Happy LeBron James Day!

Oh boy will this be a fun day!

People will speculate all day long and search for hidden clues that are not there and so on and so forth. It seems like the 4 options are New Jersey, Miami, Chicago, New York, and Cleveland. Eliminate New Jersey, Miami, and Chicago who at this point are seen by most as real outsiders, and you are left with New York and Chicago. Tonight at 9 PM, LeBron James will speak at a live press conference to be televised by ESPN. The world will stand still as LeBron James makes his announcement. Everyone wants to know who will be NBA champions in 2011 where LeBron James will play basketball next year.

Personally, I can't recall any player being so self-aggrandizing as to put such a decision on national television. Furthermore, this is not a one-way thing. Has a deal been agreed to? If so, how has someone not leaked this information? If not, then how can LeBron be so sure that His Decision will be final? Is it a secret agreement? Does LeBron just assume that the name of the team he says on ESPN tonight will be the team that caters to his every whim in the contract signing room? But for the sake of not complicating this and giving everyone a headache, let's assume that LeBron James and his agent have, at the very least, a verbal agreement in place with some team that miraculously has not been leaked over the internet.

LeBron James is making this national TV announcement in Greenwich, Connecticut, a city that is 30-some miles away from New York City. Which to me points to one thing and one thing only: LeBron is staying in Cleveland. LeBron is an attention loving, media whore. These are probably the best days of his lives. Yes, LeBron is an attention loving media whore, but a person who would go on National Television and essentially tell the part of the country he grew up in and spent virtually all of his life "you are not good enough for me anymore," is something that I just don't see happening.

A Rant: NBA All-Star Edition

Good grief I hate the NBA right now more than I normally do.

I am sick and tired of people defending the shit that is on TNT right now.

It's a pointless all-star game that means absolutely nothing! Just because a bunch of big names are playing, does not mean that you need to drag it into JerryWorld and have a concerts before, during it. The festivities started 2 and a half hours game and halftime is just ending! What in the blue fucking hell is this supposed to be?

An all-star game is not the Super Bowl. Don't make it that. Don't pretend that it is. It's not. To think that it is even remotely equivalent is an absolutely quixotic way to go about it. And it truly is embarrassing. The ultimate showoff game in the ultimate showoff league is nothing close to the same level as the Super Bowl. Fuck, the NBA all-star game is nothing close to the same level as the Pro Bowl, which in turn is nothing close to the MLB All-Star game. At least MLB can tout the fact their game actually matters!

What's wrong? Am I saying something that is upsetting you? Does this go against everything that you've come to know and believe about the NBA? Does this offend you?

If it does, WAKE UP!

The fact is this: games are never the Lakers vs. the Cavs; they are all Kobe vs. LeBron. A team sport should be treated as such, a team sport. And the NBA does not do that. The media does not hype it as that. The game lends itself to players, not teams. It always has. It does so now. And unless drastic changes are made, it always will. Why would they change? People pay to see this bullshit. The attendance at JerryWorld tonight was an astonishing 108,713. Congrats Dallas on hosting the highest attended exhibition game ever!

The media defecates and people swallow this game and this league like it's the tastiest filet mignon ever. But the bottom line is this, when the finals are Cleveland vs. Los Angeles, it will be amazing if ESPN mentions the words "Cavs", "Cavaliers", and "Lakers" 5 times. Because gets what, it will be "Kobe vs. LeBron" and guess how the game will play it: you guessed it. It will be Kobe vs. LeBron with 8 other useless and irrelevant players that nobody cares about.

This may not be the NBA Finals, but if anything epitomizes everything bad about the NBA, it is the All-Star game. It's the most boring of the 4 major all-star games and the pomp and circumstance that gets behind it is simply nauseating even more so than the day they are playing it on this year.

Suffice to say, this game represents everything I've grown to not like about the NBA: overhyped, overrated, selfish players, and boring.

The Latest Act Of Fan Hooliganism Not From Philadelphia

Seeing as this is the Christmas season, I shall ask, which is the more grinchier of actions? Booing a really bad, poorly costumed, ill-prepared Santa Claus when your team sucks or throwing foam fingers and water bottles on the court because you are not happy with the officiating in the game? We all know about the former incident, but check out LA fans engaging in the latter last night.



And that my friends, is a microcosm of the Los Angeles fan base. One person thinks a team is cool, and suddenly the entire city jumps on the bandwagon., One drunken idiot thinks it is a good idea to throw foam fingers on the court, and the entire arena follows suit. Simply pathetic.

Welcome Back To Philadelphia, #3, Allen Iverson!

What a scene in and what a moment in the Wachovia Center this was.



"ALLLLLLLLLEN IIIIVERRRRRRRRRRRRRSON!!!!!!!!!!!"

I love Matt Cord.

And here is his first bucket with Sixers PbP announcer and big-time homer, Marc Zumoff on the call.



Let me tell you what. This Sixers team is an entirely different team iwht him in the line up. Say what you will about him and his work ethic, he is making this team a million times better and it shows in the way they are beating Denver midway through the 3rd quarter. How can you not love this?

Update: Well that ended badly. After being up for 3 quarters, the Sixers completely collapsed and Chauncey Billups ran amok all over the Sixers in what turned out to be a 10-point win for the Nuggets. All in all, Iverson did not play bad and you have to feel that a lot of good will come from this. The Sixers have not exactly had an easy schedule and it does not get much easier down the road. If they can go .500 in the next 20 games or so, it will be truly amazing and the Sixers can say that they are poised for a playoff push.

Guess What? The 76ers' Schedule is Out!

(Guest posted by James Craven from The O Files)

October
Wed 28 @ Orlando 7:00pm
Fri 30 vs Milwaukee 7:00pm
Sat 31 @ New York 7:30pm

November
Tue 03 vs Boston 7:00pm
Fri 06 vs New Jersey 7:00pm
Sun 08 @ Detroit 1:00pm
Mon 09 vs Phoenix 7:00pm
Wed 11 @ New Jersey 7:30pm
Fri 13 vs Utah 7:00pm
Sat 14 @ Chicago 8:00pm
Wed 18 vs Charlotte 7:00pm
Fri 20 vs Memphis 7:00pm
Sat 21 @ Cleveland 7:30pm
Tue 24 @ Washington 7:00pm
Wed 25 @ Boston 7:30pm
Fri 27 vs Atlanta 7:00pm
Sun 29 @ San Antonio 7:00pm
Mon 30 @ Dallas 8:30pm

December
Wed 02 @ Oklahoma City 8:00pm
Sat 05 @ Charlotte 7:00pm
Mon 07 vs Denver 7:00pm
Wed 09 vs Detroit 7:00pm
Fri 11 vs Houston 7:00pm
Mon 14 vs Golden State 7:00pm
Wed 16 vs Cleveland 7:00pm
Fri 18 @ Boston 7:30pm
Sat 19 vs LA Clippers 7:00pm
Tue 22 @ Washington 7:00pm
Sat 26 @ Utah 9:00pm
Mon 28 @ Portland 10:00pm
Wed 30 @ Sacramento 10:00pm
Thu 31 @ LA Clippers 9:30pm

January
Sun 03 @ Denver 8:00pm
Tue 05 vs Washington 7:00pm
Fri 08 vs Toronto 7:00pm
Sat 09 @ Detroit 7:30pm
Mon 11 vs New Orleans 7:00pm
Wed 13 vs New York 7:00pm
Fri 15 vs Sacramento 7:00pm
Mon 18 @ Minnesota 3:30pm
Wed 20 vs Portland 7:00pm
Fri 22 vs Dallas 7:00pm
Sat 23 @ Indiana 7:00pm
Mon 25 vs Indiana 7:00pm
Wed 27 @ Milwaukee 8:00pm
Fri 29 vs LA Lakers 7:00pm
Sun 31 @ New Jersey 6:00pm

February
Wed 03 vs Chicago 7:00pm
Fri 05 @ New Orleans 8:00pm
Sat 06 @ Houston 8:30pm
Tue 09 vs Minnesota 7:00pm
Wed 10 @ Toronto 7:00pm
Tue 16 vs Miami 7:00pm
Fri 19 vs San Antonio 7:00pm
Sat 20 @ Chicago 8:00pm
Tue 23 @ Golden State 10:30pm
Wed 24 @ Phoenix 9:00pm
Fri 26 @ LA Lakers 10:30pm

March
Mon 01 vs Orlando 7:00pm
Wed 03 @ Atlanta 7:00pm
Fri 05 vs Boston 7:00pm
Sun 07 @ Toronto 12:00pm
Tue 09 @ Indiana 7:00pm
Wed 10 vs Charlotte 7:00pm
Fri 12 vs Cleveland 7:00pm
Sun 14 @ Miami 6:00pm
Mon 15 vs New York 7:00pm
Wed 17 vs New Jersey 7:00pm
Fri 19 @ New York 7:30pm
Sat 20 vs Chicago 7:00pm
Mon 22 vs Orlando 7:00pm
Wed 24 @ Milwaukee 8:00pm
Fri 26 vs Atlanta 7:00pm
Tue 30 vs Oklahoma City 7:00pm
Wed 31 @ Charlotte 7:00pm

April
Sat 03 vs Toronto 1:00pm
Tue 06 vs Detroit 7:00pm
Wed 07 @ Miami 7:30pm
Fri 09 vs Milwaukee 7:00pm
Sat 10 @ Memphis 8:00pm
Mon 12 vs Miami 7:00pm
Wed 14 @ Orlando 8:00pm

NBA Playoffs Day 43 Live Blog (Finals Game 5)

Tonight's game.....

Game 5: Los Angeles @ Orlando 8:00 (ABC - Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy, SR: Doris Burke)

Will the Lakers win the championship tonight or will the Magic stay alive and force a trip back to the Staples Center? Enjoy the game and leave comments in the blog, unless you're Nathan and his 454,543 aliases, in which case if you do show up, I'll expose the video of you from Thursday night. And a little FYI, I may be in and out tonight (get your minds out of the gutter, not like that) and I may miss a good part of the 1st quarter.

NBA Playoffs Day 40 Live Blog (Finals Game 2)

Tonight's game.....

Game 2: Orlando @ Los Angeles 8:00 (ABC - Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy, SR: Doris Burke)

Let's hope this game is closer than Game 1 was! Enjoy the game and feel free to leave comments in the blog as long as you're not Nathan using one of his 2,098,501 aliases!

NHL Playoffs Day 41 (Finals Game 4) And NBA Playoffs Day 39 (Finals Game 1) Live Blog

Thanks to the Idicoy That Is Gary Bettman, we have The Great Confliction! So join me as I go back and forth and back and forth between games, trying to cover all of the action for you. It should be a great time!

Tonight's games....

Game 4: Detroit @ Pittsburgh 8:00 (Versus - Mike Emrick and Ed Olczyk, SR: Bob Harwood and Christine Simpson) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, SR: Elliotte Friedman and Scott Oake) (RDS)

Game 1: Orlando @ Los Angeles 9:00 (ABC - Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy, SR: Doris Burke)

Enjoy the game and the blog and leave comments! Oh, and if you're a troll named Nathan Brice operating under some weird analyst, don't even bother showing up!

2009 NBA Finals Schedule

It's the all Mickey Mouse NBA Finals! And Disney/ABC/ESPN probably could not be happier with the fact that people will be flocking to their neck of the woods during for the next couple weeks during the NBA Finals. With that being said, here's your official schedule for the 2009 NBA finals between the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers!

#1 Los Angeles Lakers vs. #3 Orlando Magic
Game 1: Lakers 100-75
Game 2: Lakers 101-96 F/OT
Game 3: Magic 108-104
Game 4: Lakers 99-91 F/OT
Game 5: Lakers 99-86
Los Angeles wins the series 4-1.

Now that's more of how a finals schedule is supposed to look like! Not that emergency catastrophe of a schedule that Bettman and NBC thew together at the last minute because NBC is way too protective of their May sweeps and Bettman is a complete moron and a complete ass. And I will no longer make "it's been a long day and I'm tired" as an excuse to not live blog games. Sure there will be days when I am tired but I won't let that stop the live blogging fun. And we've got Jeff Van Gundy calling the finals of a series that his brother, Stan Van Gundy, is coaching. This should be very interesting to watch and very fun to live blog...

And yes, I am also live blogging Game 2 of the Stanley Cup tonight. I'll be sending the email out shortly and I hope to see you there.

NHL Playoffs Day 38 And NBA Playoffs Day 39 Live Blog

Tonight's games....

Game 1: Pittsburgh @ Detroit 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Ed Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, SR: Elliotte Friedman and Scott Oake) (RDS)

Game 6: Cleveland @ Orlando 8:30 (TNT - Marv Albert and Doug Collins, SR: Craig Sager)

If you choose to take over the live blog, you can watch and blog on whatever you game you want. Enjoy the game (and hopefully the blog) and I'll talk to you later tonight (I'd be shocked if it's after 10:15 PM ET).

Update: It works!!! If they are around tonight, 49er16, Mookie, and/or JamesCraven can take over the live blog from standby mode even if I am not around. As just said above, I have a strong estimate that my return time will be between 10 and 10:15 (I'm seeing a 7:35 showing of Angels & Demons with friends). I will talk to you then!

NBA Playoffs Day 38 Open Thread (West Game 6)

Tonight's game.....

Game 6: Los Angeles @ Denver 9:00 (ESPN - Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy, SR: Doris Burke)

The champaign at ESPN/ABC/Disney is currently on ice. If the Lakers win, you can bet your bottom dollar that they will be cracking it open and having a party tonight. Enjoy the game and leave comments!

NBA Playoffs Day 37 Live Blog (East Game 5)

Tonight's game....

Orlando @ Cleveland 8:30 (TNT - Marv Albert and Reggie Miller, SR: Craig Sager)

Enjoy the game and I hope you can join us for the live blog and leave comments!

NBA Playoffs Day 36 Open Thread (West Game 5)

Tonight's game....

Game 5: Denver @ Los Angeles 9:00 (ESPN - Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy, SR: Doris Burke)

Enjoy the game and leave comments!

NBA Playoffs Day 35 Open Thread (East Game 4)

Tonight's game.....

Game 4: Cleveland @ Orlando 8:30 (TNT - Marv Albert and Doug Collins, SR: Craig Sager)

Enjoy the game and leave comments!

NBA Playoffs Day 34 And WWE Monday Night Raw Open Thread

Tonight's action.....

Game 4: Los Angeles @ Denver 9:00 (ESPN - Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy, SR: Doris Burke)

WWE RAW (starting at 9:00 PM ET) from the Staples Center
Vince McMahon confronts the one and only Enos Stan "Chicken Nugget" Kroenke.

AND

The Los Angeles Lakers (John Cena, Batista, MVP, Jerry Lawler, and a mystery partner) will battle The Denver Nuggets (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase Jr., The Miz, and the Big Show)

I'll have all of the necessary videos from Raw up either later tonight or tomorrow.

NBA Playoffs Day 33 Open Thread

Tonight's game....

Game 3: Cleveland @ Orlando 8:30 (TNT - Marv Albert and Doug Collins, SR: Craig Sager)

Enjoy the game and leave comments!

NBA Playoffs Day 32 Open Thread (West Game 3)

Tonight's game.....

Game 3: Los Angeles @ Denver 8:30 (ABC - Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy, SR: Doris Burke)

Enjoy the game and leave comments!

NBA Playoffs Day 31 Open Thread (East Game 2)

Tonight's game.....

Game 2: Orlando @ Cleveland 8:30 (TNT - Marv Albert and Doug Collins, SR: Craig Sager)

Enjoy the game and leave comments!

NBA Playoffs Day 30 Open Thread

AAAHHH!!!!! The long time between the start of the NHL game and this game caused me to totally forget. So sorry.

Game 2: Denver @ Los Angeles 9:00 (ESPN - Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy, SR: Doris Burke)

Enjoy the rest of the game and leave comments!

/Like I mentioned in the NHL open thread, it's been a rough past 24 hours. Couple the seeing of something that I really wish I did not see (although the more I think about it the more it helped me realize what I truly need) with a rough day at work, and yeah, I'm a bit off right now.
//Wow, that was deep in abstraction.

NBA Playoffs Day 29 Open Thread (East Game 1)

Tonight's game....

Game 1: Orlando @ Cleveland 8:30 (TNT - Marv Albert and Doug Collins, SR: Craig Sager)

Enjoy the game and leave comments!