Sad Day for All Sports Fans

We seem to watch sports out of a need to be uplifted or simply to be entertained, regardless, I think I can say without a doubt that all sports fans assume the sporting events they are watching are real. We watch sports for the sense of reality that it can represent. The jubilation of the triumphs and the gravity of the tragedies reel us in and keep us watching. But what happens if that reality, the truth we believed for so long, is suddenly swept away and we all realize what we were watching was a hoax, a beautifully mastered show, where no reality every existed.

Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy's allegations that playoff games in 2002 were fixed brings to light a sad reality of not only the NBA but a sports industry where fans too easily assume that what they are watching is reality. I remember that series in 2002, I remember game 6 where the Lakers took 28 free throws in a quarter. 28 fucking free throws in a game is a lot. They took 28 in a quarter. 

The league will continue to downplay these allegations as one's from a felon and in doing so will attempt to devalue Donaghy's credibility, but you don't need to be a solemn referee to make these allegations. I watched that game. What happened wasn't that subtle. 

I want to make it clear that: the NBA and the entire sports industry including beloved ESPN is part of a corporation with corporate interests, meaning all they really care about is making CASH. TV ratings, selling commercial slots for $1 million per 10 seconds. It makes sense to an intelligent person if one thinks about it. What are we really watching, grown men play basketball? Even players always say "This is a business."

These issues need to be brought to light, maybe one day sports can be just what they are meant to be, sport. But for today, I'm afraid what we have all been watching is a grand hoax. 

Championship Caliber

The Lake Show proved last night that this team is no joke. Just how good they are amongst all time Laker teams still needs to be proven, but they are in the discussion. The Lakers dominated the entire game wire to wire, San Antonio never led. A big step for a young team is winning games like this on the road. It's one thing to win in Denver, its a different thing to win in Utah and San Antonio. Great teams always leave a mark on a post-season. If the Lakers can take this series in 5, that would be their mark. Who picked the Lakers in 5 before the series started? No one.

PAY LAMAR

Lamar Odom's contract is up after next season and the Lakers need to resign him. Some might think he is overpaid, but he's worth it. He is one of the most unique talents in the NBA. Only Sheed', Dirk, and Lamar are 6'10'' or above in the L and step out into the land of plenty and hit. Lamar is 15 11 3 in the post-season. He's consistent. Behind Kobe and Pau, he's so money. KEEP THIS TEAM TOGETHER.

Top Tier

Who are the real top tier players in the league? What do I mean by top tier? Simply the illest 10 players in the association. These are ballers. Straight up. As Randy Moss would say "Straight Cash Homie." 

Kobe "Bean" Bryant

Lebron James

Chris Paul

Dirk Nowitzki

Amare Stoudamire

Dwight Howard

Chris Bosh

Steve Nash

Kevin Garnett

Gilbert Arenas

Who else do you think should be on this list? 

Down Time

FUCK STEPHEN A SMITH. FUCK ESPN. I DON'T CARE WHAT DAVID STERN THINKS.

What do I mean and why? ESPN has 10,002 commercials leading up to their futile 6pm Sportcenter with one recurring lead. "One NBA player admits to illegal drug use." Yes Josh Howard admitted to using marijuana in the off-season, yes he was honest, and yes he said that many other players use herb. First of all, this is probably all information we already knew. Now, I forgot what values we promote here. Oh, lets chastise Howard for his honesty and courage, lets slam him for his illegal acts, I bet Smith would advocate he be jailed. This sports media has lost all control over everything that matters. Oh no! the feds are going to go after Josh Howard for smoking marijuana and oh no! it's illegal! To quote a great line from the prophetic film V for Vendetta, "People should not afraid of their government, government should be afraid of its people."

So what if it's illegal, the illegality of smoking marijuana is irrelevant. So many illegal things go on on a daily basis in this fucking country, smoking marijuana should be the least of people's worries. Fuck Smith for being in the pocket of one of the biggest corporations in America, Disney, and being the corporate fiend we all know him to be. 

Smoking marijuana has no worse an effect on the body than binge drinking or getting hammered off of brews every night. I don't see any fewer bud light or Smirnoff commercials on your stations ESPN or ABC, in fact my favorite show PTI is sponsored by Guinness, a beer. Hmmm. That seems odd. I don't think ESPN really has the moral high ground here does it. Drink beer, ruin your liver, drive drunk, kill a few peep, but never touch marijuana. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

What players do in their own time is their own business. Smoking marijuana is a part of the sports/hip-hop culture that makes the NBA what it is today. That is not going to change no matter how many uniform codes you enforce Stern. Furthermore, its this hip-hop culture that is making you a rich man Mr. Stern, it's also making you very rich Mr. Smith so I suggest being the fiend that you are to shut up. No one cares what you think, you want to know what is truly ridiculous, it's you trying to be funny by saying stupid and obvious comments and making fun of Rasho Nesterovic. Listen buddy (Smith), you probably don't even know how to dribble a ball. Rasho could probably send you back to wherever you came from on the court so I suggest that you stop running your mouth. 

Doin' Work

Is Utah really good or is Houston just bad at this point? Think about the Rockets, can anyone really create their own shot at will other than THE MAC. 23 10 9 is a solid line, but he needs help. At this point i feel bad for the Rockets and MAC. Hes a solid player, but never can catch the breaks he needs to win in the playoffs. Yao gets hurt, he gets hurt. That team is not build to win in the playoffs. Utah on the other hand is tearing up. Deron Williams is a beast and AK47 when playing well is the kind of player that great teams always have. Korver plays big too, i never realized he was that big. Even though he only made one shot, it was a key shot. And who gave him that pass off a rebound, AK47. Houston just doesn't have the size without Yao to do damage in the post-season.

I actually liked DeShawn Stevenson, he was funny, like Ruben Patterson when he proclaimed himself the Kobe stopper. But pulling that you cant seem me stuff when you hit a three and you are actually still down 15 points is just stupid. Its too bad for DeShawn, LeBron is not overrated and might not be human either.

I read this article on ESPN and liked it so i decided to post it here. I dont really like Woj that much because i feel like he's on the political right and he rips on Michael Jordan for no reason, but he puts Sir Charles in a great light and I'm down with that.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=3351892&sportCat=nba

Day One

What a first day in the playoffs....

1. Manu and Timmy. Manu is great. Tim is legendary.

Tim's resume-4 rings. 2 L MVPs. Finals and all star game MVP.

Tim is the greatest PF of all time, he is the most consistent player in history and he simply gets the job done.

2. I hope everyone on Earth has the chance to see LBJ's dunk on saturday.....Wow. Speechless. That poetry in motion is simply the most ridiculous example of athleticism the NBA has ever seen.

It begs the question is Bron a better athlete than ball player. I dont think so. He is a specimen. Ridiculously built. Simply put hes greatest talent in the L. Probably will be the best 3 to ever lace them up when its all said and done.

3. Im losing faith in Dallas. Dirk is ballin' but there is not much else there. Big names and old legs.

4. I really missed gilbert this year. he pulled up from 35 feet and it was buckets. nasty.

5. Utah is pretty nasty if they play well. booz okur dwill and ak47 are all amazing players that can all go off for 25-30 on any night. what other team can say that? Boston has 3, the lakers have 3, the pistons might be the only other team that has that, they have 5.

6. CP3, have some. 35 and 10 is not human. But i dont know if they will go that far. Probably just me being naive...i would be surprised if they got past the 2nd round though.

7. Tmac might never get out of the first round. its too bad too. hes a great player with, underrated passer.

8. Suns really have to play defense. the spurs were lucky, but play some d. if diaw hits that layup, its a different story probably, but you cant have 3 chances to win a game and not take adv. of any of them.

more to come