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Snoop Dogg stopped by in a guest appearance on ESPN’s “Around The Horn” with J.A. Adande this afternoon. Snoop weighed in on LeBron James possibly leaving Cleveland to go play for Jay-Z’s soon-to-be-Brooklyn Nets and encouraged the move. Woody Paige offered a spirited rebuttal and said Snoop should leave the show (jokingly)…. Snoop laughed and then left.
It was a brief encounter, but it also showed how much BETTER this show would be if they mixed in personalities other than Jay Mariotti and Woody Paige. Check the video….
“”What a historical moment that was last night. … From an African-American standpoint, I watched my people — watched my people — celebrate the not guilty verdict of O.J. Simpson. They were so hungry for a victory of some kind that they celebrated — we celebrated — the verdict of O.J. And I was thinking to myself, ‘Two people are dead. Two people are dead’ Now, I’m not talking about my people, I’m explaining them here. They were just so hungry to say ‘We have a victory.’ And I cringe when I even think about that.
“But last night I watched a celebration. A real celebration. A real celebration, and it was a celebration for everybody, and everybody celebrated, and they kept showing this shot, and I was watching, of this little black girl and this little white girl, just sitting there crying together, and I thought, wow. I thought about Martin Luther King and his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, and I thought about him saying, black kids and white kids playing together. …
“Last night we removed all differences and became just one, and I thought that was a beautiful thing. It was just a beautiful thing. I stood here with my kids, we watched it and we cried and we prayed.”
And in the video below, you’ll see reactions from Tony Dungy, LeBron James, George Karl, Donovan McNabb, Lovie Smith, and Doug Williams.
“Johnson smiled when asked the first thing he did when it was announced Tuesday night just after 8 p.m. in California that Obama had won the presidency.
“Jumped up for joy, we were hollering and screaming,” he said. “And then we started crying. As African-Americans we’ve made great strides. I think what this says is you can really become anything in life you want to become. It’s really a wonderful thing that we can be able to witness this.”
Johnson said he believes Obama is prepared to do the best possible job.
“He’s a motivator. He has a plan,” Johnson said. “One thing Barack can do, he can come in a room, command a room. Everyone will listen to every word.”
The league-wide crusade continues. Today’s NBA report turns our attention to the teams in the meat-and-potatoes Midwest. Here’s what’s on tap this season with the teams that comprise the Eastern Conference’s Central Division:
(33-49) Chicago received the ultimate gift and curse when they locked down the number one pick in the NBA Draft this year. After much debate about Michael Beasley, the team chose to ride with prodigal son Derrick Rose. Pooh will generate some excitement in a town that desperately wants a return to respectability, while getting to play with cool hand Luol Deng. Our favorite ponytail Joakim Noah should have a strong sophomore season, and Ben Gordon will be gunning for his life after holding out so long when his contract negotiations failed to go the way he wanted. The real problem this team faces is that it carries way too many guards. Trying to find enough playing time for them all will be like too many heads trying to smoke one little doobie. It’s just not enough hits to go around. The Bulls will battle for a playoff spot this year but there simply are no guarantees at press time
(59-23) The Detroit Pistons are like Buddy Revell in one of my old school favorites, Three O’Clock High. They clearly are the class bully in the East every year but once they got their bell rang by LeBron for 48 points in 2007, the nerds just aren’t scared of them anymore. Rasheed, Chauncey and Rip remain dangerous, but teams like the Cavs and Bulls know they can beat them on any given night. And the Pistons don’t have enough to punk Boston’s Big Three ensemble even though Jason Maxiel will be in beast mode this year. New coach Michael Curry will put the fire back in the Pistons game but I am not convinced it will be enough to detour a second round playoff exit. And that is not acceptable with all the talent in the Motor City. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been a strong critic of NBA commissioner David Stern over the last few years. There have been a few instances where he totally rubbed me the wrong way, with my major gripe being the infamous dress code forced upon its players. The specific banning of necklaces, chains, pendants, and doo-rags pretty much said “we don’t want our black players to look like black players”, and it pissed me off.
The latest crop of players like Josh Childress, Carlos Delfino and Juan Carlos Navarro leaving the NBA to play overseas has accidentally started a firestorm of interest from top stars like Kobe, LeBron, and Dwayne Wade. LeBron spoke up first by stating he’d be willing to entertain a $50 million dollar deal to jump ship. Kobe followed suit by saying he wouldn’t sign another NBA contract until he tested the global market.
“As players, the business of the game (is) evolving, I think free agency now is becoming a global thing …. When players become free agents, the team they’re currently with – their competition is no longer the rest of the teams in the NBA. But it’s global. So, the market’s opened up. So we’ll just have to see how the league responds to it.”
…..then Wade threw in his two cents…
“They throw 30, 40, 50 million a year at me? I can’t turn that down,” said Heat star Dwyane Wade, a free agent in 2010.
Ba-da-da-pa-paaaaaaaa I’m Lovin It!!!
Kobe is so popular that there is speculation that he will create an international bidding war. Check out this video of Kobe walking through the crowd at the Beijing Olympics, kids are crawling all over themselves just to touch his arm.
Leaving the NBA could potentially turn these men (Kobe and LeBron) into billionaires over time if they play their cards right.
The league-wide crusade continues. Today’s NBA report turns our attention to the teams in the meat-and-potatoes Midwest. Here’s what’s on tap this season with the teams that comprise the Eastern Conference’s Central Division:
