Team USA's Colorado Connection

I turned 30 last week. And due to the momentous occasion, I have been either extraordinarily intoxicated, or fighting for my life while recovering from the previously mentioned level of intoxication. I was pretty much like Def Leppard in the 80's... only without the mullets, topless girls backstage, and one-armed drummer. Either way, I wasn't in any shape to be posting any new material on the blog. On top of that I got a new dog. So now I'm fighting off hangovers while chasing a puppy to keep it from shitting and pissing on my carpets. Oh yeah, and I've had to take it to the vet twice already to get an IV stuck in it's arm.... Needless to say I've been pre-occupied. But that doesn't mean I haven't been keeping up with the happenings of CO sports. It just so happens that not a lot of exciting news has actually come up during my drunken new puppy getting week. Let's have a look: - The Rockies are still .500. Granted, Matt Holliday has been pretty fun to watch, but I still am hanging out off to the side of the bandwagon, watching the other Rockies fans jumping on and off that sumbitch. Know what the Rox Bandwagon reminds me of right now? It's like an ex-girlfriend that later becomes a booty call. Sometimes you want to end it for good.... sometimes you want to get back into a relationship... but either way, every time you get drunk you wake up in her bed, then try to sneak off before she wakes up. Not that you would do that kind of thing with the Rockies though.... - The first NFL pre-season game is on August 5th (that's a mere six days to me and you) and the first Broncos game is Monday, August 13th televised nationwide on the great big ESPN network. Home of such popular sports dramas as "The Bronx is Burning" and hip new Sportscenter segments like "Who's More Now". It will be nice to have some actual sports back on the network. It's just a matter of time until ESPN has followed MTV's lead, and the entire day of TV will be filled with reality TV shows where you can occasionally see some sports on a TV in the background of a dating show featuring four former athletes who are gay and trying not to get "nexted". - In the midst of a hungover afternoon last week I did happen to catch the inter squad scrimmage between Team USA basketball. It was probably the best basketball game I have seen in a very long time, and I am being completely serious when I say that. It was like an All-Star game, only if the guys actually played hard. The Colorado connection played well with Carmelo finishing with a game high 28 points and Chauncey Billups playing a great game at the point. Both of them should make the final roster. Carmelo has proven that he excels in international competition and Chauncey is an ideal PG for international play. He's a great shooter, makes great decisions, plays D, and knows how to run a team. If I were in charge of picking the final 12 man roster for the Tournament of Americas at the end of August it would be this squad: PG - Chauncey Billups Jason Kidd Kurt Heinrich SG - Kobe Bryant Michael Redd Mike Miller SF - Carmelo Anthony Kevin Durant PF/C - Amare Stoudamire Chris Bosh Dwight Howard Tyson Chandler That's right. No Lebron. Look, I'm not a Lebron hater, but his game could not be more unfit for international play. International play emphasizes skill, shooting and ball movement. Lebron is obviously skilled, but he has been built and molded to excel in the NBA. NBA style of play is about athleticism, strength, size and quickness. Lebron has all of those in bunches. But international teams can use different defensive schemes to take away from Lebrons biggest strengths (size and speed) and completely expose his biggest weakness (shooting). Lebron can become a liability in the international game because of the fact that he is not a good shooter at all, but thinks that he is. Which means he will end up shooting and missing wide open jumper after wide open jumper against a team like Argentina, and we'll end up losing and getting the bronze again. I'm absolutely positive that Lebron will be on the team come end of August, and the team will be worse off because of it. The fellas from Colorado should excel though. Carmelo proved last summer that he can dominate the international scene. Chauncey's aforementioned talents make him a great fit in the international game. In fact, I think my twelve man roster would cake walk to the title, and here's why. To win in the international game you have to be able to shoot well. With Michael Redd, Mike Miller, Kobe, Kevin Durant, Chauncey, and Kurt Heinrich on the squad, you are virtually guaranteed to have at least a couple guys shooting the ball well in each game. This means that other teams won't be able to just pack in a zone against us and watch us shoot ourselves out of games like in the past. Second, you need great PG play. You need someone who can keep the team together during negative runs, distribute the ball well, run the offense, and hit big shots when needed. Enter Mr. Bigshot Chauncey and J-Kidd. Hell, if Sarunas Jasikevicius and Carlos Arroyo can dominate international ball, then Chauncey and J-Kidd sure as shit ought to be able to do it too. I mean, all Jasikevicius does anymore is awkwardly scream and pump his fists after another Stephen Jackson or Baron Davis 3 pointer.... and in international play he is a superstar. I think Chauncey, Kidd, and Heinrich can do a little better. Kobe can also run the point if you want to go with a big lineup of say.... Kobe, Melo, Durant, Bosh, and Stoudemire. Third, we've got Kobe. As much as you either love or hate Kobe, I can guarantee you that you want him on your team if you are in a close game and need a big shot. No one currently playing in the world is a more clutch performer than Kobe Bryant. And if he's in foul trouble, or hurt, or in an unforeseen trial... we've still got Melo and Chauncey to hit the big shots. But like I said, we are going to put Lebron on the team and play him a lot... and we will struggle again. I still think we can win, but it sure would be a lot easier without Lebron. Bet you didn't think you'd hear that did you?

You Know It's Amazing!...4

Yeah! So, I'm back from Maui and peelin' like a mofo bro! That sweatproof, waterproof sunscreen --- don't believe the hype. Reapplication, I'm thinkin' that's the key. Having never surfed in my life I gave it a shot in Kihei. I wouldn't say conditions were ideal, but it is shallow and there are some waves for beginners. It took just under 2 hours. The best part was standing up on the board and actually surfing a little bit. The worst part was all of the rocks that were under the shallow water. Honestly how good of an idea is this? Slushy Gutter comes through w/ a nice hip/hop beer mix. I've gotta question the Miller Chill beer call though. I tried that stuff, and it sorta tastes like somebody dumped a warm margarita (w/ salt) into a cerveza. In fact, I'm actually kind of happy somebody busted into my garage and stole the other 9 from me. Serves them right, they can keep that schwetty balls beer. However, I do have an issue w/ them taking my dozen Pacificos. Payback is hell, and they better hope I don't catch 'em slippin'. Stealin' another man's beer is a serious, serious deal. Though I'm sure there are high schoolers and young college students out there that have to resort to that sort of thing to get a beer these days. What Rockies Bandwagon? I'm w/ JT and the majority of the fans here in Denver. I have yet to jump on the bandwagon since the Rockies brought the MLB to Denver. In case you hadn't noticed there aren't a whole lot of native Coloradans. Everybody here is from somewhere else, so it is completely normal for them to move here w/ other loyalties to older and more established teams. Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Tigers, Dodgers, and it goes on and on. Nobody that can afford a Rockies ticket grew up w/ them. I do admire the Rockies fan in Denver though, and I pull for them more often than not, however I've got my problems w/ the hometown team. I do consider myself a baseball fan and enjoy watching the game, I can name the Rockies starting line-up and rotation without too much trouble. Fantasy baseball has even worked its way into my life the last few seasons, unlike fantasy football, I don't even have any money invested in my team. My fantasy baseball league is purely for fun. Unlike previous years, not one Rockie is on my team. I don't even really follow the Rockies boxscores. I've watched college baseball coverage more often than I watched the Rockies in the last 4 seasons. My family had tickets to opening day (an annual occurrence), and we chose to stay out at the bars rather than go to the game. If that doesn't pretty much sum it up, I'm not sure what does. I'll have another whole column on my disappointment in Rockies baseball at a later date. Speaking of college baseball, I really wish CU would cut the crap and bring back baseball. If you've paid any attention to Nebraska's baseball program, you'd know that they routinely get all the best players from Colorado and around the Midwest. Of course their head coach is Mike Anderson, who went and played at UNC. When did we let Nebraska start having everything? How can a recruit look at CU and look at NU and make the decision to become a Husker? I just can't understand it. I guess if they are recruits for rifle, bowling, baseball, softball, or wrestling then Nebraska has a slight edge because they actually field teams for those sports. The NCAA sux. Probation, really? Walk-ons / non scholarship players are on the team man, they're sacrificing more than any of the scholarship players and they gotta pay full price for their 'training table' meals when the on campus dining halls are open too? How's that for the almighty NCAA supporting teams and sportsmanship? At least the penalty wasn't paid to the NCAA and was donated. Is there a more overpaid jag-off than Miles Brand? You know it's amazing, when I was on scholarship I'd eat at the training table, and then go back and eat at the dining hall afterwards. The ol' double dip. Am I going to receive a bill in the mail from the tax exempt association that oversees the dining halls on the CU campus? Will CU have to donate more money because of that? Are the assoc. AD's at CU more honest than everywhere else? I gotta believe that much larger violations are occurring elsewhere, and that they'll go unpunished. When has CU caught a break? What's up w/ Ceal Barry reporting it (the right thing to do) in 2005, and the NCAA just getting around to putting us on probation now? We could have won just as many games without those couple of scholarships the last few years. Our former teammate and 2 time All-Star Chancey Billups just opted out of his contract. Status = unrestricted. Sounds like the Pistons are gonna lock him up w/ another contract this summer. CB has been a great fit for Detroit and is the face of the franchise at this point. You know it's amazing when ESPN is reporting on eating contests. Kobayashi is day to day w/ a jaw injury? And I saw his face on SportsCenter like 10 times on Monday, man we're hurting for sports news at this point aren't we. Football can't start soon enough. Once this site takes off, we're sponsoring a Bocce ball league and we're gonna run it May - Aug. and it's probably gonna make a few highlight reels. Consider yourselves warned. How long will it be before the Broncos can go after Lance Briggs? I just don't think they've addressed the LB position enough after Al Wilson's departure. I'm gonna say between weeks 5-8. That is after San Diego, during the bye week, and all the way through the Pittsburgh game here. After Fast Willie Parker goes for 162 yards and 2 TD's I think that the Orange & Blue will be beggin' for a glimpse of previous years run defense. Who knows maybe they start talking about adding "Tank" Johnson to the d-line after that? Elway Day. 07/07/07 this is Denver and the guy is a legend here, do we need another reason. Do yourself a favor and toast a couple to Johnny Elway next Saturday.

Quick Hits - The Sequel

Forty Deuce is back up in this piece, and he's lookin' to waste a little of your time w/ some quick hitting links and some random grumbling and rumbling. So please turn up your volume and lets start off strong w/ one of my favorite links to get you prepared. I'm really glad they finally started the NBA Finals. When did Marc Jackson start talking funny all the time? I noticed alot more accent, kinda like they voiced over him w/ Kenny Smith or something. Watched quite a bit of the game, and after reading JT's column yesterday, I came to realize that I like the Spurs and dislike the Cavs! I used to think I hated Tony Parker because he was a Frenchy (born in Belgium). But now I really respect his uncanny ability to score in the paint at his size. And although the Big Fundamental's whining bugs me on occasion, I really do find myself pulling for him. And I've come to realize and accept why he was selected #1 in the 1997 NBA draft, and I somehow failed to be contacted by any teams. I will maintain that I'd have been a way better investment than Olivier Saint-Jean (aka the original Frenchy, aka Tariq Abdul-Wahad). Isn't that guy still getting paid by the Mavs? Or are the Nuggets still payin' him? Bet he could bench 185 back in 97', and that's what sold him to the Sacramento Kings. FYI- Jacque Vaughn will always be a spazz. Scott Pollard, Drew Gooden, and Daniel Gibson are just way too annoying to be placed on the same team. It has to be the Kansas and Texas thing? I listen to a little sports radio in the afternoons. Normally I'll listen to Dan Patrick, Scott and All - Off the Hook, and then toggle between Doug Gotlieb's - The Pulse, and Irv & Joe...now w/ Jim 'Okaaay' Armstrong too. Anyhow, I was listening to a FOD and heard him say that Kevin Durant couldn't bench 185 lbs. once. Did I hear that right? How's a skinny dude like that gonna survive in the Association for 82 games (and w/ the Sonics, I'm not even gonna worry about the playoffs). I know he's got long arms or whatever, but come on, 2 plates and a couple quarters, and you can't bounce that off your chest once? To be fair, Greg Oden didn't even attempt to bench due to his previously injured wrist. So it does say something that Durant attempted it at all. My honest opinion on this is that I think it's a little suspect. Yes, we're talking about a 19 year old kid who's 6-9 and 215 lbs. w/ a crazy condor-like wingspan of 7-4. And it sounds like Kevin Durant has a tremendous work ethic and is genuinely a good person from articles and comments I've come across. There's no question that he's the 2nd pick in the draft. The individual numbers he put up over the course of his only season in the Big XII were nothing short of amazing. It must be noted that the Big XII wasn't really that tough last year, but Durant did put up really good numbers against T. A&M, KU, and OSU. He played 35 games last year, and suffered some minor injuries over the course of the season. Now he's gonna be playing every night against guys just as long/quick/tall and he'll be giving up 20-40 lbs. to them. They still allow moving screens and some physical contact in the NBA, so I think he's gonna have a hard time rebounding and getting shots around the paint. With 10's of millions of $'s in his bank account after being the second pick, and having endorsements, I'm supposed to expect him to become more motivated? Right now I'm predicting season 1 for Durant to be a more Morrison-like (sans the mustache) 12-14 ppg. 4-5 reb. & under 37% FG% in a more Camby-like 63 games played. But damn, he goes to Texas, and he doesn't know that he's gotta work out for teams, and that the weight room is kind of important? Several sources mentioned that this happened to TJ Ford as well? Isn't that more reason for Texas to correct that issue w/ a little bench press training? I mean really? He would probably be pressing 225 a few times if he spent any time on the weight bench at all. And the Sonics (as they did w/ Robert Swift), will prepare Durant for the wear and tear of an NBA season as well as they know how. Maybe the bench press isn't totally relevant to the evaluation of a basketball player. And it certainly doesn't have anything to do w/ basketball knowledge and skills. It's frankly a measure of strength and conditioning. It raises a red flag that Durant wasn't willing to invest that time to improve in that area. And wise coaches and GM's will take note of this miniscule detail because we're talking about a possible make or break move for an entire franchise. I mostly blame Rick Barnes for everything related to this because it appears that he's not a very good coach (X's and O's, as well as in preparation for the NBA). Any recruits reading this please take note! Jeff Bzdelik worked 17 seasons in the NBA and he is the most qualified person in the college game today to prepare you for a basketball career after college. Consider Colorado, please, just come for a visit and see for yourself. Label me a 'hater' or whatever, but I question whether Durant can play 82 games next season, I predict that he'll hit the wall and be susceptible to injury. This probably works out fine for the Sonics because they're used to having lots of injuries over the course of a season. Do you think they'll resign Rashard Lewis? Cause I see Durant being the same sort of player, or maybe like Marvin Williams w/ a better perimeter game. Todd Jones is 39 friggin' years old, and Treavor Hoffman is older than that! Throw in Mariano Rivera and Bob Wickman, and you've got a quartet of old-ass closers. Add the oldest Japanese closer known to man in Takashi Saito (37) and I don't know what that says? Add up all those saves 15 + 17 + 6 + 10 + 16 and you've got 66 saves on 6/6/07. Figure in Al Reyes, Tom Gordon and Alan Embree 14 + 5 + 5, and you've got 90 saves and 20% of the 448 saves in mlb to date were made by guys 37 or older. I don't even know what to say about that? This is a bad sign for any player, see if you can recognize what's wrong w/ this picture. Check out the player page for former Nugget, current Sun, and all-world practice player Nikolotz Tskitishvili. What happened to the Skitish? JT made some amazing points with his last few observations on the basketball scholarships that have not been renewed by coach Bzdelik up at Colorado. This could really be its own column so I won't say much else on the subject right now. Otherwise, Quick Hits would move past 15,000 words and classify as printable bathroom reading material. And you can't really do that w/ links now can you? Still searching for that Pyramid Curveball Seasonal Brew at Colorado liquor stores. You may or may not remember my link to it in the first edition of Quick Hits. Since then I've learned that my peeps in Iowa are drinkin' it regularly. Now, I thought Colorado had a little more beer variety than Iowa, but I must be sorely mistaken. I've checked Santa Fe Spirits, Wine Sellers, and a couple places online, and so far, NADA. But that won't deter me, I'll let you know when I hunt it down, or else break down and order some online. Speaking of beers, I really liked the idea set forth on the Slushy Gutter site. The article is titled: There's No 'I' in Team (or Beer) If they are coming up a little short of the 5,280 beers, I'd be happy to help out! Well, as long as this is turning into a beer drinkin' post I might as well give a shout out to the Bent River Brewing Co. in Moline, Illinois. Had a couple of their beers at some Midwest League minor league baseball games, and I must say, "That's some good stuff." And kudos to the Quad City Swing for having it flowin' at the ballpark, and for mixin' it up nightly w/ a different 'Get Bent' brew. Well, I've surpassed my word limit on this entry and this can no longer be defined as 'Quick' so I'll sign off and begin accumulating more random thoughts. Please check back for more Homer wisdom.

Broncos WR Core is Wilin' Out

Et tu Kircus?? What are they putting in the Vitamin Water in Dove Valley this summer? First Brandon Marshall and now this? Who would have thought that David Kircus could be the first Broncos player to fall victim to the new league discipline problem. It wouldn't really be news to hear that the guy who makes your sandwiches at Subway was arrested for assault last weekend (If you remember, that's what Kircus was doing this time last year). But now that he's made the jump from making your Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki Sub to making catches on Sunday's for our beloved Donks, he's going to have to refrain from busting up the facial bones of party hosts if he wants to keep his current job. It remains to be seen what actually happened and if he will be removed from the team by Shannahan, although he seemed to break it down with relative clarity, "Obviously, if he didn't handle himself the right way, he won't be with us," declared our fearless rodent faced leader. In Brandon Marshall's case, it looks like it was blown out of proportion. Especially since he has been running with the first team offense in drills and Shannahan seems to feel comfortable with his actions. Kircus could be in for some more serious troubles though. It appears that he actually broke some bones in the dudes face, but not much info has actually been released. Hopefully it turns out for the best for Kircus. He had a great pre-season last year, made some plays for us during the season, and was a genuinely inspirational story. Plus, given our lack of depth at WR right now, we could definitely use him back in the lineup. If you back out Rod Smith with his injuries and Kircus from the lineup, our remaining competition for the #4 WR spot (Quincy Morgan / David Terrell / Brian Clark) combined for the exact same number of receptions that I had in the NFL last year.

Playoff Notes

I spent most of Saturday night and all day Sunday and my local Wings, drinking beer eating hot wings and fries, watching all manner of sport, and basically just having a mantastic weekend. Here are some of my thoughts from the first weekend of the playoffs: Pistons vs. Magic- The Magic are truly over matched in this series. I can see this being a sweep with no victories over 12 points, yet none of the games ever really being in doubt. It's good to see Darko Milicic wasn't fazed by the smattering of boos he endured during the first game. My boy DJ forwarded me the quote, here is what he said about it: "I don't really care,'' he insisted. "Back home fans used to throw baseball (bats) at me. They used to try to kill me back home, that's why I don't even care.'' Are you f-ing serious?? I knew the Eastern Bloc was a tough place to grow up but gaw-damn Darko. And why the hell were they throwing baseball (bats) at him? Do they even have baseball in Serbia? Did they just import some wooden bats from America, hand them out to the fans, then let these fans pelt the players with them? This is amazing. It has to be a translation glitch. Especially since they had to put (bats) in parenthesis as though he said something else but the reporter figured he really meant (bats). It makes you wonder what he actually said. Sticks? Logs? Gloves? Cleats? Anything you substitute in place of (bats) is equally bizarre. This quote from Darko does little to dilute my mental image of Eastern Europe, which was developed entirely from the movie Euro Trip. "Miami Wice, number one new show!" By the way, this movie has one of the most randomly awesome cameos in it by Matt Damon. And another one by a particularly special German pop sensation. The only video I could find of it was in another language and NSFW, but trust me it is worth it. Back to basketball.... Lakers vs. Suns - The Lakers are going to get pummeled in this series. The Suns had one of their worst shooting performances of the year and still won the game easily. Although it was fun watching Kobe in the first half dribbling to the exact same spot about 4 straight times and hitting a shot over Raja Bell. I have a feeling he was calling Bell "son" a lot during that stretch. My favorite part of this game though has to be the shocking development of Ronny Turiaf's hair. I've gotta say, Don Imus must really hate Ronny Turiaf. Mavericks vs. Warriors - I know everyone is jumping on the Warriors bandwagon right now, and for good reason. They are like an And1 mix tape team, everyone on the team can score, they shoot whenever they touch it, Stephen Jackson is terrifying, and Baron Davis' beard is incredibly powerful. It looks like the Mavs are a little bit scared of The City right now. That said, I get the feeling the Mavs will figure this out and eventually win a game. Then, the fear will be gone and they will take the series. But it will be a lot more difficult than a 1 vs. 8 should be. I've gotta ask though. What the hell happened to Matt Barnes? And when did it happen? He looks like a combination Scot Pollard and the Birdman. Here's something I love about the Warriors though, through most of the game Barnes was playing the 4 or 5 position, but then he would randomly play point guard for a few plays then switch back. Just a strange team to figure out how to defend. Nuggets vs. Spurs - Out-fucking-standing! What a game by the Nuggets. They we're just a better team last night. Just like I predicted, Melo and AI exposed Bowen, but none of the other guys on their team fared much better. Look at Ginobli's attempt to stop Melo. Check your ankle tape there Manu. Melo basically did whatever he wanted at the offensive end of the floor. He was too quick for Bowen, and when he's hitting from the outside like he was last night, he is pretty much impossible for anyone to hold. So what did the Spurs do? They sicked Jacque Vaughn on the Nuggets. And that spastic Jayhawk douche nearly injured our entire team. What the hell was wrong with him? He dove into Iverson's ankles, slammed Blake into the scorers table, hacked, grabbed and scratched at Melo while trying to deny him the ball, and I think he somehow re-injured Kenyon Martin's knee in the process. What a freak. He reminds me of the guy you play at the rec center that isn't good, but tries way WAY too hard and ends up injuring everyone else on the court while claiming that he's "just hustling". I don't know if I can dislike another player more than Vaughn. He plays for the Spurs now (who I definitely have a strong dislike for) and he played four years of over-rated ball for the hated KU Jayhawks in college, where he and Dick Vitale routinely performed mutual masturbation while watching his game films. I'm starting to think that Vaughn might be the guy who cancelled Arrested Development and greenlit Kathy Bates' nude scene in About Schmidt. He is awful. While watching the game though I came to the realization that Tim Duncan has absolutely no muscle tone at all. How can a guy be a professional athlete for the length of time that Duncan has and never lift a weight? I can see his workout regime now. I see him walking into the gym, talking to Robert Horry for a little while about being a grandpa, putting some weights on a bar and sitting on the bench, then joking with Tony Parker about how to be the opposite of intimidating and not shaving, then doing four reps at 135 lbs, racking the weights and hitting the showers. His lack of strength looks like it is going to be a serious issue against the Brazilian Beast Nene. Nene used this blatant advantage to take Duncan completely out of his comfort zone. I doubt that Nene can outplay him like this the whole series, but it is definitely going to be an issue for Duncan the rest of the way. The last thing I'll say about the game is that AI's complete man-ness may be the difference between this years Nuggets squad and the teams of the past few years. He is the most intimidating little person I have ever seen in my life. You can see the fear in Tony Parker's eyes every time AI starts looking to drive on him. He plays through pain without complaining, he is absolutely fearless going to the hole, he isn't intimidated by anything, and that attitude is starting to rub off on the rest of the team. He even sounds intimidating in his interviews. God I can't wait for the game on Wednesday. I may have to take a day off and get a good seat at the bar early. And I'm sticking with my prediction. Nuggets in a sweep. What can I say? I'm a Homer.

Quick Hits

Good afternoon! Just wanted to throw some links at you after a busy fun filled sports weekend. Check 'em out if you already haven't. Anybody go to the CSU spring game? Didn't look like much of a crowd from this video. Checkout this poor 4 year old boy who thought after seeing CSU last season that the safest place at a game would be behind the endzone. Only he and his Pops under-estimated the sievelike Ram defense. He has stitches but he can take a hit. Colorado Homer JT looked to be right on w/ his preview of the Denver vs. San Antonio series. Bruce Bowen, couldn't hold Melo or A.I. And it sounds like Nene had a stellar game that may have left the Spurs looking for answers to Maybyner Rodney Hilario. Ah, now I have to try a new Pyramid Beer because of this site. A cool site BTW, just skimmed it, but I'll be back there for the reviews and baseball articles. Please let me know in the comments of this post if you find a sixer of this Curve Ball Ale in the Denver Area before me. I like beer. It has been awhile since this came out, but I still listen to it every day on my ipod. Now that's what I'm talking about! If Coach Hawkins can't fire you up for college football season, I don't know who can! Thanks JT for passing this one along. When it isn't a story about the freakin' Yankees, Paul Katcher usually has a good article or photos to view. They put him on ESPN Page 2 occasionally. As softball season just started up last week, be sure to read his story about types of softball players and leagues. It's good, and I wouldn't lead you astray. Checkout today's stuff about the new and quite affordable Starbury shoes. If you like cartoons, Drew Litton at the Rocky Mountain news always has a good one. Though I'm not in agreement w/ this one - Drew Litton Nugs Finally, take a peek at some stats that player agents frequently look at, when trying to evaluate how much they might be able get for NBA players. Of course we're looking at playoff mode, for the Nuggets, but plus/minus stats are being used more and more. Thank you 82games.com I'm not sure what basketball dorks would do without you. Probably end up trying to calculate this stuff in some master fantasy spreadsheet or something. That's all I've got for this Monday afternoon, so I hope you enjoyed it.