Kevin Durant, NFL thugs

I met my fan crush Kevin Durant Friday March 30th, yay!! I've made my affection for him very clear so let's just say when my boss asked me to get him to autograph two basketballs for us to auction off, I was all over it! He is not a very dominating presence if you know what I mean. It could have been because it was about 8:15 in the morning and he was tired. Either way, he was a very polite young man and he didn't turn down any autograph requests. I hope he holds on to that. I don't know if he'll go pro, but in my opinion, he should probably stay another year in college. He sounds like he really likes school and he may not be ready to grow up as fast as the NBA is going to require him to. He needs to gain a lot of weight sometime in the near future. He is super skinny! I also saw Oscar Robertson and Kenny Anderson who is still a little cutie by the way! Word on the street is that the Big O is not very friendly. I guess growing up in the time he grew up can kind of harden you, or he's just an asshole. Who knows? I had a good time at the breakfast. It was the Oscar Robertson Player of the Year award breakfast by the way.
Another NFL player was arrested and charged with assault, yet the NBA is the league full of thugs.?. I don't know about that.
I can't wait to watch the Final Four games later, hopefully they'll live up to the hype. For some reason I think one of them will be a blowout, but I'm probably going to be wrong about that.
Oh yeah, Rick Barnes Kevin Durant's coach was there. In his speech he said that Kevin's teammates knew how and when to get him the ball. Um, I'm not real sure about that. Let's just say I watched a couple of games where his teammates completely ignored him for long stretches and in crucial moments. But, if Rick Barnes says so.....

My Fantasy Baseball Team

I think I'm going to have a fantasy baseball team this year. They seem like fun and everyone else has one so why not me? Here's what I hope my roster looks like:
First Base-Derek Lee
Second Base-Robinson Cano
Shortstop-Derek Jeter
Third Base-A-Rod/Richie Sexson
Right Field-Jacque Jones/Ken Griffey Jr.
Center Field-Torii Hunter/Grady Sizemore
Left Field-Pat Burrell
Catcher-Joe Mauer
DH-Gary Sheffield
Pitcher-Johan Santana

I should probably mention that my fantasy team has absolutely nothing to do with baseball.

Hawks, Timmy, Dallas, Lebron's house

My Hawks lost to the Bobcats. I can't even say we're losing games on purpose because we just can't beat the Bobcats! Wow.
Tim Duncan is the best forward in the NBA. I don't think we appreciate him near as much as we should.
Dallas got their 60th win tonight. If they don't win the title this year, then I just don't know what to say. Basically every other team that has ever won 60 has won the whole damn thing. I could see them being the one that doesn't. I don't know why, but there's something about them I don't trust. Although I'd feel a lot more fulfilled if someone else won because I don't like forgone conclusions and they have been the best all year.
The NBA season is too long. April 17th can't get here soon enough.
The Cubs will apparently send Mark Prior to Triple A to start the season. Does it really matter if he's in the Minor's or Major's before he has to have season ending elbow surgery around June?
Ugeth Urbina was sentenced to 14 years in prison for attempted murder. He apparently tried to set "The Help" on fire because they were swimming in his pool. Damn, is it that serious?
Grady Jackson is suing the Falcon's for releasing his medical information. They were wrong for doing it, but I suspect nothing will come of it. He's just trying to up his pay, but damn suing your employer. Good luck with that.
Finally, Lebron is building a 35,000 square foot house with a casino among other things in it. I have nothing good to say about this.

Pat Tillman, Takeo, MNF, laziness

I can't stand the sound of Dick Vitale's voice! Just thought that was worth mentioning.
I know he was an NFL player, I know he was an NFL player, I know he was an NFL player, but so what??? Why has finding out the truth about Pat Tillman's death been such a priority in this country? Are they spending this much time on all of the soldiers that die fighting in this war? Uh, no! I understand he left millions of dollars to go serve so apparently this makes him more of a hero than the 18 year old small town kid who enlisted, but this is ridiculous! I know someone who died over there and I know someone who killed over there. They were both serving this country, so in my eyes they are equal in the hero department. Just because Pat played in the NFL beforehand, that doesn't make his death any more tragic than anyone else's. Moving on.
The Hawks lost to the Heat. Yay! Bring on those ping pong balls!
Takeo Spikes got traded to the Eagles. This is good for him and hopefully it will be good for my Eagles! He's been in the league forever and has yet to smell the playoffs. Hopefully that will change this year.
The NBA season is too long.
Marshall Faulk officially retired, but if we're being honest he retired last year. We'll miss him. He works for the NFL network and I'm not exactly sure if I like him in that capacity, but I wish him luck anyway. He smiles like the Joker.
Joe Theisman won't be back on Monday Night Football this year. Now, if they could just get rid of Tony and Mike everything would be great! Apparently Jaws is going to replace him. He can't possibly be any worse so I guess this is an upgrade.
Finally, I saw this dude who is a double amputee on television today talking about running marathon's and it made me feel bad, as well it should have. There's no excuse for my laziness and he said as much. He just wants people to be more active and dammit, I'm going to try!

Bracket busted, Dallas, D Wade

I should have written about this yesterday, but since I didn't oh well. Damn you Kansas and Memphis! I know you both were a long shot, but did you have to get eliminated in the same day? I had ya'll meeting each other in the Championship game! I guess I can't win the tournament challenge anymore. Today's games were great! Fla beat Oregon to get to the Final Four and Georgetown came back and beat the hell out of North Carolina in overtime. Those sons of bitches only managed to score 3 points in the overtime. Damn! The Hoyas were just crunk as hell when they got to that point I guess. Ohio State and UCLA are waiting. I'm not even going to bother prognosticating about who's going to win. It should be apparent that I suck at picking winners!
Kobe only had 43 points tonight. What a scrub!
I still don't trust Dallas to win the Championship because they just don't know how to close out games! They had my Hawks down by 20 in the first quarter and by the 4th we had come back and taken the lead albeit briefly, but still. You can't let the Hawks who don't have a go to guy come back on you like that. That's why they lost the ship last year, because they just couldn't finish! When they run into another D Wade type player that can take a game over all by himself, they could have problems!
The season needs to end now! Damn, 82 games is just over kill!
Is it just me or does it seem like since the D Wade injury they play his commercials non-stop now? It's like they don't want us to forget about him! We all in.

Kobe, Sweet 16, Tubby, Matt Schaub

Kobe is a bad, bad man! He has scored a total of 175 points in 3 games. 65, 50 and 60 and his team needed every last one of them! He's a beast and he's clearly the best player in the NBA, it isn't even close. I'm not even going to spend a lot of time talking about this. I'm done already. I think I'll just ramble now.
The first day of the Sweet 16 games was just that; sweet! Ohio beat Tennessee by 1 point, Memphis beat Texas A&M by 1 point, Kansas beat Southern Illinois by 3 points and UCLA beat Pitt by 9 I guess you could call this game a blowout. You just cannot get games with this kind of intensity in the NBA playoffs because if you lose one, hey you have at least 3 more chances! Bull sh*t! The desire to win that all of these teams showed was unbelievable. They were going back and forth down the stretch, but unfortunately someone had to lose. I hope day 2 is this good!
Oh yeah, college kids suck at free throws! No one shoots over 68% it seems.
There's no way Greg Oden is only 19! I'll never believe it!
Tubby Smith left Kentucky, finally! He should have been gone, not because he wasn't a good head coach but because those Kentucky fans were delusional. Hey, you're not going to be a powerhouse every year. At least he got you into the dance consistently. They might miss him in the near future. You know some of these colleges think their coaching jobs are waaay better than they really are. For example" Kentucky basketball and Alabama football. Trust me people, it ain't that serious!
Tony Larussa got pinched for drunk driving. Dude actually fell asleep at a stop light with the car still in drive and his foot on the brake! Luckily no one was hurt, but damn Tony you're a millionaire!! Get someone to drive you home for crying out loud!
The Falcons traded Matt Schaub to the Texans for the 8th pick instead of the 10th pick in this year's draft and a second round pick this year and a second round pick next year. I wonder if Rich Mckay had on gloves and a ski mask cause this was a steal!!! And as far as Matt, he's my hero! Maybe players have been going about this getting money thing all wrong. Just do what Matt did, be a backup behind a mediocre quarterback that everyone overvalues, when you get your chance to play, throw for 300+ yards but don't actually win the game; but most importantly, have your friends and cousins call the local sports talk stations and bitch and whine about how your more accurate and you should be starting over the mediocre quarterback you're backing up! This will ultimately lead to everyone that doesn't live in your city calling for you to start as well. This will send your value through the roof! Teams will offer first round picks and proven veterans to get the service of you and your unproven career. Now, the wild card is you have to have a team as inept as the Texans to pay you $20 million over 3 years. You would think that would be the hardest thing to come by, but with the GM's running some of these teams, I'm not so sure this isn't one of the easier parts of the equation! Congrats Matt, you're my hero!

Hawks (of course) Phx/Dal, PJax, NCAA tourney

Sigh, the Hawks got their asses whipped in Boston! They got way too much press for their four game winning streak I suppose. I guess we have to start over!
Dallas and Phoenix played tonight and man was it a game! I honestly thought ESPN hyped it to the point that it would be a blowout one way or the other, but it wasn't. They went into double overtime with Phoenix ultimately winning. It was very entertaining. I don't think it could have gone on much longer, because I'm sure Nash and Dirk were tired from dragging Bill Walton around from their sacks!
P Jax says the league retroactively assessing Kobe with a flagrant foul was a "witch hunt". I agree with him that they are now paying way too much attention to Kobe and his elbows. Phil says there are a few calls in every game that they could go back and change that could swing the game one way or the other, but are they going to do that? Nope, and I don't think they should be retroactively assessing anything else.
The NCAA tournament starts in a few hours and I'm excited. If I had a day job, I'd probably call in! The first 2 days of the tournament are just a smorgasbord of basketball and it doesn't get any better than that!

Hawks, ESPN analysts, T-Mac for MVP

I pretty much dislike all of ESPN's NBA analysts! They sound like a broken record! Its clear Greg Anthony doesn't like any of them and they don't like him. I'm waiting for one of them to snap and kill the others and I'm hoping it happens soon!
My Hawks just keep on winning, 4 in a row. I was a little indifferent about them winning, but hey I'm a fan and I say win as many as possible. Josh was fantastic! He had 26 points, 17 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 blocks or something like that. Its going to take a nightly effort like that for the Hawks to stay in this playoff hunt. Wow! We're technically still in it!
Why is no one mentioning T-Mac for MVP? All the talk is about Dirk and Nash. Hey they have been very good, but Steve has 2 other All-Stars and probably the 6th man of the year on his team. And Dirk has one other All Star and probably the 6th man of the year on his team too. T-Mac has kept the Rockets at the top of the West without Yao Ming who had a broken leg for a lot of the season. The Rockets actually played better without him and they have no one to thank but T-Mac for that. He's kept that team afloat with a 50 year old center, (who happens to be playing very well, but he's still 50), a playground point guard, and a bunch of Tito Jacksons as Charles would say. Yes T-Mac is known to take a bad shot or 15, but those shots go in a lot of times which makes him somewhat unguardable. Under normal circumstances if you get a guy to take a bad shot, you've done your job defensively. But in the case of T-Mac and his cousin Vince for that fact, they take bad shots all the time, but they make them!!! I really can't explain it and no one else can either, so they've stopped trying. Anyway, I'd pick T-Mac for MVP just because I think he has been invaluable to his team. As I've said before, since there are no guidelines for what you are to consider when voting the MVP is always debatable. But, rewarding Dirk just because he is the best player on the best team is a cop out! Troy Smith won the Heisman, not because he was the most outstanding player, but beause he was the so called best player on the best team. That's not how its supposed to work. The only thing I remember about Troy Smith's Heisman winning season is the fact that when those Florida defenders got after his ass, he looked like a high school quarterback in the NFL. It was horrible! Let's not make that mistake in the NBA this year. However, Dallas is looking like the favorite right now. Then again, they had the best team last year, but Miami had the best player in the Finals so it kinda negated what Dallas had going on.

Hawks (of course) Isiah, and Ron Artest

So Syracuse is upset about being left out of the tournament, get the hell over it! Everyone can't make it and that's the beauty of it. I know in a single game elimination format anyone can win, but Syracuse isn't that anyone. I am pretty confident about that! Guess we'll never know.....
Isiah got that extension and you have people asking "why so soon"? Hey, the owner said he wanted improvement and he got it. I think most of these media personalities just can't stand the fact that they were wrong about Isiah. I'm happy for him because as I've said before I'm rooting for him, except when he plays the Hawks!
Speaking of the Hawks, they put their 3 game errant winning streak up against Philly's 6 game (I believe) winning streak tomorrow at Philips Arena. Somethings gotta give. I'm still not sure how I feel about the Hawks winning and taking away ping pong balls from us so I don't know who I want to win this game. I guess I should still be pulling for the Hawks because they have the same record as Philly and according to some, Philly is still in the playoff hunt. So I guess Atlanta is still in the playoff hunt too. They've already beat us twice this year so I guess we need to try to get this one.
Everyone is still in disbelief that the Kings let Ron Artest come back and play after he'd been arrested. Yeah I can see where all the outrage is coming from because teams never do this. Sigh, once again I have to remind you all that if you have talent someone will let you play! Ron has a whole gang of talent so there will be a job for him in the NBA as long as he's not locked up and he's capable of playing. These are the breaks people, and I don't understand why I'm one of the only people who knows better than to get all worked up when an athlete gets preferential treatment from the legal system and beyond. It's not right, but I've excepted it and everyone else should too. Let's find something else to be outraged about from now on! Athletes getting arrested and still being able to play are ineligible.

Hawks, Knicks, Heat and NCAA tourney

The Hawks just keep winning. I really don't know how to feel about this. I watched Kevin Durant play against Kansas today and I want him on our team badly! Why can't the Hawks act like every other NBA team when their Superstar goes down and just lose, lose, lose?? Damn these victories, all they're doing is taking away ping pong balls!
The Knicks now own the 8th spot in the playoffs. I must admit I'm pulling for Isiah because I used to love him when I was a little girl! The Heat are playing well without D Wade and they could be a top seed in the East when all is said and done. I guess all that talk about their demise was a little premature. Just so you know, I looked at the East and Wade or no Wade I still thought they'd make the playoffs. I guess it was like so many other things, trendy for the so called experts to write them off.
The NCAA brackets are set and my Final Four teams are: Kansas, Florida, Memphis, and Texas. I'm just not sold on Ohio state for some reason. I really can't tell you why. I know that Texas pick is a reach, but I have a fan crush on Durant so I want to see him in the Final Four! I picked Kansas to win it all. I didn't base it on their RPI (I don't know what the hell that is) or strength of schedule or any of that other shit. I just like the way they play and I think they have enough to win it all.
There are only 6 mid majors in the tournament, I'm sure Billy Packer is somewhere throwing a little party because his feelings on mid majors are no secret. Never mind the fact that the tournament is way more interesting when a team with supposed inferior talent spanks a power house! Other than the fact that everyone's brackets were shot to hell last year, we all loved the run George Mason went on. Let's hope some other team does something similar.

WTF is up with Supernanny, the Hawks and ESPN

So, apparently D Wade is going to appear on Supernanny sometime in the near future. I'm glad I just found the formula for making a bad ass child behave. Invite the reigning NBA Finals MVP over to play one on one with the little bastard. Nothing teaches an unruly child to behave like rewarding him with meeting his idol. WTF!

Why is ESPN trying so hard to get Kobe suspended? Now they are pointing out every elbow swipe he's ever done. They needn't try to act like Kobe is the only player in the league to use his elbow to get people off him! If Kobe gets suspended for that, then it will be clear the league has something against him.

The Hawks have won their second straight game without Joe in the lineup. The nerve! Now the rest of you guys want to step up and play well when we are out of the playoff picture!? It's probably never a good idea to root for your team to lose, but at this point we need ping pong balls more than we need 30 wins!

The Conference tournaments have been very entertaining! There have been buzzer beaters and overtimes and upsets galore! If this is any indication of what we can expect when the NCAA tourney starts, I won't be finding a day job anytime soon!

Don't hate the Player

Kobe got suspended again for throwing an elbow and hitting a player. You could argue whether or not it was intentional, I personally don't think it was. Let me explain. Kobe was suspended more than a month ago for basically the same thing. Now Kobe would have to be a complete jackass to think he could get away with this knowing he'd been suspended before. I don't happen to believe Kobe is this dumb. I think he was just trying to "create contact" like many players in the league. The game has become so offensive that if you are wearing the right name on the back of your jersey no one can touch you. Ask D Wade, he got a ring out of it. The league has no one to blame but itself for the outrageous things players do trying to get to the free throw line. They call the game differently for superstars, so superstars go above and beyond to make it look like they are getting mauled every time someone touches them. Players charge down the lane uncontrollably between several defenders knowing the refs will at least assume someone touched them just because there was a crowd. Hey, that many defensive players in the paint, someone had to touch him! Right? Wrong? Superstars get those benefit of the doubt sometimes phantom calls because of their superstar status. The league created this monster so it seems a little hypocritical of them to overreact and suspend someone who was just trying to "create contact". Players get praised for their ability to "create contact" and get to the line, but Kobe has been suspended twice for it. Yes he was extremely rough in his attempts, but that doesn't mean he was trying to do anything more than he normally does when he's shooting and someone is draped all over him. If Stern and Stu really want to prevent this type of thing from happening they should start giving offensive fouls to players who "create contact". Right now the league is what it is. So like they say, "Don't hate the player, hate the game".

NFL Free Agents Getting Paid!!!

Damn it's a good spring to be an NFL free agent! I can see why Lance Briggs is so pissed that the Bears franchised him. These players are signing for obscene amounts and a lot of it is guaranteed, which is a major step up for the NFL! Several of the players have signed contracts with $20 million bucks guaranteed! Damn, I hope they continue to play at the level they've been playing at! I just don't know if they'll be motivated to give their all anymore. Some of them might get "Fat Cat Syndrome" or whatever the hell they call it! I mean, who could blame them? I'd sit on the end of a bench and be criticized by the media knowing that this time if they cut me, I still get $20 million bucks! That is laugh out loud funny! I'm sure to the pros in other sports this is no big deal considering all of their money is guaranteed, but still. Joey Porter and Patrick Kerney just to name a couple have got to be on cloud nine! Pat is coming off an injury and he is getting that kind of cheese! Damn! As far as the franchise tag, the Players Union needs to get a sack and get rid of this thing. None of them seem to like it so I don't know why the hell they signed off on it. Anyway, congrats to those men who should be set up for life now! The NFL has been making billions off these players for years and I can't begrudge anyone who wants to start chasing the money instead of the ring!

Hawks are officially in the hunt

The Hawks are killing me right now! There is just no rhyme or reason to this team. I would pay someone, anyone good money if they can explain to me what kind of offense they are running. I watch the games and I just don't get it. First of all, we need to speed up the game. I know we don't have a Jason Kidd or a Steve Nash or a Chris Paul (could have had him) or Derron Williams (could have had him) but we don't have the post player to run the half court offense Woodson keeps trying to shove down our throats either! The Hawks are a jump shooting team, and when they need a bucket in the worst way they have no idea how to get it! The Hawks have to be one of the easiest teams to defend. I'm no coach, but if I were going against the Hawks, here's my game plan: Get the ball out of Joe's hands and get Josh Smith in foul trouble. Its just that simple. The rest of the players are too damn inconsistent to spend any amount of time worrying about them. I was going to try to make this be somewhat coherent, but f*ck it, it's called the vent and that's what I need to do right now. Why the hell won't the Atlanta Spirit fire Billy Knight if for no other reason than the fact that he won't fire Mike Woodson? Its hard for me to believe either one of them still have a job with authority at this point. Let's look at Billy, he keeps drafting the wrong players!!!!!!! Instead of drafting the point guard this team has so desperately needed the past 2 years, he drafted forwards! Then he went and paid Speedy Claxton an obscene amount of money to sit on the bench and wear a suit. Meanwhile Chris Paul was Rookie of the Year and he has the New Orleans Hornets in the playoff hunt and what do the Hawks have? Marvin Williams, who it seems every time he has a big game the Hawks are getting there asses whipped! He's only effective when the game is over! And don't even get me started on Mike Woodson. I am the president of the "Its not all the coach's fault" fan club, but he has to go! The team is getting nowhere with him! His offense sucks, he can't get them to guard anyone, hell they don't even know how to commit fouls good enough to keep someone from getting an And 1! He looks disinterested most of the time and the team looks too damn passive too! They need a personality in the worst way! They need a thug and I don't mean the Pacman Jones type. I mean the on court thug, the guy that will foul the hell out of the opposing teams best player if he drives down the lane one too many times. Shelden Williams was supposed to fill that void. I know he's a rookie, but Puhlease! He doesn't scare anyone. Plus, he's the same height as everyone else on the damn team! Only Billy Knight could convince himself that Williams was going to be an enforcer in the NBA at 6ft 7 inches. This era has to be over soon. I also blame the current group of owners. They don't give a damn about the Hawks. They seem to be doing whatever is necessary to make the Thrashers competitive but they are sitting back doing nothing to improve the Hawks! I don't want to hear about this ongoing battle with Steve Belkin preventing them from making any big deals. They made deals to make the Thrashers better so that's bullshit! They are just as much to blame for the Hawks situation as anyone. They've allowed Billy to set this team back at least another 3-4 years if were lucky. Hell, it could be longer! This season had a lot of potential and I know they've had a lot of injuries, but there are moves that could have been made to make this team better. We are officially in the hunt for Kevin Durrant or Greg Oden, but if I know Billy like I do, we'll be in the hunt for Greg Paulus or some 6"7 European player. You can't even hope the team gets the #1 or #2 pick because there is the reality that Billy will draft the wrong player. This has to be the only team in the league where the draft doesn't even matter to the fans because the team just can't get it right! They are making me sick and I don't want to be their fan right now!