Tag Archive: basketball

Ladies and Gentlemen, I Present –

December 19, 2012 thewolfman

The Jets

The Jets have to be the most stubborn and stupid football organization on the planet right now. You have arguably one of the most popular football players on your team, you are OUT of the playoffs, and yet you announce that you are going to start your third string quarterback instead. Well congratulations Jets, you just made me feel sorry for Tim Tebow – and I honestly did not think that was even possible.

(Maybe I am just feeling sentimental since according to my father’s meticulous research and Ancestry.com we may be related. Keep your head up Cousin Timmy!)

Look, I am pretty stubborn. In Vanuatu they have a saying in Bislama for folks like me – Strong Head. I hate to be wrong, but what I hate more than being wrong is admitting I’m wrong. Sometimes, however, you just have to do it. Once you sail your ship into the rocks there is no point in keeping up the sails.

Why even have Tebow on your team if you were never going to use him? Sell a few jerseys? You would sell a LOT more if you let him run around on the field a bit.

But I digress.

Dwight Howard 

Let’s rant about another one of my favorite subjects for a bit – Dwight Howard. Our friend Dwight is of course a horrendous free throw shooter. Our friend Steve Nash is, of course, an immaculate free throw shooter. So one would expect that if Steve Nash offered to help Dwight Howard shoot free throws, he would welcome that advice with open arms, right? Right Dwight? Dwight really? Come in Dwight…

Here is the quote from ESPN:

Toward the end of shootaround Friday, Los Angeles Lakers guard Steve Nash approached Dwight Howard and offered up a couple of tips on how to shoot free throws.

Though Howard is shooting just 46.9 percent from the foul line this season while Nash is tied with Mark Price for the best free throw percentage in NBA history at 90.4 percent, the Lakers center said that he’s had enough of people giving him advice.

“Listen, he was just suggesting some things but it’s not something that we’ve already talked about or anybody else has suggested,” Howard said. “My mind cannot get clouded with everybody telling me how to shoot a free throw. I just have to go up there and shoot it my way and not get caught up in what everybody else is saying, because that’s when I miss.”

We wouldn’t want that mind to get too clouded now would we? Seriously, that ESPN article sounds like something from the Onion.

Till next time.

1 Comment

Basketball and Soccer, a European’s Dream…

June 22, 2011 Randy Neil

It’s so hard (cue Boyz II Men) to say goodbye, to Ig-uo-da-laaaaaaaaaa. Sadly, it appears as though this summer will be the last spent with Andre. With the NBA Draft starting tomorrow, rumors are flying all over the place about that man’s destination. The Clippers, the Warriors, even the Lakers??

I, for one, am going to be sad to see him go. Sure, he was never the clutch, high-flying star we all wanted him to be, but he did give you a healthy amount of assists almost every night and played great defense. Was it a mistake to throw super-star money at him and give him the role of leading the team? Of course. Andre Iguodala would show signs of great athleticism every once in a while, but it’s hard to say why it never lasted.

Do I think Andre Iguodala wanted to be the superstar of this team? At times I did. When I saw him in Reebok commercials flashing jewelry I did. When I saw him make a miracle 3-pointer at the end of a regular season game I did. When I saw him play injured throughout the playoffs I did. I don’t know what made him so timid at the end of games when everyone was staring at him to do something. I honestly will never know.

Iguodala was given a role he never fulfilled, and now, hopefully, some other team can absorb his huge salary and give him the role he’s suited for. Maybe he’ll be happier now that the pressure is off. Lord knows he’ll give some nasty dishes to Blake Griffin. So the question is : What do we get in return?

The 76ers have 2 picks in the draft, and both of them practically mean nothing. Aside from several potential picks declining to work out for our crew, the #16 and #50 picks don’t really offer anything to get excited about anyway. There are talks about Monta Ellis coming to Philly with a trade for Iguodala, but there are also rumors about Ellis being traded to Orlando for Dwight Howard, and that’s just plain not gonna happen.

The 76ers are still in talks of selling the team as well. Jim Thorn, the current owner, has already had several talks with “leveraged-buyout specialist” Joshua Harris and their New York affiliates. It looks like it’s going to happen. Not much will change though. Doug Collins is still an amazing coach. We still have an amazing core of young talent that is dangerously close to their prime. We just might not have our “superstar” with us. (single tear.)

It also appears that as lazy Americans, our time to start caring about soccer is approaching. The CONCACAF Gold Cup is down to 4 teams, and the U.S. is one of them! Tonight, we have our semifinal matchup against Panama (Carlos Ruiz’s homeland) to advance to the Finals.

Panama barely made it to the semifinals. After trailing 0-1 throughout most of the quarterfinals game, Panama was able to score in the 87th minute sending the game into overtime, where they eventually won on penalty kicks. I remember reading about that a few days ago and thinking how deflating that must be as the other team. Proving my point even more, I didn’t even bother to remember the name of the losing country or look them up now even though I have resources at my fingertips. I just can’t fathom running around for 85 minutes straight, dominating a game with victory so readily in front of me, and then in the closing minutes having that all stripped away. Aside from maybe throwing an unwarranted interception on 3rd down when your team is minutes away from going to the Superbowl (see Favre, Brett), there are few things that beat that. Especially when you are representing your country.

The important thing to note here is that the U.S. has only lost once in this entire tournament, and it was at the hands of Panama. This is going to be a daunting task for our team. Panama has been knocked out of the Gold Cup the past 3 years by the United States, so saying they’re pissed at us would be an understatement. It should be a great game tonight.

If we make it past Panama, the winner of Mexico v. Honduras will be waiting for us. It’s most likely going to be Mexico. What am I saying? It IS going to be Mexico. They have won this thing 14 times. We have been in the CONCACAF Gold Cup Finals the past 3 years and lost every one to Mexico.

That’s why I’m strongly recommend our amateur soccer fans to watch tonight’s game, as it offers a much higher probability of victory. That’s all we want anyway right? A United States soccer victory. You’ll get a chance to see Clint Dempsey do the John Cena “You can’t see me!!” hand shake over his face after scoring a goal!

Alright gang, until next week….

Comment

The March Madness Bracket Competition

March 18, 2011 Randy Neil

We’ve decided to have a little wager here at theheadrush.com, and when I say little I mean it’s friggin tiny.

$5

But it’s more than a monetary value! It’s about pride, respect, and utter humiliation! Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to update the site with scores of our bracket pick’em group at Yahoo!. You can visit the actual bracket here :

http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/group/167823

Come! Gaze at the amazement of process of elimination! Someone has to be the winner!!

Also, I do want to point out the irony of St.John’s tonight. They spent the whole regular season being the upset for every ranked team, and then they, in turn, were upset. And that is upsetting.

Oh well, BRING THE NOISE GENTLEMEN!!

Comment

Sippin’ on Haterade: Kevin Garnett.

February 1, 2011 Randy Neil

Nothing’s worse than watching one of the dirtiest players in the NBA be met with success and granted immunity from fines. I’ve been a fan of pro basketball for a mere 3 years now, and even to a novice like me, it’s still apparent that aside from the bad-guy-turned-good Ron Artest, Kevin Garnett truly is the dirtiest player in the game.

I remember watching his 2008 NBA Finals and the one thing that stood out was how insane he sounded immediately after winning the championships. He went on a somewhat insane tirade screaming “Anything is Possible!!” repeatedly, which is now his signature trade mark. The only thing I thought of at the time, upon seeing this, was : “Did Kevin Garnett take some acid?”

But hey, you can’t fault a man for being a little crazy after winning the culmination of his entire’s life work, especially after attempting it for a meager 13 years.

What you can fault a man for is being a complete douche to not only other players, but fans, and mainly, helpless little children.

There was a story I just read about Garnett stating “You have a better chance of catching Bin-Laden” when a ball-boy asked him for an autograph. Julius Irving would slap the shit out of you. You think that kid wants to grow up and later try to use this story as something interesting to reference while hitting on a girl? “Hey, so, yea, I used to be a ball boy for the Lakers, it was great. One day Kevin Garnett, theeeee Big Ticket, told me to go fuck myself.”

Then, a few days ago, Garnett was ejected from a game for punching Channing Frye in the balls as he pulled up for a jump shot. Twice. Jesus Kevin, why don’t you just stick your feet under the shooter so when he lands, it’s on your feet and he may break or twist his ankle or something? Oh that’s right, you did that too.

He was not fined for this, by the way.

Earlier this year, there was an incident between Garnett and fellow player Charlie Villanueva. Villanueva has a disease which causes him to lose all of his hair, on his entire body. It’s not a pleasant sight, but still, Garnett was apparently trash talking on the court during a game saying he had cancer. The man called Villanueva a cancer patient.

Of course, this got swept under the rug too, and the best part was the press-release Garnett issued in his defense. He claimed that he said he was “cancerous to his team and the league.” Right. That sounds much better to a man with no hair. That also sounds incredibly feasible. Don’t basketball players articulate like that while talking shit in the heat of a game?

“Good sir, there is no peril I feel greater than the contact you so adequately present to other players in this league. Your contribution, both detrimental and foul can only be considered that of cancer.”

What’s even worse, his wife is super hot. So hot, she was voted #1 in hottest basketball wives. Curse you Garnett. Curse your soul, and the filth inside it. You set a poor example for children, and they could be following someone better… like… Kobe Bryant. Oooor Lebron James. Or Paul Gasol. Or, maybe just Dwayne Wade, he hasn’t done anything bad in a while.

HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE

1 Comment