Rants and Ranks

There was serious player movement this offseason; some that could drastically change the landscape of the NBA.  I'm going to break down the major moves, and talk about the probable playoff teams more so than the little moves that no one cares about anyway. EAST Brooklyn Nets: With the exception of the Hawks, (ironically involved in one of their big trades) the Nets are the most overhauled team this offseason.  On paper it looks pretty good.  You could argue that the Williams/Johnson backcourt is one of the best in the NBA, but until Deron decides to be a true leader and not just a talented player, the Nets will probably be somewhere in the middle of the Eastern Conference- which is a hell of a lot better than where they were the last few seasons.  Still, Reggie Evans was a nice role-player addition to back up Kris Humphries-Kardashian, and if Andray Blatche ever figures it out, he could take Brook Lopez's starting Center spot. Philly 76ers: They turned Iguadala...

After blasting ROH's current product recently, I felt somewhat guilty and decided that I should also point out its rich and wonderful history. These are the matches (and the show in italics) that are unanimously praised as the classics of ROH: Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi - Joe vs. Kobashi <A HREF="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_ssw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fonthveofvi-20%2F8003%2F06e18f91-ba6b-4381-a2f6-558b2334a8b2&Operation=NoScript">Amazon.com Widgets</A> CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe - World Title Classic CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe - Joe vs. Punk II CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe - All Star Extravaganza II Bryan Danielson vs. Paul London 2/3 Falls - The Epic Encounter Christopher Dani...

It's been pretty easy to watch a WWE PPV the last decade and think, "Man that sucked."  Or, "With the exception of 'X' match, that PPV was terrible."  Well the first time that I truly thought, and believed it was true, was Summerslam '05.  Here's a little background on my opinions before I review the card itself.  Yes, I had been disappointed in PPV's in the past, but never thought of the shows as "total crap".  And since this is Summerslam, (my favorite PPV of the year), I was pretty excited for this show for a couple a reasons I will get to later.  Another thing to keep in mind is that I was really getting into TNA at this point.  Before you laugh, remember 2005 TNA was at its peak , and I thought AJ Styles was the most incredible athlete I had ever seen.  So I went to my cousin's house early that day and we watched TNA's PPV "Sacrifice" from the week before.  I got my first glimpse of a young upstart name...

Lawler going down this past Monday got me thinking about all the commentators WWE has had, and man there has been some bad ones.  I would say more bad than good actually. Lord Alfred Hayes Michael Cole (major emphasis on the heel version) Booker T Ernest Miller Mike Adamle Vince McMahon Honorable Mention goes to Todd Pettengill, who not technically was an announcer, but a giant turd nonetheless.  WCW had Dusty Rhodes who may very well be at the top of the list.  Larry Zbyszko has an annoying voice, and seemed to be pissed off the whole time he was commentating.  Bischoff was crap, and towards the end they had some fatty named Mark Madden who was very annoying as well.  Don West in TNA was just plain ridiculous as well.  So there you have it, and that's a LOT of bad.  UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE!