The other important influence is of course the Hip-Hop movement providing a crossover culture. In the modern days of Sports stars being idolised and iconographed in various ways by different people, Hip-Hop videos do more than anything to glamorise their favorite athlete by wearing jerseys, and shouting out their boys in lyrics. There seems to be an ever increasing affiliation between the two, with rappers perhaps envying the money and instant fame enjoyed by todays star athletes and the athletes in turn envying the crazy partying lifestyle of todays biggest music stars. Indeed, todays youth are so influenced by their favorite Hip-Hop stars, that seeing 50cent or Jay-Z in a throwback may even encourage a kid to go and buy that jersey more so than watching AI play ball or Mike Vick overthrowing his WRs on Sundays. Nothing shows the value of the relationship between Hip-Hop and sports than joint business ventures. Jay-Z is a  part-owner of the New Jersey Nets, while RnB star Usher is a silent partner in the ownership of the Cleveland Cavaliers. And of course the other, is the alliance between Reebok and G-Unit producing the best selling sneaker of 2005, to go with the S. Carter from Jay-Z which was the best seller in 2004. Another example of how sports merchandise is big money.

So over the last 20 years, athletes have not only gained a place in our lives for throwing, catching, hitting, kicking and running, but they have slowly infiltrated our every day life. They are on your television during adverts for "24" and "ER",  they occupy giant billboards befitting of the biggest movie stars and musicians, some may be on your cereal boxes staring at you while you do your best to wake up in the morning. They are helping companies sell you things you don't want, but because they are affiliated to someone you may like or even idolise, you feel that maybe it would do no harm to buy such a thing.

So where will it all end? Can the Sporting evolution continue to out grow the Arts worlds such as film, television and music? Will they become ever more integrated to the point where the clear lines that currently exist between sports and showbiz become blurred? Or has that already happened? Is the increasing accessibilty of Sports in danger of over saturating our sports thirst,  by providing things we'd rather not know? Will we care a bit too much if / when Paris Hilton makes a sex tape with Matt Leinart?  Like it or not, the era of sports ruling our culture is here, and as the marketing executives at Nike would say "We are all witnesses".

 

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....

Ok, so this has been bugging me for a while now. Nate "The Fake" Robinson is the reigning Slam Dunk Champ. Has the dude dunked in an NBA game yet? If he has it must have passed me by., where as AI Jnr pulls of a dunk so sick everyone in the Toyota Center (including ballers like Kobe) couldn't quite believe what just happened. Nate over Spud was a nice touch for all people with "short man syndrome"  in the world, but get real for a minute -  you see dudes doing that all the time at your nearest court - and Desmond Mason jumped over a 6"10' Rashard Lewis in 2002, so it wasn't original either. So my point is, why aren't the leagues best in game dunkers voted into the contest every year by the fans - i guarantee you Nate wouldn't be voted in in. Here's my take on the top 10 dunk artists in the game today. (Note, Amare Stoudamire, and Tracy McGrady not included due to injury this season, Shaq not included 'cos he's a fat ####.) 

10. Kirk Snyder (NO). Does this guy have any game apart from dunking? I guess they needed someone to replace Birdman in that respect. In that case expect Snyder to be seen next year in Vegas needing 18 attempts to complete a dunk . If he manages it in only 14, he may just win the damn thing.

9. Desmond Mason (NO). A great dunk artist who produces filthy in-game dunks to add to his impressive contest back catalog.

8. Dwight Howard (ORL). Reportedly able to touch the back board a full 30inches above the rim, there is no-one is basketball who can block this guys dunks. Howard will be ready for basketball domination in a few years.

7. Shawn Marion (PHO). One of my favourite players in the league, The Matrix brings the flavor every night. Marion has no doubt benefitted since Nash came to the desert, but Marion has improved Nash's game as well, as Steve knows he can lob the ball high in the air at the rim and Marion will put it through.

 6. LeBron James (CLE). A terrific in game dunker due to his amazing physical talent, its a small wonder James elected to participate in the skills competition in Houston against Wade, Nash and Paul, when he would have been a favourite to win the dunk contest.

5. Josh Smith (ATL). J-Smoove makes it look too easy most of the time, which was why he didn't progress to the final in Houston (a 2 handed dunk from the foul line!!!?). But Josh is crazy in games as well, and makes many highlight reel plays for Atlanta both blocking shots and sending it down. Plus, it always looks better when its lefty.

4. Dwayne Wade (MIA). One of the greatest athletes in the whole of sports today. Wade at 6-4 can rise as high as anyone else, and he is creating an impressive back catalog of dunks. What makes Wade's crams extra special is what he is able to create for himself off the dribble, weaving in and around defenders before throwing it down. Wade is the most entertaing player in the league right now.

3. Andre Iguadola (PHI). This dude is crazy. AI's athleticism is off the charts, and is creativity is insane also - as Josh Smith said after the contest, no-one else would even think of going behind the backboard. Thats how 'Dre gets down, and his in game dunking (including last sundays crush in garbage time in Indy) has only gotten sicker since he was mugged of the dunk title.

2. Jason Richardson (GS).  A back2back dunk champion, with possibly the craziest dunk of all time (of the floor between the legs windmill) to win it in 2003, and J-Rich was robbed of the title in 2004, after his off the backboard between the legs effort. In games J-Rich does most of his work off the fast break - and if he's running with B-Diddy in the open floor, watch out.

1. Vince Carter (NJ).  VC15 is having a renaissance year of sublime dunks. Again a former dunk champion after putting on "the show" in 2000, Carter is the quintessential poster boy for the modern game, 6-6 and skying for lobs, and rising high above 7footers for constant highlight reel plays. Carter's dunk on Mourning in Dec will rank as one the greatest dunks of all time, and the only reason people know the name Frederic Weis, was because Carter jumped straight over his 7-2 head in the 2000 Olympics (the equivolent of Nate jumping over Vince - i don't think that could happen).

Honorable mentions go to Kobe (No.8 doesn't dunk too much anymore due to the intense defense directed his way), Richard Jefferson (at least he's second best on his team, right?), Josh Childress (they can flush in ATL), Channing Frye (he got game), Chris Bosh (slightly lesser version of D. Howard in the dunk stakes), and Stro Swift (stop, its hammertime!).  

Greetings from a springtime London. OK, so after drinking wine all last night with the lady, and drinking beers in the pub all afternoon with the boyz, here are some sports related things that have crossed my mind recently.

1. Can the NFL not ban Drew Rosenhaus? He may be a power agent, but he's more importantly a major pain in the #### and causes nothing but trouble for NFL franchises, while in-turn giving all of his clients god complexes.

2. Why do NFL teams who finish with the lowest regular season record automatically have the first draft pick? Surely it would be better if the team could evaluate the draft talent and then pick what number they want to select a player. Its not the case this year, but surely the 49ers would rather not have put 50mill into Alex Smith pockets last year but they were unable to find suitable value for a trade out.

3. Why are NBA deals guaranteed? This really gets on my end. If you suck at your job, and your boss doesn't think you are worth paying - he gets rid of you. In the NBA you sign a big deal at around 30, when you are well past your prime and you often end up making massive cash either sitting on the bench and playing a few minutes a night, or sitting at home (whats up Penny Hardaway?). Don't you think some teams would love to just cut half there roster but can't as the money they've signed on for is guaranteed? Bet your #### if they were like NFL deals, some players would be playing harder to ensure their house looks fly on the next episode of cribs.

4. Why isn't the NFL season longer? Yeah, i know its fast, furious and causes injuries but do teams really need 7/8 months of the year playing pitch and catch, working out, and learning playbooks, and then playing the boring pre-season (the biggest cause of irritating injuries). So NFL, please extend the season to either 18 or 20 regular season games - if your looking for a reason to do this  - money... !!!

5. Why do Universities try and cover up the issue of academic eligibility?  Look, there are 3 kinds of people in this world. The academically gifted, the physically gifted and the rare breed of person who is brilliant at everything (i hate them..!). Most athletes (mainly talking about football players here) aren't going to have astounding careers as scientists, writers, nobel prize winners etc. but in the current world of athletes earning more in a year than most working people earn in 40years - why is that important? So why do colleges say that their star athletes (who bring in huge revenue for them) are academically eligible, when they put their players on courses a 7yr old could pass - and invariably "assist" them through the course so they can continue partying, scoring with hot girls and using their god given gifts to star for them on saturday afternoons. I have no problem with Vince Young attending a good academic institution like UT, even if he couldn't tell a fork from a spoon. The guy was a great football player for them and did so much more for the longhorns than any math student could, but i do have  problem with people like Mack Brown coming out and saying how intelligent Vince and all his other players are. Hey Mack, scoring a 7 on the Wonderlic doesn't really say he's that bright does it? But he'll earn more money than any of us will ever see, and good luck to the kid - he deserves it.

6. There are too many NBA regular season games. Why play 82 reg season games. Why? Why 82? Its called diluting the product in advertising terms and when you have 3/4 games a week, it doesn't really make each game that special, does it? I'd rather they played around 60 each season,  making each game more meaningful and competitive and giving players more time to get and stray healthy.

7. The NFL salary cap is too complicated for normal fans. Teams have "cap guys" employed to work round this, so how can regular fans be expected to understand its inner workings? They should simplify it to saying "Every NFL team may have total salaries of up to 150million a year on a 53man roster, and they may spend it how they wish". Then, we can actually see where the money is going, and which players are value for money and more importantly who isn't.

8. Television adverts are the worst things for sports fans. Ever. A big game, a touchdown, 4mins left in the 4th quarter, game all square. 3 minute advert. Kickoff. 5 minute advert. WHY-OH-WHY are we subjected to this?? I'd rather the network showed back-2-back adverts for the entire halftime than ruining the atmosphere in my TV room /bar i'm in when i'm watching a big game in the closing moments. The same goes for basketball where the last 2 minutes takes 15 minutes to play. Sure take a timout, but it should only be allowed to be a 20seconds.

9. They don't show enough cheerleaders on TV coverage. Totally sexist, but something i feel very strongly aobut. If you are watching a completely suck #### game (eg.  ATL Hawks v NY Knicks, San Fran 49ers v Houston Texans - pre Reggie Bush) in the age of interactive television, shouldn't you be able to press a button on your remote and watch the game which just so happens to incorporate a nice view of the cheerleaders. I mean, its a win-win situation - we get to look at beautiful women (and its not even porn), and these girls get more exposure in the hope they can go on to bigger things such as Stacy Kiebler.

10. Will anyone is the US watch the FIFA World Cup in Germany this summer? I know, "soccer" isn't a big deal over there, but this is the biggest sporting event in the World (more TV viewers than the olympics!) and your boys are supposedly the 5th best team in the world. I don't care if MLS gets 3 men and a dog to watch games over there, but if the US public followed the world cup half as passionately as any other major sport over there - the world cup would get even better (even if thats possible..). But then again, do the US even care about national team success in any sport?

I'm off to get some aspirin.... Comments appreciated.

I'm not the first to say it and i'll never be the last.... but, what the #### is Isaiah Thomas doing to one of the most storied franchises in sports?  The last thing he needed to do was trade Penny's (finally!) expiring contract, and the only thing close to that was trading for another ball hogging PG to play alongside Marbury, Crawford and Robinson. Congratulations Isaiah, you managed to do the 2 things you absolutely couldn't afford to do -at the same time no less. Did Zeke think he had to pull the trigger on a trade before the deadline??

Of course, he also messed up last week by trading AD's expiring contract for an ageing Jalen Rose, and his most definitely not ageing contract, combined with an offseason trade for Eddy Curry who's defense is as questionable as his heart condition. Then there's the trade for Q-rich + Nate the imp  for K. Thomas - why? Paying Jerome James like he's as good as Shaq-why!? The only positive this year for the Knicks is Zeke lucked out  with the Channing Frye draft, as frye is the second best player out of the draft class after CP3.

I just cannot understand the reasoning for the Francis trade unless Marbury and/or Crawford got shipped as well. Instead, the Knicks gained another ridiculous (and unmoveable - unless isaiah becomes GM of another team) contract for a player who will not improve the team in anyway. Unless another GM loses his mind in the summer and takes on some of the knocks contracts, the knicks are #### for years to come...

They keep saying how the Knicks will make a move for KG or LBJ, but how can this possibly happen due to what Thomas has done to the roster. What team (even T-wolves and the very shaky McHale as GM) will want to do a trade with the knicks for overhyped veterans with over-inflated contracts, with various character issues. And any prize free agents no.1 priority is $$$$ and if the Knicks can't pay-up, they'll go elsewhere - its that simple.

there have been a number of bad moves by bad gm's in the last few years - Weisbrod trading mcgrady for "the pu pu platter", babcock trading "half-man half- amazing" for "half-a-kidney" (who was then bought out!), kupchak trading shaq for odom, brian grant! and caron butler!, but no-one has ever excelled himself in the field of  bad general management like Zeke, who like Weisbrod, Kupchak and others was a great player.

But best yet, I think  Zeke will pull out the most bizarre trade in sports history when he trades for Daunte Culpepper, guaranteeing the 18mill a year that Daunte wants from the Vikes, and sending an NFL team the Knicks first round picks until 2015... you may laugh, but with Zeke, anything could go down.... nba teams are racking their brains about how to get new yorks lottery pick for the greg oden race in a couple years time - oh, hang on a minute, isn't that already gone...?

Let me start by saying i love the All-Star Weekend. For me, it signifies the real start of the nba season - now that NFL is done (until the madness starts in April again with the draft), and you know the next few months after will be full of games that mean more and more until its all done in May. On the weekend itself, you've got the Rooks hanging with the Sophomores for the first half before the extra years' experience and talent shows up, the cool side shows of skills / 3pt / and dunk contest (i asked santa for J-Rich, J-Smoove, Vinsanity and LeBron to go at it over 4 rounds - or i'd settle for just not having Chris Andersen in it again...), and finally the 24 best players in the world going at it for 48 minutes (no 12th men in sight).

But, this is where my love for all star weekend begins to fall ever so slightly on its ####. There has to be a better way to ensure the people who take to the floor on Feb 19th are actually deserving of the honour (since the season began). As i type, there are thousands of people logging on to nba.com and casting votes, for the guy they saw play his best in 1999, the guy who's jersey they bought on ebay, the guy they saw dunk on nba.tv last night, the guy that put up stats they saw in the paper on the way to work on monday, and the guy who has 1.4 billion people voting for him - but more on that in a minute. My main beefs for the All-Star game is as follows, and there is an obvious place to start.

The West Centers
Ladies and Gents, i give you Yao Ming. Cultural phenomenon, thoroughly nice guy by all accounts, no.1 pick, and a seriously average basketball player. If Yao is so good, and 7'6, how the hell can he average under 20pts and 10rebs a game? He's a walking foul, and spends more time on the bench than leading his team, which is essential now that T-Mac has a limit of about 3games before his next prolonged injury absence. Its not that there are any better options in the West now that the Diesel is in the East, but its a shame Yao gets more votes than anyone based on his cultural backing and regardless of the fact he isn't as good people think he could/should be. His health could be an issue, and with Marcus Camby (someone who can actually rebound) possibly missing the game as well - the Centers position could fall to a very deserving Mehmet Okur. But here's a question, if KG, Duncan, and Dirk make the game -why do the West need a Center as defined by the balloting form?

The West Forwards
Here's another serious pain in the #### which kind of follows on from my last point in the Centers. The five top vote getters are as follows T-Mac, Duncan, KG, Dirk and Pau. I mean KG and dirk are versatile but playing the 3 against LBJ is a big no-no. My point - too many power forwards / big men. Carmelo (has the dude got ice through his veins in the clutch recently?) deserves a trip after growing up in a hurry this year, and how Shawn Marion is behind a dude that hasn't played this year (Amare Stoudamire -even if his game is crazy) in the voting, must cause much head scratching around league insiders. (Ps - Elton Brand,- i got you dawg.) 

The West Guards
I'd say this one is pretty well deserved as it's Kobe, Nash (M-V-P!, M-V-P!, M-V-P!) Manu, Jesus Shuttlesworth, and Tony Parker (it wouldn't be all-star without Eva's beautiful face courtside...) I feel for B-Diddy though, and his running mate J-Rich, those cats can ball and you know they'd bring the highlight-reel stuffs.

The East Centers
Big Fat Shaq should not be starting above Big Ben Wallace - its that simple. Shaq either doesn't care about the regular season anymore, or he's only concerned about cranking it up at playoffs to prove to Kobe he is the man. Shaq's legacy will echo in eternity, but Ben deserves credit for being a centerpiece of the best team this league has seen since 98'. Again without many true centers in the league these days both will rightly take their seats in Houston - even if one is solely working on reputation.

The East Forwards
LeBron James, Jermaine O'Neal, Rasheed Wallace,  Chris Webber, and Ron Artest. Wait a minute - Ron Artest? You mean the T.O of the NBA, the extraordinarily talented, arrogant headcase who has been expelled from his team? Which brings me to the guy who deserves to be an all-star this year just as much if not more than any other in the league. You see in a league where previous reputation means so much for people like Yao, McGrady, Shaq and C-Webb, the truth gets no love for being a terrific ball-player on a poorly coached and manged  team. Its a travesty if Pierce doesn't make it  to Houston, and i for one will struggle watching Artest playing in his place. Canada's best (CB4) and Tayshaun should be disappointed watching the game on their plasmas. (My appeal to the masses - vote for P. Pierce, Forward, Boston Celtics)

The East Guards
Three statistical monsters lead the way here AI, D-Wade, and Vinsanity.  I find it amusing how Carter is having one of his best seasons in a long time, and yet trails in 3rd place by a long way. It will be nice to see Mr. Big Shot take to the floor, although Rip should be alongside him (i think it would be nice touch if the Pistons starting 5 took to the floor at some point). J-Kidd is a standard entry, but it would have been great to see Gilbert Arenas on the stage he deserves, to just help slide that "i got drafted in the 2nd round" chip off his shoulder at last...

Finally, my hopes for the weekend

A "full-house" in the 3pt shooting competition to show the world american's actually can shoot

A sick dunk contest involving big name ballers - i never want to see Chris Andersen alone on a court with a ball and spot lit hoop ever, ever again...

The Rooks to beat the sophomores. It won't happen, but i think CP3, Frye, Charlie-V and co. could push the Dwight Howard, Ben Gorgon sophomore squad quite a long way.

And i'd settle for a well-contested 2-OT thriller for the all-stars game, with Paul Pierce (a shock last minute call-up for an insitutionalized Ron Artest , after Ron-Ron refused to go on court unless "Tru Warrier" is blazed across his jersey) hitting the go ahead 3 for a 137-136 win.

 
The All-Star game isn't perfect but is a lot better than its counterparts in baseball and football.