Author: Vin

Vin is a Philly boy who shouldn't be invited into your house because he'll judge you on your book and music collection. He owns Dawkins, Utley, Iverson, and Lindros jerseys, which is all you really need to know about him. He can be reached at [email protected].

Categories
NBA General

Tim Hardaway hates gay people… no… seriously



You want me to drop an f bomb?

That’s right folks, Mr. Utep 2 Step hates gays. Say it loud and say it proud!


You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.

First of all, I wouldn’t want [Amaechi] on my team. And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don’t think that’s right. And you know I don’t think he should be in the locker room while we’re in the locker room. I wouldn’t even be a part of that.

You knew it was only a matter of time before someone just came right out and said it. A few players came out in support of Amaechi, a few came out with head scratching quotes but Timmy Hardaway is the first to flat out say he hates gays. Later on, Hardaway apologized for his remarks and said, “I regret it. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said I hate gay people or anything like that. That was my mistake.” Notice that he didn’t back away from his stance. He just said he regretted saying it.

Someone isn’t getting a Christmas card from John Amaechi this year.

Links:
[ESPN]: Former Heat star Hardaway makes anti-gay comments

Categories
General Sports

Odds and Ends: Is Beyonce the worst SI cover ever?



Booooooooo!

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue sales must have been down last year because this year, they are jumping on the celebrity bandwagon by having Beyonce on the cover. How is it possible that Marissa Miller (possibly the hottest SI swimsuit model ever) has never graced the cover but Beyonce gets it? The SI cover has been pretty sacred ground… until now.

Beyonce is perhaps one of the most overrated celebrities of our time. She is the Derek Jeter of pop stardom. Hell, for someone who is desperately trying to launch an acting career, she was out-acted by an American Idol loser in a movie she should have owned. Not only that, she wasn’t even the first choice for her role.

OK, so clearly Beyonce looks super hot on the SI cover but that’s because they fixed her wig and her mustache.

In other news…

[The Offside]: It’s always satisfying to see a professional blow a goal

[Steroid Nation]: The Dominicans love their juice

[10,000 Takes]: A list of special Valentines Day presents

[The Gold Seat]: David Carr to Vikings?

[Bright Side of the Sun]: Zoo names baby tigers Raja and Nash.

And finally… Valentine’s Day Pat O’Brien Style. Forgot to get a card? You can print out our handy version.

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Second Rate All-Stars



Vegas bound

1. Wrecked West
All-Stars are dropping like flies and now, in addition to Carlos Boozer and Yao Ming, Steve Nash and Allen Iverson will both miss the contest for the West. Mehmet Okur and Ray Allen were named as their replacements by David Stern on Tuesday. Stern also inserted Carmelo Anthony and Josh Howard into the squad for Boozer and Ming. Now, there are a total of 16 All-Stars in the Western Conference but it appears the East will be assigned a new player soon after Jason Kidd announced he will miss at least one more game with a strained back. No word yet on who could replace Kidd, but we do know that the Hornets’ Chris Paul will replace Nash in the skills competition.

2. He’s Not All Bad
Ron Artest has been playing great lately with at least 20 points in eight of his last nine games but, last night, Artest put together the best offensive output of his career. Artest went off against the Rockets and scored 39 (5-7 3-pointers) points and grabbed eight big boards for the Kings, but it wasn’t enough as Sacramento lost to Houston in overtime. The Kings are now sitting in the basement of their division as Artest and Mike Bibby have both become hot commodities with the trade deadline approaching. The latest rumor had Bibby heading to Cleveland for Cavs forward Drew Gooden.

3. Hornets Get Stung
The Hornets were in position to move into the playoff picture last night, and all they had to do was beat the pathetic Grizzlies. But it wasn’t New Orleans’ night as Memphis picked up their first division win of the season with an exciting 108-104 victory at home. It was the Grizzlies third crack at the Hornets this year; in all Memphis was 0-13 versus division foes (0-4 vs. DAL, 0-4 vs. HOU, 0-3 vs. SA, 1-2 vs. NO) before they finally picked up a win. Tyson Chandler went bananas, grabbing a franchise record-tying 23 rebounds while matching his career-high in points with 17. With the win, the Grizzlies are now only 11 ½ games out of the playoff picture. Keep up the good work guys.

Tuesday’s Player of the Day: Dirk Nowitzki @ Milwaukee 43 min, 38 pts (FG: 15-28, 3FG: 2-6, FT: 6-6), 11 reb, 8 ast, 2 stl

Wednesday’s Game to Watch: San Antonio (34-18) @ Detroit (32-18) The road trip continues for San Antonio and so far the Spurs have been on a pretty bumpy ride. SA is 3-4 during the stretch but gained some confidence last night after blowing out a struggling Nets team. Detroit will prove a tough task as they are 17-9 at home this year and currently riding a seven game win streak. Much like when the Pistons added Rasheed Wallace to their squad mid-season a few years ago, Detroit is becoming better and better as the postseason approaches.

Buzzer Beater: It took a few seasons but Eddy Curry is finally living up to the draft day hype. He scored 19 points against the Lakers last night and scored the go-ahead basket with seven seconds remaining. Curry is even received some All-Star consideration and if Jason Kidd misses the game, Curry could still be injected into the Eastern Conference’s lineup but it’ll be tough for the commish to pass on a high scoring Joe Johnson.

Categories
NHL General

The NHL would like to remind us that it exists

Now that football season is over, those of you hungry for some sports that don’t include 20 timeouts in the last 2 minutes can focus in on the hockey season. Since we’re Flyers fans, the NHL season ended sometime around September but for those of you with teams still in the hunt for the Stanley Cup, the NHL has a new ad for you. (via Off Wing Opinion)

Btw, you would probably enjoy this video of Bridget Moynahan and Heather Graham kissing more but we couldn’t really find a sports reason to post it other than it being Tom Brady’s ex. But even that is kinda reaching. In any case, you’re welcome.

Categories
Detroit Pistons

Do black people all look alike to you, Craig Sager?

Via the big lead comes this great clip of Craig Sager interviewing Chris Webber’s father and then afterward realizing that it was his AAU coach and then having to interview the real Mayce Webber instead.

Two things. 1) It’s a shame that it was Webber’s AAU coach and not just some random guy in the stands. 2) Too bad the guy didn’t look like Sugar Ray Leonard.

Categories
New York Giants

Tiki throws Tom under the bus



Practice? Practice? We talking
’bout practice!

Most people who quit their jobs just go quietly and try not to burn any bridges. But Tiki, with his new television contract doesn’t have any worries about running into Tom Coughlin again so he decided he might as well take a (veiled) parting shot as Coughlin.


Coach Coughlin is very hard-nosed, and I didn’t get a lot of time off, couldn’t sit down and rest myself, and so it was a constant grind – a physical grind on me that started to take its toll. The grind took its toll on me and really forced me to start thinking about what I wanted to do next. And that’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing, for me at least. Maybe not for the Giants, because they lose one of their great players, but for me, it is.

There’d be days where I couldn’t move on Tuesday or Wednesday at practice, and he’d get mad at me for going half-speed. And I told him, ‘Coach, I can’t do it. I’m gonna be out here, I’m never gonna miss a practice, but I can’t give you what you want all the time.’ And he understood.

We were in full pads for 17 weeks, and with the amount of injuries that we had, it just takes a toll on you. You just physically don’t want to be out there when your body feels the way you do in full pads. And while it probably doesn’t have a really detrimental effect on how you practice or how you play, it does on your mind. And if you lose your mind in this game, you lose a lot. And that’s something that he has to realize. And I think he does [now].

First of all, we love how Tiki calls himself one of the great Giants players without hesitation. Second, Tiki must still have a lot of good friends on the team because this statement was calculated to give them a break next year and perhaps a permanent break once Coughlin is fired after the 2007-2008 season.

Links:
[NY Post]: QUITTIN’ TOM

Categories
College Football

Yep Notre Dame girls sure are ugly



Hey coach, how many hot
chicks are there at ND?

Finally, a high school student that has his priorities straight! Kyle Jackson signed with Georgia Tech because he didn’t like the look of the co-eds in South Bend.


Notre Dame didn’t exactly have the best-looking chicks.

Not that they were ugly, but they were not what I was looking for. There’s a big difference between Southern girls and all the others.

We didn’t know this but the girls of Notre Dame as so notoriously ugly that in 2002, a senior girl wrote a letter to the Notre Dame newspaper about it. Who knew? (Well, apparently everyone at Michigan.)

We love how college recruiting trips are the high school equivalent of walking into a strip club and deciding whether the chicks are hot enough to stay for 4 years. Sounds like Spike Lee wasn’t too far from the truth when he had Jesus Shuttlesworth in that dorm room with Buffy and Suzie. Or check out this post from Every Day Should Be Saturday.

Links:
[The Fanhouse]: GT Recruit Says ND Chicks Unattractive; Franco Still Dead

[AJC]: NATIONAL SIGNING DAY: What we learned

Categories
San Diego Chargers

Dysfunctional Chargers axe Martyball



So long, Marty

Almost two months after the flaming out of the playoffs, the Chargers decided that Marty Schottenheimer would be the fall guy for a disappointing 14-2 season. “Disappointing” and “14-2” rarely go together but when you have as much talent and momentum as the Chargers have, you simply can’t lose in the first round of the playoffs, especially when you had the game won on an interception. So Marty had to go.

Schottenheimer and General Manager A.J. Smith were not on speaking terms and had no working relationship to speak of. Team president Dean Spanos essentially took A.J. Smith over Marty Schottenheimer:


Events of the last month have now convinced me that it is not possible for our organization to function at a championship level under the current structure. On the contrary, and in the plainest possible language, we have a dysfunctional situation here. Today, I am resolving that situation once and for all.

Our fans deserve to know what changed for me over the last month. When I decided to move ahead with Marty Schottenheimer in mid-January, I did so with the expectation that the core of his fine coaching staff would remain intact. Unfortunately, that did not prove to be the case, and the process of dealing with these coaching changes convinced me that we simply could not move forward with such dysfunction between our head coach and general manager

So let the coaching rumors fly. Who is going to take over the Chargers and higher expectations next year? Will it be Bill Parcells? Norv Turner? Pete Carroll? Ted Cotrell? Or could it be ex-Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson? While Parcells, Carroll and Jimmy Johnson are big name coaches that will have Chargers fans salivating, our money is on a retread like Norv Turner or Ted Cottrell.

Links:
[SignOnSanDiego]: Spanos changes mind, sends Schottenheimer packing

[Yahoo]: Marty odd man out

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Sun Sits, Suns Set


1. Pain in the Nash
Thanks to a bum shoulder, the reigning two time MVP will miss this weekend’s All-Star game in Las Vegas. So far, Steve Nash has missed the Suns last three games and the team has lost two in row without their primary ball handler. By withdrawing from the game and the skill competition, Nash will have two full weeks to get healthy for the final stretch of the season. But Nash’s injury forces David Stern to name a replacement for both events. Stern has already placed Carmelo Anthony and Josh Howard on the team, which leaves players like Mehmet Okur, Zach Randolph and Elton Brand up for consideration. Deron Williams would be an admirable replacement for Nash in both situations as he is averaging 17.3 points and 9.1 assists per game.

2. For Sale
Jason Kidd is already looking for a trendy new bachelor pad, but according to rumors it might not be located in New Jersey. That’s because it appears that the Lakers and Cavaliers are both looking to acquire the point guard extraordinaire. Los Angeles has offered two first round picks, along with the expiring contracts of players like Kwame Brown, Jordan Farmar and Chris Mihm with the hopes of teaming Kidd with Kobe Bryant. But, so far, the Nets seem to be holding pat. The Cavs are in a similar situation as they are looking for someone who can relieve some of the pressure from their star before the team makes the final push for postseason positioning. But come to think of it; who couldn’t use an unselfish, fast-breaking, triple-double threat on their roster during March and April?

3. Terrifying Trio
It was seven years ago today that the world was witness to the most frightening frontcourt lineup in the history of the NBA as Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Shaquille O’Neal started for the Western Conference in the 2000 All-Star game. The trio combined for 70 points and 33 rebounds as the West won by a score of 137-126. K.G. was left out of the mix as Shaq and Duncan split the game’s Most Valuable Player award. Speaking of hardware, between the trio, they have two Rookie of the Year awards, four All-Star MVP’s, four regular season MVP’s, six Finals MVP’s and seven championship rings. And again, K.G. is left in the cold as the only superstar without Final’s experience.

Monday’s Player of the Day: J.R. Smith vs. Golden State 23 min, 28 pts (FG: 10-18, 3FG: 6-11, FT: 2-2), 4 reb, 1 ast

Tuesday’s Game to Watch: Toronto (27-24) @ Chicago (29-23) This could be a preview of things to come in the playoffs as these two would be facing off if the postseason began today. But due to a weird seeding clause, Toronto would hold the home court advantage despite sitting 1 ½ games behind the Bulls in the standings. But unfortunately for the Raptors, this game is occurring in Chicago where the Bulls are 20-6 this season. Toronto has been pathetic on the road (9-17) even though Chris Bosh continues to earn legitimacy as an MVP candidate. At least Toronto can look forward to not playing another road game until February 24, while the Bulls have to play nine of their next 15 games away from home.

Buzzer Beater: The Warriors playoff hopes took a serious blow when the team found out that Baron Davis would have to undergo surgery to clean up his left knee. Davis was hurt in a game against Charlotte on February 3. Golden State is currently within a game and a half of the final postseason slot but they have lost six of their last nine games and have a five game Eastern Conference road trip that is quickly approaching. Even if Stephen Jackson can manage to keep himself out of the big house, the Warriors chances of moving forward without Davis are somewhere between slim and none.

Categories
NHL General

Hockey fight ends with player taken to hospital

Ronald Petrovicky of the Penguins knocks out Kris Newbury of the Maple Leafs in this fight on Sunday. Newbury fell to the ice and a large pool of blood formed under his head. He apparently fell on his head and was taken off by a stretcher.

Afterward, Pretrovicky said, “We started fighting and he fell on his head pretty bad so, you know, sorry, but that’s part of the game. Hopefully he’ll be OK”

Newbury is OK. He was released from the hospital with “no neurological issues.” Hopefully, in the long run, the only lasting injury will be to his ego.

Links:
[Canada.com]: Leafs forward Newbury taken off ice on stretcher after fight with Petrovicky
[Sportsnet.ca]: Newbury released from hospital