1. I'm sure Adam 'PacMan' Jones (my bad, Adam Jones) will be on his best behavior this inaugural season in Dallas (on and off the field) but my quesion is how will be perform from a skill and talent point of view? As much as analyst want to portray Jones as some kind of All-Pro player with the Titans before he was suspended for a year, my memory doesn't serve me in that way. Adam was an 'ok' defensive back and he returned a couple of punts for touchdowns in his brief NFL career but to say he was anything more than slightly above average athlete is a stretch. My point is this, Adam still needs to prove that he's an every Sunday quality defensive player in the NFL, something he hadn't yet proved in Tennessee. It'll be interesting to see if he can earn a starting 'd-back' position on this Cowboy team that has most of their defensive starters in place
2. Venus Williams and Serena Williams are playing well in this years Wimbledon (they should meet in the Finals) one could only wish they will continue to focus on Tennis and not the off-the court periphery items. They can go down in Tennis history as the best to ever do it but they have to stay in shape and keep that fire burning to win every Major championship
3. Griffey Jr. hit his 600 home run recently and is a certain Hall of Famer but I can only think what could of been with Griffey if he stayed in shape and worked out more often through-out his career. If so he would of had the all-time home-run record by now and looked at as the best baseball player of all time
4. The NBA draft just concluded and I couldn't help but think and be reminded of the great collegiate Maryland Terrapin player LEN BIAS. He was drafted #2 overall by the Celtics in '86 and was on par to be another great clog in that 80's Celtics machine. An impromptu night of post-draft partying ended Len's life prematurely and the enormous potential Bias was carrying into the league. You never want to definitively project what a sports player 'would of' or 'could of' done on the professional level but its safe to say Len would of eventually been a perennial All-Star and All-Pro, and the Hall of Fame would of put him on their ballot immediately once he qualified. Len Bias was all-around skilled beast in college and couldn't be stopped, he got better every year and he was humble and appreciative of his talents...R.I.P Brotha
5. Plaxico Burress of the NFL's New York Giants is asking for more money and he should get it but again he's adding to a number of #### football players. thru the years, who go about it in the wrong way (i.e. Chad Johnson, Terrell Owens). Plax is a very good receiver who deserves a bump up in his salary but he's no All-Pro and you could argue he's not even the best receiver on his team. I'm sure eventually, once he reports to camp, the Giants will give him an increase in loot and extension but they won't pay him the max like he foolishly thinks he deserves
6. Who knew that Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, whom have been known to 'hate' on each other in the past, would have so much in common at the end of their careers
7. Andy Roddick overrated...Check! Michelle Wie extremely overrated and shouldn't even be allowed on a professional golf course....Check!
8. Tiger Woods probably jeopardized at least a few future Majors by playing with a fracture leg and torn ACL, winning the 2008 U.S. Open, but it was great sports theatre nonetheless. The Greatest off all-time put on another Great Show
9. Lets hope the coaching staff and QB coach at The Ohio State Buckeyes find a way to coach their new freshman phenom Terrele Pryor in a way that makes him a quarterback who looks to throw first and run only when necessary. If they do that, he should have a great college and promising NFL career. He's an extremely talented player who can run and throw with great ability but unfortunately history has proven that college coaching staffs rely more on the pure athleticism of a qb who can do both instead of coaching up the most important skill a QB must possess; Throwing. I rather see Pryor be more like the 49er style Steve Young instead of becoming a Vince Young type of player
10. If Karma has any real effects on life and potential activity, the Dallas Cowboys moving into their new stadium in a year or so are going to have nothing but bad luck and losing seasons. During the 3 year construction of their new over-priced billion dollar stadium 1 construction worker has died and numerous more have been seriously hurt
11. We all know Lakers coach Phil Jackson is a first ballot hall of famer once he retires for good but here's hoping that the architect of the Triangle Offense and the man responsible for all the success Phil has had, Coach Tex Winters, gets in to the hall of fame too (he retired 5 years ago but still consults for Jackson and the Lakers) he's in his 70's and should of been in the hall years ago, I credit him for changing the face of basketball offensive scheming...he's a legend
12. Can the commissioner of MLB and the NBA find a way to cut back on games so we don't have the baseball regular season and post-season drifting into late October-early November and the basketball playoffs starting in April and ending in middle of June. We're halfway through the NFL season by the time baseball officially ends and we're a little less than a month away from the baseball all-star game by the time basketball ends....its ridiculous
12. Lets put this false 'rumor-statement-belief' to rest once and for all. The Portland Trail Blazers did not miss out on drafting Michael Jordan. There was no reason to draft M.J. who was projected as a 2-guard because they drafted Clyde Drexler a year earlier-who was also a 2-guard. Plus nobody knew how great Jordan was going to be in the NBA, I'm sure if the Blazers had a crystal ball and could see in the future they would of drafted Jordan and traded Drexler immediately but that's not humanly possible so lets all chill out on the infamous '84 draft and realize every team drafting in the top ten that year, drafted in terms of need
13. I know it's way to early to project on this recent '08 NBA draft crop but I'm going to take a leap of faith and say the only 2 players that have potential to be perennial All-Stars in the league are Derrick Rose and Kevin Love. Westbrook, Mayo, Gordon are tweener players who aren't pure points or off-guards which will make their life difficult in the NBA. Because they were all picked in the top ten, they have the high potential to be labeled 'bust' in a few years. I think all three along with the Lopez twins will eventually be good off-the bench role players during their career
14. WNBA right now is where the NBA was during their early years (decade of the 50's); nobody paid attention much but they stuck around anyway and eventually became relevant. With players like Candace Parker in the league the WNBA is headed in the right direction and will rival the NBA in popularity and profitability in 10 years
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15. Is it me or are there way too many TV and Radio commercials during sports programming these days? It's very distracting and it makes every game an extra 15 to 20 minutes longer (this specifically applies to the NBA and NFL...in addition National-Local sports talk shows are interruped with a bevy of 'Male Enhancement' infomercials) I know these companies got bills to pay and journalist to appease but 'come on fellas' ease back on the countless beer ads and car commericals , the U.S. economy is in a recession and nobody really cares anymore
