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?

Brett Favre – Please Retire NEXT Year

Brett Favre has more than accomplished what he set out to do in the NFL. When Favre came into the league, there were droves of people that pronounced his name “Fav-ray,” I still do. Favre brought back a Super Bowl title to the Green Bay Packers, has won 3 MVPs, brought tears to many frozen cheeseheads, and was behind the scenes in the now infamous “Lambeau Leap.” Didn’t you just love how hard the Broncos tried during their Super Bowl runs to make their “Mile High Salute” just as/if not more popular and failed miserably? Favre has also made his mark on the record books, he holds the NFL records for most consecutive starts (237) and most consecutive 3,000 yard seasons (15). Favre needs just 7 TD passes, 2 more wins, 3,900 yards passing, and 5 interceptions to become the NFL all-time leader in each of those respective categories. With that said, I can understand why he would come back for one more year, but anything after that will just be another sports star at the slaughter, like Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards. Watching “His Airness” dunk those last couple of seasons was like watching Oliver Miller dunk…in slow motion. It’s been a good run Brett, you have your spot in Canton, so just play your last season, retire, and move on with life. Your now gray hairs will always be remembered and your legend has been solidified at the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field!

Michelle Wie, You Need to Find Your Place!

Is anybody else sick and tired of hearing about Michelle Wie? I certainly am. Never has such mediocrity ever been tolerated so much in golf. It’s like the golf world is trying to find another Tiger Woods, thinking they have found it in the form of a teenage girl. Please…it’s also like the NBA trying to find another Michael Jordan. I’ve got a message for all the people in the basketball and golf worlds:THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER TIGER WOODS, AND THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER MICHAEL JORDAN! LeBron James is really good, but will he win 6 championships? I highly doubt it. Michelle Wie will do good things on the LPGA, and at Stanford (where she plans to attend college), but will she ever win a PGA tour event? Simply put, no! In her few years of participating in PGA tour events, Wie has never made a cut! Yesterday Ms. Wie posted a +8 on her first 9 holes at the Sony Open, so playing this weekend isn’t looking too bright for her either. It seems as though Michelle is a lost cub, just like Simba in the Lion King. “You need to find your place in the circle of life.” And Michelle, just to get the thought process started, your place is not on the PGA tour.