Sunday, February 24, 2013

Spring is in the air!

It's Daytona week when it comes to the sports world and knowing that a women is leading the poll coming into the biggest race in America is a pretty awesome way to start of this blog...

But I'm not going to do that.

I'll start off with saying that NASCAR has some serious thinking to do when it comes to fixing it's safety when it comes to the fans. My knowledge on NASCAR is slim, but after watching that wreck on Saturday, it really does put into perspective how precious life can be.

Spring Training started on Friday and the only thing I can wrap my head around is how big Mike Trout got over the off-season. The dude is now up around 240 pounds and the guy looks like he's trying out for the combine this weekend. As long as he can keeps his speed up and steals thirty bases, I don't think anybody will be complaining.

Back to Danica! If she wins the Daytona 500 this Sunday, will it really change the perception of NASCAR? No, because they are still turning left, drafting, and driving 60 miles per hour on pit row. Her winning would boost morale for women's equality, which is always a good thing, but on the whole I think anyone with a thriving pulse is rooting for Tony Stewart to win the race. The guy is arguably one of the best drivers to ever live and he hasn't won the race in his many years of racing. Hopefully he finally gets it this Sunday, I'll be rooting for him.

Back to real sports shall we?

Rory Mcilroy and Tiger Woods were knocked out of match play by the lowest seeded golfers on Thursday, the Olympics are making wresting tap out starting in 2020, the Chicago Black Hawks got off to the hottest start in NHL history with no training camp, and the Sacramento Kings are unloading before they head to Seattle next season by trading their #5 draft pick from 2012, Thomas Robinson, for diddly squat. These stories have almost been as crazy as Manti Te'o at the combine. Apparently dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge are in Manti's brain chemistry now because he doesn't know how to answer a question head on. I guess it makes sense especially when your reality has been blown to pieces by dating a man online who you thought was women, but either way dude, your going to have to answer the questions eventually or your stock will do THIS!

Coach K won his 950th game, still not as good as Pat Summit's 1000+ wins in women's basketball which hopefully Mike Krzyzewski will surpass sometime in the next couple years. There's a reason why Coach K is a Hall of Famer, and why his train just keeps rolling. Congratulations Coach!

Oh speaking of basketball, the NBA All-Star Game was Sunday and the West Coast represented again. Apparently raptors are not as smart as we thought they were, Click Here! Also, CP3 showed why he is the best point guard in the league by winning M.V.P., then getting blown out by San Antonio on Thursday by an actual M.V.P. candidate in Tony Parker. The Spurs are running away with this thing in the west and it almost looks like nobody is going to catch them unless the Thunder take charge here within the next month. Expect a blog on the Spurs after they win their 50th game this season, which will be the 16th straight season they will have done so.

The trade deadline was actually dead this year. I slept through it expecting updates on my phone to start bugging me, and nothing worth waking up for struck my interest. The only deal I found appealing was the J.J. Reddick trade. Now that J.J. Reddick is in Milwaukee with the quickest back court in the league, his presence on the outside when Ellis and Jennings drive the lane should make them a serious dark horse contender in the East. Yeah right you say? Name a quicker back court and get at me. Yes, the Heat have Wade and Chalmers in their back court and maybe the best defensive forward in the league with LeBron, but considering the speed of Ellis and Jennings, it will be up to the outside cast to step up. If that outside cast can put together some good runs and wear down a teams back court, look out.

M.J. and Charles Barkley turned 50 this week, and Matt Birk retired from NFL after a 15 year career and winning his first Super Bowl this past season... Apparently I'm getting older too. Click Here!

Some big upsets in the real basketball world happened this week with Florida losing to Missouri 63-60, and Miami getting blown out by Wake Forest 80-65. There were some great games as well with Michigan State and Indiana facing off in one of the biggest games of the regular season. It was a scrappy, Big 10 classic, and with the way Indiana finished off Michigan State in the final three minutes, it cemented their right at a #1 seed in the NCAA tourney this upcoming March as they won 72-68. 

While the Big 10 has put together quite a power conference this season, the Big 12 had something to say about that on Wednesday night. With a double OT thriller in Stillwater, the Jayhawks came into Oklahoma State and mustard out a win while only hitting one field goal (the game winner) in both overtime periods. The one thing that stuck out to me the most was how consistent the referee's were in both the overtime periods. Every foul was a hard foul, there were no blown calls in the overtime periods, and the game was won and lost between the players instead of the whistle. I want to see more Big 12 referees in the NCAA tourney come March because unlike in the Big 10, they let the players play in the Big 12. We have three weeks till selection Sunday. Select the right referees too.

One tribute that needs to be paid is to the great family of Jerry Buss. The man died on Monday marking a sad day before the start of the second half of the NBA season. The man brought L.A. the best product the NBA had to offer for the past 30+ years and he did it with pure class and dignity to his organization from top to bottom. I never knew who Jerry Buss was, but I also never had anything bad to say about him considering I am a large Laker hater. That should tell you all you need to know about his character when even the most hated of sports fans towards the Lakers have the most respect for your brand. I find it fitting that the way Kobe Bryant finished out the All-Star game was the same passion that he has shown every year he has been in L.A. and that it was the last day of Jerry Buss's life. It goes to show you the dedication and the love for the game Kobe has even though he has made it to the highest level of stardom. He's still willing to play for that kid in the upper deck lucky to get a ticket to the game, while guys like LeBron play relaxed and don't feel the need to perform at 100% because the game doesn't matter. That all trickles down from management to the players, and if there is any player to embody the spirit of competition and love for the game, it's Kobe Bryant. Jerry Buss only helped fuel that fire and give him that opportunity to do so. Watch this, this is a great video.

Hopefully I get a piece of this some day, then my life would be set. Other than that, I'm out of here. Next week, and from now on, I'll be posting my blogs on Sunday night instead of Saturday night/Sunday morning. See you next week!

Saturday, February 16, 2013

LeBron James < Kobe #FACT

Ryan Braun caught for steroids... Wait... Hold on people. I thought this was 2013! Not 2012!

NBA all-star weekend = bust. Until LeBron actually decides to suit up and prove he is one of the best dunkers in the land, he'll never live up to that lethal comparison.

Apparently this thing called rivalry week in college basketball happened, but with all the boobs, murder, LeBron, and valentine's day action, I couldn't really find the love. After the Michigan State rout over Michigan, I really got tuned out of the whole rivalry week. So I decided to eliminate that from the discussion and talk about what really mattered this week; the disappointment of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2013 edition that came out on Tuesday along with NBA action and South Africa news.

Let's get to serious news first so we can end this catastrophe on a high note. Oscar Pistorius apparently murdered his girlfriend, former model and humanitarian for domestic violence and sexual assault victims, on an alleged accident when she came home late on valentines day. Personally, I don't find this to be sports news worthy, but I'm going to stay on the positive side and believe this was an accident. This man is too much of a hero and too much of an inspiration to all disabled individuals to have done what he did even if previous domestic violence accounts had taken place around his household. The blade runner, what Pistorius is known as, performed a terrible act no matter the outcome and unfortunately will stick with him for the rest of his life.

Let's get back to happy time shall we? The SI Swimsuit edition!

I'm not going to lie, last year's magazine was outstanding! I thought most of the pictures were amazing and Kate Upton was really incredible in the place they put her in for the main piece. This year though, just not as good. First of all, did anybody notice that Kate Upton boosted her breast size from the previous year? It's absolutely ridiculous. Not that she didn't look great, because she did, but her boobs really were the only thing I could focus on because they were so over the top and on the verge of slipping out of her outfits.

Her boobs totally changed from last year's edition to this year and it disturbed me. I like a nice pair of jugs, don't get me wrong, but when the consistency changes so drastically in the span of a year, you wonder a little what's going on behind the scenes. It just goes to show you models always need to update something or else they just don't stick around. I find it despicable personally because I loved me some Marisa Miller a couple years ago, now she is non-existent. Apparently Marisa Miller didn't do enough to improve her image.

Kate Upton's boobs don't even look real fellas! I understand that all of the photos are photoshoped and put together in a fashion that are meant to sell products and get women to buy things (or men to buy things for their woman), but this year just didn't do it for me. This isn't a shock to me personally because the swimsuit edition has done this to me every other year where one year is bad and the next year is amazing. This was the year it was another crap shoot... but anyways let's get back to what really matters and why you all are here.

LeBron James is not from this planet. The man took his greatness to a whole other level and his 60%+/30+ points for six straight nights was beyond ridiculous. This stretch of dominance was the only thing that reminded me of Kobe when he had that 50+ point game streak back in March of 2007.

The four letter network is not helping when talking about this greatness when they keep pouring on the Micheal Jordan 50th birthday celebration and asking Jordan who is better. Of course you know he's going to say Kobe, the dude never left his city and won 5 championships as a scorer emulating all of what Jordan did in his career. Also, why do we need to keep comparing LeBron to guys like MJ and Magic? He's his own guy and he just proved it doing something that only Moses Malone did before Magic and MJ were in the league.

Oh, but wait a minute, they forgot to mention that Kobe actually performed in a Dunk Competition. Let me be clear when I say this about LeBron. He can win all the rings, all the medals, and all the awards that he wants. But, when it is all said and done, if he doesn't even attempt to be in a slam dunk contest once, he will never be in the discussion of the all-time greats, period. End of discussion.

Percy Harvin was in the news again for his antics off the field and what he is doing to the Minnesota Vikings front office. I have a Vikings vlog on it if you would like to see: Click Here! You can subscribe to my new channel if you would like to follow my Vikings vlogs during the off-season and follow every Sunday when the season starts! Click here if you would like to check out previous Vikings vlogs on my old YouTube channel. Again, feel free to subscribe.

Joe Paterno was in the news again. This time so that his family could defend him during the release of the Freeh report. I think we can all agree that Paterno's sports legacy was fantastic and up there with one of the most legendary, but his family is only doing this in the interest of what every family would do. They should defend him. Why would they say anything else about the legendary figure of their family? He didn't do enough when it came to the actions of Jerry Sandusky, but neither did hundreds of other people. To me, this doesn't take Joe Paterno off the hook, but at the same time, neither should those hundreds of other people who failed to stop the disgusting Sandusky parade. Either way, Joe has been dead for over a year now and this story has thankfully hit its conclusion. Hopefully, some form of justice has come to the victims. Let's just close it at that.

Back to sports!

Nerlens Noel, the astounding freshmen out of the University of Kentucky, tore his ACL during this week opening up another discussion about one-and-done athletes in college basketball. It also opened up another idea of how athletes should be compensated especially for college football. Most people have heard about the Maurice Clarett trial and how he tried to enter the NFL Draft after his sophomore season. Well, JaDaveon Clowney is trying to do the same thing. Fortunately, he's not going to be allowed to. He'll play one more season at South Carolina. People have brought up several different ideas on how to compensate for NCAA athletes because some of them only have aspirations to go to the professional level when it comes to athletics. Here are my two cents and I think it should seriously be considered. CLICK HERE!

A couple more things before I get out of here and head into this dead zone of the sports world and prepare myself for that race in Daytona.

Boston and Denver played a three over-time game. Cool story bro, but did you watch college basketball last weekend? Impressive but eh... not so much.

San Antonio beat the Chicago Bulls with no superstars on the court Monday. only proving more and more that coach Popovich is a top five all time NBA head coach.

Mike Vick received a one year deal from the Eagles. I think it was a good signing considering QB's are hard to come by this off-season along with Chip Kelley's style of offense which will either suit Vick or kick him out of the league all-together. Also the release of former Heisman trophy winner Charles Woodson from the Packers, and possibly the quickest defensive end the NFL has ever seen in Dwight Freeney when in the prime of his career was released by the Colts. They will both find somewhere to work during this off-season, I have no doubts about that.

Micheal Bourn signed a 4 year/ $48 million deal with the Cleveland Indians. He'll have fun being the only hope in that city besides Kyrie Irving.

By the way, Brandon Knight still can't find his ankles. Click Here!

Thank you all and enjoy the All-Star Game! Hopefully the stars will actually show up and do something, and hopefully they won't crash the party like this Click here!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

College Basketball...Absolute Madness!


Remember when the Pro Bowl was on the Sunday after the Super Bowl? I wish it still was considering the lack of action this week. That is if you're not a basketball fan.

It is five weeks until selection Sunday in the college basketball world, and that means only one thing, Valentine’s Day is on the horizon. If you're single you save cash. If you're affiliated with another women/man/etc. you spend your tax refund on your socially shaped relationship, make love while drunk off chocolate wine, and eat candy that becomes perishable fast enough to use in a calculus class. Dollar bills y'all.

There were some games that struck a chord inside my small little brain this week which I'd like to share in the most exuberant of fashions.

What do Arkansas, Texas Christian University, Illinois, and Wisconsin all have in common? If you watched this week in college basketball, all four of those teams made their case for jumping into tournament discussions. Florida, Kansas, Michigan, and Indiana lost and they were all top five teams in the NCAA basketball landscape heading into this post-super bowl week.

Indiana lost on the worst defensive play I've seen a #1 team lose to on an in-bounds pass under the basketball. Arkansas actually did something athletically impressive this academic year, and Bill Self blew up in his post-game press conference at TCU. You would think that after winning a national championship in the mecca of college basketball he wouldn't react the way he has, but after three straight losses this late in the season, a #1 seed in the big dance looks like a glint of light now. At least KU didn't get rained on like Golden State on Tuesday with 23 three-point baskets or get screwed like Ohio State on a non-call layup in OT... And that was only one OT.

Speaking of Ohio State, even though they lost to Michigan early in the week, they may move up in rankings anyway. Ben Brust lofted two shots in the waning seconds of the 2nd half and OT to lift Wisconsin over Michigan only elevating the Big 10's status as the best basketball conference in the land... And that was only one OT.

Why am I saying that was only one OT? Click Here! Maybe your mind will be blown. Unless you remember the Syracuse/Connecticut Big East Tournament game on March 13th 2009, then it's just another Big East thriller. All I know is, if you're not excited, impressed, shocked, awestruck, overcome with some form of emotion, or (insert adjective here) then go to your local hospital and donate your organs now. You are not living.

The only team I see licking their chops this weekend when the new rankings come out is the "U." The University of Miami is a team on the rise after smacking Duke a couple weeks ago and on Saturday wrecking UNC 87-61. This makes it really difficult to not put them in the top three heading into next week with a little more than a month left before the big dance. Maybe Ray Lewis will do a squirrel dance at their selection party if they get a #1 seed.

O.K. I know that was a lot of basketball, but let's get back to Beyonce shall we?

Reddit was clutch, Twitter impressed, and Facebook was confused. I'm not going to attempt to make a joke because they just won't be good enough. The super bowl was a complete joke until the power went out in the Super Dome. The score was 28-6 as the 49ers were struggling to move the ball on offense and about to attempt a 3rd and long situation when the next thing you know, the power shuts off. Can you imagine if the 49ers would have won the game after that debacle? Ray Lewis would have committed another murder and Flacco would have been teased like a nine year old who just got his lunch money stolen in the bathroom.

Also, what is Joe Flacco on? He said he would have tackled Ted Ginn if Ted would have broken free on that run back on the final kickoff. Ray Rice also thinks that Flacco is the best Quarterback in the NFL? There's more than sniffing salts going around in Baltimore everybody. Rice forgets that guy Eli Manning has done what Flacco has done twice, and nobody will put Eli in the top five when it comes to QB rankings. The ignorance... it is so bliss. Also, Anquan Boldin is thinking of retiring in his early thirties if the Ravens don't re-sign him. I'm sorry, but if seven digit paychecks for a couple years from a C+ team won't satisfy your bank account, then you seriously need to get a brain scan done.

One more basketball story really quick...

Kevin Garnett got his 25,000th point this Thursday in a blowout win over that purple and yellow team in LA. I found it especially fitting he did it on his patented shimmy-fade near the left elbow. A move that he has been using since I was going through puberty. The man has always been possessed but with being in the league for 16+ years and still going at a relatively productive rate, I have nothing but sheer respect for the man. *Props KG*

National signing day is probably one of my favorite topics when it comes to college football because it perpetually refreshes my mind every year and reminds me of how messed up our society is. Alex Collins is just another perfect example of how awesome the path our country is taking. His mom really doesn't understand the definition of freedom does she? Anyways read this story if you haven't, and if you're from another part of the world besides this "great fifty state" minutia, be proud that your country's families are not this ridiculous about something as meaningless as sports.

One last thing before I head back the gym and get my antler spray on, this baseball card made a lot of money and is nearly one-hundred fifty years old. I find it fascinating that a childhood hobby item earned this much cash in an auction. It's one thing if it is the Honus Wagner card that we all know and love, but it's a freaking Brooklyn Athletics team card.

Maybe I should just keep my John Rocker rookie card and sell it when I get terminal cancer at seventy and add some tasks to my bucket list.

At least we all know King Felix got paid what he deserved.

I live here in the Pacific Northwest and if there is one person that deserves the salary he is getting, it's that guy. A seven year, $175,000,000 contract is what he has earned, and if you are cringing because of the huge contract, he's twenty-six years old and will be thirty-three by the time the contract is up. He has earned every penny of this contract and knowing the caliber of person Felix is, he will fulfill his duties. Especially more than a baseball card that has lasted for almost one-hundred fifty years.

The one thing that makes me laugh the most about this Felix deal is that the east coast media has to question weather he's healthy and weather he'll make to the end of his contract. It's a legitimate concern, but how come nobody questioned A-Rod's contract back when he signed his $250,000,000 contract back in the early 2000's? The dude will be out for an entire season in 2012 and he'll take $30,000,000 with him without picking up a bat. The declining velocity is a problem that Felix has had for the past year, but that didn't stop him from competing for another Cy-Young Award along with a perfect game in mid-August.

I love how at the beginning of the week, Felix was completely healthy, and now he's viewed a liability. Fantastic! I'll go sign a contract and hangout in a hospital now. Maybe the media will love me... Please?

Sunday, February 3, 2013

7 months of no football starting...NOW!

Now that the NFL season has been capped off by another Super Bowl full of bonanza, societal debauchery,  and millions of dollars spent on thirty plus seconds of mainstream american advertisements, you can now bask in your pit of despair of manly proportions for several months untill predictions and excitement fill the air once again for NFL Football.

We all know nothing happens in the sports world after Super Bowl Sunday. Us men, we cry in shame every Sunday until the undergrads kick it off in the heat of late August.

While we all wait for that unforgiving violence of the sport we call football, there are some things that happen within those long and arduous months.

Rednecks show up in Daytona Florida for some race I can't even spell or say without sounding like I failed a G.E.D. entry exam. There's a weekend dedicated to healthy basketball players attempting to stay healthy in basketball related events along with some game they play on Sunday that allows gamblers to make back their money they lost on Super Bowl Sunday. There's this madness tourney where young men put a spherical object inside a cylindrical object and get excited for no particular reason. There's also some golf event where they play for a green jacket in April along with some horse race in Kentucky in May. Oh yeah, and they have two more races after that along with three other so called major golfing events. We also have at last, and least, two Texas teams showing up somewhere in an american league for the first of 162 games on March 31st. You could definitely say, "Houston, we have a problem."

I also forgot to mention, this is just the beginning. I forgot about the awesome soccer, tennis, and cricket events that are also going to occur on ESPN26 this summer.

Oh, the humanity! Doing something other than sit in front of my TV for eight hours on a chilly afternoon. Now I have to go outside and be productive? Meh... I think I'll just turn on some NBA Showcase on ABC, vacuum the rug, and wait till the sun comes out.

I'll go grab some deer antler spray, workout for a month and a half, and see you all at the NFL combine. Or, maybe I'll just see you next week with another Blog. I'll probably talk about the NHL and Lord Stanley because its the only trophy better than that Lombardi thing lifted today.

Either way, no matter what happened today, Ray Lewis you have been a joy to watch perform on the field and your antics fit in perfectly with this self driven society today. Congrats on being a first ballot hall of fame player, and I plan on hearing your God speech in Canton come August 2018. That is, if brain trauma doesn't strike before then because, for all of our sake, it would be another sad sign of NFL mistreatment of their players. That is a blog for another day...

R.I.P. Caleb Moore, no human should die this young. Prayers to the family. Keep them in your hearts. 25 is too young.