Dangerous A

You were excited with Kobe and Shaq's finals? The only decent finals Kobe and Shaq were apart of was their first where it took them 6 games to dispose of the Pacers. I found them beating the Sixers 4-1 and sweeping the Nets to be incredibly boring, particularly the Nets series since pretty much none of those games was competitive.

Sounds to me like a clash here. Some of it is they don't like the teams involved. Some of it because they don't like how the games aren't close. A Question I pose is.. If the previous 3 games were closer, as in within 2-3 points in the final 2 minutes, would the critics of this series still say this series sucks because there wasn't that one offensive star a la Shaq, Wade, T-Mac, Amare, Kobe, etc. or would there still be a problem because there isn't a "marketable" star in the finals? Sports is the ultimate reality TV folks. No scripting. Of course there should be gripes because up until now, the series has been less than stellar. However, part of the tradeoff for having what we have here in sports is sometimes the more flashy, glossy, pop team doesn't always make it in the end. Legitimacy seems to be the problem of some because unfortunately, it doesn't have favorites. It doesn't care about appeal or marketability. However, I wouldn't have it any other way. If I really don't like the game/series, I just don't watch it. Simple as that. Would there still be criticism of the series if the Heat made it to the finals, yet the scores and outcomes were exactly the same? Or what about the Suns? What if the exact scores and outcomes held up except it was the Suns and not the Spurs, would the criticism die down more because more people "got what they wanted"? These are things that should keep you up at night

Here are a couple of mine... McDonalds-Double cheeseburger (x2) I keeps it simple there. Burger King-Double whopper w/cheese Jack in the Box-Ultimate cheeseburger Carl's Jr aka Hardee's-Western Bacon Double Cheeseburger Denny's-Bacon and Cheddar Burger In N Out Burger- 4x4 (folks who've been there know what I mean) I'll post more later.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good the cheeseburger hot pockets were.

The series is competitive. The games are not. I think the next 2-3 games will be closer.

Actually, Taker did put Brock over in their HITC match. Taker lost clean and bled a gusher. Then WWE botched it all by having Big Show beat Brock the next month.

Filet Mignon, cooked medium. You don't even need steaksauce or extra seasoning as long as the meat isn't too old.

The word I have heard PR is that the Knicks are also very high on Channing Frye right now and might take him over Granger or Webster because Frye has helped his stock tremendously with great workouts. Too bad for me, because I was hoping he'd go to the Warriors, who I've slowly started to get behind now that I live in Oakland. (originally from Sacto, Go Kings!)

Here is the skinny on the Chicago Pre draft combine athletic tests (strength, speed, agility,etc.) courtesy of ESPN Insider... There are three ways to help your draft stock at the Chicago predraft camp. First, you can actually play well in the event, like Luther Head and David Lee did, and convince scouts that you're first-round material. Second, you can stand against a wall, spread your arms out and possibly measure longer/bigger than team originally thought you were. Guys like Chris Paul and Ike Diogu did that this year. Finally, you can go through the NBA draft combine and prove to scouts that you're quicker, stronger, or can jump higher than your original scouting report. Insider exclusively obtained a list of the Chicago pre-draft camp combine results on Wednesday. The combine measures four key areas: strength (bench press repetitions of 185 pounds), vertical jump, lane agility (how fast a player moves laterally around the key), and speed (¾-court sprint). Then the league adds those up and gives an athletic ranking to each player in the draft. The overall winner this year was Oklahoma State's Joey Graham, who blew away the competition. Second was Georgia Tech's Will Bynum. Other top players with good scores included Rashad McCants (3rd overall), Luther Head (6th), David Lee (11th), Marvin Williams (15th), Chris Paul (16th) and Raymond Felton (18th). There was one major surprise in the top 20 -- Illinois point guard Deron Williams finished 10th, ahead of both Paul and Felton. Part of that had to do with strength; Williams bench pressed 185 pounds 15 times, which is really great for a point guard. However, that wasn't the full story. There have been major questions about Williams' lateral quickness, but he actually tested quicker than Paul in the lane agility drill and finished .03 seconds behind Paul in the sprint. Williams has lost about 15 pounds and is down to 7½ percent body fat, which obviously has helped his athleticism. The bottom end of the spectrum included mostly international players and lumbering big men. Georgia Tech center Luke Schensher finished at the bottom of the list (75th). Ersan Ilyasova (74th) and Martynas Andriuskevicius (73rd) also tested poorly. The shock on the low end was high school star Monta Ellis, who finished 70th. His strength, vertical jump and lateral quickness were all on the low end of the scale. That could be devastating to his draft chances. Other disappointments included Andrew Bogut (61st), Martell Webster (60th), Rudy Fernandez (57th), Antoine Wright (55th), Jarrett Jack (54th) and Francisco Garcia (51st). Luther Head ranked as the most athletic point guard in camp. Will Bynum took the award for the 2-guards. Joey Graham won for 3s, David Lee for 4s and Marcin Gortat for centers. Ellis was the worst ranked guard in camp at either position. Ilyasova finished last among small forwards while Taylor Coppenrath was last for power forwards and Luke Schenscher finished at the bottom of the heap for centers. On the individual test front, Will Bynum recorded the highest one-step vertical jump at 40½ inches. Gerald Green and Ronnie Price tied for second at 39 inches, followed by Luther Head at 38½. Chris Paul and Hakim Warrick rounded out the top-five, each launching a 38-inch leap. Luke Schensher recorded the worst vertical jump, at 26½ inches. He was followed by Taylor Coppenrath and Jason Klotz (27 inches) and Martynas Andriuskevicius and Wayne Simien (27½ inches). Joey Graham won the strength test, bench pressing 185 pounds an impressive 26 times. Ike Diogu finished second with 21 reps, followed by Chuck Hayes with 20. Channing Frye helped himself shed the soft label a bit by hoisting the bar 19 times. Eric Williams, Marcin Gortat and David Simon all finished tied for fifth with 18 reps. As happens every year, several top players were unable or barely able to do this drill. Monta Ellis, Rudy Fernandez, Martynas Andriuskevicius, Brandon Rush and Daryl Dorsey got a zero for the drill. Luke Schensher and Travis Diener could only lift the bar once. In the lane agility drill, Michigan State's Alan Anderson recorded the fastest time at 10.32 seconds. Rashad McCants was second at 10.39. John Lucas ranked third, Rudy Fernandez fourth and Raymond Felton fifth. Jason Klotz, Ellis Myles and Deji Akindele finished at the bottom of the heap. Monta Ellis and Andrew Bogut also recorded terrible times of above 12 seconds. In the ¾-court sprint, Will Bynum recorded the fastest time at 3 seconds. Joey Graham, Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and John Lucas were also in the top five. Marvin Williams and Julius Hodge finished in the top 10. Jason Klotz earns the awarded as the slowest guy in camp with a 3.68 seconds time. Ersan Ilyasova, Andrew Bogut, D'or Fischer and Torin Francis rounded out the five slowest guys in camp. Note that several top prospects, including Fran Vazquez, Johan Petro, Nate Robinson, Ryan Gomes, Brandon Bass, Matt Walsh and Linas Kleiza, did not participate in the testing. So who was helped and hurt by the testing? WINNERS Deron Williams -- Scouts have been questioning his quickness and athleticism all year. Now that he's lost some of that body fat, that no longer seems to be an issue. He's not as fast as Raymond Felton and doesn't jump as high as Chris Paul, but he's clearly in the same league athletically. Joey Graham -- It doesn't come as a huge surprise that Graham came out on top. If you've seen him play much, you know he's an unbelievable athlete. Still, finishing on top of the heap should guarantee he gets selected in the lottery. Will Bynum -- He was the last guy invited to Chicago and played extremely well, especially on the defensive end. A few scouts believe he might be a better prospect than Nate Robinson (the guy who tested as the top athlete in Chicago last year). I doubt he gets selected ahead of Nate, but he's definitely in the second-round mix now. Rashad McCants -- There are still questions about his attitude, but it's rare to find such a great shooter who can also test off the charts athletically (just look at Martell Webster and Antoine Wright). Someone's going to ignore the baggage and take him in the late lottery to mid-first round. Channing Frye -- He's stronger and more athletic than scouts have given him credit. The 19 reps on the bench press will turn a lot of heads. David Lee -- Athletically, he tested as the top power forward in the draft. His lane agility scores are what really stand out. Lee has very quick feet, which will really help him defensively in the pros. Combine that with his strong play in Chicago and Lee seems like he's another step closer to securing a spot in the first round. Marcin Gortat -- He had just a so-so camp, but he tested out as the most athletic center in the draft. He could be off the board in the first 10 picks of the second round if he decides to stay in the draft. Sean May -- His numbers don't jump out at you, but he showed a better vertical jump and more agility than his main competition: Ike Diogu, Wayne Simien and Chris Taft. Maybe that will balance out the fact that he measured smaller than all of them. LOSERS Andrew Bogut -- He's been trying to dispel the "great white stiff" myth for the past few weeks. This doesn't help. While his vertical leap is actually above average for a guy his size, his lateral quickness and sprinting speed were just awful. That will hurt him defensively. Wayne Simien -- Simien finished well below the other top big men in almost every area. Especially shocking is his lack of explosion jumping off one foot. His one-step vertical was only a half inch more than his standing vertical. That was, by far, the worst in the camp. Antoine Wright -- Scouts have been warning that Wright looks more athletic than he actually is. At the combine, he was significantly below Francisco Garcia, a guy almost every scout in the league has knocked for his lack of athleticism. Had he not benched an impressive 12 reps, he would have landed close to the bottom. That's going to come back to haunt Wright. Jarrett Jack -- He has great size and toughness, but athletically, he tested well behind most of the point guards in this draft. With Roko Ukic making a strong push, it could cause him to slip. The High Schoolers -- Monta Ellis, Martell Webster and Brandon Rush all tested terribly. That's partly because of their age and partly because guys like Ellis and Rush might not have been training for these particular tests the way some players do. We knew that Webster was just an average athlete but Ellis was a huge shock. For an undersized 2-guard to be successful in the League, he has to be long, quick and explosive. Ellis is none of the above. There's been talk that Minnesota is flirting with taking him at No. 14. It's pretty hard to justify that after seeing these numbers. The Internationals -- They always struggle every year. With the exception of Gortat, they all were near the bottom of the heap. Most of them have never lifted weights before (which hurts their bench press numbers) and most are bigs lacking any real explosion or quickness. Chad Ford covers the NBA for ESPN Insider.

I grew up on both at the same time, it's just that even as a kid, I hated Hulk Hogan and loved Ric Flair and the Horsemen, so that is probrably why I prefer the Big Goldie over the Winged Eagle, although I still like the Winged Eagle belt.

Put me down for Big Goldie as well.

Banky used to 0wn this end of the forums awhile back. I also know Banky had about 50 different alter egos/usernames. Is he still posting here and if so, what is his current name/s?

APO 0wned Zacky boy.

Most definitely. Totally forgot about Evans. I just got my first glimpse of his work a couple of weeks ago. I swore there were some bumps he took right on his head and neck where I thought he was going to end up paralyzed. While it's entertaining, Jack Evans is going to have a short career followed by living the rest of his life in extreme pain if he keeps at this pace.

Absolutely not. Finley is too old now. I don't see how that would benefit the Mavs anyhow. Dirk loves the perimeter too much and needs the ball in his hands to be an effective player. Same with Peja. You'd have a problem with 2 guys who need the ball to be worth a damn and only one ball. Again, I'd love a crack at Paul Pierce. I just hope Petrie and the Kings won't stand pat this offseason.(barring a lockout of course)

As far as women workers, Manami Toyota is the first name that jumps out to me as far as straight up athleticism. Not very strong, but she excelled greatly in the rest of the categories and put it all together to have great matches.

Sounds goofy.

BTW, did anyone else get the "Serenity" movie trailer? The trailer recieved applause in the theatre I was in last night. Looks absolutely sick, IMO.

Well, that is where you and I differ. I do think it's overtly racist. The terms you listed do come off worse, however in context, I think sandpeople is still bad. I don't know if self satisfaction is what I am looking for. What I am looking for is decent entertainment. I usually do turn off the tv during the Hassan segments, even before monday. Me tuning out won't effect ratings or change anything, but that is why I come here. To sound off i.e. bitch about what I don't like. Trust me, if I could change things, I would and not just this angle.

Thanks, but no thanks on Tim Thomas. I cannot fathom having a guy who called Kenyon Martin "fugazi" when he himself is actually lamer. Pot. Kettle. Black, my friend.

Nothing new to add that hasn't already been said here, but I will say I give it an enthusiastic thumbs way up. Excellent movie. Probrably the best movie of the summer so far, even over Ep. III. The only gripe I had was the constant cutting of the fight scenes started to wear on me as the movie went on, but that was minor. Still, very well done.

My turning my back on the angle is my own personal protest towards the entire Hassan debacle. I never said "Smarks, join me and do what I am doing." I choose not to spew off "USA" chants or join in. Again, that's just me. I never said I am going to change the way this is being handled. Another thing is since I don't have a media outlet to vent my displeasure through, I do it here in these forums while at the same time trying to stimulate some convo. Until a mod says I am overstepping my boundaries, I will continue to do so. Am I over reacting over 3 little words Austin said? Sure, but it's the way I feel and I am voicing my opinion on how things went down monday. I love how I am supposed to just take what WWE gives me and shove it down my throat with a spoonful of sugar and just say" Thanks WWE. Thank you very much. Can I please have more!" Again, I didn't have a problem with most of the segment, just the racist name calling part that slipped by. I wonder if this is more favoritism towards Austin. I mean, there'd be more people calling for blood if HBK or HHH were the ones calling Hassan and Daivari "sandpeople". And RRR, what you proposed is very interesting and in a perfect world, I think it could really work. However, with WWE creative at the helm, well, these guys can't handle angles handed to them on a silver platter (Invasion, Puder deal, etc) so I think they would botch this as well. Oh by the way, I bought my tickets before monday's show. Had this occured before monday, I might have considered not going. Since I already shelled out the money, I'll go. However, anything Hassan related will either get my back or me sitting in my seat in silence.

One of the things that helped with ECW in regards to it having that really intense connection with it's fans was the smaller venues. Fans were much closer to the action and the setting is way more intimate in a building that holds max 2,000. WCW in it's prime 95-98 were doing around 5,000-10,000 for regular arena attendance and well over 30,000 for some of their big Georgia Dome shows. ECW's ultraviolence, while a huge selling point, was also a reason they couldn't go mainstream. Advertisers aren't too fond of wrestling in the first place, so a hyper violent promotion that also advocated violence against women 10 times worse than WWE ever could isn't likely to get much needed money to stay alive in a marketplace where it's competition had millions to burn. I wonder how much the fanbase may have hurt ECW in terms of revenue streams. ECW fanbase is hugely internet based and a lot of them aren't cool with paying for shit. How could ECW make money from video sales when most of their fans are busy bootlegging the stuff? Why pay for the PPV when you can black box it. I'm not saying that was all of the ECW fans, but the question is was there a large enough percentage of them that it hurt the company in terms of much needed revenue? Sure they attended shows live and bought T-Shirts, but the revenue from that wasn't enough to compete with WWE and WCW.

Looks like the series is getting more competitive with the Pistons win, although the games are not.

Since you are not counting workrate, count Sean O'Haire as one of the most athletic. (not that I liked him, but he had a ton of athleticism)