Loading ...Sekou K Smith of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Some of you keep asking for updates when the ugly truth is there is no news to update. And that old adage about no news being good news doesn’t apply. No news means that nothing has changed since last week, save for the release of the Hawks’ 2008-09 schedule (a brutal opening stretch will set the tone for the season, per usual). Chop it up however you want, but NOTHING HAS CHANGED! The stalemate continues (or as one insider told me Wednesday afternoon, “nothing’s changed from July 1st until today”). For all the back and forth of the past couple weeks the sad truth is Brett Favre will have a new team before Josh Smith’s situation is resolved.”
Oly Sandor of HoopsVibe.com: Forget Kobe vs. MJ, how about Drazen Petrovic vs. Jordan?
Keith Sharon of The Orange County Register: “On a Portland Trailblazers blog called Blazer’s Edge, (Sherman) Alexie wrote: “I would root for a team composed of Jack the Ripper at the 3, Lee Harvey Oswald at the 2, Saddam Hussein at the 4, Galactus at the 5, and Lizzie Borden at 1 over the Lakers. If the Lakers were playing a team made up entirely of those giant chameleon cockroaches in that movie Mimic, I would root for the insects. Heck, I just rooted for THE CELTICS instead of the Lakers. That’s how much I hate the Lake Show.” Here’s hoping he falls in love with the Blazers, so the Lakers can continue inspiring his hatred by beating the crap out of his new favorite team … just like they beat the crap out of his old one. The Trailblazers have about as much chance of finishing higher than the Lakers in the West as intergalactic bugs had against Will Smith in ”Men in Black.””
Alastair Himmer of Reuters.com: “”Kobe’s funny,” the versatile 7-footer told reporters after practice on Wednesday. “He’s always talking, making those kinds of statements. “I hope we meet in the gold medal game — then we’ll see.” The Spanish team’s hopes of adding an Olympic men’s basketball title to that of world champions rest largely on Gasol’s shoulders. He will be a marked man in Beijing, with defending Olympic champions Argentina also intent on avenging their semi-final loss to Spain in the 2006 world championships.” (Hat tip: Ball in Europe)
Matt Moore of FanHouse: “In a move that is both awesome for NBA fans and terrible for NBA fans with families, the NBA has scheduled a quintuple header for Christmas Day. That’s right, five games. Oh, so they probably overlap, right? Nope. There’s basketball from 12PM EST till approximately 1AM EST. It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Starting you off on the long road to divorce and estrangement from your family is New Orleans at Orlando at noon. So after opening presents, enjoying your Christmas morning coffee, and inevitably calling your sister to ask why she hated you enough to buy your kid that obnoxious talking Monk doll or plotting to return the sweater that your grandmother got you for an iPod charger, you can sit back, relax, and watch Tyson Chandler and Dwight Howard beat the crap out of each other.”
NBA.com: Jordan Farmar talks about hosting basketball clinics to bring together Israeli and Palestinian children
ShamSports.com: An in-depth look at the remaining free agents
USABasketball.com: USA Senior National Team Season Statistics
D.C. Sports Blog: “The menu offered much promise for organic weirdness: Shredded Pork Ear, Duck Tongue & Ink-Fish Soup, Fried Pork Kidney with Onion & Coriander in Flavored Sauce & Served in Iron Pan, Braised Pork Elbow in Flavored Sauce, Deep Fried Pork Intestine with Red Chili, Cold-Boiled Duck Tongue with Garlic-Vinegar sauce, Brined Chicken Feet with Green Pepper, Pan-Fried Duck Heart with Bell Pepper & Red Chili, and Sliced Pork Lung in Red Chili Sauce, although the lungs were likely filled with smog.”
Bud Shaw of Cleveland.com: “What we do know about James is he wants to be the Warren Buffett of basketball. Sorry, but if he played two seasons at $50 million per as the report suggests he might (or might not) do for a team yet to be identified, he’s still short of reaching Buffett’s class. Such a scenario right now is more fantasy than threat.”
Patrick McManamon of The Akron Beacon Journal: “Some might scoff that LeBron would leave the N-B-of-A, but there are others who wonder if there might be some fire underneath this Grecian Smoke — which is not, by the way, the same as Grecian Formula, a hair-color product for men invented in the time of Heraclius. European sports are growing. They are competitive — just look at the foreign influence on the NBA and the results of the Olympics. The owners have some deep pockets with no salary cap. And because of the value of the dollar, they can spend money and get a bargain. An online check Wednesday — through a Greek site of course (have to make this accurate) — revealed that $100 million in U.S. dollars adds up to a meager $64.57 million euros.”
