Possible White Boys The Pacers Can Sign

It’s a running joke here that the Indiana Pacers love their white guys. Larry Bird seems to have a crush on un-athletic white boys who “hustle” and are “scappy.” If David Eckstein played basketball, Bird would sign him today. There are plenty of eligible candidates out there that are of the pale variety, here are some options that could end up rocking the yellow and navy next season and beyond.

Brian Scalabrine – unrestricted – Scalabrine was close to becoming a member of the Pacers before last season. Indiana and Boston tried to workout a sign & trade with Marquis Daniels, but Indiana refused to take Tony Allen. He had some past run-ins with authorities and the Pacers have been shy to take on players with a record since the Palace Brawl. I think Scalabrine would be a nice option once they trade Jeff Foster or Troy Murphy before the trading deadline this season.

Adam Morrison – unrestricted – I really wouldn’t know what to do if Bird signed Morrison. I think more Adam Morrison jokes have been posted on this site than about any other player. I guess it would be karma showing its ugly head that I would have to see him shoot 29% from the field as a member of the Pacers. Please God…don’t ever let him on the Pacers!

Joe Alexander – unrestricted – As much as I want a guy with the nickname “Vanilla Thunder” on the Pacers, I couldn’t stomach it. We already have a guy that can only hit a shot within 3 feet of the basket (Josh McRoberts) and he barely sniffs the hardwood. They might as well give him an ergonomic chair on the bench, wouldn’t want him to have circulation issues.

Steve Novak – unrestricted – The Pacers already have an older version of Novak and his name is Troy Murphy. Murphy has improved his rebounding over the last few years, but Novak will always be known as the “tall kid that could hit 3-pointers when Dwyane Wade was at Marquette.”

Shavlik Randolph – unrestricted – NO MORE DUKE PLAYERS! The Pacers love Duke players and I can’t stand it. I dislike Duke and somehow I am tricked into liking them because they are on the Pacers. It’s a cruel, cruel trick the world plays on me.

Brian Cardinal – unrestricted – Is it sad that Cardinal is 6’8 and it wouldn’t surprise me if he couldn’t get touch the net? He looks like he should be playing on your father’s recreation league team. I don’t know how he ever managed to make it in the NBA, but he has been paid very well over his career.

Chris Quinn – unrestricted – I actually wouldn’t mind if the Pacers signed Quinn. He reminds me of Travis Diener and he did a decent job with the team. They need depth at point guard and I don’t know if transforming Lance Stephenson into a point guard is the correct move.

Jason Williams – unrestricted – Speaking of decent point guard options, Williams would probably be the leading candidate in this bunch. I doubt he would want to play in Indiana, but I think he still has some tread on his tires. Plus, imagine if Indiana signed Joe Alexander and Williams, you would have a “Vanilla Thunder” and “White Chocolate” combo, sounds like a Blizzard at Dairy Queen.

Louis Amundson – unrestricted – Out of all these candidates, I believe Admundson could receive a Brian Cardinal-like contract from a team that fell in love with his play the last few weeks of the season. He had a productive portion of the season when Robin Lopez was banged up. The Pacers probably won’t be able to afford him and I think Phoenix should probably lock him up.

Travis Diener – unrestricted – He already had his shot with the Pacers. He filled in as a nice option at the time, but clearly he wasn’t in their long-term plans. Maybe he can be a minimum contract option for the Heat. He did play with Wade and Novak at Marquette with success.

Well, I know the Pacers don’t have much room under the salary cap and signing a player this off-season could be a long-shot. Once they trade their expiring contracts before the deadline, they could be in need to sign cheap replacements, so these guys could end up on the team if they don’t land with another team this off-season.

I can’t say this enough, please, please don’t sign Adam Morrison. I mean look at the guy!

McGrady Would Be Nice Fit For Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are rumored to be interested in signing Tracy McGrady. The 31-year old has been on the shelf with injuries over the last few seasons, but has shown the ability to score points in a hurry in the past. Would he accept a bench role for a chance to make it out of the first-round of the playoffs? Would he accept a a one-year, incentive based, low salary deal? Those questions are yet to be answered, but I believe he would be a nice fit on the young Bulls team.

The Bulls have been very active this off-season and they are making a push to be contenders this season. They have had the moniker of “team on the rise” over the last three seasons, but with the addition of Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver, and Ronnie Brewer, they are becoming a very deep team. Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah had career years last season and they are yet to hit their prime. The Bulls know that the window for this team is a few seasons, but that could change with key injuries.

McGrady, who is still younger than his body seems to be, could mentor some of the players on the team and help them mature. He has been a leader on some very good teams, but has always fell short of making it out of the first-round. The only season in which his team made is past the first-round, was when he was injured and couldn’t play. The risk of signing McGrady would be his knee. He had microfracture surgery and it usually takes two years for a player to regain his prior form or it never comes back at all. Amar’e Stoudamire had the surgery two seasons ago and he came out in 2009-10 and had a very productive year. He is a success story, but with that story come many others that aren’t as positive. Chris Webber had the surgery and even though he was solid when coming back, he was never the same. Age could be to blame in Webber’s case, but having the microfracture surgery couldn’t have helped.

Signing a player who has a history of injuries is very risky. It usually doesn’t work out and with the guaranteed contracts in the NBA, it’s a chance that many GMs don’t want to take. The one example of an injury-plagued player bouncing back later in his career is Grant Hill. He basically had his ankle completely reconstructed and had various other injuries when he was with the Orlando Magic. He signed a very cheap deal to resurrect his career with the Phoenix Suns and he has had a second-life with the team. I hope McGrady has the same luck, because he was such a phenomenal scorer during his prime, it would be a shame that an injury could shorten his career.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

How A Woman Nearly Took The "Sweet" Out Of Good Ole’ Sweetbob

I usually try to keep my personal life out of this blog, but I have to explain my hiatus from updating this blog. I owe it to the readers who have been loyal to me over the last 2 1/2 years. I am ready to lay everything out on front street and move on. I promise that this will be my only post about my personal life. I’m sure the next post will be something about how the Chicago Cubs have ruined my life or how much I hate the Steelers. This should be a pretty epic post. Enjoy!

I don’t know where to begin exactly, but I dated a girl for almost two years. It was a fun time, mostly, but it was kind of jacked for a good portion. I did a lot of writing during the time of our relationship and I grew this blog into a something that I was proud of. The blog went from maybe 100 readers a day to a few thousand a day and being linked by Sports Illustrated and few other well-known websites. Well, in February of this year, we broke up and I lost my motivation to write. I didn’t see how I could write about the lighter side of sports and make my readers laugh, when I was having a hard time focusing on anything going on in my daily life. My ex hated that I would write and it would take time away from time with her. I blamed my writing for the demise of my relationship. I had obligations with Fanball to write about the Indiana Pacers and Columbus Blue Jackets. Those posts became harder and harder to write, I was suffering from an extreme case of writer’s block. I went out and purchased books on the subject, I tried yoga, I ran out of things to cure the block. It was affecting many parts of my life, it was a complete creativity block. I decided that I had to completely step away from my online writing activity so I can work on myself.

I started writing a fiction book about a year or so ago. I’ve went through different ideas and pitched a lot of material, because I couldn’t really get going on it at all. I hated everything that I would put down on paper. I was stuck at the brainstorming level and I needed a change of scenery. I decided to find a bar in the area that wasn’t busy, so I could write in a place away from my desk. It was a Friday night and in Columbus, Ohio, it was a difficult task to find a bar that wasn’t packed. I decided to go to a small bar near my place, that decision was the beginning of the end of my writer’s block. I met someone that was interested in what I was doing and has really became a motivator to move on with the pursuit of my writing career. Well, a few days ago, she wanted me to write her something, because she has never read anything that I have written. It took me a few hours, but I finally got enough nerve to put some things on paper and it was an avalanche of ideas and emotion. Since I have written that for her, I’ve had a rush of creativity and new ideas. I’ve had a creativity boner for the past few days, think I should consult my physician?

I have had small hiatuses on this site and I have explained each one to my readers. There have not been any of them quite this long and I hope that this will be my last hiatus of any length. I realize that I am not solving life’s problems with my writing, I just hope to give a snarky view of the world of sports and maybe some posts on betting lines (for entertainment purposes only, wink wink). I am not a sports betting handicapper, but I have always received positive feedback on my posts in the past.

I want to thank everyone for the kind words of encouragement and questions I have received on Twitter about when I am going to return to the blog. I just want to thank some of my friends that have been supportive in any way over the last few months. I want to list them (sorry this may bore you, but I promise you that there will be a payoff at the end of this post). I want to thank James, Kris1010, Peter, George, Laura, Amanda, Liz, Carrie, PJ (who needs Twitter), Cheryl, Fought, Carlos, Aron, ChadBev, Ryan & Chrissy, Laurie, Mehg, Bryan & Heather, Stuckey, my family, my blogger amigos, and Kriston, who helped me a few months ago and I’m not sure if I would be in this current state if I didn’t walk into her bar on April 23rd, 2010. I probably missed a few people, for that I am sorry. A special thanks goes out to the entire #beerfamily, you have all helped me. I am glad that I drove to Granville, OH a few months ago, it has changed my life for the better.

Well, that’s all the emo shit that this site can handle. Time to be snarky and do something that would have pissed off my ex. She hated when I would post pictures of beautiful woman and especially anything related to Katy Perry. She claimed that I had a crush on her. First, who doesn’t? Second, I know my readers enjoy my random pretty lady pictures I like to throw into a post. Here goes nothing and thanks again for your continued support, enjoy!

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A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Toby Gerhart Has a Hot Girlfriend

Toby Gerhart’s wait to be drafted into the NFL lasted until the middle of the 2nd round. He should be a decent back in Minnesota’s offense, he’s very physical, but most of America, especially sports bloggers, took notice of Toby Gerhart’s girlfriend. I dig deep into the blogosphere to find her identity.

Well, i didn’t have to dig too deep. I went to one of my favorite blogs (SPORTSbyBROOKS) and found out the beautiful lady’s name. Her name is Meredith Ayres and she’s a swimmer from Stanford. Apparently, she has a thing for two-sports stars. Maybe if it doesn’t work out with Gerhart, she can call up Deion Sanders or Brian Jordan.

Here are a few more pictures of the lovely Meredith Ayres.

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A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

The Most In-Depth San Antonio Spurs Analysis On The Web

The San Antonio Spurs are currently battling the Dallas Mavericks in the first-round of the NBA Playoffs. I breakdown every aspect of the San Antonio Spurs, probably the most in-depth analysis of the San Antonio Spurs on the internet. Enjoy.

Matt Bonner….good.

Manu Ginobli gots a bald spot.

In-depth analysis complete.

For the second-best Spurs analysis on the web, please go to Project Spurs.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

How Ben Roethlisberger Helped Tim Tebow

We all know about the recent trouble that Steelers quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, got himself into. Teams are trying to stay away from players with possible “character issues,” could this have been the reason Tim Tebow shot up the draft board as a first-round pick?

Tim Tebow is probably the most celebrated college football player to come out since Roger Staubach. He was a tremendouse college football player and he is a model citizen. He is the kind of player that the NFL would love to have to represent “the shield.” With the recent trouble that some high-profile players have gotten themselves into, the NFL would love to have 50-players on every team like Tebow. Continue reading →

The Post Where I Predict Super Bowl Things

Super Bowl XLIV or Super Bowl 44 for those who hate Roman numerals, is set to take place this Sunday. The Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints have both went through the hype machine, survived media day, was able to fight through all the taping of the video montages sure to take place during the 15-hour pregame. The table is set and they are ready to eat. I’m here to predict some prop bets that you can wager, if that’s your cup of tea.

First, let’s explain something first, I can’t say that I am unbiased when it comes to this Super Bowl. As I am writing this, I am wearing an Indianapolis Colts sweatshirt that I picked up the last time I was in my homeland of Indiana. I can look past it while picking these Super Bowl Prop Bets, but let’s start out with predicting the score.

Colts 31 – Saints 21 – As I am writing this, most sportsbooks have the Super Bowl Odds somewhere around 5 points, so you should take the Colts.

Now for the more odd props that you could wager on this Super Bowl.

Heads vs. Tails – I’m more of a Heads man myself, so I’ll pick that.

Coin Toss – The Colts have been pretty luck this year, so I’ll say that they will win the coin toss

Team To Receive Opening Kickoff – The Colts will win the coin toss and I think that they will defer to the second half, the Saints will get the ball first.

Team To Commit The 1st Penalty – The Saints are favored (-140) and I think that’s the smartest bet

Team To Score Last In 1st Half – The Colts are favored (-140) and Peyton Manning loves those last minute 1st half drives

Will There Be A Safety – The sure bet would be No, but at (-1400) odds, you could probably put a few bucks on Yes at (+800) to hedge a few bets.

Will The Team That Scores First Win The Game – Yes is at (-195) and No is at (+155), I actually like NO here.

Total Interceptions Thrown By Both Teams – I like the Under 2.5, which is currently (-200)

First Turnover Of THe Game, Interception vs. Fumble – I like Interception here at (-170), Adrian Peterson isn’t playing in this game

Total Number Of Colts Players To Score (Including Kickers) – It’s currently at +/- 3.5, I like the Over on this one, a lot.

Longest Touchdown Of The Game +/- 49.5 – I like the over on this one, it’s at (-115), I feel that someone will bust at least one big play.

Over/Under Jersey Number Of Player To Score First TD +/- 25.5 – I LOVE the over on this, more of the receivers have a number higher than 26, expect Marques Colston

I’ll write another post about more individual prop bets during the Super Bowl

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Seantrel Henderson Is A Beast

Seantrel Henderson was the last big name to announce where he was going on National Signing Day for college football. I live in Columbus, OH and I’ve been hearing about this guy for a few weeks now and all of the local radio hosts were salivating at the chance that he’d be a Buckeye. Well, Henderson threw everyone a curveball tonight and he picked USC.

Notre Dame, USC, Ohio State, Minnesota, and Florida were all in the hunt for the 6’8, 300-pound Offensive Lineman. He’s a senior at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. It appeared that the University of Michigan was the early favorite, but he changed his mind more times than you can count on both hands. No one had any idea what college he was going to pick leading up to tonight’s live broadcast on CBS College Sports Channel. He is going to be the left-tackle at USC, protecting QB Matt Barkley’s blindside for the next few years. I doubt he will redshirt since he already has a professional body and appears to have nice technique. Lane Kiffin has proven that he is a great recruiter, let’s see if he can coach all this talent and win championships. Here is the video of Henderson picking USC and another video which is Henderson’s junior year highlight reel.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Pete Carroll Is A Smart Hire For Seattle

There are rumors out there that USC’s head coach, Pete Carroll, is rumored to be the #1 guy on the list for the Seattle Seahawks head coaching job. It would be a smart move by Seattle and for Carroll, in fact, it could be the perfect situation for both sides. If he takes the job, would it be a sign that USC will be hammered by the NCAA for their multiple infractions?

Pete Carroll isn’t new to the NFL, he used to coach the New England Patriots and New York Jets, so you couldn’t compare his hire with Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, or Bobby Petrino. Carroll is a known commodity, even though he didn’t have a lot of success in the NFL. If Carroll is the next head coach of the Seahawks, I believe that they will be the favorite in the NFC West for years to come. He will probably have general manager duties along with being the head coach, thus he will get to pick his guys. If you ask any player who played for Carroll at USC, they will say that they loved playing for him. He will give the best players a shot to start and will give rookies more of an instant start, if he proves himself in the preseason. Think about all of the great USC players that went to the NFL over the last decade. Don’t you think that they might want to play for him again, so Seattle would have an edge in the free agent period. Who knows, maybe they would take less money to play for their former coach.

If Carroll takes the Seattle job, what does that say about the NCAA investigation results for USC? I think it would mean that the NCAA will be laying the hammer down on them. It won’t be as bad as the SMU action many years ago, but I would assume that they will vacate wins and more. Also, Joe McKnight declared for the NFL draft today, so bad news keep coming for USC fans.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Seattle Fires Jim Mora

This past Monday was traditionally called “Black Monday,” but last Monday was more like a shade of gray. There weren’t many firings and many coaches that were in trouble of losing their jobs, held onto them. A coach that flew under the radar this season was Seattle’s Jim Mora. He didn’t have a good season and today Seattle fired Mora. Did Seattle fire Mora to try and go after Bill Cowher or another big name or was it time for a change?

Seattle Seahawks CEO, Tod Leiweke, announced today that they will fire Jim Mora, even though Leiweke openly endorsed him six weeks ago. The team’s general manager, Tim Ruskell, stepped down mid-season so they will be looking to fill both positions. Mora took over the head coach duties once Mike Holmgren stepped down, but he was the “head coach in waiting” for two seasons before taking over as head coach. Seattle has went 9-23 over the last two seasons and it was time for an overhal in Seattle. Although the timing is quite coincidental since Bill Cowher is rumored to be looking to coach in 2010, but with Buffalo being his only option, it was unlikely that he would take the Bills job. The Seattle job seems more likely, since he would have total control. The one reason why it would be unlikely is because of the geographical location of Seattle. Cowher stepped down as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers because he wanted to be closer to his family, who reside in the Carolina region.

It’s is unknown who Seattle will target since they could be looking to upgrade every position on the field. They had a long stretch of success with Matt Hasselbeck as the quarterback, but with two injury-plagued seasons, a change at head coach could mean the end of his reign as the starting quarterback. A youth movement needs to happen on offense since the wide receiving corps is getting “long in the tooth” and the offensive line has holes. They do have Justin Forsett and Deon Butler on offense, but they still need grooming. The defense had issues in 2009 stopping the run and doing the little things on the football field. Seattle’s offense didn’t give their defense very good field position, so the blame falls on both sides of the ball for Seattle.

Jim Mora is a solid secondary coach and he should latch onto a coaching staff very soon. He had a rough go in Seattle with the Michael Vick saga taking place on his watch. Mora didn’t inherit a very good team when he took over in Seattle, I don’t blame Mora, I blame the former GM Tim Ruskell and Mike Holmgren for leaving him with a bad team.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Bert Blyleven Deserves To Be Hall Of Famer

Blyleven deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, if not only because of that awesome shirt, but he was a very good pitcher. Let’s face it, baseball’s Hall of Fame has turned into “the hall of very good,” and Blyleven deserves in. He fell 5 votes shy today for being an inductee, but he is a sure money bet of making it next year. Andre Dawson is the lone candidate and the entire ceremony will be dedicated to the former great of the Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs. In the following article, I try to make my case for Bert Blyleven to be inducted in baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Blyleven played during a time, when multi-channel ESPNs and regional Fox Sports Net channels did not exist and MLB Extra Innings packages on DirecTV wasn’t even invented, you may not have caught Bert Blyleven’s best work. Unless you caught the highlights on Sportscenter where Chris Berman used a nickname of Burt “Be Home” Blyleven, you would just think that he was an average pitcher. His career ERA was 3.90, but his early career was his peak, but he kept a roster spot on small-market teams. His record was 287-250, just 37 games over .500, but from 1982 until the end of his career in ’92, his ERA was over 4.00. If a pitcher wins nearly 300 games, it nearly negates this feat once a pitcher reaches his 250th loss, like Blyleven.

An argument that Blyleven has for his induction is that his numbers are measurable to Nolan Ryan’s. Blyleven does not have Ryan’s no-hitters or his dominance of one-hit games either. Blyleven’s win-loss record has a lot to do with Blyleven’s teams not scoring many runs, thus having him lose many one-run games. He pitched in a different era than what today’s pitchers will be held up to. Middle-relief pitching was approached as need-based, rather than a necessity, Blyleven pitched in almost 300 career complete games.

Let’s crunch some numbers, in his 22-year career, Blyleven pitched a complete game in over 40% of the games in which he has started. He has never ranked higher than third in the Cy Young voting and has only played in two All-Star games in his 22-year career.

Bert Blyleven will be immortalized into the Hall of Fame. Sometimes players start racking up statistics just cause longevity and not exactly superb play. Blyleven’s 3701 strikeouts are amazing, but his K/9 statistic of 7.4 per 9 innings isn’t super spectacular, but nothing about Blyleven really is. It’s a solid number and Blyleven was a solid pitcher and long-term performance needs to be rewarded with an induction in Cooperstown.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

It’s Official: Dawson Is in Hall Of Fame

The verdict is in and Andre Dawson will be the lone inductee into baseball’s Hall of Fame. It was his 9th year on the ballot and the publicity campaign worked for “The Hawk.” Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were close, but weren’t able to get 75% of the votes to join Dawson.

I have been a huge fan of Andre Dawson since I was about seven years of age. When he appeared on the Cubs, I was unaware where he came from. I was very young and I only kept tabs on the Cubs since I watched them every day on WGN. It wasn’t until later that I found out that he was a star in Montreal for many years. When he arrived in Chicago, he was a home run machine and the clean-up hitter that Chicago needed to finally win a pennant in 1989. He was a nice player to lineup near Ryne Sandberg, but he turned out to be much more for Chicago, since he won the NL MVP in 1987 and lead the league in home runs.

Dawson was clearly a shell of himself later in his career because he played on the very bad turf in Montreal that messed up his knees. He used to have a lot of speed and stole a lot of bases with teammate Tim Raines leading the league many seasons. The Expos were a very fast team, but after playing so many years there, players were plagued with various knee problems. The turf was basically carpet on top of cement.

I will surely be watching the induction of “The Hawk” as I did when Ryne Sandberg was inducted. When you think about the 1987 season for the Cubs, they had Dawson, Sandberg, Rafael Palmeiro, Greg Maddux, Jamie Moyer, and Lee Smith. They had six players that will either be in the Hall of Fame or will be very close. It’s hard to believe that the team finished last place in the NL East that year with a record of 76-85.

It was a shame that Bert Blyleven fell 5 votes of getting into the Hall of Fame. Every pitcher who gets near 300 wins, even if he had nearly as many losses, deserves to get in. He has two more years of eligibility and he should get in next season. Roberto Alomar also fell short in his first year of eligibility. He is another player that should get in and they both faired well in a year with not many stars becoming eligible. Jack Morris also saw an increase in votes, but he still has a long way to go, his name was on about 50% of the ballots.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.