“It’s always this mentality that the loser lost the game more than the winner won the game. According to the “experts,” no one really ever wins anymore.”
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The Orioles, In First Place?

“There’s no such thing as a front-running Orioles fan. These guys have been tormented from being terrible since Cal Ripken Jr. left, and even then, they weren’t exactly a powerhouse.”
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After the First Round of the NBA Playoffs

“All Amare ever was, was above average with the Suns when Steve Nash was dishing him the ball at will. In case you haven’t noticed, there is no Steve Nash on the Knicks’ roster, not even close. How good would Karl Malone had of been without John Stockton? “
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Gays and Sports, Part 1

“Of the current NFL which is comprised of 32 teams and each team a 53 player roster, there’s not one openly gay athlete. Is it just me, or is that alarming?”
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The Drunken, Decadent and Debauched At the Race Track

“Fifty-one weeks ago I shook hands with importance and power way beyond my capacity. People who overuse the idea of being sophisticated because they know horses and drink aged bourbon in between expensive glasses of wine.”
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Notre Dame QB Rees Makes it Easier for Coach Kelly

“Just another example of an over privileged kid who’s been handed everything. This type of thing has probably happened before during his high school days at Lake Forest in which he was probably let go with a slap on the wrist.”
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Mr. Smith Goes to Arkansas

“Let’s face it, Arkansas is hedging by giving Smith a 10-month, $850,000 contract – it gives Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long a grace period to see how Smith will manage the assets he is inheriting from fired coach Bobby Petrino.”
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Junior Seau 1969-2012

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2012 NFL Draft Losers

“The winners were teams that drafted with their heads and not their hearts. The winners were teams who went after their needs and built to their strengths….Only a handful of teams really tanked it. Let’s take a look at some of real losers of the 2012 NFL Draft.”
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Cheap Highlights, Free Free Throws and Lebron’s Flop

“People with half a brain can always watch a few manipulated highlights on the evil 4-letter’s banner program and pretend that’s precisely how the game played out.”
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Winners of the Week in the Sporting World

“After spending a week in Hollywood, Florida, Bill Hancock (head of the BCS) and commissioners from the college conferences made real headway in finally establishing a playoff of sorts – nah, I’m lying.”

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The Seventh Game

“You lose and you go home. Basketball, baseball and hockey are far from this mentality and there’s a lot more crap playoff series’ than good. A lot of playoff series’ go for five unmemorable games and the winning team prevails into the next round and then there’s a great chance the same scenario will happen again.”
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2012 NBA Playoff Predictions, Round One

“The Hawks have nicknamed Phillips Arena the Highlight Factory, well how about nicknaming it something with a little more value, like ‘The Winning Center’. Oh, that’s right, they’re not committed to that. Their interest is in filling seats and fun dunks.”
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The Worldwide Leader in Muckracking and Piling On, ESPN

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Marijuana in College Football – A Rebuttal to a Recent Article

“One article starts off with the line “The sandwich bag brims with weed.”(urgh), and continues while the writer interviews an “anonymous” player as he smokes a joint and states that half the Oregon Ducks football team smokes marijuana.”
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The Indiana Pacers win game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semi’s and no one gives an ounce of credit to the Pacers. Oklahoma City thumps the Lakers by a million and the talk is all about LA. Why can’t we celebrate who wins by spending more time talking about the winners and less about the losers?

It’s always this mentality that the loser lost the game more than the winner won the game. According to the “experts,” no one really ever wins anymore. Especially when the loser is someone who was a heavy favorite. Sometimes I wonder why the games are actually played?

How much time do we spend talking about the losers in the real world? If you fail out of high school, you get to be job guy for the rest of your life and no one cares. You graduate college and you get into a good career as you rightfully should. That’s the way it’s supposed to work right? There’s a reason why CEO’s and plumbers don’t usually hang out together. The CEO won and the plumber didn’t. Not that the plumber’s job isn’t honorable and important, there is a need and purpose for his job that if it didn’t exist, daily life would be a nasty mess. However, the CEO is more important on the larger scale. Just like the winner of a game is more important because the winner moves on. The winner moves closer to the goal, prize, championship. The loser is left with using the famous phrase, “There’s always next year.” And unfortunately, we’re the ones who usually always push that bullshit play button. Aren’t we versatile?

According to you, if Miami loses it’s because Chris Bosh is out for the season. It’s never going to be about Indiana playing better. It’s going to be excuses for LeBron James. It’s going to be the same “experts” and “analysts” who were giving Miami unconditional praise a week ago, now doubting the Heat as some way of salvaging their own intelligence and expertise in the joke that is their own self-importance. You will put an asterisk on the Heat going down because of an injury that happened to the third best player on the team. Chicago’s best player went down and you already forgot. If anyone had a built-in excuse it was Chicago. Rose was the MVP a year ago, Bosh was just another above-average NBA player who happened to look like the Predator before he cut off his dreads.

If the Lakers lose the series (which carries a 75% probability) it won’t be a surprise. The Lakers are old, they play poor in transition, lack bench depth and they’re overly reliant on one guy to save the day. When Kobe is off, the entire team is off. When Kobe is on, the Lakers usually win. The problem is the “experts” put all their money into the Miami Heat stock, and the first glimpse of their stock falling, they’re desperately trying to cash out.

Today I heard legend-in-his-own-mind chucklehead Doug Gottlieb of the evil 4-letter say he thinks the entirety of Miami’s team is actually worse than the 2007 Cavaliers who got swept by San Antonio in the NBA Finals. Are you serious Gottlieb? I’ve heard you consistently say for five months now, that you can’t fathom anyone matching up with Miami and that Miami vs. Oklahoma City is an absolute lock. And now, all of a sudden, after a game two loss to the “inferior” Indiana Pacers, you’re jumping off the bridge you’ve built all season? How convenient.

Here’s a look at everyone who started more than ten games for the ’07 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. everyone who’s started for this season’s Miami Heat:

Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron James (F-G), Larry Hughes (G), Drew Gooden (F), Sasha Pavlovic (G-F), Zydrunas Ilgauskas (C), Eric Snow (G), Daniel Gibson (G)

Miami Heat: LeBron James (F-G), Dwayne Wade (G), Chris Bosh (F-C), Mario Chalmers (G), Udonis Haslem (F), Shane Battier (F), Joel Anthony (C), James Jones (F)

Really Gottlieb? Really?

That would be classified as reaching. That’s trying a little too hard to think outside the box in an effort to flip-flop from what you’ve said all season and save your ass.

I find it surprising that people in Atlanta actually attend Hawks games. Aren’t the Hawks the most laughably inept, of the perennial playoff teams? The Hawks seem to make the playoffs every year and for what? It’s just a formality. Every year you get 16 teams in the postseason and you can bank on 10-12 teams having zero chance to win it all. Why even invite the Hawks, Magic, Jazz or Sixers to the playoffs?

Oh…wait…shit! How quickly I forgot, the Sixers won! The injury “upset of the century.” Am I supposed to give the Sixers credit for beating a broken Bulls team? And doesn’t this provide a pretty good example to the value of Derrick Rose? And Joakim Noah isn’t so bad himself. Noah plays hard which is something I can’t quite say about the performance of his teammate Boozer. Carlos Boozer really disappointed me throughout the series. Isn’t he supposed to be a star player?

What a waste of a nice regular season Chicago. Way to show up for that epic Heat/Bulls Eastern Conference Finals like everyone was predicting the day before their first playoff game. Asterisk anyone?

The NBA Playoffs actually kind of suck.

Now I am forced to watch Boston and Philadelphia. I love what Doug Collins has done for Philadelphia but there’s no chance in hell they can beat Miami. Boston has a slight chance because of experience (which is basically a euphemism for ‘old.’) However, this is Boston’s final shot. It’s the Shamrock’s last chance at a little luck and they’re going to need it just like every other useless playoff team in the east, not Miami. Boston matches up well with the Heat. KG on Bosh, Pierce on LeBron and Rondo on Wade defensively and any of the guys including Allen can get red hot in a blink.

Boston and Chicago with a healthy Derrick Rose sure would’ve been nice. I find part of myself wanting to cheer for the Sixers because I do like this team but do we really want Philly any farther than where they are? Imagine the Sixers in the NBA Finals? Stern might jump off a bridge!

And then there’s the joke that is the New York Knicks. What more can I say except for embarrassing. I know they were banged up – very much so – but just give me a better effort next time! What do we make of Carmelo Anthony? At this point in his career, isn’t he pretty much the same guy as he was as a rookie. No defense, no sense of team and a complete disregard for accountability. The same can be said for Amare Stoudemire. All Amare ever was, was above average with the Suns when Steve Nash was dishing him the ball at will. In case you haven’t noticed, there is no Steve Nash on the Knicks’ roster, not even close. How good would Karl Malone had of been without John Stockton?

You might think I’m evading from talking about Miami and I’m not. It’s obvious there’s no one else better than Miami so for me, there’s really no reason to talk about them. We all know they’re pretty awesome. We all know about LeBron James and his third MVP Award with zero rings and the bullshit officiating because David Stern has a billion dollar wager with Vegas so the refs are in his back pocket. We all know this! And if you try to pretend you can’t see the same things I see when I watch Miami – we’re not of the same species! I have never seen anything more blatantly and corruptly obvious than the NBA’s desperation for Miami to win the championship. They’re already good enough! They don’t need the extra boost from the officials – but they get every whistle, you can’t lay a finger on the Heat. Just let the guys play. Stop babying LeBron James and make him win it all.

Former Dallas Cowboys great and Hall of Fame WR Michael Irvin appeared in a July 2011 issue of gay men’s magazine Out, publicly acknowledging his stand for equality. My original thoughts were, FINALLY! Then I thought a bit more about the issue, and how equal rights apply to everything except gays. And after a bit more thinking, I was convinced this issue needs to be pressed heavily, opened and examined thoroughly and accessible for understanding the reason(s) why it’s still so difficult for people to come out of the closet if they’re an athlete in the world of professional sports.

It’s not a big deal for celebrities or musicians, why can’t an NFL player come out? Would it sacrifice the sanctity of some of the adjectives we use when referring to football such as “manly,” “powerful,” “rugged,” “beast-mode,” “badass” and all other connotations that go with those words? Are these athletes, who are getting paid big business money and should behave professionally, so unsure of themselves they couldn’t handle the locker room with a gay person? Would a shower after the game be the end all or be all of professional sports? It’s laughable to think such a thing. However, of the current NFL which is comprised of 32 teams and each team a 53 player roster, there’s not one openly gay athlete. Is it just me, or is that alarming?

In the article from Out magazine, Irvin describes how his brother’s sexual orientation contributed to his own issues assuming the role of a high profile athlete and how it placated towards his lifestyle. His brother Vaughn died at the age of 49 from stomach cancer was gay. The sexual orientation of his brother was at the least, mildly complicated for Michael who’s genetic makeup consisted of football from the time he was a child. “And through it all we realized maybe some of the issues I’ve had with so many women, just bringing women around so everybody can see, maybe that’s the residual of the fear I had that if my brother is wearing ladies’ clothes, am I going to be doing that? Is it genetic?” Irvin said to Out. “I’m certainly not making excuses for my bad decisions. But I had to dive inside of me to find out why am I making these decisions, and that came up”

Irvin’s context in the Out article obviously centered around equality, was also directed towards African-American equality. “I don’t see how any African-American, with any inkling of history, can say that you don’t have the right to live your life how you want to live your life,” Irvin said. “No one should be telling you who you should love, no one should be telling you who you should be spending the rest of your life with. When we start talking about equality, and everybody being treated equally, I don’t want to know an African-American who will say everybody doesn’t deserve equality.”

The lasting hope is that eyes can be opened, voices can be heard and Michael Irvin was the key this intricate lock needs to move forward. Michael Irvin would support any athlete that chooses to come out because it’s a choice that needs to be supported and embraced by the general public. Hopefully more athletes would follow Irvin in this campaign. We think we’ve come so far because we have nuclear bombs that could desecrate the entire world with one drop, machines auditing machines because the word technology is old news and advancement has already been advanced. We’ve supposedly been to the moon and back, our cell-phones are becoming smarter by the minute, we’ve made energy-efficient cars and if you’re not on Facebook you don’t have a pulse, but somehow we’re still struggling with equality concerning sexual orientation, doesn’t quite add up.

I arrived at the traffic six hours before the Grand Marshal was ever going to say the famous phrase. Six hours awaiting traffic and miserable heat with shade only present under the grandstands somewhere in between the shuffle of some of the most interesting people you could ever meet. Cars and trucks and vans and motor-homes draped with flags of their favorite drivers obnoxious from excitement and who knows whatever else. One of seven of these cars will be impounded 12 hours from now. One of 62 of these cars will be destroyed after they get involved in an accident with the lives of their operators at serious risk. What is it about a race that invites such juvenile behavior? Is it the experience of being at the track hearing the power of the loud engines and the smell of the racing fuel or is it just ultimately who they are and that they can’t help it?

The traffic moved slow a little after 1pm. I suspect people have been drinking since the rooster crowed. Maximum capacity is an understatement. The money made from this event twice a year has to be astronomical.

Once finally in the parking lot, miles away from the actual track, the smell of the grill consumed me. It’s not only one grill, they’re behind every truck with mountains of food and stacks of beer cold in the coolers. My friend and I made our way to the company we were meeting a few parking lots away. It had rained the night before and the walk was through wet grass with patches of gravel and concrete misplaced throughout. My white shoes were a poor decision. There is no such thing as a fashion statement at a place like this. It’s a far cry from where I was 51 weeks ago in Kentucky. Instead of cars it was horses. The beer was bourbon and the food wasn’t grease. The women were scantily clad in a professional way forcing you to question whether or not they were whores. At the NASCAR race there is no question they’re whores. A year ago it was ridiculous hats, boob-jobs, celebrities and sun dresses. I didn’t see one dress. A woman wearing a dress to a stock-car race would be deemed as socially unacceptable. The hell with any inclination of a mint julep. The only idea of a mint with these fans is in the form of a junior or something you get for a quarter after the $9.99 buffet.

“Brandon, holy shit, you’re finally here,” yelled out John from a soft distance as I approached the start of an uncertain experience. John has been a friend since living as neighbors near the rooftop of a musty apartment loft building with my brother. Covered in tattoos with the beginning stages of becoming bald stood his acquaintance Charlie and his inexplicably hot girlfriend with her friends. My direct company was my best friend Dustin, who many consider a wildcard especially after a few hours of alcohol consumption. The time had just turned to 2:30pm, still five hours away from the start of the race.

Many consider the actual event as just a formality. The real fun begins during the day under the sun working on dehydration and a spotty tan. “Help yourself to the coolers. We have Bud, Rolling Rock and PBR. And if you want a drink, I have Evan Williams for a shot,” said John.

“No Coke or Pepsi?”

“Brandon’s a vag, he can’t shoot straight alcohol anymore. He has to have a mixed drink out of it,” said Dustin as he already had the handle in his hand. I grabbed a Bud and stood still.

People were loud and sweating profusely as if they just left a waterpark. The scene was basically one gigantic outdoor loony bin. And I desperately want to fit in.

The behavior wasn’t any better at Churchill Downs. In fact, it could be argued that it was worse. You don’t quite expect some of the things you experience to happen with such beautiful looking people. The extravagant get-up was only a mask for the ugly people they were the day before. It reminded me of T.S. Eliot’s, “To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet.” That was never more obvious. Fifty-one weeks ago I shook hands with importance and power way beyond my capacity. People who overuse the idea of being sophisticated because they know horses and drink aged bourbon in between expensive glasses of wine. It’s absurdity insists upon itself. In Kentucky, they drink all day for the fastest 3-minutes in sports. In NASCAR, they drink all day for the longest 3-hours or more in sports. There are so many differences between horse racing and stock-car racing but there is one huge similarity – people love to drink and watch a race.

I woke up the morning after the Kentucky Derby on the floor in an otherwise empty hotel room with zero recollection of the night before. My last memory was staring at the betting ticket in disbelief as Mucho Macho Man finished 3rd instead and my wager at first, screwing up my trifecta with Animal Kingdom and Nehro rounding out the final two. “Goddamnit I should’ve boxed it,” I said to myself on the floor. The morning after the NASCAR race I was in my bed with a girl I didn’t remember meeting. I laid there replaying anything and everything in my head. Dustin was on the couch outside of the bedroom and four others were spread throughout the loft. There was no cold water in the refrigerator, only more beer and I regrettably stared down empty cans all over the counter-tops. Then I remembered, the girl in the bed was Charlie’s girlfriends friend Brook. What a whore.

2011 starting quarterback, Tommy Rees, really messed up.  After getting caught drunk at a party (he is underage), he tried to knee a cop and tried to fight off arrest which resulted in four misdemeanor charges.  This “transgression” eliminates any chance he had at ever starting for the Fighting Irish – not that he had the job locked down after last year.  He passed for 2871 yards, 20 TDs, and 14 INTs last year – and that isn’t including several pivotable fumbles; so his job was anything but secure.  But this situation is something that ruins a career, as well as any chance of playing professionally (for a quarterback).

Kelly’s choices for starting quarterback as been reduced to three – freshman Gunner Kiel, sophomore Everett Hendrix, and junior Andrew Hendrix with Golson giving a standout performance of passing for 120 yards and 2 TDs.

With games against Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, Stanford, and Oklahoma this year, Brian Kelly might need all the help he can get.

Further Commentary
by Brandon Halsey

Just another example of an over privileged kid who’s been handed everything. This type of thing has probably happened before during his high school days at Lake Forest in which he was probably let go with a slap on the wrist.

Not this time!

The police narrative mentions the officer got his wind knocked out and suffered scrapes and pain from the actions of Rees. Rees is and will be in a lot of trouble for a long time to come. Two things you just don’t do; rob a bank and hit a police officer.

Sorry Rees – mommy and daddy can’t get you out of this pickle. Only if you were actually any good, would you have a chance to walk away from this jam. You’d have to be on Andrew Luck college level good to have any chance of overcoming these obstacles. The Arena League is waiting Tommy. Welcome to Canadian football Rees. Enjoy your time with the Argonauts buddy. Or you can just go back to Illinois and sell cars like every other former athletic joke does.

Smith seems like a good choice for the Razorbacks.  He has a history Razorbacks as special teams coach for three years under Bobby Petrino after going 22-26 at Michigan State. He left the Razorbacks in April to be head coach at his Alma Mater, Weber State, before jumping ship and accepting the head coach job at Arkansas.

Let’s face it, Arkansas is hedging by giving Smith a 10-month, $850,000 contract – it gives Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long a grace period to see how Smith will manage the assets he is inheriting from fired coach Bobby Petrino.  With starting QB Tyler Wilson acting as a true leader for the team and the assistant coaches staying onboard, as well as Petrino’s brother, this is as much of a plug and coach situation as it gets.  And as good as it can possibly be at Arkansas, it was Petrino who called the offensive plays that made Arkansas so difficult to stop and replacing that intuition and ability isn’t going to be easy.

There has been hoopla made about Smith’s hobbies – mountain climbing, sky diving, etc. but I could care less, I just want him to step in without shaking things up.  While not being as big on Arkansas as I was with Petrino, I think that anything more than three losses will not be acceptable (with those losses possibly by Alabama on 9/15, at South Carolina on 11/10, and at home against LSU on 11/24).

One of the saddest things I have seen in college football was seeing John L. Smith at Michigan State, standing in front of the microphone in his last season, having a mental meltdown week after week.  I just hope this season isn’t a repeat.

Junior Seau was one of the greatest players the NFL has ever seen, bottom line. I know we tend to always say the right things about people when they pass away, but for Seau, all the right things just aren’t enough. For the great player he was on the field, he was an even better person away from the game. Seau was a California native who was beloved in San Diego as an integral part of the Samoan community and distributed over $4 million to benefit children and young adults through the Junior Seau Foundation. Junior was a high school legend and a college superstar who was destined for success in the professional ranks. When Seau came to the NFL he was an instant sensation with an unbridled intensity and emotional leadership he transcended the linebacker position. Seau was the face of the defensive side of the NFL appearing on Wheaties’ boxes, late night talk shows and commercials during a time when the NFL was enjoying it’s highest peaks in popularity. Seau was selling jerseys with the best of the offensive greats like Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith and finally, it was cool to be a San Diego Chargers fan. Today is a sad, sad day for all NFL fans. Number 55 will always be remembered.

Let’s begin with someone who really missed the boat. Seattle, what were you thinking? It’s not that Bruce Irvin is a reach, but there was no need to move up for the guy. And why take Russell Wilson in the 3rd round? There was no reason to make an addition to the QB position this early, Wilson would’ve been around for one of their two 4th round picks if you really needed to take him at all. There’s no doubt Matt Flynn is going to be the starter, unless Pete Carroll just wants a “QB Battle.” Pete Carroll doesn’t know how to draft. They go for eight defensive guys when the offense was equally as bad yet they only draft two offensive players with one being a QB who will never see the light of day. Seattle failed miserably.

Oakland was set up to have a poor draft by default. They only had six total picks which didn’t begin until the 95th overall pick of the 3rd round. With that being said, they didn’t do as bad as I originally anticipated. But why only go for one offensive lineman? The Raiders already have a solid O-Line. As a team, their collection of quarterbacks were only sacked 25 times in 2011. Add more depth for further improvement to keep an aged Carson Palmer healthy. They went defensive heavy which was needed yet they couldn’t resist an arguable steal with WR Juron Criner from Arizona. Their defense was ranked in the bottom five of every statistical yardage category. No need to go after a receiver. However, it is the Oakland Raiders and when they see a tall, speedy receiver on the board they don’t hesitate. At least they didn’t draft six receivers!

Why the hell did Washington draft Michigan State QB Kirk Cousins early in the 4th round? What if the “unthinkable happens” and RG3 really struggles or gets hurt? Is that Washington’s thought process behind drafting Cousins? This mistake instantly added unnecessary pressure and controversy to the equation. News flash – rookie QB’s tend to struggle! You can argue Cam Newton was great and he was pretty awesome but the Panthers were still 6-10. Peyton Manning was 3-13 his rookie year. Are the Redskins implying they won’t have any patience for poor play and if RG3 starts out 0-6 then it’s time for Cousins? Despite the Kirk Cousin’s abortion, the Redskins did do a few good things and took some much needed help on the offensive line in the 2nd, 5th and 6th rounds. What about bringing in RG3 some help at the receiver position? It never hurts when teams draft rookie receivers to grow into NFL professionals with their new quarterbacks.

The Denver Broncos had an awful draft. They met one of their needs at defensive tackle in Derek Wolfe from Cincinnati which was still a bad pickup considering they could’ve took Kendall Reyes from Connecticut who was still on the board. Reyes is the better athlete, had the better numbers in college and had the better draft grade by almost 40 points. Then Denver decided to take Arizona St. QB Brock Osweiler as their second 2nd round pick when other needs at O-Line (Center) and D-Line were still yet to be addressed for depth and were available. It wasn’t a bad idea to take a QB but it wasn’t a good idea to take a QB that early. That’s just the pitfall of having a former QB as your team’s president.

New Orleans’s draft was similar to Oakland in that they only had five picks throughout the entire draft and it didn’t start until the 26th pick of the 3rd round. They didn’t have any great opportunities to improve in the defensive backfield. In 2011 the Saints were 30th in pass defense and they did nothing to improve it. Sure they drafted SS Corey White from Samford but he’s not going to be anything more than a special teamer his rookie year if he makes the team. One of the reasons the got torched defensively is because they couldn’t get any pressure on opposing quarterbacks with only 33 sacks recorded in 2011. They did go for DE Akiem Hicks from Canada who received a horrible draft grade of 50.2 partly because of his “unknown” factor. Hicks originally went to LSU however circumstances regarding his recruitment led him to Canada where he dominated small schools. There will be an intense learning curve for Hicks although Saints sources are very pleased with his potential and think he’ll provide for an instant impact. We will see if this Saints gamble pays off but until then, their draft was pretty bad.

This is what happened Saturday night after the Miami Heat destroyed the New York Knicks 100-67 in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs. The score was not indicative of the actual game. The game that was played at American-Airlines Arena in Miami was actually a complete joke to watch and it should be considered as an embarrassment for all NBA corporate officials involved, and especially David Stern.

After witnessing that disaster, I am convinced the Miami Heat will win the championship this year. Not because they are clearly far and away the better team – but because that’s what everyone wants. There was a reason David Stern allowed Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh to play on the same together, then, a year later, did not allow Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant to play for the same team as Stern 86′d a CP3 trade to the Lakers.

Competitive balance my ass!

If there was such a thing as competitive balance, Miami and Chicago wouldn’t be heads and shoulders above everyone else in the Eastern Conference. If there was such a thing as competitive balance; Charlotte might’ve won more than 7 games this year. If there was such a thing as competitive balance, maybe 9 of the NBA’s 30 teams would’ve won more than 25 games. Thirty percent of the league was god-awful. Yet according to Stern contraction isn’t an option. Of the more than 300 NBA games I’ve watched this season, I can barely recall twenty memorable games. I can only remember a handful of crappy NFL games last year. If there was such a thing as competitive balance, then maybe all 16 teams in the playoffs would be considered as contenders instead of just five (Thunder, Spurs, Lakers, Bulls, Heat). The New York Giants were one loss away from never making the playoffs and they won the Super Bowl with a 9-7 regular season record. There’s no chance for teams like Orlando, Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Dallas, Indiana, Memphis, LA Clips, New York, Boston or Utah to win it all. These teams might win a series and a few games but they aren’t claiming the final prize. And now, as expected by yours truly, Miami is going to receive more help.

On Saturday’s Knicks vs. Heat game, Miami went to the free throw line 33 times and the Knicks shot 11 total free throws. So you’re telling me that Miami is exactly three times more likely to get fouled? Miami is more susceptible to shoot more free throws because they have Lebron and Wade who can always drive to the rim and draw whistles? Usually playoff teams aren’t that terrible that they commit 26 fouls as a team. Lebron James shot more free throws by himself with 14 attempts than the entire Knicks team did.

I bet you can’t guess what the game’s highlights looked like? It was a lot of Lebron James and Dwayne Wade with a splash of Carmelo Anthony with his one good shot and one of the most bogus flagrants of all-time. No where am I saying Lebron didn’t play well, he was excellent. Lebron James is the most amazing player in the NBA (except for the 4th quarter) but James doesn’t need any extra help. No where am I saying Carmelo and the Knicks didn’t play horrible either because they did. Melo was an astounding 3-15 from the field. Miami is clearly the better team. What I’m implying, is to let these guys play. Wouldn’t it be more fun to let these guys play physical hoops. Of course you have to call obvious and blatant fouls but whistling for flagrants when Lebron James is doing a better job of acting and flopping around the court is an absolute joke. The technical needs to go to Lebron for toying with league officials but we all know that’s something that would never happen.

Even commentator Jeff Van Gundy was in disbelief of this terrible call see here. “They called that flagrant? Oh come on. What kind of league are we becoming if that’s a flagrant foul. That’s not a shot. He’s not expecting it to be screened. It’s not because of what Chandler did that was so flagrant. You can’t adjust to the reaction.”

And I thought they flopped in soccer matches?