My How Things Change

Trivia Question = Other than Lebron who is the only other current Cav to have a 30+ point playoff game? (answer at the bottom)

It's amazing. It really is. Think about all the talk you heard about the Cavs in the first two rounds.

• So deep, their entire 2nd unit has starting experience.
• 3 point shooting for days...Delonte, Wally, Boobie, Mo. All can get hot on a moments notice.
• Toughness. Andy's offense isn't good but he does so many things on a basketball court that stats don't pick up.
• Lebron finally has a cast around him that can compliment him.
• Mike Brown, coach of the year

These were the story lines after the Cavs swept through the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs. Down 3-1 and on the brink Lebron had to poor his heart and soul onto the court at home to extend the series another game and breath a little more life into the series, the NBA, and into an entire city. Now the headlines, papers, and talk show guru's are saying....

• Lebron = Amazing, where is the help?
• Andy is awful
• Mike Brown what the hell are you doing?
• Mo, shut your mouth and play.
• APB out for Delonte, Wally, Z, Boobie etc...

Now. Where do I stand? Somewhere in the middle of all this. I too thought that the pieces finally all fit. That the togetherness of this team was so good that it had elevated the play of a lot of the guys that would be lesser players on other teams. But something has happened here. These are no longer the fun loving, care free Cavs that dominated for 90 games. Who do you attribute that too? Is it really as simple of blaming one person? Probably not. Part of it falls on Mike Brown for obvious reasons. Part of it falls on the city for putting out that vibe of 'OH NO!!'. Part of it falls on the supporting cast not rising to the occasion. And part of it even falls on the Lebron. While his individual performances have been nothing short of spectacular he has also been the guy that kept the whole team relaxed and having fun and ultimately successful. I think part of the problem of the playoffs is that he has had to be so focused and so intense that I don't know if the rest of the team really knows how to react. Do they follow suit and press harder? Do they keep the same loose and fun play as the regular season? It's really the first time they've seen adversity this season and they're not sure how to deal. I hope that last night was Lebron taking the reigns and saying follow me I know the way and that relaxes the rest of the team. But winning three straight over the Magic will be a tough task. Can they do it? I think so. Will they do it?

Trivia Answer = Boobie Gibson; and if you think that the only reason I know this is because I predicted it? Then you only know me all too well.....

The Greatness of Lebron

Last night was the greatest performance in the postseason thus far by Lebron. It was even better than when he scored 29 out of the last 30 in Detroit. Here are my thoughts:

1) He scored or assisted on 32 straight points. Words can not explain how amazing of a feat that is. That means he controlled the 4th quarter, and wouldn't let the Cavs lose that game last night. He didn't have his best shooting game (11-24) but he willed an entire city to a win last night. Which begs the question, What the hell took Mike Brown so long to go to that offense? True no one was really hitting shots (sans Boobie, who wasn't really playing until the last2 games), but I take Lebron isolated at the top of the key, one on one, all day. He pissed on Pietrus last night, and fouled out DHoward, and drew 5 fouls of Hedo (who's green card I still want to see, just sayin, who comes from Turkey, honestly?). Last night was Jordan-esque, and in a do or die game.

2) The best quote I've heard in a while came from my Younger Brother last night, while texting:

Me: Bronson looks dead. He's hunched over.

My Bro: You'll have that when you carry the hopes and dreams of an entire city on your back.

It's so true. Has there ever been an athlete that is tied to a city's psyche more than LeBron? I mean, the city literally changes moods after every game. I didn't live in the Chi when Jordan was here, but I can't believe it's anything close ot the heartache that Cleveland feels when Lebron fails. I mean, they EXPECT the man to be great. When's he's not, the whole city goes on suicide watch. It's unbelievable. If he leaves in 2010, I think Cleveland might shut down.

3) Why the hell hasn't Boobie Gibson been playing? Yeah his defense sucks, but he's a better shooter than my boy Delonte, and he has a proven track record of knocking down big shots in the playoffs. Not saying He should be playing for Delonte, but if they need someone to knock down shots, he's teh guy. Not Szcerbiak or Pavlovic. Wally's done. He has nothing left. He's a massive liability on Defense, and when he's not hitting his shot, he's kind of worthless. Boobie can at least handle the ball a little, and guard Alston (who is easily the ugliest man in sports when he smiles) or Anthony Johnson (the 2nd ugliest). When Boobie's hot he's lethal. He needs to be out there.

4) I love Ben Wallace. He's tough, he hammers DHoward, and he has a championship pedigree. Also, he has tons more basketball sense in his pinkie than Varejao has in his entire body. His flopping is out of control. He gave Howard three dunks last night because he was laying on the ground. It's a joke. Ben Wallace, at least roughs up Howard a little. And he's a forceo n the boards, and can "guard" Eashard Lewis a little. He's teh Best option against Dwight, because Andy plays defense like a girl, and Z's way too slow. How much does everyone wish Shaq was wearing a Cleveland Uni right now?


Alright that's all I got......Keep rockin........

The Silverback

Hewls, while it may have been disrespectful of Harrison to decline the meeting with the President, it really isn't that big of a deal. His comment about the Cardinals was partly a joke, but the media doesn't understand that because he never smiles and always looks like he wants to kill somebody. The man is definitely thuggish - I mean his pitbull put his son in the hospital! Of course, if a player of another team did the same thing I'd probably be all over him as well, so I understand where you are coming from. I don't agree with it, but it is what it is. Nobody made a big deal about it when he didn't go visit Bush a few years back so it shouldn't matter now. He should have just declined to comment on the situation and moved on. Regardless, I'll still love when he's destroying offenses next season.

Obviously

Thank you for pointing out the absurdity of my previous statements. They were, as you can all imagine, nothing more than attempts at drawing you bastards out, although the Steelers are cheating bastards and do have a white trash king for a QB. The sad part is that I too have no idea what the Browns are doing, so even though they are cheating bastards I can only wish to follow a franchise so put together. By the way, how much of a tease is the LeBron being an NFL player for the Browns stuff being run on ESPN right now? I feel as though I need some alone time with this article and a warm towel.

ZG made a few good points about the larger topics in sports right now.....I would like to focus on a few that are on the fringe.....

Jose Canseco - Knocked out in 77 seconds by a 7'0 300lbs South Korean named King Hippo....errr...Hong Man Choi. A great fiction writer couldn't come up with this story line. This is phenomenal on about a dozen levels. That makes a professional fighting record for Mr. Roidman a remarkable 0-2-1 (draw was to Danny Bonaduce of the Partridge Family). I believe the ohhhh to obvious next stop is Vivid Video or YouPorn.com. I mean the odds on this have to be 1-500 at this point right?

Isaih Thomas - fantastic article a few weeks back on FoxSports.com from Jason Whitlock speculating as to WHY Zeke has been such an utter failure since ending his playing days. Bascially it hinges on the fact that after he retired he kind of parted ways with his best friend (Magic Johnson) and never had anyone to keep him in check over the years. No one to look him in the eye and tell him "you're stone cold fucking retarted and you need to sit down and shut the hell up". Not sure if I completely buy the premise of the article seeing as Magic hasn't been the bastion of good decisions since his playing days ended, but maybe both guys just needed one another. Who knows, but it was certainly intriguing.

Horse Racing - Rachel Alexandra has proven to be an inspiration to women everywhere. Although she is just a horse Lisa Leslie and a number of other WNBA stars (past and present) have said they too hope that one day they can race in and win the Preakness and possibly the Kentucky Derby. Good luck ladies.

Last (for now) James Harrison - While my other digs at the Steelers may very well have been shallow, mean spirited, and to some degree unwarranted. This one is not. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!?! Now I really don't care what anyone elses political affiliations or view are, especially professional athletes. So, if one of them doesn't want to go to White House that's fine with me. I personally think it's dumb, because not many people get that opportunity in life and if it's presented to you, then you should jump at it and do your best to learn something from the experience. If you don't feel the same, that is fine, and if you feel you have something better to do that's fine as well. But with all of that said Jack-ass Harrison said the following....

"I don't feel the need to go, actually," Harrison told Pittsburgh station WTAE-TV. "I don't feel like it's that big a deal to me."

This is a perfectly acceptable answer, and if he would have left it at that, then the worst anyone could say is, "I'm sorry he feels that way". Unfortunately he followed that up with what could be one of the dumber things every said.

Harrison doesn't believe the invitation is all that special, saying if the Steelers hadn't beaten the Cardinals 27-23 with a last-minute rally, "He [Obama] would have invited Arizona."

While he is 100% accurate in that statment, the fact that he made it makes me wonder how exactly this man gets up in the morning, ties his shoes and puts one foot in front of another. Dumbest thing I've heard in a long time and I've read Iantosca's posts.

Really Nick?

Dude, seriously is that the best you can do? If Bettis was using performance enhancers then somebody should have told him the Big Mac isn't considered a steroid! Seriously though, I'm not going to respond to your post because your point was made and I'm on here creating a new post. I suppose that nonsense worked but it was still a poor effort d-bag. Anyhow, on to the Wide World of Sports.

Indy 500 - So I have to say, even though I've been in Indy for the last 2 races and seen the city and surrounding areas go bonkers for 2 weeks about the race, I could still give 2 shits about racing or going to see a race. Everyone says you need to experience it and it's great, blah, blah, blah, but really I don't care. I figure eventually I'll get to a race, but I'm not interested in sitting in the stands watching a blur of cars go by as I'm drunk and dehydrated and a sweaty mess. Seriously, the way people describe the experience sounds absolutely miserable. I know none of you are really race fans either but I thought I needed to throw that out.

NBA - I have to say, I knew the Magic would be tough on Cleveland, but I'm still surprised by the 2-1 series lead. LB is getting 0 help right now from the usual suspects. Delonte and Mo have been struggling and they can't seem to defend D. Howard, which was obviously going to be the issue. However, I didn't expect the Magic's perimeter game to be so effective. God, I feel like the fuckers don't miss. But really, nobody should be too "shocked" so far. The Magic played Cleveland better than anyone else in the League during the regular season and are a solid team. I just felt that without Jameer Nelson they'd be done in 6. I mean seriously, how the fuck is this team winning with that old fart d-bag Anthony Johnson running the point. It sickens me. I still think the Cavs will pull it out as I have a hard time believing LeBron will allow them to lose.

As for the Nuggets-Lakers series. I would love to see the Nuggets pull the upset even though I despise Chris "Birdman" Andersen. That guy is a tool shed for sure. But it's great to see the Nuggets get physical and overpower and put fear into the Lakers. They just aren't the same team when you knock them down a few times. In the end the Lakers will pull it out and everyone will get the LeBron vs. Kobe matchup they've been waiting for.

MLB - Well, my Tribe still eats balls so to be honest I haven't been on baseball as much so far. I still catch the scores and standings but am totally disgusted with their start. Fucking underachieving bastards. However, last night's huge 10-run rally and 7-run bottom of the ninth was fantastic and brought back some great memories. Let's hope that's a springboard. I'm not sure if we've touched on the whole Manny thing, but as ridiculous as that guy is I'm still surprised he was using. He almost comes off as too goofy and stupid to use performance enhancers, but alas, we can no longer assume anything about anyone in the Majors except that Griffey is a pure mother fucker and I hold him higher than anyone in his era because of that, regardless of the fact he was injured and his stats aren't where they would be. If I ever heard Griffey get nailed for steroids I'd never watch baseball again.

NHL - Man, hockey playoffs are great and a rematch of Pens vs. Red Wings will be a helluva series now that the Pens have some experience and are a year older. It's gonna be fun to watch. I'd love to see the Pens bring back the Cup to Pittsburgh. After that all we'd need is the Pirates to win the Series for the city Championship trifecta! God, will the Pirates EVER win anything again?! At least they are hovering around .500 this year so far. Better than the Tribe.

NFL - Still all jacked up for the NFL season to get underway. I get excited about the stupidest shit with this sport. I even keep tabs on OTAs and mini-camps. There is a reason this league is KING and it's because they have a year 'round appeal even though there is nothing really going on. I'm still not sure what in God's name is going on in Cleveland. A new player wants traded every week. They need some friggin stability and time to grow to get back to where they need to be. Also, it's only May and I'm already extremely tired of hearing about the Patriots. I realize Brady is back and their offense could be ridiculous, but who gives a shit. They had that 2 years ago and lost the SB. There is also potential for a healthy amount of competitive and good teams. I think the Division and Wildcard races are going to be very tight with quite a few teams in contention until the bitter end. Anyhow, I'm ready to own the Fantasy World once again bitches.

That's all Fuckers.

Wake Up Pin Heads

I am appauled....where are all of you? ZG? Rev-Dun? Strecker? This constant ignoring of the time honored tradition of bashing one another and wasting time is enough to make a man sick. I expect this kind of behavior from the likes of Hoskinson, Reynolds, and Patton, but not from you three.

So without further ado....

The Steelers are a bunch of HGH using cheaters that haven't won an honest title EVER. Bradshaw, Greene, Stallworth, Harris, Roethlis-white trash, Bettis, Polomalu, all of them are cheaters. If Rooney was really a class act he'd give back all the trophies now.

High School Football and amateur athletics are the bottom feeding scum of the earth and don't deserve to see the light of day in the sports world.

The Bengals are a really really good team and a well run organization.