Beer League Links

Last night, my beer league softball team won the championship. Having not lost a game in more than a month and going a perfect 5-0 in the playoffs (we played three three-game series, sweeping the whole way through), we needed just one more win to go blemish-free in the postseason. The game was merely a formality in our eyes — we were ending the season last night.

Then we fell behind 5-0 in one inning. Not good. We made some mistakes, weren't hitting and worrying we may have to come back for a deciding game 3. But there would be no game 3. We put up a 9-spot in an inning of our own, and actually wound up 10-running a team that had once upon a time held a 5-0 lead.

Naturally, we all headed to our bar to celebrate. I drank, but didn't get drunk. I stayed out late, but not too late. And yet I still feel like death. I could really use a nap. But at least we won a championship in my first year of bar league softball.



Link time …

-Philadelphia native and Academy New Church (formerly of North Catholic) senior Rakeem Christmas — who looked moody and petulant when Bob Huggins and I watched him play at Villanova — was named to the Elite 24 game.



The elite 24 game originated a few years ago in New York City, taking place in Rucker Park, and that inaugural class was awesome. This year's game will be held in Venice Beach. Let's hope Rakeem has grown up a little bit and showcases his talents.

-Good read on Eagles safety Quintin Demps.



I'm really pulling for Demps. When the Eagles drafted him in the 4th round, I was a big fan of the move and thought Demps was going to become a very good safety in the NFL. He has the size, speed and ability to be a game-changer. But it hasn't happened. He's had some success as a kickoff returner when he's been healthy, but that's about it.

Demps was the object of Philadelphia fans' scorn in the NFC Championship game loss to the Cardinals, getting beat deep badly by Larry Fitzgerald and taking some really poor penalties against Kurt Warner. He certainly didn't do himself any favors, but I think he really got put in a bad spot by Andy Reid and Jim Johnson. Demps had only played sparingly throughout the year as a rookie, yet here he was, thrown into the fire against the Cardinals. And under no circumstance whatsoever should a rookie safety be asked to cover Larry Fitzgerald one on one. He didn't stand a chance.

Of course, last year he was given every opportunity to take over for the departed Brian Dawkins and didn't do it. He fought injuries and complacency, losing out to a horrendous slew of safeties. I still think he can be a good player and will. Glad to hear he's been humbled and is working his ass off to try and push rookie Nate Allen. I'm rooting for the guy.

-Son of a bitch! Last week, I wrote about 6 Penn State players to watch this upcoming season. One of them was West Catholic alum Curtis Drake. Well, we won't be seeing him for 6-8 weeks, because Drake has a broken leg, via BSD. Looks like Justin Brown and Shawney Kersey will get their opportunities for more playing time for sure now.

-Why is Roy Halladay breaking so many faces this season (he leads the NL with 168 strikeouts, trailing only Jered Weaver's 171 in the entire majors)? Because he worked on his changeup in the offseason. Yeah, one of the best pitchers ever wasn't satisfied with just being awesome for 12 years. He wanted to get even better. When a guy that good keeps trying to add pitches and get better, even after more than a decade of dominance, you know why he's special.

-Some SLAM links: T-Mac is a Piston, former Villanova star and Philadelphia 76er Tim Thomas is signing with the Mavs and Michael Jordan will present Scottie Pippen for his induction into the Hall of Fame.







Pippen was the best on-the-ball defender I have ever seen. Well, him and Gary Payton.

-And another one, the NBA rookie outlook for the upcoming season. The guys I'll be particularly following are Even Turner (obviously), Derrick Favors, Quincy Pondexter, Lance Stephenson, Greg Monroe and Jordan Crawford. I envision Monroe as a Sheed-type player.

Speaking of Sheed, good luck on your retirement. I'll be looking for you at North Bowl.

-Free McCants!

-More Scottie Pippen:



-Greg Dobbs hate piece. He deserves it. Big time.

-When Kevin Durant tells you to YouTube Deuce Bello, you don't have to tell me twice, via TrueHoop:







-Ladies and gentlemen, this is how you make a poster:

Nike Global Challenge: Watch Dominique Pointer's thunderous dunk in traffic

-T-Dub:











-The Bastardo is back.

-When you post about Brent Barry, you're damn right I'm gonna link to it:



I think Holly MacKenzie and I would get along quite well.

Tonight, Kendrick vs. the Flotilla.

All I Wanna Do Is Link

So last night, during halftime of the Miami-Georgia Tech game, my roommate starts flipping around the channels on the top TV while the Phils were showing on the bottom television. Suddenly, he stumbled on The World's Dumbest Confrontations on truTV. With a title like that, how could we not watch?

Well, to our amazement, this happened:



Listen, I'm one of the whitest people who ever whited, so I'm not the most well-versed person when it comes to others' cultures, but, uh, can anyone on the planet honestly explain to me what the hell is going on here? Seriously, I'm completely baffled. Sure, it didn't help our understanding last night when we saw it that the sound was off because we had the sound on for the Phillies game, but honestly, sound doesn't help. I don't get it. I'm not sure I want to get it. Some things are simply beyond explanation.

Links …

-Check out the defensive end from Michigan that Penn State has plucked out from under the Wolverines' nose:



HIs name is C.J. Olaniyan, and he'd like very much to play for Larry Johnson Sr.

-Turns out Cornelius Ingram wasn't surprised he needed a second surgery. I hope he doesn't plan on ever going back to that doctor who performed the first one.

-Charlie Manuel says Brett Myers isn't ready to close. I say neither is Ryan Madson. Guess Brad Lidge it is. Ugh.

-Surprise, surprise, the Eagles don't want to eat any money if they don't have to. That's why they won't cut or trade Reggie Brown. Yeah, because an inactive player is more valuable than a special teamer if he saves some cash. What a bunch of scrooges.

-Apparently, Chris Pronger and Matt Carle are playing well together as a shutdown defensive pair. The most exciting part to me is that this means Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn will be reunited. I likes the sound of that.

-Who says preseason hockey is boring?



-Yes, Cole is starting to look like the World Series MVP again.

-More on Jacory Harris:

Ready for wild, uneducated declarations? Miami quarterback Jacory Harris will be the #1 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. He'll be just like JaMarcus Russell, only he'll be good instead of grossly obese.

-Just click here, via TBL. You can thank me later.

-Kobe Bryant's best dunks, because I know how much everyone else here loves Kobe so much.

-SLAM's Fresh 50 2010, starring local product Dion Waiters and Penn State-bound Taran Buie:


Waiters with Nova's Roman Catholic grad Maalik Wayns

17 Dion Waiters 6-3 SG Life Center (NJ) Syracuse Philly product still bullies smaller guards, but has added more of a playmaking mentality.



43 Taran Buie 6-2 SG State College (PA) Penn State Buffalo-area transfer will give his future college supporters a preview of his explosive all-around game.

-Puck Daddy likes JVR:

The Keepers
James van Riemsdyk(notes), Philadelphia Flyers: The Flyers are deeper than Jim Balsillie's pockets, which is the only reason why JVR won't be an impact player this year. However, he has come as advertised and he will be a star forward very soon. He should get into a lot of NHL contests in 2009-10, but the numbers game will hold him to the third line.

-The world needs more Ozzie Guillen:

“This is a tease, man,” Guillen said. “It’s like when you have a girlfriend and you are kissing her all over … and she says no. That’s where we are right now. That’s the way we are. Like I say, it doesn’t matter what Detroit does. It only matters what we do.”

-Brent Barry may retire, seeing as the Rockets are trying to trade him. Please, please don't retire, Brent. I'm not ready for an NBA without you.

-Lou Williams getting some love:

3. Lou Williams, Sixers - As the starting point guard in Philly, it’s time for Sweet Lou to step up. Last year he averaged a respectable 12.8 points, 3.0 assists and 2.0 rebounds in only 23.7 minutes a night. With increased playing time, those numbers should increase as well. If he can become the player we all saw in high school, the League better watch out.

I personally don't see it, but it would be nice if that happened.

-Temple and Drexel are part of ESPN's 24-hour tip-off marathon. Temple takes on Georgetown for an early-season test.

-8 reasons to hate Notre Dame, via Ballhype.

-Dominique Wilkins can still get up:



-That's gonna leave a mark:



Finally, I'd just like to make it known that D' Anton Lynn, the sophomore starting cornerback for Penn State (No. 8), is now my next new favorite Penn Stater.



Of course, Jerome Hayes is and always will be my guy, and Navorro Bowman isn't far behind, but mark my words, you will know D' Anton Lynn before it's all said and done.

My Hat Trick's Better Than Yours

Alexander Ovechkin. Sidney Crosby. The NHL's two biggest stars on the same stage, both scoring goals in the first contest. How would they possibly be able to put forth an encore in game two? Hat tricks for both, perhaps? Nah. Never happen. Except it did in a wild 4-3 win for the Caps to give Washington a 2-0 series lead.



I'm pretty sure Gary Bettman just jizzed in his pants.



That was just ridiculous. Honestly, the NHL couldn't have written a better script for the only hockey game on last night. If you missed it, you missed the best players in the world playing at the top of their games. Crosby strikes first. Then Ovechkin answers. Followed by Crosby again putting PIttsburgh ahead.

With that, you could almost see Ovechkin say to himself, "Fuck this. There's no way in hell Sidney's one-upping me in my own building. No way." And Ovechkin then just completely took the game over, flying all over the ice, getting a hat trick to put away the Pens.

As my roommate so eloquently put it, watching Ovechkin is like watching LeBron. He just does things that make you go, "WOW!" every single game, and each time the puck is on his stick, it's impossible to look away. The guy is just amazing. Of the 33 shots the Caps fired, Ovechkin had 12 of them. Twelve shots in one game. That's twice as many as Evgeni Malkin, the next closest in shots last night.

It was unreal, almost as if Crosby and Ovechkin took it personally that one guy was trying to upstage the other. For any of you out there that like to argue that maybe Crosby isn't even the best player on his own team, let alone the league, take a look at him so far this series. Where Malkin has been invisible, Crosby has gone toe-to-toe with the greatest shooter I've ever seen. Even when it looked as though the Caps had it all locked up with Ovechkin's insane third goal, Crosby wouldn't quit, batting the puck out of midair for his third goal to bring the Pens back within one with 30 seconds left.



These guys are no joke, and yet again, the NHL had another incredible game. Seriously, these playoffs are must-see TV. Lost in the shuffle of the Oveckin-Crosby hat trick fest was the insane play of 21-year-old goaltender Simeon Varlamov. The youngster made 33 saves last night, many in spectacular fashion, like these:



Man, I wish the Flyers could get them one of those. I'm so incredibly happy I watched this game, especially since the Boston-Orlando game wasn't all that close most of the way.

The awesomeness of the night did not end there either. Joe Blanton picked up his first win of the season for the Phils, because, as meech would say, Ryan Howard is a cot damn beast.



In the 5th inning, Howard continued to dominate in his hometown of St. Louis, absolutely crushing a grand slam. His family's reaction was priceless. The Phils scored all six of their runs on home runs, as Jayson Werth had a 2-run bomb in the 4th, giving the Phils the 6-1 win and keeping pace with Florida, still just a half game back from first.

At that point, I was dead tired and ready to go to sleep. There was just one problem, the Lakers-Rockets game was on. How could I resist? Short answer: I couldn't, so I decided to say screw it, and watched.



Before the game started, my roommate asked me if this was even going to be a good series. I told him I don't see why not. Houston is a damn good team that plays tough defense and could give the Lakers, who were called soft in the finals last year, fits. Last night, they did exactly that.

Shane Battier, Ron Artest and Yao Ming all clogged up the lanes and played physical with Kobe, not allowing him to really be himself. Kobe did manage to score 32 points to lead everyone, but it took him 31 shots to get there. And the man had no help at all. Bynum, Gasol and Ariza combined for just 34 points, and Lamar Odom added just 9.

On the flip side, Houston played exactly the way they wanted to, holding the Lakers under 100 in their 100-92 win. Where Kobe got no help from his teammates, the Rockets flourished with their best two players dominating and Aaron Brooks adding that third scoring punch.



Ron Artest, known for his defense and often questionable shot selection, was in the zone, especially early. Ron Ron came out on fire, and for the first time in a long time, he was smart with his shots and finished a very efficient 8-15 from the field, 3-6 from three, for his 21 points, and he added 7 dimes to go along with that.

With Ron playing his best, Yao followed suit. The big man was easily the most dominant player on the floor, completely manhandling Bynum and Gasol inside. His 28 and 10 came in impressive fashion, and he added a steal and two blocks to boot, not to mention going a perfect 10-10 from the line.



The coolest part of the game, for me, was when Yao was injured with about 4 minutes or so left in the game. As he was being walked off and back to the training room, Yao stopped and told the trainers he wanted to get back out there. That showed a lot of guts and toughness that people haven't always associated with Yao.

Make no mistake about it, his presence in those finals minutes was huge. Like I said, he went 10-10 from the line, and his free throws in the closing minutes were crucial to the Rockets holding on. Is an upset possible? Let's hope so. The Rockets do have that lucky charm on their side, a little guy by the name of Brent motherfucking Barry, who's out for revenge.



Be afraid, LA, be very afraid.

I Love H.O.R.S.E.s

I love Butterstuff. Butternuts! Cup!



Some phenomenal news from the NBA, courtesy of Ziller:

After years of begging from fans, and one year in the D-League test-bed, the NBA will host a H.O.R.S.E. competition at this year's All-Star Game. TNT will air the competition during the episode of Inside the NBA immediately preceding the Saturday night fare on Valentine's Day.

No word on who the three contestants will be. If I had my choice, I probably dip into some non-NBA talent and retired players, going the route of Teddy Dupay, Jason Williams and Rex Chapman. Come on, the black guys have the dunk contest. Let's give this one to the white brethren.

Oh, and if I'm going with three NBA players for this, give me Brent Barry, Steve Nash (the soccer moves intrigue me) and Sheed (I know he's black) for the sheer entertainment of him calling for left-handed threes.

Another Reason to Like the Rockets

As if inking Brent Barry, trading for Ron Artest and already having Yao Ming wasn't enough reason to love the Houston Rockets, the signing of Dikembe Mutombo is reason enough to pull for these guys out west.



I have to admit, I was not happy when the Sixers traded Theo Ratliff for Mutombo, but it proved to be the right move. I grew to really like Mutombo for his tremendous defense and rebounding, and he is a great guy. Who can ever forget his dominance in the Milwaukee series in 2001 and George Karl throwing a hissy fit after a reporter called him out for saying Mutombo would be a non-factor?

Who wants to come to LA with me?



"I think I did a great job all game."

The Brent Barry Ticket Experiment

I am the self-proclaimed biggest Brent Barry fan in the world. For some reason, I just love watching that guy play basketball, and I think his career is a lot better than most people realize.



Not only is Brent Barry a talented basketball player who has had a long career in the NBA, but he's an awesome dude. Don't believe me? Check out The Brent Barry Ticket Experiment (via The Big Lead):

Brent Barry is on a mission. He's going to provide two tickets to random fans for every Rockets road game this season. Below, you can find their stories.

When does Houston come to Philadelphia?

Basketball on the Brain

I know the Flyers play the Penguins tonight in Pittsburgh, and I am excited about that, but forgive me for putting that on the backburner to allow my excitement for basketball to take over. You see, tomorrow Villanova, Temple and St. Joe's open up their 2008-2009 season, and Saturday, while out at State College to watch a bunch of chokers play Indiana, I'm going to do everything I can to get in front of a TV in time for the unanimous preseason No. 1 UNC Tarheels (my favorite team along with Temple) as they take on Doug Glanville's alma mater, Penn, at 4. God damn I love college basketball.



Oh yeah, and the NBA is in full swing as well, and last night I had the pleasure of taking in somewhat of a triple-header. Naturally, I began by watching the Sixers take on the Raptors in a rematch of the opener, and the Sixers came out of the locker room like their shoes were on fire. They built a huge lead, doubling up the Raptors 26-13 in the first quarter and getting it as high as 17, and I was excited. Until Chris Bosh completely took over and brought the Raptors all the way back to within a point late in the second quarter.

Here we were again, with the Sixers playing great in one quarter and awful in the next. Except Willie Green hit a three at the buzzer to end the half, giving the Sixers a 6 point lead at halftime. And that proved to be huge.

The Sixers allowed Toronto to hang around for a little while, but the Raptors are a good team so that's understandable. But in the end, the Sixers were too much, as they played tremendous defense, were smart with the ball and most importantly, ran. And finally, Andre Iguodala looked like the Andre of old. Sure, he shot an awful 5 of 13 from the field, but he got out on the brake, dunking the ball, and was everywhere. Shit, he finished a rebound short of a triple double, going for 18 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds. And while his shot was not there, he was getting to line, where he did some damage, going 7 of 8. It was nice to see him back at it.



It was just a night for men named Andre. Finally, Miller looked like the most underrated point guard in the game that he was last season, epitomizing efficiency. He picked his spots effectively, attacking the backup point guards of Toronto with Jose Calderon limited with a hamstring injury to the tune of 18 points on 8 of 14 shooting, really helping the Sixers pull away in the 4th. But just as important, Andre figured out how to effectively integrate Elton Brand into the offense. All night long, Brand was hanging around the 12-18 foot range, and the Sixers were using him in pick and pop situations. Brand responded with his highest scoring output as a Sixer, leading the team with 25 points, finishing second in the game only to Bosh, who is just a fucking beast.

Again, the Sixers bench played a pivotal role in the victory, and again, it wasn't from the guys they brought in who I thought would help. In fact, Kareem Rush and Royal Ivey both got DNP-coach's decision, as did Theo, which should never happen. Theo should get at least 2 minutes a game to either get dunked on or send back a vicious block.



But still, the bench came up huge. Willie Green, who has been ineffective in the Sixers' losses and tremendous in their wins, was tremendous again last night, scoring 17 points on 6 of 10 from the field and 3 of 4 from three. He's been a pleasant surprise and the main reason Ivey and Rush aren't getting much run. And with Samuel Dalembert having one of those "pick up a ton of fouls Sammy games," Marreese Speights was asked to play 20 minutes and the rook responded. Speights was very active all game long and chipped in with 12 points, 7 boards and a block, not to mention hitting both his free throws. He's giving flashbacks to Thaddeus Young last season with his rapid development, and the kid looks like he's going to be a good one.

I have to say, given all the shit Billy King rightfully got, he started to draft well at the end of his tenure, selecting Iguodala, Young and Lou Will, and Eddie Stefanski looks like he's done well with Speights.

It was a nice win for the Sixers that they certainly needed, and it gives hope that they will be able to pull this together as they become more comfortable with one another.

I also got to watch the end of the Portland-Miami game. My impressions: Rudy Fernandez is sick as shit, Wade is reminding everyone that the best player in the world conversation doesn't necessarily begin and end with LeBron and Kobe (maybe it does), the Blazers are the most balanced team in the league and Beasley is not getting enough touches.

Jon Barry, brother of the most underrated, awesome player in the history of the world, Brent Barry, was gushing over Rudy. Now I know why. The dude is for real. He led the Blazers with 25 points on an insanely efficient 7 of 11 shooting, going 8 for 8 at the line and dishing out a sick assist in the second half. He's a damn good player on a team full of solid players. The Blazers won't be fun to play for anyone come playoff time.

The Heat, on the other hand, have Wade and Beasley and that's it. But they don't use Beasley. The man-child was simply a beast last year at K State, yet he's not getting the same touches this year. And why the hell not? Besides Wade (and with Marion out), who the hell do you want shooting the ball? The answer is no one. Beasley should be getting somewhere in the 18 shot range every night.

Meanwhile, Wade is just insane. He has to do everything for this team, and he does. At this rate, he'll be out of gas by Christmas. Miami has to do something to get this man some help. Last night he went for 36, marching to the foul line 15 times, and he had 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 3 blocks. He has less help right now than LeBron has ever had. But shit, it's fun as hell to watch him do his thing. I'd like to be in his 5.

Finally, I took in the Phoenix-Houston game, and much to my surprise, the best player in the first quarter was Shaq, who wound up being the best player for the Suns overall last night. The Big Cactus just loves to play Yao, and he was pretty awesome last night, going for 18 points on 7 of 12 shooting, nabbing 13 rebounds, dishing out 3 assists and blocking 4 shots. But even more impressive, he went 4 of 4 from the foul line. How? I have no idea.

Meanwhile, everyone else on the Suns sucked. Horribly. By the middle of the 3rd quarter, the game was over. McGrady once and for all established his alpha status on the team with Artest around, putting up 27 points and having an all-around strong game. Aaron Brooks continued to be a spark off the bench, and most impressively, Brent Barry had an insane behind-the-back pass to Carl Landry for a layup, which was named the NBA's Assist of the Night.

Brent Barry is the truth. Remember that.

Salim Stoudamire, Quote Machine

Salim Stoudamire has been one of my favorite basketball players ever since I laid eyes on him at Arizona. His sweet stroke and fearless release left me mesmerized. Even if he did completely choke in the 2005 tournament to cost me my pool. Had Arizona defeated Illinois in the semifinals (which the Wildcats should have considering they were up huge) and lost to champion UNC, I would have won the pool. But they didn't. And Salim sucked in that game. Big time.



But I got over the complete egg he laid and kept my love for him. When he was drafted by Atlanta, I was excited to see what he could do in the NBA. However, he received very few minutes on some young Hawks squads. But now, Salim is off to San Antonio, presumably to replace Brent Barry, who is off to the Rockets, and his first "press conference" (it's fake in case you are dense) has me excited for Salim again. From the Blowtorch via Skeets:

"The first thing I want to say is, I'm open. All the time. I'm open right now, in fact. Even though sometimes it might look like I'm guarded, trust me — I'm open. I don't know how it always happens, but for whatever reason, I'm always open. I wake up in the morning — open. I get up in the middle of the night to pee — open. I'm driving down the block with my Low End Theory tape in — open. So basically, just get me the rock."

So yeah, get Salim the rock. He's open. Unless he's playing Illinois in the NCAA tournament. I'm not bitter. I swear.

Brent Barry, You're My Hero

Thanks to Mr. Skeets, I've been informed my new favorite Western Conference team is the Houston Rockets. Following in the immortal footsteps of his brother Jon, Brent Barry is now a teammate of Tracy McGrady. Too bad the Sixers couldn't snag him. He fits the mold of that deadly three-point shooter they so desperately need—and if they get one, they could really make some noise with Brand in the fold.

Anyway, here's some old-school Brent Barry, doing what so many forget he could do.



Brent, of course, is possibly the most underrated player of his generation, and one of my personal favorites. Thanks Brent Barry, for proving that white men really can jump. And shoot, of course.