Thought #1

Just like the boy who cried wolf, sometimes you see a headline flash across the news screen so often, you barely take notice of it each time you see it. That's probably why when the news that the University of Kentucky was being investigated by the NCAA for violatons involving former player Eric Bledsoe crossed the bottom line last night, I barely took notice. After all this is kind of what we assumed John Calipari would do right?

John is proving yet again that he is the NCAA's version of a shady used car salesman. He's the master of taking a clunker of a program, throwing some sweet rims on it, tweaking the engine a bit, and slapping on a $200 paint job. Sure that thing looks great at first and it takes off like a jet from the lot, but the problem is, it never quite gets your to your destination. You might even get so close that you can see where you want to be, but that's about the time you're going to smell something funny, followed by a grinding sound, just before the cab fills up with smoke. Just when you think it can't get any worse than standing on the side of the road, just minutes away from where you want to be, the cops roll up. Uh-oh, turns out Johnny's used cars are rocking stolen rims and illegal tags. Of course as the cops go to question him Johnny's already split for the Mexico border, leaving you to deal with this whole mess. Thank you John.

That's what John does with programs, gets them off to a hot start, breaks a dozen or so rules, comes up short of winning the title, and then splits town leaving the school to pick up the pieces and clean up his mess. With that said, looks like John's almost to the splitting town phase of operation KU, just in time to nab a sweet job in the NBA before the free agency season starts.

Thought #2

I know I've said this before, but umpires are a lot like toilets. I want to do their jobs, do them well, and make very little noise. Think about it, anytime your toilet is making noise, its a bad thing. Anytime you find yourself in a conversation involving your toilet, it's bad news. Likewise anytime you find yourself talking about an umpire, it's never anything good.

Major League ump Joe West was brought in many conversations this past week, and as is the norm, it was not for anything good. This time Joe was being talked about after being fined an undisclosed amount of money by the league after his publicist made his schedule public.

Now if there was any doubt that West is the most narcissistic official in professional sports, the fact he has a publicist alone should clear that up. Not to mention his constant standing up of mangers and players, his ridiculous comments regarding the games, or his attempts to become the next Kenny Chesney.

I'm just not sure Joe gets it. Umps should be seen and not heard. When an ump does his job perfectly, just like a toilet, it will never be the topic of conversation. If we are talking about him at all it's not a good thing, it's because he has done something asinine.

Now he can keep stomping around like a WWE star out there all on the field all he wants, he can keep talking trash about teams and players to reporters, and he can keep trying to pimp himself to us as cowboy folk singer, but the bottom line is, it's only going to make us hate him more.

Come on Joe, that can't be good for CD sales. Maybe you should rethink hiring whoever this publicist is, they don't seem to be doing you any favors lately. They should be advising you to lay low, chill out, and try to rock that cowboy hat and sleeveless shirt look, I hear that's in this summer.

Thought #3

I never thought the day would come where I, as a Celtics fan would say this, but; Thank you Nate Robinson. Last night Nate moved from the #150 spot on my list of favorite players to #134.

Nate was crucial to the Celtics effort Friday night, scoring 13 points in a critical second quarter to help Boston take a commanding lead. He always gave a mini sermon before half-time that was pretty impressive.

Now congrats to Nate. That is exactly what he is there to do, pick up the lack and have that occasional ridiculously good game. The fear in the back of my mind is that this could lead to the dreaded Sam Cassell syndrome. You know, when the game after a dude goes off he decides he is the one man wrecking crew and starts trying to back down double teams and lob up fade aways from the corner. That always just ends with a frustrating walk back to the end of the bench.

I hope that Nate remembers he is Nate, quietly returns to the bench, and waits for the opportunity to rise again.