With my apologies...

This is reading week and I've got pressing deadlines both at work and at school, so, unfortunately, my focus is elsewhere.

But here, instead of spending about seven minutes reading my blog, you can watch seven minutes of NBA Slam Dunk contest:

The NBA's Western Conference Cold War continues

It started with the Memphis Grizzlies trade of Pau Gasol to the Lakers for spare parts to create a better low-post scoring threat to balance Kobe Bryant's perimeter and slashing game.

Then, the much discussed trade of the Miami Heat's Shaquille O'Neal to the Phoenix Suns for Shawn Marion.

And now, at long last, the New Jersey Nets have pulled the trigger and sent Jason Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks.

Only the gun misfired.

The Nets and Mavs agreed to exchange Jason Kidd for Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, DeSagana Diop, Devean George and others. The trade was all but done. On Wednesday night the Nets didn't play Kidd against the Toronto Raptors (and paid for it by losing 109-91 ) and the Mavericks didn't play Harris or Stackhouse. Everything was going smoothly.

Except Devean George refused to waive his no trade clause.

And now, while he is being persuaded to agree to spend some time in the Swamp, Jerry Stackhouse might be ruining the deal by implying that he and the Mavericks worked out a deal where he would get waived by the Nets and then return immediately to the Mavericks.

This situation has become a laughable mess.

But that's what happens in Cold Wars, isn't it? As tension builds, as sides begin to arm themselves and increasingly ridiculous and desperate moves are made, things get out of hand.

At this rate, I'd be surprised if there were any superstars left in the Eastern Conference by the end of the season!

Breaking the back of steroids

For those of you who live in a cave, but, oddly, have an internet connection that allows you to view this blog exclusively, earlier this week surefire Hall of Famer Roger Clemens appeared before a Congressional hearing investigating the Mitchell Report and his claims that he did not, in fact, use Human Growth Hormones or any other banned substances.

I think we can now call him simply "Roger Clemens" and drop the "surefire Hall of Famer" bit.

Mr. Clemens, as the Congressmen who were questioning him called him, has made himself look very very bad. So bad that I think he's done playing baseball and has hurt his chances at entering the Hall of Fame.

His former trainer, Brian McNamee, was the main source of the controversial Mitchell Report's list of steroid users. Of those accused in the Report, most admitted that they had, indeed, used steroids, HGH, or other performance enhancing drugs. Although many relied on the "I only tried it once" line of defense, practically everyone acknowledged that yes, they took drugs.

Andy Pettitte was one such player who owned up (manned up?) and admitted to his steroid use. So did Chuck Knoblauch. Both men have much in common. Both were former teammates of Roger Clemens. Both testified against him in sworn affadavits last Wednesday.

As Tom Verducci said shortly after Wednesday's hearing: "Two months later and even after nearly five hours of testimony Wednesday in front of Congress, the issue of whether or not Roger Clemens used steroids is left in a suspended state of dilemma: it's Clemens' word vs. Brian McNamee's word. Still."

I agree, by and large. But there is growing circumstantial evidence building against Clemens. McNamee was right in over fifty other cases. Two of the men who have admitted to steroid use have also backed up McNamee. This isn't hard evidence, but there's no evidence to support Clemens' claim of innocence.

I'll say this. I do think that Major League Baseball and its comissioner Bud Selig have turned a corner: I think they're now ready to really start laying some heavy lumber on the issue of steroids in baseball, and I think that starting with the 2008 season they'll be able to start re-building the public's trust.

The NCAA is dropping the ball

I was watching Pardon the Interruption yesterday afternoon, when Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon read out an email asking what they thought of this play from the UCLA Bruins/Washington Huskies basketball game this past weekend.



For those of you who don't watch that clip (and really, you should), the play that unfolds is this: Tim Morris of the Washington Huskies has to inbound the ball. However, the UCLA Bruins defense is tight enough that he can't find anyone open. His five seconds almost up, Morris pulls a school yard trick and bounces the ball off of UCLA's Alfred Aboya. But instead of a quick bounce off Aboya's feet or knee or something equally inoffensive, Morris throws the ball as hard as he can off Aboya's face.

There was no call made by the referees. To Aboya's credit, he did not retaliate beyond giving Morris a few choice words.

On PTI both Kornheiser and Wilbon agreed that the refs should have given Morris a technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct. I agree with them completely.

However, since the on-court officials made no call, I think it is up to the NCAA disciplinary committee to suspend Tim Morris for at least a game. That kind of behavior cannot be tolerated. Even if the NCAA chooses to let Tim Morris to play, Washington's coach Lorenzo Romar should bench Morris for a game.

In any event, disciplinary action must be taken.

50th Anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster

Browsing the back pages of sports websites is a favourite pastime of mine. That's where you learn the really interesting tidbits that can amaze friends and bore women.

For instance, last night I learned that Manchester City and Manchester United honoured the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster. I had never heard of the Munich air disaster, so I decided to look it up on the internet.

On February 6th 1958, returning from a match against Red Star Belgrade in the tournament play for the European Cup, Manchester United, their families, reporters and other members of their entourage was onboard a British European Airways Airspeed AS-57 Ambassador plane. Due to slush on the runway, the plane couldn't get to proper take-off speed and instead went off the runway. The plane's wing tore through the side of a house, and then the plane smashed into trees as well as a storage hut which was full of gasoline and tires. The hut exploded.

Of the forty passengers and four crew, twenty-three were killed including eight members of ManU, and all twenty-one survivors were injured.

Many of those survivors owe a debt of gratitude to Manchester United's goalkeeper at the time, North Irishman Harry Gregg. Gregg, who had managed to free himself from his chair restraints and slip through a hole torn in the fuselage, launched a one man rescue operation beginning with Dennis Violett and Bobby Charlton. Although he was sure that both were dead, he pulled them out of the wreckage by the waistbands of their trousers and then continued pulling more people from the wreckage. He succeeded in saving the lives of Jackie Blanchflower and club manager Sir Matt Busby as well as Vera Lukic, the pregnant wife of a Yugoslavian diplomat and her daughter Vesna, amongst others.

Although most of the team spent the rest of the season in hospitals or at home convalescing, Busby was able to prevent the club from slipping into relegation, and brought the club back stronger then ever for the 1960s, peaking in 1965 when Manchester United won the Football Association championship, and in 1966 when Bobby Charlton led the English national side to a World Cup championship.

Many were concerned that the 50th anniversary celebration would be marred by the misbehavior of Manchester City fans disrupting the ceremonies, but the ceremony was peacefully, and respectfully completed.

I hate to dwell but...

I know I already wrote on this issue, but SI.com's Jack McCallum wrote a very interesting piece on the Shawn Marion-Shaquille O'Neal trade called The Other Guy. I agree with McCallum's assessment that this trade hurts the Suns already spotty defense, and they're now going to have to trade for a strong perimeter defender.


But what I found to be really interesting was his observations of Marion as a divisive figure in the Suns locker room. In the past, he has spoken of "Marion's paranoia, his preternatural preoccupation with being overlooked, and his frustration at playing third banana to Steve Nash and Amaré Stoudemire."


Usually, I dismiss journalists discussing locker room politics. They only catch a glimpse of what the teams interactions are like, and those interactions are almost always before and after games when emotions are running high.



But in this case, McCallum has better insight then the average fan or journalist, because for all intents and purposes he was a Sun. In his 2002 book :07 Seconds Or Less McCallum spent a season with the Suns, travelling with them, training with them. Sometimes he played, sometimes he was a coach, but he spent as much time with the team as any of the players or coaches.


In his article, McCallum talks about how Shaq, the Big Aristotle, will make all the difference off the court. That he'll lighten the mood and help the Suns get over that mental hump that has, apparently, been holding them back. "In the end, though, he was a major part of the Suns' dreary locker room that was getting drearier by the week, despite their outstanding record. Was he the whole problem? No. But if Marion has one weakness off the court, it's that he's not a leader." Shaq, however, is a leader. He's got four rings to prove it too. If McCallum is right, Shaq will fundamentally change the Suns locker room.



Honestly, I hope McCallum is right. I like the head coach of the Suns Mike D'Antoni, I like Steve Kerr, and I like Steve Nash, and I'd like to see them all win an NBA championship. But despite McCallum's reassurances, I still have my doubts.

Steve Kerr... you're killing me

Earlier this week I was toying with the idea of posting about how Steve Kerr, the general manager for the Phoenix Suns was doing such a great job. How I'd always respected his work as a writer at Yahoo! Sports, and was amazed at what a great shooter he was on the court. I wasn't the only one who thought this. A recent Yahoo! Sports article by Johnny Ludden discussed Kerr's progress as a general manager.

But then Bobby Knight, the greatest basketball coach in NCAA history retired, and I thought I should address that issue.

But Steve Kerr wanted my attention. No, not even. He demanded my attention. He grabbed my attention with one of the worst trades I've ever heard of:

Shaquille O'Neal for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.

And I thought Kevin McHale was bad. This is franchise suicide at its finest.

The Suns had created a successful blueprint for a team focusing on the athletic play of power forward/centre Amare Stoudemire and small forward/shooting guard Shawn Marion guided by the sharp passing plays and floor awareness of Steve Nash. They've now traded away their best defensive stopper in Marion, and replaced him with Shaq, who is arguably the slowest man in the NBA today. They won't be fast anymore. They can't be fast anymore.

Although Shaq was once a great player, he is well past his prime. One Western Conference executive has remarked "Shaq retired two years ago."

What's even more mystifying is that, unlike McHale and the Timberwolves, the Suns are not a bad team. In fact, they have the best record in the Western Conference! Although they've often been knocked for not succeeding in the playoffs, most feel that last year they were a shifty suspension of Stoudemire and Raja Bell away from beating the San Antonio Spurs in the Conference finals.

Further, the Suns just finished integrating senior tour player Grant Hill into their rotation. To add another aging star to their squad is ridiculous. What's going to happen to that eight-seconds-or-less mentality that set the NBA on fire?

This isn't just going to put the Suns offensive firepower out, it's going to ruin their salary cap limitations. Shaq had been signed to a huge contract by the Heat's Pat Riley. Riley wanted to buy himself a championship, and he did. But now the Suns have acquired a player who is going to cost them $40 million over the next two years.

I understand what Kerr is trying to do. He's trying to find a viable option at centre to shift Stoudemire to his natural position at power forward. But this is too great a cost for a simple change at position. This could cost the Suns not just their season, but seasons to come. This is a terrible, terrible move by a man who had long been praised for his basketball sense.

Plaxico Burress - the self-fulfilling prophecy

Before I went out to a Super Bowl party, my co-worker Grant asked me who I thought was going to win the Super Bowl. I replied "The only way the Patriots won't win is if they cancel the game." As everyone knows, I was wrong. The Giants won 17-14 after a spectacular drive engineered by Eli Manning and his wideouts Plaxico Burress and David Tyree. This is why I am not a prognosticator.

Burress should be though. The Giants' receiver had predicted a close, low-scoring victory for his team, and he was right. I have to say, I'm impressed with Burress. It's always playing with fire making a bold prediction like that. Yes, it's important to have confidence in yourself and your team, but to publicly announce that you are going to beat the best team in modern NFL history... well, that's a different matter entirely. That is bulletin board fodder for your opponents.

However, instead of a rout, Burress' prediction held true and sports fans around the globe were treated to one of the most exciting ten minutes of football they'll ever see. It really started with Eli Manning's miraculous escape from the clutches of Patriots defenders like Adalius Thomas and air it out 32 yards to Tyree who made a circus catch off of his helmet.



The Giants then continued down the field, finishing with the game winning touchdown from Manning to a wide-open Burress. Burress was instrumental in making his prediction a reality. Really, it's pretty ironic. The Patriots were reviled because of their perceived smugness and cockiness, and yet Burress is loved because he was able to call the outcome of the game.

I guess it comes down to what Julius Caesar said: It's only hubris if you fail.