LeBron Spanks Himself

After draining a key three pointer LeBron James decided to spank himself or tell someone to kiss it. It has to be one of the two.

 

Anthony: Chauncey Belongs In Denver

Who's running the Denver Nuggets? Carmelo Anthony or Josh Kroenke. Just when it seems the Nuggets are close to making a deal Carmelo Anthony starts wavering about signing a contract extension with the New Jersey Nets. Then he says that he doesn't want Chauncey Billups to be traded with him and that Billups belongs in Denver, where he's a local hero of sorts. That was after Billups went as far as saying he wouldn't want to play for the Nets and seek a buyout.

The Nuggets are assassinating their franchise. They're blowing it up without really needing to. Personally I think their window of opportunity is shut, but Kobe Bryant is due to go away and there will be a new king in the Western Conference. But since Anthony doesn't want to stick around they want to take some dynamite to their team and start over. If I were in the front office I'd make the best deal possible. Damn where he wants to go. Management holds the cards and they have to assure themselves they are getting fair value in return. Speaking of management, I won't let them off the hook either. They keep coming up with outrageous trade demands, like asking for five first round picks or trying to get rid of Al Harrington's bad contract. Anthony and his agent are driving this whole thing and the Nuggets brass is doing everything to accomodate them.

The Nuggets need to end this saga soon. Word is there is a trade to New Jersey close to being done. Deep down Anthony doesn't want to go there. He wants to go with the New York Knicks and form his own superteam with Amare Stoudemire and whatever third wheel that will agree to play with them. If I'm the Nuggets I hold him hostage until I got the best deal, not the other way around. 

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