NBA Needs To Convince LeBron To Stick To His Promise

While NBA all-star weekend is more thrilling than most other pro league's all-star games, the event that desperately needs an update is the dunk contest.

The dunk is why basketball is light years ahead of baseball in entertainment value, and its stamp on the game was unprecedented.

The dunk contest was once one of the most exciting events in all of sports, as the game's greatest went head to head for the glory of being the game's best. The likes of Michael Jordan, Spud Webb, Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, Jason Richardson and Dominique Wilkins once headlined this event.

Somewhere in between these thrilling contests and today, the superstars of the game lost interest in the event; finding it too big of an injury risk.

Don't get me wrong, watching "Superman" (7-footer Dwight Howard) fly through the sky two years ago and seeing his nemesis "kryptonite" (the 5-9 Nate Robinson) dethrone him last year was pretty cool and certainly creative.

However, both players have admitted they don't have many more dunk ideas left in their tank to keep participating in the event.

After last year's contest, league MVP LeBron James said that he would enter the contest and vowed he would try to get the league's stars to join the event with him.

Now, LeBron is backtracking, saying that it's a 50-50 chance that he'll enter.

"I'm like 50-50 right now," LeBron told reporters Wednesday night. "I don't know if you can get it back to the 80s and like in '98 when Vince (Carter) was in it. It was more about the dunks and less about what was going on around the dunks. We'll see what happens."

The NBA needs to convince LeBron to change his mind, and get the rest of the league's greatest dunkers join the event or be prepared to watch it fall farther and farther from relevancy.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/LeBron-James-backs-off-2010-dunk-contest-guarant;_ylt=AnSdhs.EGGK5BFP.Iac8.iu8vLYF?urn=nba,206559

Homecoming

Growing up in the New Jersey suburbs just about an hour from Philadelphia, Allen Iverson was a figure that was synonymous with the City of Brotherly Love to me.

A.I. would forever be a symbol linked to this great city, just as much as the Liberty Bell or a Philly cheese steak. They went hand-in-hand. He was the gritty, hard-nosed guy that competed like he was a giant buried beneath his small stature.

To this day, I have never seen an athlete with so much heart and determination, as he carried the load of the city on his back each and every second he was on the court.

Maybe he didn't always say or act the way David Stern would've liked, but he was real and never tried to change himself for other people.

When he left, Philly never really seemed the same to me. Iverson left a gaping hole in the city that could never be filled by anyone else, he simply was "The Answer." The Sixers lost any real relevancy when he bolted for Denver, and both parties seemed different.

The marriage between A.I. and Denver could never compare to Philadelphia and as he was shipped from Denver to Detroit to Memphis, it felt as if Iverson was fading into obscurity.

I realized the answer, after all this time, was that A.I. needed Philly just as much as Philly needed him.

Then, there was last week's retirement.

Many doubted this could be the end for a man with so much left to give, but it seemed there was no place left for a fading superstar. He wanted a job that didn't exist.

But it couldn't end like this.

Iverson was too proud of a person, and the competitor in him could never leave the game he put his sweat and tears into remembered as selfish and washed-up. It was like he was being kicked to the curbside, discarded like last week's news.

I always saw A.I. riding out into the sunset on top of the basketball world; with his city on his chest; smiling as he hoisted the championship trophy he always deserved.

A short week went by. Now ESPN was reporting that the Sixers had interest in bringing Iverson back. It almost seemed too good to be true. I tried to not get my hopes up, in case they pulled out last-minute like the Knicks.

Now, it's official.

The chosen son of this great city can fulfill his journey back where he started; where he belongs.

Welcome home, Allen.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Filled-with-tears-Iverson-happy-to-be-back-in-P;_ylt=AjqtfcstwLxBZoC90LfUuG68vLYF?urn=nba,206627

Quote Of The Week: Stan Van Gundy

"Did everybody think they were losing because of coaching? You've got to look at the lineup he had to put on the floor every night. I thought he was doing a remarkable job; they were in a lot of games."-Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy on Lawrence Frank, who the Nets fired this week after a 0-17 start.

Van Gundy is spot on here. The Nets have had trouble even being able to put out their best players on the court with the mass amount of injuries they've sustained so far. At points, 4/5 of the projected starters were injured and the Nets could only dress the NBA-minimum 8 players.

Van Gundy himself added "That's probably the least amount of talent I've seen anybody put on the floor for a long time with everybody hurt."

There are a lot of problems right now in New Jersey, but Franks' firing was too early. If the Nets had continued to struggle later into the season without injuries, it would've been much more appropriate.

Gerhart Poised To Capture Heisman For All Underdogs

Entry 48: College Football

Stanford halfback Toby Gerhart isn't alien to accolades.

A two-sport star for Norco High, Gerhart was all-state and named one of the top 50 high school prospects--- and that was for baseball. His high school football success was even more impressive; Toby is the all-time rushing leader for the state of California with 9,662 yards, earned Prep All-America honors and was the Gatorade High School Player of the Year as a senior.

While Gerhart got interest from a good deal of big-time programs, he ultimately chose Stanford for the opportunity to star on both the gridiron and diamond for the Cardinal.

Toby won the starting job as a freshmen, but only played one game as a sophomore after suffering a season-ending knee injury. Last year, Gerhart fueled Stanford, setting the school rushing record with 1,136 yards, yet the team unfortunately fell one short of the 6 required wins to go to a bowl game.

This year, Gerhart has had a season that is deserving of the Heisman trophy. Though he might not win because he doesn't get the media hype that other players at bigger programs get, his numbers are more deserving.

Gerhart is arguably the most valuable player to his team in comparison to the rest of the Heisman candidates. Sure, Tebow is the character and leader down in the swamp, but he still has a plethora of weapons on offense and All-Americans on defense. Same can be said for Mark Ingram. Without Toby, Stanford wouldn't be much, and certainly would not have manhandled annual Pac-10 heavyweights USC and Oregon.

Toby has risen to the occasion in every big game, and has been a workhorse for the Cardinal, carrying 38 times for 223 yards & three td's against the Ducks and 29 times for 178 & three td's against the Trojans. Not to mention 200 rushing yards against Washington and 205 against Notre Dame in the regular season finale, ending a seven-game losing streak to the Irish .

Blasting through opposing defensive lineman and linebackers, barreling over helpless defensive backs and weaving in and out of holes with pure athleticism, Gerhart has acclimated 1,736 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns for the eight-win Cardinal.

Gerhart joined head coach Jim Harbaugh at midfield after the thrilling win over the Irish, exhausted, but grinning from ear to ear as waves of Stanford faithful rushed the field yelling "Heis-man!" For once, that chant is well-deserved.

The man with all the records might just have to make some room on that mantel.

Tiger Needs To Speak Up, No Matter What The Truth Is

Entry 47: Golf

For the third time since his one-car accident early Friday morning, Tiger Woods has canceled meeting with state troopers.

While Woods and his wife, Elin, have decided to delay speaking with the police, many rumors and allegations have been flying around the web and newspapers; some claiming Woods was having extramarital affairs with a woman from New York; others claiming that the accident was just a cover up for a fight between the two that resulted in Tiger getting hurt.

He issued a statement online today saying that the accident was his fault alone, and that he is "human and not perfect." Tiger also called his wife "courageous" for helping him following the accident, and that she was not to blame despite reports.

However, he failed to address the lingering questions involving why Woods was out of his house at approximately 2:30 a.m., and why his wife would use a golf club to break the back window of the car.

Tiger's silence is not doing any good, and he would be better off coming out and telling whatever the truth is, even if it involves a fight and a cover up or an affair, rather than let people sit around and make assumptions. If the claims out are false he should have definitely made sure to come out and refute them with a statement he wrote himself.

Woods has a lot at stake with the news that comes out of this accident, with millions of dollars in endorsements in jeopardy. When Kobe Bryant was accused of sexual assault, he lost endorsement deals from many of his sponsors, including Sprite.

The fallout from Woods' accident could produce similar results.

It hurts me to think a class-act guy like Woods could cheat on his wife, whom he has a child with, but no matter what the deal is, he needs to come out and let people know what really occurred early that morning.

The "No Fun League" Actually Passes On A Chance To Fine

Entry 46: N.F.L.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell needs to get his priorities straight.

The puppet master behind the "No Fun League" has a happy trigger finger to send out fines that many times are overly excessive and unnecessary, but is lenient or nonexistent when one actually should be issued.

A few weeks ago Bengals' wide receiver Chad Ochocinco was fined $20,000 for a simple sideline joke taken way too seriously. Ochocinco playfully attempted to give a referee a dollar bill to bribe him to make a call. If anything, this deserved a simple reprimand or slap on the wrist, but instead he was fined a severe $20,000.

However, when Tommie Harris of the Bears slugged a defensive player earlier this year, he was given a $7,500 fine.

What kind of priorities does this show? Is a playful bribe really worth almost three times a fine as physically attacking someone?

In another case, Bears' QB Jay Cutler was fined $20,000 for arguing with an official on a non-call. The NFL called Cutler's arguing "abusive behavior."

The current situation involving Broncos' head coach Josh McDaniels puzzles me the most.

Prior to the Broncos-Chargers match up last week, McDaniels approached a group of Chargers linebackers while warming up and taunted them by getting in their faces yelling "we own you!"

The Chargers responded by beating down McDaniels' Broncos 32-3. While some may argue he was fighting for his team, I don't ever see a reason why a coach should ever get in a player's face and taunt them. Leave the trash talking to the players.

Where's Roger Goodell to slap down a fine on this situation?

Steelers' safety Ryan Clark feels that if the league isn't going to reprimand coaches like McDaniels for taunting players, he should be able to do it himself.

"Honestly, my thought on that is, I would like to petition Mr. [Roger] Goodell and say, if a coach can talk to me like that, I should be able to fight him," said Clark.

If Goodell decides that he would like to fine players and coaches for doing just about anything that might make someone upset, at least be consistent and fine for the things that actually should require fines too.

Quote Of The Week: Kenyon Martin

"When you let people who have never played the game of basketball make decisions, that's what you get."

-Former Net Kenyon Martin on Bruce Ratner & the team's 0-14 start.

He then went on to add "Bruce Ratner came in and made decisions and it affected everything from that point on. The blame for that has to go somewhere. It can't always be on the players."

Martin was quick to point that the problem isn't all head coach Lawrence Frank's fault, saying that he tries hard and cares too much.

While Ratner certainly hasn't helped the Nets current situation, there are a lot of reasons for the Nets horrendous start to this season. Whatever they are, New Jersey needs to figure something out to avoid the worst start to a season in league history.

Ranking the Conferences: College Football

Entry 45: College Football

Here are the rankings of the top seven conferences:

1.) Pac-10

Traditionalists will always say the SEC is the best conference, as it has been for the past several years. However, the Pac-10 is a much deeper conference than the SEC is. Florida and Alabama are better than any Pac-10 squad, but outside of those teams, the SEC does not feature the depth of the Pac-10. Oregon, Oregon State and California all have eight or more wins. USC might not be as dominant as they once were, but they are much better than their seven win record indicates, with two of their losses coming to solid teams in Oregon and Stanford. They also went into the horseshoe and beat the Big Ten champs. Stanford is a very good team this year, having demolished heavyweights Oregon and USC, and Arizona was in contention for the Pac-1o title just last weekend.

2.) SEC

While it isn't the top conference this year, the SEC is undoubtedly controlling the national championship picture as usual, with the #1 and #2 teams in the nation. We all know how talented the Gators and Tide are, but LSU is another very talented team. Despite their terrible last second play-calling against Ole Miss last week, the Tigers are 8-3. Outside of the top two, though, none of the SEC teams have been too consistent. Sure Kentucky, Arkansas and Auburn have seven wins but are light years away from competing with Florida and Alabama.

3.) Big Ten

While there are definitely no national championship contenders this year, the Big Ten features three teams with 10 wins, which is quite a feat. The conference is pretty solid from top to bottom, with seven teams in bowl contention and two just missing out. Northwestern and Wisconsin are very solid eight win squads and though Michigan State and Minnesota are just 6-6, their records don't indicate their talent level. For example, the Spartans lost 4 games by a combined margin of just 15 points, losing to Iowa and Central Michigan by two, Notre Dame by three and Wisconsin by eight.

4.) ACC

Like the Big Ten, there are no national champion contenders here, but there is a nice depth to the conference. Georgia Tech is a very good team at 10-1 and Clemson, Virginia Tech, Miami and North Carolina all have eight victories. VT's only losses have come to Alabama, Georgia Tech and North Carolina, all three having at least eight wins. Boston College and Florida State are highly inconsistent, but bowl-eligible, however the rest of the conference lacks any relevant schools.

5.) Big East

The Big East probably doesn't get enough respect, mostly due to the fact that outside undefeated Cincinnatti and one-loss Pitt, the conference is pretty lackluster. Cincy is a very good team that is just outside of the national championship picture and Pitt has also shown flashes of excellence. The Panthers have yet to face anyone really good yet, and really should not have lost to North Carolina State. Besides these two, West Virginia, South Florida and Rutgers have seven victories, but are probably not even as good as their records indicate. Connecticut on the other hand is a good squad at 5-5 and have been just plain unlucky, with all five of their losses being four points or less.

6.) Mountain West

The only non-BCS conference in the top seven features three very talented teams at the top. TCU is undefeated and is a Longhorns' loss away from playing in the national championship game. TCU may very well be the best team in the land. BYU and Utah both have nine wins and have been ranked at some point this season. The Utes lost to Oregon by just one touchdown and their only other loss came to the hands of TCU.

7.) Big 12

Without Texas, there really isn't too much going on in the Big 12. The Longhorns are undefeated and sitting pretty to play in the national championship game, but otherwise the only other two relevant teams are Oklahoma State and Nebraska. The Cornhuskers have eight wins, but losses to Iowa State and Texas Tech are discerning. OK-State has nine wins, but lost to Houston and got absolutely thrashed by the Longhorns, showing the talent gap between the Big 12 South's top two teams.

Favre Thriving in Minnesota, Enjoying Best Year Of Career

Entry 44: NFL

Sometimes, it's best to save the best for last.

Brett Favre knows something about this saying. The grizzled, gray bearded veteran has turned back the clock, and is enjoying the best year of his long and illustrious career.

The signal caller for the Jets last season seems a distant memory today, as Favre is leading an electrifying Vikings offense to impressive victory after victory.

Not only are the Vikings winning, but Favre is enjoying an MVP-caliber season at 40 years old, the last thing experts could have predicted for this season. Favre's presumed role was to put together an efficient enough passing game to help balance the running game led by Adrian Peterson and be the team leader. Favre has been that and much, much more for the Vikings.

In 10 games, he has thrown for 2,482 yards and most significantly-he has a 20-3 touchdown to interception rate. This is the most surprising aspect of Favre's 2009 performance, as the all-time leader for career interceptions has found a way to kick his former interception troubles to the curb.

Brett has opened people's eyes to the mass amount of play makers that the Vikings have, and that all they really needed was a quarterback and leader to get the most out of them.

Minnesota has options all over the field, on offense, defense and special teams. Offensively, they have three dynamic wide receivers in Bernard Berrian, Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice, the latter having emerged has a top wide receiver and Favre's favorite target and deep threat.

Rice, in his 3rd year in the league, has had a breakout year with Favre at the helm, as the 6-4 receiver has 50 catches for 875 yards and four td's.

Harvin is as electrifying as they come, and the rookie out of Florida has starred on kick and punt returns, taking two back for touchdowns. He has also amounted over 500 receiving yards and four td's at receiver.

These receivers are paired with the greatest running back in the league in Adrian Peterson, which has created a virtually unstoppable offensive attack.

The Vike's defense features no schlubs either, with a dominant defensive line, led by the man bringing back the mullet, Jared Allen.

Favre surely doesn't mind the talent surrounding him, which has certainly helped him put up the numbers he has this year.

The Vikings are currently sitting atop the NFC North at 9-1 and looking like real contenders to win the super bowl this season.

Maybe this guy Favre can still play some football after all.