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
NON-SPORTS RELATED PASSION ITEM:
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
1. As much as I want to believe this 2008 version of Lakers vs. Celtics NBA Finals is another chapter in the long history of great Championship matches it's just not the same. Neither one of these teams today would win one game vs their own predecessors and most importantly there's not enough tenureship on either one of these teams to make it seem that muchimportant. Outside of Kobe Bryant and Derrick Fisher (and he left via free agency for several seasons and is now in his 2nd stint with the team) for the L.A. Lakers and Paul Pierce for the Boston Celtics the remainder of the respective roster players have either just arrived recently or was acquired this season
2. The NHL Stanley Playoff Run and Cup Finals is proving once again to be the Best when it comes to playoff excitement and unpredictability amongst any of the professional sports organizations here in the good ole U.S.A.. To bad most sports fans in this country are to narrow-minded to give this sport a chance, we all know Gary Betteman has to do a better job at marketing his sport and players but in the mean time while he's gearing up to improve in those categories the best athletes in all of sports (outside of football) are giving us 'Must See TV'
3. The best all-around basketball athlete in professional sports, outside of Kobe Bryant , is not in the NBA, she currently resides in the WNBA with the Los Angeles Sparks. Her Name is Candace Parker and she is arguably the best player in her league and she's only played 6 games into her rookie season. Parker is better than half the players currently on the entire NBA rosters; and she's only getting better. Basketball fans may diss her and the league she plays in but none of those guys would have the balls to play her one-on-one. The WNBA is taking a slow climb to respectability in this country but it's gonna happen, sooner rather than later, and players like Candace Parker will be at the fore-front
4. OJ Mayo continues a tradition of over-rated star athletes who will be marginally good at the Pro level and at the same time leave a tarnished legacy at their alma mater. USC deserves to take a hard fall for continuing to let players like OJ, Bush and Leinart (to only name a few) enter their sports program and run wild with arrogance, rules-breaking and brute showmanship. I know USC has a storied tradition of putting out great talent at the next level and there's no arguing their impact, especially at the NFL, but that tradition has changed within the last 5 years due to many allegations of star athletes getting paid and preferential treatment from outside sources. USC is no longer a shining example of professionalism
5. There are moments when watching Kobe Bryant that you are reminded of Michael Jordan (brief moments but a few none-the-less) but what if there was an athlete that reminded you of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson combined. Well there is and his name is Lebron James. He hasn't reached that plateau yet, starting next season ('09-'10) we'll all be witness to it, but he's on his way and is very scary to think about. Barring injury Lebron will be able to put on a nightly show of inside and outside dominance that will be unmatched for the for-seeable future. He can pass and lead a team like Magic and he can slash to the hoop and humble his opponent like Jordan. And he'll be able to do it from all 5 positions on the court. He's still a work in progress but soon enough the rest of the league will helpless to his wide array of skills and talent
6. There are so many examples of athletes gone bad who were once at the 'top of the mountain' in the NBA you would think David Stern would make examples out of them at the annual Rookie Symposium--hopefully he's doing it already. The Steve Francis's and Shawn Kemp's of the NBA world are spokesman for what you'll become when start believing the hype and stop working out-literally and figuratively
7. Danica Patrick did herself and women fighting to be respected in a male dominated industry (sports) a favor by finally winning her first race earlier this year. She can now continue to blaze the path of respectablility in Open Wheel-Racing and in racing overall. She will win again and her 'fire' and 'determination' will have to be dealt with as long as she keeps getting behind that wheel
8. The NFL is in a public relations funk right now and I'm sure they can't wait until Training Camp opens in late July. But commissioner Goodell is a good man and is learning on the job and he should be able to weather the storm up until the first kick-off of the season on Sept. 4th when everything we're talking about now will be forgotten and the best sport in the world will be revving to go
9. Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps is on pace to do something this Summer in China that no athlete has ever done in the history of sporting competition and most of the world has never heard of him. He's the best althlete in the world, by definition of the word, and he's being severly over-looked by the mainstream sporting medias. He's on pace to break Mark Spitz's 7 gold medals in one Olympic competition and break it by a long shot and we all should be standing up and ready to witness such a feat with Dog-ged anticipation. He realistically could win 8, 9 or 10 gold medals this summer. Lets hope the casual fan outside of the swimming genre tunes in to watch history being made
10. Stephon Marbury of the NBA's New York Knicks is scheduled to make 22 million dollars in salary next season; is there anybody less deserving of that money than this mal-content (of course its hard to justify anybody in professional sports or life for that matter getting that much for 1 calendar year). I couldn't believe my eyes when I read that, he's a horrible teammate and a coaches nightmare. He's hardly worth the direct deposit bank fee the Knicks will have to pay for sending his checks
11. The New England Patriots escaped this spygate situation somewhat unscathed but there reputation and their dynasty will be forever in question because of the cheating that was being done for who knows how long. If taping the opposing coaches signals wasn't suppose to give the Pats an advantage (from which I keep hearing the Pats front office, Pat fans and the NFL front office continually saying) then why were they doing it in the first place?
12. The Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys have spent a ton money this offseason in acquiring players thru trades and free agency; more than they should have considering most of those players were huge distractions on the team they left. Lets hope they get their monies worth because considering the amount of cash they spent, the only satisfying end of season result for both should be a birth in the Super Bowl
13. When it's all said and done and Shaquille O'neal's career is over and we've all had time to analyze his career, he should go down as the most Over-rated NBA star of all time! He and Mike Tyson should be mentioned in the same sentence as athletes who had glimpses of superiority but overrall career stats and impact is under-whelming to say the least. Here's one Shaq stat that u might not know...Shaq hasn't completed a full healthy season of play since 2000-'01
14. Two NBA veterans who came into the league around the same time with huge promise will leave with little less than a mur-mur. Chris Webber (who retired early this NBA season) and Grant Hill, who should be retiring this offseason if he's smart, are guyz who will get lukewarm NBA first ballot Hall of Fame consideration but ultimately might not ever get in till late in life. Despite Grant's spectacular first couple years in the league, he quite never lived up to the hype coming out of Duke, he was non-chalant and never aggressive enough on the court to be a true leader and legend of the game; and once his foot ailments took over he was never nothing but a complimentary role player for the Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns. Chris Webber on the other hand didn't have any major physical problems until late in his career and came out of Michigan with a ton of momentum; he even garnered the Rookie of the Year Trophy. But the duration of his career would ultimately label him as being 'mentally fragile and unproductive in big games'. He put up decent NBA career numbers but I always felt if he would of stayed one more year at the University of Michigan (instead of leaving after his sophomore season he would played thru his junior year) he could of matured more as a person and player but leaving school after that disastrous 'timeout mishap' in the NCAA championship game against North Carolina jinxed him forever on the professional level; he was never the same...'clutch' he was not
In one of the most unprecedented moves in professional basketball history the best player in the NBA, Kobe Bryant, has demanded and received a trade for the best rookie and arguably the best player in the WNBA, Candace Parker. It has yet to be formally announced but word from NBA and WNBA officials state that starting next year the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks will receive Lamar Odom and 4 consecutive 1st round draft picks (2009-'12) from the NBA Los Angeles Lakers and in return Candace Parker will immediately start next to Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum at the Small Forward position. The reasoning for this trade was explained with grace and grandeur by general manager Mitch 'cupcake' Kupchak: "after watching Lamar Odom 'soft-feminine' like play over the years we figured why don't we go ahead and trade for a real girl to play the position, not to mention Candace doesn't even have to change locker rooms"
Most NBA analyst agree Candace Parker will be an immediate upgrade at the position and she will come at a much cheaper price. Although Candace has yet to complete her first season in the WNBA she is already regarded as the best player in the WNBA and barring any injury would soon be considered the best to ever play the game, making Cheryl Miller's (considered by most the best to ever play at any level of womens basketball) accomplishments look slightly above average
Kobe Bryant was quoted recently as saying "I'm esctatic that Candace will be playing with us next year, hopefully we can beat the Celtics and bring a championship back to L.A. this year and then start our repeat with Parker next season, it'll be great to finally have a compliment player who has the heart and desire to be the #2 scorer and on some nights when I'm not clicking be the #1 scorer". I heard from one Laker insider, who chooses to stay anomynous, that Lamar Odom is happy to be going to the Sparks because he really really likes their uniforms. On the other hand Lisa Leslie was quoted as saying, upon hearing of the potential trade, "Who is Lamar Odom?"
I had a chance to interview some L.A. fans, before the trade was officially announced, and after the shock and awe had subsided they realized that it would be best for the team even though they had to give up Odom and 4 first round draft picks. Charlie from Orange County said "I didn't know a professional womens basketball league existed but after going to YouTube and watching highlights of Candace I'm totally down with the trade, Lamar plays scared, disappears for half the game and never wants to shoot the ball when he does get it, so why not get a girl to take his place...plus she's hot looking too"
So there you have it, the inside scoop on a trade that may not make the headlines until the NBA Finals dust has settled. And for all you Laker and NBA hardcore fanz that don't know much about womens hoop take it from me Candace Parker is the real deal. I've been following womens college and professional hoop for 10 years and despite the harsh criticism from most radio and tv journalist it's a great sport with great fundamental skills on display every night. David Stern should consider himself lucky that he's gotten a player like Candace who at the level she's playing now is better than half the men on the entire NBA roster....and she's only getting better!!!
