Mr. Diva

Given my feelings about Mr. Diva, I just have to share this

Better Late than Never

I went to Vegas on All Star weekend. So I'd thought I'd share some of my observations:

• Shaq ain't fat
• Scottie Pippen appears to be slightly anorexic
• Ciara LOVES Reggie Bush
• Reggie Bush had more fun dancing with his boys than he did with Ciara
• Charles Oakley at the craps tables at Caesars
• Nas rocked the mic at Tryst (I almost got thrown out the club by trying to reach out and touch the back of his head)
• "Hip Hop is Dead" is my new favorite song
• Bill Laimbeer and I partied at Tao. I didn't know he enjoyed clubbing.
• Oprah's friend Gayle coming into Tryst at 2:30 am (shouldn't her old self be in bed by then?)
• Willis McGahee walking back and forth through the Wynn by himself, then later walked by with some floozy trailing behind him. (I talked to my girl about his baby momma situation).
  
• Walking down the strip with the unmistakeable smell of ganja in the air
• Hanging out at the Wynn at 4 am, I could've sworn I was at Greektown Casino in Detroit. There were a ton of black folk assembled. My friends and I laughed at the poor European travelers who did not know they chose "The Black Super Bowl" Weekend to visit Vegas. They were in culture shock ... it was Ghetto Fab.
  

Read the Sports Guy for more All Star musings.
Jason Whitlock always has something interesting to say.
And don't forget to check here.

Big Ben's return

Yesterday, Big Ben Wallace made his first trip to the Palace as a Chicago Bull. My Detroit peeps booed him mercilessly ... as well they should have. Detroit fans are passionate and loyal. Ben may have wanted a standing-O but there was none of that in the Palace. Detroit embraced him as their own and put up with his atrocious free throw shooting and offense for 6 years. It was good to see him bricking free throws for the other team.

Now, onto the game .... Chicago is a good young team with decent players. But they are not ready for the big stage yet. With the game on the line, the Pistons did what they do ... hit big shots and play stingy D.

Barring injury, Detroit should be the team to beat in the East. Don't count out Miami though. We know how D. Wade loves the theatrics and I'm sure he'll want to make an epic return after being wheeled off the court. Shaq also wants to show that he can still lead a team. Miami is still the champs and you can never count the champs out of it when they have Shaq & D.Wade.

OSU vs. Wisconsin

I watched the OSU/Wisconsin game yesterday which was quite entertaining. These are 2 teams from the Big Ten ranked 1 & 2 nationally. The thing that stuck out to me about these teams is that they:
A) Play with pride
B) Play with passion
C) Are well coached

Those are three things that my Michigan Wolverines lack. They don't play with pride, passion and are not well coached. Hopefully, we are witnessing the end of the Tommy Amaker era. His Michigan teams have historically underachieved. His Seton Hall teams underachieved. He seems to be a good recruiter as evidenced by the talent on the roster. But he is unable to get the most from his players. None of his players improve from year to year during their tenure at Michigan.

One Oscar Note

Since the Oscars are tonight, and I just have to put in my 2 cents. I haven't seen all of the Best Picture Nominees but I did see Little Miss Sunshine and the Departed .... My Oscar goes to Little Miss Sunshine which is one of the best movies I've seen in a while. The Departed was good, but I don't think it deserved a Best Picture. Personally, I thought Dreamgirls was better ... Jennifer Hudson was fantastic.

A long time ...

For whatever reason, I've been out of the loop for a while. So I got some catching up to do. First things first, everytime I see the video of Dwyane Wade crying and being wheeled off in a wheelchair ... I have to laugh. No, I'm not laughing at his injury or his misfortune ... But I'm laughing because he is such a drama queen and a diva. I believe I wrote about his flair for the dramatic and his diva quirks before. I've seperated/dislocated my shoulder a few times and it is painful. But no one ever wheeled me off in a wheelchair. I can guarantee you that if Chauncey Billups hurt his shoulder, he would not be wheeled off the court.

Shhhh! Don't tell the truth!

Tyrus Thomas has learned quickly that there are few people in the sports world that can get away with telling the truth. He is not one of them. When asked about his participation in the Slam Dunk contest, he repeatedly said that he is "doing it for the money." Poor Tyrus, he was just telling the truth. Competing in the contest will give him a little bonus money but you're not supposed to tell people that is the reason you're doing it. You're supposed to say something like, "I am representing the Bulls and it would be an honor ..." Instead, he told the truth and the Bulls fined him $10K! Few guys in the sports world can be honest and it not come back to bite them in the behind ... namely Barkley. Check out Sam Smith's column on Thomas.

The word is OUT!

Looks like the fabulous John Amaechi is coming out of the closet in one of the worst kept secrets in the sports world. Aparently, it has been an "open secret" for years. Maybe this is why he disappeared from the NBA. Do you even remember John Amaechi? I remember him at Penn State and I remember that he had a good season or 2 in Orlando. I also remember that he turned down a big contract to play with the Lakers instead he opted to play with the Jazz ... My lasting thoughts on him is that a good friend of mine had a crush on him. She was attracted to the fact that he enjoyed poetry, opera and a good cup of tea. At the time, we just thought it was a Euro - Metrosexual thing but I guess not ... Check out the posts on thebiglead.com and deadspin.com for more info.

???

Question: Who is the worst coach in the NBA?
Answer: Mike Brown, Cleveland

Cleveland had a lot of promise heading into this season but they need a coach who can take them there. Mike Brown is not getting it done.

D-Wade

24 free throw attempts the other night for Dwyane Wade against the Cavs. The NBA is becoming a joke and Wade is a super diva. He loves to fall all over the court and act like he's hurt. Opponents can't even breathe on him without a foul being called. Nobody in the NBA can guard him because that's how the NBA treats its divas.