NBA Line of the Week for March 23 to 29

Don't look now, but here comes America's least favorite team. Again.

With less than 3 weeks until the playoffs, the San Antonio Spurs are clinging to the second seed in the Western Conference. Pretty remarkable considering all the injuries the team has faced this season. Of course this is the team that draws low television ratings, gets all the calls down the stretch (Hello Manu Ginobli), and is just a fundamentally sound basketball team. So of course no one wants to watch them.

But, they are the team of the past decade.

And it all starts with the Big 3. And no one was bigger last week than Point Guard Tony Parker.

Parker was the leader as he helped the Spurs go 3-1 last week and regain the second seed.

Last Wednesday at Atlanta (3/25), Parker led the Spurs to a 102-92 victory...Without Tim Duncan!

Here's Parker's line for that night:

42 points, 10 assists and 3 boards.

For the week, Parker averaged 27.5 points and 8.25 dimes.

Can you believe people actually don't care to watch this team when you can see Eva Longaria every night out!

Everything Going Mizzou's Way

Speaking of 70 foot shots...This may be the shot of the tournament so far. With practically everything going Missouri's way last night against Memphis, Mizzou's Marcus Denham nailed this shot from roughly 70 feet out.

Lebron James Goes Deep on 60 Minutes

If you haven't seen or heard, Lebron James was interviewed by Steve Kroft for 60 minutes airing this Sunday. And of course King James ceased to amazed.

This video is already making its rounds on YouTube and is the subject on about every talk radio station.

I think my favorite part of this shot is how Lebron is so cool, calm and collective. Like it was no big deal, because he does this all the time. No running around the gym and high fiving everyone.

The guy is incredible!

NBA Line of the Week for March 16 to 22

Since suffering a partially collapsed lung against the Lakers in late January, the Charlotte Bobcats' Gerald Wallace has shown no signs of weakness. Last week Wallace (Alabama), helped the Bobcats go 3-1 and now has Charlotte thinking playoffs!

Currently, Charlotte is 31-40 and just 2 1/2 games out of the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Last Friday (3/30), in a 102-89 win against Toronto Wallace's line read:

30 points, 8 assists, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 9-13 fg%, 2-2 3pt%, 10-12 ft%

Bracketology 101

First 4 in, Last 4 out.

What's it matter. ESPN's Joe Lunardi has been working hard the last 6 weeks on this. Why? What a waste of time. It changes everyday and it doesn't really matter until Selection Sunday.

Lunardi's bracketology is about a big of a waste of time as Mel Kiper/Todd McShay's mock drafts.

First off, there will always be upsets in Conference Tournaments. Teams like Cleveland St. and Northern Iowa win their Conference Tournament and knock bubble teams out.

Lunardi has Pitt, Louisville and UConn as number 1 seeds. Can you say East Coast bias? I thought the selection committee puts a lot of weight on Conference Tournaments. How can both Pitt and UConn be number 1 seeds when they both went one and done and the Big East? Now they say it's better to lose early because the teams get more rest. That's really not fair to every other team who play hard during their tournament.

Oklahoma and Kansas also were one and done. If you go one and done in your Conference Tournament, you don't deserve a number one seed. It also doesn't help a team's confidence when you go limping into the post season, in any sport. Hell, UConn hasn't won a post season game since 2006, the year George Mason beat them to go to the Final Four.

What about Memphis? They're a top 5 team who easily won their tournament.

What makes Joe Lunardi so special? And where does he get his credibility? I can pull names out of a hat and probably guess better than Lunardi.

Currently, Lunardi has USC out. USC will play for the Pac 10 title today. What if USC wins? Then the magnificent Lunardi will have to throw out his 4 in, 4 out.

So like I'm saying, what does it matter right now!

Who's in and who's out? If you're in a major conference and you have 20+ plus wins, you're probably gonna get in the tournament. If you're from a mid major conference, you better when your tournament or have at least 25 wins, see Creighton and maybe Utah St.

So if you pay attention to Lunardi's predictions, you're wasting your time. All that really matters is Sunday night.

My biggest question? What does Joe Lunardi do for the rest of the year?

Bron-Bron-3 Straight Triple Doubles

This may be the most exciting MVP races in recent memory. Most of the year the talk had been Lebron/Kobe. But lately Dwyane Wade has made a strong case for the MVP, averaging 40 plus points, 10 plus assists and hitting game winning jumpers.

Kobe has his Lakers sitting with the best record in the NBA and the Lakers have swept the Cavaliers and Celtics, pretty much securing home court advantage throughout the playoffs.

Now Lebron has just been lighting it up like Michael Phelps lights up bongs. Caught up in last night's 6 OT Big East thriller, you may have missed one of the funnest NBA games to watch. Bron-Bron led the Cavaliers from behind on the road in Phoenix. In doing so, James finished with his third straight triple double, a feat not accomplished since Jason Kidd.

In Cleveland's 119-111 victory in Phoenix, Lebron finished with 34 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals.

The biggest play of the game was probably this sick block James had on Jason Richardson. This play came after Lebron missed a three on the other end and Richardson seemed to have a wide open break to the basket. The most amazing part about this play was how in the hell James was able to make it down the other end of the court. This play shows Lebron's determination and hustle.

In Lebron's last three games, he has averaged 26.7 points, 12 dimes and 11 boards.

Last Tuesday, the Cavs were down 19 points in the fourth quarter to the Clippers, only to come back and win 87-83. Yeah, I know it was against the Clippers, but it's pretty impressive when a team can come from 19 down in the final period to win the game, no matter who the opponent is.

NBA Line Of The Week for March 2 to March 8

Dwyane Wade is making a strong case for league MVP of late. We all saw his double overtime buzz beater to beat Chicago Monday night.

Last week Wade helped the Miami Heat go 2-2, coming up short twice against Lebron and Cleveland.

On Wednesday, March 4, Wade led the Heat to a 135-129 victory over the Phoenix Suns. Wade finished with 35 points, 16 assists and 6 rebounds.

Last Monday, March 2, Wade did all he could but the Heat blew a fourth quarter lead to the Cavs. Wade finished with 41 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds and 7 steals.

For the week, D-Wade averaged 35.7 points, 11.2 dimes and 6.7 boards.

The Stars At Night, Are Big And Bright...

You know the rest.

But, dam! Austin is such a great time! I'll never get sick of having to go there. And when your hotel is on 5th Street, that's a recipe that will always end up in complete out of control drunken debauchery.

Good times!

And when the bartender is easily mistaken for Jessica Simpson, "Why yes mam, I'll certainly have another beer. And be sure to come back and check on me every 5 minutes. Wait. That's way too long. I can drink beer faster than that."

The temperature dropped into the 40's at night, but that didn't keep the female talent from donning mini skirts and showing as much leg as possible. I mean come on! I kept asking around if there happened to be a Victoria's Secret photo shoot tonight.
I was in jeans and a sweatshirt and I might have been cold, but obviously I couldn't complain.

Sorry, I made a huge rookie mistake and failed to bring a camera down 6th Street. But I can assure you, if you've never been to Austin and spent the weekend on 6th Street, you haven't lived. It's a cleaner version of Bourbon Street. It's a mini Vegas minus the gambling. It's like the Village in NYC minus the stiff drink prices.

College Gameday was in town for the Red River Rivalry of basketball-Oklahoma in town to play the Longhorns. As the no. 2 team in the nation, all that was standing in the way of a no. 1 ranking for the Sooners was bitter rival Texas.


Texas took the lead early, and All World Blake Griffin was smacked in the nose and never returned to the game, diagnosed with a mild concussion. At the time, I wasn't sure of the injury. All I could tell was that Griffin had a bloody nose. However the look on his face was more telling as Griffin was in a complete daze. He sat on end of the bench for the rest of the game not even watching the play on the court. The guy was completely out of it.

Even with Griffin out, Oklahoma stormed back from a double digit deficit to take the lead in the second half. But Texas sensation A.J. Abrams decided to make it rain by scoring 16 straight points over the final 8 minutes.

Enjoy the pictures. Mack Brown was in the house, so was Colt McCoy (along with Mrs. Colt McCoy, and former Longhorn football standout Roy Williams. And of course Dickie V. and Erin Andrews along with little sis.

Mrs. Colt McCoy




EA's sister.

NBA Line Of The Week for 2/9 to 2/15/2009

What a week it was for the Knicks' Nate Robinson (Washington). Robinson, standing at 5ft 9in (according to the media guide), electrified the crowd during the All Star weekend when he dunked over Dwight "Superman" Howard to win his second Dunk Contest.

Oh, and Robinson also earned himself a nickname, Kryptonate.

Last week in 128-124 overtime loss to the Clippers, Robinson just missed a triple double, putting up 33 points, 15 assists, 9 rebounds and 5 steals.


Speaking of Triple D's, Boston's Rajon Rondo earned his second of his career, both coming this season. In the Celtics' comeback win against the Mavericks last Thursday (2/12), Rondo had 19 points, 14 assists and 15 boards.

Another Sad Day For Baseball

I not quite sure where to start on this one. It is freakin huge! Overall, I'm not totally surprised. The most surprising aspect of this whole story, boy, Jose Canseco was actually right.

Major League Baseball is the overall biggest loser. In a way, they condone this and and play a major part of creating this "steroid era."

Think about it. MLB was destroyed with the 1994 strike which canceled the postseason. MLB turned their head as players were putting up superhuman numbers, but the ballparks were full and the money was coming in at a record pace.

MLB didn't test for steroids. Steroids weren't banned by the league even though they are illegal in the United States.

And now, they even failed to cover up their poster boy, savior of the steroid era in Alex Rodriquez.

I know, the players are as much to blame as the commissioner and MLB. But hey, if everyone else was juicing, why not, right? MLB wasn't testing. So the playing field was even.

What I don't understand is these players-Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Clemens, A-Rod-were already great players and certain locks for the Hall of Fame with out PED's. All the PED's did for them was up their slugging percentage and blossom their homeruns, the latter what everyone pays money for.

Back to Canseco, he is considered the "Godfather" of steroids, ushering in the drug to the game and forever putting a cloud over this era. And lately, since Canseco went down, he's taken everyone down with him and of course profiting from this.

But hell, like I said before, the guy was actually right. And he claims that around 75% of MLB was juiced. That means about 18 of 25 players on every roster were using PED's. And rumor has it, Canseco has more juicy tales to come.

And so in 2003, MLB randomly and anonymously tested players and 104, about 5% tested positive, including A-Rod. That's like saying each roster had at least 3 guys juicing. How is A-Rod the only name which was leaked? Someone obviously had it out for him.

Think about it. Supposedly (I mean honestly, what the hell can we believe anymore) the tests were kept in Vegas with only a number on it. The names were kept separately in Southern California. That's a lot of work, sneaking around, whatever you will to put these two together.

So in all fairness, to A-Rod, the media, MLB it's fans and players who were clean, th the rest of these 103 players should be named and I believe they will be be revealed.

I'm not here to defend A-Rod. As everyone knows, I always lashed out on Barry Bonds. In fact, I was Barry Bonds fan back in his day with the Pirates. When he hit over .300, 30 homeruns and 100+ RBI's.

Like I said before, these players were already great hitters. All steroids did was help them hit the ball farther.

What separates A-Rod apart from Bonds, McGwire, Clemens, Sosa, Palmero. is the fact he confessed and apologized. That was the smartest thing for A-Rod to do, and to have Peter Gammons conduct the interview.

Also, these other guys were busted at the end of their careers. A-Rod has many years left to define his legacy. And since 2003, A-Rod claims to have been tested 8-10 times and blood tested for the World Baseball Classic.

Another big question from A-Rod's apology was his lashing out against Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts. A-Rod referred to Roberts as "this lady" and claims that she was stalking him. A-Rod than says she's been arrested for trespassing on his property and said he had a paper to prove it. Why did Peter Gammons not immediately ask to see the document?

If Roberts is coming out with a book on A-Rod and it seems she's been covering him for the last few years, I'm sure A-Rod knows exactly who she is and doesn't need to refer to her as "this lady."

What is the actual relationship between Roberts and A-Rod.

Like I said before, great ballplayers like A-Rod, Bonds, etc. never needed PED's to hit the ball or be the best, they already were.

A-Rod's numbers have been consistent throughout his entire career. In 1996, just his second season, A-Rod led MLB with a .358 average.

Lets look deeper into his numbers.
From 2001-03, the alleged steroid years for A-Rod:
161.7 games, .305 batting average, 52 homeruns, 131.7 RBI, .615 slugging %.

All other seasons:
149.2 games, .308 batting average, 39.2 homeruns, 119 RBI, .574 slugging %.

The batting average remained nearly the same, actually slightly better than his "Roid Years."

But what's another thing A-Rod, Sosa, Bonds and Palmero have in common-No Rings!

Of course Clemens picked up his two jumping on the ship for final 2 World Series Championships of the 90's dynasty.

And Big Mac got his only ring when he was just breaking in the league with Bash Brother Canseco.

Being a Yankees fan, I get a lot of "Your team's all on roids.", "Your team cheated." "Drugs are all over the Yankees' clubhouse.", etc.

Let's remember this. So far A-Rod was juicing with the Texas Rangers, supposedly not with the Yankees. Clemens started juicing with the Blue Jays. Giambi started with the A's, probably with Miguel Tejada.

So if you're gonna shout out the NY Yankees as juicers, you're a hypocrite. Whoever your team is, I'm sure their locker room was full of illegal drugs too.

So what does A-Rod do now? Have the best season of his career. That's the only way he can win back his fans, teammates, baseball and himself.

A-Rod has another 10 years to prove he's still one of the best. If he can't be in the Hall Of Fame, he really needs to start winning championships more than ever.

Yeah I feel cheated and am greatly upset about A-Rod. But I felt cheated befor this week.

Another look at the "Steroid Era."

By decade, here is the average number of total homeruns hit by overall MLB leader:

1970's - 43.5 homeruns
1980's - 41.9 homeruns
1990's - 52 homeruns
2000's - 54 homeruns

So yeah, steroids allowed players to hit more homeruns.

What else is amazing about this stat? In 1981, 4 players led the AL with 22 homeruns!

And Mike Schmidt was the most dominant homerun hitter of his era.

NBA Line of the Week for 1/26 to 2/1 2009

The biggest off season deal in the NBA just may have been Cleveland acquiring PG Mo Williams. I had no idea Mo Williams (Alabama) was this good. Williams seems to be the outside shooter and play maker Lebron so desperately needed. And Lebron recognizes this. As James always requires extra attention when he has the ball, Williams can always find a wide open jumper.

Last Tuesday (1/27), Williams went off. In a 117-110 victory over Sacramento, Mo lit up with 43 points, 11 dimes and 8 boards, including shooting 7-12 from downtown.

And of course, Lebron quietly had another triple double that same night.



I can't forget about my boy CP3. Last Monday (1/26), Chris Paul was 3 steals away from a quadruple double! In the Hornets 101-86 win against Philadelphia, Paul put up 27 points, 10 rebounds, 15 assists and 7 steals!

That is straight up nasty! Here's hoping Paul's groin injury keeps him out for a minimum number of games as he's one of the funnest players to watch and the best PG in the NBA.