I was born into a Dallas Cowboy household. My dad has stupid things like Cowboy wood covers for his golf clubs and he doesn't even golf anymore. But he washes his little Cowboy wood covers religously. There is "Boys" stuff all over the house where you least expect it. I don't really care that much because it's so ingrained in me that if the Cowboys are on (and if they are playing, they are on) that I watch and am happy when they win.

I'm not a guy and certainly not a guy whose entire world can be mood altered by his pro football team (ahem father dear)  but I like them.

To a point. I sorta remember Barry Switzer and the crime gang boys days. I think there are resemblences to those days.

You got your Wade Phillips who is the son of someone improbably named Bum Phillips who was a good ole boy and who used to coach the Houston Oilers. You could make a connection there with Barry.

You got your Terrel Owens, while not criminal, is as big a egomaniac and as much of a problem child in his own right as hall of famer Michael Irvin from the Switzer era. Perhaps as talented.

You got your Tank Johnson who should do well in Dallas since stockpiling weapons and ammo in Texas is a duty, not a crime.

You got your Pacman Jones who may be more criminal than Michael Irvin but he thinks he's as good as Deon Sanders. Be nice if he was. Be nice if he actually is cured of police blotter grandstanding as well. Time will tell.

Finally although Tony Romo isn't from Southern California like Troy Aikman, they share the dual distinction of few guys named Rom(e)o or Troy to start at QB in the NFL and despite not coming from Cali, Tony does hang out in bimboland and snared the queen of dumb with numero uno Duke of Hazzard Jessica Simpson.

They say history repeats it'self.  Looks like the Boys are set to me. Or if not, the implosion should be one hell of a show. LOL

After reading two other blogs and responses concerning the two former KU players who were kicked out of the NBA transition camp for smoking pot in their hotel room and thinking about it for a while I have some things to say on this subject.

Most found reason to heap more abuse on David Stern personally for kicking them out. I don't think kicking them out was the way to go here but I find very little suggestions on how to handle these situations. I see defense of pot use, I see hate on Stern, I see people calling the players idiots but very little about how the NBA should handle it. So let me be the messenger of some common sense and I'm sure as usual I can get hated on for being "Dusty" or because my sentence structure is poor or my spelling laughable. You M-O-R-O-N-S go right ahead. But there is an issue here. Several of them.

1.) I support the legalization of marijuna. Someone pointed out the number of deaths blah blah and that pot was relatively harmless. I completely agree. BUT IT 'S AGAINST THE LAW AND THESE JACKASSES KNEW IT.

2.) Everytime I see someone saying something about a black athlete on these blogs there is someone lurking ready to rush on you and call you a racist. Feel free. I'm sick to death of people making excuses for black athletes "because they grew up deprived and don't know any better.". They hell they don't. Inner city my rather significent rear end. My parents house is within walking distance of downtown Tulsa and in one of the now worst areas of Tulsa. I know damn well Pot is illegal and that smell of smoking carries. What kind of egocentric, piece of self centered stupid do you have to be, to be in the hotel of the transition camp and smoking pot? How ignorant do you have to be not to take a walk around the block, rent a motel room, go to the girls crib or just flat out don't do it because you have a lot at stake here?

3.) I take particular issue with those who have the "no big deal" attitude. Lamar Odom has all the natural skills to be a great player. He got busted for pot twice in the NBA. Probably been smoking it for YEARS as has those two from KU. Odom has never lived up to his potential. You don't start smoking pot when you're drafted into the NBA. Pot does not belong in the NBA. Makes you legthargic, lazy and you overeat and crave sweets. Nothing there we want from an NBA player making more in a year than we will make in a lifetime in most cases. IT IS A FRIGGING BIG DEAL. The egomaniac guys go into the pros with a chip on their should thinking they can do any damn thing they please. What's the deal on KU and the NCAA? Why don't they have a drug testing policy in place?  An NBA contract didn't start them down the lane of the life of crime? How many times did KU turn their heads and ignore the smell of pot in the dorms? How many times across America? Every day?

4.) Several say why make an example of them when Josh Howard shouted it from the rooftops that he smokes pot in the offseason. Saying it and getting caught doing it is two different things. One is saying you broke the law the other is getting caught for doing it. Seldom is someone arrested for saying they committed a non violent crime. Most would have been arrested had you or I been popped for smoking it up in a hotel. Maybe not a motel but surely in a hotel most places the NBA frequents.

If you want to legalize pot, start a petition. I'll sign it. But just because you disagree with a law doesn't mean you should hate Stern for enforcing the Law. I disagree with how it was handled but I would put the blame where it belongs. On the players union. Every players union has drug it's feet on drug testing. On steroids testing. Stern only has so much power. I would hope there are suspensions behind this coming up.

If I were the Commissioner of all Pro Sports every single rookie would have to be tested in order to be elgible for the draft from the day he declares and once drafted, would be tested weekly for the first year of his contract for all drugs, chronic high alcohol levels and Steriods/hgh.

I would also test Veterans a minimum of twice a month with the right to test once weekly if the club so desired.

Any rookie found to be guilty prior to starting his first season would have to enter a 90 day rehab immediately and not allowed to play until he successfully completed this rehab and if he didn't his contract was null and void. No other team would be allowed to sign him until he completed rehab AND passed weekly tests for a period of six months.

Anyone under contract who tested positive would have to do the same and the teams would have the right to test contract players once a month during offseason.

The fans pay too much money to have less than the best possible talent for the money they are paid. I'm sick to death of excuses, less than maximum effort, less than total committment. I don't give a damn what the color of your skin is, how little you had growing up or where you're from. To think two people could go to KU (or OU or USC or OSU) and not have been exposed to ANY social skills or responsibility is unbelievable and I don't believe it.

Now call me names. I bet more fans feel like I do.

My friends and I still go to the occasional club. I like to dance. But I find we go less and less for the simple reason that to go clubbing today is to take your life in your own hands. If you stay past midnight the drunks become abusive, confrontational and aggressive. It doesn't matter if it's two guys (generally over a woman), or a woman telling some sloppy drunk she doesn't want to dance. It's get's downright mean after midnight these days.

Richard Collier (Jags) is in critical condition after being shot when a friend and he picked up two girls at a club and took them to an apartment so they could change (?) and waited in the parking lot. The time was 2:30 a.m. and the area described as middle class. I find myself wondering what kind of women these were that would allow themselves to be picked up at closing time and why they needed to change? Pretty obvious where that was heading.

Middle class apts.? Most the apartments I go to don't have people with guns lounging in the parking lots. But that's just me.

Fred Taylor (Jags again) acted up outside a club when the police wanted to search his car after an informant told them there was guns and drugs in the car and got himself arrested. The problem here was that the police were called because of an altercation inside the club. Big suprise there.

These are the latest two incidents on the front of the NFL sports page. The list is endless. From the night clubbing his career into the dirt of Tinsley of the Pacers to Darrent Williams  (Broncos) who was shot and killed after a confrontation in a club on New Years eve, to the well documented history of Pacman Jones, to Steven Jackson shooting off his gun in the club parking lot,  to Paul Pierce being stabbed in a club, the numbers are seemingly endless.

There are those who would point out that most pro athletes came from underprivledged backgrounds and that they can't be expected to know how to act in public. I don't think that is the problem. The problem to my view is that these people don't know how to spend their money. Myself, after buying a nice house and a nice car, I'd have parties at my place with boy toys that I had carefully screened in advance. They're out there and so are the girl toys for the boys. When you have the mansion and should have the security (and yes you can afford legitimate security if you can afford the party life when you consider the attorney's, the fines, the suspensions, etc..) why are they out there in clubs in the first place picking up sleazy women who might have AIDS or God knows what all?

I'd put in a "club room" in my house and boggie down with people I knew and trusted. And if I made a mistake someone else would be qualified and deal with the troublemakers.

But what I think it comes down to is ego combined with little common sense. Just because you can play a sport doesn't make you smart.  Things can happen at home and they have, but the odds are much more in your favor on your own turf.

Over the course of the nearly six months I've been blogging I notice a certain tendancy for men here and there to talk about the "bimbo's" (just one word, I'm sure you know the rest) to describe the women that professional athletes go around with and the ensuing derogatory descriptions of these women as airheads and gold diggers.

I wonder who is the bimbo? Would Arod, whose wife finally just had enough and filed for divorce due to his never ending ability to get himself linked to women other than his wife, be the bimbo or would his wife?

Would Tony Romo, who chose to go all the way to Hollywood to date one of the most notorious airheads in the entertainment business and choked while playing in front of her, be any less of a bimbo than she is?

Dennis Rodman briefly got nasty with Madonna and even more briefly married Bimbo A lister Carmen Electra. Wouldn't that make Rodman an A+ bimbo?

Shaquille O'Neil had to have a restraining order put on him to stop him from harassing and threatening an unknown female rapper. If that's not Bimbo material I don't know what is.

Pacman Jones despite his millions and being a pro couldn't stay out of strip clubs. We all know the strippers are in it for the money. Couldn't a reasonably famous, wealthy, good looking pro football player find a girl he didn't have to pay for? Bimbo there, and I'm not talking about the strippers.

As a woman I find it both frustrating and hilarous that men so often describe a woman who hooks up with a professional athlete as a bimbo. Being good at a sport doesn't make you smarter, more ethical/moral or less of a bimbo because you're male. Something to think about.

As many of you know Gambit (Shane) lives in New Orleans. Due to the impending attack from Hurricane Gustav he has relocated to Tennessee and wanted everyone to know that he is safe but worried about losing his home. They have been trying to evacuate the entire Gulf Coast as Gustav is expected to arrive sometime before tomorrow morning.

Please pray for all our fellow Americans in harms way for the second time in three years.

While you will never see David Stern with an Olympic Gold medal there was no bigger winner in those Olympics than Stern. Here's why.

>  You have to start with Stern's 20 year plan or whatever it is, to make the NBA a worldwide league in which the finals will eventually end with the possibility of the Knicks or Lakers or Spurs or Celtics playing the whoever from whereever.  I think eventually that the plan is to have a semi finals featuring USA, Asia, Europe and South America teams.

> The exodus of bottom to mid level players to Europe fits into this plan. Already other nations players come to USA. Now some Americans start filtering into the rest of the world's teams. If the USA had of lost for the 3rd time in a row this "sell" of Stern's would have been much harder because other Countries would have just said, we can steal their players for big money and we beat them anyhow in the Olympics so what do we need the NBA for?

> They need the NBA because the NBA reestablished that they are the premiere place to play basketball. In order to maintain this belief among the world the NBA needs to continue to win Olympics and World's. We all know across the board who is better but when you factor in nationality homerism and Losing at the Olympics/World's, perception is the reality when you're trying to establish a world wide league with your own league as the big kid on the block that you should join rather than continue trying to outdo them with your own leagues.

> Those mid level players going to Europe helps establish a money pecking order. Sure the other teams are overpaying right now but there is only so much money a team can generate and sooner than later the Euros./others will come to the realization that the NBA "cap" thing is workable among themselves just as it is here. An Arena only holds so many, you can only sell so much beer and dogs and the real money is in lisencing. One day you will see a Kobe or Lebron move from an American team to another Nation's team but only when it's an NBA team.  And it starts what Stern wants. Players moving all over the world in order to homognize the NBA worldwide.

> Stern learned from the failure of pro football to export their game to Europe. You don't just send absolutely nobody you ever heard of to play in their leagues and expect them to pony up the money it costs to field a pro team. The game is established which the pro football wasn't and now they start stocking teams worldwide with players that some who follow the game have at least heard of.  The news that other countries "stole good NBA players" is highly debatable among American fans but it plays well in the greater scheme of NBA globalization.

>  There are already signs that the international game is changing things to accomodate the NBA. I read that the "paint" is being changed to the NBA rectangle for international play and the 3 point line is being pulled back to closer to the NBA distance.  Before the next Olympics and after the next worlds expect more changes. Perhaps a typical NBA 3 point line and/or no taking the ball off the rim. Or maybe the NBA gives in to something the international community wants. It will be give and take but most of the taking will be the NBA's way.

>  Kobe was argueably the most popular player in the Olympics to a billion Chinese and God knows how many others from around the world. Argue who you like, but again perception is reality. Lebron and Wade built on their fan bases internationally as well. The flip side of that is Spain with their 7 NBA players getting silver in a hotly contested finals says to the world that Spain at least is almost ready to field their own NBA level team if not already. Good for Stern in his globalization project. Of all those who play in the NBA and who showed the world the level of NBA play once again, after suffering those miserable losses at the Olympics/Worlds, only Kobe is 30. Looks good again for the future of the NBA around the world.

I understand that many, perhaps most dislike Stern immensely and I understand why. But to those who call for his ouster, I think you're being naive. Won't happen. He's a marketing genuis and the value of a franchise in the states for an NBA team once he pulls this world wide NBA off, will rival the value of the most expensive soccer team anywhere in the world. Maybe more.  Today's owners are in on this play, they have to be, and they aren't jettisioning their marketing plan. Stern is doing just fine by their greed need.

Just think about that little NBA logo on the Jersey of the Beijing SunGods or the Madrid Tigers and the govt's/team owners sharing in all that loot from a 55.00 jersey that cost  1.29 to make in Malaysia.

The big winner from the redeem team's gold was David Stern and the NBA owners. We'll see a world wide NBA league before I hit 30. (little over 7 years).  Maybe longer but less than 20 years. It's coming.

Racous and Rowdy. Quiet and dependable. Dazzle them with footwork and bull****. A Student of the game. We have all that and more on this blog. I may not know as much as some and I may not have the best game in town but I know good. Here is your Fox Sports all NBA blog writers.

Point Guard - J-Dizzle

He passes behind the back, he rah rah's the Lakers, he's not shy at all about launching the long shot. He's everywhere and into everything. Old School, New School, Skip school and "Dizzy  gets mega minutes. This is the Chris Paul of the Blog.

Shooting Guard - TcbDog

LOL If you need a gunner this is your guy. He'll take down a blabbering fool and he'll wait to see how many times you get up and he'll put you down again everytime. He once had a running battle with Tsumani that lasted for two weeks on the same blog. Went everyday to see his blistering attack. This is the blog version of Kobe. With rockets on his fingers.

Small Forward - Downs

This is the blog version of Tayshaun Prince. His game is all around. He don't fluster, don't argue calls, does his thing quietly, efficently and walks with a gold medal. Perhaps it's concidence that Downs is a Piston fan but the resemblence in how each does his own particular type work so much alike is erie isn't it?

Power Forward - Gambit

Need a good cursing for being stupid? LOL. Gambit knows his game. He's where he should be, on the spot, takes the important shots and won't be pushed off the block. He doesn't suffer fools easily. This is the Blog's version of  Elton Brand. With attitude.

Center - Srmgenuis

Of all the NBA bloggers, in my opinion, SRM presents the most consistent professional read of any writer. He's structured, just the right amount of edgy and goes about his blogging refusing to be baited or harassed. He just does it right. This is the blog's version of Tim Duncan. Hall of fame bound.

Sixth Man - Orman

The "new Kid" is an absolute Rip City Raver. His unbridled enthusiam about Greg Oden and the Blazers makes you want to jump up and down with him and yell Go Portland!! His energy seems limitless to this point. Looks like he's got it, buit he's still a rookie (wink) so we're gonna let him be sixth man. And he's the blog's Rudy Fernandez/ (Serious compliment after seeing Rudy in the Olympics. )

Head Coach - Tom7

This guy is a student of the game (as all obviously are) but he impresses me as a really intensly into it sort o####uy. The kind of temperment that  is required to coach a team to success. His blogs are worth reading just from a learning standpoint beyond the normal entertainment value. As for the blog version? There are  5 outstanding coaches in the NBA today in Phil, Nate, Bryon, Pops and Jerry. Let's let him pick his choice. After all he is the coach.

General Manager - Ubershorty

This guy loves his trades. Don't even take a nap because he has another one in the works.  Only Isiah Thomas has proposed more trades in his lifetime. LOL His love for the game is obvious in his writing and this guy should work for a real  team. He's hilarous and his trades always favor the Lakers. LOL This is the blog's Mitch Kupchek.

Publicist -JonB

 Regretably I don't know the name of any publicists but I know that Jon is the blog publicist because if you mess up he throws your butt under the bus. (And the rest of you too)

The other day i wrote a blog about Shaquille O'Neal having a restraining order put on him by a woman who apparently submitted email's from O'neal threatening her life. Immediately I was attacked by a person I didn't even know existed. I've never read him nor had he posted on my blog before. He screamed and yelled and ranted about how Kobe would never be as good as Jordan and how Lebron was better than Kobe and everyone knew it.

He also accused me of defaming anyone who doesn't worship Kobe. Like O'Neil threatening women is defaming him by quoting an article and providing the link.

LOL Takes all kinds I guess. My blog never mentioned Jordan or Lebron.

Makes me wonder what kind of person would defend O'Neil? How bad do you have to hate Kobe to turn my blog into a personal tirade against me for liking Kobe?  Now I'm not the brightest person on the planet so it took me a couple of days for it to connect the dots. I regularly read J-Dizzle who is in fact the biggest Kobe supporter on the blogs and never have I seen him attacked the way I get attacked over Kobe. Then the dots began to make a picture. Here is a guy defending Shaq for threatening a woman and attacking me when I have never once seen him attacking Dizzle. Maybe this man has issues with women?

But since he found it necessary to attack me personally and launch into a tirade against Kobe claiming Kobe had failed in the Olympics let's take a look at some facts here.

For at least two years that  I know of Lebron James has been telling everyone that Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA. He said it throughout the Olympics and one interview he guaranteed the gold because "we have Kobe, if we get in trouble he's the guy you want to ice the game".

That's exactly what happened in the fourth quarter of the gold medal game. Spain pulls within 4 and Kobe had a hand in, scoring or assisting in 9 straight points. After shooting miserably at the FT line for the entire Olympics he sinks 4 consecutive free throws. He was the best defender throughout for team USA.

As fine of an Olympics as Lebron and Wade had, Lebron was right. When they got in trouble Kobe did what Kobe does.

If you read Charley Rosen today, he grades all the players and gives Kobe, Lebron and Dwayne all A+'s (as they all deserve) but takes notice that Bryant is the best in the game. Rosen is the senior member of all NBA Fox writers.

Pretty much everyone on the planet except some blog haters and Paul Pierce believe Bryant is the best at present. That includes some pretty heavy hitters on the court and among the writers.

Concerning O'Neil, this latest situation with the restraining order only gives credibility to Kobe's statement that Shaq had bragged about paying off women only now it appears he's graduated to threatening violence. How much lower can O'Neil get? How in the world you can relate that to me defaming him because he doesn't like Kobe? Defamation means you're telling lies on the person. I gave the link and a judge found it worthy of the restraining order and may well place him in a position of criminal activity. We'll see in a couple of weeks it seems. Defaming O'Neil? Pretty tough job at this point since he seems to have the job of destroying his own image pretty well under control.

Those are the facts.

So the next time you feel the need to go off on me about Kobe why don't you prove you're not just a woman hater with no stomach to take on J-Dizzle, because he's my authority on Kobe Bryant. If you don't have the guts to take him on, harassing me  means you're just a wimp.

As in INCREDIBLE.  Team USA, named the redeem team brought home the gold. Sure looked like an NBA finals didn't it? Superstars everywhere you look. 

Right now I'm in shock. It's 3:30 a.m. in Tulsa but I'm just stunned. Everything went almost perfect. Dwayne Wade came up HUGE. Lebron James was everywhere and Kobe Bryant did, in the fourth quarter, exactly what they had on the team to do. He took over.

From Bosh and Howard playing well to Coach K using his bench perfectly, to Chris Paul Icing two key free throws it was magical for me. Golden so to speak.

This blog will be covered up by the dozens on the same subject by others who feel as estatic as I do. The negative people will talk about how the USA couldn't defend Spain but my hat is off to Spain as well. Rudy Fernandez is a huge assest to the Portland team. Wow!

Spain is no slouch. To even talk of defense when there was NBA players at virtually every position on each team but not teams that had played together continously throughout 82 games is simply wrong.

Congratulations to both the Gold and Silver teams. What a game. Whew. I'm exhausted. It's what we stayed up for.

REDEEMED!!!

Kobe haters have used the accusation that Kobe is a rat because he told the Colorado cops that Shaq told him he just payed off the women that got hostile with him. I always assumed that Kobe got that from Shaq because there is no reason for him to have said it unless he was quoting Shaq.

Turns out both Kobe and myself may have been wrong. Or maybe he's graduated from paying them off to threatening their lives?

A 23 year old rapper female who calls herself Maryjane has gotten a restraining order against Shaq. Seems they been doing the wild thing for about 6-8 months and she broke up with him and he has responded in less than gentlemanly fashion by harassing her, her friends, her career and on and on.

Here's the link. http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8479402/Report
:-Shaq-accused-of-stalking-female-rapper

He outdid himself this time. The "gangster" stuff against Kobe didn't do him any good. The following email should just about kill any respect for Shaq that anyone left still has for him.

According to the paper, the court affidavit quotes an e-mail from O'Neal as saying, "I dnt no who the [expletive] u think u dealin wit u will neva be heard from one phone call is I gotta make now try me. Sho me."

Somehow this doesn't suprise me.

The rumors continue to abound concerning Lamar Odom of the Lakers being traded. Let's assume for the fun of it that this is true. What can be expected on the blogs behind any trade concerning Odom? Expect this.

10.) Odom will either say "it's a business" or he will cheap shot Kobe for every single player on the Celtics owning him during the finals. ( Be thankful Lamar it wasn't the Knicks or you'd have to add Spike Lee to the list. That's how soft and choke filled you were.)

9.) All the Kobe haters will flock like dodo birds to soil the rocks with their guano and cry rivers about Kobe running Odom out of L.A.

8.) All the  haters will sniffle that Odom is a hall of famer that will lead his next team to the NBA title and he would have lead the Lakers to four titles in 4 years had he of not had the ball hog Kobe on his team.

7.) Appx. 30% will say Mitch Kupchek is a genuis no matter who the Lakers get and the rest will say Kupchek is a #### who should have traded Kobe and not Odom.

6.) Some will cite the tragic loss of Odom's infant child as the reason he never fulfilled his potential and several Kobe haters (4 come to mind) will suggest Kobe killed the child.

5.) Haters  will announce that Kobe stinks and Lebron would have won a title all four years Odom was in L.A. had Odom of been in Cleveland.

4.) There will be that faction who will claim had Odom of been on the Olympic team instead of Kobe that the average win by the Redeem team would have been 187 points. (Those of us Laker fans who have watched Odom will know that Odom would have gotten a third the minutes of Christian Laettner on  Dream Team I)

3.) Sizzzel, Lakerfan19 and Worst will use it as yet another opportunity to attack me personally.

2.) At least one extremist right winger on the blog will blame Clinton.

1.) A huge majority of Laker fans will breathe a sigh of relief that he is finally gone.

Following the end of the last NBA season a number of people consented to exit interviews concerning their favorite team. Unfortunately the Fox Adminstrator has blocked my blog from showing up in the most recent hits or most hits even when I qualify and these people who are so deservering would not be seen for long, so they were held back in the hope this ban would be lifted. Such was not to be the case. I apology for this person who would hurt the overall group of people. Be that as it may, here is the first of the unedited interviews.

1.) The obvious question. Rashard Lewis at 83 million max contract this year. With the exception of the one game the Magic won, he largely disappeared in the series with the Pistons. What can you do with the Magic to make Rashard worth his contract?

Rashard had one good game in this series and I’m not sure the Magic can pin the losses all on his performance. Regarding his contract, he probably would have received a max deal from another team and the Magic desperately wanted an open court scorer, so they signed him. His first season wasn’t bad, although with the resurgence of Hedo, the Magic start two small forwards (three if you include Maurice Evans). Lewis is going to have to toughen up and learn how to rebound and play defense. We all know he can score, but he needs to prove his worth on both ends of the floor. The Magic have him locked up so he’s not going anywhere. It’ll be up to Stan the Man to get the most out of him. If he’s unable to, then his signing in the long haul will be considered a bust.



2.) After the Wilt Chamberlain type numbers against the equally inexperienced Raptors, Dwight Howard ran up against several decades of experience on the Pistons and while he did well, his numbers dropped significently. If you were the Magic Coach what areas for you be looking for in terms of improvement from Dwight?

I heard Reggie Miller say that Howard needs to work on his ‘patience in his post game,’ which I couldn’t agree with more. When fed the ball inside, Howard needs to take a second and recognize whether he a double team is coming or whether the opposing defense stays in single coverage. He then needs to react accordingly, either scoring or passing out of the double team. He’s young and needs to get smarter, but he also needs some rebounding help. He can’t be expected to do it all. I have complete confidence that his game will continue to mature. Part of that entails getting his teammates involved



3.) Hedo Turkalou emerged as the most improved player in the NBA this year. He's been clutch and showing leadership qualities. Granted this will be DHowards team in the future but for the immediate future where do you see Hedo's role as a leader with the Magic. What more can he bring to the team?

Either he or Lewis need to rebound and play defense. Even if they each score 20+ per game, that does no good if they can’t cover anyone. I’m confident that they can co-exist despite playing the same position, but the isolation offense became boring and predictable. I expect another solid season from Turk next year, but both those guys needs to roll up their sleeves and mix it up with the big boys in the post.



4.) Jameer Nelson. You either love him or hate him. There seems to be little middle ground. He evokes strong response on the blogs anytime he's brought up. His worst negative is he's so undersized when it comes to larger guards posting him up and during the season found himself in the coach's doghouse from time to time. Still, he performed at much higher level in the playoffs than his critics predicted he would. Your views concerning Jameer in the next few seasons?

I’m not quite sure why Arroyo got no playing time. Early in the season, Van Gundy platooned them both and it seemed to be working. I do think that Nelson is undersized. With the quality of point guard play in the league right now, I’m not sure that Nelson can compete at the highest level. I mean he couldn’t even lead the Magic to victory with Chauncey Billups hurt. I’m not sure what the answer is. I don’t think there’s an immediate answer in either the draft or free agency. I think the Magic are stuck with Nelson, but as likeable as he is, I’m not convinced he’s the point guard that can bring the Magic to the promised land.



5.) After years of cap strangulation with the unfortunate Grant Hill situation the Magic jumped right back into the fire with the maximum extension to Howard and the maximum contract to Lewis. What is the Magic's situation concering the cap, free agents and draft picks?

It’s my understanding that now that we’re finally free of Grant Hill, the organization will still have money to spend in the off-season. Evans, Dooling and Bogans are free agents and are most likely all expendable. This year’s draft will boast some talent but after making the playoffs, it’s unlikely the Magic will pick early enough to land a player that can provide immediate help. The Magic should be players in the off-season and they’ll need to shop for a point guard, shooting guard and power forward.



6.) Rate the talents and weaknesses of both GM and Ownership of the Magic.

The Magic are getting much better from the days when they drafted Brooks Thompson in the first round. And Rich De Vos has showed that he finally wants to put a competitive product on the floor. The signing of Lewis last year shows they’ll spend the money to field a decent team. But this off-season will be key. Third seed in the east is a good season, but if they want to seriously contend for a title, they’re still a piece of two away.



7.) Are you a Steve Van Gundy fan? Strengths and weaknesses?

I like Van Gundy. He probably did a better job than Billy Donovan could have done. That being said, he needs to mix a pick-and-roll into his offense. One-on-one will not consistently get it done. The offense was unimaginative and ultimately got shut down by a better team. Against the elite teams in the league, you cannot just let Lewis or Turkoglu go one on one with a defender and try to score. He’ll also need to impart some toughness into this team, for they are still a touch, dare I say it… soft. I’m confident he’ll be able to do that. Oh yeah, and mix in a sit-up and lose the mock turtlenecks.



8.) Let's drag out your crystal ball for the next two questions. Who do you see as definately gone next season and what are the Magic's greatest bench needs by position.

I hope the Magic brass were watching Rodney Stuckey step in in Billups’ absence and provide Detroit with quality minutes. The Magic essentially played seven guys in Game Five. Their bench is horrible. Van Gundy has no confidence in Reddick who barely sniffed any playing time this season. The entire bench needs to be retooled, although I’d like for them to keep Dooling. He’s like a poor man’s Leandro Barbosa, despite making some bonehead moves/fouls late in the season. Battie, Foyle, Garrity and Cook are all useless but have no trade value so management will have to get creative.



9.) As long as we have the crystal ball out and you're still smarting from being bounced from the playoffs, realistically where do you think the Magic can end up next year in the East with another season of experience and some changes?

I see much of the same next year. Even in a more competitive East (i.e., Philly, Atlanta) the Magic should still finish third or fourth best in the East behind the usual suspects (i.e., Boston, Detroit, Cleveland). Ultimately, Magic fans will become tired of getting offed by Detroit. We shouldn’t have to wait for Billups, Hamilton and Prince to retire to finally topple the Bad Boys.



10.) We're beer lovers. Let us in on what are the 3 top beers in your area?

I drink bourbon, Jack Daniels if you’re nasty, but I do love me some Lambic Frambois. Raspberry beer from Belgium. Oh me, oh my.

Thanks for doing this interview.


Thanks for having me.

Note:  Because of the time that transpired between the interview and today, if you happen to read this Rev please feel free to update anything you like.

Several weeks ago I decided to try and call attention to some of the bloggers that I like. I always cringe when I start out to do this because I worry that some others that I also like will feel as though i am slighting them. There is no rhyme or reason to whom I choose one week or another. Something someone has written or has posted on my blog may make me feel warm and it's a new week so they happen to be in the right place at the right time. I hope to get to everyone I like eventually.

That doesn't mean I won't disagree with them or kiss up to them. LOL What I say today may not always hold true if I'm attacked or insulted or patronized. I'm human. I may love you today and  be really mad at you tomorrow. But I'll get over it. Maybe. LOL

I said all that to say this. Few of us really know each other beyond this blog. Maybe some but few. I've never talked to anyone personally other than in type. I'm not looking for anything but good discussion and warm atmosphere. As simple as that may sound, it's not an easy thing to find on a blog where animosity and attacks are far more common than a studied response and a positive comment now and then.

It's a matter of heart to me. You don't have to be Mr Cool or Brad Pitt here or anywhere else for me to like you. If your heart is kind, if you're intelligent, if you're cordial to me I'm a #### cat. We live in a world of otherwise.

So when it comes to David Downs (Most know him as just Downs) I don't think there is a nicer person on the blogs. Maybe some just as nice but none nicer and certainly none I feel more comfortable with. He knows his sports that he writes about inside and out, he let's you know his teams but he's not even close to a rude homer. He can talk about his favorite team or yours in a relaxed cordial manner and he has a great sense of humor about it all.

He's a Detroit Lions fan but wishes he wasn't. LOL. He bemoans their fate with cynical hope concurrently and just cracks me up with his observations ("The Lions are hoping to roar out of the gate at 4-8" LOL)

Concerning the exodus of second line NBA players to Europe he volunteered the entire Detroit Tiger bullpen to go to Europe on the grounds they couldn't possibly do anymore harm there than they have with the Tigers.

His sense of humor just tickles me no end.

He'll encourage you (and not just me, I've seen him do it with others) when I'm under fire and getting frustrated. He's totally non judgemental to something he disagrees with but will instead suggest (rather than rip your head off) that possibly there is another side to the story although he admits that your view may well turn out to be the correct one. I know when David disagrees with me but he never makes me feel small because he does.

Some people just have a good heart. David Downs is one of them and it is my privledge to think of myself as a David Downs fan.

Oh the anguish. the hair pulling, the dire predictions of the demise of the NBA. OMG!!! The sky is falling!!  The sky is falling!!!

It began with a high schooler who was not bound for Arizona as claimed but in fact was bound for community college because the m-o-r-o-n could not achieve an SAT score to attend anywhere else. So he signs to go to Europe. Now there's a great loss.  Kwame Brown couldn't get the SAT score to go to college. Neither could Darius Miles. I think we know where that one was leading anyhow. Some people turn over a new leaf but few ever turn over a new tree.

There has been a rash of overpaid, underachieving second rank players sign to go to Europe and everytime someone writes another blog predicting how badly this is going to impact the NBA. Half of them have been non Americans who have basically failed at the NBA level and the other half are people taking stupid people's money because nobody in the NBA is stupid enough any longer to give them that kind of money. (Considering how overpaid most players are, that's pretty stupid.)

Some say this raiding of nobody players will cause the price of bench support to skyrocket. Don't think so. Think what it will do is get more guys who spent 2-4 years in college and who learned some basic fundamentals, a chance to play in the NBA since the overblown, overpaid are racing across the pond, and these college guys who stayed in school and otherwise can't get a shot in the NBA will do just as well for less money is my guess. They'll certainly be more intelligent and better schooled and after all we're not talking Kobe or Lebron at this point. (And thanks for asking them and giving them an opportunity to force Stern into paying the top level even more.)

However, even if you disagree with me completely and think the NBA sky is falling, I read today that Stephon Marbury is going to Milan to play after this year concludes his contract with the Knicks.

Boy do you have a red face now huh? Egg on the face too. Who among you would not thank Milan if they actually take Marbury and that inflated ego out of the NBA? Who among you would not agree that the only thing in the NBA more inflated than Marbury's ego, is his salary?

Get on your knees and pray that Milan has even heard of his desire and are going to be foolish enough to buy into it. Go Stephon Go !!! Literally.

VIVA LA MILAN!!!!

Disclaimer:  I'm lost so if I get back before i find myself keep me here.

A certain member of my family likes to kick back in his recliner and act like he's the Pope. All knowing, setting down policy and dispersing great knowledge much of which is baloney.

One of his favorites is "The West is the NBA".  Ok fine, how come the Celtics are the ones getting a ring in this year's opener? You can argue conference overall strength till you're blue in the face and it still comes down to who is the champion and that would be the Celtics. In the East.

Here are my picks for the best regular season record in the east.

1.) Boston Celtics - I see nothing going on in the East that should threaten the Celtics for the best record in the East. KG is 31. That's no problem with the team they have. Ray Allen is 34 or 35, whatever he is and he can afford that luxury with the team they have. He's not required to be their Kobe. As ridiclous as Pierce is with his claim of being the best in the NBA the truth is he is close enough to keep them on top when you consider that Rondo came of age in the Finals and  Perkins should continue to play solid in the middle. They only lost Posey and when you consider the entire rest of the team, as long as they don't let Sam Cassel play much and start lighting up the sky with shots  they should be fine.

2.) Detroit Pistons - It's regular season picks and the Pistons could do this one in their sleep with you as their coach. Been there done that. Chauncey, Rip, Rasheed, Tayshaun and the boys can and probably will sleepwalk their way through the regular season to a second seed. Unless of course for some reason Kwame (Indian word for hands of stone) Brown sees major minutes. Then all bets are off.

3.) Orlando Magic - This is where it begins to matter concerning depth in the East. You'd think that the Magic with Howard, Lewis and Hedo would be able to ring in third in the East although taking a look at the rest of the roster is cause for chills. Bo Outlaw (15 yrs), Tony Battie (10 years) and Brian Cook (5 yrs) at PF is cause to shudder. This is my third pick in the East and I'm sticking to it for at least throughout the preseason but it's not a pretty pick. None of the rest are.

4.) Cleveland Cavaliers - Honestly it just now struck me. Isn't the words Cleveland Cavaliers an oxymoron? How Cavalier can someone in Cleveland be? Regular readers know I'm no fan of Lebron James. Despite his enormous talent he refuses to play defense during the regular season, he's a ball hog, self centered and in fact reminds me of the player the Kobe haters say Kobe is/was. All about Lebron. This is a guy who said "I want to be the richest player to ever play the game". Not the best.  Not the best he can be, but the richest. Whatever Bron Bron. I nominate him for the most overrated, most palming the ball/taking steps/charging without being called for it. I also nominate him for the all ugly team in the NBA along with Dirk and Chris Kamen. His assists are of the "woops got 18 defenders on me, better pass the ball after all" variety. He's good, nowhere as good as the refs and blind people make him out to be. Honest people have no clue if he has any help or not. he won't give up the ball early in the clock often enough to find out.

5.) Philadelphia Sixers - Two words. Elton Brand. The Sixers just got tough assuming Brand is healthy. What this will do for the Sixers is free up Sam Dalembert for more paint scoring, give the Sixers a legitimate rebounder to go with Sam who is no rebounding slouch himself. Brand/Dalembert/Young/Iguodala/Miller is a sum that is greater than the following two. If Brand isn't healthy drop them to 7th or 8th. Or out.

6.) Washington Wizards - Mr. Yakety Yak himself, Gilbert Arenas is back alledgedly fully healed from his knee problems. Now if someone could just heal his mouth but that's not likely. I had some problems here trying to figure out where to put the Wiz. They are injury prone in Yak man and Caron Butler. They have the two guys in Arenas and DeShawn that can talk themselves out of wins.  Their center and PF situation is ridiclous. They don't play any defense. Who knows? They could be 5th, they could be 8th but they somehow worm their way in. God knows they don't talk their way in. Their mouths do more harm than good.

7.) Toronto Raptors - To be perfectly honest, early on I had them in the 4th or 5th slot but I just cannot believe that Jermaine O'Neal is going to do anything but what he's done the past few years and that's start complaining about nagging injuries and start sucking up salary on the Injured bench. Chris Bosh is the real deal everyone says he is and Calderon is likely to be the same as everyone says he will.

8.) Miami Heat:  Dwayne Wade is healthy, Marion is on board, Beasly is the impact player of the draft and Haslem is the hardest working man in Show business and I have them 8th? Alonzo Mourning is their best center and he's 87.  They have no point guard I recognize as being capable of running the team. No, not Banks OK?

Off the cuff

Another blogger suggested that the Bobcats would make the playoffs due to Larry Brown history of taking marginal teams to the playoffs. He may. But I doubt it. Brown is cantankerous, the NBA' s premier egomaniac coach and players of today don't take what they took even 5 years ago. Boring ball is not their forte.

The Atlanta Hawks squeezed in the 8th slot last year and gave the Celtics fits in the first round of playoffs but I don't think they do it again. Not with a healthy Dwayne Wade and Matrix. They're too dysfunctional.

The Bucks might suprise with the duo of Redd and Jefferson but both have spent considerable time on the injury list in the past and it would take a perfect year here.

The East candidate going against the Suns in the west for dysfunctional team of the year has to be the Bulls. Year after year they bring in yet another backcourt/swing player and year after year do nothing to upgrade their paint game/interior defense. Who do they think they are? The Mavericks?

The Knicks will be the most fun Eastern team with Marbury running and gunning and yelling back to Zack Randolph and Eddie Curry (still at the oppositions free throw line), "Never mind I got it, wait there!".

Disclaimer: I reserve the right to change any/all predictions at any time and claim I was misquoted.