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There are 3 seconds on the clock, your team is down 1 with no timeouts left. You need to win this game to make it to the postseason, or win a playoff series. Which guy doesn't belong in this group. . . Jordan, Bird, Magic, and the modern players Kobe, T-Mac, Wade, Carmelo, LeBron or should I say Flip Murray or Larry Hughes or Big Z or Varejao in the middle of the crowded paint or someone else that LeBron passes the buck to instead of taking the shot to win it himself? I guarantee you that if the Lakers need a victory Kobe will go up 1 on 5 and still make that shot more often than not because he is a clutch player. He's not going to pass it to Odom or Mihm or anyone else on that team and pray that a role player wins the big game. We're not talking a Jordan to Wennington dunk for the 'W'. LeBron will pass the ball to give someone a 20-25 footer and that's why he's overrated.

What does that have to do with him being afraid to take the last shot? When he does take it, he's under 20% in hitting it. He passed up 5 chances to win the game tonight, and nearly threw it away if not for a stupid reflex move by a defender. His team was part of an epic collapse last year and was a few seconds away from a 6th straight loss after having a 25 point lead tonight. The guy is a great statistical player but he's disgustingly overrated, and the praise will only continue to ramp up in the future when he starts collecting some meaningless hardware (All Star and regular season MVPs he doesn't deserve). I don't care if you score 40 points every night if you don't get that bucket that wins the close games. Regular season stats, jersey sales and SportsCenter highlights don't impress me, wins do. In the last 30 games of the year it seems like "King" James comes up small a lot more often than not, but then again that's not supposed to count because he's "only 21". I mean, it was deemed blasphemous that he was booed at home after missing 8 shots and 7 straight free throws in the 2nd half not too long ago.

If Pitt wins the Big East tourney they might steal the 4th 1 seed. It's not likely considering UConn & 'Nova are basically locks but it could happen.

I don't think it's all that useful because this poll doesn't take into account someone like me who watches all of the major sports but has a distinct level of interest. All I can do is list "NFL" as # 1. Most baseball fans like baseball far and away more than all of the other sports, but I'd be curious to know how many of the 70-75% that don't list it as their absolute favorite follow it on a regular basis. It's much easier to watch an entire NFL or NASCAR season as opposed to the patience testing NBA, NHL and MLB seasons even if you prefer some other sport, but then again this wasn't what the poll was intended to gauge.

At least we all know that Memphis won't get that disputed 1 seed now.

But NASCAR fans don't have internet access, since they're all rednecks [/sarcasm]

I don't know, teams just collapse all over LeBron in the 4th because they haven't been forced to respect anyone else on that team. He can't do anything without 2 or 3 defenders hanging on him. Damon Jones has been a total bust, Marshall is having a horrible year shooting the ball...now they've brought in Flip Murray to be the shooter that LeBron gets open looks for. LeBron still did a lot of good stuff down the stretch, like where he got a block down on one end, then came back on offense with the drive and kick for a Snow jumpshot. If they want to build him as the next Jordan he's going to have play like him. If Nocioni hadn't got his hand up on a ball that LeBron threw three feet behind Varejao (sp?) at the end of the game he would have likely cost his team the victory. If he can't get it done in the clutch during the regular season, I don't expect him to be able to do it in the postseason even if Hughes is back. 31-7-7 is nice, but it would be nicer if he played like an elite player during money time. In almost 3 full seasons he's yet to demonstrate that ability. 4-21 when the money's on the line isn't what I expect from a guy getting that much hype, especially when Carmelo's got the best percentage of anyone in the league with more than 10 attempts at winning or tying a game on the final shot. I'd love to see anyone but the fucking Spurs and Pistons in the finals since I didn't watch a single minute of that very series last year.

LeBron is lucky Flip Murray came to play tonight (11 in the 4th) since he didn't take a shot on their last 4 or 5 possessions. The guy is not an assassin, and if Murray missed that GW 3, their fortunes would be vastly different.

I don't think the Rangers can win the Cup, but I think they can make it to at least the Eastern Conference Finals. Until the last couple of weeks before the break, I didn't think they'd find a way to stay in the hunt since I was conditioned to wait for the inevitable collapse. 6-1 win in Philly with Weekes in the net is about the best possible way this stretch run could start.

I'm happy with the 8 cuts so far, I can't remember the last time that was the case on AI. They do need to cut Kinnik and the two Savage brothers next week though (Kevin & Will).

Either the two white boys are tall or Sway's a fucking midget. Crooner boy's dead, so America's still doing well. My money is on Sway being saved by the Filipino community.

Cox just got the boot, so America's doing well so far with the women at least.

Bottom 3 chicks = Brenna, Heather & Kinnik, which is exactly as it should be. Brenna got the least number of votes, hallelujah!

PTI says they just pushed back the free agency deadline 3 days.

I hear you on that. I really hope it's a 20 point blowout either way just to ruin their plans.

This is probably a weird question, but does anyone know the name of the artist/song in the recent Duke/UNC commercial they keep showing on ESPN? It kind of sounds like Evanescence to me, but I don't know that it's them.

The Washington Redskins in particular are going to be gutted over this. I am loving the reports that they might have to run 20 rookies out there next year. As am I. The Redskins deserve it! How do they deserve it? As an NFC East rival (I like the Giants, I'm guessing he's a Cowboys fan) any team in our division deserves misfortune. That Daniel Snyder guy's a douche too, so it's twice as much fun to see them sweat at this point.

Is it safe to say that LeBron is not clutch in the playoff push yet? Or are we going to credit Larry Hughes' injury with his inability to hit shots in the 2nd half? I'm just curious how many years the "MVP candidate" can stink up the joint in the final 30 games before he finally gets a hit from the media for being a choker.

The biggest attendance jump comes from Cleveland where they more than quadrupled their attendance. But they are a special case. Of course the largest attendance is going to come from the big markets. You would see that in the NFL if they played often enough. The thing is, it is not like they are pulling dead weight. There wasn't a single team in MLB that drew less than 1 million fans last season. Historically, the kinds of attendance MLB has pulled have only occured within the last 15 years or so. People forget that there used to be absolutely horrific markets for attendance, which we don't have anymore. Minor league attendance set a new record, and it isn't the big markets of NYC and LA boosting that. So how is MLB not regional? Sixteen affliliated minor leagues. Nine viable independent leagues, with teams playing in all 48 states of the Continental U.S. Another 250 teams playing Division I college baseball, with a nationally televised championship. Baseball is the only sport where it's youth tournament is viewed on national television. Several national television contracts. A satellite radio contract, broadcasting every game to over 5 million subscribers. That's how. When I think MLB I think MAJOR LEAGUE baseball, not the Toledo Mud Hens (they are a team right?), Brooklyn Cyclones, or the Texas A & M Aggies since they are NOT part of MAJOR LEAGUE Baseball. You're talking about baseball as a whole, well can we start including Pop Warner in when talking about football because their championship game is televised on ESPN? College hoops is more popular than pro hoops in many areas, but that doesn't help the NBA in any appreciable way. I hope you get my point. MLB is regional. What they do on a level no one can see, and even fewer care about is largely irrelevant to the discussion of MAJOR LEAGUE baseball in America. It's not the good ol' days anymore, and most sports fans in America are pretty happy about that.

I'll put it to you like this, I've lived in NYC my whole life. The mid '80s were the greatest years for me to be a fan as the Mets and Giants were amongst the best teams and brought home world championships. Over those 20 years the Jets have never won anything, and the Mets have sucked by and large for the last 15 years. The Giants have had highs and lows and the Yankees went on a tear from about '96 to now after being the drizzling shits the decade before. In those 20 years the Giants and Jets have maintained similar attendance levels throughout. I will die before I can get a Giants season ticket plan because there are that many people on the list ahead of me. The Yankees drew between 1.5 and 2 million people from '86 to '96. From '96 to '06 their numbers rose by nearly twice as many. The Mets went in the opposite direction. Baseball is like wrestling in that it's either very hot or very cold in specific areas. If baseball had a salary cap and the Yankees were winning 75 to 85 games a year there's not a chance in hell they'd have 4 million people go through the turnstiles. If the Giants go 4-12 for a decade, they'd still sell out every game. Baseball is carried right now by NY, the 5 Cali teams, Boston, St. Louis and Chicago. With the exception of Cards and Cubs fans, the rest would flee by a million per year or more if their teams had years upon years where they weren't in contention. In football, no one gave a rat's ass about the Patriots until recently, but even when they became the newest dynasty ratings and attendance everywhere else stayed the same. LA doesn't even have a pro team, the Giants and Jets are never good at the same time and yet the NFL is still the king because it's a national juggernaut, labor strife notwithstanding.

We can put those teams into two categories. One, teams that recently saw new stadiums. Cleveland, Seattle, Toronto. All three saw attendance booms when those new stadiums mixed with franchise-best win/loss records. Second are the expansion clubs, Florida, Tampa Bay, Colorado. And to nip something here before I go on, Florida saw their best attendance last year since 1997, Toronto their best since 1999. Seattle's attendance dropped to ONLY 2.7 million, fourth in the league. Cleveland built such a high drawing club that it was impossible for their attendance to remain that high. They sold out practically every game in the late 90s thanks to a new park and the first period of good Indians baseball since the 1950s. The expansion clubs drew high numbers because expansion clubs are fresh products. Just look at the Oklahoma City Hornets for a similar example of these effects. Second, people forget that baseball experienced a surge in attendance just before the baseball strike. The Colorado Rockies drawing over 4 million inflated these numbers. And for the record, baseball attendance is up 8,458 fans PER GAME from 20 years ago. That's a net increase. How much of that +8,458/game comes from the 5 biggest markets though? The argument is that baseball is a regional game and nothing you've said has proven that statement to be false. The top 10 teams draw as many fans as the bottom 20. 6 of the top 8 teams attendance wise come from 2 states (Cali & NY). Those 6 teams alone accounted for 20 of the 69 million fans (29%) that went to ballgames. Add in Oakland and that number swells to 32% of all attendance coming from 2 states. Since '86 the Yankees are drawing almost 2 million MORE per year which is about 25,000 more per game just from one team. A handful of markets are solely responsible for baseball's popularity. Outside of those markets most fans are relatively apathetic. How is baseball not a regional game?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/attendance All I'm saying is that if a baseball team is good, fans will watch. The minute they aren't, they don't (except for Cubs fans). 20 years ago, the Yankees were lucky to draw 2 million per, and NYC was a Mets town. If the Yankees ever fall on hard times or Steinbrenner's successor isn't willing to pony up $200+ million per year to field a team, even their attendance will go way down. In the NFL or NASCAR people will still watch regardless of whether their team/driver is doing well or not which makes baseball more of a niche market than a lot of baseball fans seem to think.

What about Seattle (who led the majors in attendance in '01, and lost nearly one MILLION from that number in 4 years), Cleveland (down 1.2 MILLION from '01), Toronto, Colorado, Florida, Tampa Bay and all of the other team's who have seen their attendances tank in the last few years? Do they not count? If Colorado loses a million and a half fans and Pittsburgh gains one million, is that not a net loss? Revenues go up with increased ticket prices. For example, the Knicks still bring in big revenues because the tickets cost more, but that doesn't necessarily mean more people care about the team because you can now buy season tickets and that wasn't the case as recently as 5 years ago.

How many people lived in Pittsburgh 20 years ago relative to today? How big was the stadium they played in 20 years ago relative to today? Is the stadium more accessible now relative to 20 years ago? How much has attendance dropped in Colorado and Florida since their first seasons about a decade or so ago? We can play with stats all we like, but interest in baseball IS down whether people choose to admit it or not.

Yeah..they did. No they didn't. The original clip package from however long ago just mentioned him hitting 6 threes and scoring 20 points in the last 4:19 of the game. The extended, 5 minute piece they started airing this week, mentioned he went 7-13, 6-10 from 3 and missed his first two shots. I've seen this shit so many times on ESPN that the stats are burned into my brain already.