LeBron Is DEFINITELY Signing In Chicago

…or Miami…or New York…or New Jersey…or Cleveland. Enough already! The entire LeBron watch has become more annoying than the annual “Brett Favre Retirement Watch.” A source says it is a done deal that James and Bosh are joining Derrick Rose in Chicago. Another source says Miami is the favorite. A different source says the Knicks are poised to explain to LeBron that they have the most flexibility to build around him for the next 5 years, something the other teams can’t offer. Listen, LeBron has not told anyone where he is going to sign. His inner circle probably doesn’t even know with certainty at this point. So all of these sources are full of it. No one knows and no one will until it is official. Thankfully that date is approaching soon – but keep in mind that he will declare for free agency tomorrow (July 1st) but he cannot officially sign until the 8th, so we will have a full week of bogus stories and sources from random people who claim to have a friend’s cousin’s brother’s girlfriend’s sister that knows.

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What is the deal with teams that I bag on suddenly making runs deep into tournaments? It happened with college basketball when I declared before the tournament that Butler had no chance to win it all. They promptly make it to the final game and came within a half court shot of winning it all. Fastforward to a few weeks ago when I questioned whether anyone was actually from Paraguay. And all they did was make their way to the quarterfinals of the World Cup after their penalty kick win over Japan.

The bright spot about Paraguay? This girl continues to get more and more attention and she has decided that if Paraguay wins the World Cup, she will run naked through the streets to celebrate. I don’t know about you, but that’s enough to make me a fan….at least of Larissa Requilme. (and here’s a link to more pictures of the only person I have ever heard of from Paraguay)

Weekend Hangover - Love/Hate

LOVE

- The British announcers for the World Cup have been absolutely fantastic. In addition to their accent giving the games an air of importance, they have a way of perfectly painting a picture and saying direct things without coming across as independent. In one of the games a player completely whiffed on a shot attempt and the announcer declared that it was a “disappointing fresh air effort by the striker.” Awesome. The next time Prince Fielder strikes out, I expect Brian Anderson to call it a “fresh air effort” by the rotund first baseman.

- New Zealand, the 78th ranked team in the world played Italy, the 5th ranked team, to a draw on Saturday. It was an enormous moment for the team known as the Kiwis, and was their second draw of the tournament. However, in the closing minutes of the game, I found myself constantly looking at the score to see if I was missing something. The announcers were crawling all over themselves to talk about what a dramatic upset the game was and comparing to the biggest upsets in World Cup history. Is a tie really an upset? I understand that New Zealand has never won a World Cup match and were not supposed to tie Italy. But calling it an upset just seems incorrect. Maybe this actually belongs in the “hate” section, but oh well, I’m too lazy to do anything about it now.

- And people from New Jersey wonder why everyone makes fun of them? They themselves declare that they are extremely dissatisfied so why would anyone else respect them?

- I tried to find a link online, but haven’t been able to for this insane story. Reading the NY Times on Saturday morning, and on page A14 there is a note about the responses from readers regarding the city’s plan to eliminate the rats in the subway stations. The author was surprised by the love for the rats from the citizens of New York. So I breeze through the letters and come to this one, which likely came from some senile 150-year old lady named Katherine Conant….enjoy.

“I had a pet rat for more than two years. She was one of the sweetest animals I have owned. She would sit with me when I watched TV in an old robe I would later wash. She was cuddly and would lick me when I stroked her, etc. When she was very old and had trouble walking, she would nonetheless drag herself toward me when I entered the room…….”

HATE

- That was an amazing choke job by Dustin Johnson at the U.S. Open on Sunday at Pebble Beach. Guy goes into Sunday in the final grouping and promptly puts up an 82 closing round. Ouch. It was hard to watch. I had never heard of the guy and probably will never hear from him again, but I think the problem might have been his dopey hat. How the heck did he expect to win a major golf tournament looking like that?

- Why do news organizations try to stuff square pegs in round holes? Peter King, the veteran Sports Illustrated columnist is covering the World Cup this summer. Why? He has no insight to the sport, no connections to anyone involved with the sport, and has a penchant for spouting off ill-informed opinions on twitter. So why would be be surprised when he tweets an insensitive comment about the African referee who struggled in the USA-Slovenia game? He shouldn’t be anywhere near covering a soccer tournament that he self-admittedly is painfully ill-prepared for. Reading his thoughts on soccer is the equivalent of me turning this blog into coverage of New York’s fashion week and breaking down women’s dresses.

- Along the same lines, Friday afternoon I had some down time and flipped on ESPN’s coverage of the US Open golf. I love the Pebble Beach area on the Monterrey Peninsula, and was looking forward to some relaxing golf action. Instead I get greeted by the blithering idiot that is Chris Berman in the booth. It is a horrible matching of personality and event. While I respect the hell out of him for putting ESPN on the map more than 30 years ago and his style was original in the 1980’s, Berman’s loud and overdone shtick is long past its expiration date and having him cover a golf tournament, where he doesn’t have the knowledge and worse, the personal awareness to know that he doesn’t have the knowledge, is shameful. Just stick to the desk on NFL Countdown and collect those checks that are fatter than your waistline.

Somewhat Insensitive Thoughts on the World Cup

Random thoughts while watching the opening days of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa…..

- Does anyone actually know (or have heard of) anyone from Paraguay or Uruguay? I never hear anything about either country or even stories about people from those countries. I thought perhaps they were made up countries just for the World Cup. I even read the entire Wikipedia page on Paraguay hoping to get something interesting…..and all I found out was that it’s a land-locked country in South America with a river and all the the people live by the one city. So I was still in the camp that it was a made-up place until I saw this picture which completely changed my mind……..they’re real, and they’re spectacular.

- Enough whining about the vuvuzela horns. Honestly. Why are people so worried about the background noise during a broadcast? It’s a South African tradition, so who is to say they can’t blow their own horns if they want to? There are a ton of ridiculous US traditions at sporting events that are extremely annoying and no one tries to ban them: the rally monkey? Thunderstix? Dodger fans showing up in the 4th inning? Cubs fans preening and posing and being more aware of who is at the game than the fact that the team sucks again? All annoying traditions that aren’t going to change – just like the vuvuzela.

- I am a fan of soccer, having played it most of my life, but I absolutely hate the flopping and overdramatics of many of the teams – particularly the South American teams (the Europeans rank second in flopping). These guys are such great and tough athletes, but they act like the French when war breaks out any time a defender is within two feet of them. It’s pathetic and annoying.

- I’ve never been to South Africa (but it’s on my list), so I don’t really know what it is like there. However, judging by the ESPN presentation, I’m left to think it’s just like The Lion King. The dramatic, majestic music and continual pictures of zebras, rhinos and giraffes.

- The NY Times soccer blog is a great way to follow the games if you can’t watch them live. The amount of information during a live game in pretty impressive, keeping stats for touches by each and every player, and the heat map that shows minute-by minute where the action has been focused is awesome.

- This is another good site for all scheduling information for the World Cup to find out when the US plays again or who is playing each day. It’s also a good way to check when Team England is playing again, which is your next time to see some of the WAGs in the stands, like Abbey Clancy. By the way, they play Friday at 2:30 pm (EST), so set your DVR and hope for some shots of Clancy, Coleen Rooney or Alex Curran.

Computer Problems....so look at soccer chicks

Having Computer problems.....again. But should have something up later today or tonight about the debut of Stephen Strasburg and the Lakers huge win in Game 3 last night. In the meantime.....start getting prepared for the World Cup with these soccer fans..........

The Greatest Speech of All-Time & Thursday Thoughts

A couple rambling thoughts……none are really related to anything…..before getting to video of the greatest speech ever given. Better than JFK, Lou Gehrig, or anything from “Cash for (fill in the blank)” Obama.
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For the first time in its 11 year history, the Big Ten wins the Big Ten – ACC Challenge in college basketball. It was capped off by Wisconsin’s thrilling win over Duke, with the students rushing the court after knocking off the #5 Blue Devils. Trevon Hughes was a monster offensively for the Badgers, hitting a ton of clutch and difficult shots, and Bo Ryan was able to slow Kyle Singler in the second half (he still ended up with 28 points) guarding him with a freshman, Ryan Evans. I also love that Bo Ryan kind of resembles Bucky Badger when he’s angry. It’s a huge win for the Badgers, now 5-1 with victories over Duke and Maryland of the vaunted ACC.

Also key to the Big Ten victory was the 23-point second half comeback on the road by Illinois to beat #19 Clemson. It was an epic comeback by the Illini and an epic collapse by the Tigers. With Ohio State handling Florida State, Purdue beating Wake Forest, Penn State tipping Virginia and Northwestern toppling North Carolina State, the Big Ten took 6 of the 11 games. (UNC beat Michigan State, Maryland beat Indiana, VaTech took down Iowa, BC beat Michigan, and Miami beat Minnesota)
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Have you seen those commercials for Tax Masters and those other services that will work with you to lower your tax debts to the IRS? I have a couple questions about them. And now I know why they have to keep raising our taxes. A couple owes $120,000 in back taxes and somehow this bearded tool box is allowed to settle their debt for $4,600. What? Really? First, how the hell do you rack up a debt to the IRS of $120,000 from a trailer park? Have you not paid taxes for the past 5-6 years? And who are these guys and what kind of power do they have over the IRS? Are they taking advantage of loopholes? Close them!! Why the hell are you and I paying our taxes on time when we’d be better off not bothering for 5-6 years, then getting this guy to settle it for a 96% discount?
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Ron Artest says he used to drink Hennessey at halftime of games when he was playing in Chicago. Are we surprised by anything Ron-Ron does any more? I mean, this is a guy that had enough time to get “Jimmy Kimmel Live” shaved in his head, but didn’t have time to put his pants on before coming on the show. He’s doing anything he can to get a reaction from the media and make the long NBA season more interesting.
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Thursday Night NFL Pick:

Jets (-3) over BILLS (in Toronto)
The Bills are playing better under their interim coach, and just finished beating another average AFC East foe in the Dolphins. However Darrell Revis will be able to slow down the rediscovery of Terrell Owens, and the Jets linebackers will be better able to contain Fred Jackson. The game is taking place in Toronto as a test run to see if Ralph Wilson should move half of the Bills games there in the future. Even by Canadian standards, these are not very interesting teams. And I don’t think there’s any truth to the rumor that since Rex’s “Red Light-Green Light” game plan worked so well, Sanchez has asked to play “Head’s Up-Seven Up” during film sessions.
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Also going on tonight is the annual Civil War college football game between Oregon and Oregon State. And this year might be the biggest game they’ve ever played, with the winner going to the Rose Bowl against Ohio State. Oregon hasn’t been to the Rose Bowl since 1995 and Oregon State hasn’t gone since 1965. While ESPN, Sports Illustrated and CBS focus on the USC-UCLA-Stanford trio, Oregon and Oregon State have quietly put themselves at the top of the Pac-10 Conference this year. It should be an entertaining game, as both teams have offensive firepower led by short, dynamic running backs: sophomore Jacquizz Rodgers of Oregon State and freshman LaMichael James of Oregon. Without knowing too much about either team, I think you have to like Oregon State catching 10 points, even on the road.
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The seeded teams were announced for the 2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa, and the results left many fearful that the US may face an extremely difficult draw in pool play. They were not among the 8 seeded teams, meaning they could get in the same group as Spain, France and Cameroon. The final pairings will come out on Friday, and while I doubt you’re here to get soccer updates, I’ll admit that this story was really just a result of stumbling past the Italian Job on television last night and wanting an excuse to post a picture of one of the most talented imports from South Africa, Charlize Theron.

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It is Jimmy V week on ESPN for their college basketball. It’s a great cause for the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research, and it’s in memory of Jimmy Valvano, the former NC State basketball coach who died after a battle with cancer. This speech was at the ESPY awards show in 1993, and if you haven’t seen it, take the time and watch it. It’s long, but time very well spent. It’s a great message about life and provides multiple great lessons, and not just the tagline “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” I’ve seen this speech too many times to count, and it’s incredible and moving every time.

Hitting the Links - Jennings, Southeast Football, Wrestling

LATE ADD: Forgot to make my Thursday night NFL pick. PANTHERS (-3) over Dolphins. The Panthers have found a rhythm, and Jake Delhomme realized what the Panthers' team colors are, which will be beneficial against the weak Dolphins secondary. Losing Ronnie Brown hurts, but Ricky Williams has been very good. Panthers continue their attempt to get closer to playoff contention.
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Brandon Jennings is starting to get some national publicity as the top rookie in the league. I watched a considerable amount of their win over the Nets last night. The kid can play, and he has an energy and electricity when he is on the floor, and he drives the rest of the team to crank up their efforts. He will likely hit a rookie wall at some point and will have to pace himself for a long, grinding season, but enjoy the excitement he has brought back to the Bradley Center.
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I’m late to the game on this one, but it was just pointed out to me recently. An Alabama football player was arrested for roughing up his girlfriend, and the girl’s father hopes that the player wouldn’t miss any time because it was “probably initiated by my daughter.” Blink, blink……stare……..jaw drop.
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I really don’t even know what to say about this – the Go Girl. I mean, so many strange questions – how big is it? Are you carrying that in your purse everywhere? Do you wash it after each use? So weird…..let’s just move on.
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Linda McMahon, wife of WWE czar Vince McMahon, is running for a seat in the Senate in Connecticut. That sentence is strange in itself, yet it’s not as interesting as “Superstar” Billy Graham going on a speaking campaign against her. He’s accusing the WWE of removing blood, and “bra & panty” matches from the wrestling shows since she started her campaign.
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Speaking of wrestling – MMA heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar had to pull out of a title defense and may never fight again due to having a hole in his intestine. Scary stuff and hopefully he’ll get healthy, even if he never fights again. The guy was a college wrestler, WWE wrestler, tried out for the Vikings, and then found the MMA. Oh, and along the way he married Sable, a former WWE girl.
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Not a ton of people are into soccer, but this is one of the most egregious and unbelievable things I’ve ever seen. It was an elimination game where the winner is in, the loser doesn’t qualify for the biggest soccer tournament that only occurs every 4 years. In overtime, Thierry Henry of France gets away with a blatant hand ball before playing the ball to a teammate for the tying goal. Henry admitted it was a handball and laid it squarely on the head of the referee who didn’t call it. Not sure that is making Ireland feel any better about not participating in the World Cup in South Africa next summer. The best view is at the 0:37 mark, but it might be worth listening to the German(?) announcer just for comedy purposes.
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Another week, another Tennessee football player is arrested. This freshman was shoplifting, which seems fairly innocent compared to the 3 guys busted for attempted armed robbery last week. Lane Kiffin is obviously a pretty good recruiter, as evidenced by his wife, but may not be the best judge of character. He’s transforming Tennessee to the new “U” of Miami, where it was more of a story when a week went by and a Hurricane wasn’t arrested.
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Not to dislocate my shoulder patting myself on the back, but Mike & Mike in the Morning are just now finally talking about the decision in the Jacksonville game. But as those of you who follow this site regularly know, we already covered it on Tuesday.
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I’m not a fan of cats in general. I don’t really understand them. They can’t play fetch, they can’t bring you the newspaper or your slippers, and they can’t protect you. They just lurk around your house or apartment and most of the cats I’ve ever encountered are moody as hell. So a site like this just doesn’t make any sense to me – pictures of cats with stupid captions. Seriously?

Week 9 Hangover - Love/Hate

LOVE

- Thankfully we no longer have to worry about Iowa crashing the BCS championship. Losing to Northwestern? Ouch. While I don’t believe Ricky Stanzi is a great quarterback by any stretch, the guy is a gamer, and it’s obvious that the team is not the same without him. After he left the game with an ankle injury, the Hawkeyes had no chance. And yet they still can play their way to the Rose Bowl (where they will get demoralized by Oregon) by beating Ohio State.

- Congrats, Mr. & Mrs. Squirrel on a great wedding this past weekend. Great to catch up with everyone. And it was a classic Midwest wedding in that there was a mullet sighting, at least one guy wearing a short-sleeved shirt with a tie, and a few people that were as wide as they were tall (and at least a few of them were cops, so I should probably leave it at that). Oh, and of course, a polka.

- The Bengals are a virtual lock to make the playoffs and are potentially a threat to win the AFC. They’ve now swept the Ravens are 4-0 within the AFC North, which many thought was the best division in football. They pounded the Ravens with their running game, as Cedric Benson went over 100 yards against the supposedly tough and angry Ravens defense for the second time this season.

- As strange as it sounds, the Titans appear to be much better with Vince Young at QB. It’s not that he’s putting up magical yardage numbers, but the team is responding with him under center. He has a passer rating of 83 and is averaging less than 150 yards in his starts, but he ran for a TD as the Titans won their second consecutive game. Now here’s where it gets interesting for the owner, Bud Adams. If the team continues to win with Young, is Jeff Fisher more or less on the hot seat? He was the coach who went with Kerry Collins to start the season, and he was the coach who was reluctant to go to Young until the owner demanded that the former #3 pick get some playing time. Now that they are winning, his record looks better, but his error of not starting Young from the beginning looks more and more glaring.

- The Brewers traded JJ Hardy to the Minnesota Twins for young CF Carlos Gomez over the weekend. The move frees up Alcides Escobar to be the starting shortstop, and guarantees the team will not be resigning Mike Cameron, which frees up a considerable amount of payroll. If that money is used for much-needed starting pitching, I think it could be a great trade for the Brewers. They were not going to get much value for a .229 hitting SS that everyone knew the Brewers no longer wanted. And Gomez is a young player with vast potential, as he was one of the key cogs in the trade that sent Johan Santana to the Mets a few years ago. This gives the Brewers the potential to have an extremely fast and athletic line up with Escobar, Gomez and Ricky Weeks all able to put pressure on opposing teams with their running game. The real question is whether Ken Macha will utilize that speed or if he will continue to try and rely on the HR as the sole source of offense.

HATE

- Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome your 2010 coach of the Green Bay Packers, Jon Gruden!!! There needs to be wholesale changes in Green Bay after this season. Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy need to go. And the special teams coach should have been left in Tampa Bay to find his own way home. The team has talented players at the skill positions, but the game plan is about as exciting as watching Lauren Conrad on the Hills – nothing ever happens, and there is no creativity or excitement. The offensive line is worse than an average big ten team, but they don’t do anything to help Rodgers get rid of the ball faster – roll him out, stick with a 3 step drop, draw plays, etc. Tampa Bay sacked Rodgers 6 times and had 3 interceptions. This was a complete abomination and embarrassment, and a reason for a complete overhaul.

- How is that Jay Cutler experience working out in Chicago? About as well as Katherine Heigl’s movie career. The Bears were blown out by the Cardinals yesterday, and while Cutler hasn’t been the biggest problem, the team is in trouble. Has the team quit on Lovie Smith? Time for Chicago fans to start thinking about whether Luol Deng and the Bulls. Then the Bulls will fall out of contention by April, and false hope for the Cubs can begin again. The cycle continues……

- Does Mike Singletary’s “Mr. Furious” routine have an expiration date? Are we past it? It seems possible that he had his team too high to start the season and the team has regressed and went from 3-1 to 4-5. And Alex Smith definitely has not revived his career based on this week’s 3 INT performance.

- Not sure what to even say about this video from a women’s college soccer game. This is the dirtiest, most ruthless thing I’ve seen in a really long time. She should have been thrown out of the game at least 4-5 times.

Week 5 Hangover - Love/Hate

Thankfully it was an awesome fall weekend in the Northeast, so it made up for the lack of really interesting football games. Good weekend to get outdoors, go to a game, spending time in Central Park or going to an apple orchard. Granted there were a couple of overtime NFL games, and the Florida-LSU game was close, but not exactly lighting up the scoreboard. So as always – hit up Peter King, Michael Silver or Mike Florio/Gregg Rosenthal for full summaries, these are my quick hit loves/hates.

LOVE

- The Broncos are officially real. After a strong comeback win against the Pats, I’m now not just a believer in the Broncos, but I’m a big fan of Josh McDaniels. His emotions after the game were awesome, and it was obvious that even though he respects his former mentor and team, he loved sticking it to them. And Vonnie Holliday is still playing and still effective!?!?! And Kyle Orton is 26-12 as a starting quarterback.

- Matt Ryan is showing he may belong among the discussion of the top 5 QBs in the league. And he may be ready to lead the Falcons to the promise land. He dismantled a good 49ers defense on the road and with the exception of his hiccup against the Pats has been dominant. If Atlanta can also run the ball effectively, they’re dangerous to the Giants, Saints and Vikings. Ryan is kind of like Matt Leinart – except the exact opposite. He’s focused on football, smart and mature.

- I respect Tony LaRussa’s success as a manager, but it was enjoyable to watch that jag-off get swept out of the playoffs.

- Not that anyone knew, or cared, but a big win for the US Soccer team over Honduras to qualify for the World Cup next year in South Africa. Not so much for the win, but the ridiculous political situation surrounding the game.

- Peyton Manning has practically wrapped up the MVP award way too early in the season. Over 300 yards every week, and this team is absolutely incredible. I don’t know what else to say about Herman Munster – the dude is on track to win his 4th MVP award.

HATE

- 1-2 on the college picks this week, so not a great start. Although that UW-OSU game was tough because Wisconsin actually physically dominated the Buckeyes, yet got their butts kicked. Pathetic. It was a hideous game to watch.

- Is there a more overrated QB in the country than Terrell Pryor? Yes, he’s an athete. No, he’s not a QB. He was 5-13 for 87 yards and rushed for 35 yards on 10 carries – and won. The only guy that’s close to being as overrated is that kid at Ole Miss: Jevon Snead. Talked about as being a challenger to Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford at the top of draft boards, he’ll now be lucky to get drafted in the 3rd round if he’s not smart enough to stay in school for his senior year. Snead has 9 TDs and 9 INTs with a completion percentage under 47%.

- The Browns-Bills game…….time to consider contracting those two teams. Wow – 6-3? Derek Anderson was 2-for-17, and he won the game! Maybe the Browns should draft Pryor, he seems like a perfect fit.

- Rough weekend for Boston sports. Red Sox collapse at home in the 9th to finish getting swept, and Pats blow a 17-7 lead and Brady loses in OT for the first time in his career. The Freedom Trail will be a trail of tears this week.

- The Raiders circus continues. Sure looks like Tom Cable is going to get arrested for assaulting his assistant coach. What a mess. Oh, and on the field they suck harder than Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian combined.

- Not sure if many people saw it, but in the 3rd quarter, while the 49ers were getting their lunch eaten by the Falcons, Dre Bly picked off a pass at his own 15 yard line and as he crossed his own 25 yard line, started to do a little Deion dance to celebrate his great play. The only problem? He was promptly caught from behind by Roddy White (who already had over 200 yards receiving by toasting Bly repeatedly), and stripped of the ball and the Falcons recovered. Mr. Bly, you sir, are an ass-clown.

- People get paid to do “research” like this? Unreal.