July 1st, 2013
The Dwight Howard sweepstakes has “officially begun”. However, does anybody really think that Dwight does not already know where he’s going? This dude has had almost a full year to think about where he wants to go, and knows exactly what each team is offering. Do you really expect me to believe that one of these teams is going to “convince” him of where he’s going? If you do, than you are more naive than teenage girl. According to Hoopsworld writer Alex Kennedy, the Rockets are now “cocky” because they are so confident they will land Howard.
Meanwhile, the Lakers have shown their pathetic desperation to keep Dwight by posting billboards all over town. This is the kind of crap they would do in Cleveland or Orlando, but should not be doing in LA. What’s next? A song coming out this week pleading him to stay? This lame piece of work was put together in Orlando:
There have been some rumors circulating that the Lakers may be prepared to fire Mike D’Antoni since they have yet to allow him to hire any more assistant coaches, and since Kurt Rambis’ name came up as a potential addition to the staff. It’s an interesting theory, but if the Lakers were serious about keeping Dwight, they would have already fired D’Antoni, and assured him that Phil Jackson would be coaching the team. In 2004, the Lakers had traded Shaq prior to trying to convince Kobe to re-sign with the team. Even then, Kobe was on the verge of leaving the Lakers, before eventually coming back. The Lakers recruiting plan is worse than the European debt plan.
Chris Paul’s free agency will be rather uneventful, which is great news for the Clippers. In typical Chris Broussard fashion, he is reporting that Lebron James’ sources have informed him that sources close to Paul saw them at a club with Drake last night, and he received a call in the morning, saying that he will be re-signing with the Clippers.
The NBA draft is a joke. How are teams that are starving for talent supposed to improve themselves when they are forced to select completely underdeveloped players? Nobody is tall anymore, but instead, certain players “have great length”. Nobody is a great player, but instead, some players “have great upside”. On Thursday night, all I heard was 3 hours of Jay Bilas talking about wingspans. It’s no wonder teams like Sacramento, Charlotte, and Detroit have been picking in the lottery for years yet are still in the league’s basement.
Very quietly, the Dodgers and Angels are starting to make moves. The boys in blue are a little bit healthier, and they’ve now won 8 of the last 10 games, moving just 4 games back of first place Arizona in the NL West. Yasiel Puig has been hotter than a whore house on nickel night, and added 4 more hits yesterday. He finished his first full month in the majors with 44 hits, which is 2nd only to the legendary Joe DiMaggio. Just think how good the Dodgers could be if Matt Kemp could pull his shit together? This isn’t the most well put together ball club, but at least they are back in the playoff race.
As for the Halos, they’ve won 6 straight, and are 7.5 games back in the wild card race. Although the team still has a big climb ahead of them, their pitching hasn’t looked like dog crap for the first time all year. The bad news is that Peter Bourjos is going back on the disabled list because of a fracture below his right wrist, and Josh Hamilton is still fairly useless.
The Kings and Ducks had a very anti-climactic NHL draft, but things should get interesting this week. LA is moving closer to a deal with defenseman Rob Scuderi, who is a vital part of their stellar defensive core, but Scuderi will have to take a discount to fit under the cap. The Ducks locked up veteran defenseman Ben Lovejoy earlier in the week, but need to figure out what’s going to happen with Teemu Selanne. Selanne’s annual retirement dilemma has made him the Brett Favre of the NHL.
The Aaron Hernandez murder trial has once again, made me question the long term health risks to playing professional football. Can taking all those hits make you dumb enough to kill somebody when you are a multi-millionaire with a fiancee and an 8 month old daughter? It seems clear the answer is yes. Nevertheless, the Patriots did a commendable job of releasing Aaron Hernandez before even letting the justice system take its course.
Has anybody tried the “Monkey Style” Burger at In-N-Out? I’ve always been a fan of the secret menu at In-N-Out, but only recently did I discover this item on that menu. I’ve gotta admit, I was skeptical at first, but Animal Style fries in your burger make it that much better. I was afraid I’d die of a heart attack from all the cholesterol, but it was definitely amazing.
I recently decided to see if all this hype about AMC’s Mad Men was justified. I’m only through the first 4 seasons, but I have to admit, it’s a bit of a let down. Since I’m already this far, I’m committed to watching the last two seasons, but the show is just too slow, and the characters aren’t interesting enough. I completely understand the appeal of the 60’s, especially to the Baby Boomers, however, the show just repeats the same themes of adultery, sexism, and alcoholism in Don Draper’s life. With no other interesting characters, these themes get a bit old after 4 seasons. The show is also only focused on the white privileged wall street folks in that era as well, which leaves the show without enough depth.