Stone Cold Bloggin', 3/2/08

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm starting to become a believer in the Yao-less Rockets. The wins over Washington and Memphis were nice (and necessary), but the fact is neither of those teams has a big guy that puts any sort of scare into you. Brendan Haywood? Kwame Brown? Whatever. In other words, a frontcourt of Dikembe for 20 minutes and the dreaded, two-headed Sco-Landrinator is more than enough to get you to the pay window. This Nuggets win is an obvious cut above the first two, for a couple reasons. First and foremost, the Nuggets are in that mix of teams (along with Golden State, Dallas, Phoenix, and New Orleans) that the Rockets will be presumably duking it out with for survival at season's end, so a win against anyone in that group takes on larger importance than beating up on the Grizz or the Wiz. Second, this was another game where the Rockets got a first half lead and proceeded to put their foot on the opposition's esophagus, and in this case an opponent who has the weapons to mount a second half charge. That charge never came.

I probably need to stop waiting for Shane to quit hitting three's, for Rafer to turn into a pumpkin, and for the team to issue a press release saying T-Mac will miss the next ten games with a floor burn, and just enjoy this ride. The seeds are being planted for a pretty sweet NBA story if the Rockets can make a run into the post season. Except for the Lakers, Spurs, and maybe the Jazz, you can make a case for the re-conifigured, post-Yao Rockets being a better team than any of the other teams in the West. Hell, it looks like the Suns (clearly) and Mavericks (possibly) have actually made themselves worse with their big trades. I'm not saying the Rockets are definitively better than these teams, it's too early to tell. I'm just saying there is an argument, which frankly is a lot more than most of us (my hand is raised) were willing to concede a few days ago.

Circle March 6. The Rockets go to Dallas on the tail end of a back-to-back. If we're talking about win #17 in a row in Thursday night, it's on.

Now for some Monday time wasters ...

LINKS

• Many a tale from NFL Combines past [The Sports Hernia]
• Bas Rutten has an e-card for everyone that is interested in the new movie "Never Back Down", a/k/a Karate Kid 2008 [Never Back Down]
• Rutgers tries to maintain its spot in college football relevancy via the old fashioned way -- new fangled mouthguards. [Wizard of Odds]
• Pittsburgh's PNC Park, last in baseball, first in eating! Yes, those four magic words -- ALL YOU CAN EAT! [Bugs and Cranks]
• WWE Action Figure test (sadly, I scored 100%). [Mental Floss]
• Early gauge on the Coach's Hot Seat -- it's Ty Willingham in the lead! [Coaches Hot Seat]
• The Koncak League! An idea that is long overdue. [TY Sports]
• A Boise high school football player is suing Hawaii over revoking a scholarship offer. Believed to be the first time this has happened. What took so long? [Wizard of Odds]
• Breaking down the Terrelle Pryor sweepstakes [Detroit Free Press]
  

VIDEOS

This one is an oldie but a goodie. Be patient, there is a pay off at the end, and it involves a heavy set reporter wailing like Chewbacca in a bondage rack.



And here is the animated version ...



And the remake ...



How to get ahead in the weatherman universe? Act the fool, like Mark Mathis ....



I love old Sopranos clips. This is one of the greatest scenes in the history of the series. Actually, if you think about the whole Mitchell Report saga, imagine Clemens as Tony, Pettitte as Paulie Walnuts, Chuck Knoblauch as Silvio, and McNamee as Big Pussy. Don't you think there is part of Roger that wishes he found out McNamee had ratted him out to the Feds early enough to take him boat shopping?



Borseth vs Gundy rants. I think rants have now jumped the shark, don't you?

Where Does it Happen? It Happens at 1560...

Happy Birthday Chuckster!

ON this day, 45 years ago, Charles Barkley emerged from Charles Barkley's mother's womb, and the world would never be the same. I will come clean and admit that the Chuckster is my favorite athlete of all-time. No bandwagonning going on here, others will corroborate that I've been a stark, raving Chuck-o-maniac since he came into the league in 1984 as the Round Mound of Rebound. From the Olympic snub in 1984 to his MVP season in 1993 to his newly found career as the most entertaining studio analyst in sports, it's been a crazy ride.

For all of you Charles fans out there, here's a little birthday salute from the archives (and the ground breaking NBA Superstars video from the late 1980's) ....



Damn, you forget how ridiculous Chuck's skills were for a guy his size. Supreme rebounder at 6'4", and great in the open court at nearly 300 LB's. Awesome.

Just when hell had thawed out from Eli's Super Bowl win ...

I'm not sure if I've conveyed this sentiment in my blog yet, but I hate Duke basketball. While I'm sure that most of the players (current and former) are good people and productive members of society, the fact of the matter is when they are brought together on the hardwood and put on the DUKE uniform, they all turn into a bunch of floor slapping, leg humping, overly dorkified spazzes. While I don't feel the need to list all of the reasons I hate Duke (nor do I have the time, as that process would take a solid three hours), at or near the top of the list is the slack that they are given by the referees. Seriously, the average Duke game makes WWE officiating look like the bastion of integrity. I know that soon the day will come when DeMarcus Nelson says "screw it" and reaches underneath the standard holding up the basket, pulls out a sledgehammer and channels his inner Triple H by decapitating Tyler Hansbrough (thereby finishing what Gerald Henderson started).

So it was indeed rather bizarre tonight when I got home from doing Sports Sunday on Channel 2 (thank you Adam Clanton and Randy McIvoy for the invite) and saw this graphic on my TV screen ...



















(Photo courtesy of Awful Announcing)

Yes that's right ... ALL FIVE FREAKING DUKE STARTERS .... FOULED OUT! Honestly, I expected to see Calista Flockhart discussing the allure of all-you-can-eat buffets on the Food Channel before seeing this. Truly a thing of beauty. In fact, I'm not sure what made me happier -- seeing Duke's entire starting lineup on the bench, or knowing that their best player on the floor was the personification of Duke hoops himself -- the overrated, underathletic, scattershot defensive liability named Jon Scheyer.
















Good times indeed.

Ande because you can't make fun of Scheyer's spastic face enough, for your viewing pleasure ...

Stone Cold Bloggin', 2/17/08

It's that time of year! Early February .... South Florida ... smell of cut grass in the air .... anticipation of a new season, everyone starting over fresh ... pitchers and catchers arrive ... followed by their drug-pushing personal trainers who proceed to inject them in the ass with HGH and/or Winstrol, and then toss the evidence, err syringes in a beer can for the inevitable Congressional hearings five years from now. That's right! Baseball is back!!!

While we wait for the non-pitchers and catchers from the Mitchell Report to get to spring training, I have a few time wasters for those of you who have to work on this fine President's Day Monday. Here you go!

LINKS

• Maybe Rusty Hardin should've packed some heat when he went to Capitol Hill with Roger last week. [Yahoo Sports]
• The 10 Greatest Old School sports video games [All Balls]
• More geographical college football recruiting information than you ever cared to know. [Wizard of Odds]
• Notre Dame is going to play UConn in football, but one person is not too happy with the agreement. [Hartford Courant]
• Sean Williams has issues with LaMarcus Aldridge. [Awful Announcing]
• The ghost of Owen Hart is alive and well and living in the rafters of Kemper Arena. [The Big Lead]
• SI screwed up on the names of the Texans cheerleaders in the swimsuit issue. On behalf of Marisa and Larisa, I demand justice. [Texans Chick]
  

VIDS

In honor of the recently released Chris Berman unplugged video series, how's about some videos of announcers screwing up? Shall we?

Jim Spanarkel has some strange well wishes for Seton Hall's Bobby Gonzalez ....



Dan Marino is a very intense individual. I wonder if privately he used to shout down Bob Costas and Nick Buoniconti behind the scenes on "Inside the NFL" like he used to shout down his receivers when they dropped the ball ...



It helps to keep an eye on the prodcuer to know when you're back on the air ...



Catching the ball with your hands apparently should set off all sorts of sirens on the Gay-dar ....



287 wins AND this video? Put Bert Blyleven in the Hall of Fame ... NOW!

HAPPY FREAKING VALENTINE'S DAY!!

While I am firmly in the camp that Valentine's Day is a fabricated holiday designed to increase flower, candy, and jewelry sales (of items like dazzling diamond earrings or shimmering diamond bracelets at IW Marks, 3841 Bellaire Blvd or 2623 Town Center Blvd in Sugar Land), I am here to help the people. Just one month ago, our listeners helped compile a list of the top "deal closing" songs. (Naturally, this occurred on Sade's birthday ... Sade being the matron saint of all things boot knockin'.) Now for the first time publicly, after input from many experts in this field, I give you the top 40 songs from the few hundred we received from our listeners on that fateful day. And they are ....

No Ordinary Love - Sade
My, My, My - Johnny Gill
Superstar - Luther Vandross
Change the World - Eric Clapton
Can You Stand the Rain - New Edition
I'd Die Without You - PM Dawn
Kiss From a Rose - Seal
The Sweetest Taboo - Sade
Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
Caught Up in the Rapture - Anita Baker
The One I Love - David Gray
Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye
Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
Smooth Operator - Sade
Reunion - Maxwell
Crazy Love - Van Morrison
Comfortably Numb - Roger Waters (Departed version)
In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
Love of a Lifetime - FireHouse
Oh Girl - Chi-Lites
Purple Rain - Prince
Here Without You - 3 Doors Down
Love Serenade - Barry White
Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor
Fumbling Towards Ecstacy - Sarah McLachlan
Like Lovers Do - Heather Nova
A House Is Not a Home - Luther Vandross
The Suite Theme - Maxwell
Fade Into You - Mazzy Star
More Than I Can Say - Leo Sayer
Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
Comforter - Shai
Un-Break My Heart - Toni Braxton
With or Without Me - U2
Patience - Guns N' Roses
Colorblind - Counting Crows
Set Adrfit On Memory Bliss - PM Dawn
Iris - Goo Goo Dolls
Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye
Any Time, Any Place - Janet Jackson

If any of you would like to download the songs on here to your iPod, I was kind enough to create an iMix of this playlist. Open your iTunes software and click here. (If that doesn't work, go to the iMix home page on iTunes and search on "1560 The Game - Deal Closers".

ALSO, if you're looking for something to buy that lovely lady in your life, I give you the purchasing advice of Youtube legend and consummate ladies man, Kige Ramsey ....




Roses, dinner, spa, and diamond ring. Got it. You the man, Kige.

I've now done all I can do. If you don't score on Valentine's Day now, you have no one but yourself to blame. (Unless you're name is Roger Clemens, in which case you can blame the Hendricks brothers. Seemed to work well yesterday.)

One Guy, One Bird ....

Back tonight with some posts (FINALLY!), both sports and non-sports related. I promise.