therealstevesmith

Barkley Makes James Shut Up

 Clearly Lebron James did not take advantage of any debating courses St. Vincent-St. Mary's High School may have offered.  He was kablown up  by Charles Barkley for acting like a punk when it comes to whether he's leaving the Cavs in two years, and he responded like a six year old getting a flu shot. "He's stupid. That's all I've got to say about that."  

   That's all he's got to say? But he's already said so much. Barkley wouldn't have said anything if James hadn't been saying all kinds of crazy stuff for the last year and a half. Does he know what Barkley was talking about? They've probably had several conversations. But all I know is James is about to be accused of tampering with HIMSELF, and then he says he doesn't have anything more to say about it. We should be so lucky.

     It's so funny because James thinks he came back hard, when he's actually saying he's going to do what Barkley said he should.

    The upside is a statement like that makes me think James may be tripping too hard to actually leave the comfort zone of his roots.  He's talking big, like he's trying to talk himself into the idea of adding a villain component to his career. ESPECIALLY if he leaves Cleveland without a ring. The King is no villain.

Statements I Can Throw Away

                  This shit seemed funny as hell when I first published it one year ago today.
                Was it? Or was it me? Not in thinking if it were funny or not, but in terms of how shrill the news has been for so long.

The New Agony of Defeat

              Seriously. This isn't for the squeamish.  If you're the type of person who can't watch 'The View' because of Elizabeth Hassleback, do not look at this video (provided I find it, haven't tried yet). In fact I'll tell you, it's that Hungarian weightlifter who got his elbow reversed attempting a snatch at the Olympics.   
           I'm actually wishing I was born earlier, because just 30 years ago, someone would have had to actually come up with words to describe 'the hell that took place on the weightlifting stage. Literally.  If the man had a infisecond of clarity during this event, the only possible thought he could have had was, "I'm in hell right now." 
            Fools, suckers and dorks> I saw the first 'Faces of Death.' I saw Theismann get rewound. And what I saw on this video is so explosive that I'm not even going to take you to the video itself. I'm just linking to the search I put in so that you can make your own decision.  Whatever you decide, don't ya already feel more empowered? Did you watch? "Oh HELL NO!!"

            

OMG Olmpcs!

        Munich '72 helped me become a man (and it's still in my Netflix queue). That tragedy taught a little boy so much about attitudes, values and beliefs that whenever I hear about a terrorist act today there's at least a nanosecond where my brain is clearly back in 1972, reclined on the floor with my next door neighbors watching this Event unfold. Because not only could a 7 year old understand the idea that kidnapped was a jacked up thing to be, it was also connecting a nation of TV viewers together for one last gasp at unity, BC (Before Cable).
  

Subsequently, '76 in Montreal was like a collective intake of breath, like that roller coaster thing, before shit just snapped and all bets became futile.

1980 - USA boycotts Moscow.    1984 -Soviets boycotts Los Angeles.  1988- Benny and the Roids in Seoul.
 

1992 featured the Dream Team (because the USA had lost - TO THE SOVIET UNION- in Seoul) and you'd have to be either an idiot or an ass to mob an Olympics with a team that changed the history of Sport itself.

     It's funny how uptight people are regarding China's human rights abuses when America sweeps the Gold in 'People in Jail Throwing Contest.' When it comes to execution of incarceration, USA is kicking more ass than the Dream Team ever did.

    Next, the Games were back on our soil in 1996, but we couldn't stop a good 'ol boy from getting loose with a little bang bang, Eric Rudolph going stupid to protest whatever his grievance was (he says it was abortion according to Wiki). So it's funny when we get all sancty about some other backward country because the last time we had a chance, we got 2 folks killed and 111 injured.
  

   Until the world catches up with the universe and allows its lifeforms to excel at the highest level (steroids) I think Sydney will be known as Sindney Olympics.  2000 is turning out to be an Olympics only Timothy Leary could love. These Olympics made Woodstock wanna get some Winter Games. Marion Jones, Michael Johnson giving his 4x400 gold medal back because of Antonio Pettigrew's drug use; who the hell wins a gold medal and then goes to jail?  Or better, who says a person shouldn't be free to perform at the highest possible level.

    My point is that the Boogie Jing isn't the first place to make the Olympic Idea be less than ideal. By the time Athens rolled around in 2004 they questioned whether the city would even be ready in time. There were talks of moving the games to Los Angeles or some other ready made spot. But now the host city is simply out for a money grab. Oh for the love of Jim Thorpe!

    So while you have to take Beijing to task for obliterating the spirit of humanity in its pursuit of global domination, it's hard to do anything other than hope America kicks ass.

     Follow the money?

Joe Dumars Likes 'Em Tall And Stiff

              GM Joe Dumars and the Pistons just signed Kwame Brown to a 2 year 8 million dollar deal.  Since I saw the WNBA fight, I'm going to think that people in Detroit and the surrounding area have access to multiple forms of videotape. I'm also going to wonder if Joe Dumars lives in Detroit or the surrounding area.

                Kwame Brown's contribution to an NBA team is roughly equivalent to Leroy Brown's contribution to the whole damn town. If you've ever wanted to touch an NBA basketball, then just get tickets under the basket for any game he's in.  He's had more balls bounce off his hands than Jenna Jameson. Roberto Duran is jealous of his hands. Which is why I should be careful about what I say; except Kwame Brown couldn't hit the bell at a hotel lobby.
                His free throw shooting makes Shaquille O'neal look like Reggie Miller. I heard he's trying to get 'AaaairBall' trademarked. In a game of Horse he looks like Big Brown in the Belmont. If I ever played him, I'd spot him the 'W'.

               If they put out a DVD about Kwame Brown, the plays that went right would have to be in the 'Bonus Features.' 

                And Joe Dumars signed him. After he had so publicly failed with Darko Milicic. Now Dumars must really be a guy who doesn't read the papers. He has no regard for public opinion. Maybe he's having a flashback and is still trying to shadow Michael Jordan, the GM stiff who plucked K. Brown with the FIRST PICK of the draft. Jordan did call Dumars the best guy who ever guarded him....

So Favre Away?

     Brett Favre has provided a curious diversion during the usually "quiet off season."
     Except the off season is never quiet. There's always a MAJOR thing that occupies talk radio and drips over into the mainstream. Who can forget Allen Iverson's infamous summer of 2003 when he faced 70 years beause some racist cops charged him with going into a home he paid the rent on to look for his wife? Real compelling stuff, especially if you're old enough to remember 'Roots'.
     And who can forget where they were when Kobe Bryant's McDonaldized reputation became the summer smash of '04? I still get a chuckle thinking about the T SHIRTS Eagleton Police had made up with Kobe portrayed as the 'Hangman' icon. 
      The Favre story has become '08's sensation. People who make a point of shopping on sundays in the fall and winter know the story of the NFL superstar treating retirement the way a boxer does while his ditzy bosses pretend the decisions they make are the reason teams win.
       If you could have the QB who led YOUR team to the NFC championship a year ago, would you turn him down because there was a guy who had played like 5 games that you wanted to get in there?
       But somehow people have managed to portray Favre as the bad guy for retiring and then wanting to come back. Like playing for 18 years instead of 16 doesn't mean that it's still going to be about 40 or 50 years that he doesn't play football.
      So I can't mob on him because he still wants in. If I'm all Scrabble crazy in 2006, and then I don't play for a while, I still have the right to pick it up when I want to. Especially if I'm one of the top 10 players in a 30 team league.
       Packer GM Ted Thompson is the idiot here. Let's not forget it's his job to put the best team on the field.  At quarterback, that would Brett Favre.
        Who knew Science Fiction would make such great summer entertainment?

Just the Fight, Man

          I shelled out the cash for the Cotto-Margarito fight and I ended up with the bargain of the year because that fight kicked MY ass. The first few rounds had Cotto slamming Margarito to the point of where he looked like he was doing a sort of rope-a-dope, waiting for him to come in hard and then just wailing on him. What he didn't count on was Margarito being like a big relentless machine with no regard for physical discomfort or even temporary embarrassment.  As with all the best fights, by the end I was fantasizing about hitting the speed bag, chasing chickens and shit.
          But the thing that bugs me is how every fight has to have this nationalistic/ethnic component to it. Margarito's the Mexican so he's gonna be tough and put the pressure on. Cotto's a Puerto Rican so he's gonna be tough.. and the sterotype about Puerto Rican fighters. To me it's like HBO is missing out on 75% of the demographic by making it some kind of racial Last Fighter Standing:Caveman Edition.
          Enough of that shit already. I'm trying to find out who's the hardest, not who's country is the hardest. Plus it seems like the people most gunhoe about that shit are the wackest fuhmuckas in their country. It's like Mark Madsen thinking he's better than Elton Brand because he's got a ring.
          If Cotto had won the fight, some Puerto Rican wouldn't be a harder Puerto Rican.These fighters are some of the hardest PEOPLE in the world, and we spend our time acting like some water in Vieques is different than the water in Chihuahua.

         If I can't forget about the troubles around the world when I'm trying to watch two folks agreeingly beat each other up, when can I? Is there some way around promoting boxing by highlighting the racial, ethnic and country aspects? Or is that what fuels our bloodlust?

Lakers Are Nuts to Think Artest

  The Lakers got punked in the recent NBA finals, but a trade involving Lamar Odom for Ron Artest would be like trading Sade for Amy Whinehouse. Yeah, you wish for more, but you're not gonna pay for someone who might not show up.

  Does anyone remember the Lakers' Dennis Rodman experiment?. They won 10 in a row, then he went downhill and that's the last Rodman's been reported on without the aid of a helicopter.

  Artest is tickets, not rings. He's done all his tripping without ever even being in the Finals. I would never take a chance on him to help me win something like an NBA title. We could start a golf program for kids or something, but at least Odom has a finals beatdown under his belt. 

super bowl 42 3:30 pst

        Pats 42 Giants 21

Kirk Herbstreit Loses All Credibility

                               11-27 spyz

                Regarding Large School college football, anybody  who doesn't believe a playoff is essential to restore American values hasn't really thought about what it is they love about our nation.

                 Kirk Herbstreit is on ESPN, saying that there'll NEVER be a playoff system in college football, and the reality is that he ends up exposing himself for the corporate shill he is; such a whore for the facist companies posing as "leagues" that he's no longer sucking dick, he's actually slobbering on the stain.

                  I mean, c'mon. It's his talking head that can actually play a part in having Div.1 college football become more American.

                People deciding who the best team is compares with Chinese Man vs. the Tank when it comes to what America represents. For anyone, especially someone whose opinion matters, to suggest otherwise, means that they're shilling.