for David Stern... but a great story. I'll leave you with a good trade breakdown (albeit I don't agree with everything in it).

Shaq Trade Make Me Think

2008-02-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

It isn't official yet, but if Shaq is actually traded to the Suns... I am seriously intrigued about Miami. This is proves one thing; Pat Riley holds no delusions that he owes anyone anything, and I love it. Shaq supplanted your team as a viable candidate for the championship for two or three years but when you can't go, you can't go. Paying him 20 mil to get hurt, miss bunny shots, and complain? Forget that. With this deal Miami has pretty much said they care more about their future than loyalty to a legend.
Their franchise is Dwyane Wade. If Shawn Marion gets extended, Marc Blount gets bought out, and Miami drafts well (they have their first round and Orlando's second round) they could be right back in it next year. If Miami ends up with a top five (3, 4, or 5) and the other teams (Minnesota, Seattle, New York, Memphis) go with classic bigs above them Miami could get a true point such as Derrick Rose and be in it for years. Miami may not have a dominate big but with do it all Marion, team player/leader Wade, and hard working Haslem, and a pass first like Rose they only truly need an athletic big like Earl Barron to keep the center position going.
Now the Suns? What part of Shaq's game fits with their style? Run? no Gun? Hell no. As much as I love Steve Kerr... he may have been a bad decision. Things like trades, drafts, prospects are the best. If basketball was just playoffs and off season life would be great. I love this game.

Shaving Sucks

2007-10-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one who gets a little knick in their face and has no idea how to stop the bleeding? I am not alcoholic (not even remotely close) so I know my blood clots but for some reason I just keep bleeding. Put some toilet paper on it and take it off an hour later... I'm bleeding again. Wipe it off with a wet paper towel, forget it. That stings and I am still bleeding. I hate it.

Okay sorry about that. I don't have anything else to say but I have changed my stance on this post season. Normally I'm all about the League where my team resides; NBA=east, NFL=nfc, MLB=national league. Well guess what the Cubs made this post season, and lost, so that totally negates my alliance with the national league this year. You might say the Bears were in the playoffs a few years ago, lost, and you rooted for the Seahawks in the Superbowl. Well give me a minute to explain myself. Four teams make it to the post season from either league in the MLB, and the season to get there is a emotional rollercoaster; highs, lows, injuries, walkoffs, and near no-nos. There is just too much invested in a season that goes for 162 games (more than twice the length of a basketball season). HELL I'M NOT EVEN A HUGE BASEBALL FAN. Plus, I'm a Cubs fan. We're looking at 100 years of futility. I don't want to watch my neighbors succeed if I'm not. With the Bears and Bulls we have tasted success in the recent past. Michael Jordan's six championships still feel pretty good and climbing out of the NBA basement to be a defensive force is pretty sweet. The Bears had arguably the best team in football history at one point and made the Superbowl last year. We didn't win but we got there and had the mistake, game plan, and injuries had gone our way we would have had it.

Baseball teams are completely different. You can have major roster overhauls all the time. And you are stuck with your trash for the length of their contract. You never see whats coming so when you get to the playoffs its time to celebrate, oh wait, then you get swept. So I can't rejoice behind a team that is surging through the playoffs. I want the Rockies to be bitch-slapped. And if the Red Sox do it. I will feel even better because that means a roster full of hired guns will beat the homegrown team that everyone seems to be falling in love with. Well all that and I love to root for the bad guy.

Christmas in July

2007-07-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

In Chicago our cable bill was (hold your breath) $103 a month. Comcast is such a bitch. We weren't allowed by lease to have dishes on our building so we were pretty much screwed into Comcast. Now that was internet and Cable w/the box but we didn't have like 300 channels or anything, so we were getting up the tailpipe pretty bad. The comcast setup was get all three services: Phone, Internet, and Cable tv for 99 bucks. Well that's all well and good if you need all three of those services but their phone service was loaded with all sorts of options that we didn't need and there were hidden charges (of course) what they didn't tell you is that you were gonna pay the same amount for the other two services at the same cost if you turn down the phone service. So we turned it down and then later learned its a hook up time promotion only. Funk you very much Comcast. That's what a town looks like when the cable provider holds a monopoly.

Now the bay area, it's a nice deal. Dish providers, AT&T cable, a local telecom provider, and Comcast. Well we get a nice deal with moving into our complex. It's wired for Comcast and we get a sweet discount. We pay like 70 bucks for internet and cable. BUT THERE'S MORE! Not only is that cheaper but we have close to 350 channels, and not just any channels. HBO, Encore, All the MTVs, some crazy cool channels I've never seen, the NFL network, and the best part of it all NBAtv.

All this build up has led to this moment. Today is the first day of the NBA Vegas Summer League. Just in case you haven't been reading my blog, I love basketball. All the other sports are fine and dandy but I love basketball. Now in the past I knew the summer league existed and was intrigued by the fact it was basically watered down NBA; However, after this draft I see it in a whole new way. NBAtv replays a few taped summer league games and tonight is the Mavericks vs. the Super Sonics. Now in case you don't know the sonics have a few juicy draft nuggets on their team: Kevin Durant and Jeff Green (who I really think is gonna be underratedly [for the sake of argument this is a word] awesome). Now the Super Sonics appear to have turned their story around. They have never drafted anybody who produces out of the gate, their free agents are crap because let's face it Seattle is too far from anyone who cares to promote super stars, and they have been coached by no bodies up until Nate Macmillin (sp?) made a pile of dung get to the second round a couple years ago. This draft shows they are turning it around. They also picked Julius Hodge who up till now has done nothing for two years but playing with Durant and Green, damn that's tasty.

Since I consider myself an ArmChair GM this is like heaven. See the high rated prospects whoop the crap out of players who will never touch the league (oh yeah the summer league is filled with team invitees who are the equivalent of WWE nobodies who are only in the ring to have Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior destroy for the crowd). God am I excited. This is probably the only realistic time of year where the Celtics roster looks dangerous. I am so amped that even though my parents are coming to town and we have plans to romp around the bay I am partially considering faking sick so I can just watch five hours of summer league tomorrow. I mean Greg Oden is taped delayed tomorrow at noon! Damn it! I'm gonna be in Santa Cruz at noon. bah! Once again, thank god for Tivo.

I Live in California

2007-04-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

I have been living in California for two days and I love it. Blue skies, breeze from the bay, nice people. Good Stuff. I drove over 2200 miles in a Penske 22 foot truck pulling my car but man was it worth it. Wednesday I start working at my new branch and from there it's on to the moon. or something.

P.S. a minor perk is I no longer have to stay up past midnight for west coast sports. Like tonight I would have been in bed for hours missing the best NBA game I have seen in years; Mavs vs Warriors game 4 in Oakland. Crazy steals, buzzer beating shots, half court shots, tons of lead changes, with the Warriors pulling out the W right at the end. I do regret that I missed every Bulls playoff game thus far but that will change shortly. Hope your part of the country is treating you well. peace

Think it Through Billy

2007-04-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

College Basketball. Since Illinois went 99.9% the distance a couple years ago (Damn you Luther Head) I've become a super fan of the game. Naturally I read a lot of commentary on it. My favorite commentator/game caller is Jay Bilas. He just gets the game, how teams work, and what makes a quality player. However he said something on ESPN that I totally disagree with about Florida and their retention of twice championship coach Billy Donovan:

"...in my judgment, family considerations aside, Donovan turned down a better job [Kentuck] than the one he has... Florida is a really good basketball job, but it is a really good job because of Donovan and the work he has done there. Kentucky is a great basketball job for anyone. With a really good coach in charge, Kentucky simply has more resources, more fan support, more national interest, and more to offer any coach."

I don't believe this to be the case. Florida is a better school because of Donovan but recruits are gonna look at Florida after these past couple seasons and have their jaws hit the floor. Florida won the National Championship twice in a row in basketball, dominated Ohio State for the Football Championship, and a couple years ago went to the World Series of College baseball. This program is a monster.

Four of Floridas starting five are going to be first round picks in the NBA. Donovan is pretty much the reason behind it. ESPN and the rest of the sports media love to forget things like Florida's run of somewhere around 16 wins and undefeated in the 06 season. Everyone was saying there is no way they are that good, their true colors will show, blah, blah, blah. Well of course they lost a few games and Florida was virtually forgotten because they had a practically no name coach, supposedly no NBA talent, and they were in the weak SEC. Well come the NCAAs (the week prior) Florida had a coming out, crushing everyone in their path. The point margin was disgusting.

I'm not a Florida fan, infact I didn't want them to repeat but at this point in the game Florida is a much better program than Kentucky. Florida is party central, they are coming off repeat championships, they have a coach that is committed, rabid fans (in one of the biggest schools in the nation), and their program is going to be flooded with cash for years to come now thanks to all their championship appearances.

What does Kentucky have in comparison? Long history, a new spunky coach, and a ton of fans. Their history will draw recruits but if Donovan goes to Kentucky he'll just be a new coach carrying the torch. Florida is a school that get to the top of the mountain and by staying Donovan can have his name carved in stone at the summit. At Kentucky he would just get in line behind Rupp (the guy they named the court after and made them the winningest school ever), Pitino, Joe Hall, and Tubby Smith. What coaches do you know from Florida? Billy Donovan. Smart decision.

The Definition of Crazy: Dean Karnazes

2007-01-10T12:05:00.000-08:00

So maybe you heard of this guy. Mr. Karnaze ran 50 marathons in 50 days earlier this year. The final marathon was of course the Manhatten Marathon, and when he finished the Manhatten Marathon he decided "hmm... that was fun, I'm just gonna run home." In case you're wondering where he lives... SAN FRANCISCO! That's right. He ran 26 miles * 50 consectutive days = 1300 miles. But that wasn't enough. He than decided why not run another 2,906 miles to California.

This man is an inspiration. He used to run like me. Pick it up every once in a while, get into it and eventually stop for for no reason. On his 30th birthday he was drunk and someone handed him a shot of tequila. He shot it and walked home. In his kitchen he saw his running shoes, laced em up and in the middle of the night decided to just run.

15 miles down the road in Daly City he realized he had been running for like 2 hours, drunk. He was amazed. He immediately thought I wonder how far I can run. His run ended in Santa Cruz, 35 miles away from San Fran. Called his wife, she came and got him and he is obsessed with running ever since. What an inspiration. The stories this guy has are boundless. Check him out.

What impact does this have on me? Well I went running predawn for the first time in my life today, and I plan on going running every weekday morning from now on. It's pretty incredible because while I woke up a little tired the run woke me up and I wasn't groggy all day. I feel pretty good about it actually. I am gonna keep this up. I have said this before but I am gonna run a marathon. Before we moved to Chicago I was running TEN MILE jaunts and now I'm back to two and a half. I am gonna get back to TEN miles, running a half marathon and push forward. I wont name the Marathon but I will run a marathon. rock? roll.

CUBS-SOX

2006-07-02T12:21:00.000-07:00

Turn on your tube and check me out. I'm going to the closer of the cubs-sox series. wanna see what I'm seeing? Well than go here and check it out..

Hopefully Carlos can hurl us a win.

A Finals Thought

2006-06-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

Okay I love Dwayne Wade. I have mentioned that here before so there is no need to get into that nonsense. Now I just read the ESPN.com breakdown of is it a Wade World? Why did the Mavs lose? Should Shaq and Riles call it a day? Woudl the Heat win if they started the series over? The answers were pretty boring except for the last question. Everyone was saying the Heat would win without a doubt. Most of the comments were saying a Heat Sweep. The final comment said "Heat in four. Who would ever doubt these guys?"

I like that comment and it got me to thinking. What finals winners could beat the heat. I mean they have two amazing pieces. A unstoppable Dwayne Wade (clutch as hell and can drive and dish like a monster). So who could beat them. I am only go on the modern NBA so we'll say From Magic Johnson on. I think there are only a few teams I see beating the heat. Probably the 80 Lakers, 86 Celtics, 96 Bulls, and possibly the 99 Spurs and 00 Lakers.

These teams are match up nightmares and solid front lines. I only say possibly to the lakers and spurs because the Lakers have Shaq and the Heat have Shaq. I don't see Shaq from any year stopping Dwayne Wade and I don't know who else can defend him. People have nagged on the Heat's supporting cast but they all pulled out some great defense and monster performances from the 2nd round on. People call Wade Shaq's best side kick but I was very impressed with Antoine Walker's post passing abilities in this playoffs. How many ally oops can one man dish. Haslem, Mourning, and Posey were defensive monsters and as far the 99 spurs go they had the towers and Avery JOhnson (plus steve Kerr) but the Heat line could handle them just as easily as the Mavs.

Now those Celtic, Laker, and Celtics teams are perfect models of NBA team building. 80 Lakers had a crazy post man, a point guard like none before (or since), and middle pieces that compliment. They would beat the Heat in 5 or 6. I mean Shaq and Kareem would go at it and the winner of that would be a toss up but Magic can run a point and the Heat are too inconsistent at the point. The series may go 7 but only if Wade was a surgeon like this series.

The 86 Celtics would be pretty much the same. Parrish, Bird, McHale, and as much he annoys me Bill Walton were an orchestra of basketball. Tall, broad, and overall prototypes for their position. the 06 Heat vs. the 86 Celtics would be a great match up.

But not nearly as good as the 96 Bulls (the unbeatables) vs. the Heat. Michael, Scotty, Rodman, Hodges among others. This team has gotten crap for beating up on a week league but I don't care what people say when you win over 70 you are a monster. I think this may be the only team I would bet my life savings on the Bulls containing wade. They may be the only line up that could. Jordan vs. Wade would be a site but there is no question that Michael would take Wade behind the woodshed the four games they won.

You may hate the pieces around Shaq and Wade but in the playoffs they brought it together and won it. I love this game.

Heat Burning Down the Nets

2006-05-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

I would be watching the Heat destroy the Nets right now but I can only take in so much destruction and considering the Heat opened the second half with an Alley Oop I think there isn't gonna be a lot of change in the game for a while. Have you watched any of the playoffs? Good stuff this year. Really compelling. I love sweep series and everything but these series are drama filled. Too bad the Bulls couldn't pull it out... I wonder if they would have given the Nets a series as well. Probably, I mean their defense is pretty blinding. Dude, as the game returned from commercial TNT was playing the Blink 182 cover of Dancing With MySelf by David Bowie. Don't get me wrong I love that song and Blink will always hold a special place in my heart (espcially their early stuff), but that song did not fit and sounded like horse crap. This can only mean that the guy running the sound in the TNT prod truck is cool and I should be his friend.

Today I found out I will be a Sam Ash Live Sound salesmen. So I will be selling PAs and the like until I can find myself a real job or something... After I learned that luvley nugget I decided to make good on my plan to go on a bike ride downtown. Wanna see some pictures? you don't? oh... well too bad, here they are in a little something I like to call...

THE 28 MILE EXCURSION INTO THE CITY!!!

Okay I guess should start by saying that yes I did ride 28 miles today and no this picture is not from that journey. This picture is from yesterday when I road around Oak Park and Berwyn.

Okay, so you've seen Wayne's World right? Well you remember at the beginning of the show when they are on their way to the Gas Works to see the Shitty Beatles and Crucial Taunt? (yes I may know a little too much about Wayne's World But it is in my top five greatest movies of all time list so bug off) Well This car stack was in Wayne's World. Now you're probably saying to yourself "P@, Wayne's World was set in Aurora, did you bike all the way to Aurora?" Hell no, Aurora is way out there and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WORTH MENTIONING IS OUT THERE! See what happened was that Mike Myers, and the rest of his sneaky movie people lied to you, this car stack is in Berwyn, nowhere near Aurora. Just thought I would throw that in here to debunk Hollywood's lies a little.

So today's city excursion was pretty fun. I rode into the city and basically just took pictures of crap around town. Nothing cool like architecture or anything just tourist crap to show people where I went on my ride. I could list it all but I'll just show you a couple highlight pictures. This is picture is the John Hancock Building which is very close to Lake Michigan. I road my bike along LSD and I felt very very cool. Maybe if you come and visit you can join me in this fun. Biking through the city is probably one of the coolest things I have ever done, traffic dodging rocks.

After the John Hancock I rode along LSD for a while and trampled upon Second City. A brief interlude, for those of you who don't know Second City is a company troupe that started some of the careers of some of the greatest comedians in the world: John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray, John Candy, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, Steve Correl, Chris Farley, and a billion more! Why did I stop to take a picture here? and why am I showing you? Clown College. That's right, this August, after I have made and saved a few bucks from my Sam Ash gig I plan on taking improv classes and comedy writing classes at Second City. Maybe it will go amazing and I will never have to work a desk job ever and you can all be my entourage. I'm sorry but Turtle is reserved. All other applicants may apply to P.O. Box 666 Oak Park, IL 60302
Wrigley Field. It's pretty obvious why this picture is here. The Greatest Baseball field in the World, which houses the Greatest Baseball Club in World, in the Greatest City in the World, must be on the Most Middle of the Road Blog in the World. I wish I could go to a game right now but alas I have no money and the Cubs are currently in San Francisco (the Second Greatest City in the World) trying desperately to keep Barry Bonds from passing Babe Ruth (but in my opinion GO BARRY GO! yes I like Barry Bonds, cheater or not.) It's kind of sad really because I won't be able to see the Cubs until probably July. I don't have any money, I won't have any money to spend for no reason until probably late next month, and people are visiting in late july with the specific purpose of seeing the Cubs.
Finally for ladies who read this thing (namely my mom [HI MOM!], Marieta, and girls who were probably searching on Google for pictures of Bunnys and came across Stunt Bunny and decided to take a peak, sorry ladies), here is a picture of Oprah's studio. I didn't plan on biking past it, she just fell into my hands. Seriously, the only couple of times I have watched Oprah were because she had Michael Jordan as a guest and I love Michael Jordan and once in a golf club house when the counter girls were getting their fix. Her show is the biggest hunk of junk I have ever seen in my life.

So there you go. Oprah, Hancock, Cubs, car stack, Clown College. There were a ton more pictures but those are the cream of the crop. Now if you will excuse me, it's time to see what Shaq and D-wade are up to. I love you all, piece (of pizza).

As I sit here drinking a Quart of Milk...

2006-04-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

.I can't help but think that last night was one of the best basketball games I have ever seen. The Wizards owned the game most of the way but the fourth quarter who showed up? Ben Gordon. If you don't know who Ben Gordon is just know he is the Bulls fourth quarter assassin. The man was 9 for 9 with three pointers last night. He had 32 points. That means only 5 of his points were not three pointers. It was amazing. Gilbert Arenas (the cocky bitch who practically is the Wizards) was destroying the court up until the fourth quarter where he didn't even take a shot. Just beautiful. The Bulls won it on Gordon three with a minute left and Nocioni taking a charge. Those two guys are indespensible.

The only downside of the game? Bill Walton was the color commentary guy. I hate that fool. Not only does he bring up UCLA at the drop of a hat but comments like "Scott Skiles must be seriously worried, his team needs a time out," with the game only two minutes in and the wizards up by six!?!?! Bill do you know anything about basketball or the Bulls? Oh lord do I hate this man.

A couple of side notes. The 2007 NCAA National Championship final four is in Chicago and held at the United Center. I want to go but tickets are 230 bucks. I will go if someone wants to go with me. Also, the cubs won last night. Cubs 7-3? Cards 5-5? Life is good. God I can't wait to be in CHicago!

Are you a first round fool?

2006-03-24T11:05:00.000-08:00

For all you people who say the first round is great because of all the upsets, you must not watch any basketball all year. What teams went down in the first round that were "locks" to advance. I mean Kansas was young, Syracuse underachieved all years, Iowa is a perrenial up and downer, and Oklahoma was luckily hobbled their way through 4 straight one point wins at the end of their regular season. So NO!!! The first round is where we learn that some of the big schools are pretenders and teams like Bradley and George Mason aren't given their credit. College basketball regular season is solid across the board. Teams are scouted and destroyed all year long. If Bradley played Duke year in and out they would have a competitive record with them no matter what blue chips duke gets.

All right, so why is the third round the best? Because in the third round we get to see monster combat. LSU was rollin, Duke was hitting every bump in the road, WVU was rolling, Texas was rolling faster, Gonzaga was strong and took a nose dive, Memphis, when will people learn that Memphis is beating teams by more than 15 in each tournament game. What other number 1 scene is even close? The third round is like watching Greece battle Troy. Well…maybe not. If you saw West Virginia vs. Texas last night you know what that game was all about. A three point shooting, crafty defensive team vs. a bruising, speed team. God I was so behind West Virginia but in the end I wasn't upset because they aren't my teams. They tied it with 3 seconds left and lost with a buzzer beater. SO GREAT! Gonzaga vs. UCLA? I hate UCLA. Basketball, football, volleyball. They are worse than Duke in my opinion... well maybe not duke, but they were Duke before Duke even discovered what basketball was. But last nights game? whoooooo! Gonzaga just blew that lead. Horrible play down the stretch; bad shots, passes, game plan. God I wasn't for Gonzaga as I much for their mid-major status and the fact I am tired of hearing about Gonzaga not getting it done. Same reason I wanted the Colts to win because now all we're gonna hear next year is how Peyton can't get it done. I HATE REPETITIVE SPORTS COMMENTARY! ESPN I'M LOOKING AT YOU!

Saving the best for last, Duke lost to LSU. I didn't watch much LSU before the second round of the tourney and let me tell you they just beat Duke down. They should have rode McRoberts like a rocket to the moon, that kid will be better than Grant Hill, Sheldon Williams, and J. J. Reddick combined. Bull funk. You can't ride two players like J.J. and Sheldon because when it comes down to it if one is misfiring the team is lost. Next year Duke will be in it (much to my pain) because of McRoberts and probably Paulus (even though I don't like him.) All right, I have Strep Throat so I'm gonna go take it easy. Love you babies

Besides my losing, last night was awesome

2006-03-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

For all you people who say the first round is great because of all the upsets, you must not watch any basketball all year. What teams went down in the first round that were "locks" to advance. I mean Kansas was young, Syracuse underachieved all years, Iowa is a perrenial up and downer, and Oklahoma was luckily hobbled their way through 4 straight one point wins at the end of their regular season. So NO!!! The first round is where we learn that some of the big schools are pretenders and teams like Bradley and George Mason aren't given their credit. College basketball regular season is solid across the board. Teams are scouted and destroyed all year long. If Bradley played Duke year in and out they would have a competitive record with them no matter what blue chips duke gets.

All right, so why is the third round the best? Because in the third round we get to see monster combat. If you saw West Virginia vs. Texas last night you know what that game was all about. A three point shooting, crafty defensive team vs. a brusiing, speed team. God I was so behind West Virginia but in the end I wasn't upset because they aren't my teams. They tied it with 3 seconds left and lost with a buzzer beater. SO GREAT! Gonzaga vs. UCLA? I hate UCLA. Basketball, football, volleyball. They are worse than Duke in my opinion... well maybe not duke, but they were Duke before Duke even discovered what basketball was. But last nights game? whoooooo! Gonzaga just blew that lead. Horrible play down the stretch; bad shots, passes, game plan. God I wasn't for Gonzaga as I much for their mid-major status and the fact I am tired of hearing about Gonzaga not getting it done. Same reason I wanted the Colts to win because now all we're gonna hear next year is how Peyton can't get it done. I HATE REPETITIVE SPORTS COMMENTARY! ESPN I'M LOOKING AT YOU!

Saving the best for last, Duke lost to LSU. I didn't watch much LSU before the second round of the tourney and let me tell you they just beat Duke down. They should have rode McRoberts like a rocket to the moon, that kid will be better than Grant Hill, Sheldon Williams, and J. J. Reddick combined. Bull funk. You can't ride two players like J.J. and Sheldon because when it comes down to it if one is misfiring the team is lost. Next year Duke will be in it (much to my pain) because of McRoberts and probably Paulus (even though I don't like him.) All right, I have Strep Throat so I'm gonna go take it easy. Love you babies

I Want To Be Nate Robinson

2006-02-19T14:27:00.000-08:00

Dude, did you watch All Star Saturday night? It was awesome. The shooting stars thing crapped out, the skills contest was all right, and the three point shoot out was lack luster; however, the Dunk Contest was freaking insane. I don't really need to tell you about because I can show you it. It was freaking awesome!

Yep, I watched the whole sha bang with Jordan and we were just talking ball and what not. We decided that next year we are gonna go to NBA All Star Weekend. Our main motivation is that it is in Las Vegas so it will probably be the biggest All Star weekend of all time. We'll take our ladies along but it ain't the casinos, strip clubs, or dirty little secrets that are attracting us. It's Nate Robinson's Defense as Dunk Contest Champion. All right now all I need is some cash.

Let Me Whip This Out

2005-10-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

Okay so yesterday I picked up a couple of preseason season magazines on NCAA basketball. I can't wait, it's by far my favorite sports league around; however, these magazines have no idea whats up. I mean they have plenty of info on the teams that always kill like Duke, Arizona, Kentucky and the like but Smith & Street picked ISU to be preseason ranked 12 (which is way too optimistic) and AThlon picked us as a one & done NCAA tourney team (which I hope isn't the case). Athlon picked UNI to be a sweet 16 team. What kind of horse shit is that? I mean we may have no veteran front court but give us a little more respect than UNI. Just sick man, sick.

Thank god the Yankees are out of the playoff picture. 6 months of the year all we hear from ESPN is Yankees this, Yankees that... BOOOO!!!!! I hate the Yankees. I think MLB has a lot of crap to work out. Until they get a hard salary cap established, like the NBA, Baseball will always be frought with teams no one cares about and two teams (Yankees, Red Sox) who have to be in the post season for anyone to really care. Well you know what? Screw you MLB. Take your steroid bloated ass and leave me alone. Just hand the white sox their rings already and let's be done with it.

Did anyone see that hit that Big Ben took last night against the Chargers? His knee is jacked up. I am guessing he's out for the season. That's just too bad. I Like that kid. Alright this was all sports gab but who cares it was a big sports night. I hope the sun is shinning bright on your ole kentucky home. Peace!

Jimmy V Classic

2005-10-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Hells yeah. This year the classic features Michigan State vs. Boston College and Kansas vs. St. Joes. Hell yeah. Last year it featured Syracuse vs. Oklahoma State and someone else I don't remember. That was a good game last year. Tense the whole way. No big break aways or comebacks. I hope That MSU game is good. I am hoping MSU and Illinois fight it out for the big ten. I am not sure Illinois has the players to do it but Brown is still the man so we'll see.

Today is gonnna be a beast. I have this debate in the morning (natural theology vs. quantum physics, not as bad as it sounds), a 5 pager to write for tomorrow, and after that Corey, Kyle, Bosman, and I are spending the whole day filming candid camera shit all around campus. It's gonna be pretty sweeet. I plan to dress up like Harold Ramis from GhostBusters and narrate the will shindig.

I really have nothing to say but when i saw that Jimmy V Classic. I just had to say something. MSU is a cool school. All around too, not just basketball. If Illinois' football team was as good as their basketball team I think they would be the coolest school to ever exist... but you can't have it all.

I sent away to Syracuse for stuff about their grad program a year ago and I am getting tons of shit in the mail now about it. Man it seems like a cool program but honestly I doubt I have the grades. Should have worked harder my Frosh and soph years. Didn't even think about grad school... foolish, foolish. Maybe I shouldn't graduate and just retake a bunch classes where I got Cs and Ds from those years. How did I go from being a bottom feeding D student to a hardnosed 4.0 student??? Funny shit. Alright, time to show David Hume who is boss. Later bucaroos.

Don't mean to freak anyone out but...

2005-06-16T02:52:00.000-07:00

Dudes, isn't it wierd how all the major sports "flagship" teams are down recently. The Lakers didn't make the playoffs, the Cowboys, Packers, and 49ers were shitty this year, and if you turn on ESPN recently you are more than likely to know that The New York Spankees are down and practically out. Kind of odd, n'est pas?

I am chilling out. I have worked everyday since Saturday. I am on a mission. I realized if I can turn my academic ass around and get close to all As I might as well turn my Physical ass around as well. I am sitting at 218 and I wont stop until I am at 190. I have been there before and lived there. It's the mission. I can and will do it.

I saw Batman Begins last night. It was pretty sexy; however it had it's occasional moments of ridiculous. I mean Batman jumps out of a 5th story window and nails the side of his ribs on a railing. Hello? broken ribs? punctured lungs? yeah I thought so. Besides that the main bad guy is Ra's Al Ghoul. Perfect. I have been saying for years that he would the absolutely perfect bad guy for a Batman movie. Liam Neelson pulled it off. I mean don't really care for the guy but he can act evil. Good stuff, they really made Gotham ugly and desperate. Alright thugs I'll talk to you later.

It's late, so let's ramble

2005-01-27T01:07:00.000-08:00

Man I didn't have class today. It was pretty sweet but now that it's almost one and I have class at eight am... I really wish I hadn't slept in till 11. It could be worse, I figure if I hadn't gone and worked out for an hour today I probably would be up till about 2 or 3 tonight sleepless. Oh well.

I started playing ESPN NBA 2K5. I got it for christmas but had yet to play it until today. I was a little hesitant because I heard a shit load of bad reviews for it but man, it is way better than that NCAA 2005 game. It's fun to play, the reaction is realistic. Momentum and shit. Oh yes, it's nice. Of course, my team is the Bulls and we be throwing down. We've only lost four games. Let's see I think they were Suns, Kings, and... can't remember the other, oh well. I can't wait to go see the Bulls play the Wolves on the 13th. Chels and I are gonna go. It is gonna be sa-weet. Hell yes. i was looking at how much replica Bulls' jerseys cost. They are expensive. I really want a Ben Gordon jersey. That kid is pimp. I couldn't care less about UConn but Ben is ballin like mad for the Bulls.

This reminds, Chels and I had a conversation recently about why some sports are so popular and other sports aren't. The more I think about this, the more I am sure it's the reason: The more equipment necessary for the game, the less popular it is gonna be.

Okay let's start with Football. You may think "P@, you need pads to play football." No you don't. Didn't you ever play backyard football when you were a kid. All you need is like 9 other kids, a back yard, and some way to mark the endzones. It's that easy. I mean you have to count mississippis so the quarterback doesn't get smacked all the time, and you have to trade off on quarterback and kick off kid but other than that it's the perfect backyard sport.

2nd Basketball. You just need a basketball, a driveway, and a hoop. Don't tell me that is more equipment than you need for baseball. I'll get to that in a moment. Basketball is almost better than football to play but in football you don't need to worry about finding a hoop. Basketball you can play with 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 people. It's fast paced, practically everyone gets a chance to make some points, and it doesn't matter if your fast, slow, fat, or skinny you probably have some sort of expertise to keep you from being picked last.

3rd Baseball. Man I like baseball a bunch but unless you have a whole team, you're playing either Homerun derby or Double-or-nothing. Baseball you need a lot of room. Not just a yard but like five yards, without fences. I used to play with Bryan Rowland and my neighbors in our backyards but we had fences and the houses were closed together and that just screwed shit up. Jumping over his neighbors fence to get the out. That sucked. And Baseball falls to basketball and football because nobody really cares about getting the out all they want to do is hit it and show they can pound that shit way back into the park. EVEN IF your team is up at bat there is no guarentee you get to hit. Three outs and your back in the field. It's slow, you need like 4 balls in case one flies into a bush and is gone, lands on a roof, or just gets covered in shit. Also, backyard baseball is way more dangerous than basketball or football. I have hit a ball into my best friends face before while playing Double-or-nothing, that shit doesn't happen in Basketball.

4th Soccer. Dude Soccer is a fun game and I like playing it but its gonna take a long time before it gets as popular as any other sport in america because people like to use their hands. Americans are clumsy with their feet. It's sad but true. I have no other reason to place this in 4th other than you can't pick up the ball and America is full other white guys who can't dance.

5th Hockey. God it sucks to be Hockey. Great sport, takes a lot of skill but so much depends on having ice, getting sticks, sometimes your mom wants you to wear helmets and shin guards (depending on if its in the street or on the ice.) I wish there was more too it but it gets expensive, you cant play one on one, and you gotta work with the seasons.

Finally, I know there are a junk load of other sports but these are the popular ones. Sorry Tennis, Volleyball, and other sports involving a net but you're too much work and truthfully not popular. The only sport I have any comments left for is Frisbee. Ultimate Frisbee or Frisbee golf. I dont understand why there isn't an ultimate frisbee league but I imagine it has something to do with the wind. You're an anamoly frisbee. Fun as hell, everyone can catch, and everyone should be able to throw. I imagine one day you'll get what's coming to you. Hell take basketball for example, it got really popular in college so they started the NBA. Maybe if you're lucky it will happen to you.

Okay than, it's officially 1 am and I up way past my bed time. So until the next I am bored and care to talk you kids enjoy winter. Go sledding or something. Sleep time. Lates.

Watchin UNC school Iowa right now

2004-11-24T23:03:00.000-08:00

Man let me tell you this is a bloody second half. Iowa Is getting beat like they are the retarded son of the king in the dark ages. This isn't even a game anymore. This is the MAUI CHAMPIONSHIP GAME and there is 13 minutes left and the score is currently UNC 77 - Iowa 53. Wow, that's a win.

I am getting excited for this year. Iowa beat Texas and Louisville. That's pretty huge. That gives me hope for ISU because that means they could pull down a big win over Texas and maybe get up there in the 20s of the ranks.

I am not a real fan of Iowa schools football. I am a fairweather football fan but in Basketball I like the ISU basketball team. They are my in state team and Syracuse and Illinois are my out of state team. Illinois because I was born in Illinois and wanted to go there when I was a little kid and Syracuse because I want to go there and they are insane. Yup, basketball season is starting up and I am getting the fever. I think this year and next year are gonna be good for ISU. Woohoo. Alright I am out of crap to talk about. Lates