bukie

I can see the headlines now..."World Peace suspended six weeks for altercation with Outlaw."

I want no part of Marshon Brooks, thanks.

I really hope the draft turns into teams dumping the terrible contracts they signed last offseason. Last off-season was probably my favorite non-Celtics based event of the NBA season, tonight could be like a mini-version of that. I would figure that Atlanta has to do something. They can't win with that roster, and they can't build with Horford, Smith and Johnson's contracts.

I will always remain amazed that he somehow got that 1998 team into the playoffs. That team had Sosa, Wood and nobody else. What the Nationals are doing lately is pretty impressive, too.

I also really like Leuer as an offensive big man prospect, as he was way more valuable last year than most people perceived.

Is E'Twaun Moore on draft lists anywhere? Maybe I'm just romanticizing his college days, but he seems like exactly the type of player the Bulls could use in the back court.

Isner downs Mahut in straight sets to cut about 9 hours out of his first round for this year.

Jack Warner resigns from FIFA, which apparently automatically makes him innocent of ethics violations, so FIFA has no need to investigate further.

Wimbledon starts today. Remember last year's Isner-Mahut marathon? Well, turns out they were drawn against each other again in the first round.

Here's what I'd be in favor of: 1. Even out the leagues - Whether it's adding two teams to go 16 each or moving an NL team to the AL to go 15 each. The only caveat for an odd number of teams in a league would be the need to have interleague games going on at all times. It doesn't bother the NFL/NHL/NBA to do it, it shouldn't bother MLB to do it. In order for there to be enough interleague games to cover the whole season, each team would have to play at least 11 interleague games (162 games for 30 teams, 2 teams per game). 2. Eliminate divisions - With the advent of the wild card, divisions mean less already than they did in the past. Even before the wild card, there were often complaints about one division being too strong, or too weak. A 15-team league could easily enough be tracked for a season. 3. Expand the playoffs slightly - Top 6 teams in each league make the playoffs. Top 2 teams get a "bye" as the other teams go head to head for one game at the home field of the higher seed (3 vs 6, 4 vs 5). The advantage this offers the top 2 teams would be to throw off the other teams' rotations while at the same time letting the top teams rest up a couple extra days and set up their pitching rotations. Also, none of this All-Star game decides home field advantage crap. Just let the team with the best record get the home field advantage, like in every other sport. 4. Reduce the schedule to 144 games - Start a couple weeks later, end a couple weeks earlier, the World Series can be done in October. Play 9 games (6H/3A, 5H/4A, 4H/5A, 3H/6A) against each team in your league, and 6 games (3H/3A) against 3 teams in the opposite league. One of the opposites can be the team you finished the same place as in the other league, while the other two can be formulaic in the same vein (i.e. top 3 teams all play each other, then next 3, then next 3, etc).

He's now tied for the team lead in wins. I think that's more a bad sign for the team than a good one for him, though.

The only thing that really annoys me is the recurring pattern of rehashing the same 5-6 discussions over and over again with different player names and the same ignorant viewpoints. At some point, it just becomes tiring trying to put forth an objective rebuttal to a misguided viewpoint when you just know the response is going to be "Well I'm just going to go on believing this anyway and ignoring all the points you make, or I'm going to take one semantic issue with your three-paragraph argument and whine about that for 5 pages."

Looks like Costa Rica-Mexico will easily be the best match of the first round. The drop off in quality between the top 3-4 CONCACAF teams and the rest makes me relieved they stuck with the hex qualifying again this year.

You are a such a liar it is ridiculous. Pitchers do not do what Cashner did all the time. Last year he was a reliever. It doesn't matter that he went a little deeper in starts in April and May. He was a reliever for four months pitching nearly every other day for 1 inning at a time. You don't just maintain your starting capacity for workload when you actually perform as a reliever, especially when you had such a limited capacity for workload as a starter in the first place. Wells needed to gradually build up to 200 innings if they wanted to be cautious about future healthy. He went from 120 to 190 and then just had one more 190. Your statement suggests he has a slew of 190 seasons coming in. He did not. He made a huge jump. And now he's paying the price. Your argument is so ludicrous it's insulting. Relievers are converted to starters all the time. Pitchers going from the minors to the majors have a jump in innings all the time. Your argument essentially boils down to this: Every pitcher is an injury risk. The Cubs employ pitchers, therefore they should've expected 2/3 of them to go down in the first month of the season. Serves them right for employing pitchers.

So, looks like the Bulls draft 28 and 30 this year. Any chance somebody like a Jimmer falls to them, or is the draft so weak this year that Jimmer is a justifiable lottery pick?

Charles Barkley: "I want to congratulate OKC and Chicago for having great seasons. The Mavs and Heat have to win to have a great season."

If anything, I feel for the kid right now, as he feels it's all on him. I just hope he can take it in stride and use it as motivation to get better and go farther next year.

Cubs 2-0 now against the NL East. 6-11 against the Central. 11-12 against the NL West (and they had 2 rainouts, and only 11 games remaining against the West overall now)

The Cubs look to maintain their undefeated season against the NL East tonight.

I'd think maybe the closest recent example would be the 2006 Heat, and even then Wade had a past prime Shaq, Mourning and GP who were at least serviceable.

Nowitzki finishes with a true shooting percentage of .939, a new playoff record. Previous record was .825 in 2001 by Vince Carter (he got 50 points on 29 shots with 9 threes).

It has to be at least a little concerning for Dallas that Dirk was darn near perfect, Westbrook was terrible, and the only won by 9 at home.

Dirk has 46 points on 15 shots.

It's even more amusing that both lottery picks that got traded this year were top 3.

Looking at rings as an individual achievement in a team sport is pointless and short-sighted, no matter what the team sport is (even baseball, which is as individual as a team sport can be). Well, I happen to think the same about looking at stats. This is not baseball where its 1 player against the pitcher. It's a team sport. I judge it the contribution the player makes to getting his team to win. I admit the flaws of looking at wins. But looking at the stats isn't perfect either. Look, its one thing if LeBron is playing on a crappy team. He teamed up with 2 all-stars. What's the excuse now? Oh yeah. Spoelstra and the bench. There will always be excuses until he wins, because of his gaudy stats. LeBron supporters will always have an excuse for him because they can't fathom how he's not one of the greatest of all time because the stats say so. But who says the stats are right? Hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion. And this is mine. He might well win multiple championships. I'm not saying he won't. But until then, he's not one of the all-time greats. One player does not have the ability to make a team win. Even three players may not have the ability (though Miami is trying it anyway). Treating rings as some kind of individual measure of winning is the kind of argument that makes people think Robert Horry was a better player than Charles Barkley.