Just John

For all the talk Noah gets, I think Corey Brewer will be the best NBA player. He seems to be of the Kobe/T-Mac/VC mold as a wing player that can do anything and everything on the floor. Has the height and long arms that make him a dangerous defender too.

No, that's why I'm looking forward to this week.

I'll believe it when I see it. The Spurs can score with the best of them (though they seldom have to), and unlike the Mavs, their D actually works against the Suns from time to time.

I think the Spurs/Suns game this week will be a good barometer of the playoff picture. I think Phoenix at full-strength can knock Dallas out in 5 or 6 (look how easily the Suns always score on the Mavs so-called improved D), but the Spurs have always been a problem team for them. The funny thing is, I think Dallas has the edge on San Antonio because they're deeper offensively, so you kind of have a rock-paper-scissors thing going on at the top of the West. It'll either come down to luck, or someone's going to have to overcome their demons.

Yeah, I feel bad for the Pacers and Rick Carlisle. Lots of bad luck with injuries this year, acclimating new players, and the team still looks like they're trying hard out there. Though I was cursing their game tonight which would NOT END. I guess there's something to be said for playing to win no matter what, but the Rockets were on. You could tell the ESPN guys didn't want to be there at all.

Whew. Nice job by the Rockets to hang in there and not just bend over when Kobe was tearing it up. A couple years ago, they probably give that game away. I've been very impressed with their ability to close out games this year. This should've been a lot easier, but when Kobe's making insane shots all over the place, what can you do? Thankfully the rest of the Lakers are garbage and the Rockets hit their FTs. 2 stars > 1

It also sucks because, while they still are only 3 games out of 1st and 1/2 game out of the 2 seed, the Bulls could end up with a 5 seed and play on the road in the playoffs. That's some bullshit. Home court is determined by record, not seeding. I have no idea why they don't just seed by record, but whatever. And what great end-of-regulation in that Wiz/Raps game... The guy that threw the ball up must feel like the biggest idiot in the world.

112: Never, ever attempt a running shoulder block to an opponent in the corner. You will miss and hit the ring post.

I know we'd all like to forget his match with Sharmell and the Boogeyman last year, but he's really 1-4. Predictions: Cena vs. Michaels (WWE Title): Probably your MOTN. Crowd should be very pro-HBK and the atmoshpere will be intense. Hopefully Michaels gets to come out the "Sexy Boy" music, because coming out by himself to the DX theme is so lame, even if it sells lots of glowsticks. Cena wins with the FU. Undertaker vs. Batista (World Title): Probably won't be too good. Should go about 15 minutes. UT wins with the tombstone. He should also get a spectacular entrance with the long ramp this year. Lashley vs. Umaga (Battle of the Billionaires): Should be a surprisingly decent match. With all the overbooking here, they'd be hard-pressed to outright suck. I expect a fun brawl. Lashley obviously wins. Vince gets his head shaved, but I don't think Trump takes a stunner. Vince might rack up stunner #348095 for his career, though. MITB: Hopefully this gets more time and goes higher on the card than #2. There's a really wide open field this year with no clear candidate to win. If I had to pick, I'd say Kennedy. There will be some memorable spots as always. Chris Benoit vs. MVP (US Title): This is probably your curtain jerker. Hopefully it gets at least 15, because it has potential to be really good. I say Benoit gets to retain this year, though it wouldn't surprise me if they do the spontaneous switch like they did with JBL last year. Melina vs. Ashley (Women's Title): Here's your piss break match. Won't go more than 7 minutes, but will probably still have at least 2 noticeable botches. No way Ashley wins because she's too poor of a wrestler (even by WWE women's division standards) to run with the belt. It's almost a carbon copy of the Trish/Hemme feud from WM 21, but with considerably worse wrestlers. Khali vs. Kane: It wouldn't surprise me to actually see Kane get the pin here since he's supposed to retire soon. It would be a rare feel-good moment in his career. That said, it's a lot more likely that he'll be head-chopped then risk his life taking Khali's sloppy choke powerbomb. Then he gets pinned with one foot. This will be neck and neck with the women's match for worst of the show. New Breed vs. Originals: Should just be a quick, cookie-cutter multiman match. Everyone hits their signature moves, NB wins by cheating. Shouldn't be terrible, but it will most likely be very forgettable.

*Riots* Even if Liriano plays in the playoffs, the best the Twins do is lose 3-1 in a year where many were blasting the low quality of teams in the post season and an 83-win team won it all. It's amazing how a team like that can dominate the all-time greats. I will say this was interesting, though the results were somewhat, um... unpredictable.

Some good news for MNF next year... Ron Jaworski will replace Joe Theismann in the booth. Now if only they got rid of Kornheiser.

Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Eddy Guerrero, 10/26/97, Halloween Havoc, Mask vs. Title Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat, 4/17/94, Spring Stampede Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko vs. Raven/Perry Saturn, 4/11/99, Spring Stampede Sting vs. Cactus Jack, 6/20/92, Beach Blast, Falls Count Anywhere Sting's Squadron vs. Dangerous Alliance, 5/17/92, WrestleWar, Wargames Chris Benoit vs. Dean Malenko, 8/10/96, Hog Wild Sting vs. Vader, 2/21/93, SuperBrawl, Strap Match Goldberg vs. Diamond Dallas Page, 10/25/98, Halloween Havoc Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit, 10/4/99, Nitro, Owen Hart Tribute Ric Flair vs. Vader, 12/27/93, Starrcade Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude, 6/20/92, Beach Blast, Iron Man Match Dean Malenko vs. Ultimo Dragon, 12/29/96, Starrcade Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis, 7/7/96, Bash at the Beach Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan, 6/16/96, Great American Bash, Falls Count Anywhere Sting vs. Vader, 12/28/92, Starrcade, King of Cable Final Eddy Guerrero vs. Shinjiro Ohtani, 12/27/95, Starrcade

The thing I liked most was the Persian army's attire. From the first messenger and his bowmen to Xerxes himself, all the big guys on that side had ridiculously cool looks. I wish Xerxes would've gotten more screen time.

The best part about that is they beat the Jazz. The Rockets are only a half game away from having home court in the first round with 2 games against Utah still to come. Also, the Rockets being the #5 West team still have a better record than any team in the East.

I'm kind of surprised Kobe didn't change teams a couple years back when the Lakers were clearly headed for re-building. If he jumped to Clippers as was rumored at one point, he could have had another championship by now. He knew what he was getting into staying on the Lakers. If he wants to win a ring by himself, let him try.

I thought Bynum was the future of the Laker franchise? I know he makes a lot of mistakes, but that can be attributed to him being young and inexperienced at the NBA level. Why do you want to give up on him so quickly? Look how it took Yao Ming 4 years to develop into a dominant center in the NBA. As for their playoff chances, they won't be playing Utah unless Utah decides to move up because the Lakers sure as hell aren't going to make up 7.5 games on Houston with 13/14 to play. It looks like they'll play the Spurs, who I don't think they can beat, but they can have a decent series against. The reason is they have a team that is built to match up well with the Spurs. Same reason the Rockets can beat 'em with only one star on the floor. If you play good defense and have just one guy you can give the ball to for big shots, you can compete with San Antonio because they keep game so slow.

If the 06 Twins win, I riot.

That was a good win, but not a good game, for the Rockets tonight. Both teams played poorly for the first three quarters, only showing flashes of competence. Lots of stupid turnovers, fouls, poor rebounding, you name it. Thankfully the Rockets were able to turn on the afterburners and play a pretty decent 4th quarter to pull away. Even though they weren't sharp most of the game, I always feel good about their chances in an ugly, defensive struggle. Their good team defense and the big-shot capability of T-Mac usually gives them the edge in a game like this, as demonstrated tonight.

For your tv show question, the major Japanese companies don't work like American promotions. For example, NOAH runs tours that are about 3 weeks long. They'll run about 12 or 13 shows in that time frame, with only two or three televised. The rest you can consider "house shows." The last show on a tour is at the Budokan in Tokyo (that's like MSG to WWE) where they run bigger matches. It's ppv quality, but isn't on ppv. Then they take a month off and start over.

Actually, the LEAST surprising should be Eddie or Angle, but I'm not shocked that guys like Rey, Orton, and Edge are on the juice. WWE better hope this "investigation" doesn't pick up any momentum.

I think Dirk will wind up getting the MVP this year, just to break up the Nash 3-peat. I know that won't be the official reason, and there are enough legitimate reasons to justify giving Dirk the award, but it'll mainly be to avoid giving Nash three straight. With Nash putting up better numbers this year than the last two, he should probably win again, but the NBA is funny about things like that. If they wouldn't give MJ three straight, I don't think they'll do it for Nash. Kobe will garner a few votes from the "MVP means who matters the most to their team" camp, but that's about it. Sure, the Lakers are god-awful without Kobe, but you can make that point for just about any team. The whole "well, if we didn't have our best player, we'd suck" line of thinking never did it for me. I think you have to look at the guys who don't just hold their teams together, but lead them to the most success. There's probably 20 guys in the NBA who lead their teams to mediocrity or moderate success. The MVP should be about sifting through those guys and seeing which one leads their team to the greatest amount of success. This year, your choices are Dirk and Nash.

I think we all did work for WWE at one point, but then Vince fired us all on air. I always have a hard time believing stories like this because I have no clue who transcribes this dialogue. It's funny to think about, though. One thing's for sure, I cannot wait for Lockdown in STL. That should be a blast.

Linas Kleiza had a career night. Good to see Mizzou related to something positive at this time of the year.

The Lakers just don't have a very good team right now. Kobe is great as always, but they really have nothing else to work with. No one else on the team is talented or consistent enough right now to make this team a contender.

I'm not repeating this year. Two of my S16's gone already.