Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Bryant’s big weekend



Yea, I play a little.

1. The Mamba strikes again, no suspension necessary
With the madness running wild on CBS there is a good chance that you were too preoccupied with brackets on Friday night to think about the NBA. Well, unfortunately, you missed another incredible offensive performance by Kobe Bryant. The man with the uncontrollable elbows put up the second best scoring feat of his career by torching Portland for 65 points on a 23-for-39 shooting performance in a 116-111 overtime victory. Bryant was clutch when the game was in question but refused to let his team fall to the Blazers as he scored 24 points in the fourth quarter and threw in an additional nine points during OT. This was only the third game of Bryant’s career in which he scored at least 60 points; it might sound crazy to use the word “only” in that last statement but that’s a sign of how spectacular Kobe is. The Mamba has been on the verge of 60 numerous times as he has cracked the 50 point plateau 13 other times, including a 50 point performance in a 109-102 victory over Minnesota last night.

2. Luck of the Irish

The last time the Celtics had beaten the Spurs was on Jan. 8, 1997. Then the curse began. It was in the following draft when San Antonio changed the destiny of the NBA and landed the number one pick in the draft instead of Boston who had the statistical advantage to grab the top selection, a.k.a. Tim Duncan. Fast forward ten years and the Celtics finally got a measure of revenge as they defeated Duncan and his Spurs by six points, 91-85, for Boston’s first victory over San Antonio in 19 tries. And it’s no coincidence that the Celtics picked up the historic victory of St. Patrick’s Day; Boston also broke a 17-year drought against the Spurs in San Antonio. If losing his first ever game against the men in green wasn’t bad enough for Duncan, the Spurs became only the third team in NBA history to have a winning percentage of .700 or better and drop consecutive games to teams with win percentages of .360 or worse at least 60 games into the season. It’s a big win for the C’s but they’d still rather have the three trophies.

3. The Sixers are great hosts
Hopefully you weren’t fooled by the 76ers seven game winning streak a while back because the real Philadelphia team has returned and they are an ugly assembly. Since having their run of victories ended the 76ers have lost three of their last four games, including an eye-popping 50 point loss, 124-74, to the Rockets last night in Philly. It was the biggest home loss in club history and ranked as the third most lopsided home loss in NBA history. Only the 1986 Houston Rockets (lost to Seattle by 56) and the 2003 Boston Celtics (lost to Detroit by 52) have suffered bigger losses in their own gyms. On the other hand, the Rockets set a new franchise record for road domination and fell just two points shy of tying the team’s biggest win ever. So don’t give up hope just yet Sixer fans; you still might strike lottery gold after all.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Kobe Bryant vs. Minnesota 45 min, 50 pts (FG: 17-35, 3FG: 4-9, FT: 12-14), 6 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl

Monday’s Game to Watch: Boston (20-46) @ New Orleans (29-37) Yea, it’s a crummy game but it’s the best that the NBA has to offer on a light evening that only consists of two games. But let’s be positive about this because it could be worse, it could have been the same teams from a month ago. Now that’s scary. But Boston is finally picking up some victories after going on a franchise-record 18 game losing streak earlier in the year. Paul Pierce is breaking the hearts of millions of Bostonians as his outputs are slowly removing the Celtics from having a possible future with Greg Oden or Kevin Durant as the franchise’s cornerstone. And while New Orleans is sitting behind all three of the Texas teams in the Southwest Division, they are only two games behind Golden State for the final playoff spot in the West despite losing seven of their last eight games. But don’t blame CP3 for the teams struggles because Chris Paul can’t be expected to do too much more than put up his recent five game average of 16.8 points, 9.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds.

Buzzer Beater: Those weren’t Boooo-zer chants you were hearing on Saturday night. No, those were actual boos as turncoat Carlos Boozer returned to Cleveland for the first time since he bolted for Utah almost three years ago. And LeBron James showed his old teammate that the Cavs don’t miss his glass cleaning abilities as he grabbed a season-high 17 rebounds to go along with 24 points, nine assists, two steals and two blocks. But Boozer had an impressive game of his own (19 points and 14 rebounds) despite being unimpressed with the crowd’s imagination. “It wasn’t even that bad,” Boozer said of his Cleveland homecoming. “They had a lot of signs. I saw a couple of them. Chants were OK. They could have been more creative with their chants. It was good though.” What, you don’t think “Boozer is a Loozer” is purely ingenious?

Categories
All Other Sports

Odds and Ends: Following up on Tonya Harding


Here’s some random news for you while you try to figure out why this has been the worst tournament opening round in recent memory. We’ll start with Tonya Harding. Her excuse for acting like a insane person recently was an adverse reaction to asthma medicaiton. Wonder if she got it from Lindsey Hunter’s wife.

In other news…

[Fox 12 Oregon]: This certainly doesn’t change the perception that Oregon is racist

[Tomorrow Land]: Weird team names from around the world

[Page Six]: Mike Tyson to help Don King promote baby diapers

[Sports by Brooks]: Rick Majerus is useless

[The Big Lead]: One theory on Pacman’s bowling alley incident we hadn’t thought of

[Can’t Stop the Bleeding]: AI is HUGE in Singapore

[Mike Chen’s Hockey Blog]: Geeking out on Gary Bettman

And finally…. this is at once both disturbing and amusing. Very nice… how much?

Categories
New York Giants

Bling bling, bang bang


The NFL is a game of yards but on Wednesday night, New York Giants linebacker Brandon Short was involved in a scary situation in which inches meant the difference between life and death.

While shopping for some new bling in a Greenwich Village jewelry store, a pair of officers rushed past Short as gun shots began to ring out from down the street. Eventually a gun battle would erupt between gunman David Garvin and police right next door to the jewelry store where Short was now out of sight on the floor. By the time the whole situation was over it took police 56 shots to bring down the semiautomatic wielding nut job who killed three during his spree, including the two officers Short had seen earlier.

I was fearful for my life,” said Short. “There were bullets flying everywhere.” He went on to say, “It was a crowded street in Manhattan. Some people were running through restaurants, running down alleys to get away.” It’s a miracle that no bullets actually went through the window.

Obviously this would have been a terrifying situation for anybody, except maybe Pacman Jones who currently averages at least one near death experience per week.

Links:

[ABC7.com]: GIANTS LB SHORT NEAR CROSSFIRE OF FATAL NY SHOOTINGS
[The Fanhouse]: BRANDON SHORT WITNESSES SHOOT-OUT IN NEW YORK

Categories
General Sports

Hey Carmelo, this is how you throw a punch

Ho ho ho this!

We don’t usually report on the world of rugby, but this incident had us reminiscing back to the Malice in the Palace when Ron Artest went, well Ron Artest on a fan in the stands. David Stern should keep this in mind should another mentally imbalanced NBAer decide to partake in a similar showdown between player and spectator.

Trevor Brennan is a forward for the Toulouse rugby club who got fed up with being taunted by a fan of the opposing team back in late January and decided to take action into his own hands and go, well Ron Artest on his ass. After having beer poured on him (hmm, Artest didn’t seem to like that either) and having his mother insulted, Brennan hopped into the stands and knocked the Christmas cap right off the head of an Ulster fan who was obviously still full of the holiday spirit.

Brennan had been suspended from the league since the episode occurred and eventually announced his retirement, but that didn’t stop the European Rugby Cup from dishing out some punishment of their own. The ERC has banned Brennan for life and fined him $33,250; in addition to $6,650 he has been ordered to pay to guy he punched.

It was the view of the committee that Mr. Brennan’s behavior was completely unjustified and that he caused serious harm to an innocent spectator and significant damage to the image of rugby union,” the three-man disciplinary panel said. “The committee could not envisage more serious misconduct in relation to spectators and believed that the maximum permissible suspension was appropriate.

A 73 game suspension suddenly doesn’t sound very harsh.

Links:

[IHT.com]: IRELAND’S TREVOR BRENNAN BANNED FROM RUGBY FOR LIFE FOR PUNCHING FAN
[IrishExaminer.com]: BRENNAN SLAPPED WITH LIFE-TIME BAN

Categories
All Other Sports

What’s this? Another hot babe in the IRL?


We are very desirous that a hot babe succeed in racing… mainly because we are shallow and we like hot babes. (Sue us.) Milka Duno is that hot babe (exhibit 2, exhibit 3). Now, we don’t know a damn thing about racing but Milka’s bio is pretty impressive.


Talent, beauty and youth are just a few of the many adjectives that define the image of Milka Duno. By education and training a Naval Engineer with four master’s degrees – in Organizational Development, Naval Architecture, Maritime Business and Marine Biology – Milka earned the last three simultaneously.

As “Venezuelan Auto Racing Driver of the Year” in 2000 and “American Le Mans Series 2001 Vice Champion Driver” in the 675LMP class, Milka has attracted the attention of motorsport fans worldwide – and from influential people in the organizational and competitive areas of motorsport in the USA and Europe. In 2002 Milka became the first woman in the history of sportscar racing to pilot the fastest and most technologically-advanced sportscar in the world – the Le Mans Prototype 900, and the first woman in history to pilot the fastest car in the Open Telefonica World Series – the last step on the ladder to Formula One.

She can drive better than us and she’s smart. If she can somehow win a big race in the U.S., or better yet, release a sex tape, she’d be a woman we love. Danica Patrick is ok… but we’ll take Milka please. Did we mention she’s Latin?

Links:
[MilkaDuno.com]: Official Site

Categories
Fantasy Baseball

Gotta love the random Geddy Lee appearance

Geddy Lee is one of the most underrated front men of all time. And it’s a little curious that he’s in this ESPN fantasy baseball commercial but it’s pretty damn amusing. Yeah yeah, we’re a little late on this but watching tourney coverage has seared this commercial into our brains. Any guesses as to who is doing the ghost singing for Kruk?

Gotta love Peter Gammons with the long hair. And is that Erin Andrews’ breasseses on the right? Oh and we’ll reserve commentary on John Kruk — we’re sure that the unimaginative bloggers hanging from Deadspin’s nuts fell all over themselves trying to be the first to make a “with leather” reference.

And as luck would have it, we just came across this comprehensive list of ESPN Sportscenter Commercials from Chicks Dig the Long Ball.

Categories
Chicago Bears

Tank Johnson gets 4 month prison sentence


Tank Johnson will be spending the next 60-120 days in jail despite Lovie Smith calling him a “good guy” who just made some bad decisions. We’re so sick of this “bad decisions” and “wrong place at the wrong time” stuff.


As a young kid, I grew up hard . . . I have made some mistakes in my life that are well-documented,” Johnson told Moran before being sentenced in a Skokie courtroom. But, he said, “I don’t believe I am a man who belongs in jail. I believe I deserve a chance to get it right.

You did get your second chance you dumbass. It was called probation. At some point, you have to not violate your probation by owning unregistered firearms. And you have to not get your bodyguard killed by going out to a club and getting into a fight.

Lovie also added that jail time would be “devastating” for Johnson’s playing career. Well isn’t that a shame. Because when normal criminals get sentenced to jail, it does wonders for their careers.

Don’t worry Bears fans, Tank’s incarceration won’t ruin the Bears chances next year — having Rex Grossman as your QB has already done that.

Links:
[Chicago Sun Times]: Bears’ star Johnson thrown in the tank
[MSNBC]: Bears’ Johnson sentenced to 4 months in jail

Categories
Tampa Bay Buccaneers

$12.3 million could change anyone’s mind



Will the real Jake Plummer
please stand up

Jake Plummer recently, suddenly retired from the NFL. He was ready to move on to new and different aspects of reality outside of the sidelines. You can’t blame him for that; players can call it quits whenever they want. But now we’ll really see how badly Plummer wants to be out of the league.

$5.3 million dollars is sitting on the table, just waiting for Plummer to come and scoop up in return for another year of service in the league. If that’s not incentive enough, Jake the Snake faces a Ricky Williams type fight for his cash.

Plummer’s rights were traded to Tampa Bay earlier this month and if decides not to report to camp then there could be a $7 million tussle going on over prorated bonuses that Plummer received. And the task might not be very difficult; the Miami Dolphins took $8 million away from Williams after he abruptly retired to go on a spiritual journey of self enlightenment in Asia. At least Plummer shouldn’t be that difficult to find, but he might cause just as much of a ruckus when it comes to getting him back on the field.

I can’t sit here and discuss anything further,” he said. “But you don’t have to chase me around any more or speculate on what I’m going to be doing. There will not be a jersey that has an NFL patch . . . on my body.

We’ll see about that.

Links:

[RockyMountainNews.com]: LEGWOLD: PLUMMER MAY PAY $7 MILLION

Categories
College Basketball

The worst opening day in tournament history

No buzzer beaters, no major upsets, nothing. That was the worst opening day of March Madness in a long long time. The only “upset” was that of Duke by VCU but most people thought that Duke’s seeding was by reputation and they didn’t deserve a 6 seed anyway. Sure, Xavier and Michigan State pulled off 9 over 8 upsets but that’s pretty much a coin flip. So everyone drowned in chalk. Jason Campbell must be ecstatic.

For the rest of us, we got to celebrate a Duke loss and wait for Coach K’s announcement that his back hurts after he loses a couple of players to the draft. Other than that, the only “did you see that?!?” moment was a gruesome injury to Idong Ibok. Ibok landed awkwardly, stuck out his hand to brace himself and dislocated his elbow. CBS must have show the replay 5 times and you can see his arm flailing about. It was reminiscent of Shaun Livingston‘s dislocated knee.

Here’s the video of the play but it unfortunately (mercifully) cut short of the entire CBS coverage as they don’t show his forearm flailing about. However, you do see the huge dent in his elbow where no huge dent should be. Ibok was back on the bench in the second half but his college career is over.

Yes, the fact that the higher seeds mostly won is an indication that the selection committee did their jobs (except for letting Stanford in and watching them get blown out) but that’s not what makes the tournament great. If there are a lot of upsets, no one blames the committee, they just talk about what a great upset it was. Let’s hope we get a better Day 2.

Categories
General Sports

That’s a lot of precipitation



I’m rich bitch!

Most people fill out their brackets every year just so that they can enter their office’s pool and, hopefully, end the month with bragging rights and a pocket full of cash. Well, Archie Evans has proven that we shouldn’t simply limit ourselves to action on the hardwood, in fact he would probably suggest heading to your local horse track. And you don’t even have to be a high roller to walk out with some serious cash.

Across the pond in Wales, Evans picked six correct winners and won approximately $1.4 million and all he had to wager was a measly four bucks which is probably at least six dollars less than you spent on your bracket and there’s not even going to be half a million waiting for the winner.

It’s fantastic to have won and it’s so exciting to think I could be a millionaire by Saturday night. It’s a huge amount of money and if I’m honest it’s not sunk in yet.

Evan’s also said that everyone wants to know how he’s going to spend his new found wealth.

I’ve not decided yet but I know I’m going to take my wife on a bloody good holiday.

That’s one option; the other is that he pulses out a lot of cash and heads to the local gentlemen’s club where he could make it rain for days and days.

Links:

[BBC News]: PUNTER’S £700,000 WIN WITH £2 BET