Big weekend in sports with the return of the NBA playoffs, a burgeoning scandal regarding the poster boy of the forthcoming NFL draft, more HR'#### in the majors, and Lavar Arrington finally finds a home.

- LeBron James opened the playoffs in style for the Cavs, recording a triple-double in an easy win for the Cavs. What does this mean? Yes, the King has arrived and displayed his monumental talents jumping on the Wizards early and keeping the foot on the gas. But if he thinks the Wiz and Gilbert Arenas plays that bad for the rest of the series he's sadly mistaken, and the Cavs will get a wake up call against the Pistons in the Confernce Semi-finals.

- The Spurs handled the Queens in game 1. Was anyone surprised by this? Really? I didn't think so. The Kings showed their same old faces in game one and a rout was on the cards by the time the first quarter was in the books. On a talent standpoint the Kings (Bibby, Wells, Artest, 'Reef, Miller) would worry any no.1 seed, particularly one with a hobbled superstar. But the Spurs handled their business and preserved home court with Tony Parker and Nick van Exel leading the way in the beat down. The Spurs have the deepest roster in basketball, and anyone hwo thinks Rick Adelman can outcoach Pop, is out of their mind. The bad news for the Kings, Artest is supended for game 2 and things will only get worse...

- Phoenix gets acquainted with the free throw line, and made the most of it. Hitting 30 of 32 free throws was an example of how to punish a young teams over enthausiasm to make a splash in R1 against a number 2 seed. Yes, Kobe wasn't killing it on Sunday as he's prone to do against PHX, but if you send an opponent that shoots that well from the stripe to the line 32 times in one game, you deserve to lose. Watch out for Kobe to blow up in game 2 (you can tell he was agitated playing "within the offense on sunday"). Steve Nash for MVP...

- RIck Carlisle is a great coach. He really is and anyone who thinks other wise is a fool. FIrst he builds up that Detroit team to a 50win team without 'Sheed - which would have taken it all once Sheed arrived - with or without Larry Brown and his cantankerous ways, then he goes to Indiana and endures 2 of the most horrible seasons a coach can suffer through injuries and Ron Artest's insanity and still he drags the team to the playoffs through pure coaching. And now Carlisle's Pacers have pinched home court from the much fancied NJ Nets. Will they win the series? I don't think so, but Carlisle has worked miracles in Indy again, and if he can ever get a dependable All-Star performer (JO too injury-prone), and a couple of dependable veterans together.. look out.

- Anyone noticed the amount of Homers being smacked in the Majors this year in this alleged "post steroid" era. I looked it up and Homers are up over 20% on last year, mostly through the performances of the likes of Albert Pujols, Morgan Ensberg, Chris Shelton, Travis Hafner, and Jim Thome. Erm, is this supposed to happen? Didn't most people expect the no. of Homers to go down post juice? Lots of theories have been put forward - the baseballs are harder, all players (apart from Barry) are healthy at this time of year,  the pleasant hitting conditions in a mild April in the midwest, and Pujols new stomping ground is a lot more hitter friendly than the old Busch stadium. The most interesting theory is that the Pitchers were also hitting the juice hard, and have suffered a drop off this year. Interesting stuff, and a lot more pleasing to watch on TV...

- Barry finally nails 709. Woohoo! Break open the pinata. I've had all the Barry watch i can take, and now hope the hysteria around him dies down for a while. Sure he's chasing legendary figures and legendary records, but Bonds isn't worthy of the attention, there are far better players playing ball at the moment to turn you attention to, until Bonds cracks 714 and 715, and then we can all go about our lives again....

- Reggie Bush's family alledgedly were given a free lease to a home in San Diego California, allegedly putting his college eligibility in doubt. They are talking about taking away the kids greatest honor of his life so far, the heismann.  Big deal, Reggie Bush is less than 7 days away from becoming a multi-, multi- millionaire. Everyone knew this kid would be special and would always make it to the NFL and get paid a kings ransom to play.  In my opinion the NCAA rules regarding eligibility are ridiculous , and the fact that guys aren't "paid" to play football doesn't mean they're not getting dollars. You don't think Matt Leinhart's made money from his LA exploits? please. You also think Vince Young was academically eligible at UT? Please.. I'll let someone with a better handle on the college scene write a more informative blog, but while college guys shouldn't necessarily be paid for performing on saturdays, penalizing them for helping their families have a better lifestyle until they get paid for real is just wrong.

- Brett Favre - Hurry Up and take a s*hit or get off of the toilet! Your team needs to know what to do in the upcoming draft.

- Lavar Arrington should be spitting mad about his new deal with the G-men. He bought out the remaining 4.4mill on his contract so he could pursue lucrative free agency money. The result? a 5.5mill signing bonus, and a base contract averages that pays 3.7. Again the Postons show they are the most incompetent agents on the NFL market this side of Major Bud Adams, now if only they can find Ty Law a new home....

- One final point which none of you will care about,  but really got me going on Saturday concerns sportsmanship. A huge game in the English Premiership between Arsenal and Tottenham was played with the victor moving one step closer to qualifying for the lucrative European Champions league (worth approx 25mill to either team). With Arsenal needing to win and the game at 0-0, two arsenal players collided with each other and lay stricken on the pitch. Tottenham collected the ball and ignored arsenal's plea's to kick the ball out of touch so the players could receive treatment and proceded to score causing uproar amongst the arsenal fans and players. Arsenal would later rescue a 1-1 draw out of the game but still trail Tottenham in the race for European qualification. Question is, were Tottenham right to play on and score?

 
Roll on the NFL draft on the weekend, here's hoping your team drafts who you want! Out....

I'm not a big baseball fan. I couldn't name the last 5 World Series winners and couldn't tell you what division any of the big market teams play-in. At only 3 times in my life has baseball really grabbed my sports oriented attention. The McGwire-Sosa Home Run chase. The Barry Bonds obliteration of those records, and the Red Sox coming from an impossible position to defeat the Yankees. So, 2 of my  3 baseball memories have been steroid induced. Do i care? Not really, no. Do i think Bonds, Palmeiro, McGwrie, Giambi, Sosa etc. are cheating #### that deserve their bodies to rot in front of their eyes while they continue to practice telling lies in the mirror? Absolutely. Do i think they should be banned from the leagues, never be eligable for the HOF, and have their records exponged? Never.

Why? Because baseball is essentially a boring sport that requires characters and entertainers to make it relevant (In the great words of Chris Rock "boo if you want, ya know i'm right!"). It needs to see Bonds bullying pitchers, smashing the ball into the bay, then dragging his decaying carcass around the bases, hoping he doesn't blow out an ACL in the process. It needs to have out-of -team rivalries such as the Sosa -McGwire duel in 1998 which captured the entire sports world, something MLB very rarely acheives.

The thing is for me, the drug-testing policy in baseball has been as stringent as a wet paper bag. So how can you choose to punish guys who took advantage of such lightweight rules retrospectively? Everyone knows now that all the great HR hitting in the "steroid era" is at least 30-40% attributable to the extra muscle required to force a wide, sinking pitch over center field for a homer. Afterall, can you blame these guys for doing what they did? "Hey Barry, i've got an idea to turn you from a HOF'er into the gratest slugger in MLB history, and you don't need to work out as much as you do now". No matter how wrong it is, I for one can see why they would be tempted to pursue history.

Also, remember the 'roid abusers in baseball are, at the end of the day are ultimately only hurting themselves. Its not like football or other contact sports where a roid abuser can seriously hurt someone though a more powerful hit than a "clean" athlete could manage, or getting roid rage at the bottom of a pile-up (whats up Bill Romanowski?), and basketball players and endurance athletes don't require 'roids for sustained cardiovascular fitness.

I feel for the great modern sluggers in baseball who have acheived everything without abusing their bodies. Griffey Jnr, Pujols, Ortiz and the like should be celebrated more than ever for their acheivements in an era where pitchers are throwing faster with more variation than ever before. 

The MLB has to fix its drug-abuse problem now. And getting rid of the biggest draw in baseball isn't really an option. In my opinion, let those who want to, take as much bovine muscle stimulating hormones as they like, and educate them as to the long term effects on their body. If they still want to have constant pains, shrunk genetalia, and knock 20-30 years off their lives in the hope they'll make it to the hall of fame, so be it.

Finally, let me emplore all of you who go to see any known drug-abuser in baseball this season to greet any acheivement of theirs with silence. Imagine Bonds cracking the HR that beats Hank Aaron's record, to be greated at home plate with a hush in the crowd? Nothing would be more fitting.