5, 4, 3, 2 . . .

The deal:

1. ESPN.com did a great piece on a fallen firefighter/assistant coach who died in a fire but whose lasting effect on his team propelled them to the state finals. Great job, ESPN. And good luck, Summerville!

2. If you hear some old guy cursing during the NCAA telecasts, it might just be Bob Knight. Yes, that Bob Knight of chair-throwing fame. Said Knight, "I think ESPN has been real good for college basketball and I look forward to working with some of their people who I have known a long time." Real good, Bobby, real good. I hope they're still using that five second delay.

3. Congress wants to talk about passing federal legislation banning the use of performance-enhancing drugs in all professional sports leagues. Naturally, the commissioners of the various leagues do not want the practices of their league members being legislated by the feds. I can't imagine why adding one more way for their players get arrested would not be appealing.

4. Title this under "Riiiight." Earlier, the Green Bay Packers official website ran an article stating that Brett Favre had indeed decided to retire. The Packers party line:

"There's nothing to it," Packers spokesman Jeff Blumb told The Associated Press.
"People who handle our Web site had set up a dummy page in the event he was to
retire. They were asked to take down that page."

Yeah, ok. Favre's decision is expected to come soon. Let's see if it differs at all from what was posted. You know where my money is.

5. This article is upsetting, if for no other reason than it contains information about 2 players that I find it tough to root for (see, I'm getting nicer ). According to Mary Sims, the MVP comes down to, among others, Kobe, LeBron, or . . . Kevin Garnett? Sims had him as leading the race back in December, and now still has him on the list at #3. I guess he felt like he could drop him down a notch but removing him from the top five would hurt his credibility. Too late. I'm not sure KG's the MVP of his own team much less of the entire league. Sims must have gotten dunked on by him in high school and he's just trying to make himself feel better.

Run . . . Down

Let's jump right in:

1. Ow, Yao. Just when the Houston Rockets and the Western Conference were heating up comes the news that Yao Ming is done (I decided against a bad joke here) for the season with a stress fracture in his foot. Tough spot to keep playing on it. This is a bad blow to the Rockets but the league will also be smarting because Yao in the playoffs was going to mean billions of fans. Easy come, easy go. These guys are dropping like NFL players. What's going on?

2. LeBron scored his 10,000th point - youngest in history to get there - but couldn't help the Cavs get past the Boston Celtics. Sorry, Bronie. You can break a whole bunch of records when you are the only guy scoring points on the team. Before you ask, yes, I'm hating.

3. Rutgers University women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer won her 800th game, joining an elite party of three (including her) with Rutgers' win over DePaul. And effectively putting more distance between her squad and an unnamed radio talk show host. Bravo.

4. Congress has requested an inquiry into whether Roger Clemens should be brought up on perjury charges related to his statements about his steroid use, or rather the lack thereof. I don't know about you, but while this could be important to someone somewhere, I think there may be other issues they could be addressing. Like, hunger or crime. But that's just me.

5. The Seattle Supersonics apparently forgot that defense is a necessary part of basketball, falling to the Denver Nuggets by 42 points. I am thinking that the Sonics could have just not suited a team at all, let the Nuggets just shoot the entire game, and they still probably wouldn't have won by less points. The Nuggets had to travel to Seattle for that? I know A.I. and the boys had to be a little annoyed. I know Starbucks is downsizing these days but they may need to get their team a percolator or something because they are seriously flatlining.

Archives Day

No new posts today, but I will be posting later tonight. You can take this time to catch up on my previous ramblings.

Happy Wednesday!

Super Tuesday

It's late so I will cut to the chase:

1. The man hasn't even made it out of college and already Darren McFadden not only has one paternity suit pending against him, but also has two more bundles of joy on the way. Oh boy. How can you be the Shawn Kemp of the NFL before you even get picked by a team? Oh boy.
   
2. The Charlotte Bobcats' Gerald Wallace was knocked unconscious by a stray elbow during a game last week. My dad always warned me about concussions. I should probably leave this to the neurologists(!) but I think once you get one, you are more susceptible to continuing to get them. And Wallace has had four concussions in as many seasons with the Bobcats. Sounds more like a football or boxing injury. That's not a good sign. He may really have to pick a different profession if he wants to avoid permanent debilitation.
   
3. Details of the severance agreement with former Indiana University Hoosiers men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson have emerged. Apparently, Sampson has to cooperate with any NCAA investigation and he cannot interfere with the basketball team. How do we know all this? The press has this little pass they call FOIA requests that allows them to obtain info on just about every public contract there is. Powerful little tool, I tell you.
4. Are the Boston Celtics going to be making some roster additions? What, Danny Ainge realized it takes more than three players to win a championship? Having played for a very deep Celtics team back in the '80's, one would think he would have realized this early on.
5. I attended yet another basketball game this evening. This time for my cousin's team. Tough game but they pulled it out when it counted. The other team's fans decided to pick on a shorter player on his team, chanting "Gary Coleman!" I thought this was a fairly mean thing to say (and which may have contributed to their ultimately losing the game), but I did find it quite intriguing that these kids were too young to know him as "Arnold." I'm definitely getting old.
   

MYSM: Tell Us How You Really Feel

Stephen A. Smith has an opinion on the game of one Kwame Brown. I hope he has great security, too, because he ought to be watching his back after this one. Poor Kwame.

Some Things Can't Be Taught

As I mentioned, I attended my mentee's basketball game on Friday. I got there fairly late (those of you who know me - I actually tried to show up on time, but she didn't tell me it started a half hour earlier than the last game, which is a lot with 8 minute quarters) so I missed the first half and a few seconds of the 3rd quarter. When I saw the score, I assumed, or hoped, that her team was the one up by 30 points. Alas, it was not to be.

After watching the remainder of the 3rd quarter, I couldn't figure out how in the world they got down by so many points. Then I saw the other team get about 4 offensive rebounds in a row and put the ball back and I had a sense. My mentee's team had a few runs late in the game, but they could never really get close enough or get enough rebounds to make a dent in the lead.

The reason I've even decided to blog on this is because of the performance by my mentee. Now I know I may be biased, but the numbers don't lie. She was driving and shooting three's as if they were only down by 5 points, and she played that way all the way until the final buzzer.

That is why I love sports. You can teach someone the fundamentals, how to shoot, rebound, and box out, but you cannot teach heart. And heart is what will take her to the next level. She was fairly down, as one would expect, after the game, but she did crack a smile when I told her how impressed I was with her tenacity. Since she is only a sophomore, she has plenty of time to recover.

And believe me, there will be plenty of colleges waiting for her even if her team doesn't. I'm proud of you, kid!

Life and Basketball

Until yesterday, I was unaware that two seniors on the University of Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team each experienced personal tragedies earlier this week. One player, Rodrick Stewart, lost his brother and another, Darnell Jackson, lost his cousin. Both individuals were felled by gunshots.

This is too sad for words. Most males at colleges across the country are stressed out about their grades, whether they'll make the cut in their fraternity, or whether the girl in Psych class is interested in them. And if you're playing sports, then you're worried about performing at a superior level, which the Jayhawks have been doing almost the entire season.

But Stewart and Jackson now have the additional burden of dealing with the loss of a loved one in a senseless manner.

It's really scary how this kind of thing doesn't get that much attention anymore because we're getting used to it but I will never get used to it. We really have to continue to be outraged, people. Once it becomes acceptable or the norm, we will lose all chance that we have to right this ship. I know I already said this once a few days ago, but I am convinced that mentoring can go along way toward this recovery. Just a thought.

My condolences to these two players and their families.

Monday Runday

Running through what you might have missed this weekend:

1. I watched a piece on Inside the Lines on ESPN about three women who filed successful lawsuits against Fresno State University for various offenses related to demanding equal treatment for women's sports. Fresno State sounds like they have a serious problem on their hands. Most of the piece focused on the woman pictured above, Stacy Johnson-Klein, former coach of Fresno State's women's basketball team. I wonder why . . . yes, that's what she wore to coach the games.
2. This happened on Friday but it still counts. The Boston Celtics dropped their third straight game to the Phoenix Suns, a team that the Detroit Pistons annihilated on their home floor on Sunday afternoon. By annihilated, I mean lost by 30 points. Welcome to Phoenix, Shaq.
3. The #1 ranked University of Memphis Bulldogs men's basketball squad was the only undefeated team in Division I . . . until Saturday night, when they fell to the Tennessee Volunteers in a close one. Going undefeated is not all it's cracked up to be. Just ask the Patriots. Lose the battle, not the war.
4. Ben Wallace must have seen what I said about him being an offensive liability on the floor, so he went and tied his season high of 12 points in his debut with LeBron and the Cavs in their pummeling of the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies weren't too hot to begin with before they became Pau-less, so I need to see the Cavs play some steeper competition before I go saying this was a good trade. At least make the playoffs.
5. I know I don't talk about him too much on here, but when you win so much there's not much you can say. Tiger squeaked out a win in the earlier rounds but had no trouble racking up another win to get closer to his goal of world domination. That's all I wanted to say. I just didn't want Tiger to think I was neglecting him.

Running 'Fore the Weekend

I've seen PTI numerous times but today is the first time I ever noticed that they call their countdown the "rundown" - that's what I get for always trying to multi-task. Rest assured that I thought I was the only one running it down on a daily basis. I see I have company. Good company. Without further ado:

1. They're calling this a blockbuster trade, but I think that's just because it involved so many players. The main points of the trade is that LeBron the Cleveland Cavaliers get Ben Wallace from the Chicago Bulls and supermodelWally Szczerbiak (that's a lot of consonants) from the Seattle Supersonics, and the Cavs sent Drew Gooden and two other players with whom I'm not all that familiar. The Supersonics get Donyell Marshall and two other players whose names you probably wouldn't recognize. Interesting. So I guess this means that the Cavs have finally decided that LeBron will score all the points, since this trade means that the Cavs will be playing 4 on 5 in every game. Not their best work.

2. Some people don't like to eat at other people's houses if they think the house is dirty. Usually this is not a problem, and you can politely decline a meal or two. But when you are there for nearly three weeks, and you bring your own food in the house, at some point the host is bound to get upset. Which brings me to #2: I am thoroughly amused by the fact that China is upset at the U.S. for deciding to bring its own food to the Olympics this summer. Recently, China has had some issues with food quality. Not "oh this meat may have not been refrigerated" issues. More like "oh **** how did that poison get in there" problems. I'd bring my own food, too.

3. The New England Patriots decided not to hit Randy Moss with the franchise tag. This whole concept is funny to me, but I guess this means that he will have some bargaining chips now. You have to wonder about the power of the NFLPA (players association) when "getting slapped with the franchise tag" is a concept that made its way into the collective bargaining agreement. Something seems fundamentally unfair about this given how short their careers can be.

4. The New Jersey Nets' Richard Jefferson is in trouble for allegedly choking a man to unconsciousness who wanted him to leave a private party. Um. I'll just wait for the entire story to emerge.

5. University of Tennessee All-American baller Candace Parker has decided to forego her senior year of college and enter the WNBA draft. Hmm. She would likely be the top pick of the draft, going to the Los Angeles Spark. L.A. = one of top markets = endorsement deals. And Hollywood. Can't forget that. Yeah, this is probably a good move. And she's going to graduate before the draft. I'd call this a good move.

And one for the road: The Boston Celtics dropped another one to Golden State. Just a few hours ago, ESPN said that the Phoenix Suns/Celtics game might be a preview for the NBA Finals. Slow down, boys.

Have a great weekend!

So We Meet Again

The Los Angeles Lakers welcomed the Phoenix Suns to town on Wednesday night. Of course, this was not just any game. This was Shaquille O'Neal's debut with the Suns, and Shaq/Kobe Bryant head-to-head. Kobe got the best of him this night, as he has in their previous head-to-heads since they parted ways in L.A. Speaking of heads, Shaq went completely bare on the head and the face in his debut, perhaps symbolizing his fresh start.

It's funny that Shaq has bounced around and Kobe has stayed with the Lakers for almost 12 years. Man, I am getting old.

Kobe had 41 points and one NASTY dunk. Even Bill Walton had to admit he is looking like the MVP. Obviously, he is proving what I and others have said all along - there is no such thing as a fair trade for him. Pau Gasol is looking like a terrific fit, and might end up being one of the smartest trades made all season when it's all said and done.

Shaq threw in 15 points, 9 in the last quarter, 9 boards, and apparently even surprised himself with his stamina at the end of the game. Amare Stoudemire had 37 points and 15 rebounds(!), Steve Nash did his usual, and even Grant Hill threw in 17 points.

So don't count out this Suns team because this was their first game with a new team and they still only lost by six to a very solid Lakers team. Again, looks like it is going to be an exciting finish in the Western Conference. As for the East? We'll just have to wait and see . . .

These Girls Got Game

I had the pleasure of attending my mentee's high school basketball game last night, and I must say that I was impressed. These girls weren't very tall, and this was a Class D game, but they greatly exceeded my expectations. My mentee's team (who won the game) had about 60 points at the end of the third quarter. 14 points in the first quarter, 23 points in the second, and at least another 23 in the third. These are 8 minute quarters. One girl had to have about 30 points just from draining 3's. I must say when I first got there, I was not expecting too much based on the physical maturity of the girls and what I believed to be their skill-set, but they blew all that out of the water after I watched my mentee take another girl off the dribble and slash to the hole about two minutes after I sat down. And the three point shots were raining from all over the court.

I have to say one of my favorite parts of the game was near the end, when the team was up by 30+ points, and the coach cleared the bench. One girl who is an obvious team favorite and probably doesn't get to play or shoot much. Well, this night, the ball landed in her arms and she instinctively threw it back up - and into the basket. Her entire team - on the bench and on the floor - was jumping up and screaming. That's why we love sports.

It was encouraging to see this level of basketball coming from an every day program, not some high school powerhouse. They have their district finals on Friday night and I will certainly be in attendance.

I will add that I was a little disheartened that the losing team, in contrast to the team that won, had not one friend or family member in attendance, and can't help but wonder if that contributed to their play during the evening. I can't imagine having played sports without my parents there, but I know everyone does not have that support. But they can . . . mentor a kid, folks. It really makes a world of difference even if you don't think that it will.

Congrats to the Lady Vikings!

All-Star Weekend Wrap Up: Superman That Ball

I had an All-Star weekend post all ready to go and then my blackberry reset, and I lost the post. Unfortunately I don't remember anything I said, but I will do my best to replicate . . .

I was thoroughly impressed with the All-Star weekend's events, both on-court and off (from what we know so far). The slam dunk contest was fantastic, the game itself started out like a show boating outing as usual, but then it got intense as the game progress. I guess that's usually what happens because at the end of the day, these guys are in this game because they hate losing. The East pulled it out, and while I know LeBron James had a pretty good game, and I have to admit a few really nasty moves, I thought Ray Allen really came through in the clutch for them - which is what MVP means to me. Who won the game for you? Now most fans don't put too much stock in the all-star accolades, but the league keeps track of that stuff. Every January in the weeks leading up to All-Star weekend we are inundated with all-star history facts, and a lot of times money incentives are tied into that in their contracts for winning these events.

The slam dunk contest was highly entertaining. I have to say I was impressed mostly because a little creativity combined with high-flying feats (a tad gimmicky in my book) breathed some life back into what has been a fairly dull affair for a number of years. I went to the slam dunk contest last year and I can honestly say I forgot that Gerald Green won and I couldn't tell you what one single dunk looked like. It certainly helps matters that this year's contest featured an on the rise, semi-marquee player in Dwight Howard, and a returning dunk champion with some serious hops. Although some of their dunks were quite gimmicky, they did some pretty high degree of difficulty stunts. Never underestimate the ability of likable personalities to reel in the dough.

Green's cupcake dunk could only be truly appreciated in the replays. I watched it in a restaurant and I had to laugh at the collective "ooooooh!" I heard when they replayed Green blowing out the candle on the cupcake. I saw flashbacks of Dave Chappelle's "And 1 mixtape" skit. Dwight Howard said he thought he was going to take a bite out of the cupcake, and then the contest would have been over for Howard if Green had done that. Now that would have been funny.

Green's shoeless dunk seems like something whose full effect could only be appreciated by those who have dunked before, which is why he received such high scores for what seemed mediocre, and perhaps why the fans voted for Howard to win. Springing off of one's feet alone with no support is no joke, but the dunk itself was rather mediocre. The marketer in me couldn't help but think that some shoe exec somewhere whose shoe was left on the scorer's table was pissed when the shoes came off. The shoes, the shoes, it's gotta be the shoes. I guess that's not true.

But Howard's dunks were just sick and wrong. Sick. The first one, off the backboard, I'm proud to say I had a similar dunk (for which he did not win in a previous all-star contest) posted on this very blog just a few weeks ago. That dunk he did first pretty much ended the contest. The angles he had to hit to do that - incredible. The other dunks, including the tap with one hand dunk, with the other, the Superman - just very athletic dunks. When he put the small basket up I thought for sure he was going to dunk a Nerf ball and a basketball. While the resulting dunk was just OK to me, I was glad that he didn't go with the total gimmick. I probably would have ended with Superman or that back of the glass dunk. Sick. He's supposed to be too tall for this stuff.

I missed the three point, the skills contest, and that 3-on-3 competition they have with an NBA, WNBA, and retired player, but the dunk contest is always the premier event of the night, and it did not disappoint. Last year's skills contest was pretty entertaining since it featured big names - I think I recall Kobe and LeBron competing but I don't recall who won.

AND last but not least, there were no crazy stories coming out of New Orleans. That's mildly surprising, but also great news. After last year's debacle in Las Vegas, the NBA really needed to bring it down a notch, but no one was expecting New Orleans to be an improvement. I will wait a few days to see if someone like Jason Whitlock has something to say about what went on behind the scenes, but I'm confident that if the story hasn't gotten out yet, it just might not.

This definitely helps the NBA's image to put on a successful, entertaining weekend of events. Maybe I'll go back again one day . . .

An Apology Is In Order . . .

Today's post is sponsored by the NBA and NCAA basketball. Ok, no not really, but that seems to be most of what's happening in sports these days that's actually related to the game itself. With one off-court tennis story thrown in for good measure:

1. Recently, I sat within a few feet of J.J. Redick who was riding the Orlando Magic pine (i.e., sitting on the bench), and I feel kind of bad because I gloated about his presence. But just now I realized it's not his fault that he was overrated. It must be hard to go from being the premier player at one level to playing garbage time, so J.J., I'm sorry for yelling at you during the game.

2. The Celtics lost to the Denver Nuggets, putting them in the double digit loss column. I just wanted to point that out. Nothing further.

3. Go west, young men. The Jason Kidd trade is complete, with the Dallas Mavericks picking up Devin Harris and a few other players and items added to the shopping cart. I almost forgot he was with the Mavs when he first came into the league, so this is a reunion of sorts. With Shaq set to debut with the Phoenix Suns against the Lakers tomorrow night, this will make for a very interesting western conference battle. It seems like everyone's defecting for the west these days, which just might explain the sagging ticket sales on the opposite shore.

4. It looks like the Indiana Hoosiers are going to have no choice but to fire coach Kelvin Sampson for all of his NCAA recruiting violations. I don't feel too bad for the school because it seems that they knew what they were getting themselves into but went ahead with it anyway. Just another case of reaping what you sow.

5. So after nearly a year and some change of sniffing around, the ATP tour finally found a rat among its ranks. Although other players (almost all of them Italian, "coincidentally" says the ATP) have been fined for betting on tennis matches, they finally found the guy who pulled a Pete Rose and bet on his own games. Only his name is Giorgio Galimberti. Lovely. Like Rose, Galiberti denies ever betting on himself to lose, but that contradicts the ATP's own findings that he bet on himself to lose on at least one occasion. Galimberti is now out of the top 1,000 ranked players in the game, so perhaps he's just desperate for a few more dollars. The ATP isn't throwing the book at them, although perhaps they should if they want to send a message to others. This could be very bad for an already struggling game depending on how high up the rankings this thing really goes . . .

Running by Presidents Day

Presidents' Day came and went without much fanfare from me, except a stop in the hometown of one presidential hopeful. Now that I'm finally home, I barely have enough time to run it down. But I will, quickly:

1. How many more times does this have to happen? Seriously.

2. I will do an in-depth analysis tomorrow of the weekend's All-Star events (the televised ones), which I found surprisingly entertaining. Never underestimate the value of likable players to the success of the league. Until tomorrow, chew on this video of All-Star game bloopers. #9 and #5 courtesy of Mr. Shaquille O'Neal trying to play well outside of his comfort zone are of particular interest.

3. Thanks to No WorseNorthwest Airlines, which I will aim to avoid flying ever again in life (never say never because you just never know, but they may well be going out of business soon anyway), I got to see the entire All-Star game from start to finish during my 5-hour delay. Because I can report on my firsthand viewing of the events right here for all of you, that makes the delay worthwhile. Ok, not really, but I'm just trying to talk myself down from kicking NWA's CEO in the shins really hard.*

4. Continuing with the NBA theme, Jason Kidd said last night that he is on his way to Dallas. While I believe this has a million times better chance of going through than Kobe-watch, I will hold off on commentary until I see who all is involved in the trade. The fact that they're talking about bringing Keith Van Horn out of retirement after Mavs owner Mark Cuban said that wasn't going to happen let's you know that he wants this thing to get done yesterday.

5. Danica Patrick in the SI swimsuit edition:

Talent at your "sport" is OK but if you really want to make the big bucks as a female athlete, you have to take at least a few pics in your drawers. I'm not coming down on her because I think she looks great. Just an observation . . .

Happy Tuesday!

* Note to Kelly Tilghman: This is just one example of how you could have made a more acceptable joke about Tiger Woods.

As Simple As 1 +1

Out of town tomorrow. Late night tonight. Can only mean one thing . . .

1. I caught the end of the Chicago Bulls/Miami Heat game, in which the Heat racked up its 24th loss out of the last 25 games. I didn't see Shawn Marion playing at all. But I did see Dwyane Wade taking ill-advised shots and turning the ball over on numerous occasions. Is he still injured? They looked terrible.

2. Monica Seles officially retired from tennis today. I had no idea that she hadn't actually retired, and she hasn't played a match in five years, but apparently she was trying for a comeback. Nine Grand Slam titles is nothing to sneeze at, and she was really nearing her peak when she got stabbed by the crazed Steffi Graf fan. Everything happens for a reason, though. Enjoy life after tennis, Monica. You are certainly one of the greats of the game.

3. Going back to basketball for a moment. The All-Star game rolls into New Orleans this weekend. I went to the one last year in Las Vegas but somehow missed most of the "action" people were talking about when I got back. I also missed the mile-long line to check in at the airport. Literally. People are predicting that New Orleans will be . . . interesting, but let's hope it's not quite as interesting as last year. I just read earlier today about how the NBA has engaged all of its major sponsors in doing community service projects for the city. I'm happy to see that they aren't just coming in, tearing up the town, and leaving because I don't know how much more NOLA can take. Hopefully Mardi Gras got it all out of people's systems.

4. Super Bowl winner (not a Patriot) and New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce has been charged with neglecting his pitbulls in the days leading up to the Super Bowl. Two pits escaped from his property, and one dog was found to be underweight and suffering from a respiratory illness, which prompted the charges. The charges would bring a fine, not jail time like his fellow league member, Michael Vick. I am hopeful that this was just a mistake and that maybe (just maybe) they were all too quick to pin another pitbull case on an NFL player. That, or Pierce should really check into doggy day care when he's going to be gone for long periods of time.

5. Am I the only one who forgot that at least part of the reason Congress cares about Roger Clemens is because it's illegal to use steroids without a prescription? Now it makes more sense why the Repubs were so adamant about calling Clemens' former trainer, Brian McNamee, being a drug dealer . . . he really was. But he didn't give any to Clemens. I have to work on not misremembering so much.

Now I know I didn't mention anything pertaining to the above pic of Manu Ginobili doing . . . I have no idea what he's doing, or if that move is even legal, but he looks funny. Something else that's funny is that he gave LeBron James and company the business on Wednesday night, scoring 46 points against the Cavs. I am a witness.

Run-Down: To Tell the Truth; Is Kidd's Cake Gone?

Despite today's high drama on Capitol Hill, I must get my sleep. Doing taxes takes a lot out of you, and I need another day to recover. Onward and upward:

1. On Wednesday, Roger Clemens lied his ____ off testified in front of Congress regarding his steroid use, in a game of he said-he said with his former trainer, Brian McNamee, who testified that he gave Clemens the juice on several occasions. There was some high drama during the hearing, of course. I want to go on record as saying that Roger Clemens stole the word "misremembers" from me. A word like that has lawyer written all over it. The Republicans beating up on McNamee was classic. Listening to their tirades (i.e., shouts of "You are a drug dealer!"), these guys sound a lot like disgruntled trial lawyers. This was their chance to show off their "tough cross" skills, and show off they did. All I have to say about this is somebody is clearly lying! And guess who won't be doing time if it turns out he was lying? His name does not rhyme with lemons.

2. You know how you eye that last piece of cake before you leave for work in the morning, dream about the cake all day, Google pictures of the cake and put it on your desktop, come home, eat dinner, get ready to eat the cake . . . and it turns out someone has already eaten it? Well, that's probably something similar to what Jason Kidd is feeling. The afternoon hype was that Kidd was on his way to the Dallas Mavericks, the trade he has been yearning for for a very long time. But alas, when you're part of a package deal, and part of the package doesn't want to go, there goes your deal. That refusing package part is one Devean George, who used his "trump card" allowing him to refuse to be traded. So there goes that deal, for now anyway. I saw George out and about in L.A. one time, I am sure he is not trying to get dumped in dirty jerz, never to be heard from again. So George has dodged a bullet for now but his other teammates may not be so lucky. Mavs' owner Mark Cuban is desperate for a ring. I see one more attempt with some different players before this deal falls through completely.

That's all, folks. I may post mid-day if the feeling strikes me . . .

Taxes = Run Down

Tax time. Let's face it. The only reason that I bother to file this early is because I expect to get a refund. I've let the government use my money tax-free long enough, so it's time for them to pay up. That means that I spent most of the evening sorting through documents, but for us, that means it's time to run it down:

1. Sad news today out of Minnesota where Vikings defensive end Kenechi Udeze has been diagnosed with leukemia. Life certainly has a way of interfering when you least expect it. Prayers for a speedy recovery to him and for his family during this difficult time.

2. Uno the beagle won Best in Show at the 132nd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the first time that a beagle has ever won the honor. I would put excerpts of the AP article here but you really need to read the whole thing to get the proper effect. Trust me. Apparently Uno has the making to be (I'm sorry) top dog being billed as the All-American dog because of his popular breed. Not only does Uno get to eat steak (more like swallow if you've seen a dog eat) on a silver platter at a swanky New York restaurant but he also gets to ring the opening bell on Wall Street and make the TV rounds. Yet he can still eat his own crap and sniff other dogs' nether regions and no one bats an eye. Life is not fair.

3. The Detroit Pistons have quietly racked up nine wins in a row. If it's not the Boston Celtics, it's just not news. Well, when they lose prior to the NBA Finals, perhaps someone will find it interesting then.

4. Indiana University basketball program looks to be in some trouble over allegations of improper calls to recruits in violation of the NCAA rules. Not just a few, a whole lot. So is that how they got Eric Gordon? By calling him a lot? I'm going to go on record as saying that that only works in some instances and not others. No further comment.

5. This dispute over the shot clock pausing for 1.3 seconds in a heavily-contested rematch of the women's NCAA final featuring Rutgers vs. Tennessee has turned serious. Ordinarily, people wouldn't notice the pause, but in this case, a foul is alleged to have occurred during the pause, which, if the clock had been performing normally, would have come after the game was over. As it was, the foul was ruled to have occurred prior to the buzzer, and Tennessee ended up winning the game by one point on the made free throws. Now the inventor is speaking out and saying that the clock is fine and human error could have caused the problem. Really, the inventor? Is the shot clock business so competitive that the inventor of the NCAA's choice du jour feels the need to publicly defend his product? Perhaps his competitors are jumping in trying to push their shot clocks upon the slightest sign of a malfunction. That's a tough business. Those of you who were thinking of getting into it may want to reconsider.

This Was Bad, But That Looks Worse

So I was delving into this Richard Zednik incident and came upon one of the nastiest, scariest things that I have ever seen: video of one Clint Malarchuk getting his jugular vain slit by a skate. I know some of you will be inclined to look for the YouTube video of the incident, so I will provide you with the link, but this is my fair warning that it's quite graphic. Malarchuk needed 300 stitches to close up his wound.

Fast forward to the present, Malarchuk was so disturbed by Zednik's injury that he says he couldn't go to work on Monday. He said that when his throat was slit (during a game also involving the Buffalo Sabres), he knew for sure that he was going to die and he was just trying to get off the ice so his mother wouldn't have to watch him bleed to death. Wow. As if that was not enough, from ESPN.com:

At the time, there were reports that 11 fans fainted and two more had heart attacks when Malarchuk's macabre accident took place. Three players vomited on the ice.

Wow.

Sad stuff that people go through, but the good news is that Zednik is out of the ICU (wink, wink) and resting comfortably. Get well soon!

Scary Moment On Ice

I don't really have much time to do a run down this evening but I didn't want to let a day go by without talking about this scary and sad story.

If you haven't heard, the Florida Panthers' Slovakian forward Richard Zednik had his carotid artery nearly severed by the skate of his teammate, Olin Jokinen, in a freak accident after Jokinen fell to the ice head first during a game in Buffalo against the Buffalo Sabres.

Zednik has the wherewithal to clutch his neck and leave the ice immediately, which was about the best he could do in a situation in which he could have died in a very short amount of time, especially if the artery had been completely severed.

Zednik's currently in stable condition.

Fans and players were a little upset that the game continued despite the injury. This is a tough one to call. I am sure the players were shaken because they weren't sure if he was near death or what his condition was. Especially for his teammate whose skate did the cutting. I would assume hockey players know the seriousness of getting cut in any major artery, much less the one that connects to your brain, so it must have been quite difficult to keep playing for all of them. They did announce an update at the game, which provoked a standing ovation from the Sabres' fans.

It's funny (not "haha" funny, but coincidence funny) because whenever I think of hockey, I think of freak accidents like that happening, like getting one's fingers cut off or getting cut in the face. I am surprised things like this don't happen more often. I heard there were a few other recent accidents like this in the NHL involving people getting cut with skates. I would hope that they will use this as an opportunity to protect them with at least one layer between their skin and the ice, particularly when it comes to the potential to sever major arteries.

I just pray that he makes it out of this OK and doesn't have any lasting residual damage, for him and for his family.

Super Bowl XLII: Inside the Trenches

As promised, L. Rosen's pics from the Super Bowl. Enjoy!


Pats' owner Bob Kraft on the mic.


Former QB great John Elway doing the radio thing, too.



Adam Sandler (in the jacket) was the intended target, but this guy in front of him was ready, too.

More QB time with Kurt Warner, who won the Lombardi trophy and MVP of Super Bowl XXXIV with the St. Louis Rams.

Former Dallas Cowboys' WR Michael Irvin, who has won a trifecta of Super Bowls himself. Always a character.


To comment would just be too easy, so I will let this one speak for itself.

Larry David, exactly as I would expect him to look if you caught him at the Super Bowl. Curb your enthusiasm, Larry.


The first TD of the game, courtesy of the Pats.


The halftime show. I appreciated how more than a few friends across the country didn't know who was performing until Free Fallin' started playing.


You know what this is. It's a celebration. . . readers.


A big thank you to L. Rosen for sharing with us. And congrats again to the Giants for making history!

MYSM: Watch Your Head!

Philadelphia 76ers' Andre Iguodala somehow didn't win the slam dunk contest with this dunk. He hit his head and everything!

Check out the dance at :38, too.

Happy Monday!

Super Bowl Pics Preview

On Monday, I will post some awesome pictures that I received of one man's (that man is L. Rosen) trip to the Super Bowl. In case you can't wait that long, here's a teaser:

The Vince Lombardi Trophy


Brady in the pocket

The winner's circle


And for those who care, Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima


Stay tuned for the rest . . .

Here We Go Again . . .

The undefeated University of Memphis basketball team is the #1 ranked team in the country, but they're having some personnel issues.

The Tigers' junior starter Robert Dozier was benched in Wednesday night's game following his visit to a night club at 2:30 a.m. early Sunday morning, in violation of team rules.

Memphis' coach John Calipari had issued a public warning to Dozier that he was on his last leg and would not hesitate to kick him off the team if he gets out of line again, saying that "[i]f he screws up again, he's gone. He's got one more chance."

And this is what we might call in the law a "material" player to the Tigers team, who plays an average of 27.1 minutes and has an average of 10.5 points and 7.3 boards per game.

Well things may have gotten worse. Dozier's ex-girlfriend alleges in a complaint (no formal charges have been filed yet) that he hit her with an open hand twice in the face and causing bruising , allegedly on the same night in which he went to the club. But already, they are trying damage her credibility.

I hate to see this. Anyone who reads often knows that I have a problem with the lack of discipline that some athletes have. I just hope this isn't one of those pass the buck situations in which he was passed along until the point that only now is he being held responsible for his actions.

I think publicly stating that one more time and you're out may be setting him up for failure, but I do hope he can resolve these issues and remains on the team. If he fails at Memphis (he's already a junior right now) his life will take on a totally different direction, guaranteed.

Offensive Lineman

Every day, I hear some unbelievable story that really makes me think the end of the world must be quickly approaching. And then I can't help but wonder if this kid isn't just mentally ill because what you're about to read is just downright bizarre.

Yesterday was "National Signing Day" in college football - the day when high school seniors can seniors officially sign with their school of choice. So on this particular Wednesday, high school football linebacker Kevin Hart announced during his school assembly in a small town in Nevada that he would be attending the University of California.

Apparently someone didn't believe him, and they did a little snooping. Well, it turns out that not only would he not be attending the school, but he was never recruited. Today, he admitted that he made the whole thing up.

But not before he told the police that he was duped by a man into believing that he had a scholarship.

Well, there is not much to say about this because the more I think about it, the more I realize that this is clearly a sick child calling out for attention. Either that or he thought his town was small enough that no one would find out. I hope he does find a school eventually . . . and some help.

Deja Vu

I forgot about this one yesterday. If you'll recall, the Miami Heat are scheduled to replay their game against the Atlanta Hawks because the official scorer erred in giving Shaquille O'Neal six fouls when he really only had five.

Shaq's departure threw a wrinkle in there but the league has decided that the show must go on. So now the Heat gets a chance to win a game they already lost playing on a different day with the exact same players as before. Hopefully they will use their time wisely, but I guess they really don't have anything to lose at this point. And by anything I mean absolutely nothing.

His Time To Shine

I'm sure many of you watched Duke beat the UNC Tar Heels, so I won't rehash it here. But I do want to take the time to profile one particular player: Greg Paulus. Paulus had a rough season last year, struggled to find his range, his game. He is a smaller player among freakish athletes, and when he wasn't performing well, he took a lot of flak. A whole lot. I'm sure it was hard for him and his family to hear people openly discuss how awful they thought he was.

I will admit that I was in the category of people who doubted Paulus and wondered how he had made his way to Duke. From all reports, he was a gifted QB so why would he come to a sport like basketball which seems to be such a struggle?

But the mark of a real winner, a hero, if you will, is not what happens when the going is good. It's how they rise up when everyone thinks they are defeated. Think about the movies. The greatest heroes overcome adversity when all looks lost. No guts, no glory, or so the saying goes.

Despite taking a beating from the public last year, in the last few games, Paulus has shown that Coach K was not crazy when he recruited him. He has the range (did you see where he was pulling from? He was taking whatever shot he wanted and they just dropped), he has heart, and even though he makes mistakes, he has shown that he can raise the level of his game to the elitest of the elite. Which one do I value most? Heart. You can teach someone how to shoot, but heart cannot be taught. And to be clear, heart is not celebrating like crazy when the other team makes a turnover in the first 10 minutes of the game. You know who you are.

Back to Pualus, to come back out here, still given a starting role on a squad that everyone thinks is way over your head, and now make the front page of ESPN.com (that's the pic above) because of your 6-8 shooting from the 3 point line against the Tar Heels. Not only that, but because this is one of the biggest rivalries among all sports, his performance will probably make the big game preview reels for years to come.

While there is no telling what the future holds for Paulus, I for one am happy to see the guy who people least expect rising to the challenge when everyone counted him out. That's two in one week: Eli Manning and now Paulus.

Who's got next?

News Blink (Not Hyped Enough For A Flash): Shaq to Suns, Marion and Another Guy to Heat

Well, this was quite the quiet trade, now wasn't it? One prediction I can make is that the season ticket sales of the Phoenix Suns will suddenly spike. The Miami Heat's ticket sales? Not so much.

Stephen A. Smith seems to think this would be a good trade for both teams - Shaq gets some fresh legs to run around him while he holds it down in the middle, and D Wade gets some help. Yeah, I don't see D Wade sticking this one out much longer than he has to unless the Heat make some other acquisitions.

I was surfing the 'net and came across this exchange between Dan Patrick and Shaq after the Heat won the NBA Championship in 2006:

Dan Patrick: Congratulation. Shaq, come on in. How's this one feel
differently than the ones in L.A.?

Shaquille Oneil: It feels good. I came to Miami because of this young
fellow right here [Wade]. I knew he was a special player. I knew the first time
I saw him I knew he was something special. So I knew it was my job to come here
and make him better.

Dan Patrick: When you looked at his skill, when's the first time you
said, "I got -- I can be Robin to his Batman."

Shaquille Oneil: No, I knew that, you know, he was a young gunner. So
when I came here I decided to let him go, and I was going be, you know, second
option. And I was good with that and, you know, he's a great player, unselfish
player. He's the best in the world, D. Wade.

Dan Patrick: You wanted to play for Pat Riley. You got a chance. What
has he meant to your career?

Shaquille Oneil: Pat Riley's the best coach I've ever had. Him, Dale
Brown, you know, my father, you know they've been...telling me, you know, to
just stay positive all year. And Coach -- Coach Riley told us on June 8th that
we was going to win on June 20th.

I think I said this before, but my, what a difference two years makes.

I will be interested to see if this trade really helps anyone. A loyal reader mentioned that although Shaq's near the top of his five faves of all time, his "lower body has more miles than my old Toyota RAV4, and I got rid of that whip 2 yrs ago." I couldn't have said it better myself. Like my reader, I still want to see Shaq do well, though, so we'll just be cautiously optimistic . . . for now.

How Many Times?

I know you all aren't used to the one topic-one post articles anymore but I have to shake things up every now and then. Schedule suddenly clears, Pleats 'n Cleats only benefits.

I put a notice out to Roger Clemens yesterday that if you testify falsely under oath, you might as well start notifying your current job that you will be incarcerated sometime in the future. People, it's really not worth it. Plead the fifth. I know admitting it can be problematic due to records and such, but if given the opportunity, just don't say anything.

Now he has invoked the wrath of the former trainer who saved Clemens' alleged syringes for a DNA sample just in case Clemens lied. I like how Clemens has his own ESPN tab at the bottom of the screen called "Clemens" . . . does anyone else think the MLB called and said please don't put him on our tab, we're trying to rehab our image? I'd put five on it.

Now the feds are trying to get a court order to have the syringes tested for Clemens' DNA. Had this occurred prior to the days when we knew our DNA stays on everything - forever - then perhaps I would feel differently, but at this point I have little sympathy for you, Roger. I know you're somewhere right now saying, "D'oh!"

To be continued . . .

Born To Run

I promise that I will actually write full articles again, someday. Until then:

1. Another young college athlete has died after collapsing during practice. 20-year old Jonathan Mason-Davis collapsed during basketball practice at Ohio University-Chillicothe. And two of his cousins were on the team. Is it just me or is this happening at an alarming rate these days? I can't help but wonder if it has something to do with our health care system, or lack thereof, not catching these things like we should. Whatever the reason, it's troubling and very sad to lose a child this way, so I hope we can study this and find out whether this was preventable. Very sad.

2. Shaq is headed from heat to sun. Yes, it's almost official - Shaquille O'Neal will be traded to the Phoenix Suns for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. This would have been #1 but out of respect for the deceased, I dropped it to #2. Marion has been trying to get traded for a while now. Sources say that this deal is a go if Shaq passes his physical. Wow. Now we know that the Suns don't and never have played defense. He would seem to be slowing down the movement of the running Suns. I would say this is as much about ticket sales as it is about fit.

2.5. I forgot about Pau Gasol going to the Lakers which broke over the weekend. This is an almost 19 points a game, 9 rebounds type player who has been averaging those types of numbers for his entire 6-year career. No slouch at all. He looked pretty darn good on Tuesday night althought it was against the not so good New Jersey Nets, scoring 24 points in his debut. This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

3. Roger Clemens testified under oath about his steroid use, or lack thereof. His trainer will also testify and say that Clemens is lying. All I hope is that someone, or both, avoids jail time because we know what happens when you lie under oath.

4. One Patriots player is taking the loss extra hard. Defensive back Willie Andrews was arrested after a traffic stop in which he had weed in his car and apparently didn't have a registered vehicle. I really hope his license plate had fallen off or he just bought the car and didn't have his registration sticker in the window. Because otherwise, why?

5. It's not a good day unless the Celtics lose. This time to the Cleveland Cavaliers. I'm not a huge fan of LeBron James, but we can band in solidarity in our dislike of the Celts overratedness. And again, only 2/3 of the Big 3 are healthy enough to play. Notice the talk of world champs has gone by the wayside now that they are close to double-digit losses. That's what I like to hear.

Some Good News

So much to do, so little time. If we could add about 4 or 5 hours to each day, that'd be perfect. Until then:

1. Michael Vick scored a legal victory. A federal judge known to be athlete-friendly overturned the arbitrator's decision that Vick had to return most of his signing bonus, finding that he only had to return about $3.75 million of the nearly $20 million he received. That's the first good news he's had in nearly a year. Hopefully they gave him an extra pudding cup or something to celebrate.

2. Bye bye, Bob Knight. I'm not 100% sure if this one will be official retirement or if he just quit at Texas Tech. He says he's done. And now son Pat Knight is taking over. Reports are that his team was a bit emotional. I'll let this marinate for a while and then give my ruminations later this week. " . . . but that would be an insult to Mickey Mouse." Ah, I'm going to miss him.

3. They're saying 97.5 million people watched the Super Bowl. That's enough for the most watched Super Bowl ever and the second most watched TV program ever. Ever. Wow. The media hype fuel is a powerful thing. Let's just hope the ads don't cost an arm, leg, and both ears next year because of these numbers. That's pretty amazing, though. And there were at least 50 people around each TV at the house where I watched the game, so that number may not be quite accurate.

4. Speaking of which, thoughts on the funniest commercial? Apparently, I missed Naomi Campbell and some lizards performing Thriller but it looked semi-humorous. My favorites were Shaq as a jockey, the guy with the spark plugs attached to his nipples, and the dog lapping up the Gatorade. The latter was mostly funny because everyone else was grossed out and trying to figure out what was going on, and that made me laugh. But maybe I'm weird.

5. It has been a pretty good year for the Cleveland Brown's Derek Anderson. First, he comes from the bench to start for the Browns and does a darn good job, leading them to 10-5 record, keeping media star Brady Quinn on the bench, and throwing 5 TD's in his first start and messing up my first week of fantasy football. And now, since Tom Brady is too beat up to attend the Pro Bowl (why go to Hawaii when you can go home to Brazil with Gisele?), Anderson will be replacing Brady at the Pro Bowl. Heck of a first season as a starter.

David v. Goliath: David Wins Again

Wow. That's all I can really say. No one believed it. You didn't believe it was possible. They looked fallible but it wasn't possible . . .

Indeed, it is. In dramatic fashion, the odds-on favorite New England Patriots were stunned by the New York Giants in the final seconds of the 42nd playing of the Super Bowl. The Giants came to play, but I wonder if they even believed they could win.

And I wonder this to myself, not to the Giants' coach or any of its players, as Terry Bradshaw did after the game. Someone please tell me what the point is of the question, "Did you think you were going to win tonight?" "Hell, no, Terry, I knew we were a goner but I told the guys put on some pads, get on that field, and maybe the Pats will like let us score or something." Yeah.

Not exactly. I wanted the Pats to go undefeated in the regular season, but I was pulling for Eli and the Giants. Eli has that whole "always a bridesmaid never a bride" (or groomsmen/groom, you get the picture) thing going for him. He's an everyman that you want to root for because not one sports pundit would even utter the idea of a Pats upset. But on this night, the groom watched his best man finally take the leap, as big brother Peyton cheered from his luxury box. Eli deserved every bit of that MVP, too, with that tackle he avoided. Exciting finish. And he overcame every odd - and I'm sure made some people very, very rich - and rose to the occasion when it counted. Nice touch by Fox showing the route that Plaxico Burress ran in practice compared to his winning touchdown catch. I was also touched by Burress' display of emotion during his post-game interview. We all get caught up in the hype of the game, the commercials, whose party we're going to attend (where we do not have a seat, miss all of the commercials), but to these guys, it is the culmination of a lifetime of hard work. A lifetime of people who said you would never amount to anything or didn't believe in you, and proving them all wrong in an instant, and forever. This is why sports connects with the people.

You can admit that you thought Tom Brady would launch one to Randy Moss and win the whole game. Even with 10 seconds left. It was simply too unbelievable to think that the Giants might actually win.

Perhaps Bill "I Spy" Belichick is to blame for the Pats loss, because in the end, cheaters just don't prosper. And good guys - like Eli - do finish first.

Congrats, Giants!