The Noise Factor

We just witnessed a very slow showing from the NBA trade deadline and the NHL trade deadline is beginning to heat up as it ends on February 27th.

MeanDovine reminded me about something I have discussed at length for quite a while in regards to the word team. A lot of weight of an athlete’s career can be measured by the rings they have won. Seems rather unfair when you are only 1 of 25 or 52 or 12 guys on a team, depending on the sport. Does not having great teams tarnish your legacy as a great player? Was Tony Gwynn not as great for not winning a ring? No! An athlete can only do so much and Mean reminded me of that very same argument I have made for quite some time inside our blog-nation. The player in the discussion was Dwyane Wade, who has lost more than just Shaquille O’Neal prior to his return. That got me thinking…

- Last week when I was watching the Toronto Raptors play host the Cleveland Cavaliers I could not help noticing Lebron James getting stoned. There were several instances where he made an incredible pass to an open person and they would not hit their shot. He was cheated out of 3 or 4 assists in the last quarter alone simply because his teammates have not produced at a level that can help his team succeed. They are not an NBA Championship contender and that blame cannot be placed on the lack of leadership of Lebron James. If a professional basketball player cannot hit a jump shot or finish a layup then that blame cannot rest on the shoulders of James. In fact, the last basket of that game said it all: Lebron kicks it out to an open Sasha Pavlovic, WIDE OPEN, and misses terribly only to find Anderson Varejao make a spectacular dunk to win the game.

- Kobe Bryant has watched his Laker teammates go down with injuries: Luke Walton, Andrew Bynum, Kwame Brown, Lamar Odom and Vladimir Radmanovich. Presently, they are showing that they are simply just an ordinary team because the weight has been resting on the shoulders of Bryant who can only do so much. Score 25, score 35 score 45, if teammates are not there to support your team will not succeed. Now has Kobe had missed opportunities over the last few weeks? Absolutely. However, wouldn’t a better team not put themselves into a situation where you have a coin-flip’s chance to win on the final possession of the game?

- Moving on, the deadline was dead and one of the few reasons for that was Dwyane Wade’s injury. I bet New Jersey wanted to wait it out as long as possible before dealing Jason Kidd and/or Vince Carter. They did and they may have dodged a bullet doing it due to Wade’s injury. The Nets are not far away from the 8th and final playoff spot. Not only does Wade’s injury hurt the Heat, the Orlando Magic are having a second half collapse at this point. If the Nets get in and potentially get Richard Jefferson back, why can’t they knock off a Washington or Cleveland or even Toronto, which brings me to…

- Toronto’s trade with Portland was an improvement because Fred Jones was not playing anyway, and Dixon would relieve a little bit of money for Toronto. However, the one position they are lacking in is Center. They needed to get a big man who could rebound, a Theo Ratliff-type player without the Theo Ratliff-type contract. That Cavs game proved that Toronto needs someone who is a capable rebounder or else Toronto will be bounced in round 1 of the playoffs. And the next time anyone makes an accusation that I am a hometown guy just point towards this blog.

Now, Bryan Colangelo has done a magnificant job with this team. His strategy of going after the European market and drafting Andrea Bargnani was a gem. Looking at the dynamics of their roster they were going to have a tough time trying to fulfill that center position without giving up a critical piece of the puzzle that has allowed them to be at this point as we speak.

- A couple of days after the big fight between the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators has put hockey right back where it was before: on the backburner of the sports pages and internet websites. We have a big brawl and it becomes the very first highlight we see on the computer and then all of a sudden it remembers that it’s hockey and that is it. What does it say about the people of the US and the sport itself? Well it says the people will embrace it for what can be perceived as a negative part of the sport. The sport itself was not viewed by American sports fans it was the aftermath of a play gone bad-turned brawl. It simply means the sport still has a lot of catching up to do before it is really taken seriously.

- This is not a true preview of the 2007 baseball season but after the offseason acquisitions and the rosters each team currently has we can say it will be a wide-open dash towards the World Championship. It can be anyone’s trophy this year once again. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are always strong but they are not necessarily the best team around. And Chicago spent a ton of money but even that won’t give them the division title. It will be interesting and it will be a dog fight. And to be fair, my early prediction for the Toronto Blue Jays is 3rd place. Nice, cozy 3rd place.

- If Roger Clemens has not made up his mind about playing and isn’t sure which team he’d play for, what is he doing at the Houston Astros training camp? Yes I know his kid is there and management won’t say anything to him out of fear that he’d say screw you and sign elsewhere but isn’t that brutal if he trains with the Astros and then decides to sign with New York? If I am Houston I’d be pretty p!ssed off about that. But not p!ssed enough to throw a broken bat at him.

- Last hockey comment and I am out: People saying that Sidney Crosby is the far away leader for the Hart Trophy has not done their research. Sid the Kid is playing phenomenal hockey but the leader right now is Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils. Look at how far Jersey has come since November and look at how dominant Marty has been this season. Simply incredible. I am also not closing the book on Sid being the best NHL’er in the league either. With the additions of Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin he has really blossomed as a player. Put those two guys on Washington and Alexander Ovechkin is the best hockey player in the world without a shadow of a doubt. I admire hockey players who produce the most with the least and Ovechkin does that, and it also ties into the basketball discussion written above. In Canada, critics are still not prepared to appoint a non-Canadian as the best hockey player in the world.

…Hope the weekend went well. Hope you all can tune in to my show this week running live from 9AM-Noon at www.chevradioam.com. Cheers.

No games tonight in the NBA means another dead Monday night where there is one thing to watch: 24. 24 is not sports-related, but a ticked-off Kiefer Sutherland is pure comedy. Check out your local FOX station for tonight’s episode (FOX is not paying me for the ad).

- After the slam-dunk debacle on Saturday night the all-stars came out to their typical all-out offense with the West winning the game handily. The game itself reflected on how the season has gone so far in the NBA as the West have had the upper hand. Up until a couple weeks ago, the best 6 teams came from the West. Now the Los Angeles Lakers have hit a road block and the Detroit Pistons have been on fire ever since the Chris Webber pickup. Nonetheless, the depth of the West was evident in this game.

- Just to clarify any confusion, the Dallas Mavericks are the team to beat in the West. They will continue to be the team to beat as long as they keep winning at this kind of pace. They lose their first 4 games of the season and now sit with only 9 losses to date. And its well-documented on my blog that they have won 29 of their last 31 games. That is over 90% if you stat guys want to know.

- Here is some information to prove how hypocritical my nation is: Toronto patterns itself as a “Hockey Town” and that they have the most passionate fans when it comes to the sport. Not true. Last night the Toronto Marlies, The Maple Leafs minor league affiliate, drew just over 2000 fans to the game. This is under the 3000-4000 they drew for the AHL All-Star game a month ago. The arena holds just under 10 000 people and they cannot sell out an All-Star game in the city that prides itself on hockey? You have to be kidding me!? The hockey know-it-alls in the city of Toronto need to just stick with what they do best: waste money on an inferior hockey product like the Maple Leafs so that management can pocket it. Forget about calling yourselves a “Hockey” town, that you are not. That distinction can be claimed with more authority in Detroit.

- The Chicago Cubs should be ashamed of themselves if they don’t lock up Carlos Zambrano for a long-term deal before the season. They had the extra money to lock him up and they decided to spend on some questionable signings. This guy is your ace and one of the best pitchers in baseball, why jerk around with him? Thing is, you know they will lose him after the arbitration season and then throw money at another pitcher who is not as good as Zambrano, and the Cubs fans will think Carlos is the bad guy in this situation. If you know down the road Chicago will throw huge money for a pitcher anyway, do it for your franchise ace. You know, the workhorse who hasn’t broken down…yet.

- This past weekend Phil Mickelson had yet another mini-meltdown against Charles Howell III at the Nissan Open. You figure he will recover from this but after this latest tank job it is evident that if Tiger get’s his hands on Phil in a tight Major Championship Mickelson will fold like a bad poker hand. If Geoff Ogilvey and Howell can do this, what will the best golfer in the world with the hottest wife on tour and the most intimidating person in golf will do to Phil? Eldrick will blow him away.

- Yet another silly attempt at soccer fans to be noticed: A soccer show at my station was threatened by a bunch of soccer fanatic morons for no reason. On some message board for Toronto FC these fans were taking shots without explanation. I guess that can be similar to riots that break out at soccer events. I am not here to diss the spectacle of a sport but just because you are a fan of soccer does not mean you are allowed to turn your brain off. Sure the sport needs some fixing but the bigger problem are the hooligans who completely ruin any chance of embracing the world-wide sport on our part. So soccer fans, there is a problem and you are it.

- Norv Turner was hired by the San Diego Chargers which makes sense. They needed a veteran coach who has been with San Diego and Ladainian Tomlinson before. However, the same question applies to San Diego as it did for Dallas: Did you improve at the coaching position? The answer: No. Crack Martyball all you want, Norv Turner has not faired any better in the playoffs than Schottenheimer. At least we know Marty can coach in the regular season.

…Tomorrow will be the second week I will have to sing. Voting continues tonight and here are the nominations again:

WHAM - Careless Whisper

Shania Twain - Man I feel like a woman

Destiny’s Child - Bootylicious

98 degrees - Give me just one night

Nelly - E.I.

JoJo - Too little too late

- Nelly is currently leading while WHAM is right on their tail. Vote here or at chevradionoise@gmail.com. Kareoke morning begins at 11 AM EST on www.chevradioam.com.

Yesterday I took a road trip with my brother and his friend down to Ann Arbor, Michigan to catch the Wolverines and Indiana Hoosiers. The game was at 4PM so we knew what was expected out of us to catch the slam dunk contest later on in the evening.

Rewind it back to the night before as I tried to watch the Rookie v. Sophmore game as it was simply a David Lee dunking contest of his own. The game was quite sloppy and it reminded me of intramural basketball from high school, with the exception that kids weren’t throwing it down. Tough to watch so about 15 minutes is all I gave it. Pretty bad when a rerun of “Footballers Wives” takes precedence.

Though the College game was close, both teams should have stayed on the court after the game was over to work on their free throws and jump shots. The sounds of bricks being layed was deafening. It was a hideous display of shooting from both teams that it was unfortunate that there was a winner in the game. The game could be summed up on the very last possession of the game where Indiana had no timeouts left and had 17 seconds left to play. Michigan, who had 2 timeouts left, decided to use one of them. Why? Why give Indiana a chance to draw up a play? That was ridiculous. Nonetheless, Indiana could not capitalize. Why is that? Well after a missed 3-point attempts they grabbed the rebound and the same player went all the way to the 3-point line only to fake the shot, pass it inside with 1 second left on the clock to lose by 3. Yeah, makes perfect sense to try to get 2 points with one second left when down by 3. The Hoosier fans behind me, to my left and in front of me showed their displeasure. And to the guy on my left that kept whacking his hat on the vacant chair beside me: You are 5 foot 5 and with that nose of yours have probably started many fights. Might want to ease up as nobody is intimidated by you or your friend that was a light-skinned Herm Edwards.

After the game the road back home had to be quick. We knew we’d have to stop so we hit up London and watched the 3-point competition and the dunk contest. The 2 reasons why the 3-point contest was better were 1) The dunk contest really wasn’t that good and 2) The 3-point contest could not be fixed. Time to indulge.

I am not sure what contest you were watching, but not only was it a weak showing of the dunk contest but what was going on with the judging? Did someone take the 5 ex-dunk champions into a room and say, “Gerald Green has to win the competition and Tyrus Thomas has to be eliminated in round 1 without question”. I am not here to say that Thomas should have won. That first dunk wasn’t spectacular. However, Green’s dunks were completely overshadowed by the great passes performed by Paul Pierce. The first dunk by Green was average, but the pass made it look great. Thomas’s second dunk was the hardest and best dunk of the night, not to mention breaking the net. However, he got screwed by the judges. Perhaps Thomas’s comments prior to the contest made him a target. Because he had to jump over a guy over 6 foot, barely grab the basketball and slam it home just for a 43 while Green had an easier catch jumping over a guy who’s 5 foot 9. He gets a 47. Makes sense to me! (sarcasm).
But jumping over a 4-foot table gets him a 50. Explain that bullcrap to me.

Dwight Howard perhaps had the funniest spot when he jumped as high as he could to put a sticker of himself on the backboard. Jameer Nelson pulling out the measuring tape proved to make that dunk a near-50. If you give Green a 50 for originality of jumping over a table then give Howard a 55 for jumping higher than anyone else for the sticker. And he was able to keep it up there! That’s much harder than what Green had to do. You telling me a 4-foot table is tougher to jump over than Ben Gordon or Nate Robinson? Who are we kidding?

There are only 2 possible explanations for the final dunk results from last night: 1) The NBA wanted Green to win in order to hype up the next big dunking machine or 2) The judging was just brutal. Dominique Wilkins and Vince Carter weren’t that good yet were the best judges of the night. The other 3 were awful.

Goes to show that I got home in the wee hours of the morning because I sat down for 90 minutes for an unspectacular event.

This is not an accusation of event being ‘fixed’ despite the word being mentioned earlier, its merely a question of why this was poorly judged? We won’t get the answer because what goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Welcome to Realsportsbloggers.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!