Thursday, July 14, 2005

Go Hard or Go Home

So I saw an encore presentation of the extra-inning classic between the Yanks and Sox last year made famous by Derek Jeter's dive into the stands, and I need to get something off my chest here- Red Sox fans (or Yankees haters) are dead wrong. Anyone who thinks Jeter's catch was less than spectacular is crazy. The 7,000 replays the YES Network showed proved beyond any doubt that Jeter was scarily close to the stands when he caught that ball at full stride. He did indeed try to slow down, but was too close to the stands to stop.

If you want to argue that he tried to make it more spectacular, you obviously didn't see him walk into the dugout. His face was cut, bruised, and swollen. Why would any athlete risk losing millions by ending his career via crowd diving? Jeter is a proven winner (just ask Jeremy Giambi), and made a Hall of Fame play. No questions asked.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Draft Day for the Knicks

New York Knicks President of Basketball Operations Isaiah Thomas recently stated that, had his team selected first in the draft, he still would have grabbed Arizona C Channing Frye. Now while that might be a bit of a stretch, the Knicks did have a successful draft. Many New Yorkers might not be happy, but then again, how many of them are for more than 10 seconds at a time?

Start by looking at their first pick, Frye at #8 overall. The fans in the Garden seemed pleased, but talk radio the next morning sounded anything but. Let's be honest, Frye is not going to be the next Shaq or Duncan. An excellent shot blocker listed at a lithe 6-11, 248 lbs, he could at least turn out to be the next Marcus Camby. Before you jump to conclusions about this guy, ask yourself- what team wouldn't want a big guy that can run the floor, post up, and block shots? Keep in mind that the Knicks were LAST in the league in blocks per game (while Frye is the 2nd leading shot blocker all-time in the Pac-10), not to mention majority of bull work in the post will be done by Malik Rose, Michael Sweetney, Jerome Williams, and the #30 pick overall, Florida F David Lee. All of these forwards give the Knicks some viable trade bait as well.

The next move on draft day (which I am absolutely thrilled with) is the Kurt Thomas for Quentin Richardson and Washington G Nate Robinson deal. Yes, they traded a double-double every night...one which slowed down players like Marbury and Crawford and barely had a post game. Richardson is coming off a league-leading performance in 3-pointers made, and at 6-6, 230, he can defend and post up bigger guards (something the Knicks struggled with terribly last year). In Nate Robinson, the Knicks get an energetic, athletic young backup to Marbury. What he lacks in size (listed at 5-9) he makes up for in heart and pure hops. He is going to be quite a steal for the Knicks, who are looking more youthful and ready to run than they have for the past decade.

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Guess Who's Back

After a month off, I figured it was time to get the creative juices goin' again. I just want to set a few things straight before I start writing on a regular basis- (1) this site is to channel my own desire to write about what I love, namely, sports, and (2) anybody and everybody is welcome to comment, but if it's too offensive I can simply delete it, no problem. So if you feel the need to take a cut on me or something I said, by all means go ahead. If you can't express it through intelligent language, however, it's getting deleted. That's the bottom line. There has been one angry fellow, which is a shame, saying nothing at all intelligent but posting at least twice a day. To that guy I say, thanks for keeping me entertained and being so loyal to my site. It doesn't really take me a lot of energy to delete any comments (they're all e-mailed directly to me), so you can rant and rave all you want, just don't expect it to stay up there.

That'll do it for today...but I'll be around this weekend to share my input with all casual readers, avid sports fans, and angry, obsessed souls. Enjoy the holiday.