At least the Cardinals will have a nice stadium

From the Arizona Cardinals home page:

The 152,000 square-foot concrete stadium floor will have a utility grid embedded in the floor and can host various events like trade and consumer shows, conventions, concerts, motor sports and rodeos.

The grass field remains outside the stadium in the sun until game day getting the maximum amount of sunshine and nourishment, eliminating humidity problems inside the stadium and providing unrestricted access to the stadium floor for events and staging.

The tray will take approximately 45 minutes to move. The tray will rest atop tracks and will roll out on steel wheel sets powered by small electric motors.

The field will support approximately 94,000 square feet (over 2 acres) of natural grass. Having the rollout field saves $50 million in costs since it is more economical to move the field than having the entire roof retract to allow the necessary sunshine to reach the grass.

The natural grass playing surface is contained in a retractable, 12-million pound tray that will be 234 feet wide by 400 feet long, the first of its kind in North America.

When the Cardinals are playing poorly, fans should be allowed to press the button the ejects the field and teams out of the stadium.

Tomorrow's weather: Phoenix: 75 Degrees, Toronto: 27 Degrees

Where would you like to work?

Bryan Colangelo chooses Toronto.

Besides the good weather Colangelo is giving up, he's also leaving a talented team with the best point guard in the game. Also, something tells me that he won't have an easy time convincing players to play in Toronto rather than Phoenix.

Apparently this was caused by friction between Colangelo and the Suns new owner. I can understand getting away from a bad boss, but, Bryan, it's 75 degrees in Phoenix!

"That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age..."

Theo Epstein is going to the prom.

Celtics vs Lakers and the NBA

Paul Pierce is playing the best basketball of his life as the Celtics beat the Lakers in what sounds like an exciting game. Unfortunately, I missed the game because I was watching Iron Chef America.

I wouldn't have missed a Celtics Lakers game in the eighties, but then again Iron Chef wasn't on back then. The Godfather and Patriotsy2k have commented recently on the poor state of the NBA. The Godfather complained about the lack of teamwork and passing while Patriotsy2k pointed out how expansion watered down the talent. They're both right for a change.

The NBA will never be better than the eighties NBA; we should stop comparing the game to that era. It's like trying to compare the girls of Hampton Beach in New Hampshire to South Beach girls. Appreciate what you had in the eighties (and at South Beach), and make the best out of today's game (try to find that 1% of NH girls under 200 pounds and with all their teeth).

That being said, today's NBA is better than their product from about five years ago. The Godfather pointed out how teams that actually play like teams (Spurs and Pistons) are the most successful, and I received a drunken phone call from Patriotsy2k from a bar room telling me that he was watching some exciting Western Conference basketball.

So there is some good NBA basketball. The Suns and the Mavericks play an exciting team game. Wade, LeBron, Iverson, and Pierce are great to watch. The key to enjoying the NBA is to ignore the bad stuff (which I have mentioned repeatedly) and pay attention to the good stuff.

Guess the Athlete!

"We don't miss him, by the way. If you go out there and ask any one of my players or staff members, we don't miss him. We don't miss his attitude. We don't miss the whining. We don't miss it. Good riddance. See you later"

What athlete inspired these words from his former General Manager?

Flu like symptoms

I've been sick (not the Stuart Scott "sick" when describing a Vince Carter dunk) for the last few days, and I'm still not at 100%, maybe 62% -- I'll try to confirm this with my health rubric.

Anyway, if you miss my Red Sox optimism, go here.

Answer to Guess the Athlete!

It's the third leading scorer in college basketball, Gary Neal. He's averaging about one point less than JJ Redick.

Waiting for Manny news

He's not playing in the WBC.

What does Larry Brown think about the Steve Francis trade?

Found the image at The Swamp.

Earlier I discussed having the other three starters stay back on defense. Little did I know that women used to do that in Iowa (thanks to Memphis Bengal at The Sports Frog). Maybe the Knicks could beat some Iowa women.

Two point guards who don't pass

Steve Francis has been traded to the Knicks because having one Stephon Marbury just isn't enough. If you're a forward or center on the Knicks do you bother going to the offensive end of the court? I would just hang out on the defensive end, rest, and chat with Spike Lee a little bit as we watch Stevie Franchise and the self-proclaimed best point guard in basketball show off their skillz.

1936 Olympics

I got an e-mail that wasn't spam (I think)!

Hi!

I'm Monkeyfister, forever poster at the Forum, and big supporter of Bartcop...

I thought you might be interested in the Full Leni Reifenstahl Classic"OLYMPIA-- The 1936 Berlin Olymics" for free stream. I think that your (our) readers would be interested.

http://blah3.com/article-1653-thread-0-0.html

This is the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where Jesse owens shoved the aryan ideal bullshit straight up Hitler's arse... This is super-hard to find footage...

For as much as Reifenstahl and Hitler wanted this movie to be a "nazi rout" of the Olympics, Leni managed to play out a fairly decently balaced journalistic portrayal of the event... those first 10-15 minutes before Hitler starts running his yap, are brilliant bits of iconic filming. Welles, Chaplin, and Hitchcock used the techniques that she pioneered. I'm no racist, by far... but this film is as timely as it is incredible to see in entirety.I hope you enjoy it.

It's really worth the viewing... hell, they were doing High-Jumps in the middle of the night by torch-light.... THAT is some serious athleticism!

All the best,

Tony B.

Monkeyfister

Waiting for Manny, Day 1

Good news for Boston Sports Radio: Manny's coming to Spring Training late. Let the controversy begin.

How to retire

Just do it.

Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Brett Favre should just stop being publicity whores. If you want to play, play. If not, retire and leave. If you're not sure about it, don't say anything.

Guess the Athlete!

Answer to Guess the Athlete! Holiday Edition

Someone must have hacked into Patriotsy2k's account because he got it right. Lincoln Kennedy, a Presidents' Day two-for-one special.

If Lincoln Kennedy were a rapper, we could call him 51 cent.

Guess the Athlete! Holiday Editiion

Spicoli Williams

Ricky Williams reportedly failed another drug test.

Good ideas

Good news for the Knicks!

Nate Robertson won the dunk contest, but Iguodala should have. When you screw up a self alley oop it should be considered a missed dunk. This problem has plagued the dunk contest in the past, and Robertson's 15 attempts of the same dunk will hopefully cause a rule change.


Spud Webb fails to take a charge. If he had gone to Duke, he would have already flopped and gotten a whistle.


Amazing.

Where are they now?

I was watching the Rookie All Star Game last night, and I noticed there were no North Carolina players. The four underclassmen who led their team to a championship and were so prevalent during the draft are now struggling to get minutes for teams out of playoff contention.

Pick # 2 Marvin Williams 22.7 minutes, 6.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists
# 5 Raymond Felton 26.2, 9.4, 3.2, 4.5
# 13 Sean May 17.3, 8.2, 4.7, 1.0 (injured)
# 14 Rashad McCants 12.5, 5.5, 1.3, 0.5

Answer to Guess the Athlete!

Bryan got it right. Art Shell, the former/current head coach of the Raiders.

Relating something that has nothing to do with sports with sports

I did this a long time ago (probably during a similar time when the sports world was boring):

Cheney takes blame for shooting friend

Takes a big man to take the blame for shooting someone by accident. Reminds me of when my doubles partner would say, "My Bad," after double faulting.

Beanpot Champs Again

I can't watch more than 5 minutes of an NHL game, but last night I was captivated by a college hockey game. The Beanpot Final was one of the best sporting events I've watched in a long time.

At least he has talent going for him

"I'm hoping Sasha Cohen digs gold medals." --Shaun "the Flying Tomato" White.

Bad news, good news

Putting up with this, but...


The Red Sox equipment truck has left for Florida.

Guess the Athlete!

The Adam Morrison experience

I finally watched a Gonzaga game this year. I went into the game cynical about Morrison. It didn't help that in the introduction ESPN compared him to Larry Bird and Pistol Pete. Are you allowed to compare white basketball players to black players? Are you allowed to compare black players to Larry Bird?

By the time the game ended, however, I was a full fledged member of the Adam Morrison Fan Club. I've already ordered my fake mustache. I see where the Bird comparisons come from. The easy comparisons to make is how he looks unathletic and goofy, and how he plays with a swagger.

Two other similarities to Bird make me like his game:
1. He moves aggressively without the ball, which is something you rarely see from modern players.
2. He'll still shoot with a defender right in his face. Big men are trained to kick the ball out if they don't have an open look, but that doesn't make sense if the big man can shoot. I'd rather have Morrison shoot a ten footer with a guy in his face than a guard driving to the basket praying for a whistle.

Before I get too carried away with Morrison, he doesn't rebound like Bird and he doesn't pass like Bird. As for Gonzaga, along with Morrison, J.P. Batista's a skilled big man and point guard Derek Raivio hits 95% of his free throws (something that always comes in handy in March). That said, they struggled to beat an unranked Stanford team, so John Stockton and Dan Dickau shouldn't buy their champaign yet.

The wisdom of Sir Charles

''Paul Pierce is like Reggie Miller on his prom, he didn't have a date. He's lonely in Boston. He's Michael Jackson and he's playing with a bunch of Tito Jacksons."

Olympic Curling Preview

The game may have been invented in Scotland, but the Candadians act like they own the sport. However, a gold medal in Curling for the Canadians might not come as easy as a St. Lawrence Street damsel. The United States is representing this year!

"I wouldn't have a problem saying our U.S. women's team is as strong as one of the top teams in Canada," said Steve Brown, the U.S. women's coach.

So why is the Joe Namath of Curling Coaches so confident? Unless you've been living in a cave, you already know it's because of the Johnson sisters. Cute Cassie is the skip, and Jet Setting Jamie is the vice skip. They can skip with me anytime.

They're not twins (Jamie's a year older), but it's been said they have some sort of mental communication working on the ice. True, they're quiet; their games will have far fewer "Hurry hard!"s than those on neighboring sheets.

I've heard plenty of "hurry's" and "hards" from the Johnson sisters on my sheets.

Before we get too caught up in the US, Canada rivalry, we better show Scotland some respect. Groundskeeper Willy may be a happy man because the Scots playing under the British flag have a secret weapon:

The country's Olympic curlers will be armed in Torino with state-of-the-art brooms that measure sweeping efficiency. (Not for retail sale, but they reportedly cost $39,120 to develop.) How much pressure are they applying to the ice? What is the range of motion in front of the stone? The data is collected, analyzed and kept top secret.

Looks like the Brits got a hold of Harry Potter's Firebolt! Don't matter. Even if the U.S. team is using Cleansweeps and Nimbus 2000's they'll still be bring home the Curling Gold.

Answer to Guess the Athlete!

Hines Ward, winner of Super Bowl XL MVP.

If the NHL is in the news, you know it's bad news

There's a gambling ring involving the mob, NHL coaches, players, maybe an owner, and the greatest hockey player of all time (plus his delicious wife). I'm not going to get into details about this because I'm too lazy to read beyond a headline and much of the stories right now are just speculation.

I just have three thoughts:
1. People who say this could ruin the sport need to calm down. I've been hearing a lot of hyperbole -- some even saying this could be the end of the NHL. Will this be a black eye for the NHL? Yes. Will this cause the league to die? No. Baseball recovered from Pete Rose and basketball recovered from gambling controversies of the 70's. If the NHL dies, you could blame it on poor decision making by the owners and commissioner, not just on a scandal.

2. Is this an isolated incident? Gambling's big in America, and it's very popular with professional athletes. I think it's pretty naive to think that this is the first time professional athletes gambled while mingling with members of the mob. This time, people were just dumb enough to get caught.

3. No matter how bad things get for Gretzky, this is what he still has waiting for him every night:

Teams using DVD's to attract players

It was reported today that the Red Sox are creating a DVD to persuade Roger Clemens to come back to the Red Sox. If Clemens is smart he avoids those American League lineups and stay in the weak hitting National League.

However, I do like the idea of teams making promotional DVD's to attract players. Maybe Anna Benson can make herself useful to the Orioles and make her own DVD. Wouldn't you sign with the Orioles if one of the player's wives made a video. Paris Hilton could direct.

Anyone watch the playoffs this year?

Guess who's favored to win the Super Bowl next year? The Edgerrin James-less Colts!

Let's pretend it didn't happen

The Super Bowl is the NFL's ultimate display to the world. It's a time to show off professional football to the casual fan and curious non-fans all over the world. So what did these people get: poor quarterback play, poor receiving (even the Super Bowl MVP had several drops), poor coaching by Holmgren, lackluster commercials, terrible halftime show, bad television coverage (Does it cost extra for ABC to show instant replays?), just two outstanding plays (Parker's run and Randle El's TD throw), and abysmal officiating.

When are season tickets for next year available!

There's not much the NFL can do about poor playing and poor coaching, but they can fix the officiating. Some friendly advice:

• Let them play! You usually do this with offensive line play; that's why it was so surprising to see the Seahawks called for holding so often. Watch offensive linemen and you'll see them hold on every play. Smartly, it's usually only called when it's very blatant and it strongly affects the play. The same standard should be used in calling pass interference.
• Too many special teams penalties being called. Fix this. Players did not get stupid all of a sudden. Officials decided to emphasize special team penalties so much that it was impossible to watch a game without seeing a flag on a return. Special team penalties can often be a difference of 20 to 40 yards, so when a penalty is called, it better be blatant enough that the whole stadium could see it. Again, let them play.
• Fire this year's Super Bowl official. This time it's not just me whining about the officials. Last night, it was the main theme on Fox Sports Radio. There are several articles on officiating too. When the officials become the story, it's time for them to go.
  

Guess the Athlete!

My Super Bowl diary

Instead of going out for the Super Bowl, I stayed home and wrote whatever came to mind. My thoughts are divided by quarter, so to follow what I was thinking from the beginning you need to go down to my first post and work your way up.

4th quarter thoughts

• Going into the 4th quarter, the Seahawks clearly have the stronger quarterback right now
• Any commercial with Benny Hill music is a good commercial.
• A lot of trash talking. Do these team realize they're playing in the Super Bowl. Priorities?
• Alexander starting to play like an MVP
• Where were these refs when the Broncos were holding the Pats on every play?
• What was I saying about the stronger quarterback. Another terrible interception.
• Maybe I can use the Brett Favre excuse. The receiver ran the wrong route.
• Another bad call against the Seahawks. Jerome Bettis's mother must be the head of officials.
• Great pass by Randall El. Everything is going right for the Seahawks.
• Roethlisberger threw an illegal block on that touchdown pass. Brady got called for the same block earlier this year.
  
• MacGyver's on. Patty and Selma are happy.
• Absolutely terrible officiating. First there's the phantom holding and now the supposed Hasselbeck fumble.
• Every close call on the field is going the Steelers way. The supposed Roethlisberger touchdown and now this fumble. The first one was at least close, but there is no excuse for that fumble call.
• Bad quarterback play, dropped passes, bad officiating, curious coaching decisions. Not a good game.
• Great time for a corner blitz.
• If this Seahawk punter could have avoided the endzone just once, the Seahawks may have been in better shape.
• My Super Bowl MVP goes to Jerome Bettis.
• Timeout was called after Roethlisberger clock hit zero. Another bad call.
• Nifty third down play by the Steelers. Number 54 was holding, but why call that?
• Good call by Madden predicting the bootleg run by Roethlisberger.
• Terrible throw by Hasselbeck. Forget what I said about the stronger quarterback. The strongest quarterback on the field was Randall El. Actually it was Tom Brady with the coin toss.
• And that's the ballgame. Congrats to Steeler fans, be proud bandwagon jumpers.
  

Third quarter thoughts

• Wait. The Steelers have a running back not named Jerome Bettis.
• That touchdown run came out of nowhere
  
• Sharpie retractable? Finally some excitement.
• None of these receivers will make us forget about Jerry Rice. Lots of drops.
• Polamalu with a big missed tackle on third down.
• Maybe Joey Porter was right about Jerramy Stevens. Catch the ball.
• I liked Joey Potter much better than Joey Porter.
• Missed field goal. Where's Adam Vinatieri when you need him.
• Remember how I said it was good that the Seahawks were using a quick pace. They're not doing it anymore and their offense is stalling.
• Pro Bowl ad. Why bother?
• Now that's a nice shoe string catch by Ward.
• Seahawks need a big play soon.
• They "miked" Jerome Bettis. Dear ABC, he's a backup running back. I don't care about him. Focus on the good players who are actually making plays.
• Bettis with the 15 yard run.
• And the stupid crawl to celebrate.
• Going for a 50 yard field goal looks like it was a risk not worth taking.
• Steelers burn a timeout. Could cost them at the end. With the way this game is going probably not.
• Did the monster and robot just have sex? And that's where Hummers come from?
• I was getting ready to type "Game Over," and Big Ben throws it away!
• That might be the big play I was talking about.
• With that mistake, Cowher will get real conservative on offense.
• Polamalu gives up the TD. From what I heard this week, he's the greatest safety ever.
• Too early to go for two. Take the sure points. There will be more to come.
• That touchdown was some nice route running.
• Jerome Bettis will have to give some good advice to the Steelers secondary.
• Three straight runs. See Cowher conservative post above.
• The World's Fastest Indian? It's not a blackjack dealer at Foxwoods.
• Another drop. Stevens isn't going to Disney World.
• Nothing like a drop and a false start to ruin your momentum.
• Steelers bench surrounding a Seattle player like hyenas after a tackle on the sideline. Nice reminder of why I don't like the Steelers.
• Punt returner has to catch the ball in the air. The Steelers pinning the Seahawks could be enormous. With both offenses struggling, field position becomes more important.
• Great scramble by Hasselbeck.
• Another quick whistle on a potential fumble.
• End of quarter, 14-10. We still have a ball game!
  

Half time thoughts

• Steve Young, Michel Irvin, Tom Jackson still adding absolutely nothing.
• Young and Jackson both agree that Seattle regrets what happened in the first half, but feel pretty happy about the first half. Way to take a stand.
• What do Mick Jagger and Jerome Bettis have in common?
• It's time for them to retire.
• What's the second song the Stones are playing? Mick, you have about 50 popular songs, stick with them.
• No special appearances by Kid Rock or Eminem? Isn't this Detroit?
• Tecmo Super Bowl had a better halftime show than that.
• Bon Jovi, "It's my Life" should be banned from sporting events.
  

2nd quarter thoughts

• Please stop these Jay Mohr Diet Pepsi commercials.
• Pittsburgh: Three 3 and outs. Told you the Seahawk defense was better than Cinci's, Indy's, and Denver's.
• Where's the holding? Are those yellow flags or terrible towels the refs are throwing?
• When Mack Strong was born, his parents must have known he'd be a fullback. Modern dancers aren't named Mack Strong.
• That was a catch and fumble.
• Reverse by Hines Ward: great play call.
• I still like the careerbuilder.com monkey ads. You can't go wrong with monkeys.
• John Madden: "Not sure if that's a had, an ankle, or something in between." That narrows it down.
• Roethlisberger interception. When the Steelers don't have a lead he forces things.
• I don't know about the Dove Self-Esteem fund. Why are they promoting it with ugly chicks?
• I don't like the quick whistles after possible fumbles.
  
• How many shoots did it take to have Shaq actually make that free throw in the Desperate Housewives commercial.
• What a play by Roethlisberger. Looked like a schoolyard play.
• Seattle had been dominating, but they didn't capitalize
• The Steelers on the one. A Bettis fumble here would be so wonderful.
• Gillette now has 5 blades! At the rate we're going, they'll have 20 blades in the year 2020.
• Instant Replay Review time!
• Bill Belichick's been arguing for a camera directly on the goal line. With the angle of the camera shot, you can't tell if Roethlisberger made it or not. The lesson is that we should always listen to Belichick.
• Steelers should be very happy with this score.
• The tradition of calling a penalty on almost every special teams play continues.
• Polamalu with the delayed blitz and the Seahawks do a great job picking it up.
• 20 second left is not the time to establish the running game. Terrible play calling.
• Terrible coaching to end the half.
• 7-3 Steelers
  

1st quarter thoughts

• Cheerleaders. Advantage: Seahawks
• Love the quick pace the Seahawks are using. Letting the play clock run down helps the defense too much. (As Manning learned against the Steelers)
• They called offensive holding? I thought that was allowed now.
• Seattle missed a big opportunity by not pinning the Steelers with that punt.
• The Burger King commercials with the mascot on the playing field were the best commercials. So what do they do? Put him in a cheesy musical commercial. My Burger King boycott has begun.
• Mosi Tatupu shot!
• Sloppy start by the Steelers offense.
• Sierra Mist commercial's clever.
• So is the Magic Fridge
• The Steelers should probably cover Jackson
• Hasselbeck looks pretty composed. The quick pace at the start may have helped.
• Why start calling holding now?
• FedEx caveman ad is dumb, except for the guy getting stomped at the end.
• John Madden: "centers are sneaky guys." In other words, watch this cheap shot.
• I've heard of five Seahawk defensive starters. Damn West Coast teams.
• V for Vendetta looks good
• Diddy Diet Pepsi commercial already clinched worst commercial of the night.
• Do the Steelers know Darrell Jackson's playing?
• Steelers better get a pass rush because their secondary need help.
• 3-0
  

Pregame thoughts

• Chris Mortensen said the Steelers want to send a message to Alexander by beating him up early in the game. Unnecessary roughness penalty coming up!
• Some second thoughts on my pick. Seahawks haven't been good against the 3-4, Alexander isn't known to be good at blocking blitzers.
  
• As usual, Irvin, Young, and Tom Jackson provide absolutely no insight whatsoever.
  
• You could hide a lot of coke in Michael Irvin's tie.
  
• The "I'm going to Disney World" rehearsal commercial was entertaining, but if I were a player I'd be too suspicious to do it.
• You also wouldn't catch me alive posing with the Lombardi before winning it. Belichick wouldn't look at last year in a pregame press conference. Now players and coaches on both sides are doing artistic poses with it.
• Seeing Stevie Wonder is always good, but enough with song medleys. Songs were meant to be played from beginning to end.
• Wonder's faking it. He's not blind.
• This looks like a Steelers home game.
• When a team's season ends, their commercials should end too. I'm so sick of the Tom Brady's 5 layers of protection commercial. I can only imagine how someone who's not a Patriots fan feels.
• The former Super Bowl MVP ceremony is cool.
• Tuck in your shirt Jerry Rice!
• Where's your tie John Riggins?
• Now I understand why the Pats lost this year. If they were in the Super Bowl, Brady and Branch wouldn't have been able to be in the ceremony.
• Already sick of Full Throttle commercials.
• How many Seahawks fans are in Detroit? 25?
• Jerome Bettis is gonna be winded after that sprint onto the field.
• Aaron Neville is not a good singer. Why won't anyone admit this?
• I wonder what Dr. John's specialty is? Podiatry?
• Is that Jerome Bettis's mother singing the National Anthem?
• Adam Sandler's new movie Click is a ripoff of a Simpson Halloween episode where Bart and Millhouse could freeze time.
  
• Harrison Ford has completely lost it. 50-year-olds should not have earings and goatees.
• Tom Brady should not be doing the coin toss.
• I hope Joey Porter doesn't go for Brady's knees.
• With the coin toss, Tom Brady beats the Steelers again!
  

Business with Isiah

An interesting article on Isiah Thomas's CBA experience. Isiah was a great player with a marketable smile. The Raptors, the CBA, the Pacers, and now the Knicks are learning that leaders need more than that to be successful.

Some excerpts:

"He ruled with intimidation," says Bosshard, who owned the La Crosse (Wis.) Bobcats with her husband Bill before selling to Thomas. "It was just like, 'If I swear enough or if I act like I'm tough enough you're going to back down.'"

...

"Just the rudest person that I have ever run into in my entire life," says Rich Coffey, the former GM of the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Fury and now the owner of the Fort Wayne Freedom in the Arena Football League. "He's a very poor business person. He doesn't listen to people. He's always right. He makes poor decisions, and I'm talking about the CBA in particular.

"Who he listens to are people who tell him what he wants to hear. The fact that he's still in basketball and running the Knicks just astounds me."

...

"He came to Boise when we were turning the ownership over to him. We did it at a Boys and Girls Club, which he is a former member of," Ilett says. "After the press conference, he met with some children. He was giving the old owl-eye smile that Isiah is good at when answering questions, and one little girl in the back of the room put up her hand and said, 'Isiah, why didn't you bring Michael Jordan with you?' Immediately, I could see his whole personality change and he actually went cold shoulder to the whole situation and finished it up and wandered out of there."

Figures

Some more NBA bashing

• Kevin Garnett was 12 for 13 from the field last night, yet he took no shots from the field in the last six minutes of a very close game. Blame his teammates for not getting the ball to him, but Garnett also needs to be more aggressive leading his team.
• To cap off the night, the guy Garnett was supposed to be boxing out sealed the game by rebounding a missed free throw. Garnett then had to foul, but he inexplicably waited hovering over the Portland player for about four seconds before finally committing a foul.
• The Sacramento Kings went 0 for 20 in the fourth quarter. Trading for Artest = Bad Karma.
• Jalen Rose makes $15.7 million this season, $16.9 million next season. Not bad for a guy who hasn't been the best player on his team since high school.
• Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady will be starters for the West All Star Team. Their regular season team has the worst record in the Western Conference.
• Celtics fans need a distraction: Quotes from Tommy Heinsohn During Celtics Games
  

Answer to Guess the Athlete(s)!

It's Steve Largent, Seahawk legend -- the only one they have. Good job daudder.

As for the Kids' Edition, it's Troy Polamalu, who, based on what I've heard over the last two weeks, will be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame next week.

Guess the Athlete Controversy!

With the Godfather and Patriotsy2k attacking the character of the commissioner of the GTA, it was necessary to research the Danny Graves incident. After further review, the posting stands and all doubters will be charged with a timeout.

To see why the commissioner of the GTA shall never be challenged, go here.

Your 2006 Super Bowl Champs...

Over the last year and a half I've been criticizing the Steelers and the NFC. So do I decide to finally respect the NFC or Pittsburgh? Since Pittsburgh is the favorite, I'll examine why they're considered favorites:

1. They're in the AFC: I've been bashing the NFC for years, but this wasn't the strongest year for the AFC. Just look at who the Steelers beat to get to the playoffs. Cincinnati had no defense and no starting quarterback; the Colts had no momentum going into the offseason, are not known for their defense, and displayed their usual choking tendencies; and the Broncos gave up over 400 yards to a mistake-prone Patriot team and their quarterback is Jake Plummer.

In other words, the Steelers looked very impressive in the playoffs, but their competition was flawed.
2. The Seahawks are in the NFC. True, but the Seahawks looked so good against Carolina. The balance of league power has to change some time.

My anti-Steeler bias is affecting my prediction, but I was really impressed with the Seahawks. Great pass rush, good corners, good quarterback, great running back, and the offensive lineman in football. The Seahawks will be better than any of the Steelers' previous playoff opponents.

This is why the Seahawks will win 30-17.

Two more thoughts:

• The Seahawks have struggled against the 3-4, and that does concern me. Therefore I will not gamble more than a nickel on this game.
• Both quarterbacks are known to have hyper personalities. It will be interesting to see the Super Bowl hype affects them.

Guess the Athlete, Kids' Edition!

Yes Godfather, he is affiliated with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
No Patriotsy2k, he is not a hockey player.

Continuing the Vince Carter tradition

Bill Simmons nailed it describing Mark Blount. The Mark Blount case is a good representation of why sport fans dislike NBA players more than other professional athletes:

Meanwhile, the Celtics and Wolves met three days after their big seven-player trade ... and an "inspired" Mark Blount exploded for a 20-10, hustling on both ends, skipping down the floor and mocking the Celtics bench after two baskets. Here's a guy they overpaid (six years, $40 million) who immediately decided to take the next 18 months off -- stopped smiling, stopped working hard, bitched behind the scenes, zoned out during timeouts, tried to undermine the coach, did everything he could to force a trade, basically ran up and down the floor and shot 18-footers and that was it -- and when they finally traded him, he gave 110 percent and did everything he could to show them up. Good guy. Wait, that's not all! In the same trade, they also traded Marcus Banks, who stopped trying this season because (a) he was being buried by the coaching staff, (b) the team didn't pick up his 2007 option, and (c) he was coming back from a stress fracture in his leg. Knowing he had nothing to gain by trying in Boston, he mailed in the next few weeks and played at 3/4 speed so he didn't get hurt again. Then they traded him. Well, now Banks has a chance to make an imprint in Minnesota and possibly get a new contract! Last night, he was flying around like T.J. Ford, beating guys off the dribble, guarding his guy for 94 feet, driving into traffic and making plays ... he was a man possessed. In this case, the situation wasn't nearly as loathsome as Blount's situation -- after all, Boston's coaching staff buried Banks for two years and Doc Rivers turned the Delonte West/Banks situation into a "good son/bad son" thing. That's why Banks needed a new start somewhere else. I just think it's interesting that, when an NBA player was faced with the choice of ... Option A: Busting his butt to get minutes and prove the coaching staff wrong. Or ... Option B: Going on cruise control, getting paid every two weeks, waiting to get traded, then busting his butt as soon as he finds a new team. ... Banks chose Option B. (The NBA ... it's fannnnnnnnn-tastic! I love this game!)