BASEBALL: TRULY AMERICA'S GAME

Whether it is on the field or in the stands, baseball has given us some great fighting moments. Here is a look at 2 of the funniest:

THIS GUY JUST GOT CUSTODY OF HIS CHILDREN

BYE BYE BECKHAM

Beckham bids farewell to European soccer the only way he knows how, with kisses. Welcome to America David, where soccer has come to die. I wish you all the luck in the world, in changing the fate of American soccer, but if Pele could not do it, what makes you think you can?

USELESS CHANGES

Nothing better than a white guy trying to reclaim the game of basketball by raising the rims. According to the mind of Tom Newell, former Sonics coach, by heightening the rims, it will take away athletic advantages and make the game focus purely on skill sets. Newell would like to turn every team into the San Antonio Spurs, where the focus is on team play and fundamentals. While it would be nice to see more teams play like the Spurs, the NBA would be in serious trouble for ratings and attendance. Newell does not seem to have a clue at how global the game of basketball has become, and that globalization attracted people of all different skill sets. What would Steve Nash's fundamental basketball look like without Shawn Marion flashing to the hoop for a tomahawk jam? This is part of the game, and Newell and his counterparts will just have to deal with that.

While there is definitely room to improve the game by players improving their skill set, Newell is going about it the wrong way. The core of this issue points out how many American players have not developed as players, while they got by on their athletic attributes, but as we saw with the NBA Finals this year, or recent international competition, team basketball will prevail in the end. American basketball has been undergoing a change in focus and it will trickle down into our colleges and high schools in due time. No rash moves need be made just yet. NBA GM's have taken note of the Spurs ways of success and are beginning to clone it with their ballclubs. Take a look at Toronto and don't tell me they looked at what the Spurs were doing, and are trying to replicate it.

HIT LIST for 6/15/07

• Ever wanted to know what it is like to masturbate in public? Just ask former NBA player Byron Houston. (Larry Brown Sports)
• Sidney Crosby gets rewarded for saving the NHL. (ESPN)
• Whats next after leading your team to the National Championship, winning the Heisman Trophy, and playing 11 NBA seasons? Coaching high school basketball? Wait, he is an assistant coach on this HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL team? (Sports Illustrated)
• Baron Davis hasn't been busy since his team got ousted by the Jazz.

HALF HEARTED CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER

If a Spur wins a championship and nobody's there to watch it, did they really win? I don't know why I just can't congratulate the Spurs on winning the championship, without feeling the need to tarnish it in some way.
All I want to talk about today is how injuries and suspensions kept the playoffs from being exciting. It is really a shame when the first round of the playoffs is more exciting and competitive than the NBA Finals. Has it been that long since every fan was gushing about how exciting it was to watch Golden State dismantle the Dallas Mavericks? Don Nelson's small ball completely threw Nowitzki for a loop, tarnishing his MVP award along the way.
Not only was that series fun, but I would go as far as to say that the Nuggets gave the Spurs a better run for their money in the first round than the Cavs did in the championship game. That's how loaded the Western Conference was this year. Any team from the West would have come out of the Eastern Conference this year to represent. With Dwayne Wade's injury, the Heat had no shot at defending their championship, as the rest of the Heat looked old. If Antoine Walker never shoots another ill-advised three pointer again, I can die in peace. The rest of the East looked no better.
With the top two picks going to Western Conference teams, parity among conferences seems to be far away, so once again we will have to tune in to the first 3 rounds of the Western Conference playoffs for some real fun. Imagine a Suns team without any suspended players and another big man that they traded Shawn Marion for going against the Spurs in a 7 game series. The Spurs will be a year older, but do not expect them to slow down. They are the best coached team in the game, and with Tony Parker running the point, the pace will still be pushed.
So here we go into another NBA offseason, where every team will be making changes that their fans will spin into title dreams. This is time for teams to sell tickets, so get ready for reports how Nazr Mohamed is the missing piece to a title or how the big signing of Vince Carter will put a team like the Bobcats into the finals. Good luck fans on keeping your heads above water, with all that is going to go on in the offseason.

National BORING Association

Last night the Houston Rockets agreed to trade Juwan Howard to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Mike James, and I ask you who cares? Not even this can get fans to tune back in. Until the Eastern Conference gets a solid team that could compete with the Western Conference powers fans will continue to tune out the NBA.

Don't Look Back Red Sox

Yanks have won their 8th in a row and I am still not aloud to talk about them if Jackie were to have her way. A-Rod hit homer number 25 on the season, which puts him on pace to break Roger Maris's record by the All Star Game. A-Rod has put the turmoil of his stripper girlfriends on the backburner, as he has put together an amazing run for the home run record. Is it blasphamy, to talk about a home run record that does not include Hank Aaron? Would Bud Selig show up if/when A-Rod breaks the single season home run record?

The Rock Takes Time From His Busy Movie Schedule To Fight Tonight

Former Heavyweight Champion Hasim Rahman fights tonight on some channel I could not find on my tv, Versus. If anyone has this channel please tivo this for me. I would love to see Rahman in action again, if anything just to get the image above out of my head.

For a breakdown of The Rock's career (Wikipedia)

Happy Birthday Dirk Nowitzki

HIT LIST

Andre "Bad Money Management" Rison (Deadspin)

Just another NBA Mock Draft (Sports Illustrated)

John Daly can't even win at home. (Deadspin)

The Cavs Are Done!

So we are 3 games into the NBA Finals and San Antonio has cemented their place as the best team in the NBA. They have completely dismantled the Cavs, taking them out of their offensive flow, which was clearly LeBron going one on one. This has been effective for the whole playoffs, but he had yet to play a defender so aggressive and a team so defensively disciplined. Bowen has forced LeBron to catch the ball further out than he is used to, while still being quick enough to move his feet in order to keep LeBron from blowing by him. These two things have allowed the Spurs team to rotate effectively in order to keep the Cavs out of a rhythm. LeBron has never been effective as a jump shooter, nor have his teammates, and the Spurs are forcing them to be.

Outside of Daniel Gibson, nobody on the Cavs team has been able to elevate their game to the level needed to win an NBA championship. I am including LeBron in this grouping as well, because while he does need help from teamates to win a game, he has taken too long each game to be aggressive. He has waited till the fourth quarter of each game to attack the rim. When he attacks, he allows his teammates to gain confidence and not letting Bowen dictate his game. This is the LeBron that the Cavs needed for all 4 quarters of each game. He is the only offensive weapon on his team, and he showed in the Pistons series that he was capable of putting his team on his back for a whole game. He has yet to do that in this series, thus the Cavs are on the verge of elimination. Anybody want to still compare LeBron to MJ?

I am not delusional enough to think LeBron being aggressive for 4 quarters would have been all it takes to beat the Spurs, but I do believe it would have made the games more interesting. The fact remains that the Cavs are not a good team, and the Spurs are a great one. The Spurs have showed season after season, that they are the class of the league. While other teams tinker with lineups, the Spurs give you the same look every night. They are not shy about the sets they run, but they do them so effectively that they don't care if you know. It all starts with Duncan, the best big man of his generation, setting the tempo on offense and defense. He is a very unselfish superstar, often deferring on and off the court to teammates. Boring to some, amazing to others, Duncan is the MVP of this league season after season, but his stats aren't flashy enough for the writers to talk about. He is to basketball what Tom Brady is to football. So the Spurs will win another championship, and the rest of the NBA will admire them, while casual fans will call them old and boring. Well here is to old and boring then, congratulations once again.

Best Billboard Ever

'Oden : Honk Once' & for 'Durant: Honk Twice'
'Who Will It Be At #1?'

A Tale Of 2 Fighters

After their battle in Las Vegas recently both Rampage Jackson and Chuck Liddell blew off a little steam. It sure does not look like Liddell was the loser when all was said and done.


Rampage Jackson is boring:

Bonds Hits #747

Cheaters never win, but they do get great highlight tapes made of them.