Back to the Good ol' Days....

So it has been a few years....like 9 (I believe) since we have seen Ken Griffey Jr. in a Mariners uniform.

And I have to say, it feels nice.

Amongst all the other baseball news I have to say this is my favorite headline. I'm sick of roids, I'm sick of A-Fraud, I'm sick of Bonds, and the Steroid era. This is what baseball needs. For all of you Mariners fans this is a time to rejoice, even though he may win you a difference of 10 games. That's not the point, the point is, Griffey is back in Seattle!!

It brings many back to their kid in them, back when they were 10 and watching Griffey pop some over the fence. It is exactly what Seattle needs. In fact, more sports need to respect their legends and if they have a good opportunity... sign them. It will put for rears in the seats.

Plain and Simple.

p.s. Tyson Chandler trade was reverses, he didn't pass his physical.

J.J.

I know how to get T.O. some love again

Ever since his falling out with McNabb(not quite a saint either), T.O. has never been the same. Even though he is a reporters best friend when he speaks his mind, he can't seem to find any press singing him praises. He hasn't done anything negative towards his team in quite some time but everyone still thinks of him as a negative influence. I personally think that T.O. is just fine and am quite happy to have him on America's Team. But in order to bolster his awful reputation I've figured out how to fix things.

Just follow Alex Rodriguez or as he was starting to be called A-Fraud. The man was thought of as a fraud by his teammates and his former manager Torre and also cheated on his wife with Madonna. People were starting to tear this man apart for his lack of clutch performances(equal to T.O.'s lack of rings) and this rep downers. What'd A-Rod go and do? He had Sports Illustrated release information about him using steroids.

Ok, the steroids aren't helping his reputation but he is being supported by his teammates in the media. This is the most support they have shown for him since they were all 'excited' to see him come to the Big Apple. Other players have publicly ripped on A-Rod and steroids (Pujols and Big Papi) but you're opponents aren't supposed to love you and this hate will only help the victim image in the media. On down the road A-Rod will be seen as the man who owned up to the steroids when Clemens and Bonds are still fighting against the truth. This will undoubtedly create a much better public image for the man that was about to be known as A-Fraud.

Back to T.O., all he has to do is have a steroids scandal. I don't want to see performance enhancing drugs tear apart the NFL too (god knows that they all use them here if they do is girly baseball). But T.O. needs to get himself into some trouble (steroids) admit to it early on and then recover from being young and stupid and he'll be safe on his way to some media love.

I know it seems backwards but just watch. We will all love A-Rod again and T.O. should take note.

-D-Rae

Chandler to the Thunder...... That's like Cookies without the Milk

It is reported by the mother ship (ESPN) that the New Orleans Hornets are shipping away Tyson Chandler in return for Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith from the Thunder.

WHY?!?!?!

When I read this story I automatically felt a bad feeling in my stomach like I'm about to throw up my chicken-bacon-ranch five dollar foot long. I know that the Hornets are getting a couple of descent ball players but they are sending their top defender. Let alone Chris Paul's recipient for the alley-oop.

I don't like this trade for New Orleans because I think that Tyson Chandler met more to the organization than just a big guy who could swat balls. I think he was a cornerstone of their team and played great alongside Paul and West. I remember the good ol' days when players that fans liked were able to stay in their city.

We are reaching a point to where this is strictly more of a business then entertainment, but the thousands of fans watching the games are there to be entertained, not to wonder how the payroll is doing for their favorite team.

-J.J.

Another #1 Bites The Dust

On Big Monday, #4 Pittsburgh beat #1 Connecticut 76-68. This is the fifth number one to lose this season which means we will have our sixth new number one this next Monday.

I'm happy that UConn was stopped because I'm sick of seeing Calhoun on Sportscenter telling me how great he is and how great the Big East is this year. I think that the Big East definitely has some good schools but it isn't the best conference in my opinion. 

Here are my rankings:

#1: The ACC

North Carolina, Wake Forest, Clemson, Duke, Florida State

Between these five teams there could be two number one seeds given in the tournament. Top to bottom I don't think that there is a more athletic and talented conference. Even the "bad" teams in this conference would dominate other conferences. If you were to take McClinton and Miami out of the ACC and throw them into the Big 12, you'd be looking at a team that would easily be the number 2 or 3 team in that conference instead of the #10 in the ACC.

#2: Big East

UConn, Marquette, Pitt

I know this is supposed to be the big, bad conference like the SEC in college football but they don't really scare me. UConn and Pitt are solid number one seed contenders with their combination of inside and outside game and the Marquette looks like it is shaping up to be something exciting. The rest of the conference has a Jekyll and Hyde show going on. On any given night it seems that Louisville could beat Connecticut or lose to DePaul. I know that this is true in the ACC too (NC dominates Duke at times but loses to Boston College). The reason that the Big East is not my top conference is because I think that ACC is tough(could be ranked at any given time) 10/12 teams and that the Big East is tough about 7/16. Some teams from #8 down have a bloated overall W-L thanks to very light out of conference schedules.

#3: Big 12

Oklahoma

I think that Oklahoma is the only real contender in this conference but I think that the rest of the pack is above mediocre enough to put them ahead of the Pac-10 or Big Ten. I'm still not sure about Oklahoma and I would like to see what they would do head to head against a larger foe.

#4: Pac-10

The what the hell happened here conference. UCLA, Zona St., and even Zona were supposed to be top flight teams this year but have been beaten by some lower opponents. Washington is in the lead and kudos to them but I think that they are Pac-10 version of Missouri (where is the legitimate post offense?).

#5: Big Ten

I just had to put them up here to say please, please, please stop rating Michigan State so high. I really can't stand Izzo but what have they done to merit a top 5 ranking? Lost to NC and Maryland by a combined 53 points. Please let me know if you have an argument for Michigan State or the horrendous basketball that is the Big Ten right now.

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Blake Griffin and Oklahoma will most likely be the next top dog as long as they are able to beat Texas this coming Saturday. With only one loss the Sooners look like they could keep the top spot until the tournament thanks to the remaining Big 12 schedule. The scariest game left on their schedule looks like March 4th against now #10 Missouri. They run the fast break and press full court all game long. The Sooners will be favored though thanks to the Tigers lack of big man and/or anything to stop Blake Griffin.

Oh yea...

- D-Rea

Now the REAL NBA Season Begins!

OK, So yes yes...... Derek and I have been stale a little bit, while he was sick I was....... "sick". OK, so I was lazy. I realized that I kept checking the blog to see if D-Rae posted, if he didn't, neither did I. Talk about commitment.

With all jokes aside I just got done finishing yet another NBA All-Star game where yet again I got excited Friday night to just be disappointed by Dwight Howard being "superman" and trying to impress us by lifting the hoop two feet in which we knew he could jam that easily anyway. I love Howard to death and I think he brings a lot to the game but I have to admit that the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest may just turn into the Dwight Howard Variety Show. Every year he is going to break out the Superman cape and every year we will have to hear Kenny "the jet" Smith try and eat his microphone while screaming his catch phrases like, "It's over!!!!" and "Goodnight ladies and gentlemen!!!" While Earnie Johnson pretends that he is amused with that subtle giggle he gives.

The game was alright, I was even slightly impressed with the West's 19-0 run but then I remembered that this is an All-Star game so no defense is allowed right? Kobe and Shaq got the hardware for MVP's which ran shivers down my spine since I love the Lakers and miss those days with the dynamic duo.

With all the festivities aside now we will finally get a bigger audience watching the NBA. People are starting to realize that the NFL is over and their only choice over the NBA is the NHL, PGA, or Nascar...I'm hoping the NBA wins this viewing contest. So the second half of the season is beginning and I already have some thoughts and predictions to write down (by the way, I'm going to do this in list form, just because it looks cool).

1st: Terry Porter is out of the big sun, possibly the best decision the Suns make all year. It will be interesting how this Amare Stoudimire thing works out... could be the Pau Gasol trade of this year.

2nd: On the west side of things, Lakers are top dog, but I'm going to put Denver in 2nd, and Portland in 3rd when it comes to playoff time. Portland and Denver are two dangerous underrated teams in my book.

3rd: On the East side of things, I still like Boston at one, Cleveland at two. But don't be surprised if Miami, Detroit, or Atlanta could land in that 3rd spot. With Nelson out in Orlando, it could be a 4th or 5th seed kind of year for the Magic, with Nelson out, that's a big blow.

4th: This is a side note, watch out for Memphis in about three or four years. They have a Portland Trailblazers feel to them and I think they will turn some heads in a few. Oh and I DO NOT like the Miami-Toronto trade. Since when does a player make a game winning dunk and then gets shipped out to Canada....eh?

5th: I'm expecting a pretty good second half, not as good as last years though since the west is weaker, and the whole Boston Three Party feel has worn off. I'm expecting Kobe and Lebron to take most of the headlines from here on out, with a couple of trade talks in the early going. There will be regular discussions if the Cavs could take down Boston in the playoffs, and the same for the Spurs taking down the Lakers.

This is where the REAL NBA season begins. It should be a good one. Hopefully America....hopefully.

-J.J.

The King (just not of the All Star game)

I don't know about everyone else but I was witness to this year's NBA All Star game. Let me tell you,  if you missed the game I'll just say that you didn't necessarily miss anything. The highlights for me included seeing LeBron display his 'great' outside shot and him shank a couple dunks. Is it just me or did Jordan, not Jordan but Wizards Jordan, missed one dunk and got ostracized. LeBron missed a couple and I'll predict that we don't hear anything about it in the coming week. I'm happy that Kobe and Shaq were the co-MVPs. I'd really like for Shaq and Bryant to get reunited but I'm sure we won't see that (please new Suns admin!!!!). I enjoyed Shaq breaking it down with god knows what the name of that dance team is but I really liked him making a fool of Superman on the between the legs give and go. As for LeBron... here is hoping that those missed dunks will come at more crucial times in this season and seasons to come.

It's been awhile!

Ok, so I've been a big wuss lately and haven't posted in a little over a week. To my credit I've been sick and the doctor pulled a Heath Ledger (too soon?) and prescribed me medicine that I'm allergic to. This is my note that we are still working on the blog but the posts may become less frequent as our semesters pick up.

A-Rod, A-Rod, A-Rod!

Thanks to you, Phelps gets to be thrown on the back burner. Cheating on your younger hotter wife with Madonna was bad enough but now this lol. Does anyone know how old Madonna really is? or where all she has been? I'm kind of kidding. I know that the steroids happened in the past but does the MLB want this to linger on forever? I think that they should do one of two things. Either make steroids legal and just call it MLB Slugfest or say from this point on in 2009 players have a blank slate but punishments will come after this with more strict testing. I personally favor the just make steroids legal. I just don't think that the MLB can put this behind them. When the best players of this generation (Clemens, Bonds, Rodriguez) have all been caught, where else can you go?

Dunk Contest

This year's dunk contest was fairly disappointing to me. I think that Rudy was snubbed on his second dunk with the alley oop by Pau Gasol. It took him his full attempts but he eventually got it and the movement for that rap around was worth way more than 42 or 43. I'm just saying... I like both Nate the Great and Superman but it just didn't fall out the way I wanted it to. I think Nate played it the way he should've and won because of it but I think that Superman Howard played out his dunks in the wrong order. He shoul Fernandez d've brought out the extended hoop in the final round and then jumped clean over Nate. I'm not talking about his crotch sliding over his head but to have Howard's feet clear over Nate's head on the 12' hoop. This would've been a perfect closer going into the next year against LeBron (who I bet doesn't sign up).

 

UNRELATED TO SPORTS : Chris Brown and Rihanna

Will this grow into the tumultuous relationship known as Bobby and Whitney? I used to think that Brown was a nice guy and had some good music but there are no excuses for laying a finger on a woman. I don't know what happened in the altercation but I lost a lot of respect for Brown and just hope that Rihanna sets a good example to her fans by walking away from him.