Author: clay

Categories
Cleveland Cavaliers

James has a serious home court advantage


Life is pretty good for LeBron James right now. The Cavs clinched a playoff spot last night; he has a new investment and a new job and, now he has a brand new home. Actually, it’s more like a castle fit for a king. The 35,440 square-foot home is built on a 5.6 acre plot in Bath Township, Ohio and you know it has to be impressive because James destroyed an 11 bedroom, $2.1 million home in order to build his new palace.

This house is so big that LBJ shouldn’t have to leave his abode for anything except shooting hoops and shooting commercials. The house won’t be done until next year but by the time it is finished it will include a recording studio, a bowling alley, a barber shop, a casino, a theatre and an aquarium. Some of the other selling points, as if you need any more, include 27-by-27 foot dining hall, and a 34-by-27 foot “great room” which is only outdone by the even greater “grand room.” If that’s still not enough for you, the house has a six car garage, an elevator and the always popular self-promoting sculpture of his head. Klassy.

But the most impressive part of James’ new crib has got to be the master bedroom. The room is approximately 40-by-60 feet and has an enormous two-story walk-in closet. Now that’s a lot of clothes.

James is currently living in a four bedroom home while he waits for his new house to be completed. Wow, it must feel like a tomb in there to King James.

Links:

[Ohio.com]: King James builds a castle of a home

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Garnett regret


1. Run, Kevin, Run!
Last night was not a good night to be on the Minnesota Timberwolves. Well, it wasn’t so bad until about halfway through the third quarter. That’s when Seattle decided to put the Super back in front of Sonics and erased a 25 point deficit with 51-18 run over the remainder of the game. Rashard Lewis single handedly outscored the Timberwolves 27 to 18. If that isn’t bad enough for Minny, they ended the game by getting smoked on a 25-2 run. It was the biggest lead ever to be blown by T-Wolves and marked the first game in over three years in which the visiting team pulled off a 25 point comeback. The last team to do it was 2003-04 Knicks who came back from 26 down in Milwaukee to snatch a three point victory, 103-100, from the jaws of defeat. Kevin Garnett really doesn’t deserve this; actually, he does. It’s time to demand a trade.

2. New Jersey’s losing finally pays off

Thanks to a monumental meltdown by the Pacers since the All-Star break, New Jersey, yes New Jersey has moved into the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. For almost the entire season it appeared that the Pacific Division would be sending only one team to the post season but the Nets are hoping to continue their limp into the playoffs. New Jersey has lost eight of their last 12 games but that sorry performance actually improves their positioning because the Pacers have lost 15 of their last 17. If that’s not the sign of a pathetic conference then nothing is. So, all things considered, what would you expect from the basketball gods in a situation like this? Why a match-up between the two teams tonight in Jersey with a playoff spot on the line, of course. The only positive thing about this game is that one of them has to win.

3. Big Ben buys in
Stephon Marbury has been selling cheap, I mean affordable sneakers for long enough to know that he can’t build a successful corporation by himself, so he has brought in some big help. Ben Wallace has jumped aboard the Starbury Movement and is now sporting the new $14.98 Starbury II shoe, and it won’t be long until his own sneak (Big Ben) is released on the line. So, while Marbury’s team struggles on the court, his business team is growing by leaps and bounds. His line has expanded from 50 to 200 products that are all available for under $15. And nobody understands about the need for affordable apparel more than Wallace. Big Ben grew up poor as the 10th of 11 children and the youngest of eight boys. “I had to wait in line,” said Wallace. Now he just hopes that others will be lining up for a piece of his new investment.

Tuesday’s Player of the Day: Josh Howard @ New Orleans 32 min, 25 pts (FG: 10-16, 3FG: 2-2, FT: 3-3), 10 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk

Wednesday’s Game to Watch: Houston (45-26) @ Los Angeles Clippers (34-36) The Clippers are just barely holding onto the final playoff spot in the Western Conference but they have currently won five of their last six games. That’s the equivalent of winning 15 straight for any normal NBA team. Houston is enjoying having their man in the middle back and they have now won nine of their last 11 games. Since returning from his injury Yao is averaging 21 points to go along with nine rebounds. And Tracy McGrady is playing pretty well himself as the team hopes to catch the Jazz which would get them home court advantage against Utah in the first round but Houston would still remain in the fifth spot.

Buzzer Beater: Well, the streak is officially over for Kobe. After games of 65, 50, 60, 50 and 43, Bryant finally returned to earth and scored a human-like performance of only 23. Now, that might sound like a small number but, for comparison’s sake, that’s the amount of points that former MVP Kevin Garnett currently averages (22.8). The Mamba started the game hot and looked like he was getting ready to explode for another 60 point performance after he scored nine of the team’s first 11 points. But after that Bryant went cold as he was a pathetic 4-of-23 for the remainder of the game. Bryant also received a taste of his own medicine in the second quarter when he took a forearm to the melon from Pau Gasol that sent him to the famous LA hardwood. Mmmm, tastes like pain.

Categories
Cleveland Cavaliers

Lebron James takes his talents to the stage

As if being an All-Star, franchise carrying baller isn’t already enough for LeBron James, he has added a couple of side projects to keep his schedule full.

After buying an undisclosed stake in Cannondale, which creates a popular line of bicycles, last week, LeBron is now ready to give his skills on the mic a try. No, he’s not dropping a crappy rap album like Ron Artest and Shaq are known to do. Instead James will co-host the 15th annual ESPY Awards which will air on July 15. James will be sharing the stage with comedian Jimmy Kimmel who will be equipped with zingers and one-liners just in case LBJ stumbles over his lines.

Kimmel first met James backstage at a previous ESPY show where Kimmel has twice been a presenter.

We shook hands and I said, ‘Hello,’ and he just kind of looked at me quizzically,” Kimmel said. “He’s very, very tall. I’m not sure everyone knows that about him.

But LeBron is going to have to be pretty darn impressive if he is going to have a better on stage performance than Peyton Manning recently had on Saturday Night Live. And Peyton even had time to film this United Way commercial. Let’s see James top that.

Links:

[AZCentral.com]: LeBron James to co-host ESPY Awards
[SI.com]: LeBron meets Lance

Categories
All Other Sports

Eddie Griffin should stick to comedy

Everyone is use to seeing cars crashing into the wall as they make hundreds of left turns while zipping around the racetrack. Something you don’t see at most races is a rare Ferrari Enzo slamming into a barricade. But, then again, comedian Eddie Griffin usually isn’t behind the wheel on the oval either.

Griffin was driving the $1.5 million machine at the Irwindale Speedway in order to practice for an upcoming charity race to promote his latest movie “Redline.” Apparently the car had just a wee bit too much power for Griffin and as he came out of a turn he lost control and smashed the front end of the car into the wall, damaging the expensive automobile beyond repair. However, unlike the basketball player who shares his name, Griffin was not watching porn at the time of the crash.

Daniel Sadek is the executive producer of “Redline” and the owner of what use to be one of only 400 Enzos ever produced. Sadek said that he had “mixed feelings” about the incident.

I’m glad Eddie came out of the crash OK, but my dream car got destroyed,” Sadek said. “I went to my trailer for about 15 minutes and I thought, there’s people dying every day. A lot of worse things are happening in the world.

OK, keep telling yourself that, but we know that you really want to wrap your hands around Griffin’s throat and squeeze until his head pops off.

Links:

[DailyMail.com]: Comedian crashes $1.5 million Ferrari
[Jalopnik]: Another Enzo bites the dust, this time with Eddie Griffin at the wheel

Categories
Toronto Raptors

Hey Dwyane, now this is a reason to cry

Hoops usually isn’t a game that people would consider to be brutal, but this year has been quite different. So far our stomachs have been turned by nasty injuries to Shaun Livingston and Idong Ibok. Well, now you can Jorge Garbajosa to that list.

Garbajosa went up to block a shot by the Celtics’ Al Jefferson and it turned out to be the most painful decision of his life because when he came down, his leg got caught up underneath him and twisted in a horrific fashion, breaking his leg. The injury was so ugly that Jefferson couldn’t even look at Garbajosa as he screamed in pain. The injury is so nasty that it could be the end of Garbajosa’s career. It’s a good thing he’s not a horse, because this was an injury worthy of sending him to the glue factory.

Links:

[TheStar.com]: Raptors’ Garbajosa breaks leg

Categories
Utah Jazz

Kirilenko doubles as Utah’s bracketologist


The Utah Jazz know a thing or two about pro hoops, after all they are one of the top teams in a vicious Western Conference. But it looks like the guys could really use a refresher course in College Basketball 101.

Like most coworkers, the Jazz got together and set up a March Madness pool for bragging rights and probably a nice chunk of change. So, who has the cleanest bracket on the team after all but four teams have been eliminated you ask. Why, Andrei Kirilenko of course.

I’m telling you,” Kirilenko said, “I filled out my brackets in, like, 30 seconds.

If a Russian dominating the team’s tourney pool isn’t strange enough for you, then what do you think about Jazz sophomore C.J. Miles claiming that he doesn’t even care about bracketology. Now, that’s just sad. But guard Derek Fisher can’t get over the fact that Ivan Drago is winning the team’s pool.

That’s proof that there’s no science to the whole thing. I’m like tied for eighth or ninth or something like that. I’m so far removed from college basketball. Other than the big schools, I don’t even know half these schools.

And then you always have the problem with that guy in the office that fills out multiple brackets and then brags about getting one right.

This is my first time to participate with the Jazz and, personally, I think you should only be able to submit one bracket,” Fisher said. “But people around here, you can submit, like, four, five or six brackets. That doesn’t make any sense to me. So of course you can end up in first place because at some point, one of your brackets is going to be good. But if you just have to pick one bracket, which I did because I’m a man of (integrity), you’re tied for ninth.

Sounds to us like somebody is a lil’ bitter.

Links:

[NewsOK.com]: Kirilenko knows his stuff

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: It’s all in the family


1. That’s my boy
Rumor has it that if Boise State senior Coby Karl isn’t drafted, he could still end up making a roster. And the team that is already showing interest in the mediocre just happens to be coached by his dad, George Karl. Can you say nepotism? Coby isn’t expected to be picked during the two rounds of the draft and ESPN doesn’t even have him ranked in their top 100 suspects but for some reason daddy seems to think his little boy would be exactly what the Nuggets need. “Right now, my feeling is he fits what we need,” George Karl said. “We need kind of a playmaking bigger player.” Um, have you ever seen your kid play coach? Coby is a decent player in the WAC but we wouldn’t exactly consider him a “playmaking bigger player.” Coby has said that it would be difficult to accept an invitation from his old man, but when it comes down to playing in the NBA versus getting a real “nine to five” the choice becomes pretty easy. Geez, it must be nice having daddy there to save your NBA aspirations.

2. King for a week

Gerald Wallace of the Charlotte Bobcats is the current player of the week. Wow, that’s a sentence I never expected to be writing, but that’s not to say that he doesn’t deserve the honor. The Bobcats were only 2-2 during the week but without Wallace they would have probably gone 0-4. He averaged 20.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.33 blocks and 1.33 steals over the span and put up a tremendous all around effort in a 108-100 victory over one the Eastern Conference’s best teams in the Cavs. Wallace had four assists, five blocks and 11 rebounds to go along with 27 points. And for Wallace, his great performances couldn’t have come at a better time considering that he’s going to be a free agent when this summer rolls around. Cha-ching!

3. Do you believe in miracles!?
After serving a one game suspension, the Pistons were thrilled to have Rasheed Wallace back in the lineup against the Nuggets last night. Especially after he grabbed a loose ball and nailed a 60 footer to force overtime. During a time out, right before Denver was to inbound the ball with a 98-95 lead and 1.5 seconds remaining on the clock, Flip Saunders predicted that something like that could happen. “I told them that strange things happen,” he said. “We might as well try to get something crazy.” And after Tayshaun Prince tipped the inbounds pass, Wallace made “something crazy” become a reality. Wallace then went on to score several big buckets in OT and led the Pistons to a 113-109 victory. Watch out Chauncey, Sheed is gunning for your moniker of “Mr. Big Shot.” Here’s the video.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Carlos Boozer vs. Washington 36 min, 41 pts (FG: 15-21, FT: 11-14), 16 reb, 2 ast

Tuesday’s Game to Watch: Memphis (17-54) @ Los Angeles Lakers (38-32) Sure, Memphis sucks but Kobe Bryant is definitely worth the price of admission. Bryant has redefined “showtime” of late after he ripped off 268 points in five games. Oh yea, he also dropped 60 points on the Grizz last Thursday and that was in Memphis; tonight’s contest will be held in the friendly confines of the Staples Center. Historically, Bryant has used Memphis as his own personal punching bag. But, then again, who doesn’t post career numbers against the Grizzlies. While the game will probably not be much of a contest, at least you can watch Pau Gasol as he continues return to his former All-Star form. In March, Gasol has averaged over 20 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks while Memphis has gone a pathetic 2-10.

Buzzer Beater: With 5:43 remaining in the first half of last night’s game between the Heat and the Hawks, Shaquille O’Neal hit a free throw of all things to surpass the retired Reggie Miller and become the 12th most dominant scorer in NBA history. The free throw gave Shaq 25,280 points for his career after entering the game with a 26 point per game average over 15 seasons in the league. Just imagine how many points the Diesel could be sitting on if he could hit his freebies with any consistency. But after the game, Shaq seemed to be more excited about the opportunity to use one of his self-given nicknames than he was about the record. “I’m known as The Big Baryshnikov,” O’Neal said in reference to a particularly hard foul that sent O’Neal tumbling to the ground where he performed an impressive 350 pound backward summersault before bouncing back to his feet.

Categories
NFL General

NFL gives fans a schedule lapdance, leaves them wanting more



Seriously, who else did you
expect to open the season?

We are still a solid five months away from beginning the NFL schedule, but it’s never too early to answer yes to the question of, “Are you ready for some football?” So, for you NFLaholics out there, here’s the list of nationally televised games for opening weekend so you can start breaking down all the match-ups and start drooling over your possible fantasy lineup in week 1.

Thursday September 6 at 8:30(ET) – Saints @ Colts on NBC
Sunday September 9 at 4:15(ET) – Bears @ Chargers on FOX
Sunday September 9 at 8:15(ET) – Giants @ Cowboys on NBC
Monday September 10 at 7:00(ET) – Ravens @ Bengals on ESPN
Monday September 10 at 10:15(ET) – Cardinals @ 49ers on ESPN

The league decided to kickoff the season with a battle between a pair of golden-boys as Drew Brees will travel to take on Peyton Manning and the Super Bowl champion Colts, and like last season, there will be a double header to conclude the week’s action on ESPN as division rivals hook up in game one while two quarterbacks of the future highlight the weeks final contest. In typical Monday Night Football tradition, the booth is taking on a new look this season and there will be plenty of fans who are primed and ready to pounce all over Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser and the newly added Ron Jaworski. But anything has to be better than listening to Joe Theismann flapping his gums.

The league also released the turkey day triple header for early consumption.

Thursday November 22 at 12:30(ET) – Packers @ Lions on FOX
Thursday November 22 at 4:15(ET) – Jets @ Cowboys on CBS
Thursday November 22 at 8:15(ET) – Colts @ Falcons on NFL Network

You might as well plan to stuff your face during the first game because there is no reason to leave the table for that one. Then you can plan to nap during the Jets/Cowboys contest and hopefully you’ll wake up in time to see Terrell Owens make a turduckit out of himself. And at the end of the day, when you finally get all those annoying relatives out of the house, you can heat up a plate of leftovers and enjoy Michael Vick take on the Colts, provided that Vick doesn’t get busted with anymore illegal water bottles, er, jewelry cases.

The remainder of the schedule will be announced in April, but we’ve got the scoop on how the division opponents will breakdown.

Links:

[NFL.com]: Saints-Colts to open 2007 NFL season

Categories
Sacramento Kings

Ron Artest wants a fresh start

It’s been a rocky road for Ron Artest since he entered the league in 1999, but the troubles could be coming to an end soon.  Well, at least for the Kings.  

While Artest won’t publicly say it, Corliss Williamson told the Sacramento Bee that Artest sent him a text that said he would be retiring at the end of the season in order to spend more time with his family.  There’s no word yet on if his family wants to spend more time with him, but Artest still seems serious about his desire to call it quits.  He also told the editors of HipHopGame.com, the site that publishes his personal diary, that he wants to retire.  

But this doesn’t mean that Artest is done starting on-court riots.  In fact, he could be taking his show overseas, where riots are much more common, in order to escape some of the negative attention that has hounded him in America.  But how is hot-head Artest going to handle getting beaned with a battery considering he went ballistic after getting hit by a plastic cup in Detroit?

Still, Artest seems to think that with a little separation he can repair his image and go from villain to hero in the eyes of the American public just like his hip-hop heroes Flavor Flav and Ice Cube did.  But Sacramento president Geoff Petrie doesn’t seem to have much faith in Artest’s decision just yet.

He’s under a lot of scrutiny and at a point, really, in his own career where he needs to be a better keeper of his own soul in some ways,” Petrie said. “We’ll assess in the context of the whole season where we go (with Artest from here). But again, it’s sort of Ron being Ron.

Petrie went on and hinted that the team might be better off without the continuous distractions that Artest brings.

You’ve got to change something — change for the betterment of himself and for the betterment of the team he’s playing for,” Petrie said of Artest.  “There’s no team that needs continuous distractions, no matter how substantive they may actually be.

So, don’t worry Ron, it looks like you might get to work on that Flavor Flav impression after the post season concludes whether you want to or not.  

Links:
[SacBee.com]: Is Artest calling it quits?

Categories
NFL General

Theismann goes job hunting

[Update: It’s official]

Who would have thought that one day would make such a difference.  Well, the move from Sunday Night Football to Monday Night Football caused Joe Theismann to get fired from his 19 year gig at ESPN.  Looks like Ron “Jaws” Jaworski will be taking over for Theismann in the booth and join Mike Tirico and Tony Kornheiser as next season’s MNF trio.  Apparently, ESPN thinks there will be more chemistry and comedy between Jaws and Kornheiser than there was between Kornheiser and Theismann.  Too bad Jaws is an engaging as a wet towel.  If ESPN wants ratings they should just stick Mike Wilbon in the booth with his PTI buddy Tony.  

Theismann said that he can’t comment, “until I fully understand what has taken place.”  It’s pretty obvious what has happened Joe, you got fired, dumped, shit-canned, pink-slipped, kicked to the curb…need we go on?  But don’t get down; we heard that ‘Dancing with the Stars’ is already taking applications for next season.  

Oddly enough, Theismann’s playing career ended 22 years ago on Monday Night Football when Lawrence Taylor snapped into his leg like a Slim Jim and caused a national audience to simultaneously turn in disgust from the screen.  So, naturally, we thought you might want to relive the entire gruesome scene one more time.  

Links:

[SI.com]: Reports: Theismann out on `MNF’
[NYTimes.com]: Theismann dropped from Monday Night crew