Hell Yeah!!!!

Who's the real MVP???

What a day, I've been exhausted from this week of work as I worked a ridiculous amount but damn was it all worth it. I had tickets to the game on Friday which I had to sell due to work but forunately i was able to get to Sunday's game, even though I still had to work in the morning today. I was lucky enough to be in attendance at today's unbelievable Lakers game where Kobe Bryant, who didn't have a great game today as he had to deal with foul trouble, but he came up big in the end because that's what he does. Name another player you would rather take a shot at the end of the game than KB.

If you had told me coming into this series that Kobe would be averaging in the low 20's 4 games into the series I would have assumed either the Lakers would have been down 3-1 or have been swept. But the supporting cast has come up huge in helping out and now the Lakers are up 3-1 ready to close out the #2 seed Suns. It shows how much the team has progressed under Coach Jackson and it really proves how great of a coach he is. Many people bring up the fact that he's had the best players but on this team, many people did not expect this team to make the playoffs, much less be in this position to advance to the next round.

I've been fortunate to have been in attendance at the best Lakers playoff games of recent memory and it's tough to determine where this falls on the list. I was there for Game 7 against Portland and also for Game 4 against Sacramento, the Horry shot so it's tough to say where this ranks on all-time Lakers playoff games. Can't forget the Fisher 0.4 shot from a few years back as well. I'm just glad that I have been lucky enough to be there in person for all these great Lakers games.

Echoing Kobe's sentiments this playoff run is much more fun because the Lakers were not expected to be in this position. No one expected the Lakers to be in the playoffs, much less one win away from advancing to the 2nd round. Even though I have tickets to Game 6 as well I really don't want to have to use them. I'd much rather have the Lakers just close the series out in Phoenix. After the game I had a celebratory BBQ and a few drinks to enjoy the win even more. I'm still running through these plays in my mind as part of me can't fathom that I really witnessed what I did today. I know I said I'd have my draft recap up but the Lakers have taken over for now. I haven't had a chance yet to look in depth at the picks from the 2nd day of the draft so I'll have that draft review up later. Until then I'm going to enjoy this win because it has been one of the best I've ever witnessed as a Lakers fan.

Way to work fellas

Let's Go Smush just two more to go

The Lakers picked up another victory 99-92 over the Phoenix Suns to take a 2-1 lead in the first round playoff series. Unfortunately I was stuck at work all night, even though I had tickets to the game, but at least the Lakers picked up the W. Good thing is I have tickets to Sunday's game so I will be in attendance at that game. I wish I had some more analysis but I don't cause I only caught part of the replay before I had to get to bed since I'm writing this at work right now. The thing I can comment on is the great job that Coach Jackson this season as a team that many thought would not make the playoffs is now 2 games away from advancing past the first round.

NFL draft starts today in a few minutes and of course the big news is that Mario Williams will be drafted ahead of Reggie Bush as #1 overall. What I heard is that Reggie Bush's agent asked for so much money the Texans said forget it and just hung up the phone. There were rumors that the Saints at #2 could trade out of the spot but it looks like they're going to stay put and draft Reggie now. In other draft news, more bad news for USC and I love it, Lendale White has failed his drug test from the combine. I was thinking of live blogging while I was at work for the draft since there is so much time between picks but A. I don't have the readership to do something like that and B. related to that no one reads this site on weekends anyways, so I'll just end up doing my post draft analysis later in the day periodically or might just wait until Sunday or Monday for the draft.

What's up in South Central?

Well I was going to start talking about all the problems in South Central at USC but work at month end has held me up and during the time I was waiting The M Zone already has some stuff up on it, also the Wizard of Odds has a more in-depth look at the Reggie Bush situation as well as more details on the Sanchez story. I guess Mark "Dirty" Sanchez is living up to his name. My boy Earl has said he refuses to read my site now because of the constant USC bashing so I might as well keep it up. I wish I had more time to get into it but I don't. Just know that it definitely shows why I can't stand U$C and somewhere out there I'm laughing at all this. Especially considering Earl himself said "we're slowly becoming the miami of the west god damn it," I won't rub it in anymore. I'll get to the great Lakers victory either later tonight or tomorrow. But until then you can enjoy Kobe posterizing Nash as he tried take a flop:

Oh my goodness

For most people, this doesn't mean much but to me it means a lot. It is being reported that Kobe Bryant will be changing his jersey number to 24. I am a jersey collector, my collection currently runs around 60 deep and growing slower than it did before since I am getting older and I realize I can't wear jerseys all the time anymore. But still this is big news considering I currently own 7 Kobe jerseys, off the top of my head, I might have 8.

I was planning on writing my recap of my trip to the Clippers game last night as well as some more thoughts on tomorrow's Lakers matchup but the Ryan Mallett story as well as this Kobe changing numbers has taken over the top stories in my book. Kobe wore number 24 originally in high school until he changed to 33 which is what his dad wore. This means I have to go buy another jersey when this one hits the stores. Yes I have a jersey problem I am not afraid to admit it. It really hit me a couple weeks ago when I was out shopping for some regular clothes and I found a polo shirt I thought was nice but then I cringed when I saw the $75 price tag on it, it was an outlet store so it ended up being $40 so I bought it. But anyways, had I seen the $75 tag on a jersey that I wanted to get I would have purchased it without hesitation. Yeah I know my train of thought is really messed up, at least I've got it somewhat in check now otherwise I'd probably have over 100 jerseys.

Ryan Mallett come on down!

You've got the next seat on the ride to become an NFL quarterback after starring at Michigan! It's official, Ryan Mallett has committed to play football for the University of Michigan. It was pretty much expected considering he had yet to visit any of the other schools on his finalist list. You can read about it here, here, here, here, here, and pretty much any other site that has deals with Michigan. Mallett had long been rumored to be a Michigan lean considering his week long stay at the Michigan summer camp last year, which is rare of a player of his caliber and after hearing all of the hype starting last year Mallett is definitely someone I wanted to see in Maize and Blue.

Considering Jimmy Clausen's recent commitment to Notre Dame along, this was very big as Mallett can now help recruiting other top flight players, especially Wide Receivers as they want to know they'll have a big time QB coming in with them. Junior Hemingway come on down! Mallett won a long toss competition with a 78 yard throw, that's just ridiculous. Everyone that was worried that we struck out with all the other big names last year and only signed David Cone now have nothing to worry about as we have the next in line to take over after Henne is gone. This recruiting class for Michigan could be one ridiculous class considering how strong the state of Michigan is this year. It's time to reload and get rid of that awful taste in our mouths that was the 2005 season.

Close but not quite good enough

The Lakers opened up the playoffs with a tough 107-102 loss at Phoenix yesterday. Although it was a tough L to take I am definitely pleased with what I saw yesterday and still have confidence in this team to win this series. Kobe ran the gameplan and did not force anything unnecessary to try to get his. The plan is to pound the Suns inside because of their lack of size and it would have gotten the job done had Kwame and Lamar not missed so many point blank looks from 10 ft and in. Also would've helped if Lamar didn't shoot 50% from the Free Throw Line.

There are numerous mismatches the Lakers can take advantage of in the low post and they tried to do that for most of the game. Some of those shots just didn't fall, add that to the fact that Kobe had one of his worst games of the season shooting I can't really complain about the loss. Sure Kobe got fouled late in the game with no call and a couple of the block/charge calls were questionable but still the Lakers should have pulled that one out. Tim Thomas cannot shoot like that for the entire series and Kobe can't shoot that bad for the rest of the series as well.

I was extremely pleased with the good start by everyone on the team as it was a very balanced attack, something we're not used to seeing lately since Kobe used to have to put up 40+ for the Lakers to win but that's not the case now. Smush Parker and Luke Walton had good games, Kwame played pretty good but could have done better so it's definitely something the team can build off of.

Heading to Staples tonight to check out the Clippers-Nuggets game maybe it will be as exciting as the past two matchups the teams have had. Wonder which jersey's the Nuggets will wear tonight as they sported one of their alternate jerseys on Saturday, which look pretty tight by the way. Does anyone have more jerseys than them? I think the Clippers will take this series and as long as the Lakers can hold up their end of the bargain it could be the battle of LA in round 2.

Finally some Michigan news as the Florida State Scout site is reporting that Ryan Mallett will have his decision this week. I would assume this would be a good sign for the Maize and Blue as we are the only school that he has visited out of his finalists which also include Florida State, Oklahoma and Alabama. It has been long rumored that Michigan is the team to beat and hopefully by him moving up his timetable it will be good for us. It's always a big help when a big time player, especially a QB gets on board early and helps recruit other players as well.

My current jersey list

As I've stated before I collect jerseys and a lot of them. I always said I was going to put up a list and now I've got time so here we go, separated by College and Pro Leagues up to 73 now:

NCAA
Michigan Football Home #37 Jarrett Irons
Michigan Football Home #78 Customized
Michigan Football Home #2 Charles Woodson 100th Game Patch
Michigan Football Home #20 Mike Hart Rose Bowl
Michigan Football Road #2 Charles Woodson
Michigan Football Road #10 Tom Brady Orange Bowl
Michigan Football Alternate Maize #1
Michigan Basketball Road #54
Michigan Basketball Road #21
Michigan Basketball Road #21 Rumeal Robinson
Michigan Hockey Home
North Carolina Football Home #10 Oscar Davenport
North Carolina Football Alternate Black #23
North Carolina Basketball Road #15 Vince Carter
North Carolina Soccer Road
Texas Football Road #10 Vince Young Rose Bowl
Texas Football Alternate Black #10
Auburn Football Bo Jackson #34
TCU Football LaDainian Tomlinson #5
Oklahoma State Football Barry Sanders #21

NBA
Kobe Bryant Home Authentic
Kobe Bryant Home Swingman
Kobe Bryant Home Rookie Replica
Kobe Bryant Alternate Blue Cursive Los Angeles
Kobe Bryant Alternate Black Cursive Los Angeles
Kobe Bryant Alternate Yellow Cursive Los Angeles
Kobe Bryant Home White Swingman
Kobe Bryant Road Authentic
Robert Horry Home White Swingman
Andrew Bynum Home White Replica
Magic Johnson Road Swingman
Kevin Garnett Alternate Swingman
Tracy McGrady Orlando Road Swingman
Vince Carter Toronto Road Swingman
Darius Miles Clippers Home Swingman
Allen Iverson Road Replica
Allen Iverson Throwback Road Swingman Black
Oscar Robertson Milwaukee Bucks Road Swingman
Wilt Chamberlain Philadelphia Road Swingman
Michael Jordan Washington Bullets Home Swingman
Carmelo Anthony Road Authentic
Dwyane Wade Road Authentic
LeBron James Home Swingman
LeBron James Alternate Blue Swingman
Dwight Howard Home Swingman
Chris Paul Home Swingman

NHL
Wayne Gretzky Kings Home Authentic
Los Angeles Kings Yellow Throwback

NFL
Charles Woodson Raiders Home
Randy Moss Raiders Home
Bo Jackson Raiders Home Throwback
Vince Young Titans Alternate Authentic
Jevon Kearse Titans Home
Steve McNair Titans Alternate
Aaron Brooks Saints Home
Keyshawn Johnson Buccaneers Alternate
Michael Vick Falcons Home
Michael Vick Ferguson H.S. Home
Hines Ward Steelers Home
Julius Peppers Panthers Home
Brett Favre Hancock H.S. Home
LaDainian Tomlinson Powder Blue Throwback
Barry Sanders Lions Thanksgiving Day Throwback

MLB
Jackie Robinson Dodgers Home
Dodgers Batting Practice Jersey
Ernie Banks Cubs Home
Montreal Expos Road Throwback
Philadelphia Phillies Road Throwback
Alanta Braves Road Throwback
Bo Jackson Royals Road
Mike Cameron Seattle Mariners Home
Seattle Mariners Alternate

Soccer
Real Madrid Home
English National Team #10 Michael Owen
Ajax Amsterdam
PSV Eindhoven
Marseille
FC Barcelona
Chelsea

Great, Just Great

So I anxiously awaited the Patrick Beverley announcement much like most other Michigan fans who had been told for a couple weeks that he was pretty much a done deal and would become a Wolverine. Lo and behold he decided to commit to Arkansas today, maybe he went to bed a Wolverine and woke up a Razorback. MGoBlog has more including the use of Amaker as a verb.

The only semi-positive that comes out of this is McDonald's All-American Scotty Reynolds has asked for his release from his Letter of Intent. Michigan was one of the finalists for Reynolds along with NC State, and Oklahoma who he initially signed with. If he gets the release that he is requesting I would have to think that the Maize and Blue would be out in front for his services. He plays a definite position of need and could contribute right away. In addition the other finalist NC State has lost their coaching staff as Herb Sendek took the job at Arizona State not too long ago which would have to bode well for us. But who knows as MGoBlog says it could be Amakered.

It has been an extremely frustrating time to be a Michigan basketball fan. This is the program that I grew up with and to see it still struggling hurts. I thought it was a great hire when it was made but now I am not so sure. All there is to show is a NIT Championship and an NIT Finals appearance. Considering the situation that he walked into I think Coach deserves another year but if nothing happens I would start to sway towards the other side that wants a change. Maybe DeShawn Sims can help turn it around with Scotty Reynolds, hopefully.

The Lakers close the regular season tonight with a game against the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. They hold their own destiny as a win secures the 7th seed while a loss combined with a Sacramento win gets them the 8th seed and a date with the San Antonio Spurs. A few weeks ago if you asked me I would've thought there was no way the Lakers would make it past the first round of the playoffs. But you ask me now and I think the Lakers have a great chance to advance. The team is playing extremely well at this point and the other players are stepping up to support Kobe. This team can make some noise and advance, maybe to play the Clippers in the 2nd round? That'd be pretty crazy.

In Dee Face!!!

I am the Prince of Zamunda
The Lakers continued their winning ways over the weekend as they defeated Portland and Phoenix to take over 7th place in the Western Conference with only one game left to play. The Lake Show controls their own destiny as to whether they will play San Antonio or Phoenix in the first round. Couldn't watch Kobe drop 50 and Lamar pick up his 2nd triple double in a row on Friday as I was working late again but I was in attendance at yesterday's game against the Suns. I've been lucky this year as all my tickets in the PR section up until yesterday as I was back in the 300's where I sit for the majority of the games I've gone to but damn I forgot how high it was up there. But it was still cool as you got the birds eye view of the court and could see the plays unfold. The Lakers jumped out the gate 16-1 and didn't look back. Phoenix cut it to the low teens at one point but the Lakers were in control the entire time.

Which leads me to something I've said before but we are truly witnessing greatness as Kobe is going into his prime. His jumper was off yesterday but he still ended up with 43 points. When he scores 30 points a game we think to ourselves only 30 points? 40 is also a regular occurence, only when he gets over 50 do we start being amazed because we expect Kobe to put up numbers like this every night. With number 8 on our side you can't count the Lakers out in any series because if he catches fire he could singlehandedly win a series, hell maybe two who knows.
50 ppg for a series? You know he could do it
Afterwards I took part in my first ever doubleheader as a fan and headed to Chavez Ravine to watch the Dodgers play the Giants. The game itself wasn't that great. Maybe it was cause I was so tired from the Lakers game and baseball is just so slow at times but it was just ok. The crowd got riled up for Barry Bonds every time and even when he wasn't up to bat the Barry Sucks chants would start out of nowhere. The Dodgers had their chances but could not bring any runs home and ended up dropping the game 2-0. The GW run for the Giants actually came on the balk by Jae Seo. It was pretty stupid on his part as he was pitching a very good game up until that point in the 6th inning. What I didn't understand was Hamulack, I think that's who was pitching at the time, get tossed for hitting Bonds, I did not think that warranted a tossing but I guess the ump saw something we didn't in the stands.

There was a disturbing thing I did see at the game though and that would be the white trash family I saw that put electrical tape on their shirts so the front spelled Barry and the back said Sucks. Now you may ask how that is disturbing but it was because it the kids the parents had brought could not have been older than 10 years old. If I had to guess I would've guessed around 5, 7 and 9 were the ages on the kids. Now I rant and rave about sports and how I hate certain players and teams but there's a point where I draw the line. Yes I may curse at games and start talking shit but if I see an underage child I try to control myself or in cases where I miss them if a parent says something to me I will always apologize and refrain from going off for the rest of that game. It was just classless and it's never something I thought I'd see in Los Angeles. Columbus, Ohio on the other hand it wouldn't shock me at all to see a family like that.
Maybe it's my age or something but I'm starting to become more calm at sporting events but I just can't act like the asshole I did at games unless I'm drunk, which is a rare occurence. Although that side of me is probably just on break right now waiting to return with football season.

Blogger Roundtable from Schembechler Hall

I've been too into the Lakers recently to post this up and since Spring Ball is in full effect with the Spring Game/Practice or whatever they're going to hold taking place tomorrow I figured it was finally a good time to post my responses.

1) It's early, but thus far, which offseason change or changes in college football are you most excited about?

Of course being a Michigan fan the changes that I'm most excited about are the changes in the coaching staff that took place in Ann Arbor. Ron English takes over the Defensive Coordinator role and we have new DB and LB coaches as well, so I am eagerly awaiting the new look aggressive defense that we are supposed to see this upcoming season.

The other change I'm definitely looking forward to is the decline of USC. Everyone knows how much I can't stand them so I will be glad to actually see them lose a game or two during the season, although I still think they probably win the Pac-10, unless Nathan Longshore turns out to be the great QB that he is supposed to be. Along with that comes the absence of a true favorite for the national championship this year. It will be fun to watch as there is no overwhelming favorite like there has been the past few years with USC.

2) With spring practice underway, what are the three concerns about your team that are causing you the most anxiety? (USC fans can't just list the departures of Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, and LenDale White.)

1. Offensive Line - the line needs to step up for us to have a better year, last year there were problems all over the place and like they say the games are won in the trenches and we weren't doing that. One of the big reasons why last year was so bad.

2. Defense - The other reason for the sub par sesaon, as the Defense continued to blow leads throughout second halves and it was frustrating to watch. I know just saying Defense is really vague and I could go into more detail but my brain is just too tired from working over 13 hours a day the past two days.

3. Go to WR - We've had go to WR's for years starting from David Terrell to Marquise Walker to Braylon Edwards to Jason Avant, the one guy the QB looks towards when they need a big catch. For once we do not have that go to guy and I am curious to see who steps up. Sure we have plenty of talent but none of these guys has shown to get the ball when necessary. Will it be Breaston or Manningham? Will Arrington finally live up to the praise he's always received? It'd be nice if one of these guys steps up to be the Man when it's needed.

3) Care to take a stab at a preseason top five?

I'll probably look like an idiot in a few months but here goes...

1. Auburn - the Tigers finished last year with a disappointing loss to Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl but return plenty of starters most notably Brandon Cox and Kenny Irons. The Tigers are loaded and ready to go with a favorable schedule which includes games against LSU, Georgia and Florida all at home.

2. LSU - loaded with talent, the only question is which QB will be the starter. Jamarcus Russell, Peach Bowl winner Matt Flynn or super redshirt frosh Ryan Perrilloux. Doesn't matter who they choose it will be a talented signal caller under center and Les Miles has plenty to work with. But the schedule does look brutal with games at Auburn and Florida.

3. Oklahoma - The Sooners will be back next season as they closed out last year strong with a victory over Oregon in the Holiday Bowl. The biggest thing is Adrian Peterson will be healthy which makes a world of difference. Rhett Bomar also has a year of experience under his belt and should be much improved, as long as he doesn't continue to let all his underage drinking get in the way. There is a potential stumbling block as they must travel west to face the Oregon Ducks but I think it's only Michigan that blows games on the west coast.

4. Notre Dame - a lot of teams have the Buckeyes and Irish 1 and 2 in their preseason polls but I just don't see it, probably partially due to my bias but ND didn't really beat any really good teams last year, all their supposed tough games weren't all that tough and they got a lot of credit for coming close to winning a game. The Fighting Irish add games against Georgia Tech, UCLA and Penn State this year so we shall see how they handle it, although all their tough games are at home, minus the trip to USC.

5. Ohio State - after beating up on the Irish in the Fiesta Bowl as well as returning all of their offensive firepower, the Buckeyes are another one of the early favorites for preseason #1 but they also have questions marks as well. Troy Smith and Ted Ginn provide the offense but what about the defense? The trademark of Ohio State teams has been their great defense but they have lost 9 starters from last year's D. Sure there will be some kids stepping up but I think that's too much lost on that side of the ball for them to be considered #1. The schedule is another concern as they must travel to Austin and Iowa City, but if they pass those tests they should easily be undefeated coming into the season finale at the Horseshoe against Michigan.

Just missed: Texas- who will be the QB?, West Virginia - will they live up to the hype?

That's what I'm talkin about

Another rough couple days at work so I haven't had a chance to update, I'm actually still at work now it's pretty ridiculous. The Lakers picked up a big 111-100 win over the Warriors, which combined with the Queens loss puts the Lakers up to 7th with 3 games to play. Once again Lamar Odom had a very good game, this time putting up his first career triple double with the Lakers. He is playing great ball of late and if this continues the Lakers will be able to do something in the playoffs. The supporting cast is starting to step up big time, seen by Smush Parker's 18 and Kwame Brown's 15 and 15. The Lakers were able to build up a big enough lead that Kobe didn't have to play the 4th. The more impressive thing about last night was that the Lakers made their huge run to pull away without Kobe scoring as he only had one point in the 2nd half.

Which leads me to my point of which why I believe Kobe Bryant is the league MVP this season. Sure I am somewhat biased in my beliefs but I am also realistic in that I really hope I'm wrong but I don't think Kobe will win. Much like I believed that Vince Young deserved the Heisman but wouldn't win, I think the same with Kobe because I don't believe there is a more valuable player in the NBA than Kobe. Without Kobe I don't believe the Lakers would win 25 games. Night in, night out he is the focal point of the opposing defenses yet he still puts up 30+ a night, with his average at 35 points this year, it's amazing that we think to ourselves that when Kobe "only" puts up 30 he's had an off night.

A big thing I like to look at it how would that players team do without that player on their team? You take Steve Nash off the Suns they still have Shawn Marion and a supporting cast, take Dirk off the Mavs and you still have a good nucleus, take Chauncey Billups off the Pistons you still have 3 all stars. You don't have that luxury with the Lakers. The team that they put on the floor without Kobe just isn't that good. But many voters will take a look at wins and losses, which to a certain extent is necessary, but not the major factor that voters take into account. You take all 3 MVP candidates that I mentioned earlier off their respective teams and those teams are still playoff bound. A Kobe-less Lakers team is going to try their luck with the ping pong balls come May. I understand a lot of people hate Kobe but you can't deny the man's talents. He should be the MVP of the league this year but, unfortunately, I don't think it'll happen, but that's just my opinion which is what makes sports so interesting as we're all able to debate the merits of our opinions at all times. Granted I'm on the extreme end of the spectrum of sports fans but sometimes I wonder what I would do without sports.

Craziness

After an extremely rough week me and a bunch of my friends got crunked up at Earl, BJ and Dave's Birthday party up in LA. Normally I'm not one to frequent those types of places but I make exceptions for birthdays so off I went. It must've been a good time because half of the people there don't remember what the hell happened and I barely remember what went down.

So as I spent Sunday recovering from Saturday night I ended up just laying around watching sports all day, not like I wouldn't do that anyways. I woke up late to the news that Phil Mickelson was leading Fred Couples by a stroke at the Masters which was great to hear. Fred Couples was my favorite golfer growing up and I was definitely excited to see him get a chance at winning. He's the reason I wanted to buy Lynx clubs when I started to play. But it wasn't to be as Phil ended up holding everyone off and picked up his 2nd green jacket.

After that ended I waited around for the Lakers-Clippers game to start. Since the Lakers blew their 2 1/2 game lead over the Queens for the 7th spot in the West, every game is critical now as they fight to get the 7th seed. The Lakers picked up an important win over the Clippers and kept pace with the Queens who beat the Rockets last night as well. Both teams have 4 games to play but the Lakers are technically one game behind, although they have identical records, because Sacramento has the tiebreaker. Lamar Odom played a great game, playing aggressive when he needed to and stepped up as he needed to. He's been playing very good ball of late and the Lakers definitely need him to keep it up if they want to make any noise in the playoffs. The moment of the night though came near the end of the game with the Lakers having a good lead but another basket would've definitely sealed it and Kobe drained a three while Sam Cassell was guarding him. After which he wound up and slapped Cassell on the ass as in saying "nice try Sam." My friends and I saw this and had a good laugh about it and I got to thinking and it's just like Kobe's commercial says, Hate me or love me for the same reasons. Myself along with all other Lakers fans thought it was great but I know for all the Lakers and Kobe Haters it just added fuel to the fire about why they hate Kobe.

Spring Football is starting to wrap up around the country as a lot of teams had their spring game this past weekend. Michigan is holding theirs this Saturday so hopefully I'll read/hear about some good reports from the game. I wish we would televise our game like other programs have started doing but I doubt that will ever happen.

I really need a drink

Shits been crazy around work so much so that I said "I need a drink" at 10 am yesterday, that kind of day and I'm still here at this hour on Friday night with plenty to do so this post will be short. Nothing new on the Alex Legion front, although his mom thinks he's still looking at Michigan as #1 but he doesn't live with his mom so who knows. Similar talk came out of the Joe Crawford family when he initially de-committed so I'm not taking much stock in it.

The Lakers dropped a game to the Nuggets in OT. I missed most of the game but caught the very end when Luke Walton threw up the shot for the win, granted Kobe was covered but I would've liked someone else to try that shot. That puts the Lakers only one game ahead of Sacramento for the 7th spot in the West and with the Grizzlies 3 1/2 games ahead in 6th it's pretty much done that the Lakers will have to face Phoenix or San Antonio/Dallas in the first round which isn't something to look forward to. Kobe had his usual game while Lamar played ok and the Lakers received another very good game from Kwame Brown with 15 points and 13 rebounds but Smush Parker was off last night. I'd expect if Kobe, Lamar and Kwame play like that the Lakers get some easy W's but it wasn't the case. Let's see if they can get something done tonight in a very likely playoff preview against the Suns.

No Fucking Way

I was ready to write this post about the excitement of Michigan picking up their 3rd verbal commitment for the 07 Class in DE/TE Ryan VanBergen until MGoBlog had to post this: Alex Legion: Panic. Alex Legion is the highest rated recruit to commit to Michigan basketball in a long time and it was rumored he would be transferring from Country Day to Oak Hill Academy but I remember reading somewhere his coach/guardian say that as long as Coach Amaker was around he was going to be a Wolverine.

For Wolverine fans that have followed basketball recruiting the past few years this is too similar to the commitment and de-commitment of Joe Crawford and Al Horford who ended up at Kentucky and Florida, respectively. The other fucked up part about it is that this could end up like the Crawford situation where we lose out on other targets because of the his initial commitment, in this case Durrell Summers and Kalin Lucas who committed to Michigan State after the commitment by Legion. Not the news I needed to hear today but I guess we'll have to move on without him. He does have the coach/guardian situation which has a lot of people worried so it could be the best. Not sure if re-opening means Michigan is completely eliminated or still has a chance we will have to wait and see.

Way to choke Denver

I had to leave the office early which is why my post yesterday ended abruptly to head to Staples Center again this time for the Clippers-Nuggets game. The Nuggets started out on fire, especially Marcus Camby who did not miss from the field in the first half. The Clippers didn't start that terribly either but by half the Nuggets had a 77-57 lead. That is not a typo, the Nuggets had 77 points on 81.6% shooting in the first half. No one on the Nuggets was less than 50% from the field.

But all that changed in the 2nd half as the Nuggets went cold and the Clippers came back with a fury cutting the lead to 3 near the end of the 3rd. Corey Maggette didn't play as much as I'm used to seeing him, granted I haven't watched a Clippers game not involving the Lakers in months, maybe they're still easing him in after the injury. It was an exciting finish with the Clippers taking the lead and then Carmelo Anthony got pissed after he got fouled and chucked the ball into the stands to get ejected. Then in the stupid move of the night IMO, George Karl replaced him with Reggie Evans when he knew that the substitute would be shooting FT's. Of course Evans went on to miss both in a tight game and the Nuggets ended up losing by 2. It was a good game and it gives the Clippers some more momentum heading down the home stretch as they try to keep the #5 spot in the West.

Since I was in a suite I was able to watch the Dodgers game against the Braves whenever I got a chance and the Dodgers picked up win #1 of the year and of the Grady Little era. Hope there are many more to come this year. I can't wait to head up to Chavez Ravine, down some 40's in the parking lot and watch the Dodgers, hopefully in a week and a half against the giants and that cheater Barry Bonds as long as I don't have to work. Speaking of Bonds, I saw a few clips of his new show on ESPN and I must say it was awesome. Seeing him cry and complain and whine was great, he deserves it all and I'll be glad when he's gone. This new investigation that the MLB is heading up will finally dig up everything necessary and prove him to be the cheater that he is. The best part of it was the billboard they've put up by Pac Bell SBC AT&T Park which just says "TRADE BARRY," although no one will take him due to his baggage.

That wasn't cool

I had written half of my post originally before my browser shut down on me and I had nothing saved, that sucked. Hopefully this conveys as much as I wanted to initially. It wasn't a very good night last night considering I was still stuck at work, UCLA got beat badly and because of that I lost everything I bet on last night, even the under. I was ready to launch into a tirade immediately following the game but knew that would be no use, Florida was the better team and played a great game, how they played it on the other hand is another story.

Even when I was growing up I never liked Florida, I don't know why I can't pinpoint a certain reason like I can with most of the other schools I hate, I just didn't like them. Add that to the fact that I think Joakim Noah is a douchebag and you can see I now hate Florida. Don't get me wrong they are a great team and my hats off to them for playing as good of a game I've seen this tournament but I just don't like them. Noah gets away with too much and gets too much respect. I also can't stand the way he carries himself as the first time I really saw him this tournament was against Villanova when he started off the game screaming 3 minutes into the game and arguing with the officials. The Gators could have held the ball to run more clock but instead they had to run up the score with slam dunks, guess they're all the same down in Gainesville no matter the sport.

No one from the Bruins showed up to play except for Jordan Farmar. In the biggest game of the year, Afflalo and Mbah A Moute were non-factors and that killed any chances for the Bruins, Farmar can't carry the team by himself. Nonetheless it was a great year for the Bruins and they will be back next year with everyone minus Hollins and Bozeman and adding Shipp who was out for the year as well as Keefe and a Euro big, they should be an early favorite for the title, IMO although no one at ESPN thought so.

Florida is also loaded and young, but I think a lot of their players are bound to jump for the NBA considering the great performances they had during the tournament. I expect Noah and Brewer to leave and Horford may as well but we shall wait and see. This tournament has been a great try out for Noah and Tyrus Thomas who are now considered top 5 picks for the draft. So in closing, congratulations to the Florida Gators who played a great game, most of it is probably my bitterness still lingering from losing all my money yesterday.

After tonight I'll really struggle waiting for Football Season

At least while College Basketball is on it's something to distract me from looking ahead to next year's Football season. This year's tournament has been amazing and it will be sad to see it go. Coming into the tournament, I thought Florida was a very good team but did not expect to see them past the Sweet 16, or Elite 8 at the furthest. But they have proven me wrong, they can hit the 3 from the outside along with a great inside game headed by Noah and Horford. UCLA on the other hand I expected this type of run as I believed they could win the National Championship but thought they were one season away from it. I had them in the Final Four but with UConn and Duke out I thought they had a chance to take it all.

Florida broke the game open on Saturday when Lee Humphrey decided to show up and just rain from 3 at the beginning of the 2nd half. That will be a big difference between LSU and Florida for UCLA. LSU did not hit a single 3 pointer on Saturday, becoming the first team since the 2nd year of the Fab Five to not hit a 3 in the Final Four. Horford and Noah are just as good, if not better than Davis and Thomas but there is the added threat of the perimeter game that LSU did not have.

However, UCLA's bigs have played extremely well throughout this tournament and they continue to do so. Ryan Hollins has been great throughout this run while Luc Richard Mbah A Moute has emerged as a serious player, even Lorenzo Mata is doing his part with his tough D, it must be the mask that he has to wear since he broke his nose, maybe it'll be like Rip Hamilton and bring his team luck while winning a championship. Aaron Afflalo has had good games but he has not exploded like we know he can, if he does watch out, and Jordan Farmar has been shooting the ball very well and if he's stroking the 3 as he did on Saturday, UCLA will be extremely tough to beat. You know what I'm going to say, I've got a good amount of money riding on it as well, I'm picking the UCLA Bruins to win the championship, a year earlier than expected.

The weekend that never ends

Before we get started, RBUAS has a great post on his coverage of the NIT Final. Go check it out if you've never read any of his stuff, always good work, much better than anything I've got to offer. Also, Hines Ward receives a hero's welcome as he returns to Korea for the first time since he was a year old.

The weekend was cool, it feels extremely weird being back at work today, it felt like a really long weekend and like I had been away from work for a long time. Probably because I appreciated my free time more considering I worked 40+ hours from Wednesday through Friday. I finally got to eat at Lawry's on Saturday as I had told everyone I refused to eat there until Michigan made it to the Rose Bowl and I just hadn't gone because we had lost the two Rose Bowls and I didn't want to be reminded of it but I am glad I went. It was a great meal eating the Beef Bowl cut, but it was sort of depressing to see the Michigan pennants in the display as they had pennants for the last 3 matchups on display. The display also contained autographed footballs from both teams of the most recent Rose Bowl so I will not go again to Lawry's until Michigan wins a Rose Bowl.

It was fun monetarily considering my bet on UCLA but it was disappointing to watch both Final Four games as they were not competitive at all. This tourney has been the most fun to watch in recent memory but the Final Four was just boring. I must say though I was definitely impressed watching UCLA just own LSU. I thought UCLA would win but definitely not in that fashion. Luc Richard Mbah A Moute is a stud and it's scary to think he's only a freshman that's played 5 years of basketball. I still think UCLA gets it done tonight but I'll go into that later. I was also impressed with Florida's D as it's not getting the credit they deserve. Joakim Noah is extremely long and made it difficult for George Mason to get anything done on the inside. I still think he's a douchebag though.

Couldn't find a buyer for the Lakers game so I ended up going which wasn't all that bad. Kobe only dropped 43 points and tied the franchise record for most 40 point games in a season. It's just amazing to watch him play as he makes everything seem so easy. I don't think he missed a shot in the 3rd quarter until the very end as he dropped 23 in the 3rd pushing his total to 41 and opened up a big lead for the Lakers. Yao Ming was on as well yesterday hitting all sorts of turn around jumpers and led Houston with 33. A side note on the game though was Rafer "Skip to my Lou" Alston who I hadn't seen in a long time. He looked, from afar, like he was on crack or something. He still has game but he looked like he lost a ton of weight and it's not like he was big before. His legs looked the same size as his arms and did air ball a 3 and came up short on other shots.


You can't stop me, you can only stare and watch me

Although it's not the weekend anymore, it still feels like it with all the sports on today. Opening Day is today and I'm definitely excited about the Dodgers chances this year, they should at least win the division considering how weak it is. Combine that excitement along with the National Championship game tonight it feels like a Saturday to me. I'll post my preview of tonight's game a little bit later. I just hope I can get out of work early enough so I can actually watch the game.