Cavaliers win the draft lottery; Lebron whispers continue

Against seemingly impossible odds, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the draft lottery for the second straight time & third time in four years. According to new GM David Griffin, the phone calls have already started rolling in for possible trades for that number one pick. As lucky as the Cavs have been, winning the lottery hasn’t resulted in much team success. Last year’s #1 pick Anthony Bennett looked terrible for a majority of the season before finally looking serviceable  toward the end. 2011’s first overall selection Kyrie Irving is uncertain of his future with the team. Not only has this team fired two coaches(one for the second time) and a GM within a year, they’ve been proven to be poorly managed for the past ten years. Who knows what the new regime will do but their outlook is not good with a team in disarray. With all of these facts against the Cavs, can you guess what has Cavs fans excited?

 

 

 

If you guessed the possibility of the best player in the world and current Miami Heat do-everything forward, returning to his “beloved” Cleveland area and winning a championship, you’re correct.

Lebron hasn’t closed the door on the chance and that’s been enough to cause a certain section of Cavalier fans to even cheer for James when he plays in the city. My only question is, why?

Why would he want to play for Cleveland? It all sounds like a fairy tale to me. Lebron leaving Miami in the summer or in 2015 and choosing to return to a young Cavs team still building and not competing for the title. James would be out of his 20s and looking to add more championships to his resume. How anyone thinks he would have a better chance at doing this in Cleveland versus a confirmed great organization in Miami is beyond me. Charles Barkley came out on “SVP & Russilo” and said he hopes that Lebron returns to Cleveland because their fans are “real fans.”

While the Cavs fanbase does seem more dedicated than Miami, these are also the same fans who burned his jersey and called him a “sell-out” and even worse. This team is owned by Dan Gilbert, the same owner who I can’t look at as any more than a child for writing a letter to the fans where he made comments such as:

You simply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

 

“I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE. You can take it to the bank.

I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our “motivation” to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.

Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

The self-declared former “King” will be taking the “curse” with him down south. And until he does “right” by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma. Just watch.”

If any of that was ever said about me, there is no way I’d want to voluntarily work for the owner of that statement.  People are underestimating the value of character in this situation. Lebron has shown himself to be a very responsible and mature individual, I’m sure character matters to him.

It has also been suggested that the Cavs go after Kevin Love to help convince Lebron to come back next year. This makes even less sense. So Love is just going to leave one bad situation for another, in hopes that Lebron comes and saves the organization. After losing so much in Minnesota, Kevin Love wants a chance to win NOW or at least join a team with some kind of tangible future in front of them. The best advice for the Cavaliers is hire a new coach, draft Joel Embiid and work on creating and growing a team that compete for a title. Not hoping and wishing for a dream that may never be realized.

When Quarterbacks and TV Personalities Act Out: My thoughts on the benching of Mark Sanchez & Rob Parker

Rex Ryan didn’t even wait until the team had left Nashville to inform Mark Sanchez that he had lost his job. Never mind the fact that the Jets skipped over Tim Tebow to start Greg McElroy, Jets fans should be rejoicing. The emotional, turnover machine will be taking his talents to the bench, where he should have been two seasons ago. Crazy thing is, the guy is owed $8 million next season. EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS.

Here were my two main issues with Mark Sanchez:

1. I’ve never saw any signs

Signs of what you might ask? Signs of him having potential to be a great quarterback. As a NY Jet fan, how do you watch Andrew Luck, RGIII, Russell Wilson and to some extent Ryan Tannehill and not be disappointed about your quarterback situation. When the ball is released from Sanchez’s hand, sure it looks pretty. But all of those pretty thoughts wash away once you watch it land ten yards away from the nearest receiver. And I’ll admit, he doesn’t have the greatest supporting cast (Shonn Greene is terrible) this season. I’ve also said from the beginning that the signing of Tim Tebow would have an effect on the psyche of Sanchez so him having his worst season as a pro is no surprise to me. But with Mark Sanchez, did anyone expect anything much better than a career game-manager?

2. He turns the ball over at an alarming rate

The guy has 80 turnovers over the past two seasons. EIGHTY. Including one of the worst I’ve ever seen. If I hear the Jets lost a football game, there are two things I always know: He’s thrown an interception and his total passing yards are under 250. It’s like death and taxes, Mark Sanchez turnovers are certain. Rex Ryan warned him after the Cardinals game two weeks ago that turnovers would not be allowed. Since then, Sanchez has had six turnovers….FIVE in last night’s Titans game.

 

Do I think Mark Sanchez’s career as a pro is over? No. But he has a tough, long long way to go before his career is defined by his skill set and not what the rest of his team was able to do for him.

 

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Last week, the world heard Rob Parker talking out of the wrong hole again.

I’m not the biggest fan of ESPN’s First Take. An avid viewer from the Cold Pizza days, the show lost me once they hired Stephen A. Smith full time. I have no serious issue with Stephen A, I just preferred the former format which involved bringing in other opinions to combat Skip Bayless. My favorite guests: The 2 Live Stews. My least favorite? Rob Parker.

I’ve never cared for any of his opinions. He always seemed as if he was coming from left field on any issue for the sole purpose of shock. Last Wednesday was the worst example of this as he described Washington Redskins star Robert Griffin III as maybe being a “cornball brother” and not “down with the cause.”  He also said Griffin doesn’t seem like the type of brother anyone wants to hang with although his jersey sales say otherwise. This is what he says is being discussed in the barbershops. His reasoning? He has a white wife and he THINKS he might be a republican.

 

I‘ve already explained why I don’t listen to anything in barber shops. There is no rich and poor barbershop, there is just the barbershop downtown, everyone goes to the same shops. So all kinds of opinions will come up. As I’m sure some idiot somewhere had this opinion, I’m sure someone else in whatever shop Rob goes to said the opposite.

Now…..Cornball brother?

Stop. For those who didn’t get it, Rob Parker was trying to see if Robert Griffin was an “Uncle Tom” or “sellout.” A black person who has forgotten where they came from and will do anything to support the white man over the black man, essentially putting down his people. It’s a very offensive term as no one wants to be called something with such a deep history behind it without any evidence. This was my main problem with Parker’s comments – He doesn’t know Robert Griffin. One of the main reasons I’ve been a fan of Robert Griffin is because he’s a black quarterback that actually looked like he had potential to be truly great. If he came out and said he didn’t want to be black, it would hurt me. But when did he say this? Not one time did he say he didn’t want to be black. He only said he wants to be recognized for being a great quarterback and not just a great quarterback. Is there something wrong with that? Is there something really wrong with wanting to be compared with Steve Young(who is the best comparison) rather than Warren Moon? When someone compares RG3 to Michael Vick, I just assume they haven’t watched him play football.

Robert Griffin has a white girl by his side. So what, who really cares about that? You should get your mental priorities right if you’re worried about who some man you don’t know is going to bed with. Fact remains is he wants to marry someone who he loves. Much better than some other ball players who can’t seem to keep “it” to themselves and have multiple children by multiple women. And the notion that Robert Griffin is a Republican is ridiculous because he’s specifically said he’ll never comment on his political allegiance, and even if he was, what does that matter? Just because you have different beliefs doesn’t make you an Uncle Tom.

If anything, we should all want to be more like the guy. He seems to have his head on straight, is exceptional on the field and seems to be a great oral communicator. Thankfully most people realized Rob Parker is ridiculous and not an accurate representation of the black community. Sad when you have to see a black man trying to take another black man down.

 

 

R.I.P. to the victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy.

Hopefully we as a nation can come together and figure out why psychotic sociopaths keep slipping through the cracks.

My Fave Five: College Football Players

With the 2011 College Football season over halfway completed, it’s about time I name my Fave Five. That is, my favorite five players to watch in college football today.

When you finish this list, one thing you will notice is that I don’t go off of typical Heisman candidacy lists. My list is based off players I’ve seen that consistently keep me excited during the course of  a game.  When these guys are in possession of the football, you have to hold your breath because you never know what’s going to happen.

A former offensive player myself, I seem to lean towards offense so don’t shoot me either. Without further ado, here is my Fave Five:

#5. Christine Michael, Junior RB, Texas A&M :

Christine Michael

Has any fan from outside of a Big 12 school seen this kid run a football?