Saturday, December 13, 2008 - Heart of Glass

-Yao Ming leads the all-star voting in the West so far, by a commanding number which is no surprise, while Yi Jianlian is ahead of Chris Bosh for East forwards. Oh, the benefits of representing one billion people back home.
-The Yankees have added another arm, albeit a glass arm, inking AJ Burnett to a five-year deal worth $82.5 million. For those keeping score at home, that's a total of $243.5 invested in the two newly acquired arms. The Yanks front office must've missed the memo about the global recession.
-The LA Angels are making a strong push for Mark Texeira. The deal proposed is a lengthy 8 year contract for $20 million per year, and reports say that the Halos have matched the offer, even against their previous notion of a shorter length of contract.
-Love Terrell Owens, but this love triangle between Romo and Witten is just nonsense and clearly, has to stop for the sake of team chemistry. I'm calling a Giants beat down in tomorrow's game...
-Always nice to see Vince Carter struggle against the Raptors.
-Fransisco Rodriguez is telling New York media that next season his fastball will have a bit more velocity to it (something I'm sure everyone will look for), and he's also calling it that the Mets will win the NL East. He also added that "There might be a little more adrenaline because it's the Mets, in New York," Y'think?
-Plaxico Burress attended a charity event for homeless children, clearly a PR stunt to help his hurtin' - pun intended - image.
-In news that nobody cares about, the Kansas City Royals have signed Kyle Farnsworth to their bullpen for $9.25 mill over 2 years.
-Chris Paul, Mo-Pete and the New Orleans Hornets make a visit to the ACC tomorow, coverage is on CBC with an early lunch time tip-off at 12:30 p.m. Don't forget to say a short prayer for Jose's ankles sometime before tip-off, 'kay?
-Link of the day: your source for all NBA games archived in good quality is right here. Make sure show that your appreciation by clicking the ads of that site, as the site owner has so kindly requested.

Wesnesday, November 5th, 2008 - Congratulations, Mr. Obama.

-Thus begins Barack Obama's legacy as the first African-American president of the U.S of A. How he'll do in the Oval Office remains to be seen, however the bar is set pretty low.
-Will Barack Obama be good for the NHL?
-Allen Iverson to the Pistons for Chauncey Billups and Dice. The first blockbuster trade of the season, although the timing is strange - just a couple of games into.
-Tony Romo is back practicing with the Cowboys and is optimistic about returning for their next game.
-Warning: completely disturbing topic. This is where I would 100% endorse Capital Punishment. Creeps like this don't deserve to live.
-Chris Bosh and Chris Paul were named NBA Player of the Week for their respective conferences. Both well deserved, putting up monster numbers in the first week, and leading their teams to wins.
-Mats Sundin will make his NHL comeback in one month...
-After losing to the Mavericks, the San Antonio Spurs are 0-3 for the first time since 1973.
-Winners of the NL Golden Gloves were announced today: seen here. 42 year old Greg Maddux notched his 18th. Surprisingly, not one Houston Astros player received one.
-Juicy rumour: the Angels planning on signing both Mark Texeira AND C.C Sabathia? Now that would be something, especially teamed up with Vlad and co.

Thoughts on the first-round of the NBA playoffs...

From another blog of mine,

East:

Celtics vs. Hawks
-7 games? Don't make me laugh. Wait, nevermind.
-real physical series - both sides. Nice to see Zaza Pachulia not back down from Kevin Garnett. It's the NBA playoffs, show some emotion.
-Josh Childress in a Raptors uniform next season. Make it happen B.C. The guy's been compared to Tayshaun Prince in terms of team value, which is a fair comparison. Just a solid, underrated player who could fill a lot of the Raptors' gaping holes.
-Hawks get crushed in game 7. Way to show some passion and desire. Marvin Williams pulls a "Horford" on Rajon Rondo - that's not passion - that's pure bush league.

Cavaliers vs. Wizards
-the much anticipated match-up between Soulja Boy and Jay-Z.
-would I call this a rivalry? No, the Wizards need to actually win a series for it to be a rivalry.
-Lebron gets roughed up by the Wizards and that's how it should be. You don't allow players to waltz in the paint coming out unscathed in the playoffs. Foul them hard. Dare the wimps (such as Vince Carter) to enter the paint again.
-are the Wizards a better team without Arenas?
-the Deshawn Stevenson, "I can't feel my face" thing got old, real fast.

Magic vs Raptors
-Dwight Howard averaged 20 and 20 in the series. The guy's a beast, man-child, Superman, whatever.
-finally, Sam Mitchell decides to play Jason Kapono. A little too late Smitch.
-some of the bi-polar Raptor fans on the team forums are requesting the trade of Chris Bosh. Ridiculous.
-This could be the end of either T.J Ford or Jose Calderon. If you're the G.M, who would you choose?
-if indeed Sam Mitchell gets the axe, word is Mike D'Antoni is on the market.

Pistons vs. 76ers
-Sixers steal game one, yet the Pistons didn't seem fazed at all.
-Tayshaun Prince did an excellent job defending Andre Iguadala. He's tall, about 6'9, and really lanky. A match-up nightmare for most SG/SF's in the league, on both ends of the floor.
-Mo Cheeks did an amazing job this year coaching the young Sixers. Big time ups.

West:

Lakers vs. Nuggets
-Nuggets get swept which was a little surprising. I had them getting at least one game at home. Lakers did what they were expected to do, and there's not much more to say.
-Allen Iverson wants the team to focus on defense next year. I laugh at the thought of Carmelo, AI and J.R Smith playing gritty defense for 48 minutes. Camby, K-Mart and Najera are the only true defensive minded players on the team, so I wish them luck.

Jazz vs Rockets
-T-Mac still remains a second-round virgin.
-But I've gotta give the Rockets some credit, they didn't go down without a fight. Skip, Scola, Battier and the crew, scratched and clawed all the way through the series, however, in the end - Jerry Sloan's boys executed like they always do - and put an end to the Rockets' semi-magical season.*
-It will be interesting to see (depending on Yao's health, as always) how the Rockets will play next season.

*Aside from the Yao season ending injury, it was an amazing season for the Rockets' organization.

Spurs vs. Suns
-Phoenix TO's late in the final game were painfully costly.
-After the thrilling game one of the series, I thought for sure this game would go at least 7.
-So who's to blame, Shaq? Nash? Steve Kerr? Pat Burke? Why must there always be just one guy to blame, is this not a team sport?
-The window of opportunity for the "Nash era" of Suns is closing quickly, and I think that next season is their last legit chance at contending.

Hornets vs. Mavericks
-Huge Jason Kidd fan, but I'll be the first to admit that he's lost a step. No way he can play heavy minutes dueling MVP candidate Chris Paul in the playoffs.
-Dirk the choke? If Dirk doesn't get to at least the conference finals next year, I might start believing the Dirk haters' in that "he's not a winner".
-Mark Cuban's wasn't too thrilled with the second consecutive first round playoff loss, and Avery Johnson became the scapegoat. Saw that coming from a mile away.

And, finally:
Second round series to watch: Spurs vs. Hornets. Should be a fun series to watch, especially the Chris Paul - Tony "Longoria" Parker match-up.