Mario Bennett Beaten In Romania

Unless your a hardcore sports fan like myself, you probably don't remember former Arizona State star Mario Bennett. After his days as a Sun Devil, Bennett was drafted by the Phoenix Suns with the 27th pick. He also spent some time with the Lakers and Bulls before heading overseas.

Bennett made the news in a not so postive way Saturday. While attending a Ja Rule concert in Bucharest, Romania, where he plays for CSM Bucharest, Bennett was invited on stage by Ja Rule. Then security proceeded to "beat him like a dog" according to Bennett. Bennett was hospitalized with head injuries. H ehad gashes on his scalp and injuries to his legs.

Now I'm not going to dog Bennett for being in Romania and making an honest living. The problem I have is why in the hell is Bennett at a Ja Rule concert. No one goes to Ja Rule concerts anymore stateside. Don't take this out of context, but he should've been beat just for going to the concert. I know there's not much out there for a brother in Romania, but a Ja Rule concert.  I guess Ja Rule can go overseas since they probably don't know how over his career is.Mario,next time engage in some kind of cultural experience.  

Leyland's Son Gets A Spring Invite

In a neverending quest to find a catcher for the future the Detroit Tigers have given Jim Leyland's son Patrick a spring training invite. Of course this doesn't guarantee he'll make the team. It's pretty much just to get him a taste of the majors. Unlike some sons of players and coaches, Patrick is no slouch on the diamond. He was rated the number one player in Pittsburgh, the state's (Pennsylvania) fourth best prospect, and rated no.164 nationally. Leyland was selected in the eighth round of the MLB amateur draft last year.    

The Superteam Is Starting to Make A Comeback

When the Miami Heat went out and got two of the premier free agents on the market, Chris Bosh and LeBron James, it ushered in an era that is making a comeback. The superteam. Right now I call it buddyball because players want to call their shot on where to get traded or waiting on signing an extension for a team which their being traded to.

In the 80's there were a lot of stacked teams. There were a lot of capable teams that could ring up 50 plus wins every year. You had the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks, and Detroit Pistons in the East. In the West you had the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trailblazers, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs. Not all of them were championship level teams but were capable of winning division titles and a playoff series or two. I'm not going to run down every roster of the teams listed, but if you went and looked there were some teams that had at least four all star caliber players on their roster.

L.A. Lakers- Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, James Worthy, Byron Scott, A.C. Green, Bob McAdoo

Boston Celtics- Dennis Johnson, Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Bill Walton, Danny Ainge

Philadelphia 76ers- Julius Erving, Charles Barkley, Andrew Toney, Moses Malone, Maurice Cheeks, Bobby Jones

Look at those teams and tell me they weren't stacked. No wonder Magic Johnson says he couldn't go play anywhere else. Granted there were a lot of NBA Finals that featured either the Lakers, Celtics or Sixers. Even the Rockets rose up and made a few Finals appearances.

Now we have the Celtics and Heat battling it out in the East. The Orlando Magic had a good team but made some moves to net Jason Richardson and Gilbert Arenas. The Chicago Bulls are only a two guard away from being in the upper echelon of the East. And the New York Knicks are trying to get their own superteam started. The New Jersey Nets are desperately trying to land a superstar to attract others in anticipation for their move to Brooklyn. If you notice all this movement is in the East. There are some solid teams in the West, but they won't get anywhere until King Kobe decides to call it quits. Every team is trying to get themselves in position to win multiple championships. It's almost like it's an arms race nowdays.

Quote Of The Week: Jeff Passan

Here's part of Yahoo's Jeff Passan's take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. Not really a quote but it's still kind of funny.


Pirates in haiku


We yearn for the days
When our players did cocaine
At least they were good

Ronald Hearns To Get A Title Shot

Ronald Hearns, the son of legendary Thomas "Hitman" Hearns will get a shot at the middleweight championship that his father held 23 years ago. He'll have to go a long way to do it. Hearns will be fighting WBA champion Felix Sturm in his backyard in Germany on February 19. This will be Hearns' toughest test by far. Sturm has held the title since 2007 and has one of the best chins out there. And for those that forget, there were others who felt Sturm was robbed against Oscar De La Hoya back in 2004.

Even though Hearns boasts an impressive record with 20 knockouts in his 27 fights (26-1), but Hearns is not ranked in the WBA top 15 and hasn't beaten anyone of note in his career. Many feel that Sturm is taking this fight so he doesn't have to face the top middleweights in the game (Sergio Martinez,Paul Williams). It's what you would call a safe fight. On his home turf against an unheralded opponent.

It's a big opportunity for Hearns. It'll be tough but he does have a puncher's chance to win. Only if he had Manny Steward in his corner and can avoid getting hit with a big shot, I'd have a lot more confidence in Hearns to go into enemy territory to come out with a win. In his only loss to Harry Joe Yorgey he was knocked out in the ninth round. Even though he exhibits his dad's punching power, he also has his suspect chin. I wish the best of luck to Ronald.

Billups Wants No Part Of Deal

It's rumored that Chauncey Billups could be headed to the New Jersey Nets with Carmelo Anthony and possibly reunited with former teammate Richard Hamilton. Billups has no desire to leave Denver. He said that if he were to be traded he'd seek a contract buyout.

What a change of pace. In a world where most players are asking to be traded, Billups wants to retire in Denver. He knows it's a business and thought he would end his career with the Detroit Pistons. Billups is somewhat of a local legend in Denver. He grew up there, went to the University of Colorado, and now plays for the Nuggets. He would like to join the Nuggets' front office after his playing days are over. My take on it is grant the man his wish.

I know the Nuggets will soon be in rebuilding mode. But you couldn't have a more classy veteran to teach the youngsters in Billups. His wife was his high school sweetheart. He still has family in the area. His children are entrenched in the school system and does a lot of community work. That's the kind of player you want leading a rebuilding effort. Someone postive, that actually wants to be there. Someone that could show younger teammates the ropes instead of having a knucklehead factor on your team.

I know the Nuggets' front office wants to try and build for the future and get what they can in fair value for tradeable assets. They also need to have someone around to be a positive influence for younger teammates. They should know about having a team without solid leadership (the Allen Iverson days). That should be more the reason to keep Billups around. The Nuggets' window of oppurtunity is slammed shut. Get rid of Carmelo and cast an eye toward the future. Just keep the hometown legend.    

The Seahawks Showed The Experts

This wasn't supposed to happen. There was no way the Seattle Seahawks were supposed to be able to come within two scores of the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints. You can put that all to rest. The Seahawks pulled the shocker of the playoffs (so far) beating the Saints 41-36.

Everyone complained and lampooned the Seahawks for winning the NFC West with a losing record. I said in a previous post, that you can hate them all you want but they won their division fair and square. They did what they had to do to get a home playoff game. They took care of business and it paid off for them. Now it's off to the divisional round to play Green Bay or Chicago. They could possibly get another home game out of this.

The NFL playoff system might not be the perfect setup, but it gives evryone a fair chance within the system. I don't necessarily agree with a team with a losing record getting a home game, but it is what it is. Like I said, they won the division which gets you a home game. That's all you have to do. Take care of business in the division and get rewarded for it. Unless you're the Raiders.