teke184

Is this about the bar fight where he got shot last year? If not, WTF is that guy's major malfunction? EDIT- Found it... This is from the fight where he got stabbed last year. The DA pretty much charged 6 people who were in the fight with involuntary manslaughter despite most of them clearly not being the shooter.

Odell Thurman got released by the Bengals today. It wasn't for all his off-field transgressions... it was apparently because he missed a "voluntary" off-season workout with the team because he was taking care of family business in Georgia, where his grandmother had died. (She had raised him, so she was practically his mother.) He's not going to file a grievance over it, even though it would be an open-and-shut case as far as the union rules go.

Winnah.

He's starting to get it now that he's made a playoff run. If he and David West close out the Spurs in the next two games, expect a lot of Kobe-Paul or Deron-Paul stories going into the Western Conference finals and a lot of hype going into next year.

Maybe he's like that assistant on Playmakers that helped McConnell find a girl? He takes videos of girls and cheerleaders so Tom Brady can decide what his next conquest will be when they swing through the city again? Somehow, I can see Brady getting a fling in one of the showers during halftime like the QB on Playmakers...

Apparently, Baron Davis is suffering from an inflated sense of entitlement, which is no surprise to a Hornets fan... Davis and his representatives are pissing and moaning that the Warriors' negotiations for an extension, with rumblings that they'll opt out by the June 30 deadline for his one-year player option and enter free agency. If he opts out, expect him to go looking for either the biggest sugar-daddy on the market (Sonics?) or to one of the LA teams, most likely the Clippers. IMHO, he'd be extremely stupid to do so, as he'd be leaving a 1-year offer of about $18 million from the Warriors. He's better off playing out his player option with the Warriors and then entering free agency next year, but I can see his ego getting out of control to the point where he takes a big financial risk by entering free agency this year.

"You hear that? Pussy for one penny! If you can get pussy for cheaper than that, fuck it!"

I can see them winning 1 game in LA... but that doesn't mean shit if the Lakers can actually win one in Salt Lake. All I care about at this point is the Hornets beating the Spurs, preferably in 5 or 6 so that they can get a few days off before the Lakers-Jazz survivor stumbles into the Western Conference finals.

1. The name mentioned for the informant is Louis Johnson, who was a part of Mayo's inner circle until recently. 2. BCS-conference schools still got post-season bans as recent as 10 years ago, as LSU, Georgia, Kentucky, and Alabama all received post-season bans in football, basketball, or both. (LSU basketball received a post-season ban and HEAVY scholarship reductions over the Lester Earl case at the end of Dale Brown's tenure as coach. Georgia basketball got heavy sanctions over Jim Harrick and his son's mismanagement of the program, especially on the academic side. Kentucky and Alabama football both received post-season bans in the late 90s over the recruiting tactics of former Kentucky coach Hal Mumme and the Alabama boosters' attempts to steer player Albert Means to Tuscaloosa.)

ESPN is reporting that OJ Mayo has been receiving all kinds of illegal benefits since he was in HS, with a USC booster being heavily involved in the situation. The witness for ESPN is a former member of Mayo's crew who was pushed out recently. Coming on top of the Reggie Bush situation, which is in the deposition stage right now, things are looking ugly. If this was just about any program *but* USC, they would have their ass in a sling with the NCAA and be looking at multi-year post-season bans at the least.

Apparently, LeBron has set US pro basketball records (NBA, ABA, et all) for offensive futility by shooting roughly 25% across three straight playoff games. I never thought I'd say this, but Cleveland has got to be down on their knees thanking people for trading all those guys for Ben Wallace, Wally, et all, as they put up most of the points in Saturday's win over the Celtics.

Cam's never been a good head coach, either at the NFL level (last year's Dolphins) or at the college level (mid-90s Indiana). However, he HAS been a good offensive coordinator in his past, so they may let him call the plays. For the love of God, however, don't let him make the calls on draft picks. Ted fucking Ginn at #9 when he was coming off a major injury? The man was lucky that Brian Billick was dumb enough to let him get that one win...

Agreed that Carolina is the one team likely to lose to Atlanta in the NFC South. Carolina is in the process of turning over their O-Line and LB corps, has only one real weapon at WR (Steve Smith), an injury-prone gambler QB with no good backups, and a bunch of injury-prone RBs. They can pretty much put DBs all over Steve Smith and then blitz the shit out of Delhomme and DeAngelo Williams to shut down their offense.

Apparently, I-AA teams CAN play with the big boys on multiple levels. Alabama State University, a I-AA team, has been brought up on *668* separate NCAA violations, including ineligible athletes using university training facilities as well as the changing of grades without the professor's permission. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/200...ns_N.htm?csp=34 This has got to be a record for any team that didn't belong to the old Southwest Conference like SMU, Texas, Texas A&M, Houston, etc.

What PG do the Knicks take if Rose is off the board? (That assumes the Heat get a better pick than the Knicks, as they're likely looking for Rose rather than Beasley.)

Orlando caught a VERY lucky break tonight... Chauncey Billups went out with a hamstring problem early in the game. The Pistons kept up with the Magic for most of the first 3 quarters, but completely ran out of gas by the start of the 4th... the scoring in the 4th is now 21-8 in Orlando's favor.

Which idiot said THAT? Probably some idiot whose only Simms game watched was the one where he ruptured his spleen... The Bears would be better off convincing Major Applewhite to give up his position-coach slot at U. of Texas to play QB than to bring in Simms.

I could see Nash moved to the Raptors in exchange for TJ Ford, as Ford is being replaced by Jose Calderon as the PG of the future and seems unwilling to take a demotion to the bench. Ford's contract is $8 million a year for 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and a player option for 2010-2011. According to the ESPN Trade Machine, this can work under the following scenario: The Suns send Nash (1 year left) The Raptors send TJ Ford (2 years left), Anthony Parker (1 year left), and Joey Graham (1 year left).

OI! Utah is only down 1. They mentioned it over on FreeDarko how the Hornets and more specifically Chris Paul's success will only motivate Deron Williams. It better... Deron is CP3's daddy on the court and the easiest path for Utah to the Finals would be through New Orleans.

They tried Hack-A-Chandler in Game 1, but Chandler hit both his FTs. That discouraged them from continuing it. (I think he's like 7 of 8 in the post-season for FTs.)

Tim Duncan is having an OK, not great, game for the Spurs tonight, but Tony Parker and Manu are playing like ass. This has the makings of another Hornets blowout.

While I wouldn't count on that, I also wouldn't count on the Spurs hitting lights-out 3-pointers for the rest of the series. Frustrating Duncan only works if their other options are streaky at best. Keeping Bowen, Kurt Thomas, Tony Parker, and others from hitting 3-pointers while limiting Duncan seems to be a winner.

I think the Magic are more solid than the Pistons, I think the Celtics are being exposed by the Hawks (though the Cavs' hopes fall squarely on LeBron), I think the Hornets are being severely underrated, and I think the Jazz are getting constantly underrated by everybody. I personally hope it's a Hornets-Lakers West final rather than Hornets-Jazz, as the Hornets have a better track record against the Lakers.

Jazz in 7 Hornets in 7 Cavs in 6 Magic in 6

I think a lot of people threw behind Kobe because: 1. The Lakers had their best post-Shaq finish, ending up with the best record in the West 2. Kobe got a lifetime achievement award because a number of people didn't like that a guy with his numbers had never won the award 3. The thought is that Chris Paul is young enough that he'll compete for another MVP down the road, so they can justify screwing him this year and handing it to him a different year where he isn't the best player