During my last round of golf for the year, I got to thinking about the changing seasons in weather and also in sports. In the middle of two double bogeys, I had a lot of time to think about something other than how poorly I was playing or else I would have went crazy. With every change of season comes a different variety of sports. As we say “goodbye” to baseball, golf and soccer (yeah, I know, most of us never said “hello” to soccer and thus are not in need of telling it “goodbye”), we have welcomed football and basketball. I would put hockey in there, but just like soccer, it’s just one of those sports that still can’t get better ratings during it’s playoffs than reruns of “Full House.”

The 2008 World Series was wet and wild.

The most recent World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays left a lot of fans feeling short changed. Mother Nature changed things quite a bit, as Philadelphia was hit with hard rain and snow storms. Game 5, which proved to be the series clincher, was suspended in the 6th inning for two days. You have to wonder how the series would have been different if the weather would have cooperated more. For a sport that starts it’s Spring training in February, it seems rather odd that is stretches it’s season into October. The weather conditions through the regular season stay fairly consistent, but their off-season is vastly different. There should be more controversy in the timetable the league has than the size of the strike zone every game.

While football has been in our midst since September, now is when we get into the nitty-gritty of both the NFL and college football. For the NFL, we start looking at the Playoffs and who is emerging as the teams to beat. For college football, the BCS standings continue to get shook up and Conference Championships start inching closer and closer. With every week that passes we weep that we are one more week closer to the end of football, it is truly America’s sport. The NBA, which also has a long season, can do as they please because they play indoors. NBA Commissioner David Stern did experiment with playing an outdoor game during the preseason at a tennis venue, but it was a little too chilly for some players. A few traded their Powerade for a cup of hot cocoa.

College basketball is also right around the corner, which really doesn’t pick up until after Christmas. With exception to the Inter-conference tournaments to start the season, you won’t see many competitive games until the beginning of January. Only a little over 100 schools compete in NCAA college football, well over 300 compete in NCAA basketball. There are enough cupcake college teams for every larger school to have their share of and rack up an easy 10 wins to start their season. You could conceivably not pay attention to college basketball until the Conference Tournaments in March and know enough to fill out a decent Final Four bracket. In the end though, it seems the secretary or office idiot who knows nothing about college basketball will always win.

The Western Conference has been dominant over the Eastern Conference during the regular season, but have not faired well in the Finals. Perhaps it is because the road is a lot tougher for teams in the West and they are so beat up by the time they make it through the first three rounds of the playoffs. Some people will say it’s a trend that will sway back in favor of the Eastern Conference with time. Trend or not, the NBA needs to look into amending the playoffs to the best 16 teams in the NBA, the West would probably fill 10-12 of those spots. With that in mind, here are 15 questions to ask the teams in the Western Conference before the season starts:

Will Bynum help the Lakers as much as many say he will?

(1) Dallas Mavericks – How will Josh Howard handle the ‘boo birds?” Home video of Mavericks forward Josh Howard disrespecting the US National Anthem spread on the internet as fast as the latest Tina Fey’s impersonations of Sarah Palin. Howard will now be booed just as bad as Kobe is in Denver (where he was charged of raping a girl).

(2) Denver Nuggets – Can the Nuggets keep it together? The Nuggets play strictly on emotion. When things are good, they are really good. When things are bad, they turn into little boys playing recreational basketball and start crying over someone “reaching in.” If you want to get the Nuggets on the ropes, just get them upset and they will dig their own graves. 

(3) Golden State Warriors - Who’s going to run your “Nellie” ball? With Baron Davis leaving in the off-season and Monta Ellis crashing his scooter, the Warriors are thin at point guard. In all honesty though, Don Nelson’s run and gun offense really doesn’t need a point guard, their only set play is to take a shot with 14 seconds left on the shot clock. 

(4) Houston Rockets – Can Yao and McGrady stay healthy? When Yao Ming and Tray McGrady are healthy, they pose major match-up problems for any team. Take one of them away and they become one-dimensional. The addition of Ron Artest makes the Rockets an even tougher defensive team. All they need is to get out of the first round.

(5) Los Angeles Clippers – Will Baron be worth it? For just about a day there were fans all over Clippers Nation (which is Billy Crystal and a bunch of nobodys) excited that they might finally compete with the Lakers, then Elton Brand signed with the 76ers. Now this team is no better off then the Golden State Warriors, which I guess is still better than last year. 

(6) Los Angeles Lakers - What if Andrew Bynum isn’t the missing piece? All the talk from when he got injured to now just weeks away from his healthy debut with the Lakers, we’ve heard Andrew Bynum is the missing piece. He might disrupt their chemistry, or whatever they have left. 

(7) Minnesota Timberwolves – Will Kevin Love contribute enough? The Timberwolves are rebuilding, which is why they sent Kevin Garnett packing last year. The Timberwolves problem is that they keep starting the rebuilding process with the wrong players. Al Jefferson has been great for them, and hopefully Love will be able to contribute in the middle as well.  

(8) Memphis Grizzlies – Will O.J. Mayo contribute enough? The Grizzlies are almost in the the identical boat as Minnesota. They sent Pau Gasol packing last year and have been rebuilding for years now. With O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay teaming up in the front court they are hoping it will be the start of something good.  

(9) New Orleans Hornets – How much will Posey help? The Hornets are inching ever so close to being a legitimate staying force in the Western Conference, but they want a Championship. Picking up James Posey was a smart move, Championships just seem to follow him wherever he goes.

New scenery and boring jerseys won't change the results for Kevin Durant and his teammates.

(10) Oklahoma City Thunder – Will the new scenery help? Simply put, no. This team is still Kevin Durant and 11 other guys. The front office is soon going to realize how hard it’s going to be to try and convince guys to come play in Oklahoma City, they have bumped Utah out of the top spot on the “places players want to play at least” list. They can reverse that by doing what the Utah Jazz do, win.

(11) Phoenix Suns – Can Shaq keep up? Phoenix made the second worse trade last season in swapping Shawn Marion for Shaquille O’Neal (first was Devin Harris for Jason Kidd). In my opinion, there has never been a trade that impacted the chemistry of a team so much as the Shaq trade. Terry Porter is their new coach, but he’s not going to change anything. 

(12) Portland Trailblazers - Can the Trailblazers gel? Portland had perhaps the youngest and most talented team in the league. Rookie Jerryd Bayless has been nothing short of spectacular, and 2nd year man Greg Oden will add depth at the center position. That’s right, Oden is not a rookie, he was injured his rookie season. There is no red-shirting in the NBA. 

(13) Sacramento Kings – Can the Kings sneak into the playoffs? If the Kings are going to get into the playoffs, they are going to have to sneak in at the #8 spot. There are plenty of teams in the West this year that are rebuilding and haven’t found their identity yet. 

(14) San Antonio Spurs - How much longer can you make a run with your same old geriatrics? Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry are inching ever so closer to the coveted senior citizen discount at the local buffet. Even a balding Manu Ginobili is slowly breaking down, which was clearly evident in the Summer Olympics.

(15) Utah Jazz - Do you really believe Carlos Boozer will re-sign at the end of the year? He told Cleveland he was going tot re-sign with them and then he bolted to the Jazz. The Jazz might end up with nothing for Carlos Boozer for being so naive, the Cavaliers could sympathize with them as Boozer is playing elsewhere.

The Eastern Conference has long been the laughing stock of the NBA. At the end of every year, for quite a while, teams that are ten games below .500 are fighting for playoff spots. On the flip side, the Western Conference has teams that are ten games above .500 that miss the playoffs every year. An ironic, underlying point behind all of this is that two of the last three NBA Champions have come from the Eastern Conference. With that in mind, here are 15 questions to ask the teams in the Eastern Conference before the season starts: 

Can rookie Derrick Rose make an immediate impact on the Bulls?

 (1) Atlanta Hawks - Did you enjoy the playoffs? I sure hope so, because you won’t be going back this year. The Eastern Conference is going to be better this year and you lost one of your best players to Europe… the Hawks are scrambling just to fill roster spots right now.

(2) Boston Celtics - If you start slow, will you blame the coach of the GM? Head Coach Doc Rivers and GM Danny Ainge were goats in 2006, then they assembled a Championship team last year and were geniuses. The “Three Amigos” (Garnett, Allen, and Pierce) will make another run this year if they stay injury-free. 

(3) Charlotte Bobcats - Will Larry Brown make Pistons or Knicks out of you?  Head Coach Larry Brown lead the Detroit Pistons to a pair of Titles, he then tanked with the Knicks. Chances are he will do that with this group of players. The Bobcats have never been to the playoffs, expect that same utterance next year.

(4) Chicago Bulls – Will Rose speed you up or slow you down? The Bulls are lacking at the point, which is why they drafted Derrick Rose with the first pack in the summer draft. His maturation will directly correlate with the success of the Bulls this year.

(5) Cleveland Cavaliers – Is this the year LeBron finally gets some support? One knock on Cleveland is that while LeBron James has been there he has had no supporting cast for him. This year teams might have to rethink triple covering LeBron, he might have players around him capable of making a big shot. 

(6) Detroit Pistons – Can the Pistons get over the hump? The Pistons have made it to three straight Conference Championships and bowed out each and every time. With their head coach Flip Saunders getting fired, the Pistons are hoping that will be the answer. Hopefully they can get to the hump this year. 

(7) Indiana Pacers – Can the Pacers collection of average talent have synergy? Synergy, it’s the only way the Pacers will be successful this year. The Pacers made a lot of off-season moves to collect a lot of talent, but no dominant talent. If the Pacers are going to win, they will have to do it as a team. 

(8) Miami Heat - Will Michael Beasley be a distraction or a help? Michael Beasley has already shown signs he has let the money that comes with the NBA get to his head. He might be one of those talented players that never lives up to his potential. A healthy Dwayne Wade (as showcased in the Summer Olympics) will more than make up for what Beasley doesn’t bring (on the court).

(9) Milwaukee Bucks - Will a disgruntled Jefferson help? Milwaukee traded for Richard Jefferson, much to his dismay. A pouty Richard didn’t even report to the team for days, you have to wonder how much effort he will give. Shawn Marion was equally tiffed when he was moved last season, but he kept playing hard for the Heat.

Will Jermaine O'Neal be the missing piece that Raptors need to make a push in the Playoffs?

(10) New Jersey Nets - Can Carter cope with no success? Vince Carter has earned the reputation of being selfish with the basketball and it will be much easier this year with Richard Jefferson being gone. Selfish or not, the Nets are rebuilding this year, I wouldn’t expect more than 30 wins from them this year.

(11) New York Knicks – How will Mike D’Antoni fair in his first year? With the way D’Antoni bolted Phoenix for another pasteur, you have to wonder what he saw in New York. Obviously more money, but he’s also inheriting a lot of talent that has not formulated into much success the past few years. 

(12) Orlando Magic- How deep can the bench-less Magic go? The front line of the Orlando Magic is so diverse, Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu can go inside or out. Dwight Howard can go in or in further, teams really have no choice. The problem is the Magic have no bench, and their starters can’t play 48 minutes a night, they aren’t Kobe Bryants and Allen Iversons.

(13) Philadelphia 76ers – Will Elton Brand Celticfy the 76ers? The 76ers are hoping that the signing of Elton Brand and resigning of Andre Iguodola will breed as much success as the Celtics big signings last summer. The only problem is Brand is coming off of injury and isn’t what he used to be.

(14) Toronto Raptors – Can Chris Bosh bring winning attitude to Toronto? Chris Bosh was just as happy as the other 11 players on the United States basketball team when they won gold, it was his first feeling of success in professional basketball. If he can exude that to his team, the Raptors could be dangerous. Oh yeah, and they stole Jermaine O’Neal from the Pacers for a injury-prone T.J. Ford.

(15) Washington Wizards –  Can you start good enough to hold on to a playoff spot?  The Wizards will be without franchise guard Gilbert Arenas until at least December. The good thing for the Wizards is they play in the Eastern Conference so they won’t even have to finish above .500 to make the Playoffs. Maybe more people will start to realize the real star on this team in Caron Butler. It takes Butler half the shots to ge the same amount of points as Arenas.

NBA pre-season games have already began and the regular season is just a few weeks away. Albeit, you do get to see more play from starters in NBA pre-season than in the NFL pre-season, but it still has little entertainment value. A couple quarters of watching your favorite players dial it down a notch and then a couple more of backups and players that won’t make roster cuts isn’t exactly what I’d call entertainment. I’d be more inclined to watch “Wipeout,” or “American Gladiators,” or the WNBA….no, it’s not that bad. Speaking of the WNBA, Oklahoma City pulled a name out of the “Rejected Names for WNBA Franchises” file when it unveiled their new name, the “Thunder.” The only thing that can salvage the team right now is if the have their mascot be a Thundercat. In case you’ve paid little to no attention this off season, here are three things that you should know heading into the 2008-09 season:

The New Orleans Hornets are hoping that adding James Posey will give them that extra piece they need to go deeper in the Playoffs.

(1) Ron Artest to Rockets, James Posey to Hornets - Ron Artest is the Pacman Jones of the NBA, a proven troublemaker with a history to back it up. Nobody can doubt his talent, especially on the defensive end, but the question becomes “is he really worth the trouble?” At this point the Houston Rockets are willing to do anything to win, having never made it to the second round of the playoffs with Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Artest has been there once, which is better than nothing. As for Artest potentially becoming a distraction, the Rockets are no strangers to players running into the stands trying to kill fans before. Portland-1995, Rockets guard Vernon Maxwell ran into the stands after a fan who apparently said mean things about Maxwell’s wife. The Rockets suspended Maxwell for 10 games, in which time they traded for Clyde Drexler, who helped them win the NBA Title that year. If Artest runs up in the stands, it could end up very nice for the Rockets, history is on their side.  

In other free agent signings, the New Orleans Hornets won the James Posey sweepstakes.  Posey is the new Robert Horry, NBA Championships just seem to follow him wherever he goes. For Horry it was at Houston, then Los Angeles, then San Antonio. For James Posey it was Miami, Boston, and the Hornets are hoping New Orleans. Although Posey is not nearly as good of shooter as Peja Stojakovic, he does have a knack for hitting the big shot and doing just enough to help his team win. As good as Posey seems to be, the Celtics aren’t acting like they miss him. I guess it’s like when you get dumped and pretend like you never liked the person in the first place, it eases the pain and aids in the grieving process. 

(2) Mass European Exodus - I don’t think that anybody foresaw the day when NBA players would willingly go play overseas, but that was before European teams were able to dangle millions of dollars in front of players faces. When free agency opened on July 1, the Atlanta Hawks had restricted free agent Josh Childress on the market. The Hawks thought they had their hand all planned out, give Childress a mid-level contract that nobody could match and get him back. The one thing they discounted was the Childress went to Stanford, he’s smart, and he understands that the Euro is stronger than the American dollar right now. Childress ended up bolting the continent to sign with a team in Greece for 3 years and over $20 million! Childress was the Moses of the NBA exodus to Europe this off-season, seven others followed him (although none of them as name-worthy as Childress). While this was big news and a lot of people questioned if this was the tip of an iceberg for the NBA, it clearly is not. Reports surfaced during the Olympics that Kobe Bryant and LeBron James would be willing to play overseas…if they got paid $20 million a year. Of course they would, who wouldn’t? We have to keep in mind who Childress left, the Hawks, it wasn’t a reputable franchise. 

Monta Ellis should have taken notes on fibbing from Ralphie.

(3) Monta Ellis Involved in an “Accident” – The summer started so good for Monta Ellis when the Golden State Warriors signed him to a 6-year $66 million deal, then it got bad all because he was quite frankly an idiot. Ellis suffered a severe ankle sprain in August and said it was sustained while playing pickup ball in his home state of Mississippi. A few days later, probably after watching Pinocchio and hearing Jiminy Cricket repeat “Always let your conscience be your guide,” Ellis came clean. Turns out he injured himself in a moped accident, which violated his contract (riding the moped was a violation). It was all too reminiscent of when Lakers forward Vladimir Radmanović dislocated his shoulder after “slipping” only to find out he was snowboarding. Both of their excuses were as ridiculous as Ralphie on “Christmas Story.” After you shooting his eye, he gave a masterful excuse that worked! Remember? An icicle fell off the garage and broke his glasses! Ellis’ little fib ended up costing him a 30 game suspension with no pay, equating about $3 million. Ouch!

This past week, the Pedowitz Report was released, which was an intensive look at refereeing in the NBA. Commissioner David Stern was desperate to renew the faith of his fans in the NBA after the Tim Donaghy betting scandal, so he hired a bunch of overpaid lawyers and paid them millions to do a report on the refereeing in the NBA. There are just a couple problems with Stern’s thinking on this one: the majority of basketball fans are already convinced that there are biases with refereeing in the NBA, and the minority are not going to waste time reading a 133 page report from some people paid by Stern to say what he wanted them to. What the Tim Donaghy scandal did was only validate what thousands of fans had already been thinking. The simple matter of fact is that whenever there is a questionable call that impacts a game, Tim Donaghy will pop into our heads kind of like E.T. does when we see Reese’s Pieces. (What? That doesn’t happen to you? Me neither…) 

Referees, often compared with zebras, are people too.

The problems in officiating are universal and run through all sports. We see shoddy officiating in the NFL, college sports, and even the Olympics. What always gets us is when after a game where a questionable call has been made we’re told that “the rules are open for interpretation.” I hate that! I want to throw my shoe at the T.V. when I here that! Rules are rules, aren’t they? So the rules are open for interpretation, which I’ve grown to be fine with, as long as their interpretation is consistent throughout the game. Right now, game 3 of the ALDS between the Los Angeles-Anaheim Angels and Boston Red Sox is on in the background and I heard the announcers say, “the strike zone seems bigger in this game then in the first two.” Okay, I’m fine with that, as long as that strike zone stays consistent. When watching basketball games and football games you can pretty much decide in the first few minutes whether the referees will let the players be more physical and let more things go. I’m fine with that too, a little street ball never hurt anyone. But, the problem we run into is that every referee is human, and humans have emotion. You think that when you yell profanities at referees that they aren’t affected emotionally by that. Referees have feelings too. We almost see referees as a by-standard to the game, just a zebra standing there, but they are every much a part of the game as the players and coaches.

Next time you watch a a college basketball game take notice to the team fouls. In college basketball there are two halves, after 7 team fouls in a half the other team gets to shoot “one-and-one,” meaning if they make the first free throw they get to attempt a second. After 10 team fouls in a half the other team gets two free throws. Since the fairness in college basketball is largely based on foul count and foul shots, you’ll see an interesting paradox once one team inches closer to 7 team fouls. The interesting paradox is that the other team all of a sudden will start fouling more to even it up so both teams get one-and-one at about the same time. Wait a second, or do the referees jut start calling more fouls on the other team? Think about it, it’s deep. I was attending a college basketball game when the team fouls were 7 on one team and 2 on the other. In the matter of minutes they were even at 7 and 7. In football you can see much of the same with holding calls. Honestly, holding can be called on about every play, so if the penalty yard disparity becomes too much, expect a few of those to be thrown in. After the NBA’s 133 page report on refereeing I can give you a two-word report on refereeing that will solve our problems, ‘USE ROBOTS!’ Think about it, robots have no emotion and if they can make video game so true to form than surely robots can do the job. There would be no biases or prejudices, unless the robots revolted and combined against us. Let’s just stick with what we have now, take the bad with the good, and accept the fact that referees are people like me and you…almost.

The NBA and MLB have their respective All-Star Games, and the NFL has the Pro Bowl. The NBA and MLB have theirs in the middle of the season, the NFL’s is at the end. There is only one of them that has got it all together to have meaningful and entertaining All-Star festivities.

The late Sean Taylor and Chris Samuels at the '06 Pro Bowl. "Aw man! Do we have to play football?"

The NFL struggles the most with it’s Pro Bowl, which is held in Hawaii every year. Not only is viewership down in the company of the PBA and the Scripps National Spelling Bee contest, but it is just difficult to watch. The offensive sets that each conference uses are very basic, much like the ones run in your local pee-wee football league. The defenses are about the same, except for it doesn’t take a pack of them to tackle one player, just two or three. What the Pro Bowl needs is some sort of challenge involving top quarterbacks, just a little something to spice it up. I remember watching one quarterback challenge in particular with Brett Favre (pre-Wrangler endorsee), Warren Moon (Pre-annual DUI suspicion arrestee), and Steve Young (pre-bald spot in the back of his head). They had competitions testing accuracy, quickness, and strength. My favorite was the motorized carts with wide receiver cutouts attached to them. Three or four would cross each other at a time and the QBs would have to hit them with footballs that had paint on the tips. The slower/closer carts were less points then the ones that were faster and further away. As it stands, the Pro Bowl is a dried baked potato that’s been sitting under the heat lamps at Wendy’s; no butter, no chives, no cheese, just plain and stale. The Pro Bowl is nothing more than a congratulatory vacation package to Hawaii for the players and cheap entertainment for the fans.

Amare Stoudamire and Tim Duncan arguing over who has to guard LeBron James.

The NBA has got a good thing going with it’s pre-game entertainment. The new Skills Challenge (designed to test passing accuracy and quickness of guards) fits in quite well with the Slam-Dunk Contest and 3-Point Shootout. Now all they need is a competition for the centers…hmm…maybe they can have 20 elementary school kids all shooting at the same time and see who can reject the most shots. Entertaining and fun for the kids, I think we have a winner! The All-Star Game on the other hand is quite a snoozefest. What the game includes is a bunch of “All-Stars” showboating and not playing defense, not to mention as many flubeed alley-oop attempts as you’ll see with a couple of 12-year olds playing on a 6-foot hoop. The past few years, it has also turned into a ‘runway’ for Adidas to show off some new funky uniform. Here’s a gallery of All-Star uniforms through the ages:

1990ish / 1995 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007 West 2007 East / 2008 West 2008 East

The NBA has been criticized for its All-Star Game because of it’s selection process and the fact that half the players do not deserve to play. In 2007, Shaq played a whole 10 games the first half of the season, yet started for the Eastern Conference team. Allen Iverson sat out almost the whole first half of the season with the 76ers (in the Eastern Conference), and was traded to the Nuggets (in the Western Conference) and was consequently a starter for the West team. Then there’s the stigma around Yao Ming, how is he voted the starter every year? oh yeah, he has a billion votes pouring in every year from China alone. A more fitting name for the game should be the ‘Market’-Stars Game.

Josh Hamilton hit a record 28 home runs in the first round of the '08 Home Run Derby.

Lastly, there is Major League Baseball, the only league to get things right. The one things that makes the MLB All-Star Game the cream of the crop is that it is meaningful.Come October there will be plenty of baseball fans who will wonder, “Who won the All-Star Game?” That is the case because the league(National or American) that wins that All-Star Game gets home field advantage in the World Series! In the NBA and NFL next to nobody cares enough to remember who won because it doesn’t matter! in the 2008 MLB All-Star Game, the American League won in the 15th inning, capping the most watched All-Star game for MLB since 2002. Similar to the NBAs dunk contest, MLB has the Home Run Derby, which adds to the excitement and entertainment value of the All-Star Game. It is a glorified batting cage for the players and a spectacle to watch. This past derby featured Josh Hamilton hitting a record 28 home runs in the first round. Let’s be honest though, if my grandpa was throwing me fast balls like 71-year old Clay Council was throwing Hamilton, I’d be hitting that many too.

This vintage article was originally posted August 4, 2007. I’ve been right a lot of times in my life, in this instance I was wrong. In fact, I was very wrong. The road to the NBA Championship wasn’t easy for the Boston Celtics. they were stretched to seven games in the first and second rounds. In the end, it took them more playoff games than any other team in NBA history to win the title. I can’t wait to make my lofty predictions for the 2007-08 NBA season. There is one thing I am sure on, the Seattle Supersonics are going to be practically non-existent. 

Last year the Denver Nuggets acquired Allen Iverson and there was talk of the Nuggets running the table and winning the NBA Championship. The Nuggets ended up being a 7-seed in the West and bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. Now it’s Boston that has Championship buzz after trading for superstar Kevin Garnett. There have even been talks of a new “Big Three” like Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish of old. Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett are good, but it still remains to be seen if they can play together. Take the 2004 Los Angeles Lakers for example; that team was the greatest assembly of superstars in the history of the NBA, but they could not play together and ended up choking the Championship away to the Detroit Pistons. Not only is the premature “New Big Three” unproven, but Pierce and Allen are one more injury from being a solid bench player. Not to mention, who will run the offense with the “New Big Three” on the court? Rajon Rondo is definitely not an experienced point guard, and quite frankly, he’s not that good. Also, after trading away 7 players to get Garnett, the Celtics bench is depleted., After years of trying to rebuild the Celtics, GM Danny Ainge finally realized that veterans are key to rebuilding. What Ainge has done in bringing in Ray Allen and KG is remarkable, the Celtics have went from bottom dwellers in the East to a potential spot in the Finals next year. However, if the Celtics are to go to the Finals next year, they will have to make it through at least 3 other teams:
(1) Cleveland Cavaliers
(2) Detroit Pistons
(3) Miami Heat
And that’s just the least of them in a very weak Eastern Conference. There are still the Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, and the Orlando Magic that are on the rise. Boston might just blaze the exact trail that the Nuggets did last year……a 7-seed and an early summer vacation.

College Basketball
This past spring brought it’s usual and now expected craziness of upsets, buzzer beaters, and amazing comebacks in what we like to call “March Madness.” The craziest part about it was listening to Jim Nance’s post-game interview with some of the newly crowned champion Florida Gator players. Jim Nance asked center Joakim Noah about what the Gators did to win the game. In amazing fashion, Joakim Noah testified of the quality of his education at the University of Florida by saying, “Me and my boys brought it, and when I say we brought it you know what I mean? No you don’t know what I mean, but my boys know what I mean.” It seemed as if Jim Nance was pushing a panic button that flashed the words “COMMERCIAL BREAK! COMMERCIAL BREAK!” on the producer’s screen up in the video room. It didn’t stop there, Nance went on to interview a couple others which only buried the academic validity of Florida athletes. It seemed as if none of them had any formal schooling or had been taught the English language from a book. I don’t think the Florida officials shed a single tear when four starters chose to bypass their senior seasons and declared themselves eligible for the NBA Draft. Those five players’ decision to leave just might have doubled the school’s average GPA.     

Pro Basketball
Can anybody out there look at me straight faced and tell me without even smirking that NBA officials do not show favoritism and that the NBA is free from conspiracies and inconsistencies? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Case and point, I went to game 4 of the Western Conference Finals between the Jazz and Spurs. Steve Javie, the head referee, is a ruthless tyrant that reigns with terror on teams he doesn’t particularly like. Just as Joey Crawford would like to pick a fight with Tim Duncan, I don’t think it would be far fetched to say that, if given the chance, Steve Javie would love nothing more than to line up every player and coach on the Jazz roster and kick them square in the crotch. Although he didn’t do it physically, he did it mentally with the horrendous way he and his crew handled this game. Not only did he kick out Derek Fisher, who has been in the top 5 for “Sportsman of the Year” every year for years, but he also refused to call fouls on the Spurs. Riddle me this Batman, how did the Jazz lose by double digits despite having fewer turnovers and shooting over 53% from the field? I’ll tell you how, by the officials giving the Spurs 20+ free throws in the 4th and the Jazz 2. Here’s an interesting fact, the officials called fouls 90% of the time that the Spurs drove to the basket, and 10% of the time the Jazz did the same. Can you tell me there was that much difference in the physicality on both ends? I think not. Do you really blame the fans for getting a little boisterous and chanting “REFS YOU (OPPOSITE OF BLOW)! REFS YOU (OPPOSITE OF BLOW)!”? Good thing Jazz fans don’t consume as much alcohol as other NBA fans or there might have been another Palace Brawl.

NFL
**NEWSFLASH** JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE A FOOTBALL PLAYER YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO BREAKING THE LAW! It seems like there are more convicts in the NFL than there is in every other professional sport combined. It will be interesting to see if Commissioner Roger Goodell throws the hammer down on Michael Vick for his dog fighting regime. Vick danced his way around alleged possession of marijuana, so I don’t see anything coming of this current case. I hope Vick hires a good legal counsel or he might say something stupid on the stand like, “Your Honor, I thought that dog fighting is legal where cock fighting is legal……cock fighting is legal right???”

Baseball
I’d now like to take the time to make a personal announcement. I have meddled over this decision for many, many years. While my parents don’t like it, and lot of friends don’t support it, I feel I will receive enough support from others to sustain and validate my decision. Here it goes, I am attracted to baseball! I’ve never been a supporter of baseball and never had a team, although I would secretly watch the World Series every year growing up in my room with the door locked so my parents wouldn’t know what I was doing. I am strangely attracted to the competitiveness of the sport and having “a team” to root for. Not only am I coming out as a baseball fan, but also a San Francisco Giants fan. Why San Francisco? Well, I think it’s fairly obvious, but for those who don’t know let me give you the rundown. First, Barry Bonds is awesome. I’ve always liked him and have never wavered on my support of him through this ridiculoius steroids investigation by MLB. Will he beat Hank Aaron’s homerun record? Yes. Should it be in the record books? Yes. Should he be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame? Yes! You can’t tell me “steroids” gave Bonds the fluid motion of his swing. Second, what’s cooler than home run balls landing in a bay to be had amongst the person with the swiftest swing of a net or strongest swing of an oar in the general direction of the other people going after the ball. And third, I like the 49ers, so it only makes sense to like the Giants too, right? Because I’m new at this baseball thing, I reserve the right to change teams if “my team” is really bad. Expos fans reserved that right and shipped their team to Washington DC.

What Ben Wallace and Ron Artest started last year in the “Palace Brawl” has forever changed that face of the National Basketball Association. That is exactly what NBA commissioner David Stern did not want, but you don’t always get what you want. Now David Stern must find a way to deal with it. Last year Stern implemented a new dress code for players arriving to the arenas on game day and sitting on the bench to try and increase the professionalism of the players. This year Stern amended the actual uniform attire, outlawing tights and wearing elbow and knee pads on anything but the elbows and knees. That’s right, some people actually had a problem with that. Kobe Bryant at one time wore knee pads down around his ankles. Was it a fashion statement, or did curious little Kobe get into the equipment closet and start playing dress-up? I guess we’ll never know, but at least we won’t have to witness such stupidity again. Stern also implemented a “Zero-tolerance Policy” in regards to players reacting to referees. Stern’s zero-tolerance policy was effective the first few weeks. There were technical fouls being thrown out faster than steroid suspensions in MLB. However; none of these new stipulations and guidelines have succeeded in increasing the sportsmanship of players. This year there have been three more brawls in the NBA. The first of the year was in New York, dubbed by me as the “Midget Melee in Madison Square Garden.” Just like Ben Wallace was the initial perpetrator in the Palace Brawl, Nate Robinson(all 5’9″ of him) was the initial perpetrator at the Midget Melee in MSG. Had nobody else got involved, J.R. Smith would have knocked Robinson back to the Shire. That brawl became even more embarrassing after Carmelo Anthony slapped, not punched, Jared Jeffries and then ran away like there was a fire. The scene at MSG was like the scene between the rival gangs in West Side Story, it was that cheesy. There were some rather heavy suspensions dealt by Stern to “send a message,” but apparently not many players got the message. Last week Kevin Garnett and Antonio McDyess got into a fight that looked eerily similar to a playground fight between two fourth grade boys. Garnett throws the ball at McDyess, McDyess pushes Garnett, Garnett throws a sissy little punch that doesn’t connect and then backpedals almost all the way back to Minnesota. I hope Garnett sat in the corner of his room and thought about what he did during the whole one game he was suspended. Yeah, one game. Some message Stern, if anything you are saying that the type of behavior displayed by Garnett is not only acceptable but actually mildly inviting because it might boost ratings. The third instance simply involved Baron Davis of the Warriors throwing a punch at Clipper Quintin Ross, for which Davis is also receiving a one game suspension. All of these displays of unsportsmanlike conduct are a black eye to the NBA and sports players everywhere. I personally don’t like to watch crybaby millionaires fighting like little kids, and quite frankly I’m sure there are not a lot of people that like to either. Why else would NHL ratings be so low?