Sports Stuff

-I'm really pissed about the NBA playoffs, because everyone is acting like the Suns got robbed. I've already expressed my opinion that the suspensions were fair and just, but it's not like the Suns took the Spurs to the closing minutes of game 7. If you lose in six games, you didn't get robbed. You lost. Badly.

-Has any 'superstar' athlete ever been let off the hook the way Steve Nash has? He's a two-time MVP, yet he's never even been to the NBA finals. He's got twice as many MVPs as Shaq does, yet he has 0% of the championships that Shaq has. Is it possible that NBA MVP voting just might be worthless?

-Yeah, so the Cardinals aren't so good, but at least we won the World Series last year. Lots of teams suck in MLB that didn't win the World Series last year, so we got that going for us. Besides, if Rolen and Edmonds ever start hitting again, I think it's still a pretty good team.

-Are Deron Williams/Carlos Boozer the new, less gay version of Stockton/Malone?

Suspension!!

For those of you who are not current with the NBA playoffs (after all they are 3 months long), there was some excitement the last minute of the Suns/Spurs Game 4.

Robert Horry gave a nice hip-check (could rival any NHL hip-check) to Steve Nash, sending him into the media table. I'm sure Nash was trying to "milk" the hit, but realistically he didn't need to. Horry gave him a nice little love tap.

What happens next? Nothing really. A few pushes and a few words of "encouragement", oh yeah, and a few players leaving their bench to "check in" to some action. Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw left the bench and took about 10 steps toward the altercation before being restrained by coaches. Hmmmm..... the NBA has a rule about leaving your bench during an altercation. It clear states any player who leaves their bench during an altercation is subject to suspension.

We have the news that Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw have been suspended for one game. This leaves the Suns at a clear disadvantage in the next game. I think every sports analyst is saying the punishment doesn't fit the crime. Few have even gone has far to say that if the Spurs move on to the next round because of this the ratings for the playoffs will drop dramatically. Maybe, probably, most likely.

I believe the NBA made the correct call. The rules are in place for a purpose, to keep the game clean and players safe. Stoudemire had to be restrained by coaches. If he hadn't, who knows what could have happened. I applaud the NBA for the correct ruling.

I spit on the NBA for having such a rule. This rule is not left up to interpretation. To back up for a second, if you watch the play again there was no real altercation. No fight, no punches, no kicking. It was a "one and done" foul. Horry should get suspended, which he did. Both Stoudemire and Diaw did nothing but walk onto the court a little too far. They did not physically touch another player or get involved on the court. I think if there is room for interpretation both those players would be participating in the next game.

I'll leave it up to you.........Was it the correct call by the NBA? Is the rule fair and just?

Lingering Athletes

Hey, did you hear that 45-year old Roger Clemens is returning to baseball with his former team, the New York Yankeebockers? Yeah, ESPN is pretty much burying the story in favor of covering the Sabres/Senators series. Seriously though, I think it's cool that Roger Clemens is coming back at age 45. Obviously he's still a pretty good pitcher, but it seems that some people still feel like he should retire due to his age and relative lack of commitment.

I have one simple rule with old-ass athletes: if someone wants to pay you money to play a sport, sign the contract. I hate my job, and I will never be offered a dime to play a sport for a living. If you've got that deal, stick with it as long as you can.

One of the arguments against this thinking is that continuing playing far past their prime will tarnish their glory. Who cares? Furthermore, the badness of a player's later years are usually exaggerated. For example, Michael Jordan's return to basketball in 2001 as a Washington Wizard was widely criticized because of the storybook ending his career had in 1998. But you know what? He still scored 21 ppg. At the age of 39, he was the only Wizard who played in all 82 games.

Hell, if Michael Jordan came out of retirement tomorrow, does anyone doubt that he could be a super-useful player off the bench at the age of 44? And honestly, who wouldn't want to see that?

At the age of 36, with HIV no less, Magic Johnson played 32 games for the Lakers, averaging 14.6 points, 6.9 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game. The Lakers got bounced from the playoffs in the first round. So the team kinda sucked, but at least you got to see Magic Johnson play, right?

And now comes news that Rickey Henderson, one of the greatest players of all time, would like to come back to play MLB baseball. At the age of 48. If Julio Franco can do it, why not Rickey? If nothing else, why doesn't a team like the Royals or Devil Rays pick him up to make some news and for the potential entertainment value.

What I'm basically saying is that I wish athletes would stick around longer. Most athletes refuse to take a bench role as their skills diminish, but I think that's unfortunate for both the player and the fan. Play until you can't walk!

Kentucky Derby

Horse races are cool. It's that simple. The adrenaline one gets from the short 2 minutes of a race can be the equivalent to draining the last second shot in game 7 of the NBA championship game.

I have never been to the Kentucky Derby. I'm not from Kentucky and I don't own a big hat*. However, I have been to a few different race tracks in my life. Each time I find myself placing bets and being immersed in the races. The great thing is a $2 bet can payoff big. It's very different than the casino where a $2 bet isn't going to get you much.

This year's Kentucky Derby seems to be wide open. They don't have a clear cut favorite, but two horses (Curlin and Street Sense) have the top odds. Betting on these guys my enlarge your wallet, but when you throw them into a trifecta or daily double (not Jeopardy) they can make your pocket a little fatter. The race is this evening around 6pm (eastern time) and in Buffalo they have off-track betting so I have placed a few bets on the race.

So if you don't mind root for Curlin, Street Sense, Scat Daddy, Stormello, and Tiago.

*I never understood why people where those huge hats. Maybe it was to keep the sun out of their eyes? I hope Queen Elizabeth wears one. That's right, the Queen will be there.

Arrrrr.......

Former Kansas City Chiefs running back Christian “The Nigerian Nightmare” Okoye has signed up for a CBS reality show called “Pirate Master”. The synopsis: “On "Pirate Master," 16 contestants will live aboard a 179-foot, square-rigged barque. Over the course of 33 days, they'll live as buccaneers, traveling around a Caribbean island in search of a treasure totaling $1 million. Each episode will find the contestants gathering at Pirate's Court, overseen by host Cameron Daddo, where they'll state their case and somebody will be cut adrift.”

This could very well be the coolest show in history. And I’m pretty sure it’ll be much more watchable than “Pirates of the Carribbean: At World’s End”

Summer Blockbusters Part II

JULY

Transformers- When I first saw this preview last summer I wet myself in the theater. Growing up Transformers were a staple among young boys. This movie has an awesome cast and I'm sure the visual effects will be out of this world (no pun intended). I do feel that the story line will be a bit bland and therefore make the movie pretty bad, but since the word Transformer has been in my vocabulary for 20 years and I can sing the theme song by heart I am going to see this one (twice).

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- I hate the Harry Porter Books. It's like a cult. People counting down the days until it is released, it just sickens me. Maybe another reason is because the books come out during the summer time and at camp there are hundreds of packages of Porter books. There are even parents who send the kids the book chapter by chapter. So strange. Anyway, the movies have been getting better and better and darker and darker. The last one (Goblet of Fire) received a PG-13 stamp. Someone even died. I'll probably go see this one because the movies are pretty good and getting better.

The Simpsons- Unfortunately growing up I wasn't a huge Simpson's fan. I have probably seen every episode, but I'm not the fanatic who watches the reruns and memorizes the lines. However, I do have about 3 friends who do and I have since caught on. So I'm somewhat of a Simpson's buff. Will I see this movie? Like I said before, I'm not a huge animated movie fan. I'll see this one with a group of people and only after I heard it was good. I did the same thing with South Park.

AUGUST

The Bourne Ultimatum- I think this franchise is great. The first and second movies were very well done and Matt Damon got the better end of the stick in movies than Ben Affleck (sucker). Since the movies are based off of books I'm sure story line will be something of ending his feud with Tredstone or the government or whoever is responsible for his "suffering". It is easy to say this movie will be action-packed. I do hope this being the third installment it doesn't flop. Seeing this one.

Rush Hour 3- Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth? Skipping this one. The second one was horrible and the first one wasn't that funny to begin with.

Interesting enough 10 of the films listed are sequels. Is Hollywood running out of ideas? Or are they creating such good franchises that people want more out of these characters?

The Greatest Post of All Time.

-Yeah, so Jeff Weaver probably should have signed with St Louis, but I'm sure glad that he did not. Not to say that he would be doing better with the Cardinals, but you can't really do worse than he's doing right now. Last night, against THE ROYALS, he pitched only a third of an inning, and gave up 6 runs. His ERA now stands at 18.26, and he has pitched more than three innings in only one of his four starts.

-Discussion topic: What gaming console is the best of all time, taking it's time and limitations into account? I think it's probably the Super Nintendo, which was a monstrous jump over the original NES and much better than it's competitor in the Genesis. Honorable mention goes out to N64, which was also pretty great, but it just didn't have enough games for it. Outside of Goldeneye, Mario 64, and Ocarina of Time, it didn't have much of anything.