OK know it has been ages since I last posted on Fox sports. In fact the last posts that I wrote involved the Golden State Warriors and how I predicted their amazing upset of the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA playoffs last year.  So if I am such a fan of the Warriors why am I discussing their almost certain elimination from the playoffs this year? Because as a fan of any sports team I feel it is important to be honest about your team, and how they are playing-and the factors that are causing them to play that way. In no order or rank here are the real reasons why the Warriors will not make the playoffs this year.

 

1) Micheal Pietrus injury-When you don't play much defense, losing your best defensive player during the most critical stretch of the season is very hard to overcome. Micheal's length and leaping ability makes him able to guard a multiude of players and clog the passing lanes creating turnovers which are the bread and butter of the Warriors offense. This combined with his shooting abilty has seriously affected the Warriors rotation, causing other players to play more minutes and Nelson to have to extend his bench.

 

2) The Invisible Man- AKA Steven Jackson. Nellie went out on a limb and named Jackson co-captain this year-but over the last week Jacksons leadership and production have disappeared just when the Warriors need him the most. Against San Antonio and Dallas he threw up more bricks than a contractor's union-and has forced Monta Ellis and Baron Davis to carry the load on offense-making the Warriors much easier to defend against. Jackson's lack of production leads indirectly to reason # 3

 

3) Lack of ball rotation- Last year the Warriors beat teams by moving the ball quickly, attacking the rim and the paint and THEN kicking the ball out to open 3-point shooters. The last couple of games their has been way too much one-on-one play and holding of the ball, which causes the Warriors to launch up desperation 3-pointers with the shot clock winding down. Their offense is lacking the quickness and agression that enabled them to take their game to Dallas and defeat them in the first round of the playoffs.

 

Last year the Warriors were easily the most exciting and dynamic team to watch in the NBA-I don't know where the energy and enthusiasm the demonstrated last year have gone-but this is easily the most important thing misssing in this year's version of the run and gun champions.

A response to Marbury expresses support for Vick Once again another over-paid, over hyped professional athlete has to open their mouth and expose their ignorance. It comes as no suprise that Stephon Marbury would be in support of Michael Vick.  Marbury has demonstrated time and again that he is a selfish., immature, egotistical ####. This is why, despite his enormous talent, he has been traded from team to team throughout his career. Comparing dog fighting to hunting???? At least we are not pitting the deers against each other to satisfy our own egos. Any intelligent hunter will inform you that they have tremendous respect for the prey that they hunt and for nature itself. The only thing clueless idiots like Marbury and Vick respect are the fools who try to satisfy their huge egos.

Okay, let us pretend you are the hiring manager for your company. You have narrowed your choices down to two candidates since your first choice has suddenly decided that he does not want to leave his current employer after all.

Candidate # 1-Tell us about your last supervisory position

"Well, in my last position I had to resign for health reasons and my supervisor took over my department, which had been struggling, and made them the best department in the company. Since then I have been unable to find another supervisory position and my brother has also been fired from his supervisory position as he was unable to acheive up to his companies standards as well."

Thank you candidate # 1-Now Candidate #2 -Tell us about your qualifications.

"Let's see-in my last supervisory postion my department was second only to a perpetual champion-since then I have been an assistant for your competitor, whom I might add, has had the most successful organization in our line of work over the last ten years. As his senior assistant, I am intimately familiar with his systems, methods, and management styles and believe I could incorporate them into your organization and make you just as successful as they are.

Thank  You Candidate #2

Now if you are the hiring manager which one do you choose? If you are the Orlando Magic you choose # 1-Stan Van Gundy instead of # 2 P. J Carlisemo.  Somehow-I JUST DON'T GET IT!

I guess this is the post where I get to tell eveyone I told you so. Before the end of the season ( April 9th to be exact) I did a post claiming that if the Golden State Warriors made the playoffs as the number 8 seed, this would be the Mavericks worst nightmare. That nightmare has now come true with the defeat of the Mavericks in six games by the Warriors. So for all you bloggers out there who said I was on something or out of my mind-NYEAH, NYEAH, I TOLD YOU SO.

Okay so that is not the most mature reaction possible, but once in while it is really, really nice to get one right-although if one looked at the matchup in this series objectively it was not such a hard call. The scariest part in my opinion is that Dallas never really won a single game in this series. The second game was handed to them by the free-throw differential and the ejection of Baron Davis and Steven Jackson. The fifth game the Warriors gave away by not scoring for the final three minutes after building a nine point lead. Dallas never really got untracked against the Warriors and the outcome of this series never really seemed to be in doubt.

Anyway as long as I am here congratulations to the Suns and Spurs for moving on-(but wait till next year when the Nuggets get Kenyon Martin back!) . Laker fans, don't give up hope-you still have one of the youngest teams in the NBA. You just need to fire your GM-Mitch the B**CH.  Jazz-If ever a team reflected it's coach-WOW-You guys just don't quit.  Most of all however-WAY TO GO WARRIORS-YOU SHOCKED THE WORLD! (Just not me.)

If you are the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, are filthy rich, and are seriously worried that your supposed dynasty in the making is about to lose it's second home game in a row in the playoffs, what do you do?  Why you go and buy yourself the officials for that game of course. Also you give them specific instructions as follows: " Guys, I'm paying you some good money here so make sure that midway through the fourth quarter my team has a  2 to 1 advantage from the free throw line. Also every time the Warriors get within 10 points of us, make sure  you call a foul and give us some cheap points so they can't get any closer. Oh, and one more thing-this Baron Davis guy really hurt us in the last game-make sure he is gone by the fourth quarter OK? I don't want him around during the critical part of the game as we seem to be unable to stop him. You guys are all right-and if we play San Antonio we will make sure the same thing happens to Tim Duncan-right? I know you guys all have it out for him now and I don't want him to derail our championship drive either."

 

On a night when Dallas, at one point was a stunning 0-15 from the three point line, they still managed to win a playoff game. Who says money can't buy you happiness-it sure seems to for Mark Cuban.

All right all you underdog and cinderella lovers-I have got one for you. With their victory over the Utah Jazz tonight the Golden State Warriors have moved into a tie (well, actually percentage points ahead) of the L.A. Clippers for the eigth and final playoff spot in the west. This is the Mavericks worst nightmare. Why do I say that? Only because the Warriors have won five of the last six from Dallas including two in a row this year, and have won the last FOUR times they have played on the Mavericks HOME court.

This total includes a 117-100 pasting on March 12, the last time the two teams played-a game that was nowhere near as close as the final score indicates. (At one time the Warriors were up by 30-that's right-30.)

Now I can give you all the possible reasons for this-matchup problems for Dallas, maybe Nelson knows the Mavericks scemes and plays better than Avery Johnson does, but in the end the numbers in this series do not lie. These two teams are scheduled to play once more this season, and if you don't think this is a HUGE game for the Mavericks-guess again. The Warriors already have plenty of confidence that they can beat Dallas in a playoff series and sweeping all three games from them this year would almost clinch that eigth playoff spot and set up what could be the single most interesting first round matchup in many a year in the NBA. Stay Tuned

Ok now I am REALLY upset. After today's hall of fame(shame) elections I am in a state between anger and shock.  The morons who vote for this ought to have their privleges revoked-immidiately. Voting in Michael Irvin but not Art Monk-are you kidding? I guess character and ability are no longer used to measure the qualifications for this honor.  Putting Irvin ahead of Monk is an inexcusable joke, and a dishonor to one of the best receivers who ever played this game. If you think I am being too extreme let's just look at the numbers.

 

IRVIN- 750 catches for 11,907 yards and 65 touchdowns.

MONK- 940 catches for 12,271 yards and 68 touchdowns.

The numbers speak for themselves. In addition, when he retired, Monk was the all-time leader in pass receptions. He is the only football player I know who has had the distinction of being in this postion at the end of his career and is not in the Hall of Fame. This is a travesty.

This is all without playing the voters favorite, the character card. Major league baseball slams Mark McGuire for using a substance that was legal at the time he played the game. Irvin was arrested and pleaded no contest to FELONY cocaine charges in 1996-which of these infractions is worse?

Art Monk was your classic blue-collar, hardworking wide receiver who did not attempt to draw attention to himself. He just went out week after week and did his job and did it better than anyone else playing at that time. His legacy is one of hard work and sportsmanship. Irvins legacy is found today in Terrell Owens- a me first, self-centered, individualistic attitude that has become prevalent in pro sports today. With his election and the snubbing of Art Monk the message that pro football is sending is obvious-it is all about the highlights baby, and sportsmanship, team play and work ethic are now antiquated concepts of another era. Too bad

Okay already TNT is hyping the NBA All-Star Weekend-but does anybody really care? I mean it has been the same old thing for what seems a lifetime. If you have seen one slam dunk contest you have almost seen them all. Besides the best dunkers in the game don't even compete anymore. Creativity and originality are a thing of the past. The skills challenge-who cares.  The rookie -sophmore game- maybe I'll watch that. Now if you want something the fans would watch AND would excite the players I have a couple of ideas for you. I can't claim they are original as the NBA actually used them a long time ago in a league far far away.

1) How about a season long one-on-one competition with the final four to be played at the All-Star game? Now this is something I would actually tune in for. Kobe vs. Carmello or LeBron vs Arenas. The initial games could be played during the halftimes of the TNT games leading up to the All-Star game. One player from each team with the teams with the top six records getting an extra player to make an even 32. The field reduces by half each time until you have the final four competitors for the All-Star game. The NBA actually did something like this once around 1976 or 77 (I think). The winner then was Bob Lanier so my money is on Dirk Nowitski because nobody could stop that fadeaway jumper of his. I welcome other thoughts on this subject and possible winners.

2) If not one-on-one how about a horse contest? Everyone knows how this game is played. The player that goes first calls his shot and if he makes it the second player has to match that shot exactly-otherwise they get a letter starting with H. The first player to get all five letters of horse is the loser.  I remember the NBA doing this one also about the same time as the one-on -one contest, but this one I really can't remember who won. I do however remember some of the incredibly creative shots and my rushing out to my basketball court and trying to imitate them-with mixed results.  With today's athletes I betting we would see some shots that would be absolutely amazing and probably the subject of water cooler talk and blogs for weeks to come.

I can't imagine the players not being up for these challenges. The bragging rights for the winner would stimulate enough trash talk for the rest of the season. The fans would love this kind of competiton-at least I know I would. So how about it NBA-are you up to the challenge?

Today the words that every Warrior fan dreads were uttered again: The Warriors have made a major trade. The reason that every Warrior fan cringes when they here that statement should be obvious. No other franchise in NBA history has let so much talent slip through their fingers-and it seems like they have done it again.

The list of All-stars that have worn the Warrior uniform could almost sound like a hall-of-fame ballot: Gilbert Arenas, Antwon Jamison, Erik Dampier, Chris Webber, Latell Sprewell, Tim Hardaway, Mario Ellie, and Robert Parrish to name a few.  Now by trading away Troy Murphy and Ike Diogu these players rise to superstardom should be immidiate.  Once again instead of developing young talent the Warriors would rather trade it away for players of, should we say, a questionable nature.

In case you were not aware the full eight player trade consists of  Ike Diogu, Troy Murphy, Brian Dunleavy and Keith McLeod going to Indiana for Steven Jackson, Al Harrington, Sarunas Jaskevicius and Josh Powell. So in essence the Warriors traded two of their best big men for a few more perimeter players (like they did not have enough of these already.)

Troy Murphy and Ike Diogu had for some reason fallen out of favor with Coach Nelson. The why of this is very hard to understand as both players have had nagging injuries all season and were just now trying to play themselves back into shape. The part of this I do not understand is that the Warriors had a solid core of young talented athletes who would have just taken some time to develop. My question is-have you seen Phil Jackson or Avery Johnson giving up on their younger players. If they had this kind of mentality neither Luke Walton or Josh Howard would have become the players they are right now. These coaches understood that as young players they were going to make mistakes, but this was part of the growth process. Nelson does not seem to have this wisdom. If a player makes a mistake on his team he gets banished to the bench and may never see the light of day again.

Additionally having watched many of their games on FoxSports this year the charcter of the players traded seemed to be outstanding. I don't think I have to discuss the baggage that Jackson and Harrington are bringing with them.

This trade so clearly illustrates why some franchises are condemed to wallow in the mire of their respective divisions. When success is not spontaneous they fly into panic mode and destroy any chemistry and foundation for success. This makes the Warriors trade that much more puzzling. This was a team, that when healthy, had beaten both Dallas and San Antonio and lost to Phoenix only by a last second Nash 3-pointer. This same team had just beaten the Clippers two nights ago with only an eight man roster. Next to New Orleans and Boston, this team has had a lot of players on IR. So why the need for this trade. Your core group is solid and young-with patience they could have grown into a formidable force in the west-but I guess the Warriors don't really want that.  My final question is this: Which is more demeaning to a teams' fans, the acts of a Franchise such as the Florida Marlins who at least are open and honest about having fire sales of their talented personnel, or teams like the Warriors who seem to lose their talent through sheer ignorance and stupidity? 

Sometimes I am amazed that these teams have any fans at all-I know because of this trade the Warriors just lost one.

Now I know I am the person who ususally states that players determine the outcome of games and not the officials but after watching the farce that was the San Diego-New England game I feel I have to revise my opinion.  The manner with which the officials ate their flags and absolutely let the Patriots commit multiple offenses without drawing penalties was ludicrous. If the NFL reviews this game they should suspend this officiating crew from ever officiating in the playoffs again.

To support this statement all you have to do is look at the the Chargers last offensive possesion.  On third down Samuel clearly makes contact with Antonio Gates all the way down the field and then grabs him long before the ball arrives-where was the pass interference call? On the Patriots last touchdown Caldewell clearly pushes off of the San Diego defender causing the defender to fall to the ground. A flag on this play? Of course not. On the Patriots long pass downfield if you watch the play carefully you will see the right guard pull up before the ball is snapped-99% of the time a false start. However once again the officials hankies are glued to the inside of their pockets. 

Now this does not include the multiple holding violations that were never called against the Patriots.  I'm not talking about your rudimentary holding calls-these were clear violations where you see a Chargers head snap back because the Patriot offensive lineman has a secure hold around his collar-ususally an instant penalty.

This is a clear cut case of where the best team definately did not win the game and the officiating severely determined the outcome of the game. The NFL needs to take immidiate action as to the consistency with which these games are called.  Watching a game like this makes me not want to watch any more football this post season.  The worst part of this is that I know Mary Schottenheimer has too much class to mention this-unlike his opponent on the oppostite sideline this afternoon. Which begs the next question-does the NFL have something against Marty or are the officials intimitated by Bellicheck? After watching this game I believe it has to be one or the other.

Wow-What a game-there are so many story lines I don't even know where to begin-so I'll start with my favorite.

Sooner fans- No more whining about the officiating. You got the benefit of two questionable pass interference calls and a catch on the two point conversion that should have at least been subject to review. If it was reviewed then why was there no announcement made by the officiating crew? Anyway this time it was NOT the officials who cost you this game.

Hats off to the Oklahoma Sooners-they could have packed this game in early. This team could have packed in the season as well when they lost the Oregon game and Adrian Peterson. In all three cases they didn't and all sports fans have to respect the Sooners ability to preservere and come back from adversity so many times. It is almost a shame that anyone had to lose this game.

Oklahoma fans-I hate to be the first one to tell you this but I really think either Stoops or your offensive coordinator have to go. The Fox broadcast crew (and myself) were wondering from the halfway point of the third quarter on why the Sooners weren't trying to run to the edges of the field? With the way Boise State was stacking the middle, the only success you were having running the ball was on the edges. I kept waiting for and old style Sooner option play-I think the effect would have been devastating.

Can we PLEASE have some BCS respect for Boise State now? No more of this BS they can't play with the big boys, they haven't played anyone, their schedule was too soft, etc. etc.. For the most part they played as hard and as physical as big bad Oklahoma. Remember the old saying-"It ain't the size of the dog in the fight-it's the size of the fight in the dog!" Boise proved there was plenty of fight in them. A couple of overconfident Sooner fans who posted blogs on this site should have remembered this saying as well.

Boise almost lost this game by being too cautious. Their last two series in regulation their play calling was so conservative I thought the John Birch Society was signaling from the sidelines. Thankfully they rememered (at the proverbial last minute) what it was that had got them there and re-opened their playbook. For a moment I truly believed that this would be one of those games where an underdog team controlled the majority of the contest, only to fold under pressure at the very end by forgetting what got them to that point.

Finally- hats off to the Broncos! From all of us sports fans who were wondering where Cinderella had disappeared to-she is alive and well and residing in Boise Idaho.

After watching the debacle that was the Knicks-Nuggets game(you know the basketball game where a hockey match broke out) I got to wondering how much longer Isiah Thomas has left as coach and GM of this absolutely horrible team. They are now at 9-16 and definitely headed for an extra helping of losses once the suspensions from their little altercation are handed down. The only teams with worse records are the Bobcats (expansion) and the Sixers and the Grizzlies, two teams that are missing their marquee players (Iverson and Gasol). Thusly it appears likely that Philadelphia and Memphis have a shot a catching the Knicks and the Bobcats might as they are a young and improving team-something the Knicks can't claim in either aspect. Oh yeah and to add insult to injury-who has the Knicks lottery pick-not the Knicks.  All this and we haven't even touched on the character issues and lack of chemistry this team displays and their incredible immaturity.(For more on this issue see my post of July 7, 2006)

 

This next week will truly tell the tale for the Knicks-they play Charlotte at home on the 20th and at the Sixers on the 23rd. If they lose these two-make a reservation for the Cellar and they may want to get comfortable there-I suspect they ain't leaving for a loooong time.

A response to So where will Iverson end up? Denver is the absolute best situation as they have the most to offer (Maybe they can even pawn off the irrational K-Mart as part of this deal), and they are the one team that has a chance to become an instant finals contender with the addition of Iverson.  Alan will NOT want to go to a team that does not stand a chance of winning (c'mon he already plays on a #### team why move to another #### team) so that rules out Boston and Atlanta almost immdiately. Denver plays at the tempo that Iverson loves and George Karl has the proven ability to handle tempermental players. Plus with Carmelo A.I would not have to be the focus of the offense-he could do what he does best -play catch and shoot quickly. With the Denver situation I see upsides for both teams as Philadelphia would get what they want which is some solid young talent and Inveson would have the chance to play his style of game and play for a winner. The ultimate winning situation would be if Denver could somehow hold on to Andre Miller so for once in his career Alan Iverson could play for a team that actually has a competent and consistent point guard.

A response to Winners and losers at the Winter Meetings The best trade was Freddy Garcia for Who? Oh yeah a never been and a never will. To call this trade a win-win is to be smokin crack. Every White Sox fan is screaming in pain because Aaron Rowand was not included in this deal and every rumour had it that he would be-but somehow Pat Gillick must have gotten the White Sox GM drunk or stoned or something and convinced him that these two one-time prospects were the next coming of Wilbur Wood and Jim Kaat. Philly got a very solid starter in Garcia who can put up strong #'s and only had to divest themselves of two of their weaker pitching prospects -and you call this even in this pitching deficient era of baseball?

A response to Phillies acquire Garcia from White Sox So does Freddy Garcia have like an unknown arm problem or a terminal illness we know nothing about? This is the Phillies we are talking about-this is a team that has not pulled off this kind of coup in about 35 years (remember Rick Wise for Steve Carlton?) OK this is nowhere near that magnitude but it just might give Phoolish Phillie Phans somethin they have not had in ages-HOPE