Kobe All Day

So Kobe Bryant uploaded his second viral video. To be totally honest, I doubted the legitimacy of the first video, and this one only furthers my doubts. To clarify, I’m not doubting whether Kobe Bryant has great hops. I’m doubting whether he actually jumped over an Aston Martin and whether he actually jumped over the pool full of snakes. It’s good for marketing, and it’s entertaining, so props to Kobe.

What do you guys think? Real deal or no?

Peace and love

-SB

Sir, you need to calm down

So the other day, I went to the gym, and needless to say, I heard some sports talk that didn’t make sense. Towards the end of the ridiculous conversation, one man said to the other “I’ll be happy when Randolph and Minaya are gone.” I just shook my head, and walked past.

Really. Fire Minaya. Stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. The man built the team, took it from being an annual underachieving group of losers, to being a legitimate annual contender. Fire him? Whatever you’re smoking, get me some of it.

Fire Randolph? Maybe. But is that the solution for the Mets? No freaking way. There are way too many problems to put the blame on Willie Randolph. Case in point, last night. So last night the Mets were two outs away from wrapping up a win, and of course, Billy Wagner is on the mound, closing out the game. Last year, Wagner had a great start, and this year, he’s been no different. Yet he couldn’t come through in the clutch last night, giving up a home run and blowing the save. So can we blame Randolph for that loss?

How about the dismal hitting of the Mets? Jose Reyes, the catalyst for the Mets is hitting .272. David Wright and Carlos Beltran, the two major RBI producers are hitting .283 and .256 respectively. Can we blame Randolph for that? And the pitching situation? Forget about it. The collective ERA of the team is 4.12, and the only bright spots have been Wagner (9 saves, 0.45 ERA) and John Maine (5-3 3.29 ERA). Even Johan Santana hasn’t been as good, in my opinion as he should be. He has given up way too many home runs, although I’m confident he’ll hit his groove after the All-Star break.

How can people be calling for the firing of Randolph? Making a change for the sake of change is not going to help the Mets and strictly from a managerial standpoint, Randolph has been solid. He hasn’t made any real mistakes, and can’t really be blamed for the woes. The Mets aren’t hitting, they’re not pitching, and usually when you don’t do these things, you don’t win baseball games.

The Mets just need time to improve, and I’m not worrying too much right now. In the NL East, where they’re only 3 games back, and they’re at .500, anything is possible.

Peace and love

-SB

Get off my back

Ok, we need to clarify something. Yes, I wanted Chris Paul to win MVP of the year, but at no point was I hating on Kobe Bryant. I just felt that if we took away Chris Paul from the Hornets and Kobe Bryant from the Lakers, both teams would be garbage, but the Hornets would be worse. That’s my definition of an MVP. Is Kobe a great player? My personal opinion is that at this point he’s the best in the league. So Stop Hating On Me! That being said….

Ridiculous first game for Mr. Bryant. 2 points in the first half, and it seemed like the Lakers were headed for a long series again, and I would be wrong, again. However, the Michael Jordan in Kobe came out in the second half, and he played like a BEAST. The final “screw you, I’m going to score anyway” came at the end of the game with the beautiful sweeping fadeaway in the lane over Bowen. That, was the nail in the coffin. Not just for the game, for the series. Kobe Bryant is a man on a mission, hungry for that championship, starving from all the recent losses. And he’s coming to the dinner table. Not only is he destroying the Spurs by scoring at will, he’s making everyone around him better, one of the greatest, yet most underrated qualities of Jordan. By the time I’m done writing this post, the Lakers will have a 2-0 lead on the Spurs and be in excellent position to take the series.

In the Junior Varsity Championship, the Pistons evened it up, and Boston has lost their home-court advantage (That’s right, you know who called it). Uh-Oh. Boston has to win on the road? Good Luck. Like I thought, we’re headed for a rematch of Lakers-Pistons.

This time around, Kobe is smarter, and individually his skills are better. Last time around, there were too many stars, too many egos, and an identity struggle within a team who didn’t know whether they should go with the Diesel, and pound it down low to Shaq, or let Kobe do his work, which the last time around, he hadn’t perfected. Now, Kobe’s skills are honed, he can score any way he wants, and what’s scary is that he is actually willing to give the ball up and get his teammates involved. What a concept.

Before I’m done, shout out to illstand1, created a great site, automatically updating score of the NBA, and I’m sure he’s working on some new stuff too.

Get off my back!

Peace and love

-SB

No-hitter? No big deal

It was towards the end of 2006 that Jon Lester was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a type of cancer that forms in the body’s lymph system. Monday night, he threw a no-hitter.

“I just wanted to be a normal guy and go out there and pitch and get criticized for my pitching,” Lester said, “and not, ‘oh, he had cancer so we’ll go easy on him.’ “

I don’t think that’s too much to ask for. Especially after a no-hitter.

You know, the Red Sox are looking eerily similar to another dynasty in the late 90’s. Does anyone else think they resemble the late 90’s dynasty, the New York Yankees?

Think about it for a second. Some similarities:

• Good pitching-solid starters, dominant closer, homegrown talent coming from within the organization
• Timely hitting-a few bashers with majority of the lineup being solid and getting on base frequently
• Solid defense-no real holes, everyone knows their role and plays hard
• Smart manager-managers manage the game (I sound like John Madden right now). But in all seriousness, neither manager made any stupid mistake (see Grady Little) and manages in a free flowing manner, letting the players play, and be the focus of the game

Sound familiar at all? Let the debate begin…

Peace and love

-SB

Got green?

Pretty sick game yesterday. Classic battle, mano y mano, Pierce v. LeBron. Two great guys going head to head. Great game by both guys, and only Pierce’s play prevented the LeBrons from going to the East finals. By the way, Boston still hasn’t won a road game and they’re in the Eastern Conference finals.

So what did we learn from this series?
-LeBron James is getting better and better, and the Cavs are one player away from being in the Finals every year.
-Boston is beastly at home and still has heart.
-LeBron is falling prey to the Dwayne Wade effect.

Sidenote: The Dwayne Wade effect is when a player drives to the hoop expecting a foul call. In the 2006 NBA Finals, every time Wade drove to the hoop he got a call, and even some phantom calls. Much to the Mavericks dismay, every time they came close to Wade near the hoop the refs were ready to blow the whistle. Last thing about the 2006 NBA Finals, we now know why Josh Howard called that boneheaded timeout in Game 5 that in my opinion lost them the series.

So back to LeBron and the Wade effect, he was looking for that call after being indecisive. Right after the shot, he looked towards the ref like he expected a call. It was a good non-call by the refs, the Celtics just played good defense on that play. If anything this will just motivate him to get better in the off-season. His jumper this year (except against Boston) improved greatly from last year, so it’s going to be fun to watch him in the coming years.

Random Thoughts:
-Mets should play the Yankees more often
-Really want the Hornets to win especially after Cheap Shot Bob struck again
-This week is the Finale of American Idol
-Baseball definitely needs instant replay. Here’s why
-Leona Lewis is a really good singer
-Maybe this isn’t the best headline for what Barack Obama was saying

Peace and love

-SB

Time to go?

This year we’ve seen more than one famous athlete retire, but it seems like everyone these days is deciding to call it a career. Brett Favre hung up the cleats early this year (at least until Aaron Rodgers gets hurt) and now Annika Sorenstam as well as Justine Henin intend to retire. Both have announced that they’re done, with Henin’s effective immediately and Sorenstam’s at seasons’ end.

I guess what people are starting to learn is that there is more to life than sports. Did I really just write that? Yes, it’s true, winning gets old at some point, and you don’t have that competitive spirit anymore. Both Henin and Sorenstam probably could have performed well in their respective sports, but they made the decision that they felt was right for them.

And can we, as people on the outside looking in really blame them? How many of us go through the grind of participating in tournaments, games, training, and prepare year round to win? Comparing it to a traditional job, or course athletes get paid much more, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they need to put in the same amount of time working on their skill, if not more. Not only must they continuously get better at what they do, but must maintain their great physique and body condition (amendment for baseball players). It takes a toll on the body, and mind, and sometimes, it’s just time to say it’s over.

In other news…

-Tim Donaghy only bet on over 100 games that he worked.
-John Amaechi is moving to California
-Just Kidding
-Home teams’ record in round 2 of NBA Playoffs drops to 21-2
-Subway series starts today
-Yankees are in last in the AL East
-Hockey is apparently still a sport
-Props to Yahoo! for officially coining Robert Horry “Cheap Shot Bob”
-From this point forward, I will refer to Horry as “Cheap Shot Bob”

Peace and love

-SB