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Carmelo Anthony deserves some accoladesConsidering Carmelo Anthony is a NCAA champion who put his team on his back, led the Denver Nuggets to the post season in all three years since he has joined the team, he doesn’t get much recognition for his accomplishments.  This has been a rough year for Carmelo, he got snubbed out of the All-Star game, the 2003 NBA Draft is being known now as the Lebron/Wade draft rather than the Lebron/Carmelo (let’s laugh at Darko) draft, and Lebron is getting all the attention for MVP consideration.  Lebron is leading the Cavs to the Playoffs for the very first time this year in a much weaker Eastern Conference, while Carmelo has led the Nuggets into the post-season for three consecutive years in the much tougher Western Conference.  If you need anymore proof of which conference is stronger, the New York Knicks were in the playoffs in 2004.  For the entire duration of his career, Carmelo has done this without a remotely decent two-guard, and now with banged up front court.  Nene has been out since opening night, Kenyon Martin is a shell of the player he once was, and Marcus Camby is always good to miss at least 10 games a year.  Yeah I’ve kept this bottled up for a long time, but it had to come out now that the Lebron James for MVP debate is raging on right now.


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Alex Ovechkin goes into the record books by scoring 100 pointsAlex Ovechkin scored the game winning goal for the Capitals last night in OT and made history at the same time by scoring 100 points in the season.  With 49 goals scored this season and four games left to play, Ovechkin has a chance to join Teemu Selanne as the only NHL rookies to score 50 goals and 100 points in their season.  With 100 points, he is joining a list of greats including Joe Juneau, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.  Ovechkin was the #1 overall pick in the 2004 draft but is debuting this year because of last year’s season long lock-out.  Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby have been rookie sensations and have generated a little bit of new life into the NHL.


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Sorry Troy, your not even the third best Cowboy analyst, your behind Daryl Johnston and Michael IrvinThe 27th Annual Sports Emmy Award nominations were announced last week and I wanted to share the news about the deserving nominees.

The nominees for Studio Host are:
James Brown, FOX
Rich Eisen,  NFL Network and CBS
Bryant Gumbel, HBO
John Saunders, ABC and ESPN

Play-by-Play:
Joe Buck, FOX
Keith Jackson, ABC
Jim Lampley, HBO
Al Michaels,  ABC
Jim Nantz, ,CBS

Sports event analyst: Or what I would like to call, the reasons why many people mute their televisions while they watch the game. (I am not referring to Johnny Miller, I don’t watch golf)
Troy Aikman, FOX (states the obvious many times)
John Madden, ABC (once good but getting senile)
Tim McCarver, FOX (once good but getting senile, blatant Yankee fan angering Red Sox fans, also used for Deion Sanders NLCS championship target practice)
Johnny Miller, NBC
Joe Morgan, ESPN (many people do not like him, I even once saw that their was a website dedicated to getting him off Sunday night baseball)


Brett Favre still doesn't know what he wants to doA number of fans have been criticizing Brett Favre for his indecision whether to retire or return to Green Bay for another season.  Others see his actions as selfish and he is essentially holding his team hostage, because they cannot make major personnel decisions - including whether to draft a quarterback - until they get the Favre situation squared away.  I am not one of the people who feel this way.  It looks to me that the Green Bay Packer organization is looking to rebuild, and they are not going for the big-time free agents in order to win now.  Favre doesn’t deserve to be criticized, he just wants to go on top just like John Elway did.  Favre has never demanded a trade or has given the team an ultimatum, he is just confused regarding the direction of the team.  We see this all the time in the NBA, the star player is unhappy, forces the teams hand and trades him away for .50 cents on the dollar, sometimes even less.  Look at the Vince Carter trade to the New Jersey Nets, the Raptors got nothing in return for the guy.  Favre tried to be too polite and not step on anyone’s toes by not criticizing the organization but the time for that has past and now he is being blasted for his indecisiveness.  Favre earned the right and should be able to go out on his own terms, even though he is not the player he once was.


Phil Mickelson wins the green jacketPhil Mickelson won his third major (2 Masters ‘04, ‘06, PGA ‘05) of his career, firmly putting to rest the notion of being the solid player who can’t win the big one.  After his dramatic ‘04 Masters win, where it seemed like everyone was pulling for Mickelson, this year’s Masters was more about not making mistakes and not letting anyone else catch up with Micekelson, another words it was a snooze-fest.  Mickelson can now be known as the guy who is 3-9 in majors since 2004, opposed to being the guy who was 0-42 prior to his win in ‘04.


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Chicago Cubs win 8-4 and sweep the St. Louis CardinalsThis may very well be the year the Chicago Cubs turn the NL Central into a two team race.  For the last couple years, the St. Louis Cardinals have dominated the division, making the old rivalry a one-sided affair.  Yesterday’s game the Cubs made their comeback in the eighth inning, and did most of their damage by Michael Barrett’s grand-slam off of closer Jason Isringhausen.  This is what is great about baseball, with the power of hindsight, we can second guess Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa, and ask why wasn’t Braden Looper or a different reliever wasn’t in the game to start the eighth inning?  Isringhausen was not close to the plate the entire outing but was expected to record a six-out save.  Izzy though was well rested having not pitched the last couple of days.


LeBron James New Jersey Nets win streakNew Jersey Nets win streak meet LeBron James.  He’s a pretty good baller, isn’t he?  The Nets came into their matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a franchise-high (tie) 14 game winning streak, which is not a bad way going into the playoffs that start in a couple of weeks.  However, any plans for 15 consecutive wins were derailed by a surging Cavs team that won 9 of their last 10 games and recently clinched a playoff spot themselves.  And have I mentioned that that LeBron guy is pretty good?  Going into the fourth quarter, the Nets were leading the Cavs 78-72, but then that LeBron person decided to score 18 of his 37 points in the final quarter, effectively putting his team on his back for a 108-102 victory.  Yeah… that LeBron guy is pretty good.  Don’t be surprised if these two teams meet again during the playoffs because they’re both peaking at the right time.


KobeQuick, stop the presses!  Kobe Bryant scored a ton of points again!  This time, 51 points versus the Phoenix Suns!  And guess what?  The Los Angeles Lakers STILL lost!  Surprise, surprise, surprise.  It’s obvious that Bryant either a) has never met a shot he didn’t want to go Terminator on and shoot it or b) he needs a better wing-man… is Maverick or Iceman available?  Seriously, Lamar Odom this is an open challenge to you for the rest of this season and for next - step up.  No, I’m not talking about your game because it’s widely known and chronicled that you got, as Tim Hardaway would say, “skeelz.”  No, step up to Kobe and say that he needs to share the ball more for the team to be more successful and diverse. As or right now, your Lakers have a slim lead for the final playoff spot in the West over the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets.  I’m thinking you’ll make the playoffs.  However, I’d expect a first round elimination since your potential playoff opponents know the basic formula - let Kobe get his points, let him shut every one of his own teammates out by taking a ton of shots or holding the rock too long trying to create a shot for himself, and they’ll win.  You’ll probably go up against the defending NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs, so it’ll be a quick exit and entrance to playing golf again.  However, Lamar, it doesn’t have to be a fruitless playoff series.  You can always ask Tony Parker if his girlfriend, Eva Longoria, has a sister.


DescriptionDescriptionTwo of the better rookie pitchers from the 2005 MLB season matched up on Friday night at Safeco Field.  Pitching phenom, “King” Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners played host to the Oakland Athletics and opposing pitcher, Joe Blanton.  This matchup of very good young pitchers did not disappoint as King Felix went five innings, giving up a paltry two hits and one run while walking and striking out four.  Due to a strict pitch count for the youngster, Hernandez did not go further than the fifth inning after which he totaled 100 pitches.  Blanton however, not only pitched three more innings, but he threw less total pitches.  Blanton went eight frames, throwing a total of 98 pitches, giving up only two hits, one walk, and six punchouts.  The Athletics won the game 5-0 as Hernandez’ replacement, Julio Mateo gave up four earned runs in 2.1 IP.  Look for this matchup between the youngsters to continue in the next few seasons, which is only enhanced by the fact that the A’s and Mariners are in the same division.


Chauncey Billups comes from a strong gene poolAfter watching the Detroit Pistons versus Miami Heat match-up last night, I learned an interesting fact about PG Chauncey Billups.  He is actually related to potential first round draft pick running back Lendale White from USC.  That is some scary talent in their family’s gene pool.  The most potent family duo has to be Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady; they must have just destroyed their friends and kids in the park when they were youngsters.  After watching the NCAA tournament and seeing a number of impact players being second generation stars, such as Joakim Noah be the best player in the tournament, his dad is ex-tennis star Yannick Noah.  Joakim’s Florida teammate,  Taurean Green is also a second generation basketball player, his dad is ex-NBA player Sidney Green.  For all you aspiring ball players, if you find yourself falling short on the playground, I feel for you - maybe you just weren’t born with it.


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