Calling Em Out

I was watching ESPN's First Take the other day and got my motivation for this post from that show. Here's why.

If you have seen this show on ESPN, you may know that one of the reporters on this show is "Skip" Bayless. He is where I get my motivation for today's post.

First off, this guy is a joke. He always has the worst opinions and views towards athletes and situations. He always makes other reporters unsteady as for his comments are ridiculously wrong.

The reason I am writing about this guy is because he talks bad about my man Lebron James; who went perfect from the field in last nights blow out victory of Uruguay.

But that is just the beginning. He also talks bad about Kevin Garnett, stating he is weak and a big softy. He believes that James and Garnett are the two most overrated players in the NBA. THAT my friends is INCORRECT. Tell me how a guy who won the NBA MVP award in 2004 is overrated. Tell me how a guy who is breaking scoring record after another, leading his team to their first ever NBA Finals appearance is overrated; and he is only 22 years old. How can you be overrated at the age of 22, having been in the league for four seasons now.

Each player are All-NBA performers have made countless All-Star games, leads the league in rebounding, and is just an unstoppable force running down the court. Where is this guys head? That is what I want to know. How does he have the guts to actually say these non sense statements on national television. And his points for why they are overrated are a weak argument. He just frustrates me every time I hear him talk about about either of those players of other good players.

A guy who came straight out of high school drafted Number one overall in the 2003 draft has improved year after year and in his fourth season carries a team to their First EVER NBA Final appearance. Sure they got swept, I'll admit that, but this guy is only 22 years old and easily one of the top players in the league.

Also when asked who were "Skip's" top 15 players in the NBA, Garnett wasn't on his list. First off, KG is the second best Power Forward behind Tin Duncan. Secondly, Garnett is breaking all kinds of records and is the only player in the league to average 20 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists for a season. How does a power forward average four assists a game and get put in the category of "overrated."

This guy just doesn't know what he is talking about most of the time and he works for ESPN. He sure motivates me, if he can work for them, then I think I have a pretty good chance too. Either get your stories correct or at least make arguments that are reasonable.

The College Football Season Kicks off Tonight. Whoooooop!

I got something to say

This is just a little situation I wanted to talk about. This goes out to my two favorite fans, they will know who they are.

Today's discussion is about Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller and others.

Due to the recent stories in the news about Miller trying to decide if he wants to come back to play in the NBA for the new look Boston Celtics. Just because he has been in the news lately about wanting to play with the great Kevin Garnett, Reggie this, Reggie that, I've had to hear about every story that has come out about him.

Long story short, Reggie wisely decided not to make a return as he would have just been there to make everyone jump on the bandwagon and choose Boston to dethrone the Spurs and win the NBA Championship next season.

Well all of that isn't going to happen, now here's my bone I want to scratch.

Michael Jordan: 6 time NBA Champion and 6 time NBA Finals MVP. 5 time Regular Season NBA MVP. Led the Bulls to a 72-10 Regular Season record, the Best all-time. 3rd on all-time scoring list. Enough said.
Reggie Miller: All-time leading 3 pointers made... MVPs? Championships?

I don't know how anyone could argue. Of course I know someone who could, just because that is what they like to do, but they wouldn't win in the long run.

Jordan is a great player, definitely in just about any ones top 5 for Greatest All-Time. He is on the list for 50 Greatest Players of All-Time. Now for Reggie's case, what makes him a "great" player. Yes he made the most 3 pointers ever, but what did that do for him as a whole. It didn't help his team win championships. How many NBA Finals did he go to? One I believe and they lost to the LA Lakers and none other than the Diesel, Shaquille O'Neal.

There is another guy who has won multiple championships and MVP awards who is a great player and has done great things. Yet he doesn't get any love from my buddy. I think I know why too. The argument I always get is all he does is push people around. Well that may have happened yes, but he dominates the paint. What about when he was in Orlando? That is where he made a name for his self. Yeah Shaq may have a cocky attitude, but that is because he is doing what he loves and has had much success.

Here's a comparison I like to think about. When I like of Shaq and how dominate he has been and always how funny he is and how he likes to have fun, I think of Peyton Manning. Tell me Peyton hasn't dominated the league. Tell me he hasn't done commercial after commercial and also SNL. He is a funny guy who likes to have fun when he isn't out on the field dominating the league, much like Shaq has done in his career. Now I'm not saying that there is something against Peyton, I am just trying to make a point by comparison.

Reggie is a great shooter. I just don't see the strong argument that could be made to say he is a great player overall. Alright I'll give in and say he was a great player, but my argument for that isn't strong. And I can't take anything away from anyone, I am just trying to put an end to these disputes that have been ongoing. Everyone knows Jordan and Miller had the roughest relationship during their careers, but I am sure they both have respect for each others game. So I could understand how fans of each might argue with each other due to their history of the past of confrontations.

Now if we could all just get along and stop with the hateration, then I think we could grow and learn from our dislikes. No I just messing, we are just sports fans and it's what we do best. I respect my piers and love my fans and supporters. They are what keeps me motivated.

Team USA is now 5-0 at the FIBA America's Championships.

Playoff Season...

Yes that's right. It is playoff season... for the PGA Tour. What do I mean playoffs for Golf? I mean this is the first season in which the PGA's have added a playoff system. The last four tournaments of the season are described as the FedEx Cup.

The whole season players earn points based on their performances in tournaments and ranked in order of most points earned. And of course the player that plays the least amount of tournaments but also wins the most is Tiger Woods and he was in first at the start of the first tournament, but Tiger didn't play in the first inaugural playoff tournament this weekend.

Anyways, Steve Stricker won the tournament and is now in first place after the first tournament, but because Tiger had so many points, he only fell to fourth overall place. Is Tiger not worried about this FedEx Cup or what?

Well the next tournament is the Deutsche Bank Championship is next weekend and Tiger is the defending champ of course. So I think he will be out there for this tournament and come away with another victory and reclaim the number one overall position in the standings with just two tournaments remaining.

The Little League World Series ended today on a walk off home run in extra innings. The World Champions are from none other than Georgia. They beat a tough Japanese team 3-2 in the eighth inning walk off home run.

It's just amazing to watch these 11, 12 and 13 year olds pitch and hit the ball. There were so many walk off home runs this year it wasn't even funny. And also kids pitching striking out 10 plus batters, which is excellent. I remember those days, baseball sure was a fun sport to play.

Team USA is currently 3-0 at the FIBA America's World Championship and getting set to face a tough Brazil team shortly. They continue to blow out their opponents and are playing great team defense. Let's hope I'm not talking to soon.

The NFL gets underway in two weeks.

Ballinnn!

The FIBA Americas Qualifying tournament in Las Vegas got underway yesterday and Team USA were in action, and let me tell you what...

The starting squad of J-Kidd, Kobe, Lebron, Carmelo, and D-Howard just looked monstrous at times. First off they man handled Venezuela 112-69. Secondly, its about time Kobe plays for the US team.

Now I know Venezuela looked worse than many college teams, USA looked good most of the game. I liked the leadership of Kobe and him taking on the roll of guarding the best player on defense. And Howard and Stoudemire will send anything that comes close down low.

I am looking for Team USA to dominate their remainder three games in Pool play and to keep on trucking into the Championship game where they will most likely play Argentina to get their revenge. This time around it will be a different story as USA will go home with the Gold Medal and an automatic birth to next years Olympics behind the leadership of Kobe and Lebron.

Don't be surprised if at times you see Kobe take over late in close games. Coach K has already given him the okay to do what he needs to do to get the team a win. This team seems more complete than the past, so I am looking for the return to glory for Team USA.

Rangers 30 Orioles 3...

No that's not a football score, that is a baseball score! Tell me how that happens. How does a team score 30 runs in 9 innings of a baseball game. And the funny thing is they scored more than half of that 30 in the 8th and 9th innings. They scored 10 in the 8th and 6 in the 9th. The game is wrapped up, but no they go out and hit home run and double after another and score an additional 16 runs onto their 14-3 lead. I mean 14 runs is a lot for a game but 30 is out of this world. I wonder what they were saying in the dugout when they were going through this hit and score bonanza. Whatever it was, they should probably do whatever they did right more often.

Pleaing Guilty...

Well it is official now, Michael Vick has decided to give in and plea guilty to federal dogfighting charges. So now it all comes out and everything he has said previously makes him look bad. Here is my take.

To start off, I am a Vick fan and have been ever since he was playing at Va Tech and leading them to the National Championship game back in 2000. He is a flat out talented athlete. Has he had the best career as a QB, No, he hasn't. But he is a blessed human athlete.

Now, when this story came out earlier this year, I was trying to ignore it because it seemed to come out of no where. It just seemed like a bogus story trying to make Vick look bad. Well all in all, it did. Vick denied these charges over and over and now he has given in and is saying it is all true and will face jail time based on his actions. I still can't understand why an athlete would do such a thing that he did, it just doesn't make sense.

Now the question is will he ever play in the NFL again?

I think he will play again. I think Vick will do his time, pay his charges and come out of his sentence a changed man. Life is about learning from your mistakes and then change that around and do good. I really think Vick will be influenced by his family during this time to change and do whatever it takes to get another shot to play in the NFL. Will he be a QB again? Probably not. His quarterbacking career is over.

Now the thing he has to fix in order to get back into the NFL, is to get the approval of commissioner Roger Goodell. He has already lied to Goodell and just about every important individual. So it is all about making things better with those individuals. He has already taken the initial step and given into the charges after weighing his options. So now it is a situation of moving on and looking forward.

So much for this story. I'm pretty much tired of it and glad that all of it is going to come to a conclusion in the next few weeks.

Go Niners!

SEASON TWO

Welcome back everyone. More like welcome back to me. What a summer it has been and boy have I enjoyed it (besides the heckling from the fans about my lack of writing). Now it's time to get up to date in the sports world and rant on about whatever it is that pops into my head.
I welcome all readers to the continuation of Smak hosted by your boy MJ. Let's get it started.

First off a recap of the major headlines from the summer:
- San Antonio Spurs win fourth title in nine seasons, MVP Tony Parker, better luck next season King James.
- Barry Lamar Bonds is the new home run king... or not?
- Tiger Woods y'all, has his first child, wins his 13th Major Championship, and finishes 2nd in the other three.
- QB Michael Vick is caught as a private dog fighter and others involved plea, what's next for Vick?
- Tim Donaghy, a former NBA referee, is caught gambling on professional games he was refereeing in and is done for.
- The Boston Celtics bring in superstar forward Kevin Garnett to join Pierce and Allen, many already picking them to win the East... not going to happen.
-NFL 2007 number one draft pick QB Jamarrcus Russell is still unsigned.

Now that's that.

Well it is officially football season and that means the summer is coming to a close and baseball is nearing the red hot October playoffs. But this is all about football.

NFL preseason got kicked off two weeks ago and is now half way over. Who looks good so far? That's hard to say, but it's always easy to say the San Francisco 49ers. Naw, so far this preseason there haven't been many standout performances in my eyes. I'm just ready for fantasy football so I can stink it up like I do most of the time. I think I'm going to mix it up a little this time around.

Anyways, college football is close to starting also as teams are preparing. This years preseason number one is the University of Southern Cal. Not a big fan of them, actually I'm a little tired of them being around every year. But I guess I can't take anything away from them.

I'm looking forward to my Virginia Tech Hokies! They will be playing every game with a heavy heart wanting to go out and prove to all their fans that they are united and are going to fight to do their best. I think they can come out the end of the season with another ACC Championship and be in the hunt for the BCS National Championship.

So I was asked all summer about what I thought about the Michael Vick situation and I haven't followed it close enough, so maybe I'll share what I think in the next couple of days for those who might be interested.

Is it Basketball season yet...?