The NETS Effect: Kiki is Coming to Town

Having seen Ed Stefanski leave to be General Manager of the 76ers the Nets apparently wanted to bring in more help for Team President Rod Thorn. Today the Nets named Vandeweghe special assistant to the team president in a role that will essentially replace Stefanski. As a Nets fan the question is clear, should you be happy or afraid?

The answer to that question is much less clear and quite frankly I don’t know how to react. Vandeweghe is the same man to draft one of the all time greatest draft busts Nikoloz Tskitishvili. However in the same draft he orchestrated a trade that brought them Nene, and Marcus Camby for a 25^th pick in that draft (which New York took Frank Williams) and Antonio McDyess. Camby being the reigning defensive player of the year you have to say that’s an unquestionably good deal.

He also drafted Carmelo Anothy which I don’t think anyone would question, but considering Anthony was clearly the second best prospect in that draft at the time I don’t know how much credit he gets for it. In 2004 he traded away the rights for Jameer Nelson to Orlando for a 2005 first round pick. The pick turned out to be a number 20 pick which they used on Julius Hodges who’s only claim to fame is having been shot. Not a great move but considering Orlando had won the lottery the previous year I guess the thinking was it would be a higher pick than number twenty.

You could blame him for giving Kenyon Martin a huge contract since Martin has been a bust, however Martin was 26 years old at the time coming off a season averaging 16.7 points and 9.4 boards a game. (nearly a double double) On top of that Martin had improved every season he had been in the league. Can’t really predict a player is going to end up needing micofracture surgery.

So welcome aboard Kiki let’s hope the good you bring to the team outweighs the bad… and stay way from those foreign guys.

The NETS Effect: Sean Williams for ROY?

The Nets a 14 and 16 team overall have won 4 of their last 5 excluding a blowout loss to a hot Pistons team. Not coincidentally those win have come at the same time Josh Boone and Sean Williams have started to play more often. A little know fact that I think only the most educated NBA fans would know is that Sean Williams is currently leading all rookies in PER. Without watching Williams this might be surprising, but having a chance to watch him on a regular basis, it’s not. Simply put the man is a blocked shots machine. Last night he blocked Bogut on a two handed jam. Most people know he’s good at blocking shots, but they might not understand how hard he fights for rebounds. They also might not understand how he’s able to use that athleticism he exhibits defensively to get easy baskets on pick and rolls and with timely off the ball cuts to the hoop. Is Williams the rookie of the year? I don’t know, but he’s been very good.

So with a rookie like Williams and the big three of Carter, Jefferson and Kidd why aren’t the Nets better? Well for one thing Carter hasn’t been very good. He’s been playing better recently, but he’s still not the elite player that deserves 65 million. Second Jason Kidd can’t/refuses to score points. Now his role is not to score it’s to distribute, but in the past he’s scored at least a little bit more than the 11.5 points a game he’s scoring this season. Interestingly in the Nets game Saturday they came up with a close victory against Milwaukee and Kidd made some big shots. When he made some of those plays he showed some legitimate emotion. This is big because it’s one of the few times I’ve seen that on the court from any of the Nets.

The last reason is the fact that their best front court players, Boone and Williams, have so little experience. Josh Boone averaged a grand total of 11 minutes a game last year in his rookie year and will need to learn to shoot free throws. Sean Williams spent a good deal of last year not playing basketball at all after getting kicked off his BC team. While they are very talented players and learning quickly, they simply make some dumb mistakes. Lawrence Frank must have the patience to except that they are young and let them grow because without them they’re probably not talented enough to even make the playoffs.

Stefanski Makes a GREAT Move

Philadelphia 76ers's new GM, Ed Stefanski, has started off his reign in impressive fashion making a GREAT move today. He traded Kyle Korver away for Gordan Giricek and a first round draft pick. Now Giricek sucks, so that part of the move is not what makes it a good move. The first round draft pick is not even what makes it a great as it'll most likely be a late first round pick considering Utah will most likely find a way to make the playoffs. (If I had to guess, Portland will probably slow down and Utah will overtake them.) What makes this a great trade is the amount of cap space and money Stefanski is saving the team over the next three years. While the two players have similar salaries this year, Korver is signed for three years after this season at 4.7 mil, 5.1 mil and 5.5 mil a piece where as Giricek is a free agent after the season. With Chris Webber's 19 mil and Aaron McKie's 7 mil coming off the books next year Philly has aprox 35 million on the books, a full 20 mil under the salary cap. Now if he can find a taker for Andre Miller who is willing to give them an expiring (Kwame Brown?) They'd be down to approximately 26 mil.

Now they'll most likely have to resign Andre Iguodala for somewhere around 10 mil, leaving them potentially 19 million dollars of cap space for trades or free agents. Without trading Miller they'll have somewhere around 10 mil to go after guys like Jermaine O'Neal, Elton Brand, or Gilbert Arenas who have ETO's or Emeka Okafor and Luol Deng who are restricted free agents.

Now it's quite possible none of those guys opt out and it's quite possible the teams with restricted free agents match offer sheets, but at least Philly is giving themselves a chance. As currently constituted Philly isn't going anywhere. Allen Iverson and Louis Williams are nice players, Samuel Dalembert gives them a great defensive presence up front, but stars win championships in the NBA not nice players.

This is not to say it's a bad move for Utah, they could use a good shooter, which Korver has been in the past (not as much this year), and as a team that needed to trade Giricek they didn't do an awful job. But for Philly this is a great move.

The Nets Effect: Finding the Worst Player in the NBA

There’s always debate when it comes to naming the top at something. Is Kobe the best player in the NBA? Is Peyton or Tom the best QB? Who’s the worst NBA GM Isaih, or Billy King? I think you’d be hard pressed to debate however that Jason Collins is not currently the worst player in the NBA.

I had been thinking of writing this column for about a week, but after seeing Collins foul Delonte West to setup a three point play with the Nets up 4 with 55 seconds to go it became apparent it needs to be said: Jason Collins is awful.

Consider this actual conversation with my friend (we'll call him John) after 7 games in the season.

Me: i think collins may only have a total of 1 field goal this season

John:is that an exageration or close to fact

Me: close to fact

John :that's funny

Me: he went about 4 games before he made his first

John :how is that possible though even if you dont' look for your offense being 7 feet, you have to accidently make a shot

Me: nope, not collins

John: he is a very good help defender, and sets good screens

Me:uh... yeah, something like that...

This conversation pretty much sums it up for Collins. You’d think being 7 foot he accidentally help out the offense, but nope he averages exactly 0.5 points a game. You’d think he would grab at least like 7-8 rebounds a game, haha try 2.2. So surely he must block some shots? Nope, 0.08 blocks per game.

So why does he play? Mainly because people, specifically his coach, thinks he sets good screens and plays good defense. Now I’ll give him this, despite not blocking any shots, he does provide pretty decent defense against a big man with size, say an Eddy Curry, Shaq or Dwight Howard. However if you put him against a guy like Bargnani or Stoudemire, in other words a quicker big man he’s got little to no chance. As for setting good screens though… it’s a bloody screen! That’s not a talent! If you combine the fact that he’s not all-league defensive, and his offense is epically bad, he should not play, especially not 18-20 minutes a night.

He makes Ben Wallace look like an offensive dynamo.

Admittedly like any stat John Hollingers PER (player efficiency rating) isn’t perfect, but I think it’s useful. So, consider this for a second, Jason Collins had a league low 3.02 PER last season. The runner up had a PER 2 points higher at 5.33. As bad as last season’s efficiency rating was his PER this season is NEGATIVE. That’s right, -2.66, the worst PER in the League. According to that, the Nets might actually be better on offense with no center on the floor then Collins.

If you can’t find a way to contribute at least a little bit offensively with Jason Kidd as your teammate, you know you’re garbage. With Sean Williams emerging to average 8.7 points, 4.3 boards and 2.1 blocks per game in the same 19 points a game and even Josh Boone providing mostly solid D and a per of 3 in VERY limited time, it’s time for Collins to take a seat.

Can We Get Rid of Batting Average?

Now I know the traditionalists among us (read those over the age over 45) will object, but I propose getting rid of batting average. In fantasy baseball and especially in real life. What prompts this… is it the books I’ve read on sabermetrics, or some profound breakthrough I’ve had? Nope, it’s just a stupid statement about Brad Lidge by Jayson Stark. He says in 2005 Lidge was considered the best closer in baseball and in 2007 he was a bust, but his stats aren’t all that different. He cites opponents batting average which was higher in 2005 than 2007. That’s great, but all that shows is that the stat itself it means nothing.

Here are Lidge’s stats for 2005 and 2007.

	ERA	SV	BLSV	K/9	K/BB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	HR
2005	2.29	42	4	13.12	4.48	.223	.293	.323	.612	5
2007	3.36	19	8	11.82	2.93	.219	.312	.409	.716	9

You’ll notice the only stat that was better for Lidge in 2005 was avg. and if we can all agree average is all but meaningless it’ll be easy to tell why Lidge was considered a bust in 2007. He struck out less people, he allowed more base runners, and he allowed a greater percentage of bases on those base hits. Now would he have been considered as big of a bust if his 2006 season wasn’t so awful (to the tune of an over 5 era)? Maybe not. However it’s clear that blowing 8 saves in 27 opportunities, almost 1/3 of your saves, is not good. Neither were any of his other stats compared to his 2005 season.

Lidge is just one case study on the pitching side of how little batting average matters. I could go on about how OBP and slugging are such better measures for hitters as well, but I think we’ve all heard those arguments. So isn’t it time we all agreed to get rid of batting average. After all we’ve got computers nowadays computing the other stats doesn’t need to be done with an abacus.

The Nets Effect: RJ Breaking Out

The Nets finished off their second and third games of the season this weekend. They were crushed by the Raptors on Friday and struggled to a victory against the Sixers on Saturday to move to 2-1.

So what did we learn from the weekend?

1) The Nets are going to struggle against athletic big men. Throw Shaq, Eddy Curry or Big Z against the Nets big men and they’ll defend them as well as any other team does or better. However you throw a big man like Barnani or Bosh their way they’re going to struggle. When you throw two of them their way like the Raptors do and they’re going to struggle a lot. Collins and Magloire are not quick at all, and before Malik Allen hit a few jumpers last night I wasn’t convinced he deserved to even play in the D league. There aren’t a lot of solutions to this issue as Krstic is slowed by his recovering from his knee injuries and the Nets don’t seem to have too much faith in Sean Williams, the one guy who has the quickness to guard guys like Bargnani. Not coincidentally the only time the Nets looked decent in the second half Friday night was when Williams was on the court with the starters.

2) RJ is the VERY good. This is not breaking news here, everyone knew he was good, but this season he is stepping up his game even further. He carried the Nets to their two victories with 29 points on opening night, 22 against Philly and threw in 27 in the lose to the Raptors (he could have scored close to 40 if it wasn’t a blow out by midway in the fourth. More than the scoring is the efficiency he scores with. So far this season he is shooting 51 percent from the floor, 62.5 percent from behind the arc and is a perfect 25 for 25 from the free throw line. Using John Hollingers PER, Jefferson has a PER of 30 so far, more than doubling his predicted PER. Will he shoot this well the rest of the season? Probably not, but if he continues to take quality shots like he has the first three games, he will have a great season.

3) Vince Carter is still vastly overpaid. In stark contrast to how Jefferson has played Carter has been just as bad. He’s shooting 30 percent so far. It’s very simple for him, if he lets the offense come to him he will do well, if he forces it he won’t… he often forces it. Everyone knows he’s going to decline with age, but I can’t imagine it would happen this fast. You have to imagine he’ll pick it up, but there’s very little doubt he will not live up to his contract signed this offseason.

4) Kidd is still Kidd. After putting in another triple double last night, Jason Kidd is still doin his thing.

5) Darrell Armstrong is not an NBA point guard. He’s old, can’t shoot, is nothing special when it comes to passing and isn’t thaaaat quick. He used to be very quick, but as I mentioned he’s now old and considering his speed was his only discernable skill, he is no longer an NBA point guard. Marcus Williams can’t get back soon enough.

The NETS Effect: Nets v Bulls Running Diary

Note: this is my first and probably last running diary of the nets game. I figured if Bill Simmons could do it why not me? i prefer not to sit at a computer during games, and no ones paying me to do so, so unless i get a positive response it'll be back to normal analysis and opinions after tonight.

Tonight marks the opening of the NBA season for the Nets with their matchup against the Bulls in the newly named Izod Center. Marv Albert and Jim Spanarkle will be broadcasting tonights game, if ever there was a mismatch in talent in the broadcast booth greater then this, I think you’d be hard pressed to find it. You have one of the all-time great NBA play-by-play guys sitting next to a little known former player.

7:39 Nets are introduced as Stronger by Kanye West plays… I feel like I’ve heard this song once or twice in the last couple months… not sure though. The players come in from different sections in the crowd. I’ve never seen this before, it’s ok though cause there aren’t too many fans in the stands so they’ll be ok

7:42 Richard Jefferson addresses the crowd. Thanks the crowd for coming out then pulls his best Ron Burgandy and finishes by telling them “stay classy NJ”

7:46 Kidd gets his first steal of the season and fast breaks down the court. Bet Kobe wishes he was running along side of him.

7:51 Carter with his first turnover of the season on a patented drive then throw a bullet a pass to someone who never had a chance to catch the ball

7:53 man can still make some damn fine layups though

7:57 Ben Wallace drive to the hoop and scores… what did I just type?

8:00 Ben Wallace hits a turn around jumper to give the bulls a 15-14 advantage… so this is why the bulls didn’t get a big time post threat. Who needs one when you have Wallace!

8:01 Ben Gordon gets blocked for his about 50^th missed shot tonight… why do people think he’s so good?

(friend calls asking for fantasy basketball advice. The concept of a games limit is hard to understand for the novice fantasy player.)

8:25 Antoine Wright hits a 3 to take the Nets up 10. I told you he wasn’t a bust!

8:32 Malik Allen airballs a hook shot, forcing one to ask why is he taking that shot in the first place… followed by a lengthy sigh

8:38 Richard Jefferson strides beautifully into the paint and gets fouled. Josh Boone checks in with 4 minutes remaining in the second quarter marking the 11^th of the Nets 12 available players to check in

8:40 Nocioni whines as he gets called for his third foul. It’s shocking really that he would whine, I’ve never seen him do that before.

8:43 Josh Boone airballs a free throw, those are always fun to see… he then of course swishes the next one. Defining why he is a 50% free throw shooter.

8:47 Nets pick off a pass, Kidd gets it and passes it to a trailing Jefferson who slams it down. Simply put a thing of beauty

8:50 Nets have the final shot of the half, give the ball to carter, iso, set a screen carter steps back and shots a three… no where close to making it. This is one guy who’s not shocked.

Nets end a very good half up 56-41 largely on the strength of Richard Jeffersons 17 points. He shot 4-6 from the field and 8-8 from the field. The nets as a whole dominated from the free throw line shooting 21-24 from the stripe compared to 10-12 for the Bulls. Loul Deng had a quite 13 points for the Bulls while Ben Gordon had 7 on 2-8 shooting. Bet Kobe is looking real good right now if you’re a Bulls fan.

9:07 Kidd finds Jefferson cutting to the hoop who gets fouled and hits to more three throws. I’m just gonna put this out there, but as a passer I don’t think there’s ever been a better one than Kidd. That’s not to say he’s the best, but he’s equal to the best that have ever played this game when it comes to that facet of the game.

9:13 Kirk Hinrich has to sit down with 9:30 remaining in the 3^rd quaster with his 4^th foul. He’s basically been the bulls best player tonight so clearly that will not help.

9:16 Gordon hits his third shot in a row including 2 threes. To quote Marv, “he’s heating up”

9:20 Gordon apparently heard me talking shit about him cause he’s made 5-6 in the third quarter including 3-3 from behind the arc. Pulling the bulls within 3 after having been down as many as 17.

9:31 The Bulls pull even on a high arcing pullup shot by Gordon. Nets answer with a nice midrange jumper by Antoine Wright. We got ourselves a game here folks.

9:35 the quarter ends with a 1 point lead for the Nets. Not a great quarter for them, Gordon dominated while the Nets looked out of sync on offense. VC is 2 for 12 and 8-8 from the free throw line for a grand total of 12 points. Have I mentioned I don’t like him?

9:49 Nets fight and scrap for offensive rebounds, ending in an Antoine Wright falling layup as he gets fouled. Chris Duhon is down in a heap cameras didn’t seem to catch why.

9:51 Chris Rock, Jay-z and Donald Trump are in the house. When the Nets can get these guys out there you know the Knicks are in trouble. (jay-z excluded since he does partially own the team.)

9:54 Kidd tweeks his ankle… Nets season hangs in the balance.

9:56 Kidd returns after the timeout and RJ hits a three… season goes on

9:59 Deng takes it away from Carter and for an easy fastbreak slam. (writer bangs head against wall)

10:02 After Wright misses a three Kidd gets the rebound feeds Wright for another try and he nails it. Then Kidd leads a fastbreak where he feeds Carter for the layup. The Nets take a 89-87 lead and Chicago as the saying goes… wants to talk it over.

10:06 Antoine Wright puts the nets up 7 with 2 minutes to go with a big 3.

10:07 Carter airballs a three…

10:10 Kidd airball a three and nocioni ties it. Carter airballs ANOTHER jumper and the bulls call a time out with 19.4 seconds to go. Carter has again proven he is not a money player. He’ll help your team out, and he’ll put up points, but he doesn’t have that killer instinct. Unfortunately the Nets didn’t get the memo before they threw a boatload of money at him.

10:13 Ben Gordon gets his shot blocked on his last second attempt. Not something uncommon for the 6’1 shooting guard. We’re going to bonus basketball!

10:17 Ben Wallace shoots his first free throw of the night and it lands about 3 feet short of the rim.

10:18 Wright hits his fourth three of the game! Nets up 3

10:19 Wright reaches his career high with a layup for his 21^st point.

10:23 Carter with a steal! He posts up backs down passes to Jefferson for a wide open 3! Carter is great when he’s not shooting the ball! Nets up 6 with 37 seconds to go.

10:31 Nets up 5 32 seconds to go, the free throw procession starts

10:33 Nets win!

Nets get the 112-103 victory playing a very good game overall. If they play this way they will be very successful this season. Richard Jefferson with a double double 29 points and 10 boards was big for the Nets as was Antoine Wright with 21 points in 27 minutes of play. It’s just one game, so you don’t want to go overboard, but he looked like a player who could take the leap… into becoming a legitimate NBA player.

Some things I think you should know:

I think Ben Gordon is a good player, but that he’s overvalued by the Bulls and overrated by fans. He’s a 6’1 shooting guard who is more likely to get his shot blocked in a key spot then to actually make it.

I think Vince Carter is also a good player, but vastly overrated. I would write more on that but I already have.

The Nets Effect: Interminable Preseason Continues

The Nets Effect will be the name i will be using for a series of Nets articles I will be writing. The first article was my season preview written before i decided to title the series. Now, on with the article...

The Nets got an 82-71 against the Celtics u-21 team on Tuesday. Ok fine it was the Celtics senior squad, but without any of the “big three” of Allen, Garnett and Pierce it might as well have been their D-league team. The Nets were playing without Jason Kidd who is out with a back. That’s right he has a back… oh I forgot to mention, it’s also injured. (but that’s an issue for an entirely different article)

Tonight game for me was just another example to me of why the preseason is interminable. Some fans might love training camp and the preseason; it gives you a chance to see the young guys, it means the regular season is right around the corner etc. I’m not one of those fans. Whether it’s baseball, football, or basketball the only important things are getting the starters enough AB’s, reps or minutes to get ready for the regular season and make sure they don’t get hurt. Otherwise as a fan it’s almost unwatchable. It’s sloppy, it’s people who won’t make the team because quite frankly they’re just not good enough and the players don’t really care who wins or loses. It’s practice…not a game, not a game… practice.

So what do you need to know from the game?

Richard Jefferson showed extended range. Everyone knows he’s an explosive slasher and an improving shooter. If he can make his jumper more consistent from long range he will be very hard to stop.

Nenad Krstic coming off a torn ACL went out and played, and finished the game without incident. That’s the important thing, but he also showed mobility which was nice to see. Not great mobility, but enough…he was never going to be David Robinson. He did hit a couple decent outside jumpers which would be a valuable skill as they’ll likely run plenty of pick and roles and will need someone who can make a pick and pop.

Antoine Wright played very welling shooting 6 for 8 from the field, including 2-2 from the three point stripe. Labeled as a bust by some I’m not ready to call him that. Granted he hasn’t been very good, but this is his third year in the league and he hasn’t been asked to do all that much in the first two. Much like the rest of the team his game will depend heavily on his ability to knock down a consistent jumper. He’s good enough defensively and off the dribble, that a jumper will open up his game and make him a useful player off the bench.

Being a hot blond female must be nice. The Nets have a sideline reporter who, while she’s not bad, I do have no wonder if she would have a job if she was not a hot blond female. To be honest though, I’m not going to complain. In fact I look forward to turning in to see err… hear her more this season.

Nets Season Preview

The Nets come off a 41-41 season with optimism that this year’s team will be healthier and more successful. Last year the Nets team was to be kind inconsistent, to be more realistic not very good. The season was beset by injuries to key players, like Nenad Krstic who missed most of the season and Richard Jefferson who played a good portion of the season hurt before finally having to sit out about a month with that injury. When your third best player for a large stretch of the season is Miki Moore inconsistency is not to be unexpected. This is not to say Moore didn’t do a great job, but let’s be honest who’d ever really heard of Miki Moore before last season? Luckily the Nets were playing in a very weak eastern conference and were able to relatively comfortably make the playoffs. The east figures to be much more competitive this year so the question is can the Nets be good enough to make the playoff or even compete for a championship?

Well the answer to the second question is clearly no, but the first question should be a yes.

Why won’t the Nets compete for a title? Well there are several reasons, but the elephant in the room is that Vince carter is just not a championship player. He’s never really won anything in his career and in crunch time he’s more likely to turn the ball over then actually score. I would have loved for the Nets to get rid of him and if you want to know why, read this article I wrote in June.

So why will the Nets make the playoffs? Despite what John Hollinger thinks and despite the team aging at key positions (Carter and Kidd) they still have Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson. Jason Kidd is, at least on the basketball court, quite simply the anti-Stephon Marbury. He is a true point guard and a winner, when he’s on your team you simply have a better chance to win. He has made the playoffs each of the last 12 years. The Nets instantly turned into winners when he came to the team and haven’t looked back since.

Richard Jefferson, IMHO is one of the best players in the league. He hasn’t really had the chance to show whether he could be a true number one option, but it seems he’s more suited for a Scotty Pippen type role. Unfortunately there’s no Michael Jordan on this team. The nets should get a good year out of him and I see no reason he won’t average at least 18 points and 5.5 boards up from the 16 and 4.4 he hobbled to last season.

The X factors?

I’ll give you three.

1) Will the Nets actually run an offense? When Vince Carter is off the floor they tend to run a fluid offense with movement and running and passing. However when Carter is on the court they often set high picks for him with the three other guys standing around doing nothing. This will not work this year as Miki Moore, a very good pick-and-roll guy is gone and it didn’t even work all that well last year. If the Nets run a true offense and move the ball they will be much more successful.

2) How good is Nenad? Nenad Krstic statistically is the Nets best big man and was last year as well. However even before he got hurt the Nets were struggling. Can he get back to top form and/or improve? Can the Nets integrate him into their fluid offense of which I was speaking of in x factor one? Solid contributions from Nenad will be crucial to a successful season.

3) Can the Nets get anything from their bench? Assuming a starting lineup of Collins, Kristic, Jefferson, Carter and Kidd, what will they get from the bench? One assumes Marcus Williams and Josh Boone will continue to progress and hopefully the Nets can count on them for some solid minutes. Boggie Nochbar was a solid contributor off the bench but came out of nowhere to do it. Was he a one year wonder? I say no. Those three will have to carry the bench as jamal magloire, malik allen and Antoine Wright can’t be counted on for much. Shawn Williams could be an x factor of his own, but if he can stay drug free, (a huge IF) he should eventually be able to steal a good amount of minutes from Collins based on his defensive ability and athleticism.

Prediction? The Nets are a slightly better than .500 team winning around 43 games and getting whatever playoff spot that garners which is probably somewhere around the 6th-7^th seed. From there I give them a 40% chance to make the second round obviously varying based on the opponent.

Revisionist History, Marty Schottenheimer was a Hall of Fame Coach.

The San Diego Chargers won 14 games last year behind a coach who has a .613 winning percentage. According to reports after week 3 of this season Schottenheimer was apparently a hall of fame coach whose accomplishments made it ridiculous that he should be fired. Unfortunately for Marty that was not the case. After the playoffs last year in which they secured a bye in the wild card round and then lost in the divisional round to the Patriots Marty was fired. Some seem to think the only reason he was fired because he couldn't get along with GM A.J. Smith and that Smith, despite being the one to bring in all the talent on the roster, is now on the hook if Norv Turner doesn't work out.

Now I'm not trying to say hiring Norv Turner was a good idea, he hasn't been a good head coach anywhere so there is/was no reason to believe he would be in San Diego.However lets not let the Chargers poor start blur reality.These same people who think it's all Smiths fault and he never should have fired Marty seem to forget the fact that part if not most of reason for Schottenheimer's departure was that he hasn't won a playoff game in a decade... never mind in his tenure with the Chargers.

You play to win the game! and that game is the Super Bowl. If you're not trying to win the Super Bowl you might as well be playing for the number one draft pick. Sticking with Schottenheimer meant sticking with a coach whose career record is 5-13 in his career in the postseason or slightly under 28 percent. Thats not good, you might in fact say its awful. Moving away from the numbers I'm pretty sure if you ask any fan of the Chiefs or Chargers and they'll tell you every big game Marty ever coached they'd be close games and sooner or later Marty would do something to choke away the game. Basically you were not winning the super bowl with this guy... you would have been lucky to even make it there considering he never did.

So Smith rolled the dice, he took a chance and it may not work out, but a chance needed to be taken. So i don't want to hear any more about Marty Schottenheimer and his 14-2 record last year. He won the exact same thing Norv's won this year... nothing.

UFC 73 The Fix Was In!

I was lucky enough to catch Saturday's UFC 73, and there's only one thing i can think about the Matt Hamill versus Mike Bisping match: the fix was in. For those of you who don't know alot about UFC and admittedly i'm one of them, let me give some background. Both fighters were on the Ultimate Fighter 3, the UFC's version of the contender (i believe it came first though). Hamill would have faced Bisping in the final of the show, but received a concussion the fight before (and won anyway), and was not able to compete in the final. Hamill finally got his chance to face Bisping on Saturday in London. Hamill an American came out to Springsteen's 'Born in the USA' while the Englishmen Bisping came out to 'London is Calling'. Basically it was a great setup for this fight. Something boxing could learn from.

The fight was a pretty good fight, not the most vicious or technically impressive, but entertaining nonetheless. In the first round Hamill hit Bisping with a few nice punches to the face and bloodied him. he controlled that round and the second round as well. In the third it looked like Bisping won the round, but at no time did he really control the fight or look the better of the two competitors. The fight went the full 3 rounds (5 minutes a round) without a knockout however, so the decision was left up to the judges. Bisping was ruled as the winner by split decision. Hamill (who's deaf by the way) was gracious in defeat, while Bisping told Hamill a former amateur wrestler, to "go back to wrestling."

Now let me preface this by saying i know nothing about how UFC is scored, but to me if you bloody a guy and control the fight... you win. However the Englishmen in London got the victory, leaving one to ask... was the fix in?

Either way it was a great night of fights and i hope they telecast more on cable rather than pay-per-view as i would like to get more into the UFC and have no interest in pay-per-views.

You Wanted Eli to Play on That Last Drive? Ridiculous!

Eli Manning threw for 312 yards with 4 td's and only 1 int last night. By all accounts he had a great game, the only downside of which was that he got hurt. However some people were upset by the fact that he didn't try to make a "Jack Youngblood playing on a broken leg" type effort and play in the 4th with his bruised shoulder. They feel he could have shut up those who felt he wasn't a leader and instead passed up the opportunity. Some of these people include Skip Bayless (a world renowned idiot) and one of the Stewart brothers from 2 live Stews (as bad if not worse than Bayless). Now if it were just these two who held this belief it wouldn't be a problem, but I'm sure there are others out there who feel the same and I think that is ridiculous.

Lets recap the situation:

Eli appeared to have injured his shoulder on a failed 2 point conversion with 7:20 to go in the game. The Giants were down 10 at that point with plenty of time to go. The Giants manage to get the ball back and Eli with his bruised shoulder comes out and leads the Giants for a score to cut the lead to three with 4 minutes to go. If the Giants made a stop Eli could have came back on and been the hero, but they didn't. They allowed a 51 yard touchdown to put the Cowboys back up 10 with 3 minutes to go. The game was certainly not over, the Giants could have scored in a minute or minute and a half and still had 2 or 1 1/2 minutes left. However, playing against a prevent type d they were not going to be making long receptions so scoring quick would have been tough. Additionally they would then have had to do an onside kick, and lets be honest how often do onside kicks work when the other team knows its coming? not often if my memory serves me right.

So you wanted to see Eli tough it out and play on the chance that the Giants could MAYBE score and score quickly and then still have to recover an onside kick? Then i guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I would think the fans and the team would rather Eli sit it out and be healthy for next week since they have no shot of winning with an out of shape linebacker, i mean Jared Lorenzen at quarterback.

Why US Soccer Doesn't Suck

Some people don’t respect US soccer, some think it quite frankly sucks. I feel this is ridiculous and I’m going to try to list some reasons why US soccer doesn’t suck. This article is not to argue that US soccer is a powerhouse like Brazil or Argentina, but simply to say US soccer deserves respect. If I say we or us it’s because I’m an American and they are my team.

1) We own Mexico - We’ve won the last two gold cups beating everyone’s favorite North American soccer team, Mexico, to win it. Yes the Gold Cup has been in the US, but there are almost as many Mexicans in the US as Mexico (exaggeration) so I don’t know that you could really call it homefield advantage. We simply don’t lose to Mexico, except maybe at the Azteca , but I would suspect not too many teams do too well there; hard to play a mile above sea level and having things thrown at you all game. (Not speaking Spanish made finding Mexico’s record at the Azteca hard to find) At home or on a neutral field we own them. We consistently beat them in world cup qualifiers and we beat them in the 2002 world cup knocking them out. They basically fired their coach because he couldn’t beat us in any meaningful games… their new coach hasn’t either.

2) We consistently qualify for the world cup- this doesn’t say a whole lot since there aren’t a whole lot of great teams in CONACAF, but nonetheless it is not meaningless. It means we are the best team on the continent… there are only 7 in the world. We win the games we need to, to get where we want to go… the world cup.

3) Players- We have talented players. No we don’t have Kaka or Ronaldinho, or a player as talented as Cristiano Ronaldo, but we have talent. Let’s start at the back, I don’t think there are many better goalkeepers than Friedal or Keller, and I think Tim Howard is becoming one of the better keepers in the world. At the very least I don’t think he gives the other team goals, like say Jens Lehmann http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFs1nqErUjY DeMarcus Beasley after having looked extremely dangerous in champions league matches for PSV was never really given a chance there, he eventually found a home starting for Rangers who sit atop the Scottish tables.

Brian Mcbride scored double digits for an awful Fulham team last year. I can’t imagine it was through the talents of his teammates he scored all those goals. Clint Dempsey scored the biggest goal all season for them last year to help them avoid relegation. This year he has 2 goals and an assist in 2 starts and 3 substitutions. Depsite playing for a bad team he will no doubt have a solid season. Landon Donovan despite his lack of desire to play in Europe is a consistent top scorer for his teams and has won multiple MLS cups, with both San Jose and LA. The talent pool is also growing as Freddy Adu and Josy Altidore as well as others showed in the U-20’s world cup.

4) The 2006 world cup was the fluke- Some might say that 2002 was the fluke; that beating Mexico who we always beat, tieing Korea who is not all that good and beating Portugal were all flukes. However I would say 2006 was the fluke. Despite having been clearly the better team the US was not given the 8^th number one slot which was instead given to Mexico. Because of this Mexico got to face Angola, Portugal and Iran, or essentially Portugal. The US meanwhile had to face Italy, The Czech Republic and Ghana. Italy won the whole thing, and the US tied them. The Czechs had a disappointing performance overall and still killed the US team, however it was in the only match they played with their top players, including their top striker Koller who scored the Czechs first goal, and did not play after that. Even the Ghana team was a quality opponent.

Despite the tremendous odds they faced, I have little doubt if they were not so poorly coached they would have advanced. Arena after having been a “maverick” in 2002 and starting a bunch of youngsters like Donovan and Beasley decided he had to be a genius again. So he played Beasley and Donovan out of position, left Dempsey out of the squad till the final game, despite the fact Dempsey had clearly proven he should be starting. How can I say I have such little doubt? Well in the final game who scored the US’ goal? None other than Beasley in his proper leftsided position passing it off to Dempsey for the finish.

Yes they did poorly in 1998, but had a good showing in 1994 and having only been getting stronger since.

5) Their recent record isn’t too much worse than other top teams- look at the records of other teams in the last two world cups. Spain for instance, knocked out in the 1^st knockout round in 2006 after making it out of an awful group. In 2002 they won a penalty shootout with Ireland (not exactly a world power) and then lost to Korea in the ¼ finals also on PK’s. This is the same Korea team, playing at home, which the US also played to a tie. Argentina unquestionably one of the world soccer powers didn’t even make it out of the group stages in 2002. I’m not arguing Spain and Argentina don’t have better players, or aren’t better teams but at least the last two world cups their records haven’t been any more impressive than the US.

Yes the US has struggled lately; they’ve even lost 4 in a row, including getting destroyed at the Copa America. However, Copa America was the Americans 3^rd string team against some of the best teams in the world. Is the US as good as Brazil, Argentina or England? No, no, and no but that doesn’t mean the US team isn’t good or that it doesn’t deserve respect... Is the MLS as good a league as the EPL or La Liga? again clearly not, but for a league that's been around a little more than tens years it's not doing bad.

Biggest Upset Ever?

No, Appalachian States upset of Michigan today is not the biggest upset in team sports ever; it is the second biggest. For purposes of this discussion I'm only including team sports, so boxing, tennis, wrestling etc are out. I'm also only referring to American sports competitions. So the FA Cup and Cricket are also out.

That being said the biggest upset in modern team sports has to be the "miracle on ice" 1980 win by the US team over Russia in the Olympics. The US team was a bunch of amateurs, college students to be more precise facing a well trained well oiled group of professionals. The Russians had recently crushed the US prior to this game and for the US to find a way to pull out the victory has to be the greatest upset in team sports.

The second greatest upset just happened today. The preseason #5 team in the nation, with a returning senior QB and a star running back, where beaten in one of the most imposing places to play in front of 100,000+ fans, by a 1AA team. No matter how good of a 1AA team Appalachian state may be they are still a 1AA team. You can say that this was only the first game on the season, but you really think Michigan is getting a national title this year? After being ranked 5th in the nation they could very likely drop out of the top 25 and will have to win every game the rest of the way and potentially do so in impressive fashion to even have a shot at a BCS game. All that being said unlike the miracle on ice today's game was amateurs versus amateurs, thus i give the edge to the miracle on ice.

Others that deserve consideration would be the "Miracle Mets" of 1969, the Super Bowl 3 Jets, or Villanova over Georgetown in 1985. The Red Sox coming back from 3 games down against the yankees also has to rank up there, but it's a series rather than one game, so it's an apples to oranges comparison. Why i rank today's game and the miracle on ice over games like the Mets and Jets is because it was professional teams playing against each other. Similarly the Villanova Georgetown game was two big east schools playing against each other. a team might be figuratively "not in their league" but if you are literally not in the same league that makes the upset at least twice as impressive.

A comparison to todays game would be if a AAA baseball team came up and played a playoff series against a major league team and knocked that team out of the playoffs. the importance of this game despite were it is in the season is nearly of playoff importance. the disparity in facilities, attendance, ability to attract talent is also as wide as that between AAA and the majors.

Quite a day for sports, congratulations to Appalachian State for pulling off the second greatest upset of all time.

Bill Walton Is in Rare Form

Our favorite color commentator is back at it again tonight showing for the world to see once and for all why you should never do acid. Here are a few exchanges to highlight Walton’s level of excellence.

(lebron pepares for a sick dunk)
Saunders: uh oh
(lebron throws down the jam)
Saunders (jovially): As Lebron is getting ready to go up there the only words that came to mind were uh oh, which is probably what the Uruguayans were thinking. (Chuckles)
Walton: that’s also what the citizens of New Orleans were thinking 2 years ago tonight as Katrina ravaged their city…

Walton: 2 pointers are easier to hit then 3’s…. lets put it this way the big men like Amare want to shoot the threes and the little guys want to throw it down
Saunders: It’s like how athletes want to be rock stars and rock stars want to be athletes
Walton (exuberantly): Did you see Dylan’s new dates!?!

I could write about how his first comments were incredibly out of place and inappropriate in that context or how Walton once again proved how much of a hippy he is with his second comments, but I think that goes without saying. Darn, guess I just said it.

Marbury’s Words of Wisdom?

In last nights piece on Sportscenter about athletes’ reactions to Vick’s situation Stephon Marbury was interviewed. Here are a few quotes from the luminary that is Stephon Marbury, “We don't say anything about people shooting deers and shooting other animals, you know what I mean? From what I hear, dog fighting is a sport. It's just behind closed doors and I think it's tough that we build Michael Vick up and then we break him down ... I think he fell into a bad situation”

Now let’s ignore for a second the fact that Marbury is an idiot. He constantly says and does stupid things that have nothing to do with this situation, but again let’s ignore that for the purposes of this argument. Let’s also ignore the fact that these statements are insensitive. Most everyone knows what Vick did was wrong, and any condoning of his actions is to be deplored. Again however that’s not the point of this article.

The point of this article is that despite the source and the lack of sensitivity displayed I’m not sure Marbury’s comments don’t warrant critical examination. When Marbury said “From what I hear dogfighting is a sport,” I think what he was revealing was that he didn’t really understand the ramifications of what Vick had done. He doesn’t really understand why treating these dogs as brutally as they do is wrong, it’s simply a sport. Now you can Bash Marbury for this if you want or you can ask is this a more widespread problem than just Marbury? When you have guys like Clinton Portis and Roy Jones Jr also sharing similar sentiments I think it is. Perhaps its part of the communities they’ve been brought up in, and maybe there are racial or culture explanations of why these guys don't understand the significance of the dogfighting charges but it’s a problem that needs to be addressed.

Another issue Marbury brought up is that if we can agree that dogfighting and mistreating animals is wrong than why is hunting ok? In fact it is even a well respected sport in many parts of this country. Is it not inhumane to shoot a deer or bird that you’re most likely not going to eat? You could say that they don’t torture the animals, but I would guess most people don’t kill the animals instantly with one shot. These animals probably lay there on the ground having been shot for a significant time in a great deal of pain before they’re “put out of their misery.” The fact that its deer’s or quails should make little difference to how we treat the animals than if they were dogs. Now, admittedly I’ve never been hunting and I don’t know all the facts about it, but unless we’re killing animals for food I’m not sure we should be killing them at all.

Couch Released, Jaguars Clerical Error Fixed

Tim Couch was released by the Jaguars ending a very awkward situation for the team. Having thought they ordered a new set of couches for locker room the Jaguars were very embarrassed when they realized they had in fact given Tim Couch a contract to play professional football. Initially the Jaguars were excited about the prospects that they had unwittingly gotten a former first round draft pick to be a backup QB, but soon realized it was in fact Tim Couch. Unsure how to clear up this error it took some time for them to figure out how to fix it. With the regular season closing in on us fast they knew the couches would be needed though, so they gathered up the courage and let Tim know they wouldn’t need his services; they than proceeded to put in another order for couches in the locker room. Jaguars’ fans can rest easy as the couches are finally on their way and Tim Couch is far, far away.

Notes From The EPL (8/11)

Thanks to Fox Soccer channel (a soccer fan in the states best friend) I was able to catch 2 and a half games of soccer today. ( Derby County v Portsmouth, West Ham v Man City and the second half of Liverpool v Aston Villa) Some notes from the three games:

Derby County played much better than one would have thought. Unfortunately their goalkeeper should still be in the Coca Cola Championship because he let in a very savable goal. Derby was able still able to scratch out a much deserved tie. The most impressive player on either side was Tyrone Mears a right back for Derby, he made a fool of Hermann Hreidarsson on multiple occasions.

In what was mostly a dreadful game to watch, West Ham put in a poor performance against Manchester City, especially in the first half. Bobby Zamora did not look very good at all. Whether it was his poor first touches, bad passing or weak shots, he could have done much better. The Brazilian Geovanni come on as a second half sub and had a great finish for the second Man City goal. He nearly had a second goal but was unlucky to see his effort narrowly parried away. West Ham, while it's only one game, looked like a team that will have a lot of work to do this season to avoid relegation.

While I missed the first half of the game, Liverpool’s defense looked very shaky against Villa. Steven Gerrard is quite an interesting player to watch. Clearly world class for some reason every time I see him he’s running too fast for the ball and stumbling over it looking like a fool, and every time I see him he’s also doing something to help his team win. Today was no different as he converted a world class free kick to win the game, a free kick that was given on a controversial foul. You can’t hit a much better free kick then Gerrard did; there was less than an inch between the upper ninety and the ball leaving goalkeeper Stuart Taylor no chance at saving it.

What a (Yankee) Game!

Normally I don’t comment on specific Yankee games as there’s one every day, and I don’t want to write about every one. However today’s game was most definitely worth commenting on. It started off very interesting very early with Josh Towers throwing at A-Rod. This appears to be retaliation for either the infamous “Ha” game or more likely for him sliding hard into second yesterday and trying to take out John McDonald. A-Rod took exception to this of course as getting hit for the second time in two days gets old. This wouldn’t have been a huge problem except Towers yells at A-Rod to go to first. Honestly you’re Josh Towers, you shouldn’t be throwing at A-Rod in the first place and certainly shouldn’t be yelling at him. The benches clear and nothing really happens.

Then A-Rod goes to first and it looks like Towers yelled at him again. So the benches clear again and Matt Stairs almost lost control of his ‘roid rage and darted towards A-Rod. Shelly Duncan, NY’s new favorite son, was having none of it and made sure Stairs kept his hands to himself. I guess I can’t blame Towers for his stupidity; he does play for a guy who has challenged his own players to fights. No I’m not talking about Billy Martin, I’m talking about the idiot that is John Gibbons. How he still has a job given his record and conduct is beyond me.

Later Shelly Duncan takes out John McDonald sliding into second on a bunt attempt by

Shelly Duncan takes out John McDonald the whiney baby. He knocks the glove off McDonald’s hand and the ball went with it, great play. This is the same McDonald who was yelling at A-rod during the “Ha” game. Rocket then hits Alex Rios in the top of the 7^th which I think anyone with half a brain knew he would. They needed Rocket to pitch some innings, so he couldn’t do it earlier, but once they had a 7-0 lead and he’d gone 6 innings it was time. Clemens is one guy you know isn’t letting guys get thrown at with no repercussions. Why they decided to bring in Brower I cannot tell you. Luckily he only allowed two runs to score. Chamberlain got called up and got his first appearance in a 7 run game. He pitched 2 scoreless innings which doesn’t mean a whole lot given the situation, however seeing him throw 98 and strike a guy out with a 3-2 slider seems to indicate he has a bright future. Let’s just hope Farnsworthless stays far away from him.

Finally, kudos to Melky Cabrera for continuing to smash the ball and farewell to Miguel Cairo your contributions were appreciated.

Fix the Yankees Bullpen Please!

The Yankees finally came to their senses today and released Mike Myers. Myers numbers overall were not bad however, hired to be a lefty specialist, he had essentially become a righty specialist only able to get out right handed hitters. For some reason though, they decided their best option to replace him was Jim Brower. Brower who is 34 and pitching in the minors. Now Brower has had very good numbers in the minors, His ERA was 1.64 at triple A, however there's a reason you're 34 and in the minors. He had a couple decent years in the majors between 2002 and 2004 he wasn't bad. In 2005 he was ok and in 2006 he was awwwwful. The Orioles let him go; that's not a good sign. Maybe he's had injury issues i don't know, but I'm not elated to know he's going to be on the team.

To make matters worse the Yankees have better options. Edwar Ramirez who pitched a grand total of 3 games with the Yankees in the 20 days he was with the team. He came up and contributed right away, then he had a bad outing in a tough situation versus Anaheim and doesn't pitch again for another 2 weeks. Shockingly that outing with 2 weeks rest he struggled, Rivera also struggles when he doesn't pitch well. Obviously Ramirez is no Mo, but my point is his last stint with the team was not representative of his talent. What is i would like to believe more representative is his stats at triple A. He has a minuscule 0.79 ERA in 21 games pitched with 59 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched. I'll repeat that 59 strikeouts in 34 innings, that is ridiculous. Give him an actual chance. NOW!

The other option is Joba Chamberlain. They clearly plan on bringing him up eventually but apparently they don't think he's quite ready. He's a starter who they're trying out in the bullpen for the rest of the year and turns 22 in September. The early returns on that experiment have been nothing short of great. As a reliever he's pitched 4 innings of 1 hit 10 k ball. It's understandable if they don't want to rush him as he is young, and hasn't even pitched back to back games yet, but his time has to be coming soon. Farnsworthless continues to be awful and the Yankees cannot trust him with anything less than a 6 run lead.

If the Yankees want to continue winning games and don't want to burn out Vizcaino the way they burned out Proctor and Tanyon Sturtze, they're going to have to bring these guys up and give them a real chance.

Mr. Desperate Makes Another Desparate Move

Compare these two pf's stats:

Player A: 21 pts 4.5 assists 12.5 reb’s 1.5 blocks 48-50% FG 80% FT

Player B: 16 pts 1.3 assists 11 reb’s 1.5 blocks 50% FG 68% FT

Now, player A is clearly better. He scores 5 more points a game, hands out about 3 more assists and grabs an extra 1.5 rebounds a game. If i asked you which player you wanted, you have to take player A. However what if i told you player B is 22, the same age as many college grads and was entering his fourth year in the NBA, while player B is 31 and entering his 13th year in the league. What if i also told you, player A's salary for the upcoming year is $21 million and player B's is $1.7 million. What if i also told you i was giving away another young inexpensive talent with player B to get player A? would you do it?

Of course these players are Garnett and Al Jefferson and the Celtics are about to make another mistake this offseason. Apparently Danny Ainge feels it's time to cash in his chips and make a run for it. He's been stock piling young assets and waiting for the right opportunity to turn them into quality talent. Apparently now is that time for Ainge, most likely since he knows if he waits any longer he'll be shown the door. So feeling the heat he's gone out and traded for Ray Allen and is close to acquiring KG. This move would officially end the youth movement with Jefferson, and possibly Green or Rondo going to Minnesota. It would also instantly turn the Celtics a favorite to win the eastern conference the next 2-3 years.

However when Allen turns 35 before the start of the 2009 season and they're paying him 18 mil in the last year of his contract, they'll also be paying Pierce and KG 20 mil a piece at ages 32 and 33 respectively where does that leave the team? Jefferson, Corey Brewer, West, Green and Rondo will still not have reached their prime and you'll have two over the hill guards and an aging KG. Everyone knows guards don't age well. Here's the list of guys playing over the age of 31 who are guards and play anything but a complimentary role for their teams: Kidd, Nash, Iverson and that's it. All those guys are uniquely talented players, who have defied the odds to stay productive at an age over 31 and there's still only 3 of them.

If I'm a Celtics fan and this trade happens i pray they win a championship in the next 2-3 years because they're going to most likely be one of the worst teams in the league for years to come after that.

Minor League Baseball and Bowling, Small Town Pleasures

This summer I've rediscovered two of the greatest pleasure of small town America; minor league baseball and bowling. Bowling I rediscovered on a boring night with some friends. We went on a Tuesday evening, had a couple beers, joked around and bowled. We then realized the bowling alley had a deal for unlimited bowling after 9 till close for 13 bucks. So you go bowl 5-6 games and have a good time with your friends. I must caution you, bowling can go very wrong. If you go too often, or if you care too much about how you do, you're in for trouble. However if you make up fake names that show on the screen anytime you get a spare or strike you're on the right track. something like Ice Princess for your buddy Jim or Malibu in honor of our favorite American Gladiator will do fine. You should be competitive with your friends, competition is fun after all, but its an absolute must that you realize it's still bowling, it's not that important. The more you quote the Big Lebowski the better.

Minor league baseball i rediscoved at a New Jersey Jackals game in Montclair, NJ. Most minor league baseball, like the stadium in Montclair, is played is small little stadiums that are beautifully built providing a more than picturesque setting to see a game. In addition to the beautiful stadium is the fact that you can actually afford to go. Tickets are less than 10 bucks a game, so bring friends, family whoever, and buy them a meal since that's less expensive than major league parks too. When i went the other night it was 60's night, which meant in addition to 60's music being played, beer was $2 a bottle. This is something a recent college grad is not going to complain about. Thursday night is a food drive which is nice, but beer is also $1 a bottle on Thursdays, so guess were I'll be?

Another great part about minor league baseball is you don't have to care. It's not the Yankees, no one here is going to the world series, so if they lose the game is it really that big a deal?No, and that's important because when the Jackals lost the other night in extra innings that didn't ruin my time at the park one bit. Now if you want to get behind your minor league team and really root for them, that's great, but i say, go, enjoy the game, hope the home team wins, and if not go home happy anyways.

You also don't have to deal with huge crowds in the parking lots or being put in crappy seats; there generally isn't a bad seat in the house. Heckling is also a underrated part of the minor league experience. You're close to the action, and they can hear you. Now don't be vulgar, there's kids around, and don't be too malicious these guys aren't paid enough. However have some fun, when the ump makes a bad call give him a 'hey blue wadda ya talkin about' or if a batter botches a bunt give him a 'hey buddy, way to get the job done there.'

Lets be honest with ourselves, small town America is kinda boring. However, by rediscovering some of the smaller pleasures available to us we can definitely make it at least a little better.

Bashing ESPN is Old News

I often read comments about how ESPN is awful. People bash them for having stupid gimmicks or bad analysts or for trying to create angles that aren't really there. Heck i fall in this trap often, i want ESPN to do a better job and they certainly can. However the constant bashing of ESPN is really really old news. We get it ESPN has flaws, but one thing remains... it's still the world wide leader in sports.

If you want to catch the NBA or NFL draft, where are you looking to? If you want to watch an MLB game when your team isn't playing on a Monday who are you looking to? That's right ESPN and I'm certainly glad it's them rather then other options like Fox. If you're fed up with ESPN feel free to turn to the "Best Damn Sports Show Period." With a title like that it's gotta be good!!!!!!

Is this who's now gimmick something most sports fans should care about? probably not. It's simply an attention getting gimmick, but lets be honest with ourselves, it's July. In July apart from baseball the biggest sporting event is Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. The NBA and NFL drafts are over, the NFL hasn't even started training camp. The MLS is in full affect, but soccer is played once maybe twice a week and a good portion of the country unfortunately doesn't care about it. So if you're part of a 24 hours sports and entertainment network you're telling me you don't have time for a debate as inane as Who's Now? Yes they could spend mooooore time talking about the NFL or maybe add some cricket coverage, but otherwise i don't really see the problem in having this debate. thousands of people vote every day so someone must care.

I'd love to have a better option besides ESPN, but lets remember they are not in fact Satan.

Why This "Dream Team" Should Be Different

FSN broadcast the USA Blue v White Scrimmage tonight and as an American it made me feel hopeful that this US squad will be different than the recent ones which were unable to win gold medals. Several things plagued these teams most glaringly was their inability at times to beat zone defenses due to their lack of cohension and shooting. There are several reasons this team should be different. Reason number one that this team should be different is Jason Kidd. He is clearly the best American point guard of this generation. Watching him run the break with Lebron would turn anyone into a basketball fan. It's not only fast breaks where he'll help out the team though, he hit Dwight Howard with great passes into the post even against zone defenses; something the US struggled against in the past. Additionally he is a very good defender who will be able to get into passing lanes and disrupt other teams offense.

Reason number two is Kobe. Say what you want about Kobe as a person, but he is the singularly most talented player in the world. He can score from anywhere on the court, he can find teammates on the break, will work off the ball and defend. Try playing the US team man to man and Kobe will kill you. Play zone and he can pour it in from outside. With teammates like this he also will not be hesitate to pass a criticism that plagues him on the Lakers. Perhaps the biggest thing he brings is competitiveness. Kobe is arguably the most competitive player out there, he's the type that would get pissed off losing a game of checkers.

Reason number 3 is the shooters they have available. their options for shooters include Micheal Redd and Mike Miller give the US much better outside shooting options than they've had in the past. Combine these with Hinrich and Battiers outside shooting and zones should not be as big of a puzzle for this team.

The final reason is simply the growth of the team. Many of the players on this team are very young. Carmelo Anothony (23) was already the best player on the bronze medal winning team from the world championships last summer and has gotten better every year; especially shooting which will allow the rest of his game to shine. Lebron James (22) still has work to do on his jump shot, but it's better than it was. Deron Williams (23) is a better shooter than Chris Paul who he replaced. Chris Bosh (23) came into his own this year with the Raptors and Dwight Howard (21) is getting better every day.

Obviously these guys will win games and do relatively well for a regular country, but relatively well is not what the US wants to see. So, while the second half of game was very sloppy, the competitiveness hustle and talent they showed tonight indicate these guys have the makings of a team that can get the US back to the top spot on the medal stand.

Things I Don't Care About

The last week or so I've found it's been tough finding things in sports that I'm particularly interested in. The NBA draft already happened, free agency has been relatively boring, the NFL doesn't start up until September and unlike the obsessed masses in this country i can't get fired up about training camp. Baseball and my team the Yankees in particular have been getting more interesting recently; the Yankees after all have won 10 of their last 13 games. However it's tough to get realllly fired up about it when they're still 8 back in the division and 7 games back of the wild card with 3 teams ahead of them. The much easier task however is finding things that are being covered and i have absolutely no interest or at least very little interest at best.

One thing I'm not interested in is Yi Jialian. I'm not sold on the fact that he's really that good. He could likely be the Chinese version of Toni Kukoc, which isn't bad, Kukoc was a very useful player for awhile, but he was also by no means a star. So I'm supposed to be interested in a player who MAY be a decent player, and whether or not he goes to Milwaukee. Am i supposed to be shocked his Chinese team won't allow him to go there? The Bucks new all along there would be issues and they took him anyway. So when he goes back to China or gets traded let me know until then i don't care.

Another thing I'm not interested in is the Barry Bonds home run chase. He's going to break the record eventually whether it happens in July or September it will happen. While he did take steroids we can't necessarily prove anything and therefore we can't do anything about it. I've accepted it as reality and now I'm ready to move on. I'm certainly not going to celebrate this accomplishment by this guy. So when it happens let me know, I'll say good for him and move on about my day.

Also don't care about Pacman Jones coming to training camp. He's not playing this year right? As Allen Iverson said 'what are we talking about? we talkin' bout practice. not a game, not a game, practice.' Why exactly am i supposed to care about a player who won't even be playing in preseason games, much less regular season, coming to practice?

the good the bad and the ugly: NBA contracts

The NBA free agency period has started off and there have been some tremendous contracts, some awful contracts, and some even worse than that. Among those great contracts are that of Gerald Wallace with the Bobcats. He signed for 6 years and $57 million. That's about 10 million a year for a player who scored 18 points and pulled down 7 boards. While 10 million is a lot it's less than Vince Carter, Chancey Billups and Rashard Lewis, who we'll get to later. Additionally Wallace is only 24, I'll repeat only 24, at the end of the contract Wallace will be only 30. Really the only other good deal would be Fabricio Oberto's deal with San Antonio. While players like Jerome James are sitting on the bench making 5 million a year, Oberto will be making a little over 3 million a year, to start for a championship team.

Then comes the bad contracts. These include Jason Kapono for 24 mil over 4 years. It's not an awful contract since he'll only be 30 at the end of the contract, but you're paying 6 mil a year for a guy who can shoot and that's about it. Matt Carrol and Luke Waltons deal also fall in that bad area, as they're going to be paid way too much money well into their thirties.

But worse than the bad contracts are the ugly ones. By far the worst has to be the the Rashard Lewis contract. Now i love the idea of signing him, they had the cap space and he's an improvement over Darko so it could have been a great signing. However, they're going to pay somewhere in the range of 110 mil over 6 years for him. To do this they had to sign and trade, giving Seattle a second round pick and a huge trade exception, just so they could give him more money. This will lock up lewis till he's 33 at big time money, for a player who while good, ain't thaaaat good. Compare that to Gerald Wallace who signed for 57 million and it looks even worse. they're essentially paying more than twice the price for 2 more buckets a game. You would have thought they would have learned about these max contracts with T-mac and Hill, but i guess not.

now there are a lot more bad and ugly contracts i could talk about but I'm going to Vegas tomorrow so i won't take the time. Next post will probably be Tuesday, and if I'm lucky maybe I'll have gotten some inside scoops from the summer league... but most likely not.

Please don't disrespect Hank Aaron

As Bonds approaches the all-time record for home runs, inevitably people are going to want to compare him to Hank Aaron. They'll want to talk about how each one went through their trials and tribulations and were able to overcome them to become the greatest home run hitters ever. They may even talk about all the things Roger Maris has to go through in breaking the single season record. However to compare these men to Bonds is an absolute insult to both.

Hank Aaron played not too long after baseball had first been integrated when racism was still ripe in this country. He did nothing to bring negative attention to himself. His only "faults" were being born black and playing baseball. Nonetheless he received death threats and had to go through a tremendous amount of undue hatred. Despite this he remained extremely classy off the field, and performed to the best of his abilities on it. I can't fully appreciate what was happening at that time, but from what i read, and see on TV i can only admire the way he handled himself.

Even Roger Maris has a more legitimate gripe than Barry Bonds. Maris was just a nice guy who happened to have a good season, but the fans liked someone else. They wanted to see Mantle, their hero break Ruth's record, not some schmo they brought in from St. Louis. Maris ended up losing his hair because of that season.

Than you look at Bonds, who no one outside of San Fransisco has ever particularly liked. Even in college his own teammates voted to kick him off the team. His trials and tribulations are at least 50 percent his own fault (if you want to blame the media for the other 50 percent fine, but i don't). Even if steroids were common in this era it was still his choice to take them and the resulting backlash was not someone else's fault. We can debate whether Bonds knowingly took steroids or not, but when players know if a particular type of lettuce made them way an ounce more than another type of Lettuce i think Bonds knew what he was doing.

So, do I wish a classy guy like Aaron could keep the record? Sure. Do i hope a guy who's never really done anything particularly wrong in his career like A-rod breaks the record? Absolutely. However, Bonds is clearly going to break the home run record, I've come to accept that. There will not be an asterisk next to it and there shouldn't be. That being said just do me the favor of not comparing Bonds to Maris or Aaron; its insulting.