Well we survived the week. We also survived the much-anticipated Sno-mageddon 2011. Pfft. Thanks a lot Matt Zaffino. You too, Mark Nelson. Don't forget you, Andy Carson. Jerks. Thanks for getting my hopes up. The so called winter storm warning didn't even get me one lousy day off work. Here, I thought I'd be snowed in both Thursday and Friday, but noooooo.Next time I sure ain't going to get my hopes up. I hate snow anyway. I just wanted to days off of work. I'm convinced snow sucks unless you're, like, eight years old or younger. Yeah, playing in the snow when you're eight years old is great. But when you're an adult and have to actually do adult things (go to work, go to the store, drive anywhere), it completely sucks.
Anyway, here's what has been thrown around in the world of sports this past week.
1. The NBA trade deadline was pretty awesome, wasn't it?
For the first time in at least a few years, the NBA trade deadline was pretty interesting. Lots of deals went down, especially on that last day. If you didn't get a chance to keep track of all of them, here is a pretty good list from Yahoo! Sports of all the details.
Besides the Blazers pulling a fast one on the Bobcats, there were a couple other deals that caught my eye. For one, Baron Davis must be pretty pissed off today. Getting traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers will piss anyone off, no matter what team you come from. Like everyone's been saying, we're not going to see much of Davis in a Cavs uniform, I don't think.
And how about the Nets trading for Deron Williams. That was pretty ballsy, right? I think it's a good move for both sides. But how pissed off do you think Jerry Sloan is right about now? He gets ran out of town by D-Will, and then management ships Williams outta there. Could Utah maybe have hinted about this to Sloan a couple weeks earlier? Utah is not going to be very good for a couple years now, if you ask me. But if they would have kept Sloan as head coach, they would still have been a decent team.
2. I'm sorry Auburn fans, but Cam Newton is going to get nailed by the NCAA eventually.
I've mentioned this idea before, but The Big Lead brought up the point again this past week. In a post titled, "When will the NCAA find dirt on Cam Newton?", TBL states that "you can be sure the NCAA will take many more months to find something – anything – to nail Auburn on. According to Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News, the NCAA is still getting its sleuth on, but hasn’t found anything new.....I’m of the belief that it’s a “when” situation, not “if.”"
Our resident expert on all things SEC, Clay Travis, who writes for Fanhouse.com, also wrote this article back on November 15, 2010, predicting practically the same thing...that "Scam" Newton is going to get busted. Travis says, "It might take 10 days, it might take two years, but the ineligibility ruling is coming.....In the meantime Auburn fans can continue to bury their heads in the sand and blame everyone but the Newton family for the plague of Biblical proportions that is about to rain down on their football program."
The way the NCAA has handled the whole Cam Newton mess has been embarrassing. It's obvious that they didn't rule him ineligible during this past season because they wanted a great national title game matchup with the two undefeated teams going head to head. Because they're so cowardly, they'll have no problem ruling Newton ineligible and stripping Auburn of the national title so long after the fact, that no one is going to care. And then they'll be able to say that they enforced the rules, upheld the integrity of the game, blah, blah, blah and feel good about themselves.
Meanwhile, Auburn will suffer and no one else will care.
3. Kendrick Perkins actually cried when he got the news that he was traded to the Thunder.
I don't think that crying is an acceptable reaction to being traded to another team, I don't care what sport we're talking about. Really Kendrick, you cried?!? C'mon dude, grow a set and be a man. Here's supposedly why he was crying like a baby. "I ain't gonna lie. I'm gonna miss the hell out of them. It's going to be hard leaving them behind, leaving this team behind and the fans and this city."
Oh boo freakin hoo, cry me a river man. You got traded, so what? You were making millions playing basketball in Boston and now you're making millions playing basketball in Oklahoma City. Deal with it. And you weren't even traded to a crappy team, like Baron Davis was. If anyone has a hall pass on crying, it's Baron Davis.
Yep folks, he did it again. This is the third year in a row that Rex Ryan has guaranteed that the Jets would win the Super Bowl. On one hand, you have to give him a little credit. Previous to this season, his NY Jets have made two consecutive AFC championship games, which is quite the accomplishment. But at some point, you would think he would just shut up and play.
But I guess that isn't how Rex Ryan operates. "Ryan dismissed the notion that his frequent guarantees will ring hollow if the Jets don't deliver on all the bravado and bluster. "I don't care what people think," Ryan said."
This guy must love the attention. Which is funny, because when his foot fetish videos were blasted all over the media and everyone was asking him about it, he sure didn't love the attention then. Make up your mind Rex. Talk is cheap.
5. More on the trade that brought Gerald Wallace to Rip City.
Dave over at Blazersedge has a great article breaking down all the finer (and not-so-finer) points of Wallace's game. Dave sat down with Charlotte Bobcat's blog "Rufus on Fire". From R.O.F, "I hate to use the cliché, but he was the heart and soul of this team. For so many years, he just laid his body out there every night for the team. Fans love to see that from their players, and to see him evolve into an all-star meant a lot. So, it's definitely not easy to see him leave, especially only one season removed from his all-star appearance."
Dave also has a very nice and well-deserved tribute to Joel Przybilla in the middle of this post. "He was the backbone of the defense and a quietly vital organ for this franchise. Perhaps his most appreciated attribute has been his toughness. Joel would lay lumber and take guff from nobody. Turning Tyson Chandler into a mewling ninny was at one point a bi-annual ritual. His stare-downs are legendary....But the final moments and need to move him don't dim his legacy for this team."
Good stuff there, folks. Have a good and safe weekend. Catch you on the flip side.
