The King Is Dead

Have you ever seen a team go from total dominance through two rounds of the NBA playoffs to a no-show in an elimination game than the Cleveland Cavs? The Cavs lost 103-90 to Orlando last night, and it wasn't even as close as that score. LeBron James wasn't talking post-game. Also something I haven't seen: the Eastern Conference trophy. Seriously, don't recall ever seeing that in the decades I've watched hoops...Everton opened the scoring in the first minute, but Chelsea proved to be the far stronger side as they lifted the FA Cup with a 2-1 win that seemed unlikely when forever the bridesmaid Michael Ballack came on for Chelsea...told that pitcher Chien-Ming Wang is upset that he isn't back in the starting rotation, New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman got off this gem: "his contract says 'baseball player', not 'starting pitcher'"...LA Dodgers manager Joe Torre says Manny Ramirez shouldn't go to the all-star game if he gets voted in. He also once said those still involved in the game shouldn't write books on the game, so there is that...Kansas City Royals stud pitcher Zach Grienke - only the third starting pitcher in the live ball era to have an ERA under 1.00 after his first 10 starts - gives great quote. Note the title of this piece here and you'll know what I mean by "great"...Chicago Cub Carlos Zambrano received a six game ban for his meltdown a few nights back. Does anything less than 10 days really mean much to a pitcher?...the NHL is expected to announce the Winter Classic is heading to Fenway Park. Also said to be in the works is a November date between the Montreal Canadiens and a visiting Toronto Maple Leafs team at Olympic Stadium. Awesome idea...tough day for #4 seeds at the French Open. Novak Djokovic is out on the men's side, while Elena Dementieva bowed out of the women's draw...the Washington Nationals are on pace to win 43 games this year. Soon to be #1 draft pick, flamethrower Stephen Strasburg, better be as good as advertised if they're going to ever turn it around...in the playoffs so far, Sidney Crosby and Gino Malkin have combined for an astounding 26 of the Pittsburgh Penguins 66 goals (39.4%) but the Detroit Red Wings shut them down last night and that was enough to give the Wings the opening game in the Stanley Cup finals with a 3-1 win...how to spend $1.5 billion in two minutes. Well, covering almost three years in two minutes of the construction of Cowboys Stadium in Dallas...the Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons outlines what the Toronto Maple Leafs off-season should look like. Well worth a read...have a great Sunday.

Best promo ever?

The Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL are running a promo called "Don't Be Like Mike" after Michael Phelps bonging South Carolina. Here's the deal: anyone named Michael, Phelps, Cheech, Chong or Mary-Jane, or anyone who has won an Olympic gold medal gets a discount to a game next week. It gets better, if the Admirals score at 4:20, somebody in the arena will win season's tickets. As an added bonus, somebody will take home a weed wacker...the LA Galaxy say that David Beckham will return on March 9th after a deal was not completed by yesterday's deadline with AC Milan. Like any negotiation where the first offer isn't the best one, I'd wager that in this one, the first deadline isn't the last. He can walk after this season for nothing. The Galaxy would be crazy not to make a deal, it makes too much financial $ense...the Phoenix Suns are said to be looking to dump $40 million in salary - and pronto - as a result of their owner "lost" about $253 million in the stock market. Here's hoping somebody can save the great Steve Nash from that mess...among the witnesses of that plane crash just outside Buffalo on Thursday night include several Buffalo Sabres. GBVH passed on this incredible story of an AHL ref who switched to a different flight when a flight attendant told him he wouldn't want to bring his kids on the ill-fated flight because it was going to be especially turbulent..A-Rod was in the Bahamas as the steroid story was breaking last Saturday, partying with two lovely ladies, and gettin' his Goose on too, as you can see here...the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat finally got together on a trade that sends Jermaine O'Neal to Miami and brings back "The Matrix" Shawn Marion. The deal gives the Raptors loads of flexibility in this all-important off-season approaching and they'll need to make some big moves if they have any hope of retaining Chris Bosh. Frankly, with how Bryan Colangelo has operated of late - the original deal for O'Neal, the overpaying of Josee Caleron, the horrible Jason Kapono deal - I'm not sure there's much hope in Raptorland...good of LA Dodgers manager Joe Torre to wax on about A-Rod's drug usage. Funny, I don't remember him being so opinionated when he had Jason Giambi or Andy Petttitte on his team, but now he's going to talk about other teams players?...it is the NBA All-Star weekend, not that anyone should much care, but as is becoming tradition in these parts, we've got the Top 10 NBA WAGs...after selling 13,000 tickets in the pre-sale - incredible - there is now talk that UFC97 in Montreal could be in trouble because such fights are against the law. Better still, the governing body says it didn't know about last year's card. Really? If so, how are you fit to govern anything?...kind of hard to believe that the Toronto Maple Leafs have only scored four fewer goals than the Pittsburgh Penguins, no? They face each other tonight at The Hanger, and the Pens are your PTP for tonight on the puck line at -0.5 +118. Altogether now: "value"...and yes, last night's game needed an empty netter from the Montreal Canadiens to cover the 1.5 goals. Sometimes you get those breaks, sometimes you don't. At +275 though, that's a damn good break...have a great Saturday.

Craptors at it again

I've heard some suggestions for improving the NFL's overtime format but here is a new one that is said to be gaining steam: first team to score six points wins. That's fantastic and eliminates a lot of the current method of winning the toss, picking up a couple first down and kicking a winning field goal, while not getting to the lame college method of starting at the opposing team's 35 with both getting equal chances to win. This idea is most like the actual game. Make it happen, Roger Goodell...the Dallas Stars are 15-6-3 since ditching Sean Avery. GM Brett Hull may have screwed up signing him, but he deserves credit for changing course when most GM's would stubbornly stick to their initial instinct...Stephen A. Smith has not backed off one bit from his statement that Chris Bosh will leave the Toronto Raptors when his contract expires after next season. And the more Bosh tries to play it as made up while not saying he wants to stay, you have to give it some credence...Bosh and the Raptors were killed in Cleveland last night, and tonight get Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers at home. Fortunately, this one is on TSN2 so most won't see the senseless slaughter of the Raps. I'd contemplate betting the Lakers even at -100...new poll question at the right. Get your vote in...not sure which Jim Rome take on Michael Phelps is funnier. That his bong rips explain the 10,000 calories he packs in a day, or that with his lung capacity, he must have crushed all the weed in that house in one shot...202 WWE Diva pics. Why? Because 201 would not be enough...if you're ever contemplating plastic surgery, here are 30 reasons why it is a bad idea...when you think your job sucks, consider that there is someone that was getting paid to rub hot liniment oil all over Roger Clemens for a time, including on his beanbag. Seriously. That comes from the new Joe Torre/Tom Verducci book "The Yankee Years". Added bonus from the book, according to Sports Illustrated's Alex Belth? It reminds us how great Alex Rodriguez really is...if you heard about the PETA ad that was banned as being "too hot" for Super Bowl Sunday but haven't seen it, here's your chance. Whatever your opinion, it probably wasn't as steamy as the porn that was shown for a time on an Arizona station. Here are the rest of the ads, if you care...back later with the PTP. Still sour over last night's fourth quarter deluge to push the game over...hope NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman doesn't read the Toronto Sun, because this piece on the state of the NHL from Bill Lankhof would likely ruin his day. Illuminating stuff for those with their heads in the sand about the health of the NHL...have a great Wednesday.

Nolan said yes to this?

Not sure how Nolan Ryan, legendary red ass, is involved in upper management with the Texas Rangers, and an abomination like their new bucket - at right - is approved as part of the uniform for 2009...after three increasingly impressive performances from him, AC Milan is willing to pay $8 million ($CDN) to purchase the contract of David Beckham from the LA Galaxy. Memo to the Galaxy: Sell! After all, Beckham can walk after the 2009 season for nothing. Pocket the cash, spend it on other players...UFC is capitalizing on a hot run in the public eye and opening a series of UFC branded gyms in the U.S., complete with octagon's. Finally something for Ken Shamrock to do other than talk about coming back...who wins the Super Bowl of WAG's, Arizona Cardinals or Pittsburgh Steelers? Well, if you've got Brenda Warner on your side, that pretty much has to mean you lose, right?...check out Chelsea's Michael Ballack go "Randy Johnson" on a pigeon around the one minute mark...good of Kurt Warner's agent to wait til Super Bowl week to talk of how his client would be nuts to not explore free agency. The only person that helps now is his agent...for those keeping score, that's four times now that Novak Djokovic has shut it down in a major. The on-court temperature in his loss to Andy Roddick was just under 60 degrees celsius. No joke...here's a peak at the all-time Top 10 NFL Defences...ahead of next month's World Cup qualifier, Mexico is hoping to turn around their struggling ways when playing in the U.S. in a rather unique way. One promotion is offering voodoo dolls of U.S. players. Seriously...ESPN's Buster Olney noted that when David Wells wrote a book that gave a few glimpses into the New York Yankee clubhouse, then-manager Joe Torre tore him up for betraying the clubhouse code. Wonder if Torre is chewing out his mirror these days?...back later with your Prime Time Pick.

Stay classy, Joe

Joe Torre's reputation as a classy guy is about flushed now with a new book coming out next week. How else do explain him cracking on former boss Brian Cashman for not standing up for him after the 2007 season, when Torre had previously and repeatedly said he had? If not for Cash, he'd have been unemployed after he led the Yanks into the toilet with a 3-0 lead over the Boston Red Sox in 2004. Good of him to hammer A-Rod too, the guy who almost single-handedly took the Yanks to the playoffs in 2007 and made him even a possibility for 2008. Let's see what kind of manager he is if the LA Dodgers are minus Manny Ramirez. ManRam's the only reason Torre saw the playoffs last year, even in a garbage division. Stay classy, Joe...the LA Galaxy have set their sites on Newcastle United striker Michael Owen. I'd give that about no chance of happening in the next couple years, and why would they want Owen in any event? He's about as fragile as an athlete can be...current Galaxy star David Beckham, on loan with AC Milan, scored his first with the Serie A side and that will only escalate the talk he's going to stay beyond March...incredibly, 65% of respondants at an ESPN.com poll would rather have Arizona Cardinals QB Kurt Warner lead their team in the Super Bowl than the Pittsburgh Steelers Ben Roethlesberger, leading in every state but Pennsylvania. Count me among the 35% and come next Monday, that number will flip. Warner cannot handle a rush, and it forces him to make bad throws and fumble the ball. Big Ben doesn't rattle that easy, and hell, he can carry a couple would be tacklers if need be and complete a throw...any regular reader here will know I crack on the NHL regularly for being pretty dull to watch overall, but yesterday's 12-11 goalfest in the All-Star game may have been even worse than watching two skill-killing trap teams go at it. Perhaps I shouldn't be so harsh, what with my legendary hate of the All-Star game concept in all sports aside from baseball...how'd you like that for easy Prime Time Pickin's yesterday? The Boston Celtics dumped 74 points on the Dallas Mavs by the break and cruised to a 24 point beatdown. Have .500 well within my sites and the horror of that second week in January is starting to fade...have a great Monday, back later with your Prime Time winner.