Michael Phelps is Aqua Man. Enough said. He is a hero in the water...but does anyone care about swimming any other time of the year?

The Red Sox and Rangers played a preseason football game last night. 19-17 was the final with bean town on top.

Georgia football lost another player...this time it wasn't to the legal system.

Laveranues Coles still hasn't done an interview since the acquisition of Favre and the release of Pennington. Reports say he even dropped the F bomb towards a fan the other day at practice when a fan yelled something like "Pennington could never throw that far"...seriously Coles? Do you have baby hands and can't handle Favre's heat or something? My little sister can throw harder than Pennington, don't get butthurt about the truth.

The Rays only scored one run in a loss to Oakland last night...has the clock stuck midnight for this year's Cinderella?

Also is it just me or is the AL and NL starting to look like the Western Conference and Eastern Conference in the NBA and AFC and NFC in the NFL? It's eerie how it seems one conference seems to be more dominate in sports now-a-days -- although a NFC team won the Super Bowl last year and an Eastern Conference team won the NBA Championship...which team from the NL could win it all this year?

With all this talk about NBA players going global, could basketball be the next soccer in Europe?
and could the NBA turn into the next MLS?

Stay Classy.

I'm at work right now until 4:30 and it's such a slow day I thought I'd get a rant off. An exciting weekend in sports is on the way with the NFL Draft, NBA Play-offs, and the Yankees and Red Sox are playing.

Lets start with the NFL Draft. I'm a diehard NFL fan, but I never really get into the draft. I used to, but I haven't really watched college football the past few years. Of course I'll still watch the First Round, but after that I'm about sick of it. I know everyone will be making their predictions and Mock Drafts, but I guess I'll just spit out what I think the Top Five picks should do.

1st Overall: As crazy as this sounds, but I think the Oakland Raiders should pass on Russell, Quinn, and Johnson and draft Adrian Peterson. I think Peterson is the best running back to come out of college since LaDanian Tomlinson and in that draft the Chargers passed up on Vick to draft LT. The Raiders should do the same thing and pass up on Russell for Peterson, maybe even try to make a trade with one of the other Top 5 teams that have picks.

2nd Overall: Now the Detroit Lions should pass on Calvin Johnson and draft JaMarcus Russell. Why get another receiver?

3rd Overall: The Cleveland Browns will take Brady Quinn. I think in the longrun Quinn will be a better quarterback then Russell and with Braylon Edwards and an improving defense in Cleveland he may bring this team back to glory (Even though these particular Cleveland Browns never had glory since they're the expansion one...The Ravens Browns had the glory years)

4th Overall: It'd be perfect for the Bucs now to get Calvin Johnson. Maybe they make the trade with Oakland to get the 1st overall and get Johnson then. Everyone knows this is who Tampa wants, Detroit, Cleveland, and Oakland should try and use that to their advantage.

5th Overall: The Arizona Cardinals will draft Joe Thomas. Once they get an O-Line in store and maybe a younger running back this team will finally be a play-off contender.


Let's move on to the NBA Play-Offs. What a great postseason it's been all ready. What games I'll make sure not to miss this weekend will be:

Game 3 and Game 4 between G-State and Dallas. This is going to turn out to be an amazing 1 vs 8 match-up. Due to injury ridden years since CHARLOTTE I've forgotten about Baron Davis and how ill he is, especially in the play-offs. Do you remember the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 Hornets teams with Baron Davis and Jamal Mashburn? That's what this Golden State team reminds me of, with Jason Richardson playing the role as Mashburn. Baron was insane in the play-offs those years and I see him playing the same in this series (aside from the foul trouble and ejection in Game 2). I think Dallas will win this series, but it's going to be a lot closer then I thought.

Game 3 and Game 4 between T-Dot and Jersey. This is the best match-up in the East. I'm feeling both these teams as teams being slept on in the East. You got talent all around on both these teams and it's always interesting to watch a non-experienced play-off team against an experienced one.

Game 3 between Denver and San Antonio. This series IS going to be the opposite of what people thought. It's going seven games. Game 1 and Game 2 between these two have been two of the most exciting games this postseason and I don't see either of these teams getting blown out in this series. Denver is a lot better then what people thought and they may be one of the few teams that can give San Antonio's defense problems.

Game 4 between La La and PHX. After Game 3 I'm thinking the Lakers aren't completely out of this series, I predicted a seven game series, after Game 2 I was thinking sweep, but I feel the Lakers still have fight in them and it's going to be a punch for punch type series.

Game 4 between H-Town and the Jazz flutes. Will Houston rebound from that awful performance in Game 3. This IS the best match-up in the postseason and these teams won't disappoint.


Onto baseball.
Ah the Red Sox and Yankees. I always looked at this rivalry as a David vs Goliath because for as long as I can remember the Yankees have always been the favorite, but lately I've think the roles have flip-flopped. Yes, NY still has 26 'ships, but the Sox have won the 'ship more recently then the Bombers. The Sox have the better pitching rotation, are the division leader, and have gotten the better of the Yankees recently with the sweep this year. So how come the Yankees can't play the role of underdog against the big, bad Bo-Sox?

What a weekend of sports it'll be.

Yes this title is a movie reference to You, Me, and Dupree. I'll give it credit just in case of some infringement. Haven't posted in awhile, NCAA Tourney hangover, or maybe Spring Break hangover. No I didn't go anywhere cause I'm broke. So I'll just spit out seven short topics today.

Smoke #1

The San Antonio Spurs are the best team in the NBA. Sorry Phoenix. Sorry Dallas. These are your champs. They own the Suns winning eleven out of their last fourteen meetings against Phoenix. Last night they held Phoenix to 85 points. I'm not really worried too much about Dallas either.

Smoke #2

Ah Baseball. The Twins, Mets, Braves, and Pirates are the teams who haven't lost yet. Yes, it's early, but it's always fun following the undefeated teams until they lose. I think the Pirates will be the first of these teams to lose, but then again the Braves and Mets are playing tonight so one of them is bound to go down. I haven't watched too much baseball this week, but atleast the season is here.

Smoke #3

60% of the time it works every time... 68% completion percentage...it lands you as a Carolina Panther. Good move? Yes. I still think Carr can be a franchise QB. What's Delhomme done lately? Carr won't start, but I see him starting by the end of the season. Good move by Carolina, I like them in the NFC South to compete with New Orleans.

Smoke #4

Lady Vols take the women's crown...again. I think that's seven championships for them. I guess Rutgers happened to my Duke girls. I didn't really follow this tournament, but congrats to these girls.

Smoke #5

The Mavericks...sign Kevin Willis? He was born in 1962. Is this your answer for Duncan? Or is this an invitation to Pippen who was in the same retirement home as Willis.

Smoke #6

That's where I'm putting my fantasy NBA team. The genius owner forgot to put in an IR, it's the semi finals in the playoffs and I'm without Zack Randolph, Gilbert Arenas, Joe Johnson, and Dirk has a stomache flu. Just great.

Smoke #7

Madden 2008. Ah yes. Can't wait. It was reported that Devan Hester is going to have a speed of 100! If you're a Madden gamer you know no one has EVER had a rating on anything above 99. What is this? It's garbage. I'm sure there's guys in the league faster then Hester. Credit he's a great return man, Dante Hall never got a 100 speed.

That's all. Sorry if some of these stories are a bit outdated I just had to get these rants out.

 

Lazy today: All images courtesy of Google Images.

NIT Action and Play-in game excitement was nice, but I'm growing impatient awaiting the NCAA Tournament. Today though I'm going to get out some other sports opinions seeing how it's going to be all college ball for awhile starting tomorrow. Actually at 3:15 today it'll start for me because I'll be at the UAlbany Great Danes' send off. Hopefully they won't be back for awhile. UA. U KNOW.

Lets start with some football. The Patriots signed Kelly Washington. If you don't know who he is he's one of the many weapon wideouts on the Cincinatti Bengals. 72 catches, 893 yards AND nine touchdowns on the same team as Ocho Cinco and TJ Who's ya mamma. The Patriots are making the best offseason moves, there's not a doubt in my mind about that. Adalius Thomas, Donte Stallworth, and now Kelly Washington. I know who is going to be my team in Madden 08 (Last year it was the Bengals). I think all this wide receiver action by the Pats definitely has something to do with Peyton Manning and crew winning the Super Bowl. Well, their defense may be at last year Chi-Town status too.

Onto the NBA. The Leastern Conference may be weak as Hell, but the race for the Eigth seed is heating up. The Knicks, Pacers, and Nets are all in a threeway for the Eight and even Seventh slot. Orlando went Nick Anderson on us. To be honest, I'd love to see the Knickerbockers in the play-offs, but getting the Eight or Seventh seed in the East is like saving up all your money for a fat hooker with STDs, you're fu...nah I'll keep it clean. You're #### either way once you reach your goal. I know everyone's talking about the Mavericks, and I'll jump in for a bit. Everyone remembers this team did start 0-4 right? They've been 52 AND 6! since. You know how ridiculous that is. Not one team in the East even has 50 wins. If they didn't start the season so slow the Mavs would be going for the win record. No doubt. The Spurs have quietly won thirteen straight. All I know is if The Mavs, Spurs, or even Suns make the Finals and get BEAT by a team from the Leastern Conference (The East has won what's the stat, 4 of the last 5 finals or something) I will no longer follow the NBA closely again and just go straight to college ball viewing. Honestly I think the East could have the edge in the Finals though because they are rested from playing scrub teams en route to the Finals as for a team in the West has to go through Hell and then some type series to get to the finals.

Oh and this year I'm going to promise myself I'm going to follow the MLB as closely as I follow the NBA and NFL. So expect some good ol' ballgame posts in the near future.

I don't usually blog two posts in one day, but since I'm going away tomorrow I thought I'd get another one in. Be greatful to be getting two scoops today. Now onto a little more serious post.

Racism in sports is always a heated topic and this isn't going to do with black coaches or anything of that matter. This is going at the teams themselves whether it be Logos, Mascots, or their fans. The probably most visible form of racism in sports is right infront of us. It's not racists against blacks, hispanics, but of the biggest racial cleansed race in the history of the world...The Native Americans.  There is a lot of racism towards Native Americans it in sports logos, mascots, and teams, but I'm going to take a shot at just three teams here.

The Illinois Fighting Illini

Before I start my rant recently they have made a change and have gotten rid of this mascot. It doesn't look too bad, but come on as J.A. Adande pointed out "It's real respectful having some frat guy painted up running around in circles". This is a PRESTIGIOUS college University and this is how they want to be viewed on a national stage with antics like this? They did make strides though, the University got rid of this "Tradition" they called it. What was worst was there were fans in the stands crying over this...or maybe they were crying over their school's subpar basketball year. Take your picks.

The Washington Redskins

I'll be the first to admit their logo or mascot or anything isn't that bad. It's just their name. The Washington REDskins? That'd be like having a team called the Harlem Blackskins or the Mandarin Yellowskins. I'm just amazed that things like this can continue to happen. The worst thing about the Redskins is a select few of their fans:

The Hogettes. These GROWN men dress up like women with pig snouts then add on some type of Redskins gear. Why? I'm sure there's some logic behind this, but it's just embarrassing. If I was Native American and I saw someone dressed as a woman with a pigsnout wearing gear with a team where the logo is one of my people I'd be offended.

The Cleveland Indians

This is the worst one by far. Do I even have to explain this? While searching google for the Cleveland Indians logo I found this

Do you think any of those other teams would fly? The thing about the Indians is, that's not even what you call Native Americans anymore. I'm pretty sure Indians are people from the country of India.

This is where I want to get at. Why can't these teams just change their logos and names? I mean the Washington Bullets had to change their name and logo because it was "violent" and represented "crime". Are you kidding me? So what does the Cleveland Indian's logo represent?

Images courtesy of Google Images