5/7: Celtics over Cavs, Billy Knight, etc.

Gonna go against my bias and still lead with the game last night...

• Boston hangs on for dear life at home....This was one of the ugliest playoff games I can remember since the late 90's Heat/Knicks matchups....it was a trainwreck throughout....Lebron played what I think was probably his worst game (at least since his rookie year) shooting 2/18! and making a ridiculous 10 turnovers......Also, for the life of me I can't understand why he can't make a layup late in a game lately....gotta get that corrected....Despite Ray Allen's scoreless game and Paul Pierce being quite bad himself, Boston had enough behind KG's 28 and some clutch play around him....was impressed to see KG go to the rim with the game on the line......Had one issue with Doc Rivers last night....Rajon Rondo had 10 in the 1st quarter and he inexplicably buried him while he was looking unstoppable off the dribble...didn't get that....Should be an interesting series as I expect Lebron to go at least semi-nuts soon

Other things....

• Billy Knight RESIGNS! The much-maligned Atlanta Hawks GM has to decided to leave his job effective July 1 and....good riddance.....His personnel choices have been famously bad without even mentioning the Paul/D-Williams/M-Williams debacle (how bout Shelden Williams at 5?) but he actually did a reasonable job with the cap (sans the Speedy Claxton sighting) so I'll be at least slightly fair to him there.....that said, the list of guys with more ridiculously awful draft picks/FA signings is really short...like maybe one name short (Isiah).....And the reign is over...maybe we can break that 20-year NBA draft stigma now.....probably not...
• MLB: Gavin Floyd was straight ballin last night....no-no through 8.1 IP and a W....When is it too early to realize that Josh Hamilton is a legit star and not just a story of drug rehab? Barry Zito's back! Nice to see you starting games Barry....now win! lol...The Braves have suddenly won 4 in a row and are playing outstanding ball at home....Jair Jurrjens is the real deal as a rookie with his 4th win..
• Dominic Rhodes back to the Colts....normally I would never mention this...but they just drafted my boy Mike Hart...and I hope he makes the team....This isn't the best news
• These reporters gotta stop jerking around this D'Antoni story....first he was definitely out in Phoenix....then he was definitely in Chicago....now he's still weighing NY (who interviewed Avery Johnson today) and it's all a mess....what kind of situation is D'Antoni in? He's still gainfully employed by Phoenix but they just say...."Umm, Mike....we want you to interview elsewhere" huh? I don't get this whole thing....
• Last thing, if you haven't seen Rick Ankiel throw the ball from the CF wall to 3rd on a line to get the very fast Willy Taveras tagging up....check that out.....he's battling Francoeur, Vlad, Ichiro, and the like for "best arm" honors

More later....

Michael Boley and a rant....

Michael Boley, the Falcons leading tackler and probably the best player on the entire roster (with apologies to John Abraham and Roddy White) was charged with battery against his wife over the weekend....until the facts come out, you never wanna make snap judgments of what happened or what the punishment should be so I'll leave it here.....but that brings me to this discussion.....

Why on earth is it the NBA that has the supposed "image problem" when the NFL dwarfs the NBA in terms of shear volume of run-ins with the law, steroids, etc.? I don't understand why the NFL is indestructible in this area, and while I chalk it up to the fact that America loves football.....it should at least be talked about more, and on a similar, if not, higher level than the NBA whose problems have actually lowered lately....The most interesting study to me is the simulated correlation between the NBA and the "thug" image compared to the NFL and the lack of this same thought process....Personally, I think much of it has to do with the uniform difference, and the fact that NBA guys have their tattoos and hair styles displayed and they can rock their uniforms however they choose; whereas the NFL has all these guidelines and unless you have Rasta-hair like Al Harris, you can't stand out at all.....As one of the biggest NBA fans that I recognize around me, I can't stand the notion of the league, when put against the NFL, is so scrutinized for its image when the NFL trumps it 2-fold in the amount of indisgressions...ludicrous

5/6: CP3 and The Hornets, Clock Madness, etc.

Leading with the association (a shocker)....

• Chris Paul and the Hornets go up 2-0 on the defending champs.....and do it easily....led by yet another 30+ and 10+ assist game from Paul (and despite a bad game from David West), they cruised by double digits...CP3 is playing out of his mind (the picture above says it all) and the Spurs look disoriented; I'd never bury them just yet b/c they haven't played a homegame and after all, they're the Spurs, but I'm not picking them either....


• Detroit wins again at home against Orlando and goes up 2-0.....Obviously, you have seen the clock malfunction at the end of the 3rd quarter...I don't think it won the game for Detroit or anything, but it was certainly a big play, and should've been handled differently...run the whole thing again instead of making the refs do the "eye test" on what is 4.8 seconds...ludicrous....That said, I don't think Detroit sweeps but Orlando is in deep trouble....


• Mike D'Antoni reportedly to fill the Chicago job.....well, now that Phoenix job is up for grabs and that's an interesting fill for sure....D'Antoni will do well in Chicago, they have athletic bigs and some intelligent guards to run that system....that said, I'm interested to see how he'd use Sefalosha and whether he just leaves Ben Gordon in the Barbosa role or changes things up a bit....

Other stuff....

• MLB: Ervin Santana joins Joe Saunders at 6-0...and they pitch right after each other....alot of back-to-back wins for them so far eh? lol.....Max Scherzer will be nasty, but not quite yet....Ozzie Guillen is certifiably nuts if you didn't know already...but his latest tirade made a little sense to me....just a little....Jamie Moyer is STILL pitching well.....it's unbelievable to me that his stuff still gets it done, but thats just pure craftyness I'd assume...


• This whole Marvin Harrison thing gets crazier every time news comes out....waiting on his public statement...


• Rashard Mendenhall (Illinois RB and Pittsburgh 1st-round pick) robbed at gunpoint....this happens alot lately, but not as much as it could....people with guns can get what they want usually, good to see him just turn the stuff over and get out of there...he's got plenty of money, no need to fight it...


• Man, it's getting harder and harder to dislike Tim Tebow...seems like a genuinely great guy....and he can definitely play the game...just overhyped (on the field, not off)

5/5: Hawks Embarassment, Lakers, etc.

Short version again today as I'm still on bad internet, etc.

• My beloved Hawks put up the stinker of the playoffs thus far yesterday in losing by 34 (could've been 50) in Boston yesterday.....no chance from the tip....Josh Smith and Al Horford both played their worst game of the playoffs, and the others weren't much better....Now attention turns to Mike Woodson/Billy Knight and their collective fates...
• Kobe and the Lakers run by Utah....Kobe with a big-time 38 in an indicator of what we all expected...Utah has no one on the roster to throw at Kobe that can stand in his way...that coupled with the fact that Utah is awful on the road pretty much assures (to me at least) that LAL is in no danger in the series...

Non-NBA....

• Cedric Benson arrested on DWI, etc.....Draft Matt Forte earlier in your fantasy leagues....Benson can't play anyway but he's showing his true colors lately...
• Mavs expected to hire Rick Carlisle....I still don't hate the move, but also don't think he puts them over the top or anything...
• Roger Clemens issued an apology for "personal mistakes"....I don't even know what that means, why issue a statement that says nothing?

More later...

5/4: Real quick...

Just a couple things....

• Hornets take it to the Spurs 101-82...Well if they get 30 and 9 from D-West combined with 5 and 3 from Tim Duncan, this will be a sweep, lol.....They got the worst of Duncan and I doubt that happens again but a good start for New Orleans
• Detroit pounds Orlando....if the real Detroit shows up all series, they should make quick work...just too much manpower against Orlando...but ya know Orlando is gonna go bombs away at least once....
• Oscar De La Hoya reportedly smokes Steve Forbes....setting up a bout with Floyd Mayweather again....you should watch...
• Remember me saying that Chien Ming Wang at 6-0 was crazy? How bout Brandon Webb at 7-0 now? He already has the Cy Young stranglehold on and its May...if he gets offense, he'll win 20+ and since no one wins 20+ anymore....yea...

All I got...Go Hawks! "Shock the World" hahahaha

5/3: Couldn't leave this one alone....

Okay, I'm back for a minute or 2....gotta touch on the Hawks...

• Not OVERLY shocked by the Game 6 win but I was picking against them for various reasons...Honestly, they are winning to spite Mike Bibby's late game incompetence and only b/c Boston has somehow been even worse in late-game execution (including the last few sequences last night that were inexcusably bad)....I still love Josh Childress, he's a fantastic glue-guy.....And I'm just guessing...but I think maybe if Portland had to pick between Greg Oden and Al Horford at this very moment, I'm not sure it's clear-cut anymore...Al's been a man in this series...
• So, Game 7 is Sunday..aka in the middle of my father's wedding reception/dinner....kill me now....not that I'm not looking forward to the reception, but the timing is quite bad....anyone who wants to text updates, feel free to do so...My pick: Celtics by 12...just can't see this team winning a big road game, it just doesn't happen...that said, Go Hawks!

Quickly to other stuff...

• Lebron closes out the Wiz with a triple-double...the game 5 win by Washington caught me off-guard but this one didn't...Lebron was just too much and if they get 20+ from Wally, look out....They gotta be loving that Boston is going to 7 with Atlanta too...
• Utah finally puts Houston away despite McGrady's best shot...nothing he can do...and I can't hate on him for this one at all, the talent wasn't equal and he played out of his mind in a few of those games (including last night with reckless abandon)...so props to him...and Utah moves on...
• I don't care about Horse Racing and don't know one person who would care if they weren't betting on it...get it off my tv and radio....and espn frontpage...and anything else please
• This Marvin Harrison shooting story got a huge "wow" from me when I heard about it...just like the last guy you'd expect to be involved in anything like this...just goes to show that either we don't know the players like we think (obviously true) or the fact that guys can just be put in bad spots regardless of how great they are (debatable)....or both?
• MLB: Tim Hudson was incredible last night with a 2-hit shutout...and he better be if Smoltz is going to the closer role again....I don't like it, but if they don't think he can go on 4 days rest, I like it better than a 6-man rotation....Chien-Ming Wang is 6-0...that's pretty ludicrous this early...still doesn't impress me but he's overly solid....Anybody see Shaun Marcum yacking between innings and throwing a gem anyway? Love that kind of stuff....
• Ryan Perrilloux off the team at LSU...one thing too many for this clown....LSU's in trouble without him though....
• The Mavs could do worse than Rick Carlisle....and the Knicks could do worse than Avery Johnson....no problem with either one
• Reportedly Kobe wins the MVP...just heard as I am writing this...no shock from me at all as he is the most talked about guy in the league in the media (outside of maybe Lebron) and it's a bunch of media people voting....deserving guy though

That's it for now....will try to get content up when time allows

5/1: Break in the action...

Okay, so here's the deal....My dad is getting married this weekend and I'm staying at a house with little to no internet....this stuff combined will likely produce a couple days off...for anyone that cares