Dangerous A

Actually, according to this week's Observer, Funk would've worked both shows but felt he wouldn't be able to recover from Shane's show in 2 days (Shane's show is 6/10, One Night Stand is 6/12) so he picked Shane's. WWE offered him more money, but didn't want to participate unless he could wrestle cause he didn't want to do just an appearance. Once he made his decision, he decided to go with the "fuck Vince" route in regards to his decision of the shows. He cut an anti-Vince promo that people who have seen it have said it is one of his best promos ever.

The Spurs have also shed the "boring" title with me, particularly this playoff run. They are playing both half court, grind out ball as well as running when they can. Ginobili and Parker are just as fun to watch as the Suns and I've always appreciated Duncan's game even though some still have this "robot" title tagged to him.

With the exception of Douglas' main event, I think the Douglas show looks a tad stronger. I just get the creepy feeling that One Night Stand will just be a vehicle to further WWE storylines as opposed letting ECW shine as the primary spotlight. Also, where is New Jack? I thought I heard he was going to work both shows, but don't see him listed anywhere?

Say what? What about fans dreaming of the possibilities of an Austin vs Goldberg match in 1998? When you've got wrestling companies in direct competition, every fan imagines interpromotional rivalries. How is this a bad thing? And I hardly think ECW being a 'farm system' had anything to do with their collapse; if people did perceive ECW as a 'farm system', why wouldn't fans be drawn to seeing the company and watching future stars of the industry grow from the ground up firsthand? The real damage to ECW came when they would spend so many months building up their top stars only to have them suddenly snatched away, forcing them to start from scratch with new or untested (often inferior) talent - not because of being seen as a 'farm system' by fans. The difference is when people would imagine an Austin v. Goldberg dream match, they would still envision both guys returning to their respective promotions after the match. With the ECW guys, people knew they weren't going to come back because ECW was small time. They knew ECW wasn't profitable enough to keep guys, so fans stopped investing as much into the product. This perception also limited growth for the company. Your bit about ECW developing talent only to have WWE and WCW snatching up the talent is a prime example of the farm system I am talking about. At first, when guys would jump to WWE and WCW, it didn't hurt so bad. Once it started happening regularly because of the Monday Night Wars, ECW started being viewed as a farm system because people knew that the stars were basically just buying their time until they could be called up to "the big leagues", WCW and WWE. Instead of being viewed as on level with the competition, they soon became the farm system. To answer your question as to why wouldn't fans be drawn to seeing the future stars of the industry grow from the ground up firsthand? Well I don't see OVW as a big profitable promotion. WWE is keeping that alive financially. The answer is the perception of the organization. Why do you think more people go to MLB games and not AA or AAA baseball games? Why do more people watch NBA instead of the NBDL? It's because people want to watch athletes perform at the highest level, not the percieved minor leagues, which is what ECW was to the casual fans and marks.

I read a mailbag on the Observer site that summed up the talent raiding situation of ECW. Basically Vince nicely told ECW he was taking so and so while Bischoff didn't say anything when he raided the talent. They both were taking their talent, just Vince was more cordial about it it all. Once fans started getting the drift that ECW was basically a farm system, that was the beginning of the end. If you catch your fan base wondering what how it would be if the top stars of your organization were feuding with other wrestlers from your competition, you have a big problem on your hands.

This is SI.com's Ian Thomsen's Top 14 picks for the draft. I think his picks are kind of wacky though. 1) Milwaukee-Andrew Bogut 2) Atlanta-Deron Williams 3) Portland- Marvin Williams 4) New Orleans-Chris Paul 5) Charlotte- Gerald Green 6) Utah- Raymond Felton 7) Toronto- Fran Vasquez 8) New York- Channing Frye 9) Goldend State- Tiago Splitter 10) LA Lakers- Sean May 11) Orlando- Martell Webster 12) LA Clippers- Rashad McCants 13) Charlotte- Martynas Andriuskevicius 14) Minnesota0 Antoine Wright

I think if the Heat take a game in Detroit to even the series, this thing'll go 7. I wonder how Billups will be in the next few days. He took a nasty bump on his hip and while he played on, I'll bet he feels like shit trying to get out of bed tommorrow. Then again, they don't play again until Sunday, so that rests him (and Shaq) up for a pivotal Sunday showdown.

For this ppv to work for me, they have to have Styles and from all accounts as of right now, that isn't happening. That could just be a negotiating tactic on his part to wait until the eleventh hour to get max money (and I don't blame him). However, a WWE guy announcing an ECW ppv even if this is just a one time thing is just wrong to me. I might have to watch this show muted if they give us Cole or Lawler announcing because that would be sickening on many levels. Tazz I'll tolerate since he is actually an ECW alum and a halfway decent commentator. JR, eh, still bugs me but that wouldn't kill me like Cole or Lawler.

Without outright spoiling it, someone on the SD side will be ripping ECW this thursday as well.

Here is Chad Ford's (ESPN Insider) Mock Draft as of today: 1) Milwaukee-Marvin Williams 2) Atlanta- Andrew Bogut 3) Portland- Gerald Green 4) New Orleans- Chris Paul 5) Charlotte- Deron Williams 6) Utah- Fran Vasquez 7) Toronto- Danny Granger 8) New York- Chris Taft 9) Golden State- Channing Frye 10) LA Lakers- Raymond Felton 11) Orlando- Martell Webster 12) LA Clippers-Martynas Andriuskevicius 13) Charlotte- Antoine Wright 14) Minnesota Timberwolves- Joey Graham 15) New Jersey- Hakim Warrick 16) Toronto- Sean May 17) Indiana- Rashad McCants 18) Boston- Nemanja Aleksandrov 19) Memphis- Marko Tomas 20) Denver- Rudy Fernandez 21) Phoenix- Audrey Blatche 22) Denver- Ersan Ilyasova 23) Sacramento- Charlie Villanueva 24) Houston- Tiago Splitter 25) Seattle- Johan Petro 26) Detroit-Yaroslav Korolev 27) Utah- Randolph Morris 28) SA- Julius Hodge 29) Miami- Jarret Jack 30) New York- Andrew Bynum

Depends on how hung up you are on Frye. I think he'll be a decent player, but I question some of his offensive skills. While the Lakers definitely need to address the middle, they also need a playmaker who can get Kobe and Odom good shots and run to help mask the lack of the middle. That is where Felton comes in. I'm not sure if this draft has that certain person to try to trade up to get with the exception of Marvin Williams or Gerald Green and the Lakers already have a platoon of guys who play their positions.

Excellent point on not giving up on the Suns. Folks also need to remember that this Spurs team also had a 2 game advantage on the Lakers last year and then went on to drop 4 straight. Getting back to the Spurs D, I think when you look at the whole game, they aren't locking down like they did in the regular season, however they are getting stops when they need to, which is in the 4th. The Suns can't get stops, period. The Suns lack of depth is hurting them as much as their lack of defense. In this series I think the only thing that can stop the Spurs is if they get ahead of themselves because they are up 2 going back home. I could see them getting lackadaisical and resting on their laurels with this series lead.

Looking to pick this up in the next 48 hours. From the reviews on Amazon, it sounds like straight fire!

I like the other analogy I heard the other night in that the Spurs weaknesses (offensive droughts) are not as bad as the Suns weaknesses (NO Defense, whatsoever). Thing is the Spurs CAN score and play uptempo while the Suns can't stop anybody. I mean the big 3 for SA all had big nights again. (Duncan-30, Ginobili-24, Parker-24)

The thing about May isn't his skills. Those are unquestioned. There is an issue about his height. He's listed as 6'9 and some sources have him at 6'8. He would have to adjust to playing PF because he is too short to play C. Also, his athleticism is in question. He isn't the most athletic guy and while he dominated in college, that might not translate to the NBA where most guys are either bigger and/or more athletic. I've read that May would be best off with a high post C or PF like Toronto has with Chris Bosh or Minnesota with KG where he can camp down low in the paint while the other big operates around the foul line.

Sorry to bust your bubble, but living in the Bay Area I can tell you the Warriors are set to take Channing Frye if he is still there with the 9th pick unless some sleeper comes about, which I doubt. I have seen a different scenario for the Lakers taking Raymond Felton. He is the fastest guy from endline to endline WITH the ball in his hands plus he's a natural leader and a winner. Definitely an upgrade from Chucky Atkins. Aside from the top 3 guys (Bogut, Paul, Williams) Gerald Green is the top High School prospect and has as much upside as Williams. He still needs to develop his body though.(6'7, only 200 ibs)

The way the lottery works is they draw for the top 3 picks. After those are drawn, the rest of the draft is set by how the team finished in regular season. Hence my post above in that the Lakers can only get picks 1-3 or 10th.

I completely agree with this. People will still scream bloody fix if they end up with 2 or 3 as well. (since they can only finish either 1-3 or where they are fixated now, which would be 10th)

I don't think Bogut will be much more than average at best. He's not athletic enough IMO. He's the most fundamentally sound of the top 3 (Bogut, Paul, Williams) however. If the Lakers do end up in the top 3, they would be best off with Chris Paul. Williams has the better upside, but they already have a logjam at his frontcourt swingman position (Odom, Butler, Walton, George, Medvedenko)

....pregnant. Here is the exact quote from the Observer newsletter. "We recieved a report at press time that Dawn Marie is pregnant, which is why I guess she hasn't been on the road and had put weight on of late" Not that big a deal. Just thought I'd lay it out there. I wonder if this is true, if the baby belongs to someone on the roster or someone outside the business since she split with Simon awhile back?

For the Suns to have even a chance, they are going to have to get better production from Marion (duh!), however that is not going to be easy. He's got Bowen all over him on the offensive end and Marion has to deal with Duncan on the defensive end. Steven Hunter is going to be the key here if the Suns are going to have a chance because Marion stuck playing the 4 defensively while not having plays called for him because of Bowen is going to kill the Suns. Hunter needs to be able to stay in the game to alleviate pressure off of Stoudamire and Marion.

Actually I think Seattle is more boring to watch then SA. Parker and Ginobili can be fun to watch and when he wants, I've seen Duncan posterize a few people. Seattle has a bunch of spot up shooters and bruisers, although Jerome James has been fun to watch these playoffs. I don't particularly find Fortson and Evans to be the most exciting players and Ray Allen is only exciting when his shot is on. The rest of the Sonics are kind of bleh.

What a retard. Hope he liked wasting a month of his life filling out those papers because there are a ton of people who are actually gonna get looked at who are eligible and won't get drafted. The guy says he isn't joking. Joke's gonna be on him on draft day where he probrably won't even get mentioned on the broadcast. Dork.

My comments on the back end are my opinion of Lita. However, if she is one of the "top" females the company has, then WWE needs to overhaul the women's division and either a) let the women just be T&A or b) get better workers in the ring than Lita. She is awful. Here is a question, would business tank if Lita was gone? No it wouldn't. As far as explaining why she isn't there, I just look at the last 3+ years of storylines in WWE and trust me, they can come up with something even if it was lame. They had no problem writing off a ton of people, Lita would be no exception. Also, crowd pops do not equal business. I'll stand by my statement that Lita is useless.

Jerichoholic82 is on to something. Why not just fire Lita? She is useless. It's not like they don't have 50 other Divas on the roster that look better than her anyways. She isn't going to be working anytime soon because of the knee and even if she could work, she stinks in the ring. It's pretty bad when Lita had been working longer than Trish and Trish has surpassed her in the workrate department. I say fire Lita. She is not important. She is not a draw. She can't work in the ring and can't cut promos. She's useless.