Sportscolumn.com – Page 57 – Sports News and Commentary

Season Of Certain Uncertainty

Post author By TheGuru8700
Post date June 25, 2008
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2008 NBA Playoff Preview

The knockdown, drag out fight that has been the NBA regular season has finally come to a close and all the participants, battered and disheveled, are ready to scrape their way to the summit to claim the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Okay, that sums up the Western conference but what about the East?

(That was too easy…)

But seriously, this NBA season has been one of the best that I been able to watch. And because of my love for football, I usually dismiss the round ball action until after New Year’s, but this season slapped you in the face all year long.

Mega-blockbuster, franchise changing trades, unrealistic turnarounds, the tightest MVP race in history, and some of the coolest-turned-annoying promotional commercials I’ve ever seen (I hear that “Where amazing happens” piano music in my sleep).

While no one in their most insane and eccentric state of mind could have predicted Boston going all “We’re the real Celtics again” on the league, Mitch Kupchak hi-jacking Pau from the Grizz, CP3 looking like the Big O reincarnate, Shaq turning Phoenix, Arizona into the latest site for his 24-hour fitness club chain, or Kobe playing nice; the upcoming playoffs will be even more unpredictable.

So with all of the questions swirling around this weekend’s playoff kickoff, I picked out 15 of the most pressing ones and answered them.

Tags NBA, nba playoffs

Chicago Cubs

Cubs win 4 straight- still inconsistent

Post author By AdamStan
Post date June 25, 2008
No Comments on Cubs win 4 straight- still inconsistent

Seven games into the new season, the Chicago Cubs are showing signs of brilliance. They’ve won four straight games through Wednesday. However, they’re still inconsistent. Adam Niemi highlights and discusses them, along with the NL Central division.

Tags Chicago Cubs

Golf

Why The PGA Tour Will Suffer In Woods’ Absence

Post author By mfitz
Post date June 25, 2008
1 Comment on Why The PGA Tour Will Suffer In Woods’ Absence

We all know that Tiger Woods’ absence will negatively impact the PGA Tour but few have actually taken a step back to examine exactly why his absence will have such a huge impact on the Tour.

Tags Golf, pga, tiger woods

NBA General

Breaking Down the NBA Draft

Post author By Trevor
Post date June 23, 2008
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by Trevor Freeman

It has been awhile since I have sat down and penned an article about basketball. Too long in fact. However with the NBA Draft upon us, I stayed home all day Sunday to write about one of my favorite events. With my Internet humming and a couple Yuenglings serving as steroids for the side of my brain that needs to be energetic and alive, I got a chance to submit my mock draft.

In my opinion, the NBA Draft is the most underrated sports spectacle of the year. It combines college and pro. Newfound Millionaires getting dappered up and occasionally looking very uncomfortable in a suit (see Adam Morrison). Very, very, tall men hunching down to say hello to David Stern. Every couple years we get the “lone man in the Green Room” spectacle that is always riveting or the second round pick storming out of the crowd to say hello to a startled Assistant Commissioner. All in all it is an experience that is always unforgettable. With that being said and without further ado………David Stern steps to the podium…….

MLB General

Baseball in the Big Crab Apple

Post author By teekay
Post date June 23, 2008
1 Comment on Baseball in the Big Crab Apple

This season has been a trying one thus far for Gotham’s baseball faithful. With the Mets and Yankees both floundering around the .500 mark the idea of a postseason sans New York has become a very real possibility. And the events of this past week, for the teams on both sides of town, have certainly left a sour taste in the mouths of those taking a bite out of Big Apple baseball.

Tags chien-ming wang, MLB, ny mets, ny yankees, willie randolph

General Sports

The Absolute Hard Evidence a Player Uses Steroids

Post author By djcfla1
Post date June 23, 2008
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By David J. Cohen

Since the steroid cloud has polluted athletics fans everywhere have debated whether certain players are steroid users. Did Barry Bonds improve ten hat sizes in four years or did he hit his head really really hard one day? Did Slamming Sammy get his power from giving grace to the lord or by slamming some needles into his body? Is Shawn Merriman now just lights out or is he still juiced up? With many players the glaring signs are there but there is no tangible proof. And unless a player couldn’t cover up, wrote a book, or hired the worst lawyer in America it would always remain a debate. Until now.

Tags barry bonds, football, MLB, performance enhancing drugs, roger clemens, sammy sosa, shawn merriman, steroids

NBA General

The Convoluted Picture that is the 2008 NBA Draft

Post author By djcfla1
Post date June 19, 2008
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By David J. Cohen

The NBA draft is extremely crucial toward building success and ultimately championships. Every team is one great pick away from possible glory. However, this year the draft shook out in an order that hurts many of the teams. If trades don’t happen early and often a lot of square pegs could find themselves in round holes. Here is a mock draft rundown of what the teams should do, and then what I think they will end up doing if they are picking at their respective spots.

Tags 2008 nba draft, basketball, NBA, nba draft

NBA General

No Tats?! Who?!

By: Maurice K Dixon

Chris Paul is rare. Not just because of his amazing ability to change direction in a split second or his position of being one of the best in assists and assists-to-turnovers ratio in the NBA. Dwyane Wade is in the same boat. And not due to his talent of effortlessly splitting two defenders on a pick-and-roll prior to attacking the rim without fear of contact. The physically and athletically gifted Dwight Howard rounds out this trio of established young stars, who are a majority in the league due to their African American heritage (83 percent of NBA players are black).

Yet, these three are minorities when compared to many of their counterparts since neither of them dons any viewable tattoos. Along with a handful of other players, Paul, Wade and Howard would almost be a better fit in the 80’s and 90’s. Their styles of play do not carry a retro tag, but their unmarked skin does in a league where nearly 80 percent of its players display body art, which is totally out of control like gas prices.

Tags hip-hop, iverson, paul, tattoos

Golf

Tiger- and nothing else

Tiger. I have nothing else to say. Nothing.

Monday at Torrey Pines, going head-to-head with the world’s 158th ranked golfer, Tiger Woods officially earned the designation of the greatest golfer of all time.

All Other Sports

Hypocrisy in Bristol

Few things in sports go hand-in-hand as well as ESPN and hypocrisy.

Sure, there are the high-profiled bashings of spring college football two days before ESPN decides to send Gameday to the University of Florida’s spring game. And then there is ESPN’s talk of high journalistic standards, the same standards that lead one of its primary writers to announce that Les Miles had accepted the head coaching position at the University of Michigan just an hour before he publicly announced that he had not taken the job.