WBRS Sports Blog

In March of 2004, the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Milton Bradley from the Cleveland Indians for 21 year old Franklin Guttierez, the 31st best prospect in the game according to Baseball America, and 23 year old power right-handed pitcher Andrew Brown.

After 2 seasons, the Dodgers were tired of his shenanigans and packaged him with back-up infielder Antonio Perez for a middling Oakland OF prospect, Andre Ethier.

Now in 2007, Oakland has also gotten fed up with his attitude and sent him to San Diego for a 26-year old right handed minor league relief pitcher named...Andrew Brown, the same Brown he was traded for slightly over 3 years ago.

Seriously, this is becoming quite absurd. After all the abysmal decisions Danny Ainge has already made in his now notorious tenure as GM of the Celtics, his actions from last evening baffle me even more than his questionable actions from the past.

Boston sends Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, and the #5 pick to Seattle. Boston receives Ray Allen and the #35 pick from Seattle.

The biggest problem I have with Ainge and the Celtics is their failure to commit to a team philosophy. Do you want to win now or rebuild? You can't have it both ways, Daniel. It seemed like Ainge had answered the latter to that question beginning in 2004 by drafting Al Jefferson followed a year later by selecting high schooler Gerald Green. This was again emphasized just a year ago when they thought they had traded for a franchise PG in Sebastian Telfair (sure that ended up being an awful move but at least Ainge was committed to the re-building concept, rather than trading the pick for a veteran). A seemingly solid core of Jefferson, Green and Telfair was established in Boston. Ainge was dead wrong about Telfair, as Starbury's cousin wasn't what Boston thought he could be and that core quickly turned into two cornerstones in Jefferson and Green...Still, promising cornerstones nonetheless. This past season rumors of Pau Gasol to Boston persisted throught the year yet Ainge resisted trading either Green or Jefferson, manifesting that he was indeed serious about rebuilding the Boston Celtics.

Then last night happened. The Boston Celtics were cruising along the road when Ainge suddenly pulled a u-turn so abruptly that the car flipped over, crashing on its side. With that 5th pick Ainge could have bolstered the young Celtic nucleus with the likes of Jeff Green, Yi Jianlin, Corey Brewer or Brandon Wright. This would have been consistent with the rebuilding plan Ainge implemented in 2004. This would have brought the Celtics one considerable step closer to being a "young and talented team heading in the right direction".

But alas, Ainge traded the pick for Ray Allen, a 31-year old veteran, and in the process mortgaged the rebuilding of a team that was one or two quality draft picks away from legitimately being a mere few years away from being a good team. Yet, did Ainge even abandon the revamping of the Celtics for a win-now mentality? Unfortunately no. This entire ordeal is best manifested by Mike Tirico's post-draft interview with Doc Rivers, in which Tirico candidly asked if Allen and Pierce were enough to get the Celts into the Eastern Conference playoffs. Sadly enough I don't think even with the addition of Allen is Boston a guaranteed playoff team, even in the Easy East. If this really is the case, why settle for mediocrity? If Ainge really wants to try to win now, why wouldn't he have flipped Green or Jefferson for a veteran such as Gasol or O'Neal? At least that way Boston would have an increased chance of competing now. Why hinder the rebuilding of your team just so you can elevate your team from bad to average?

Danny Ainge needs to decide what he wants to do with this team and do it. Rebuild or win now, but stop flip-floping between the two.

A collection of mock drafts...enjoy!

NBADraft.net
Draft Express
CNNSI
ESPN
CBS Sportsline
Inside Hoops
Fox Sports

Kevin Garnett almost became a Laker but it looks like that isn't going to be the case, unless the Lakers can figure out another way to get it done. According to Chad Ford, the now fallen apart deal would have gone like this: Garnett to the Lakers, Bynum and Odom to Indiana, Jermaine O'Neal to Boston and Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair #5 pick, & #19 pick to Minnesota.

Talk about an almost blockbuster deal. Now the Lakers are trying to get the deal done just with Minnesota, but it seems a third team will be needed because while the T-Wolves might be interested in Bynum, more will be needed to move KG.

Imagine a Lakers team with Garnett and Kobe though. Suddenly the Lakers would become contenders again and surely the addition of Kevin Garnett would be enough to make Kobe happy. But I don't get this whole ordeal to begin with. If Kobe really wants to play for a winner, which is why he is asking to be traded, why did he drive Shaq out of LA to begin with?

With the exception of the rare occurrence when a punter actually has to make a tackle, the position itself is without a doubt one of the wussiest in all of sports. Because of that fact, when an ex-NFL punter is arrested with dealing with stolen merchandise, we must consider him to be one of the closest things the position has to a badass. There is something inherently funny about the fact that rather than floating into oblivion, like most other retired punters in the world, Rick Tuten fell into the headlines for purchasing stolen televisions.

Overall Tuten had approximately $30,000 worth of stolen merchandise which he planned to resell in Georgia. So how did the cops get him? Seemingly right out of a movie...

Investigators borrowed a 42-inch flat-screen TV and a 32-inch flat-screen TV from a local store and had an informant - who was familiar with the former NFL player - to telephone Tuten on his cell phone Thursday to see if he was interested in buying them. Sheriff's officials said Tuten was interested, even after being told the TVs were stolen from a Wal-Mart.

The female informant rode with an undercover officer in his truck on Thursday with the televisions - still in the boxes - to Tuten's house at 4801 S.E. 44th Ave. Road.
The informant allegedly unloaded the TVs into Tuten's Chevrolet Suburban and Tuten paid her $600. The actual value for the televisions was estimated at $1,500.

After that it was all over. The most amusing part of this story is that Tuten admitted to stealing ATVs from a man's barn. Maybe that is a little pathetic, but it is also a little badass, for a former punter.

Gary Dolphin, the voice of Iowa Hawkeye football and men's basketball, had a tough decision to make. On Saturday former Iowa football player Brian Ferentz is getting married. On Saturday former Iowa basketball player Adam Haluska is also getting married. Both players asked Dolphin to announce their wedding parties in his best play-by-play voice. It was decision time.

In the end Haluska decided that Dolphin could just make a video tape of himself doing the introductions with the Iowa fight song playing in the background. As a result, at Ferentz's wedding on Saturday he will once again be introduced as if he's running out onto the Kinnick Stadium Field.

Since Jews in sports seem to be a popular topic in the blogosphere this week, I figured I would put one more story out there. This year's Anchorage regional cross country meet is currently schedule to take place on Yom Kippur. It's the third straight year the meet has been on a major Jewish holiday and people are not happy about it. A debate is currently going on about whether or not the meet should be moved.

On one side is the school superintendent, who says she would have stopped the meet from being scheduled on Yom Kippur---if she'd known about it. In the past she advised that events not be held on important Christian, Jewish, Russian Orthodox, Muslim and other faiths' holidays, and she wants the cross country meet moved.

On the other side is Gary Matthews, the Alaska School Activities Association Executive Director. Matthews believes the meet shouldn't be moved for religious holidays because if they move it for one religion they would have to accommodate many other religions as well. He believes a line should be drawn, and it should be drawn to only include days on which school is canceled--such as Christmas. But wait, isn't Christmas a religious holiday?

The decision about the meet will likely come down to whether or not the ASAA votes to lift their longstanding ban on Sunday events. If they do, the meet could be pushed back to Sunday. If they don't, at least a few high school runners will be able to say they have something in common with Sandy Koufax.

A few days after the Finals and a few days before the Draft and NBA talk is still pretty hot.

• Are the Spurs a dynasty? That’s tough to say, but 3 championships in 5 seasons is very impressive. The two years they didn’t win were the result of Derek Fisher’s .4 shot and a hobbled Duncan. Even if you are to say that the team isn’t dominant enough to be considered a dynasty, you have to be impressed with Greg Popovich and the Spurs front office who have found great success in late picks, foreign players and veterans who seemed finish. It also speaks to the greatness of Tim Duncan who is the only player remaining on the Spurs from their first championship in 1999.
• LeBron after the Finals ended: “We have to get better. Me, as an individual, I have to be much better on and off the court. And that will carry our team to higher levels. I think it starts with me first and then it will trickle down to everybody else.” As a Laker fan, I’d have loved to hear that from Kobe.
• On the Kobe front, I really can’t see him going anywhere. I don’t see it possible for the Lakers to get anything close to equal for him. His $20mil/year salary also presents a big stumbling block. I also don’t see them making a big splash in the trade market because the front office is enamored with Andrew Bynum.
• You still want Kobe trade ideas? Fine. Here ya go. Either to the Knicks for Eddie Curry, Jamal Crawford and David Lee or to Atlanta for Joe Johnson and the #11 pick.
• A trade rumor to give you Celts fans a hard-on: Garnett for Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastien Telfair, Theo Ratliff and the #5 pick.
• According to the New York Press, Tony Dutt, Rashard Lewis’ agent, may have failed to file his free agency papers on time, meaning Lewis’ contract would be guaranteed for the next two years. If true, expect Dutt to be crossed off of Lewis’ Christmas Card list.
• Lastly, this may be sacrilegious, but don’t you think Kevin Durant would fit into that young Trail Blazers team better? Jack, Roy, Durant, Randolph, Aldridge is a pretty nice 5. If Portland goes ahead and picks Oden, they’ll still have a hole at small forward.

Labels: Celtic fans disconnect with reality, Kobe, LeBron, NBA

The author of The People's Sports Blog, Brian Raab is at it again. He's updated his NBA Mock Draft, and since he is a member of the WBRS Sports crew, you should take him seriously.

Here is a LINK to his post. Tell your friends.

Rick Ankiel continues to get closer and closer to that day when his phone will ring with a call from the big leagues. On Saturday night Ankiel clubbed three home runs for AAA Memphis, tying him for second in the minor leagues with 19. Ankiel would be wise to work on his .309 OBP, but he will be wearing Cardinals red sooner rather than later.

On a completely unrelated note, I recommend checking out this little Jose Mesa tidbit from the Salt Lake Tribune. They've done some research, and it appears that Mesa either lied about his age, or he was the most virile 8 year-old boy in the history of mankind.

Everyone's favorite dreamy blogger Mini-me has inexplicably made it to the 3rd round of the "Hot Blogger Bracket." He's going up against one of the kings of the sports blog world Dan Shanoff. Perhaps in age and wisdom, Shanoff has him beat, but not in pure sexiness.

Vote for Mini-me here


NBA talk coming tomorrow...

Of all the formidable holes at this week’s U.S. Open, the most dangerous may be the 9^th hole. That’s because the 9^th green is so big that half of it is actually the practice green. A blue line and some stakes are all that separates the practice section from the green in play.

Here is the dangerous part. It’s illegal for a player to practice on the course he is playing. That means if a player on the practice green has the ball go over the blue line, he must pick it up with his hand. If the player knocks it back over the line with his putter it can be considered practicing and the player could be disqualified.

In Economics there is something called the "Specificity Rule" which basically says that when you have a problem the best solution is the one that deals most directly with the problem. No sport in the entire world disobeys this rule more than professional golf. Disqualifying somebody for hitting their ball back onto the practice green has nothing to do with the problem of people practicing on the course, and it would be insane if a player actually got disqualified for it. The only benefit to this rule is that if the LPGA ever has an event at Oakmont, Michelle Wie will have another way to get out of the tournament before she shoots an 88.

Jeff Adams is one of Canada’s most storied wheelchair athletes. He’s won six world titles and competed in four Paralympics. Unfortunately for Adams, this week he was suspended two years for testing positive for cocaine.

So how did it happen? Well, according to Adams it wasn’t his fault.

“Adams argued unsuccessfully at a hearing that it was inadvertent doping. He claimed that an unknown woman approached him at a Toronto bar in May of 2006 and forced cocaine in his mouth.

He said that the catheter he used after the incident at the bar was the same one he used to give a urine sample a week later after a race at the Canadian wheelchair marathon championships in Ottawa. Adams said that contaminated catheter caused his positive test for a cocaine metabolite.”

I have to say, between Floyd Landis’ Jack Daniel’s night, Barry Bonds’ flaxseed oil, and Justin Gatlin’s vengeful masseuse, Adams’ “Cocaine Assailant” is the best drug test I’ve ever heard (whether it’s true or not.) If it is true it really makes you wonder what kind of person would forcibly put cocaine into the mouth of of person in a wheelchair. Even Marcus Vick would say that crosses the line.

This has been written by Brian Raab, author of The People's Sports Blog, and WBRS Sports member

Well I feel kind of stupid. After I praised Daniel Gibson, he has an awful game with 1-10 shooting and 2 points. Still, 1-10 was what Larry Hughes put up in the first two games and Tony Parker wasn't as dominant tonight, so Gibson was still an improvement. And I stand by that playing a gimpy Hughes made no sense.

The guy who should feel really stupid after the Spurs edged the Cavaliers 75-72 is Anderson Varejao. That missed layup with 13 seconds left pretty much sealed the deal. LeBron did well to pass it off as he had no place to go, but Varejao had no business putting the ball on the floor. He should have passed it off and gotten the ball back to James instead of attempting a wild, awkward layup that had no real chance.

Thinking about it now, there may not be a more uncoordinated, raw player who puts the ball on the floor as much as Varejao does. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of his. I like his athleticism, his hustle, and of course his Sideshow Bob hair. But he has no business dribbling and driving as much as he does. He is in there to play defense, get offensive rebounds, and set picks. That's it. He scores most of his points off of put-backs and open layups and dunks, mostly off feeds from LeBron. And yet he shot below 50% on the season. Not what you want from that kind of player. In contrast, the Sixers' Samuel Dalembert, who I'd say is equally raw, shot 54% this year.

And yet, I can't entirely blame Varejao. I hate to heap blame onto one guy, but shouldn't Mike Brown be on top of this? Varejao's offensive adventures are nothing new, I saw them in every Cavs game I watched this year. Why doesn't Brown sit Varejao down and tell him he can't do that? What's Portuguese for "No" ? I almost want to give the guy a break because he's a solid player who just made one bad play, but he went to the basket almost instinctively. (Actually, it looked like he wanted to pull up and shoot the jumper for a split-second. Good thing he came to his senses and...oh wait.) If he was kept from making those moves in the regular season, he wouldn't have felt it was acceptable to haplessly drive to the basket tonight, instead of passing it off and getting it back to LeBron.

The one thing I will say for Brown is that he handled the end of the game reasonably well. He went for the quick two points with ten seconds left, instead of jacking a three. While I didn't like the last shot of the game, that looked like it was more LeBron's doing than it was Brown's play-calling. Of course, with five seconds left, it wouldn't have killed the Cavs to run some sort of play instead of inbounding to LeBron and having immediately launch a 26-footer. Maybe there wasn't much of a choice with the Spurs prepared to foul, but they could have worked a little harder to get him a clean look, or at least a closer look.

Of course, the real reason Cleveland lost is the poor outside shooting. LeBron had a solid game with 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists, but his teammates went 3-14 from downtown. And a lot of these were open looks. He should have had at least 10 assists, if only he had competent teammates. Maybe that will change next year with improvement from Gibson and Pavlovic and the healthy return of Hughes, plus a free agent signing and maybe a draft pick (which they would have to trade for, they've got no picks this year otherwise). I would say that the Cavs will likely make a trade, but I'm not sure who they could give up and expect to get anything of value in return. Maybe Drew Gooden or Varejao. As good as LeBron is, Danny Ferry is going to have his work cut out for him if he wants the Cavs to make a return trip to the Finals next year.

All that said, give it up for the Spurs. They may not be flashy, but they know how to win and I think the dynasty talk is somewhat legitimate. I'll get into that in a later column, after the Spurs finish the job.

-Brian Raab

Vote for MINI ME in the Blogger Competition!

This has been written by Brian Raab, author of The People's Sports Blog, and WBRS Sports member
To get right to the point, I think they can. As bad as they've been, Cleveland is going to have an excellent home court advantage. It may not be quite as good as the Golden State crowd in the first round, but I'm expecting something special from the title-depraved fans.

Another plus is that Daniel Gibson might actually get the start tonight. GASP! Starting your second-best player?! What a concept! Before I go overboard with sarcastic praise, I should point out that the main reason this might (and don't forget, it's still a "might" at this point) happen is because Larry Hughes may not be able to overcome his foot injury. I have to give credit to Hughes, who has been giving his all despite the injury, even if he hasn't been very effective. Good for him. Unfortunately it hasn't been so good for the Cavs, who must win tonight if they want to have a legitimate shot in the series.

Though you wouldn't believe that from talking to Mike Brown who said, "The team has a pretty good rhythm when [Hughes] starts." Really? They haven't had any rhythm the last two games, especially in the opening halves, and Tony Parker is starting to get praised as the Finals MVP (which he doesn't deserve, as good as he's been. Duncan is far and away more valuable, sorry Parker fans.). Hughes is a major liability defensively right now and he's never been a reliable enough shooter to make up for it on the other end, especially when he can't get to the rim effectively.

If Brown comes to his senses and plays Gibson for the majority of the game, the Cavs might just have a shot...at this one game. The Spurs will take the series.

--Written by Brian Raab--
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This has been written by Brian Raab, author of The People's Sports Blog, and WBRS Sports member
Listening to ESPN Radio this morning, the Sopranos series finale got a lot more air time than the NBA Finals. Not that I can blame them, I turned off the game in the third quarter. The game effectively ended when Mike Brown made yet another poor decision and benched LeBron early in the first quarter when he picked up his second foul. This would have been an acceptable move had it been Sasha Pavlovic or Drew Gooden in foul trouble, or maybe if this was the regular season, but in the NBA Finals? The Spurs can get away with sitting Tim Duncan or Manu Ginobili because they have talent and depth, but LeBron is Cleveland's only legitimate scorer and playmaker. They can't win without him on the floor and it showed as they went into halftime down 25.

After seeing so many Cavaliers games, I have gained more respect for LeBron simply because it's evident that Mike Brown is a terrible game coach. He clearly knows how to teach the game and motivate his players, evidenced by the stalwart Cleveland defense and the rally in the Detroit series, but his in-game decision-making is extremely poor. The only good play I've seen him draw up was the one from the end of Game 1 of the Detroit series, when Donyell Marshall missed a wide-open three. That play was highly criticized, but it was well-drawn up. In Game 2 of that series, he must have instructed LeBron to run down the clock despite the fact that the Cavs trailed by a point and a quick two would have made more sense, especially with no timeouts left. The decision to pull LeBron last night was yet another reminder of his incompetence. I'm with Bill Simmons in suggesting he needs an offensive coordinator.


Meanwhile, Tony Parker is going to outscore LeBron in this series. The Cavs simply cannot keep up and they lack a shot-blocker to deter him when he inevitably gets to the paint. (It should be noted that Parker would not be nearly so effective without Tim Duncan. Duncan draws the attention of post defenders and keeps them from roaming and attempting to block shots, so let's not go too crazy on the "Tony Parker is a budding superstar" talk.) Cleveland has some serious work to do in the off-season. LeBron badly needs help to beat a team like the Spurs and the Eastern Conference might not be so weak next year. He'll certainly have a harder road to the Finals, where Detroit was the only decent team he played. LeBron may improve somewhat and Gibson could get better, but that's about it.

Let's hope the Cavs pick it up at home and make it interesting. It's getting depressing.

--Written by Brian Raab---
Vote for MINI ME in the Blogger Competition!

The fantastic ladies over at Ladies... have put together a little blogger bracket. Our beloved Mini-me is the 17-seed in the "Mid-Atlantic" Backet. You should vote for him because if he wins, he will buy everyone who votes for him a donut. And he's sooooo dreamy. I remember the first time I saw him, I almost swooned and then he held me in his strong arms and caressed me and everything was all right with the world and then he made sweet sweet love to me and it was like 4,000 butterflies came together to sing Handel's Messiah. It was that beautiful.

Vote for him here

Today, after 42 long years, baseball draft junkies will finally get a chance to watch it on TV. Vanderbilt lefty David Price is expected to go #1, but after that even the experts are unsure what will happen. If you've got four hours to kill, I'll be live blogging the thing over at ShakedownSports. So stop on by and find out who will have 30% of helping your major league team 5 years from now.

Dear robbers of Sherry Hill's house,


It takes a certain type of person to take advantage of a mother is burying her son. Your own mother's must be so very proud. I hope a pack of wolves rips off your testicles.

Sincerely,

mc

This has been written by Brian Raab, author of The People's Sports Blog, and WBRS Sports member
I'm going to be a little unorthodox and start my preview with my series prediction. I'm taking the Spurs in 6. Now that I've told you who will win, I'll defend it. Just figured I'd save you the suspense. You're welcome.

The Cavaliers have a couple things going for them in this series, so I'll get those out of the way so I can explain why the Spurs will beat them:

1) San Antonio has no one defender who can stop LeBron James. Bruce Bowen is just too small. To be fair, I'm not sure there is anyone who can stop King James one-on-one right now.

2) Cleveland went 2-0 against the Spurs in the regular season and between Mike Brown and Danny Ferry, no front office is more familiar with San Antonio.

3) In Cleveland's regular season wins vs San Antonio, Sasha Pavlovic and Daniel Gibson had yet to crack the Cavs rotation. Both have been key for Cleveland in the playoffs and San Antonio has yet to get a good look at them.

4) LeBron showed against Detroit that he can lead his team to a win whether the defense plays him one-on-one or sends the whole team at him.

That looks like a good set of advantages for Cleveland. LeBron will either score on Bowen or pass out of the double team and let his teammates beat the Spurs, the coaching staff is familiar with the Spurs, and the Cavs have two new weapons that the Spurs have not seen...Not so fast. The Spurs are not the Pistons. They are incredibly disciplined and well-coached with Gregg Popovich at the helm. The approach the Spurs will probably take will be to take the rest of the Cavs out of the offense. Let LeBron have his 35. If they play everyone one-on-one, who else is going to score? I'll run down the Cavs other offensive options.

Daniel Gibson: He got everyone's attention after his 31 point Game 6, but most of those points came off open three-pointers. If any Cavs role player can score by creating his own shot, it's him, but he doesn't have the post-up game to take advantage of Tony Parker.

Drew Gooden: It's doubtful he can do much against Tim Duncan, especially considering how much energy he'll have to expend defending Duncan on the other end.
Larry Hughes: Since his injury he has not been explosive off the dribble, which is bad news for Cleveland because he scored 18 points in each of the regular season meetings.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas: He'll be a liability on defense, especially if the Spurs go small. Chris Webber ran rings around him, so Duncan won't have much trouble. If he draws Robery Horry or Francisco Elson he might be able to be productive on offense, but there's a good chance the Spurs bring in a small lineup and will make it hard for Mike Brown to keep him in the game.

The rest: Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones are useless if they don't get open looks, Varejao will set some good picks for LeBron, but the Spurs will either recover or switch, neutralizing the advantage, and Pavlovic and Eric Snow cannot be counted on for anything more than defense.

If LeBron thought it was tough putting his team on his shoulders and carrying them against Detroit, he has no idea what he's in for. If the Spurs force Cleveland's role players to beat them, he'll need to average something in the realm of 40 points per game. Not to mention the fact that those free throws attempts he got against Detroit will not come so easily, as San Antonio does not send their opponents to the line that often, as Allen Iverson found out in the first round. Plus, in Duncan the Spurs have a legitimate shot-blocker who can give LeBron a little trouble.

The Cavaliers are going to have their work cut out for them on defense as well. Gooden and Varejao might be able to do decent work on Duncan, but Ilgauskas does not stand much of a chance. However the biggest mismatch will be Tony Parker, who scored 20+ points in each of the regular season meetings. Yes, the Cavs shut down Chauncey Billups, but Parker is a completely different type of player. Billups gets his points on three-point shooting and by posting up smaller guards. He was unable to back down the Cavs guards due to the size of Larry Hughes and the strength of Daniel Gibson. Parker is smaller and quicker than the Cavs guards. Hughes doesn't have much chance of staying with him, especially playing hurt.

Even defensive specialist Eric Snow is probably too slow, though he might see significant time on Manu Ginobili. Gibson is Cleveland's only hope of staying with Parker, and that's a lot of pressure to put on a rookie. Even if he does play effective defense on Parker, odds are expending all that energy will hurt his offensive production. Ginobili could be an X-factor, as the Cavs have some decent defenders to throw at him in Hughes, Pavlovic, and Snow, not to mention James, who played great defense on Tayshaun Prince in the last round. Michael Finley could also give the Cavs a little trouble, but more importantly, Ginobili, Finley, Bowen, Brent Barry, and Horry will all stretch the Cleveland defense with their three-point shooting ability.

Another key to the series will be the pace. While Cleveland is content to play a slower halfcourt-oriented game, using their size and offensive rebounding to their advantage, the Spurs can and will play fast-paced small-ball. With a small lineup of shooters, the Spurs can stretch the defense, giving Duncan more room to operate and also push the tempo, outrunning and wearing down the thin Cavaliers bench.

Bottom line: While LeBron James gives Cleveland a legitimate shot to beat the Spurs, San Antonio has too many weapons and is too well-disciplined, not to mention well-rested, to lose to this upstart Cleveland team.

That said, I'm pulling for the Cavs. If they do manage to win, this could be the start of something huge, both for Cleveland and the NBA.

---Ragin Ravi posting for Brian Raab----

Mike Modano is just a regular guy. He works hard to pay the bills, he is loyal to his employer, and he has a wife who won't keep her mouth shut.

Modano recently met with team officials to discuss the critical remarks his wife Willa Ford made about the team in an interview with ESPN.com. During the interview Ford blasted the team on issues such as the tension in the coaching staff, Modano's lack of quality linemates, and the team's decision to strip Modano of his captaincy. Modano discussed the interview with coach Dave Tippett, General Manager Doug Wilson, and numerous teammates, and he says he has learned to speak out more if something is bothering him.

So it appears that for now everything has been worked out, although we'll have to see what happens when Ford criticizes Modano's teammates for calling him a wuss who has his wife fight his battles for him.

Saturday night's Game 3 between Ottawa and Anaheim received the lowest ever rating for a major network in prime time. Not just the lowest for a sporting event, but the lowest for anything ever shown on one of the networks between 8pm-11pm (7-10 for you Central time farmers). To put this into context, NBC's 1.1 rating for the game was lower than the worst XFL showing, a 1.5, which means that even at its least popular, there were still about half a million more people watching the XFL than watching hockey.

Thanks to the magic of Ebay, there's a new way to pay homage to Joe Paterno. A Penn State fan with $100,000 to blow can now recreate Paterno's horrific leg injury by crashing a motorcycle signed by the legendary Penn State coach. It's a one of a kind chopper, and just in case there are any questions about the authenticity of the signature, there's this bizarre video of Paterno signing the bike. It's the perfect "feel better" gift for Lavar Arrington the next time he gets cut.

Over the years Todd Helton has had many honors. He's won silver slugger awards, batting titles, and even the Dick Howser Trophy. This week Helton received another honor--he had a baby named after him.

Mike DeJean has named his new baby boy Ryder Helton Charles DeJean after his good friend and former teammate. Helton says that when DeJean told him of the plan a few months ago, he assumed that DeJean was kidding. Now it's clear that he wasn't.

In other baby news, Orioles pitcher Jamie Walker named his new boy James Leyland. However, Walker says the baby's name has nothing to do with Jim Leyland, his manager last season in Detroit. Walker also appears to have a good sense of humor about his new son. According to Walker the boy "looks like me, unfortunately."