Rendclaw

I just wish that Ben Wallace wasn't such a liability at the free throw line. That being said, Dunleavy still lost some respect in my eyes by going Hack-a-Ben in the 4th quarter of Sunday night's game. That was almost like saying "we can't beat this team straight up, so we're going to fuel a comeback by putting Ben on the line, because he can only hit 50% of his free throws on a good day." If your best cannot beat the other team's best, don't resort to cheap tactics. It's bush league. I just hope last night's game is motivation for Ben to improve his free throw shooting. He gets it up around 65%, that strategy goes right out the window.

Shaq has stated publically that he has always wanted to play for Riley. This was about the easiest thing to call in the last ten years, aside from the Bulls winning another title back in the 90s. It was just a matter of time before Riley was going to elbow the Hedgehog aside and assume command himself. I personally think that the game has passed Riley by, which was why he took the GM job in the first place. Somehow, I don;t think we are going to see the fast-break Showtime style that made Riley a Hall of Fame coach to begin with... No, we are going to see the plodding, pushing, shoving, elbow-throwing Thug Ball style that made Riley hated during his tenure with the Knicks.

1. NBA Live 96 (Genesis). It took the innovations of Live 95 and went one better by instituting CAP. It was such an important step forward, and the isometric view made playing infinitely easier than the previous game engine. Its still a joy to play, even to this day. I still mark out for the many dunks the game had. Live 97 was supposed to be an innovation built upon 96, but it just didn;t have the same impact. 2. ESPN NBA 2k5 (PS2). I bought 2k6 and played it, but it wasn't as good as 2k5, which I have since gone back to. The Shot Stick is such a blatant gimmick in my eyes, its not even funny. All they really had to do was tweak the gameplay and tighten up the graphics and physics of the basketball, and not change much else. I have gone on my rants about shot blocking and small, fast players utterly dominating the game at times, but compared to 2k6, they seem like minor problems to me now. 3. NBA Jam TE (Arcade, SNES): I liked Hangtime okay enough, but it seemed way too cheap at times. TE was about the right balance, and you couldn't jump out to a really huge lead, otherwise the comeback would start early and you were just about done. Updated rosters and better game play kept me coming back to it time and again. 4. Double Dribble (Arcade). This game was revolutionary at the time (which was about 1986), and was a true step up from Super Basketball. Some people love the NES version, but to me that was a bit of a different game with the name attached to it. I will always remember that day in 1988 when I pulled a Wilt Chamberlain and scored 100 points on a single quarter. 5. NBA Street, Vol 2 (PS2). A wonderful game, with the perfect mix of strategy, gameplay, and characters to enhance your team aside from the NBA superstars. Accomplishing the triple team dunks were pretty damn cool. 6. Street Hoops (PS2): Without a doubt, the HARDEST basketball game ever put out on the Amercian market. It had a pretty steep learning curve despite the tutorial videos, and you could not get angry at losing and hit the reset button, because the game would erase your progress. Ouch. Despite that, once you got the hang of it and got used to the speed of the game, it was a lot of fun. 7. Super Basketball (Arcade). Konami was always great at putting out sports games in the arcade, and this was no exception. The only problem with it that after you beat the World Champion team (no small feat by that time in the game), it just kept replaying the game over and again, instead of ending it and giving the player a true sense of accomplishment. It was still a great game for the year (1984). I think thats about it.

I fail to understand why Brock would be such a good thing for TNA. Yes, he's huge and yes, he's a decent worker, but unless you go the route of giving him a manager a la Paul Heyman and just turning him loose as the animal, there just aren't many good matchups within the current TNA roster aside from Monty, Joe and Abyss. I agree with you about Bret, although I just don;t know what TNA would do with him if he did come over. I am simply praying for the timeslot, though. Two hours just seems to be the most logical step forward. And as much as I would like to see them tour (if only to see a different crowd than Orlando.. On an aside, I lived there for ten years, and people are like that when it comes to events, big or small), it is way, way too soon.

WCW had the starpower to go up against RAW, TNA does not have that. Hasn't Bret said he doesn't want to do any manager/commisioner role in wrestling, he doesn't want to be rememberd that way? Changing the face of TNA in 2006 makes it seem more business related, than a major star coming in. Touring, 2 hour show, different night. TNA is not even close to having the star power that WCW had when they stepped up against Vince. I think that goes without saying. If the announcement is a better timeslot, along with a second hour, that's going to be huge. Maybe after a year of decent if not good ratings along with signing a major star or two (I pray Benoit signs after his E contract runs out, because that will ramp up TNA's competitive legitimacy big time), then they can take that next step.

UFC isn't even in the same field as WWE but Vince still tried to steal their lead announcer wheh they went head-to-head. If TNA went head-to-head with WWE, Vince would go all-out to kill them dead. That's why it would be suicide. Exactly. When TNA starts doing at the very least 2s or 2.5s in the ratings, and they have a very strong PPV buy rate, then maybe it would be time for David to go up against Goliath. But definitely not now. I'm in total agreement with HTQ; Vince would stop at nothing to destroy TNA, including a shady deal to purchase them a la WCW. That would be the motivation he needs to make things better in the E, but he would go that extra mile to crush TNA under his heel, and then we're right back where we started: Total monopoly, complete and utter garbage passed off as wrestling or "sports entertainment", etc. And yes, things could get a lot worse over at the E, as bad as they are at the moment. When there is no motivation, we get things like Katie Vick. Remember that. It matters a great deal, because TNA is still on shaky ground, financially. They're working their way out of it, but if they went up against the almighty E now, they would lose and lose badly. They are still getting off the ground and it would be a classic case of trying to do too much too soon. A Thursday night two hour time slot would be perfect and if that is indeed the move, they have taken a big step forward. I hope and pray if that is indeed the case, they can keep moving forward. ::crosses fingers:: Right now, TNA needs to draw in those fans (not smarks, mind you) who are sick of the E but aren't quite ready to make the switch or aren't convinced about TNA.

That would be quite cool.

As bad as Raw has gotten, they are still in no position to go head-to-head. They are on the rise, but they still aren;t strong enough to compete directly. To do so now would be suicide. To me, it would make much more sense to annouce a second hour... there is no big acquisition this time, because there isn;t any serious buzz going around, and as was previously said, if it was a huge name such as Jericho or Benoit, it would have gotten out by now.

Yeah, after Impact. Funny and rather informative. Watch it, you won;t be sorry.

Putting Nocioni on him like that was just ridiculous (for the Bulls). He was just shooting them over his head again and again. When Skiles LEFT him on Sheed... fuggetaboutit, even i was laughing alogn with sheed. That was a one-man psyche job worthy of Dennis Rodman... He single-handedly took the Bulls out of that game, and exposed them for the (at times, painfully) young team that they are. That is a basketball team having fun and winning right now. My only problem was that they started to get a little too cute and let the Bulls hang around. That game wasn't as close as the final score indicated.

Saturday night's Pistons game vs. Chicago was the most fun I have had watching a basketball game since watching Magic tear it up in his prime. Sheed is hilarious. The guy had me cracking up constantly, especially after calling the bank shot. He was playing street ball out there that night. And Hinrich needs to quit flopping so much. Even if I was a Bulls fan, I would have gotten irritated by that. Nothing bugs me more than a player who is constantly flopping to try and draw fouls. Vlade Divac was the king of that in Sacto. And yes, Elton Brand is just tearing it up. I'm shocked the Clips are keeping their momentum going. I wonder what changed down there. Adn why oh why are the Magic not utilizing Dwight Howard more? I know, I know, Steve Francis.... ::sighs::

When your stomach and your waistline are practically the same, that tends to happen.

This has to be one of the best shows I have watched in a long time. Thoughts? Opinions?

And sometimes, after a long day at work and then dealing with the ex, blowing a lot of shit up is exactly what I need. Okay guys, you sold me.

I have to agree about pure shooters. When Michael Redd said no, I felt at the time that our chances of winning a gold medal went down significantly. You need at least two on a team to have any success at all in international play. It didn;t matter who was coaching the team at the time, if you don't have a shooter to extend the defense, you are just royally screwed, since all they have to do is collapse a little bit and make the driver/slasher's job a nightmare, which is pretty much what happened. And yes, I did question some of Larry Brown's coaching moves at the time, because they just didn;t make much sense. LB has forgotten more about the game of basketball than I will ever know, but if he has an achilles heel its that he can be incredibly stubborn about his coaching practices, and sometimes makes adjustments only after its too late. But on the other hand, our chances to win in the Olympics were pretty much minimized when players started barking about being paid to play. All you had to do was look back to '92 when we sent our best to take on the world and they *wanted* to do it. I downloaded the Dream Team 92 biography and I was in awe about how not only the greatest players of the era came together, but also how they played as a true team. I don't know how we are going to regain our dominance of the sport, and no matter who is coaching the team our chances are 50-50 at best. The world has been catching up to us for a long time now, and they might have actually caught up in '04. By the way, excellent points, Rip. You saved me from doing some homework in order to make my own points in this debate.

I was thinkinbg about getting Mercenaries, but never did pull the trigger. Yeah so I bought Killswitch instead.... what a disappointment that game was. Thank god I only spent 10 bucks on it.

Actually, kiddo, I live in Michigan. I'm not from here. Big difference. I don;t hate LB, though I dislike what he did. As I said in my previous post, there was plenty of blame to go around regarding his departure from the Pistons, though I choose to lay the lion's share of it at his feet. After he says all of these things about how he wants to stay in Detroit and coach the Pistons then goes back on that, how he then said that he doesn;t know if he can keep coaching because of his health and then jumps at the Knicks job at first opportunity, then on top of that tries to play the "poor little me" card when he was asked by Dumars and ownership if he can make a commitment to the Pistons and could not give a straight answer and they got rid of him, most Detroit fans who have a much deeper vested interest in the team than I ever could think he is the scum of the earth. My take on it is that things could have been a lot smoother if he had been more honest about his latest dalliance with the Knicks, but he is what he is, and that is how he operates. Everyone knew going in that at some point he was going to jump ship, but one would think that after winning a championship and coming within nine or ten minutes of winning a second, he might want to stay and garner more success, but no. Piston fan is bitter about that, perhaps rightfully so. Myself, I got into the Pistons because I appreciate defense in a league where at times it can be at a premium. They are more of a throwback to the great teams of the 80s, where both offense and defense were played for 60 minutes straight, and the ninth or tenth guy on the bench could go for 15 points. That and I am huge Ben Wallace fan, and have been since he was in Orlando. I love that they won a championship and did it by learning from a coach like Larry Brown, but the man isn;t the devil in my eyes, unlike a lot of people around here. I just won;t hesitate to call him out for what he has done and probably will do in the future. Big difference.

By saying that, you proved my point for me. TO has been doing this kind of shit for years, to draw attention to himself. The incident in Dallas, coming within inches of calling Jeff Garcia gay, the sharpie, the pom poms, so on and so forth. Larry Brown did a lot of the same things throughout his career, starting back at UCLA, if I remember right. He is insecure about himself in some way, and says and does things to draw attention to himself. I'm not even talking about his dancing from one coaching position to another, even though thats a part of it. There was blame on both sides when he was here in Detroit, but his flirting with the Cavs and then lying about it, then everything involved with the Knicks and his departure from the Pistons smacks of the same thing. You really should ask for clarification before you call something someone says retarded, kid. You may not agree with it, but coming out and insulting such a statement speaks to your maturity, and it doesn;t speak well of it. If you want to debate, fine. X and I got into it earlier this year about Kobe, so I don;t argue with him anymore. I know you are a fan, Roy, but there isn't a need to be such a homer. Not here, anyway.

This is Willie the Worker all over again. I have said it before that most of the roster is over a barrel in regard to their employment. They make six figures on average in the company, and a good percentage are married with children, and the rest have a certain lifestyle that they are accustomed to, now that they have said salary. That's why they do these wacked out angles and such, because number one it will lessen their status, and it could possibly get them fired. I know I am one of the older posters on here, being 37 come Monday, so I understand that dilemma. Vince has most of the guys by the short hairs, and everyone involved knows it.

This is definitely one of the more ridiculous comparisons I've ever seen here. Are you going to explain why you think so, or just leave it at that? On another note, I was watching NBA Fastbreak last night, where they were drawing comparisons between old school players and tandems with their supposed modern day counterparts: Wade and Shaq = Magic Johnson and Kareem. Nash and Amare = Stockton and Malone. Kobe and Odom = Jordan and Pippen. Thoughts?

by the way, we have to list WWE guys, because those guys are the ones we see the most, aside from Japan, ROH, and some indies...

Chris "Innovator of Offense" Kanyon would be good, but didn;t he have a cup of coffee in TNA already, and isn;t he a little long in the tooth for that wrestling style he has? Don;t feel bad 2GOLD, I marked for Glacier too until the program with Saturn exposed him. "It's a simple side kick!"

I agree. Tayshaun is a wonderful defender, but thats asking a little too much of him to match up defensively against Duncan, arguably the best player in the league, period. And yes, the "Duncan is a choker" talk was rather overblown. I got caught up in it, then I remembered just who he is. Again, agreed. Larry Brown is like TO in the way that he does and says things strictly to get attention. If he had simply kept quiet about coaching the Knicks, things might have been different, but we'll never know... Its one thing to come into a situation like the Pistons and take that team to the promised land, when they were already close. I just wonder if he will stick around long enough to make the Knicks respectable again before his eyes start to wander and he opens his mouth about another "dream job". When it come to coaching teams, Larry Brown is a slut. Nuff said.

I've been a Rome fan since 99. The callers and emailers all try to outdo each other one way or another and it gets so bad that its actually amusing now. While its pretty much down the middle, I don;t see how people can call his interview boring, when he can and usually does ask the tough questions. Steve Sabin, who used to sub for Rome all the time was fantastic, though I haven;t heard him since driving up to Michigan from Florida back in '02. JT the Brick is about annoying as annoying gets. Locally, I run hot and cold with Stoney and Wojo, though I think that WDFN has a gem in Sean Baligian. The man makes me laugh every day.

The man knows what he is talking about, but he would be sooo much better if he didn't pull one-liners in every other sentence... seriously, Bill, ease back on the schtick just a little bit. I know he's coaching your team Roy, but it is rather common knowledge that he kept an excessively tight rotation and would not play the youngers guys to give the starters rest and it caught up with the Pistons in the Finals. And even then, they were nine minutes and change away from repeating. If the Knicks had a starting five half as good as the Pistons do, Channing Frye would be their version of Darko, sitting on the end of the bench. Larry is playing the younger guys because he has nothing else, and it just so happens that its paying off. I wish I could say that he has finally learned a lesson, but I just don't think so.