It's a Nice Day … for Me to Link On

So here's a funny story. My roommate is in the Big Brother/Little Brother program here in Philadelphia, and his little brother is a pretty cool dude.



Yesterday, my roommate spent some quality time with his little brother and then brought him over to our house to watch a little of game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. When the broadcast showed a long shot of the PIttsburgh fans gathered outside the arena watching the game on the big screen, my roommate said, "I hope you all die." Needless to say, he doesn't like Pittsburgh.

Well, that prompted his little brother to say, "Why do you want them to all die? That's not very nice." My roommate was a little embarrassed, backtracked a bit, telling his little brother he didn't actually want the people to die, and I just sat back and laughed. Moral of the story is, watch what you say around you little brother, at least when the little brother isn't actually related to you.

Links …

-I absolutely love, love the tandem of Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson in the broadcast booth. They're both informative, funny and self-depricating, and they clearly have great chemistry. Perhaps that's why I've overlooked it, but FreeDarko contributer Joey is absolutely right, Mike Breen does broadcast NBA games in a very joyless, robotic manner.



Van Gundy and Jackson are fantastic though.

-Meech drops a home run ball, is still a better fielder than Adam Dunn.

-Eight years ago today, Dikembe Mutombo uttered those infamous words, "Who wants to come to L.A. with me?" after the Sixers beat the Bucks in game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals to advance to the NBA Finals.



-In a battle between cricket ball and bird, cricket ball wins:



-Yeah, fuck umbrellas:

I also enjoyed trying to walk on New York City sidewalks on rainy days, when very short, very old people with umbrellas happy tried to gouge my fucking eyes out as they walked in the middle of the fucking sidewalk. “Hey, it’s raining! Let’s abandon any sense of decorum when it comes to other people on the sidewalk! Let me bump into the first person I see, so that he gets absolutely fucking doused.” GOD FUCKING DAMMIT.

…

I hate the song “Umbrella.” Ay. Ay. Ay. Ay. Ay. AY, GO FUCK YOURSELF, HONEY.

-You know how much Pitt sucks? Even players who grew up Pitt fans won't go there:

Penn State landed a major commitment tonight from Miles Dieffenbach of Pittsburgh, PA. The 6-4 277 lb prospect gave his verbal commitment to Penn State while on a visit with his family.

What could be better than getting a verbal from a four-star center prospect to add to this already stellar class? Stealing that recruit from Pitt.

-Mark Texeira and former Phillie Vicente Padilla don't like each other much.



-Shoals is concerned about the Sixers. Me too.

-Now that is pretty funny.

-Joe Dumars is infinitely more classy than Isaiah, his other former Detroit teammates and LeBron:

“M.J. had stopped, shook my hand and hugged me three straight years that we had beaten them in the playoffs. There was no way I was walking off the court without shaking the Bulls’ hands.”

-Dan Steinberg owns Tony Kornheiser for calling Gilbert Arenas a coach- and team-killer.

And in case you haven't heard by now, there is chatter all over the place about Jameer Nelson potentially playing tomorrow night as the Magic take on the Lakers in game 1 of the NBA finals.



That is very much in question, but it would be sweet, no matter how effect or how much he could actually play, to see Jameer there. He was an integral part of the Magic's early success, and he's clearly established himself as the leader of the Orlando locker room, much like he was during his days at St. Joe's and Chester High School.

Clearly, especially for Philadelphians, Jameer provides more than enough reason to root for the Magic, whether he suits up or not, and going against the Lower Merion grad on the Lakers who turned his back on the city by proclaiming he wanted to tear our hearts out certainly makes pulling for Orlando that much easier.

Here's hoping Jameer can play, and that he does nothing to jeopardize is very bright future in the NBA.