Rants and Ranks

I don't know what to think.  My all time favorite band released a new single , quite frankly, I'm not digging it.  We've all had this scenario where our band of choice shows their new stuff and we go, "Ew, I'm not sure where I'm liking where they are headed."  Normally I wouldn't be so concerned because Heavyweight, the first single from the last album Curve, wasn't a knockout by any means.  In fact, it may be one of my least favorite songs on that CD.  But, they just lost their original drummer, Jeremy Taggart as well.  Speculation is running wild that he left due to creative differences.  And after hearing Won't Turn Back, I wouldn't blame him.  If this does set the tone for the new album direction, then I suppose you can count me out.  Again, this is all rumor at this point, the dude may have just been burnt out and ready for a change.  (CM Punk anyone?) The OLP cynics can just use this for more fuel for their fire.  When O...

Seriously I'm shocked.  I still thought Miami was the front-runners for the LBJ Sweepstakes Part II.  I mean really, should he stayed they would have got nice additions in free agency like they did 3 of the 4 years he was there.  Unfortunately for Miami, Wade, Riley, and Heat fans everywhere, the year they didn't add anyone was the year they got stomped by the Spurs right before he could opt-out. On paper the Cleveland team looked promising.  But we also said that before last year, and they didn't even make the playoffs in the less than appealing Eastern Conference. Allegedly Dion Waiters and Kyrie Irving hate each other, Bennett disappointed big time, and Luol Deng couldn't wait to leave the moment he was traded there.  Can LeBron fix all that? If you're wining, I would assume that would shut up both Kyrie and Dion. If not, I'm sure LeBron could just say "see ya" to one of them, and they would be gone the next day.  One would reasonably assume it ...

I had been throwing out my draft lottery remixes for the past few months, enjoying writing with a hindsight of 20/20 about how NBA draft lotteries should have played out.  My initial interest in doing this was from a SLAM magazine from nearly ten years ago talking about my beloved '96 draft. They redid the draft on how it should have went.  I thought that was a cool concept.  I highly doubt SLAM was the first to do this, but it was the first I had ever seen.  Bill Simmons frequently makes mention "if player X was drafted knowing what we know now, he would have went first," or "player Y would have been a late first-round pick instead of a lottery pick if...".  So it got me thinking about ranking them myself.  It would help me remember players I forgot, remind me how "blank" used to be good before he declined drastically and we forgot he was good in the first place.  Etc. etc. etc. Well Mr. Simmons one upped me by redoing every d...

I'm sure you're wondering what the title means.  Not too long ago I was listening to something that specifically pointed out that the wrestling quality in WWE from Summerslam 2002 through Wrestlemania XIX in March 2003 was arguably the greatest stretch of in-ring product WWE has ever produced.   I knew that that general era in WWE was good, but I never really looked at it using those bookends.  The more I thought about it, the more true it seemed.  Why was this the case? Was it a random series of events?  Did WWE finally get their heads out of their asses?  When I look back, it all makes perfect sense so I'm going to recap it for anyone who wasn't  watching, or just forgot.  If your a fan of good wrestling, odds are you remember a few of these matches quite fondly.  First we need the back story.  courtesy: wwe.com A ton of things happened in '02.  Hulk and the nWo returned.  Triple H returned from his qua...

Lottery: Definitely not worthy of the first pick.  1. Pervis Ellison 2. Danny Ferry 3. Sean Elliott 4. Glen Rice 5. J.R. Reid 6. Stacey King 7. George McCloud 8. Randy White 9. Tom Hammonds 10. Pooh Richardson 11. Nick Anderson 12. Mookie Blaylock 13. Michael Smith Remixed: 1. Tim Hardaway (14) 2. Shawn Kemp (17) 3. Glen Rice (4) 4. Vlade Divac (26) 5. Cliff Robinson (36) 6. Sean Elliott (3) 7. Mookie Blaylock (12) 8. B.J. Armstrong (18) 9. Nick Anderson (11) 10. Dana Barros (16) 11. Pervis Ellison (1) 12. Pooh Richardson (10) 13. Sherman Douglas (28) Some pretty iconic players from the 90's were draft this year.  Not too many people didn't love Shawn Kemp in mid-90's, myself included.  I loved watching that guy dunk.  For any younger readers, he was like Blake Griffin is today, but maybe even better.  Vlade was one of the first really successful European players in the NBA, who is most known now for being traded for Kobe on d...

The Spurs just capped off their 5th title win.  Not only did the beat the Heat, they did so in an impressive 4-1 fashion.  (3 of those wins were in spectacular fashion.) It was truly "the team vs. the player" series, and in this case the team won.  No sane person will deny LeBron's skills, even if you hate him.  He gave it his best, just his teammates fell up short.  Wade is... well if LeBron wasn't his teammate it's scary to think just how bad he would look.  Wade looks old now, and he's not even the focal point of the team!  Bosh was far and away the Heat's second best player, yet probably will never be recognized as such. After the Heat's disappointing 2011 loss to the Mavs they added Shane Battier to the mix, which paid off in the Finals.  Even after the 2012 win, they added Ray Allen the next off-season, who saved their ass in 2013 Finals.  What did they do in the 2013 off-season to spice up the bench?  Nothing.  Addi...