wolf stansson

WHAT? Now I am about the biggest pro-LeBron, MJ fan boy there is, but this is stupid. In terms of basketball polish and translating talent to effectiveness or as you put it, "individual skill," on the court, Jordan is still ahead of LeBron. The whole point of the LeBron-MJ debate boils down to the fact that LeBron is more physically gifted than Jordan and if he can continue to develop skill, maybe he can compete with Jordan.

If he's back, our center mid depth is crazy deep. Especially going forward with the logical development of Torres, Bradley and Edu. Benny, Sacha and Freddy need to keep stepping their game up. hoeness has to be full of it. is donovan really not able to crack bayern's reserve squad? he's maybe not world class but come on/ He is. I watched every televised game while they had Lando and all but a few of their entire season. As someone who has watched dozens and dozens of Landon Donovan games I can say they were using him wrong. If what Gerland meant was he'd never play him in the reserve team as an out and out forward, then I actually agree with him, and that is how Klinsmann was playing him. Landon's problem is that he has no natural position. He's a tweener. It works out fine when he's the most talented guy on the squad because the manager can build around him and let him do what he wants. On a team where he's is just an equal cog in the wheel, he's lost. I think in the long run, developing in the US has hurt him greatly. If he came up in another country, they would have found a role for him early on. Either as a winger or a goal-poaching creative mid. In the US, he always just got stuck where they needed and let him run buck wild doing whatever he wanted simply because he was the most talented player on the pitch. We all know you have to be patient with Landon. He isn't the kind of guy who you can bring off the bench, plug him in where you need him and expect him to be a difference maker. That's the role he needed to play to make it work at Bayern, if he wasn't doomed to failure from the beginning which I believe he was. It was just a bad fit in a bad situation. Klinsmann was bad at Bayern. When his style worked, it was brilliant. When it didn't, he couldn't adjust. The great managers adjust. When you can't find a spot for Lukas Podolski, you're doing something wrong. Landon could have worked at Bayern, but not in the role they were asking and certainly not playing like he does in MLS or for the Nats. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on what you think of Donovan's heart) I don't think he can adapt at this point and there is no one outside of the US that is going to want to build it's team around a three-time European flame out. What he lacks is the same thing that Clint Dempsey has in spades. Heart. The heart to, when you aren't getting used how you think you should, grind through it. Clint was MLS Maradona. He was brilliant and easily the most entertaining player in the league. Obviously, the stuff he pulled in MLS wasn't going to fly on a lower table Premiership side that needed to avoid relegation at all costs. Instead of not adapting, he changed. Now he's a great two-way player and a vital part of that squad. Clint doesn't have Landon's tools. He never has, never will, but because of what he does have inside, he has achieved more than Landon. I don't know if that's a case of two different personalities or if it's an indictment on how we develop players in the US. Here's the poster boy for the system who's growth was, I believe, been [expletive] by a system that allowed him to dictate how he wanted to play simply because of his athleticism vs the poster boy for the outlier ignored by the system who had to develop a fire and work ethic to get where he is today.

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/The_Baseline/entry/view/24550/could_rubio_slip_to_no._3,_create_chaos?

Draw, with some hijinks: http://www.noshortcorners.com/2009/05/who-do-you-think-you-are-charlton.html

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/The_Baseline/entry/view/24511/bulls_should_think_twice_about_dealing_thomas Gar is shopping Tyrus.

It's difficult to really pick next season before the summer transfers. As I United fan I'm admittedly biased, but I really do feel like Liverpool had a bunch of things go their way this year and they still couldn't do it. Next season I don't see them taking 14 points off of the other top 3 teams, for instance. As for United, I'm not so sure that Ronaldo is leaving this summer, or even until Sir Alex leaves. I'd happily take the rumored huge transfer fees for him but 3 PL titles and 2 CL finals in a row? Ronaldo's selfish but he can certainly see that United are in a better position that Real at the moment. I won't be upset if (when) Tevez leaves. I love his energy but he really slows down the attack and certain things just bother me about him. Benzema would be my dream but I do not see that happening. I don't think he wants to go to England. Anyway, we'll see what the summer brings. How about the relegation battle? I'd like to see Newcastle go down a year just for laughs. A Toon friend of mine thinks it'd be good for them, though he mostly thinks that because it might get rid of Mike Ashley. I think the state of New Castle is a shame. If it gets rid of Ashley, good for them, but that parachute is never one anyone should ever want the team to take. That Championship mire can be very hard to come out of. Even taking a chance of missing out on Premier League money for a couple years is bad news. The Sir Alex-Ronaldo relationship is confusing. They've had some obvious problems, yet it works out somehow. At this point I'm just done questioning anything Ferguson does. Ever. The man is a master. As far as I'm concerned he is in the Wooden, Bowman, Auerbach conversation of "best managers that Wolf is aware of in world sport." Hell, he may even top the list. All I know is what he's done in this modern age and what he's built at United is stunning to behold. If anyone can deal with Ronaldo's petulance, it's him.

After winning all those titles with no scoring in the front court, we Bulls fans have concluded skilled big men are for the birds. This must be true because you never see Bulls fans talking about trading for the Amare Stoudemire's or Chris Bosh's of the world. As for Blair, he rebounds. The Bulls are one of the very worst defensive rebounding teams in the league and rebounding translates better than just about any other skill set from college to the pros. He'll be a solid, unspectacular player for a long time. I don't think anyone is claiming he's a franchise player or is expecting one to be there at #16. I want them to trade the pick for LeBron.

After winning all those titles with no scoring in the front court, we Bulls fans have concluded skilled big men are for the birds.

Cervi finally to Celtic. I bet they got him cheap. Dude has been without a club for a long, long time now.

No way the Thunder would draft Harden.

Sweden is mad at Charlie Davies; 5 match ban ensues. Charlie has scored a goal every weekend for however many weeks in a row, a bunch. He's on a hot streak. Then he elbowed some dude in the face and he's out for 5 games. Hope this doesn't hurt his transfer chances to a bigger league.

I've heard rumors from clubs in England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany. I'm guessing he'll go to England for the money/visibility/chance to redeem himself from the Newcastle loan debacle.

I hear they are going to go after Lucio of Bayern/Brazil fame. He'd be a great fit for them. Big, still pretty mobile with some edge. United are more than likely going to have huge turn over this offseason. Tevez is a lock to move, probably Ronaldo too. Hargreaves will be back and it'll interesting to see who they line up to replace those two guys. Ribery is rumored. Sir Alex has been flirting with Benzema for a few years now. Chelsea are going to be in a weird spot with lots of old guys with injury records. If they spend well, hire a good coach (I think Ancelotti is the rumor now) and get health from the key group of Drogba, Lampard and Essien, they'll be in the mix. Honestly if I had to make a pick for next season I'd go with Liverpool.

I think you need 10 years of MLB service time to get pension. and he's got 9? He's smart to hang around for almost free just to try to get that additional service year and get the sweet pension package.

Well that guy does speak for all of us, so good conclusion.

It wasn't the playoffs, but a few years back, the Blues were a lock for the worst record in the league and at the end of the last game of the season against the Wings, they just started throwing down on everyone. It was classless and pointless, but it happened.

It's so easy to forget how young Freddy is. Geez, kid's not even 20 yet. SBI At this point I'd normally think it'd be counter-productive to have Freddy play in his second u-20 World Cup, but maybe that's what he'd need to get some confidence back. It's not like he's match tired from all the action at Monaco this year and he could use it to reassert his value to Benfica or some other team who might be interested in buying him. Personally I'd love to see him at like a PSV or Ajax. Another team to start fresh who wants him.

Gah. What the hell was that? I thought Ballack was actually going to kill the ref.

Hey Seth, check out your guy. I want to see him do this in a game.

It has to do with your asinine "The Rockets do better against teams with superstars" theory. Ok well, LeBron had an uncommonly bad shooting game in one game against your boys, so that doesn't count either. You should be 0-2 against them this year by that reasoning. You didn't seriously put those 2 sentences back to back did you? Yes. Yes he did. Seriously cbum, you're really, really reaching here. I'm not sure why you want to convince yourself you're being anything other than a homer. Please just save your energy. Also, let me know when that sig is gone so I can unblock photobucket images.

1) Say goodbye to BG. 2) Explore a trade for David Lee. 3) Try to trade Deng (not going to happen). 4) Fire Vinny. 5) Hire a coach with the right priorities (play some defense). 6) Explore a trade option for a 2010 guy like Bosh or Amare. I think 1 will definitely happen. The rest won't.

Oh yes this is.

Then by all means, post some of these stats. Just fyi, if actually do have some stats that back it up, which I doubt, I will just point out the dubious relationship between traditional statistics and the game of basketball and discredit you that way. I don't have specific stats. I have the example of the Portland series and have read numerous quotes from our GM Daryl Morey that they indeed employ this strategy when they play teams with a superstar because statistically it gives you a better chance to win. Morey is a uncommon stat guru so I'll trust what he says. Well you were 0-4 against the Lakers in the regular season and 1-1 vs the Cavs, so forgive me if 1-5 doesn't really make me want to buy in. We'll see.

Then by all means, post some of these stats. Just fyi, if you actually do have some stats that back it up, which I doubt, I will just point out the dubious relationship between traditional statistics and the game of basketball and discredit you that way. Edit - I just reread that post and realized it had a super Mephy, condescending tone for which I apologize. I really am interested in how you think the Rockets are better. I am naturally skeptical because of your bias and what I know about the two teams.

Lol, of course they do. If they didn't they'd have no business being pro athletes, but that doesn't you should believe it too.