Hey NBA Your On The Clock

With the first pick in the 2008 NBA Draft the Chicago Bulls select...

All signs right now point to Derrick Rose, as the Bulls are looking to add that #1 PG to lead the offense fueled by Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas. But after that its a crap shoot with trades galore and teams moving up and down like a merry go round.

The latest talks according to sources are that the Miami Heat will select OJ Mayo then trade him to the New York Knicks for the # 6 pick and either Stephon Marbury or Jamaal Crawford. There has been other talks with the Knicks saying they would trade David Lee, the #6 pick, Malik Rose and Zach Randolph to the Denver Nuggets for Carmelo Anthony and Kenyon Martin. I dont think thats happening but David Lee will be traded by the end of the Draft tommorow.

Other talks are that Jermaine O'Neal is being dealt to the Raptors and Baron Davis will end up with the Pistons. According to other sources The Hornets have dealt the 27th pick to the Blazers for cash. The deal is apparently in a stage of verbal agreement. The Nuggets have traded the 20th pick to the Bobcats for a future protected first round pick. So tommorows NBA Draft should be full of trades and surprises and a whole bunch of fun.

NBA Draft : The Dumb Dillema

A couple years ago David Stern and the NBA issued a new rule that says a player who wishes to play in the NBA must be at least 1 year removed from his high school graduation, this was for "the better of the student athlete." The title of student athlete is a bunch of bologna, how many athletes looking to go to the NBA and who have a good shot at it, care about their schooling.

Those like Derrick Rose, O.J Mayo, Michael Beasley, Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, these guys who were NBA ready out of High School were forced to college for one year. What's the point of sending a kid to college for one year, just to meet a quota. "Why are you in college?" asks teacher "Because i have to be in order to go to the NBA." How ludicrous is that? why take money out of the pocket of these kids and make them go to classes like ball room dancing just to meet this stupid rule.

How would the NBA feel if instead of college players like Rose and Mayo decided to skip college and spend 1 year in Europe and play there for $300,000+ and then go to the draft. If more players did this then maybe David Stern would reconsider this rule. The NBA does not care about the "student athlete" the NBA is conserned with these kids and how they will act in the public eye. How will they portray the NBA when they reach there. This is all about the NBA not the players, get rid of this rule and let these kids play ball and make their money.

Welcome Back Willie?

Willie Randolph was just fired from the Mets, but according to the loud mouth from the Bronx, Hank Steinbrenner has said that Willie can come back. Check this quote out from Hank,

"There's certainly some stuff I can think of for one of the greatest infielders I've ever seen," Steinbrenner said Tuesday.

Steinbrenner would love to have Randolph work with the team's young infielders.

"If he had left to take over the Red Sox maybe I would have had a problem with that," Steinbrenner said. "He's a Yankee. He'll always be a Yankee. Even the Mets never completely accepted him because they thought he was a Yankee."

Well Randolph, managing didn't work out but he was the 3rd base coach for the Yankees during their 4 World Series wins...so Willie you definitely have a spot open for you.

Steroid Steeler

On June 19th 2008, on the Dan Patrick Show Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw admitted to using steroids during the 70's. During this time, Bradshaw led the Steelers to 4 Super Bowl victories and ultimately proclaimed as one of the best teams of all time.

Bradshaw was selected with the first pick overall by the Steelers in the 1970 draft, and became the starter after just one year. Bradshaw is most known for his rocket arm and his stellar performances in the playoffs. During his career, he passed for more than 300 yards in a game only seven times, but three of those performances came in post-season play, two of them in Super Bowls. In four career Super Bowls he passed for an impressive 932 yards and 9 touchdowns, both Super Bowl records at the time of his retirement. In 19 postseason games he completed 261 passes for 3,833 yards.

Bradshaw did say that he got the roids from a Doctor and they were prescribed and intended to be used to heal injuries, not to build muscle.

"We did steroids to get away the aches and the speed of healing," Bradshaw said. "My use of steroids from a doctor was to speed up injury, and thought nothing of it. ... It was to speed up the healing process, that was it. It wasn't to get bigger and stronger and faster."

Even if it was not to build muscle it just goes to show you that no matter the era, 70's or 80's or now the colorfully titled "Steroid Era" roids were prevolant then and they still are now. Everyone was doing it, the playing field was level at that fact, the only ones who are really mad are the purists who dont realize that these old folk were doing this too.

Scott Proctor - "Im *explitive* Pathetic"

I am well aware of the stench that Scott Proctor gives off when he is on the mound, for I watched Proctor when he was an abomination with the New York Yankees. Well since he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers (thank god) he has continued his sub par performances.

In 33 games so far this season, Proctor has pitched 31.2 innings, his ERA? 6.82 and after yesterdays game where he could not retire any of the 5 guys he faced he was his toughest critic.

"I'm not talking about that," Proctor said. "There is nothing (wrong), and I'm tired of people making excuses and saying I'm hurt. My job is to get outs, and I'm (expletive) pathetic. It's embarrassing to know this team battled like that all day, and I pitched like that. It's (expletive) stupid."

Way to Scott, there use to be an excuse for the reason you pitched like a blind man, but now you took that crutch away from you, and guess what, you FELL ON YOUR FACE.

Superstitions In Baseball

Baseball players are creatures of habit, whether it's doing the same thing before a start for a pitcher or using the same bat in batting practice for a hitter, the quirks in baseball are unusual to say the least.

Wade Boggs use to eat some form of chicken before each game, imagine that...for almost 162 consecutive days you eat some poultry. I don't think I could have done that, I would hate it by the half way mark. Growing facial hair to stay out of a slum or because you are hitting well has been rampant in baseball. Especially the Yankees club house. Jason Giambi has been on a tear the last month and a half and he is sporting a very unfashionable 70's pornstar mustache, but he said thats the look he was going for. Johnny Damon followed suit and grew his own hidious hairy upper lip, he got rid of his a week later.

Across the river for the New York Mets, Oliver Perez always jumps over the foul line when exiting or entering and inning. Other players have worn the same hat with the sweat stains all year.

But the one that tops them all is earlier this year someone wrote about a gold thong that was in Jason Giambi's locker. Giambi said that thong has been in there for 12 years and its only to be used in "times of desperation." Giambi stated that when he is in a big slump he wears it and told Michael Kay on his radio show"When you wear it you cant think about your slum cause the thing is jammed so far up you, you cant think of anything else." Giambi also said that he shares the thong and Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon have used it as well. Talk about sharing is caring.

Baseball players are full of antics and good humor, some take it a little over board but thats just baseball. America's pastime, full of superstions.

Boston Wins..Again

It was a blow out, who would have ever thought that the tired Celtics would win game 6 by 39 points. Rajon Rondo played like a point guard should and created opportunities for all his teammates and they made the most of it.

The game was over by half time and the celebration was ready to pop off at any given second. With about 4 minutes left in the game, the big 3, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce all came out of the game together to a thunderous ovation and the party began. Chants of Se-ven-teen, and signs that read "Light one up for Red", this is what Celtics pride was all about.

Garnett had a very emotional and crazy post game interview as he shouted out "Sota" and Chicago as well as other hoods. He yelled "anything is possible" a couple times and he was on cloud 9. You cant feel anything but happy for Garnett as he has been the epitome of hard work and toughness and it took him until now to win a ring. He suffered in Minnesota and through it all and great defense it has finally payed off.

Ray Allen also wins his ring, and from his times in Seattle and Milwaukee, his legacy as one of the best shooters ever is now capped off with a nice shiny ring. Allen was trapped in his worst shooting slump of his professional career in these playoffs, and it was not until the grandest stage, the NBA Finals, until he stepped up. Allen averaged over 20 points and drained an NBA Finals record 7 three's in yesterdays game.

The NBA Finals MVP was non other than the Truth, Paul Peirce. The man that has been behind all the hardships in recent history for the Celtics finally has something to smile about. With about 1:40 left in the game Peirce poured the giant jug of Gatorade all over coach Doc Rivers and it was pure euphoria. Peirce thanked the fans for sticking with him and he said to Steven A. Smith after the game that he got close with Antoine Walker years ago, and now that KG and Ray Ray were added he wasn't going to let this opportunity pass.

As Kevin Garnett yelled, "Top of the world" yes its true, The Boston Celtics are NBA Champions, you are..on top.