Rants and Ranks

It was the summer of 1996.  I was 10 years old.  Michael Jordan had just completed his first full season since returning from his hiatus.  The Bulls had won a then-record 72 games on the way to the championship.  They beat the Seattle Sonics lead by the best dunker in the NBA, Shawn Kemp, and of course “The Glove” Gary Payton.  The Sonics had beaten the reigning two-time champion Houston Rockets in the second round.  The Rockets would soon retool by adding Charles Barkley in hope to regain their championship pedigree.  The Bulls biggest threat was seemingly the Orlando Magic, who knocked them out of the playoffs the previous year.  They met for a final showdown in the Eastern Conference Finals.  Orlando however came in limping with multiple injuries to key role players like Horace Grant.  Shaq and Penny had somehow had even better seasons than the year before when they shockingly made it to the Finals, only to be swept by the Rockets....

All stats are from players' Lakers tenure Kobe Bryant : 1346 games, 1 MVP, 5 Championships, 16 Laker Records, Top 10 in 19 other categories Magic Johnson : 906 games, 3 MVP's, 5 Championships, Hall of Fame, 8 Laker Records Top 10 in 29 other categories Kareem Abdul-Jabbar : 1093 games, 2 MVP's, 5 Championships, Hall of Fame, 5 Laker Records, Top 10 in 30 other categories Jerry West : 932 games, 1 Championships, Hall of Fame, 1 Laker Record, Top 10 in 20 other categories Elgin Baylor : 846 Games, Hall of Fame, 2 Laker Records, Top 10 in 19 other categories Shaquille O'Neal : 1 MVP, 3 Championships, Hall of Fame, 1 Laker Record, Top 10 in 34 other categories George Mikan : 5 Championships, Hall of Fame, 1 Laker Record, Top 10 in 8 other categories Wilt Chamberlain : 1 Championship, Hall of Fame, 6 Laker Records, Top 10 in 5 other categories James Worthy : 926 games, 3 Championships, Hall of Fame, Top 10 ...

WrestleMania weekend has now come and gone.  Top to bottom, it was a really enjoyable show.  The main event left a whole lot to be desired, but there was enough fun stuff throughout the show to cancel out the Triple H main event.  (Are we sure it's not 2003?)   This was initially going to be a WrestleMania wrap-up blog, but I'm not really feeling that.  I want to write about the thing that has the most buzz.  It was the thing that I was most excited about when I saw the card a few months back (Due to the spoilers of it being a taped show; I'm not complaining though). NXT Takeover: Dallas was the best NXT show yet, and that my friends is saying something.   Austin Aries came out on a NXT taping the weekend of the Royal Rumble. This was fantastic news for me, and pretty much anyone else who watches NXT.  This was before the rumored NJPW guys came aboard.  So in my mind, even if those rumors were false, Aries is a pretty damn good c...