Fun, fun week 1

NFL was in full flow today and I am sure a lot of Sports fans gladly welcomed it into their living rooms just like I did today. Many games, many stories, but these are the things that stuck with me.

Obviously the injury to Tom Brady is the biggest news. Reports are saying he is out for the season. Thats a shocker for the New England fans and is also a loss of a bankable superstar for the NFL. Thats too bad. I wonder if Matt Cassel can take over and do very well and dent Tom Brady's legend a little bit. I doubt it though since Matt is very inexperienced and Tom Brady is pretty good. Gone or the days when I used to think Brady was over-rated. He has definitely worked his way up the QB rankings pretty well.

Vince Young left his game with an injury as well, though he is expected to return soon. Tennessee also surprisingly beat Jacksonville.

Chad Pennington started for Miami and was is 1/6 for -1 yards at one point. It looked ugly, but he turned it around later. Ricky Williams also started and I am glad about that. NFL can use more vegan yogis.

Jim Nance was totally confused when Pennington completed a pass to David Martin. For some reason, he thought that was Favre to Bubba Franks and talked about how these 2 guys have done this many times before. Or not! To be fair to Nance, it was a confusing game with both QBs at new places. Even I was sub-consciously thinking Chad Pennington every time I saw Brett Favre take the snap in a Jets uniform because I am so used to seeing Chad at that spot.

Speaking of Favre, he did well. He connected on a bomb to Jerricho Cotchery and then threw the ball up for grabs on a 4-Th and 13 play that conveniently ended up in a Jets receiver's hands. Typical Brett Favre. Fun to watch. I was surprised to see very little from Laveranues Coles though.

Atlanta had a fantastic season opener. Matty Ice's first pass in the NFL was a TD bomb. That should have felt great for the Rookie. Michael Turner ran all over the Lions D and I guess Matty didn't have to do much after that pass, Both these new-comers looked very good for ATL.

McNabb was awesome. He looked healthy and unstoppable. Their Wide Receivers were catching balls all over the field and that has not happened a whole lot in Philly during the McNabb era except for TO. Speedy rookie from Cal, DeSean Jackson had a great game both receiving and returning.

The other half of the Philly game was the horrible St. Louis Rams. I was really sad to see the STL Rams offense. The "greatest show on Turf" days are long gone and they look very ordinary these days. I miss those days with the ball flying all over the place with Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt reeling in 40 yard passes from Kurt Warner or Marc Bulger. Torry Holt caught just one pass in this game and their supposed number 2 receiver, Drew Bennett caught one pass and was hurt right after that catch. It's going to be another long season in STL.

Speaking of the old Rams, Mike Martz has come west to the Niners and has brought a QB with him. J.T. O'Sullivan was not bad. He seems to be very poised and did make some throws that Alex Smith can't or won't. Frank Gore had a great game too. But the Cards just would not give them the ball. The Niners defense had no answer to the Cards run or pass game in the second half and the Cards killed the clock effectively. Seems like Ken Whisenhunt at least for a day was able to bring the Pittsburgh Steelers football to the Cards. The Niners turned the ball over 5 times. Typical Martz offense.

Chicago went in and shocked the Colts as did Carolina at San Diego. The Colts opened a new stadium, but had to go home disappointed. I think they'll be fine, but they didn't look all that sharp today. Big win for the Bears and they may have something special in that rookie Matt Forte.

Here comes the NFL

NFL kicked off the season with the now usual Thursday night kick-off. Two problems this time though. One, the game was earlier than usual because of the stupid Republican National Convention. So it missed prime-time in most parts of the country. Secondly, I would have also scheduled a better game than the Giants-Redskins match-up. The Giants, I have to say, are one of the weakest returning Super Bowl Champs. They were lucky and they peaked at the right time last year to knock off the Patriots. I am glad they did, but still they were not a great team then and they are worse now. Plus, the Redskins have been average to garbage for a while now. I know they have a great football tradition and all that, but I would have definitely kept them out of a national TV season opener.

With all that said, this game signaled the start of the 08 NFL season and we are all better off because of it. The Giants won after an rather impressive start. Eli led them to a TD on their very first drive and it looked impressive. But things slowed down after that and it was pretty much a defensive struggle. In fact, there was no scoring whatsoever in the entire second half. It was a decent game, but nothing exciting. I am expecting better games this Sunday. I am looking forward to many games including Carolina @ San Diego, Dallas @ Cleveland, Minnesota @ Green Bay and Denver @ Oakland. Lets see what happens. The second week of College Football seems to have a relatively flat schedule - kind of an appetizer for NFL this Sunday and the college schedule next weekend. Though Vandy already upset the Ole' ball coach and South Carolina to kick-off week 2. There is Florida-Miami though it is not what it used to be.

Good to have football back

This is a great weekend since we got to welcome football back. Football is the best and the only good thing about the end of summer. It's a sad day when we realize the summer days for the year just flew by, but then we have football to console us. First college and next week the big daddy - the NFL, is coming to our living rooms. How can you complain? We get to play our fantasy football too, which is almost a parallel sporting universe these days.

My fantasy drafts are always pretty late. So I personally flip the switch from no-football to all-football within a couple of days and that elevates my excitement level higher and sooner than a gradual escalation would. Yesterday I got to see some football on TV and today I started my fantasy draft preparation and I am excited as you can tell. After the season we had in college last year, I can't wait to see what'll happen this year. I can't possibly imagine it being better than last year, but I'll take a season half as exciting actually.

Plus Arizona State is ranked 15-Th and they get to play No-1 Georgia at home early. I am both terrified and excited by that game. As for week 1, ASU won easily and so did most of the top teams as you would expect. I thought it was hilarious that Michigan lost their season opener again and this time to Utah after last year's Appalachian State disaster. Different coach but the same result at the Big House. Virginia Tech got upset by East Carolina in another shocker. ACC these days is not what it used to be. I wonder if they want to kick Va Tech and Miami back to the Big East :-)

The other major upset of week 1 was in the biggest game of week 1 - num 9 Clemson V num 24 Alabama. Once again, Clemson disappointed it's fan-base and convinced them that the Tigers and their coach Tommy Bowden are some of the biggest under-achievers in the sport. Bowden may not survive this season. Expectations were real high at Clemson. They may still win the ACC, but losing to Alabama like they did can't help their national title dreams. I guess thats why it's called a "dream". It would be weird if both papa Bowden and Tommy Bowden are pushed out after this season. Could easily happen because Florida State is real bad these days and they need to rebuild.

USC looked impressive on the road at Virginia and the other USC - University of South Carolina under the ole' ball coach didn't look that impressive. Looks like Steve Spurrier is not going to do all that well with SC in the SEC this year as well. But the bottom line is , the scores don't matter, the results of week 1 are just a side-bar. The real story is that football is back in our lives.

Olympic Fever

It's the dog days of summer and the MLB season is meandering along. No disrespect to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays or the Rays or the Buccaneers or whatever else they are called these days, but when they are on top of the AL East, something is upside down in the baseball World and fans need some time adjusting to the new realities. I am not complaining since my long-term dream might finally come true - no Yankees and no RedSox in the playoffs. The Yanks are done, but the Sox might still make it. I am going to keep an eye on for that.

But this is the best time for the Olympics. I mean I have not seen a single complete baseball game since the Olympics started and the games have been very good theater. It's always the same story with the Olympics. Most American mainstream sports fans think "who watches the Olympics" before it starts. But then when the games begin, it's hard to not follow it. Especially these games with all the Michael Phelps hype. While the Phelps-hype did get to be a bit too much at times, his finger-nail finish was amazing. NBC ran the Olympics coverage like Phelps was the only guy in the entire games for a couple of days, but I guess he deserved it. Now that swimming is all done, it should be interesting to see how the Olympics do on TV now.

The only guy who is a bigger freak than Phelps is probably Usain Bolt, the World's fastest dude. I couldn't believe that this guy just gave up after 80 meters and still crushed the competition and set a new World Record. This 21 year-old is going to dominate this sport for a while. I wonder what's the best time he could have clocked if he had broken a sweat in this race. Bolt is a great name for a sprinter too! The other person of interest for me is Nastia Liukin. This cute-looking gymnast is too good on the floor and also carries herself with a lot of class. I was very impressed with the way she carried herself after the tie-breaker with the Chinese chick. Speaking of Chinese, they are crushing the Americans in the Gold medals tally. This has truly been a coming-out party for China in every which way and it's pretty impressive how they have completely turned around their sporting fortunes in the last 10 or 20 years. The other country thats making headlines is Jamaica with their World-class sprinters. The Jamaican girls went 1-2-3 in the Women's 100. Impressive. Lets see how the games end for China. It has definitely started real well for them.

Saga is over

Brett Favre is finally wearing a football uniform and getting ready for the season. The Packers got rid of him and shipped him to NY of all places for an incentive based draft pick thats at a 4-Th round level right now. Based on how well Favre and the Jets do, it goes up and it'll be a first round pick if the Jets make it to the Super Bowl. Of course thats not going to happen. Not a bad deal for both sides all things considered.

ESPN and the media tired us all out for weeks with this saga. Favre was coming back and then it was the Packers not wanting him, then Favre wanted a release, the Packers refused, he wanted to go to a division foe, the Packers were talking to the Bucs and the Jets for a trade, then the Packers wanted to pay him to stay retired, finally he was re-instated, he was going to compete for a starting job for the Packers and finally he got traded the very next day to the Jets. All this gave the sports-shows something to talk about for several weeks.

It was a weird saga throughout. Never has a superstar, who has been this good the previous season, been so unwanted by his own team. We see it once in a while as stars age and the team wants to move on. Bulls for whatever reason didn't mind MJ retiring when he did retire the second time. Dan Marino was kinda pushed out the door too and ironically, he was wooed by the Vikings as well. But better sense prevailed and he retired and stayed retired. But the Packers just did not want Favre back. I guess they like Aaron Rodgers so much and they were sick of Favre's retirement drama for so long, that they literally have had enough.

It seems like the self-absorbed Favre just could not believe the Packers didn't want him and that they had plans to move forward with A-Rod. So he came up with weird requests like "trade me to the Vikings" or "release me so that I can go play for the Bears". The rift between him and Ted Thompson was just too deep for a reconciliation. The best part of the story was clearly the "bribe" the Packers went to Mississippi with. It was called a "marketing deal" for 25 mill over 10 years or whatever under the condition he stays retired. Wow! How badly did they want this guy out of their system?

To be fair to the Packers, there were some significant salary cap and financial implications of him coming back that I think was not adequately understood by the common fan on the street. They had truly moved forward with all that money and there was no going back in their mind. The other issue that didn't get covered here was the Commish getting too involved with this and even delaying the re-instatement so that the Packers and Favre could figure something out. What the hell is his job? I mean the excuse always is "I am doing what's best for the game", but that doesn't mean the Commish can go and shine Brett Favre's shoes. He has no business getting this involved in this mess like he was an agent for Favre or something.

As for the football angle of all this, I think this is a great trade for the Jets, but not necessarily for Favre. Jets had to do it. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain. But Favre doesn't get much out of this. He will have a good game here and there, but it's going to be a mediocre season for him and the Jets. They are not that good with or without Favre, though they are better with Favre. Bucs would have been a better fit all-around, but I guess the Packers wanted to keep him out of the NFC. It would be funny if the Jets turned around and traded him to the Viking. I am sure the Packers put in some verbiage to prevent such things. The bottom-line is, this is going to be a lot of hype and not much else for the Jets and Favre. But it would be fun to see him play again and in another setting. Lot of pressure on the Packers, Ted Thompson and A-Rod, but I think A-Rod will do just fine if he stays healthy.

Manny comes West

Man-Ram hit his first homer in Dodger blue today against my DBacks. Thats exactly why he is there for - to help the Dodgers beat the DBacks and take the division. Aint' nobody winning the Wild-Card from NL West. So it's the division or bust for both these teams. Manny is a huge addition and the Dodgers got him for cheap too. They apparently will just pay the million dollar trade bonus and the Sox will pay the 7 mill salary for the rest of the year. They also waived the team option for the next 2 years and that makes Manny a free agent after this season. Of course he is gonna want a long-term contract, though he wont get the 20 mill per that he was getting in the older contract. Not sure if the Dodgers will give him the long-term security that he wants at age 36. As for Boston, they are literally paying him to go away. This thing got ugly real fast between the two sides after 8 years of good living.

After 80 years of futility, the Manny era has brought Boston 2 championships in 8 years and still the marriage ended very badly. As usual Curt Schilling is yapping away now about Manny not playing hard etc., but manny-being-manny had gotten old in bean-town. His numbers have definitely declined as he has aged, but I still thought the Sox-fans were not giving him the love he deserved the last couple of years. Big-Pappi took home all the love and Manny became an after-thought. I know that the younger Pappi's numbers have been more impressive than Manny's the last few years, but I am very interested in seeing how he does without Manny in the lineup. Manny may not be Pappi-level clutch, but he is pretty clutch. His record against the top pitchers in the league is off the charts. I consider Manny to be one of the best hitters of our generation. Now the Dodgers have him. Unfortunately, Manny may also be one of the worst fielders of our generation and I wonder if his next contract with a NL team like the Dodgers makes sense. I always thought he should retire as a DH in AL.

The trade deadline was huge this time in MLB. 3 hall-of-famers, with more than 1100 home runs between them, switched teams in a matter of 24 hours. Pudge Rodriguez went to the Yankees. Great trade for the Yanks to compensate for Posada's injury. Ken Griffey JR went to the WhiteSox. I like that trade too for the Sox. Griffey can help them the next 2 months. But the Dodgers getting Manny was the headliner. Manny will probably be re-energized by the new locale, plus he has to perform if he wants the big, last contract of his life. The better he does the last 2 months of the season, the more money he will make. As simple as that. Lets see if LA gets more out of Manny than Milwaukee is getting out of CC Sabathia, who is dominating for them right now. LA is suddenly becoming a big baseball hub with the Angels having the best record in the bigs and they also got one of the biggest names in the trade market when they got Mark Teixeira a while back. Always happy to see the Left coast do well in anything.

Artest is changing teams, Childress is changing countries!

Ron Artest is now in Houston. Another seismic-shift in the West as Houston tries to follow the blueprint and get it's own big-3. They sure have the big-3 with T-Mac, Yao and now ron-ron, but the question is never about his talent. He is a baller for sure. But his head is messed up and he is not great for your chemistry either. He can decide to hog the ball any given possession, go 1-on-5 and mess everything up for his coach and the team. When he gets into that mode, nobody else in the team can talk sense into this guy, not T=Mac and definitely not Yao for sure. If Rick Adelman, who will be coaching him for the second time, figures out how to keep him in check and if ron-ron decides to stay in his shoes, this trade will elevate Houston to a good spot in the West. May be top-4. Pushes the Suns further down.

In other NBA news, Tim Donaghy was sentenced to 15 months in jail for his gambling crime. I am sure Commish Stern probably wouldn't mind banishing him for life, but Tim will be back in 15 months (or less) and probably write a tell-all book for some big bucks. Stern should love that. The other guy who has a lot of explaining to do is referee Scott Foster, Donaghy's only real friend among zebras. NBA is not letting him speak. That doesn't seem like a good strategy. To me, the big story in the NBA is Josh Childress signing a 20 million euros deal for 3 years and going to play in Europe. This is unprecedented. Looks like Josh is using his Stanford education and taking some smart financial decision. Given the slide of the dollar and the US economy and the strength of Euro these days, thats a very financially rewarding decision.

This news should ring alarm bells all over the NBA HQ. This is the first time somebody is spurning a NBA career to go play in Europe. Josh Childress is not a superstar, but he was not a bench warmer either. He was a decent NBA player who had a guaranteed career in front of him in the NBA. For him to make this move means many things. Not to go too political, but this could be another sign of a declining super-power status of the US of A. Players always wanted to come here and play in the NBA, but now things are starting to move in the other direction. This means the Lakers and the Suns will not only be competing with the Spurs and Cavs for the services of some NBA players, but they have to compete with a whole bunch of European teams.

Or may be the situation is not that bad. It's just that Josh Childress has figured out a way to get out of the semi-slavery called the rookie salary scale. The rookies really don't hit the open market until the 4-Th or 5-Th season and they can now go make money in Europe in the meantime, That could be a big problem for the NBA because this means they have to change the rookie scale to compete with Europe. Not sure if the Commish will like that. Except the Superstars, everybody can do this and make just as much or more than the NBA and even the superstars can make more money in Europe in their first few "rookie" years. Josh Childress might have just opened a new can of worms. There were also rumors that more players, especially young Euros like Andris Biedrins, will go there as well. Andris ended up signing a 62 mill contract with the W's to stay here, but it should be interesting to see how many players will do what Josh Childress did.

New Rivals

The Packers-Bears has always been a great rivalry in the NFL. This is because of the geographic proximity of those 2 markets and the historic relevance of those 2 franchises. The Cubs-Brewers has never had the same ring to it. Until now that is. Today and this week they are playing a fun and hot series that is almost playoff-like. They were both separated by a game for the division when today's game started and the Milwaukee crowd was in to this game from start to end. The Brewers fan-base has had great expectations this season. They are coming off a decent season fueled by young, home-grown talent and nothing energizes a fan-base quite like that combination. The Cubs on the other hand are having a good season for the second straight year and they are always a big ticket as everybody's lovable losers. So this is good theater if you are into some baseball action during the dog days of summer.

The state of Wisconsin is dominating the sports news these days. NFL is all about what Favre is going to do next. He is supposed to put in his re-instatement papers soon and the Jets and the Bucs are rumored to be in the running. It was funny to see Jeff Garcia today trying to protect his starting QB job. So now Brett Favre is officially a major distraction for many franchises and not just the Packers. Most fans are done with his act and that includes even some Packer faithful. The bottom-line is, he is back and the NFL is a better place for it. If he ends up in a good team, that makes it an even bigger news. Even otherwise, it would be fun to see him in a new place, new jersey. I kinda like the Packers and Favre but not a big-time fan of either. So why do I care about him looking weird in a new jersey or spoiling his legacy? All I know is, when I wake up on a NFL Sunday, it's a much better show waiting for me on the TV if number 4 is back there. You are just wondering if the next pass is a 80 yard TD or an interception going the other way. Fun all the way around. But Favre should handle himself better. He thinks the World revolves around him and thats pissing fans off.

Nation is Favred out!

The off-season has been buzzing in both the NBA and NFL. The whole Elton Brand saga created some excitement in the NBA free-agency. First he opted out and helped the Clippers sign Baron Davis. He apparently said I'll re-sign for 75 million. Then he seemed to have pulled a Carlos Boozer on the Clips if you believe his ex-coach Dunleavy. His super-agent David Falk seemed to have convinced him to take the 85 mill offer from Philly.

"Very Ouch" for the Clippers! And Baron Davis too. They are back to being the Clippers. If Brand is healthy - which ia a very big IF, it's a great deal for Philly. They get their own Big-3 now with AI-junior and Andre Miller and that should take them a long way in the LEast. Brand had to do a lot of rounds on the radio on the day of his signings to protect his image, but I think Dunleavy's version of the story is definitely more believable. The only interesting thing to me is, Brand was offered even more - 90 mill, by the Warriors and he seem to have picked the Sixers probably because he can have a bigger impact in the LEast. The Sixers-Clippers has become an amusing rivalry now.

In the NFL, it's all about Brett Favre. Dude is at it again with his un-retirement now after crying like a baby a few months back. He is losing a lot of respect and is really looking like a dim-witted guy. What's up with him talking to Greta Van Susteren? He was sitting with her and bashing the Packers GM. Totally unnecessary. I understand he is a little upset that the Packers don't want him back, but he is asking for an unconditional release. Of course they are not going to just release him. Why doesn't he ask the Packers GM to fire himself too while we are at it. They need to figure out a team and trade him. Thats the only end to this and Favre needs to understand that.

From Favre's perspective, I see it's simple. He is telling the Packers that you let me play or let me go. But they gotta trade him. They can't just release him and let him goto a division rival, which is apparently what Favre wants to do - join the Vikings. Favre should have announced he is coming back and let the Packers handle the tough part about what they do with him. Instead he is messing it up in the media. In some sense, he put the Packers in a tough spot by retiring (and crying) and the team probably made a while bunch of promises to Aaron Rodgers. Now they can't go back on all of it. So they seem to have decided to let him go and they will eventually trade him.

It's an entirely different question for the Packer fan as to whether they are better off with Favre or Rodgers. Even I am surprised the Packers are so committed to Rodgers. I would think they can do better with Favre this season given how good they were last season. But the Packers management seem to think this is the right time to turn the page. Thats their call and I don't agree with it and the Packer fan can disagree with that too. But the point is, Favre is still mismanaging his return. He is fast becoming the Roger Clemens of the MLB and thats not a good thing. He needs to shut up and let the chips fall where they may. Especially in the dog days of summer when ESPN is looking for stories and it's either Brett Favre or "another day in Michael Jordan's life".

The Packers need to take it easy too with their tampering charges against the Vikes. Apparently Favre made several calls to the Vikings using the Packers phone. Lets get all of this over with and move on. The NFL nation is Favred out.

MLB gets it right.

We had an interesting MLB all-star break last week. It was in some sense a changing of the guard with some fresh, new faces in the game. The old roiders are out and the new blood is in. Whether or not the new "blood" is squeaky clean, who knows, but at least it has a chance at being clean! The feel good story started on Monday with Josh Hamilton crushing the ball in the early rounds of the usually stupid home run derby. He hit a record 28 home runs and that from a guy who went from being a high draft-pick to a drug-junkie back to the All-Star game. Though he lost the derby to Justin Morneau, Josh was clearly the story of the week.

The game itself featured a lot of freshers like Hanley Ramirez, Geovany Soto, Kosuke Fukudome, Brian McCann, Edinson Volquez and Tim Lincecum (who didn't pitch) on the NL side and Josh Hamilton, Dioner Navarro, Ian Kinsler, Evan Longoria, Joe Saunders and Justin Duchscherer in the AL. Heck even Joe Buck didn't know some of these guys and he thought "Dukesher" was pronounced "Ducksher". Inexcusable, but goes to show you how new these guys were at the national stage.

The All-Star game on Tuesday was a 15-inning thriller and unlike the last time, brother Bud let this thing complete and did not stop it when the score was tied. Once again, not screwing up is usually a great win of MLB. People don't expect anything more from this league. Just don't screw up and stay out the way. AL won once again 4-3 and they get the home-field for the World Series. What kind of moron decides the home-field for their championship round on an All-Star game! Only in MLB and only under the stewardship of Brother Bud! I am just happy it's not decided based on the Spring Training record I guess.

MLB All-Star break

Its been an interesting MLB season so far. How else would you characterize a season in which the Devil Rays are leading the Yankees by 5.5 games at the break! The Rays - thats apparently their new name and I am sure some morons think they are winning only because they removed the "Devil" from their name, could have led the AL East if not for their 7 game losing streak going into the break. They turned over the lead to the Red Sox because of that.

The Yanks seem to be still playing decent ball amidst all the Madonna-A-Rod rumors and his divorce proceedings. Baseball seems to be least relevant topic when you talk about the Yankees these days. I hope the Rays hang in there and don't let these Devils from New York get back into the race. I am still far away from my dream of both the Yankees and the Red Sox missing the playoffs, but I never thought the Rays of all the teams would be my only hope for achieving at least 50% of that dream this season.

In the West, I am disappointed with both my NL and AL teams. The D-Backs, after a hot start, are slipping and are leading the division with a sub-500 record. It still looks and feels like it's their division to lose, but they should be running away with it by 15 games right now. Instead, they are leading Joe Torre's Dodgers by a game and even the Giants with one legitimate talent in the baby-faced Tim Licecum are just 7 games behind. This division has been real bad a couple of times over the last few years, but this was not supposed to happen this year with 2 playoffs teams returning from last year. Hope the D-Backs get it done in the second half. Right now the NL is all about the Cubs who are sending like 80 players to the all-star roster!

In AL, the A's are over-achieving, but are not able to keep up with the Angels. They are now 6 behind and Billy just traded Rich Harden. It looks like Billy desperately wants to make it tougher and tougher for his team to win and they still keep winning ! He keeps increasing the degree of difficulty with these "rebuilding" trades. But he always gets good players in return and the team keeps it interesting. They desperately need the new yard. They can't be in this eternal rebuilding mode, though half of MLB is in this state except for the wealthy few.

Anyways, now onto Chris Berman's annoying "back, back, back" squeals during the home run derby.

Free agency is not that free after all

NBA free agency is in full spree. The official deals can start tomorrow, but a lot of players are already signed, sealed and delivered. The major shake-up started out West when Baron Davis opted out of the Warriors contract and had an under the table deal already signed with the paper-Clips. It was a shocker because it appeared like the West just got tougher with that deal. It appeared like the Clippers were all set for a playoff spot with Elton Brand being the other free agent (their own), they were supposed to lock up next.

The assumption going in to this off-season was that there was not enough money in the market for high-paid guys like Boom-Dizzle to opt out. In fact, Shawn Marion decided nor to opt-out a while back confirming that notion. But seems like the Clippers were willing to go the extra mile to get the home-town stud. The Warriors were a little pissed and they said we are going after Elton Brand to even the score with the clip-joint. There was also all kinds of noise about Andre Iguodala, Josh Smith and Corey Maggette. Finally the 76'ers get Brand and the Warriors supposedly get Maggette.

This means the Clippers are back to being the paper-clips. Baron is probably worried now. Without Brand, they are just Baron Davis, his 60 million bucks and a bunch of wannabes, The Sixers on the other hand are for real now. They made the playoffs last year in the LEast and now with Brand, their upside is huge. I love Andre Miller and with Iggy and Brand, they have their own big-3 of repute. Corey is a good pickup for the Warriors too. I am not sure if he can fill the shoes of Boom-Dizzle. Baron for all his faults, was still a true, talented PGs. There are not many guys like that in the league and the W's may realize it when they turnover the keys to their kingdom to Monta. He is awesome, but he is not a true PG. Similar issue with Corey. Good talent and a great scorer who also plays hard, but can't quite replace all that Baron brought to the table.

Overall I am happy the West didn't get too bad. As of today, both the Ws and the Clips have taken a small step backwards. In any case, another interesting off-season in the association. Is it me or is the NBA off-seaon really more interesting than the regular season? I know the hot-stove is pretty big in the MLB, but it's always the same 6 teams stealing talent from the other 20+ team. NFL is really not known for free-agency and trades though the draft is HUGE. So the NBA off-season is interesting and fun to follow with all the money changing hands. Or may be its just that America has lost so much interest in the NBA regular season that free agency feels like an upgrade!

CC for sale

The Brewers of all the team are apparently close to acquiring C.C.Sabathia. I should say I am a little surprised as I was expecting the usual suspects to make a run at C.C. Also we are all used to seeing Brewers being sellers this time of the year rather than being buyers. Plus I was half expecting them to off-load Ben Sheets who is a free agent at the end of the season. Instead the Brewers acquired another big name pitcher who will be a free agent at the end of this season.

But I guess the Brewers are going for it this season. It's been a while since the Brew-crew went to the playoffs and I hear the expectations are rather high in Milwaukee after last season. After all, what else do the Milwaukee fans have to look forward to? Number 4 is too "favre" in the rear view mirror and the Bucks have no clue what they are doing. So the Brewers decide to go for it in the central with the Cubs just 3.5 games ahead of them and the Cards right there with the Brewers chasing the lovable losers.

The Brewers might now have 2 star pitchers walking away this off-season. They may be OK with it because they end up with draft picks which they have been doing a good job of converting in to good players. This is what Billy Beane has been doing for years in Oak-town. Acquire stars for the pennant chase. Let them walk at the end of the year and pick prospects for the future. Brewers are trying to perfect this and good luck to them. I seriously doubt if they'll pay both C.C and Ben next year.

As for Cleveland, I guess they are giving up on this hugely disappointing season. They are 14 games behind the White-Sox and 13 games behind the Twins. How can one division have 2 such disappointing teams? The Indians are making the Tigers look good by comparison.

Draft Notes

The NBA draft is now done and I felt like it was not a deep draft. It was decent at the top and the trade activities made it a little fun, but overall it wasn't great. The trades started early with the Pacers sending Jermaine O'Neal to Toronto for T.J.Ford and center Rasho Nesterovic. This is a good gamble for Toronto. The Raptor fans should love the thought of O'Neal and Chris Bosh in the same front-court. I used to have great expectations for Jermaine O'Neal before he became a serious and regular injury A-lister who played basketball once in a while. And every time he came back, his game seemed to take a step or 2 backwards. I sure hope it works out for the Raptors. I like what they are doing there with CB4 and the gang. I also like them sending T.J.Ford and turning over the keys to Jose Calderon. Jose is good, real good. Pacers are clearly rebuilding and T.J.Ford is a good gamble for them as well.

The trade that shocked me was the one between the Nets and Bucks. Richard Jefferson to the Bucks for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Summons. The shocking part was the Bucks sending away Yi. I thought Yi was an untouchable cash-cow. Didn't the Bucks draft him despite his initial refusal to be there and didn't his game against Yao and the Rockets outdraw the Super Bowl World-wide? I thought they were trading everybody but Yi, and then Scott Skiles shows up in town and they decide to ship off Yi. Getting Jefferson might help them basketball wise. In the LEastern conference, teams should go for it and thats what the Bucks are doing here. But I still can't believe it from a business perspective.

The other big trade was Memphis and Minnesota swapping O.J.Mayo and Kevin Love and a whole bunch of expiring and bad and bloated contracts. Memphis got Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker and Greg Buckner along with Mayo and the TWolves got Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins along with Love. I almost forgot Antoine Walker was in Minnesota. By the way, is Brian Cardinal the worst signing ever by the Logo? I mean the Custodian had one semi-good season with the Warriors and Jerry West broke the bank for him. It was all downhill from there in Memphis both for the Logo and the Custodian. In any case, these moves are far-reaching and we wouldn't know how they work out until a few years down the road.

Derrick Rose went first and I completely support that move by Chicago. I like Michale Beasley, but I think Derrick Rose is going to be better. This is the era of point guards and he is one of the true PGs. Chicago has too many assets in the back-court but Rose is better than anything they got and hence they had to go for him. Now they just have to trade some pieces and if they play the trade-game right, they can make something special out of this team. Vinny Del Negro was a stretch as a coaching choice, but he might end up coaching a very talented team. The Miami Heat got a good player in Beasley and with DWade and Marion, it should be fun to see that team.

The other big news of the first round was both the Lopez twins being drafted in the first round. That should be an amazing day for their mom. Robin Lopez is really the lucky one of the two. Brooke is really good, but this guy ends up going in the first round anyways - just 5 spots behind Brooke's number 10. Plus he goes to the Suns, a much better team and a much better basketball town than New Jersey. And Robin is dating Michelle Wie. How many NBA first-rounders are dating hot 19 year old girls whose earning potential is higher than theirs? Good job Robin!

As for my Suns, I don't like this pick, but this was not a deep enough draft for them to work any kind of magic at 15. We have to live with a true 7-footer with decent athleticism. I still can't believe how bad the Suns luck has been the last year or two and how that Atlanta Hawks pick they got along with Boris Diaw for Joe Johnson finally ended up as Robin Lopez at 15. Wasn't this supposed to be a 4 or 5 last year in a deep draft? Hawks lucked out and got their top-3 protection last year and ended up making the playoffs in the horrible LEastern conference with a 37-45 record only to screw up the Suns pick this year. Thats life in the draft-lane these days for the Suns. At least I am happy they kept it all in the Pac-10 family as they also drafted Malik Hairston out of Oregon in the second round. San Antonio was involved in this transaction as they gave the Suns another future second rounder. I am hoping this turns out as good as the Barbosa deal for the Suns, another late draft pick traded to the Suns by the Spurs.

At least the Suns still got Shaq, his big-ass contract and his stupid-ass Kobe rap.

Time to stick a fork

Now that Boston has had another parade and the NBA season is over and done with and we figured out Kobe is not the next MJ, we are officially entering the dead-zone on the sports calendar. All we got going on right now is baseball. That brings me to inter-league play thats happening now. Can we all agree it's time to stick a fork on this idea? It's not fresh anymore, it's not exciting, it's barely news these days. And I am not just talking about the Blue Jays - V - Pirates or Astros - V - Rays match-ups. I mean does anybody get excited anymore even for a Yankees-Mets of Cubs-White Sox? Not me.

The inter-league schedule was kinda new and interesting for a few seasons. It helped switch things up a little bit and infused some excitement into the dog days of baseball summer. But now, it's not adding any value. Granted it's not taking anything away either. Who cares if the Pirates play the Cincinnati Reds or the Toronto Blue Jays. Same difference. But, it's definitely not doing what it was intended to do in the first place. I think the fans would rather have a few more divisional games. It at least keeps schedule sane for all the teams in the same league.

The geographic rivalries are still interesting in the local markets, but even those are not moving the needle nationally. Plus these local rivalries are few and far between. Of the top of my head, I can name only 3 good inter-league rivalries - Yankees-Mets, Cubs-WhiteSox and Giants-As. Does anybody care about games like Boston-Atlanta? Fox had it on national TV and got crushed at the ratings game. The only interesting part of this year's inter-league version was hearing that nut Hank Steinbrenner trash-talk the NL after his ace Chien-Ming Wang got hurt running the bases. While the rest of the World is trying to get rid of the stupid DH, Hank is saying NL is stuck in the 1800s since it's asking pitchers to hit. He wants the NL to adopt the DH. Good luck with that Hank. So Brother Bud, tweak it or pull the plug or something. Inter-league play in it's current format is dead.

In other news, Jevon Walker was found lying unconscious on the streets off Las Vegas after a supposed robbery. The only thing more ridiculous than this was Jevon's version of the story. He claims he was robbed at his room in the Bellagio and was physically dragged on to the streets. Why would the robbers do that? Aren't they better off leaving him in there in his room? Amazing story, but nobody is buying it. The other question is, why does all this happen to guys as soon as they become a Raider? Seems like the Raiders are a cursed franchise right now. The other big news is all the trade rumors swirling around Melo. Apparently Detroit may get him. Looks like Joe Dumars is trying to fix his mistake from that draft when he passed on Melo and picked Darko Milicic. Too late mate!

Game, set and match Boston

The Celtics clinched their 17-Th championship in style yesterday as they made sure the Lake-show does not force a game 7. It was an impressive performance as the Celts blew the Lakers out. I mean, it was a no-contest and they won by 39 points! I never thought a Kobe Bryant team coached by Phil Jackson will ever lose a Finals game by 39. It was a complete dismantling of the Lakers and nobody, including yours truly saw this coming. We were all a little blinded by the supposed superiority of the Western Conference, but Boston is for real. We should have at least realized that when they beat Detroit in the L-Eastern Finals. I don't think any Western team could have beat them either. May be San Antonio because they could have matched Boston punch-for-punch on defense and the match-up would have been significantly different from the Fakers. But I am going to say Boston would have taken that series as well out of respect for what they did to the Lakers - the best team from the West.

To be fair, Boston didn't help their reputation any by going to 7 games against the Atlanta Hawks. Who goes 7 against the Hawks? The Warriors - who didn't even make it to the Western playoffs, probably would have swept the Hawks. NBA playoffs are all about match-ups and that might explain what happened to the Celts against the Hawks. More importantly, thats what happened to the Lakers against the Celtics. It was just a bad match-up. They didn't have enough big wings to deal with Paul Pierce. On the other hand, the Celts were so good defensively that they neutralized Kobe effectively. There lies the story of the Finals. M-Jack had an interesting point on ABC yesterday. Apparently Doc Rivers asked him for his prediction before the Finals and Jackson told him he likes the Lakers to win. Doc replied that even if he was not the Celtics coach and if he was just a neutral observer, he would actually pick the Celtics because of their defense since the Lakers were just a good offensive team. I guess Doc knew what he was talking about.

Thats the part about their defense we all missed. In fact, I thought they had nobody to guard Kobe, when actually they had everybody guarding him plus the other 4 Lakers all at the same time. Kobe had a disastrous series. No MJ references for him for at least another year. In any case, good for the C's as they win their 17-Th when I am sitting here as a Suns fan waiting for my first. Speaking of the Suns, the season is done now. It started with a lot of hope for the Suns, but ends with a stupid boat parade in Boston. Who would have thunk! Thats why we love Sports. Like coach Jim Mora once famously said. you think you know, but you don't and you never will! Now the question on everybody's mind is, can the Celtics repeat? Of course they can. Did anybody watch these 6 games? I am not saying they will, but they sure can. I don't see KG or Paul Pierce dropping off too much. Ray-Ray might, but then again he just might wake up for the Finals like he did this playoffs. The Celtics biggest challenge might actually be the Lakers again, who will close the gap with both maturity and the comeback of Bynum. Hornets may improve as well, but the Lakers might still be the favorites in the West.

But the off-season just started today. We got all summer to see how the NBA landscape changes before the next season.

Lakers dodge another bullet

Lakers won a big game 5 and forced a game 6 on the road. Boston again played very well and erased an early deficit as big as our budget deficit. Paul Pierce was once again unstoppable as the Lakers have nobody to guard him. Kobe is the closest they have to a Pierce-stopper and even Kobe can't do it because Pierce is a little too big for him. As a matter of fact, the first time I was very impressed with Pierce was a few years back when he completely dominated Kobe in a game when Kobe tried to defend him. Plus he is also doing a decent job of defending Kobe at the other end though the help is always there in the paint with this Boston defense.

Kobe started on fire as expected, but then surprisingly the Celtics shut him down pretty much the rest of the game. Gasol came up big with a 19-13-6 game and Lamar had a 20-11 game himself. Both were helped by the injury to Perkins and the early foul trouble that KG was in. Despite all that, the Celtics hung in there and just would not go away. Pierce put in a 38-6-8 game as he probably overtook Ray-Ray as a potential Finals MVP candidate. He was terrific until the end when Kobe the knocked the ball out of his hands for a game clinching steal and dunk. To be fair, it could have easily been called a foul on Kobe considering that he reached in from behind. But it was a good play by Kobe and I think it was a decent no-call all things considered.

Now the Celts go home after 3 good performances on the road. A few years back, when the Pistons beat the Lakers in 5 games with Kobe hitting a buzzer-beating game-wiiner for the Lakers sole win, people called it the first 5 game sweep since Pistons were better than the Lakers in all 5 games. I feel like this Boston team is in a similar spot and is looking at a 6 or even a 7 game sweep. The problems the Celtics are having are exactly with things we all expected. They don't have a closer, they have not been together long enough and the chemistry in the clutch is suspect. This is evidenced by the number of turnovers and bad plays they have had in the 4-Th quarters in game 3 and 5. Lakers should consider themselves lucky they are not playing this Boston team with 2 or 3 years of cohesive experience under their belt. With all that said, the Celtics are still the favorites to close this out in game 6, but the pressure will be on them. They have to try and avoid a game 7 at all costs and that makes this game 6 an almost must-win for the Celtics.

If it goes to game 7, it Kobe will be on everybody's minds and thats just too big a gamble.

Next MJ or the next PJ?

When we are immersed in the moment, we don't usually understand the historic significance of certain events. We appreciate history when we are removed from it better than when we are actually part of it. Game 4 on Thursday of the finals was a historic game. I am not referring to one of the biggest Finals comeback on the road" story. I am more interested in the significance of this game from Kobe Bryant's perspective. The next MJ conversation is officially dead - at-least for a game or 2. As a Lakers and Kobe-hater, I am obviously happy about it. I am sure Kobe is pissed beyond what meets the eye. He is way too smart to miss the significance of this game on the big picture.

MJ doesn't lose that game 4 - not in a million years. You spot a 24 point lead to a 50 year old Jordan and he probably will find a way to seal the deal and win by 2! He is just a cold-blooded killa! So is Kobe by all indications, but he just lacks something. And that something is a better basketball head. Kobe is so self-absorbed at times that he is prone to more bad decisions at the clutch than MJ. Jordan just had the will and the smarts to do the right thing when it mattered the most. He also bought the best out of his teammates. Both were/are ruthless with their teammates, but Kobe just seems a lot more disconnected with them than MJ ever was. All of this adds to a MJ knockout of Kobe in this head-to-head comparison.

Now what happens to Kobe? Like I said, he is probably seething inside that he took such a career-altering blow on Thursday. He will probably come out smoking on Sunday in game 5 and try to show he is still in the running for MDE - Most Dominant Ever (to steal a Shaq phrase). But the damage is done. The only way he even restores some equilibrium is if he wins this series in 7. Lakers can definitely do it, though this Boston team looks awesome and have got 2 more games at home. I expect Kobe and the Lakers to take game 5, but 2 more on the road? Not sure if thats gonna happen. Plus Boston has been so effective, would anybody be really surprised if they wrap it up today and start planning their parade?

Kobe is in a tough personal spot right now. If he loses this series, thats officially 2 finals losses against MJ's zero. One featuring this ugly game 4 and the other even with Shaq on his team against the Pistons. So where does he turn now? He can smoke Phillip's peace-pipe like he suggested yesterday and hope (and pray) Sasha and Jordan Farmar help him out. Or he can try and go superman and face more criticism if the Lakers lose this series. I mean Kobe going superman is no guarantee for success anyways. We have seen that act before and I am not sure if the Laker-fan wants to see it against this maniacal Boston D. So Kobe is caught between a rock and a hard-place - between Lamar and Pau Gasol, between Sasha and Radmanovic. Not a good place to be if you had been watching this series so far.

Speaking of Kobe's teammates, what's the deal with Pau and Lamar? I can't remember 2 guys who have consistently gotten less results out of more talent than these two dudes. These 2 are the exact opposite of Leon Powe and Eddie House and that might singularly explain why the series is 3-1 in favor of Boston. And how much of his teammates' issues are Kobe-induced? There are reports that Kobe is just mean and relentless in his criticisms of his teammates on the court and on the bench. Even Curt Schilling had to write about it in his blog about Kobe's behavior having seen it up-close at the Boston Garden. I hate to quote Schilling of all people and loved Kobe's "Go Yankees" retort, but still Kobe has to clean-up his act. The only people who probably hate him more than the Laker-haters should be his teammates.

Take it easy Kobe - unless you want to be remembered as the next PJ now that the next MJ thing is done. I am speaking of P.J.Carlesmo, the guy known for berating his team constantly like they were some high-school kids until Latrell Sprewell almost choked him to death. Pau and Vlad-Rad would choke Kobe too if they were not busy choking themselves. In any case, Boston is beating the Lakers on every aspect of the game right now. Much to the chagrin of Suns fans like me, they are once again proving defense wins championships. I couldn't believe how they almost won game 4 with Pierce and KG doing nothing on offense. They better keep the defensive intensity going because I have a feeling Kobe is going to come out firing in the next game or 2 or 3.

Finals heating up

Boston looked impressive in game 3 though they lost. I was expecting them to get blown out after watching them play like garbage on the road the first two rounds of the playoffs. I guess they have gotten better on the road as the playoffs have gone deeper. They really had a chance to win this one and put the series away. You go 3-0 up in the NBA, it's over. You can dribble the ball only with your left hand the rest of the series and you will still win a game to close out the series. This after an impressive blow-out win at home where they lead by 20+ points most of the game. Of course it got all the way down to 2 points and it was surreal. The Celtics could have actually lost that game after leading by 20 in the fourth! I can't imagine the pain that would have caused to those chowder-heads.

Luckily that collapse didn't happen, but they actually played real well in the third quarter and half of the fourth quarter in game 3. Then they started making too many mistakes. Paul Pierce turned the ball over and so did the other guys and Sasha hit a huge 3 for the Lakers. This three forced Doc Rivers to choke and make a crucial mistake. For some inexplicable reason, he decided he had to single-cover Kobe in the last 2 mins of the game with Ray Allen on him. I have no idea why and Kobe sank 2 straight jumpers to close the deal. Too many mistakes down the stretch in the 4-Th quarter on the road. That was the story of this game for Boston. But Boston should be happy with their performance. They did pretty well to almost win the game. But then again, one more loss, this is a 3 game series with the other team featuring a guy called Kobe Bryant. Of course thats what the NBA wants and it might do something to get a game 6 and/or 7. Bennett Salvatore apparently is the league's favorite guy when it comes to extending playoff series!

Speaking of the NBA and the refs, Tim Donaghy is releasing some uncomfortable statements about the NBA. He is saying the NBA fixed game 6 of the Lakers-Kings series in 2002 through the refs. NBA definitely screwed that game up and forced a game 7. We all know that. No IFs or buts about that. A lot of people like yours truly have spoken about the officiating in that game repeatedly even years after the game. It was one of the worst officiated games ever. The refs were definitely part of that game 6 in more ways than one. The Kings were the better team in that series and were good enough to wrap it up in 6 games even after losing game 1 at home (if I remember right). But Donaghy's statement doesn't prove any of these suspicions. After all, Donaghy knows these games and the associated controversies too well. So this game is an easy target for him if he wants to throw some dirt on the NBA. His lawyers know that this game will strike a chord with the fans. The officiating was so bad that even Ralph Nader got involved. So I wouldn't put too much into what Donaghy is saying. Part of me wants Donaghy to be right and expose even more scandals. I want the NBA to once and for all cleanup it's act - get rid of makeup calls, superstar calls, home court calls, rookie calls etc. etc.

Just call the damn game as per the book or go to jail!

Big win for Boston

Boston got a big win in game 1 and made sure they don't lose home-court at the very start of the series. Now the Lakers have to win 4 out of 6 to win the series. Definitely doable for this Lakers team, but it's just a little harder, given they have 3 straight home games in the middle. Thats more pressure on the home team. Not sure what the Celtics did to Kobe, but Kobe was a non-factor in game 1. A 24-3-6 game with 4 turnovers and a -13 +/- differential for Kobe. Those numbers are ugly considering this guy was unstoppable coming in to this game. If the Celts can manage to bottle him up like this 3 more times, it's over. But I fully expect Kobe to bounce back. So the Celtics should work on containing the other Lakers players just like they did in game 1.

Lakers got nothing from their bench or from Lamar and Pau. Basically the Lakers were shut out up on all fronts. Pretty impressive from the Boston side of things. Game 2 will be very different in terms of feel and flow as Kobe and the Zen-master will come in with some adjustments. Phillip is already speaking of playing his bench longer minutes. All this just makes for good TV. The ratings for the NBA was better, but nowhere near what I would have expected. It was just as good as the Lakers-Pistons in 2004 despite featuring the Celtics. I guess the NBA has fallen so far down, it's an uphill climb right now. Speaking of Boston, I hate the East coast teams usually, but against the Lakers, I am all about Boston. Go green!

The Suns hired Terry Porter today. Not a bad hire, but nothing too exciting either. The Suns didn't have many good choices either. Porter definitely deserved another shot since I thought he was fired too soon in Milwaukee. But not sure if this is the right place and time for him. I sure hope Kerr knows what he is doing. Or may be he is just hoping to run everything through a coach that'll listen to him everyday. They were teammates at one time. It'll be interesting to see what he does with the offense. It'll also depend on how many assistant coaches stay and how many goto D'Antoni in New York. Good Luck Terry. We will be looking for big results soon.