Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - More to Love

-Mike Tyson has REALLY let himself go, hasn't he?
-On the topic of retired boxers, Floyd Mayweather to come out of retirement for one last match against Ricky Hatton? Talk about trying to milk the recent De La Hoya - Pacquiao "hype".
-Someone start a petition to requesting for NBA TV's Gary Payton and Chris Webber to be taken off the air - NBA analysis at it's worst...half the segments are with the two idiots laughing their asses off about who knows what, while Ahmad continually having to calm them down like a school teacher.
-The Washington Capitals' Web Site producer suited up for a game as their back-up goalie recently, due to their AHL call-up having a delayed flight. Just a great story.
-C.C Sabathia vs. Oprah...check out the salary difference.
-It's win or go home for Leo Rautins and the Canadian National Team, as the coach has recieved a contract extension with a catch being that he must lead them to the 2010 World Championships or be axed. Wonder if he regrets cutting Samuel Dalembert now?
-Weatherproof Garment Co. wants to team up with nine other companies in a Superbowl ad. Put another way, that's each company paying $300,000 for three seconds of air-time.
-General Motors will not be the auto sponsor for the New York Yankees next year. Toyota and Audi will take over as sponsors, which should tell you a lot about how the Big 3 are doing financially...
-Stephon Marbury sat courtside with Spike Lee at the Staples Center when the Knicks visited the Lakers the other night. Only in the NBA would a player to at a game as a spectator after being suspended by their team...
-How about the Top 10 Most Nail-Biting moments of the year in sports. And a few images to go along with that list.
-For those who care about Canadian soccer, FIFA ranked Canada 90th, dropping 35 slots from last year's 55th rank. Spain finished the year on top of the rankings, while Germany finished 2nd and the Netherlands swapped spots with the World Champs, Italy, to claim 3rd. The U.S of A moved up two spots to claim 22nd overall...
-Got a sports-related question for Weezy? E-mail him here, and he might answer it on his blog.
-When Auburn hired Gene Chizik as their football coach, Charles Barkley took a shot at his alma mater, indicating that race was plainly the only factor in the school's hiring. Regardless of whether Chuck was out of line with his recent comments, the lack of black football coaches would agree with him.
-Vince Young: "my name was straight jacked"

Sunday, November 30, 2008 - Gift of Gab

-Sorry for the lack of content, it's that time of year again for college students, so expect a decrease in attendance from yours truly.
-Even after being stuck in an elevator for 50 minutes, Chris Bosh had another all-world performance, scoring 30 points, pulling down 10 rebounds and dishing out 7 assists, in the Raptors win over the Hawks.
-Lebron James' response to Sir Charles, "He's Stupid." Weak.
-Someone send the Pittsburgh (AP) a memo to follow their team a tad more closely, and particularly, their heralded saviour.
-Idiot of the week: none other than the Giants' Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg in a Manhattan nightclub, and his teammate hid the weapon afterwards...there goes the Giants' dream season.
-It's been while since I've made a Blue Jays comment, so here it is, a typical Riccardi move - it's AJ Burnett or bust this offseason, apparently, likely meaning it could be Jesse Litsch of Burnett as the #2, neither of which is exactly music to my, and I'm sure any fan's ears.
-Strange that free-agent Ben Sheets has received little mention in the busiest time of the year with regards to baseball and even sports in general, the off-season. How AJ Burnett is garnering so much attention is beyond me - I mean, he's older and just as injury prone, yet demanding more of the green paper.
-Seeing as the Brian Burke situation is semi-official, you can expect a lot of unnecessary anti-Euro gab coming from Don Cherry in due time...
-If this doesn't say something about the Warriors defence, or lack thereof, I don't know what does.
-Don Garber says that the next expansion franchise in the MLS will cost $40 million, which is 4 times the amount Toronto FC (now worth $44M) was, and that now the average value of a team has risen to $37 mill.
-The Raptors visit LA tonight to entertain Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, who are 12 point favs according to Vegas. Good way to pick up some spare change just in time for Christmas.

Moving onto videos unrelated to sports, an oldie but a classic, Aries Spears doing a medley of your favourite hip-hop artists:

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 - Iguo-dollars

-Eddy Curry aspired to be a gymnast at one point. When you're finished laughing, click this here link, to see the truth. From his Wikipedia page, "Prior to becoming considered one of the best high school basketball players in the nation as a senior at Thornwood High School in South Holland, Illinois, Curry aspired to be a gymnast and did not pick up basketball until the seventh grade when he reluctantly went out for the school team. According to his father, Eddy Curry Sr., 'For a long time, Eddy hated basketball. Being a gymnast was his backyard dream, I guess.'"
-Usain Bolt at the moment: 3 races, three world records shattered (one being a 16-year old record) and of course, 3 golds.
-USA defeated a Manu Ginobili-less Argentina squad 101-81, and will be advancing to the gold medal game to face Spain. The "road to redemption" is almost over.
-Brandon Webb gets his 19th, while Cliff Lee improves to a stunning 18-2. ESPN had a good poll, who would you want pitching for your team? Although the results after a little less than 7k votes wouldn't indicate that, as Webb had 70% of the votes.
-The Cincinnati Bengals' fans are giving Chris Henry a warm welcome back.
-Here's a really interesting article breaking down Joba Chamberlain's pitching mechanics. Worth a visit/read.
-Charles Barkley's $0.02 on the impending 'NBA exodus', "I've been on TNT for years and no one's ever asked me, 'Who won the championship in Greece last year?'"
-I recently read an headline on fannation.com titled. "Is Granger [Danny] worth Iguodala money?". Better question, is Andre Iguodala worth Iguodala money? In all seroiusness, no he's good - but not worth that much dough.
-Michael Phelps will be writing a book titled, "Built to Succeed". The book will cover the story behind his Olympic victories, philosophy on training and competition and his life challenges growing up.
-Pop-culture tidbit: Gwen Stefani has named her baby Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale.
-Video of the day: trampoline flying slam dunk and high fives all-around.

Saturday, May 17, 2008 - Trouble in the Big Apple.

-So why can't the NBA fire the Atlanta Hawks' scorekeepers when pretty much the same thing happened, but three times in the last two years.
-I must admit, I'm a closet LA Sparks fan. Candace Parker's debut game statline: 34 pts 12 reb 8 ast.
-Charles Barkley estimated that he has gambled away $10 million dollars over the years. To which he stated: "Do I have a gambling problem? Yeah, I do have a gambling problem, but I don't consider it a problem because I can afford to gamble." Good point, Chuck.
-If you think Floyd Mayweather has chops, check out the youngster Pretty Boy Bam-Bam.
-A little tension among NY Mets' players, as Billy Wagner has called out his teammates for playing hooky after games, specifically Carlos Beltran, Luis Castillo and my boy Carlos Delgado. Race is not the key here folks, laziness however, fits the bill to a tee.
-Portia de Rossi is set to wed Ellen DeGeneres (that's right, the dancing talk show host). To which the world responded, "Her?".
-If Kenny "the Jet" Smith leaves the TNT crew for the Knicks, I for one, will miss his charisma and on-air personality. The TNT crew are only rivalled by The Best Damn Sports Show Period guys, in terms of entertainment value.
-Is Evan Longoria of the D-Rays good or what? Big time props to Andrew Friedman, the GM of the Devil Rays for locking him up.
-David Stern recently made comments regarding the "fancy pyrotechnics" at the beginning of games. I share the same sentiments, the player introductions have become too circus-like and over-the-top for my liking. I'm only 18 years young, for your information.
-the MLB is on pace for 1,000 less HR's, Mitchell Report anyone?
-The LA Angels will have their hands full during interleague play - hosting the Braves and Mets at home, and then flying out to face another tough team, the Phillies.
-The Cleveland Indians starters racked up 44 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball. Good for baseball fans - bad for casual baseball fans.
-Cleveland Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson is out with a shoulder-injury. As the rest of the NBA fans around the world are thinking, is it really that significant to mention? The kid's a one-hit wonder/flavour of the week from last years playoffs. Did Soft Cell ever bust out another hit after Tainted Love? Not quite.
-Does anyone actually watch Off The Record with the obnoxious host Michael Landsberg? I will admit to being a huge Pardon The Interruption fan, making an attempt to follow the show everyday (or downloading the podcast) and my blogging style is clearly, heavily influenced by the show.
-Sign of the Apocolypse: If you're a 49 year old who goes on the internet and pretend to be a teenager, just to break a 13-year old girl's heart (for your own amusement), you're a total loser.
-Speaking of losers (kidding of course), the Orlando Magic players are saying they're the better team than the Detroit Pistons. How hard did you laugh after reading that? I take back my previous comment.
-"I'm sorry, you just fired a mother of four over a [$0.16] Timbit" -Nicole Lilliman, Tim Hortons' former employee.
-Good night Canada! (and wherever else my other readers are from)