Basquetbol

3 topics: Referee scandal, SuperSonics, and the C's.

Ref: WHOA. I'm not gonna spend a whole lotta time on this, but damn, this is the type of thing that rocks any organization, and especially a sport. The NBA should bring the furies of hell down on this scandal and really fix it or it'll continue to lose more and more fans. Stern better fix his fading image or he's not going to be remembered for all the solid growing of the league he did when people talk of his legacy, but instead for the Artest melee, suspensions, new ball failure, dress code crap, poor style of play, and referee issues.

Sonics: The trade they just made is absurd: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2943588. I think if you compare the Sonics' approach with the Magic's approach, you'll see why Orlando is going to be mired in mediocrity for another 6 years or so and the Sonics could turn into the next dynasty in the NBA, or at least the new version of the Suns compared to the Blazers' version of the Spurs. They have 5 first rounders over the next few years, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, some veterans to help them for the next couple years, and loads of cap space coming before they even have to extend the aforementioned two rookies. Getting that trade exception from Orlando (along with a 2nd round pick) for the right to overpay Rashard Lewis even more than they already were (and the Magic were pretty much bidding against themselves) was a coup. Throw in the fact that they're going to be right back in the lottery next year (unless everything comes together, which I doubt will happen), and this team could just be absurdly stacked. Too bad my favorite team is the C's.

C's: Actually that comment above was blasphemy and ignant. I'd rather have the Sonics' roster but at least we got Jesus Shuttlesworth now. Anyways, just thinking, how sick would it be if Ratliff can actually play a little this year, potentially upping his value and even helping us win some extra games. I think he would be a really nice complementary player on this team of scorers. But, believing in Ratliff's spine not breaking is a pipe dream at best--and a pipe that's filled with some powerful, illegal green substance. Anyways, just thinking that'd be sweet.

Skeeter

Skeeter has got to be the sweetest nickname around. Think about it. Do you think that ANY of the thousands of people who go by "Skeeter," or "Skeet" for short, have any idea that it means to ejaculate? I'm guessing not too many of them do. I might legally name my kids all some form of Skeeter, including all unfortunate female progeny, sort of the way Roger "HGH" Clemens named all his kids something that starts with "K."

Also, don't be surprised if the Yanks catch the Sox, and then we come right back and win the division anyways. Oh, and I've heard rumors about Roy Oswalt. I don't know who it would take, but I assume it would be some top pitching prospects, and I have to say, most likely I'd be down. Unless it's like Ellsbury, Buchholz, AND someone, it's probably worth it, the dude's stuff translates to the AL East, unlike a Barry Zito type fool (whose stuff doesn't even translate to the NL West anymore). At the same time, why the coño would the Astros wanna get rid of one of the top 10 pitchers in baseball, who has a reasonable contract and doesn't turn 30 until the end of August? Unless I'm missing something (I haven't gotten to see any of his starts this season), I'm not sure what the point would be unless they could get multple guys expected to be so good that it wouldn't make any sense for the other team to trade them.

Lastly, I think I want to be Keith Law; I used to definitely want to be him until I recently decided being a junkie/whino/bum might be more fun. If only my parents were madd rich I could pull that off without even having to sleep against the side of buildings with heating ducts for warmth. Oh well, I guess I'll just be a Spanish teacher or something instead.

The Second Half and Sox Banter

I think the AL (the only league that matters for one or two more years--the NL is starting to catch up) will come down to five teams: Red Sox, Angels, Indians, Tigers, and...I guessssss the Yankees. The Twins, Mariners, and A's have shots, but I don't think they're gonna do it (I'll explain why in a second). The Yankees are probably not going to catch the Red Sox or win the Wild Card, but I think they're dangerous because they could have a very solid starting rotation in the second half, they're only one game below .500, and have a great run differential. I expect the first four teams I listed to make the play-offs, but there's still a chance that Wang, Hughes, Pettitte, Clemens, Mussina, and Mo Rivera can win some games, as long as that offense starts helping ARod, Jeter, and Posada, whose backs must be getting mighty sore. The Yanks could very easily flame out and win 80 games, but they could also catch fire and start to burn some heels on their way up.

Why the other contenders won’t make the play-offs:

The A’s: over-achievers. Their pitching staff has been too nasty and will get hurt or revert somewhat to previous norms, and Jack Cust, while he may be a legit Major Leaguer, is no Chris Drury in the Little League World Series.

The Mariners: JEFF WEAVER. He’s on their team, so they can’t be good. Their offense isn't great and the end of their rotation is scary bad. They're over-performing and at some point will have a bad stretch and fade, so enjoy it while it lasts, M's fans.

The Twins: they're pretty good, but I don't think pretty good is going to catch the Indians and Tigers, who should continue to play as well as they have the rest of the season.

Sox banter: I'm really excited about our pitching prospects. While “pitching prospect” is probably the worst term in the world because it's like being called an aspiring actor--as in you'll probably end up failing and making gay pornos to pay the bills like that Japanese pitcher in the Indians organization did a few years ago--the Sox could be set up for a while in the rotation and pen. With Beckett and Matsuzaka holding down the front of the rotation at only 26, and Wakefield at the back end at a million years old (doesn't matter, he throws as slow as me anyways so nothing to worry about), there are two spots left in the next couple years, and Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz, 23 and 22 respectively, could fill those spots nicely. That'd be a filthy staff with Papelbon and a slew of other young arms in the pen, and the team could concentrate its resources on finding bats to replace Manny and Papi, et al, rather than signing the Matt Clements, Carl Pavanos, Barry Zitos, and soon to be Carlos Zambranos of the world. Jyeah.

PRONK and Selig

Nice signing by the Indians. Pronk (i.e. Travis Hafner) is nasty, and this half-season quasi-slump is just that--he'll be mashing in no time. Four years and $57 million for the AL's answer to Albert Pujols is a bargain, especially considering he's only 30, and in this new chemically controlled day and age, Hafner should still be mashing at 34 when his current deal is up. Think about this: Hafner's been as good, if not better, than ARod over the past few years offensively, and while he doesn't run as well or play a position in the field, there are plenty of guys who can do those things, and there AREN'T enough guys who straight up destroy baseballs year-in, year-out like he does. ARod is going to get $30 million a year, and the Indians just inked the guy for less than half that and for a reasonable length of time. Well done, Indians.


Commish, you should go see Barry Bonds become the all-time homerun champ. Everyone's writing all the possible arguments for and against and everything in between, but really, it's just going to make baseball look bad again in the world's eye (hypocritically, since clearly football and other sports are doing the same damn stuff) if you don't go. Be there, make a fuss about Bonds being black if you want, because people think that it's bad that black kids don't play baseball as much any more (it's not, because baseball isn't excluding anyone [for once], it's just cooler to play football and basketball right now, which is the real issue that baseball should look to combat). So yeah, the commissioner of Major League Baseball should be there...that means you, Mr. Selig. But hey, I honestly don't really care that much if you're not, it's really only you and your business that will suffer, I'm gonna keep watching my favorite juiced ballplayers and marvel at the stuff that they can do and I can't. The sad part is I would watch even if they only threw 97 instead of 100 and hit 430 foot bombs instead of 470, but oh well...

The Boston Celtics

I want KG. Not because I necessarily want him over Al Jefferson for more than the next couple years, but because I want him over Al Jefferson for the next couple years. I know KG is older and has a ridiculously cap-killing contract and an opt-out, but the dude can ball, will be as good as Big Al scoring for a few years (plus better passing), and the guy can D up. I personally thought the original trade that KG nixed (Ratliff's expiring contract, Jefferson, Gerald Green, the #5 overall pick, and Wally for KG and some other bum) was a TERRIBLE trade. Pierce and KG alone can't get the Celtics a title.

BUT, Pierce, Ray Allen, and KG, along with a collection of young talents and a couple decent veterans we could sign with the mid-level exception could get the job done. That team would give us (I'm sorry, I'm from Massachusetts, I say we and wicked, as well as dece and other sweet abbreves) a three year championship window. I think this makes more sense than the current roster/plan, which has us set up to peak at perhaps 48-50 games the year after next, and probably will get us 45 or so wins until Ray Allen is gone 3 years from now, at which point we still will have no cap room to add a younger star.

I think the purpose of each GM is to win a championship, not have a decent team for a while. We already suffered through the losing, now I expect the team to go all out. I personally would not have made the Ray Allen deal if there were no second big trade coming to finish the job. So, I say now let's convince KG that Boston is his best chance for a title and that he needs to come here. Without some interior defense helping patch up the leaks that Pierce and Allen will let spring, the C's won't be doing much in the play-offs. If that's the case, then I don't see any reason to take away all potential cap room for an entertaining but non-championship caliber team. So, Danny (Ainge, Celtics GM, another annoying Massachusetts thing is we address people with power whom we don't know like they're our close friends), get on the phone (you probably already have tried this, but if that's the case then you should have done this before the Allen trade) and convince KG that this is his best option, and let Kevin McHale know that Ratliff's contract, Big Al, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, and Minny's 2009 pick that we own is a haul, and he won't get anything near that package from anyone else in the league, so he better take it.

My First Post

I chose the black background because I was like, "Oooh, this is a blog, it's supposed to be all bad-ass. I better go for black." Also, check out Nick's blog at http://usss.wordpress.com/, he's sorta the one I'm plagiarizing the most.