Get Real and thoughts on baseball....

DJ,

Judging by the title of my post you might see that I have some disagreements with your post. I have an issue with the aspect of the playoffs being "predictable." You refer to the 80's and 90's as the "glory days" of basketball. While I don't disagree with you, I feel like the playoffs were more predictable then. In the 90's, the Bulls went every year that Jordan played (much to my heart break, I hate watching that highlight of Jordan spinning around Starks and dunking on Ewing) In the 80's, the Lakers won 5 championships and the Celtics won 3. Call this year predictable with the Lakers and Cavs being picked by pretty much everyone, but you can't say its any more predictable than at least the 90's. Plus, the 2000's have provided plenty of memories of unpredictable momments, here are some:

-The Nets miracle runs in 2002 and 2003 to the Finals. Outside of Jason Kidd, name one player on that Nets team that has "Star" written on him. With that there was the outstanding Eastern Confrence Finals in 2002 between the Nets and Celtics, including Game 4, where Paul Pierce single handedly brough the Celtics back from down 20 in the fourth to win the game.

-The Pistons miracle finals victory over the Lakers in 2004. This team had Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince and Rip Hamilton. Players who are stars now, but whom no one cared about back then, Billups was on his 6th team at this point and seemed destined to be an NBA journeyman. This team overtook a Kobe and Shaq Lakers who had just one 3 championships with the exact same team plus Gary Payton and Karl Malone.

-While one of our friends would hate these next two. First, there's Dwayne Wade, dominating the Mavericks in Game 3 of the Finals as the Mavs were up in the series 2-0, and up 13 in that game with 6 minutes to go. Closing out that game would have probably meant the end of the series for Miami. Second, there's the 2007 playoffs where the 8 seed Golden State Warriors (who clinched their spot the last day of the season) defeated a 68 win 1 seed and defending Western Confrence Champion Dallas Mavericks, only the 2nd time in NBA history this happened (First was the Knicks in 1999 over the heat).

-Also in the 2007 playoffs, was Lebron's coming of age against the Pistons. I'll let you Youtube Game 5 of the Eastern Confrence Finals that year. Where Lebron scored Clevland's last 25 points on the road and led them to victory in overtime.

These are just some I can think of off the top of my head. I laughed when I saw the Thug Basketball Association, but I still maintain this is a professional athlete problem, rahter than a baksebtall player problem. Last I checked, Rae Carruth, Lenoard Little, Marvin Harrison, Michael Vick, Ray Lewis (debatable), Juan Uribe, Urgeth Urbina, Lawrence Phillips, and Albert Belle have never played a minute in the NBA. Vick apparently isn't a fan of dogs. Belle and Phillips aren't a fan of children (Belle tried to run some down with his car, Phillips assaulted some after playing pickup football with them...unfortunatley, I'm not making this up), and the rest apparently aren't fans of the human race.

After a good conversation with my friend Jake, I agree with you about NBA rivalries. For some reason they have a short shelf-life. They seem to be white hot for about 5 years or so and then dissapear. Knicks-Pacers gave way to Knicks-Heat which gave way to the Knicks being the laughing stock of the NBA. Even the Cavs-Pistons, which had become such a good one in the past few years, has faded as the Pistons start to ride off into the sunset. (Although I will say, Bill Simmons did right an article about the current Bulls-Celtics series developoing into a rilvarly, you should check it out) This does prove that the NBA is much more of an "individualistic" sport, where there's a lot of one on one. Cowboys-Redskins, Yankees-Red Sox, Duke-Carolina, Ohio St.-Michigan, Texas-Oklahoma, and a few others will be blazing hot rilvalries, no matter which players play, or how much time goes on. Finally something we can agree on :)

Enough with the NBA. While I'm not in panic mode yet, there are some areas of the Yankees that have me worried:

1. Chien-Ming Wang pulling a Rick Vaughn at the beginning of Major League 2 and getting smacked around by everyone. A stint in the Minors would do him some good to work on his mechanics.

2. Joba Chamberlin being in the rotation. Here's a guy who's lights out in the bullpen, can hit triple digits in velocity when in the bullpen, and could be groomed to be the closer. As a starter, he's hit or miss, walks a lot of batters, and throws way too many pitches. Put him in the bullpen, let him get that ERA lower than his blood alchohol level and he'll dominate.

3. Brian Bruney. This guy may be one of the most talented releivers the common fan has never heard of. Why? Because he's ALWAYS getting hurt. Just when he was settling in as the setup guy, unbelieveable.

4. Xavier Nady getting hurt. While he's not an outstanding player. He did have 25 HR's and 97 RBI's last year and was in a contract year and he plays well under the pressure of NYC. It's a shame.

I will try to focus on the positive.....

1. The emergence of Nick Swisher. I'll be completley honest, I did not see this one coming. After an off year last year in Chicago, and being a bit of a strikeout king, he is killing the ball into New York, and has already seemed to become a "New York guy" the fans will latch onto this guy quick, they're still trying with A-Rod....

2. A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettite. Outside of yesterday's start agaisnt the Sox, both pitchers had been pretty consistent, Burnett's ERA is a bit inflated after yesterday's start, but through the first 4 innings his stuff looked excellent. If he can maintain that, he'll have a great year. Pettite right now has a 2.53 ERA and is 2-0, lets hope he can keep turning back the clock.

3. The return of A-Rod. This is more for the New York papers, they've gotten bored and need something fun to right about, A-Rod's personal life is good for that. Oh yeah, he's actually not that bad at the plate too.

4. Phillip Hughes? I put a question mark by his name because I'm not sure when we'll see him. Call me crazy, but I still believe he can be a great major league pitcher. He pitched hurt when he got to pitch last year, and the year before, it looked like he had the makings of being the next big thing. I'm looking forward to seeing him again.

These are my confessions, let me know what you think.....

"Playoffs?!?!?!"

Let me begin my post by stating that I am a basketball fan. I spent hours of my youth watching March Madness, Jordan dunking over Ewing, Malone & Stockton running pick-n-roles, and The Dream and Mount Mutombo blocking shots. I remember watching press conferences where Larry Legend explained that he had given his heart and soul to the Boston Celtics, Magic Johnson explain that he had contracted the AIDS verse, and Jordan retiring not once but twice. So keep that in mind as you reading the following:

Chris, your love for the “TBA” (Thug Basketball Association) is dually noted, but simply put this league just is difficult to connect with. Don’t believe me? This week’s ESPN SportsNation Poll ask people what they were most looking for too this weekend: 1) NBA Playoffs, 2) Yanks vs. Red Sox, 3) NFL Draft, 4) NASCAR (a subject for another day), or 5) the NHL playoffs. After 4 days and over 100,000 people voting the results of April 23^rd where: 1) NFL Draft 30%, 2) NHL Playoffs 24%, 3)Yanks vs. Red Sox 23%, 4) NBA Playoffs 22%, 5) NASCAR 1%. I can understand the NFL Draft, with its endless promotion, dominate league, and one time a year status defeating the NBA Playoffs, but the rest?!?!?!? The “Yanks vs. Red Sox” will take place 19 times this year, and that’s during the regular season. How can that overshadow an entire league’s dramatic climax to its season? Here’s why:

1. There is no “drama”.

I have watched, and I am not exaggerating, 12 announcers predict who will play in the NBA Finals. ALL, and that’s A-L-L, of them have predicted the Lakers vs. the Cavs. Out of those 12, ten have predicted the Lakers to win it all. Where’s the excitement /drama in that? When things seem like a foregone conclusion or fact, there’s no point in watching. Chris, it’s when you Tivo the American Idol results show to watch it the next day, and then some babbling know-it-all comes into your office the next morning and say’s “man I can’t believe Anoop got eliminated last night, can you?” You then spend the next few hours trying to convince yourself that you should still watch when you get home. You come with reasons like: 1) That guy is pulling my chain, 2) maybe, they came up with the “Seacrest Save” save and Anoop was brought back into the competition, (side note: American Idol has come up so many different ways this year to make sure the judges favorites never get voted off, it is ridiculous. Anyway…) or 3) Nobody would be that dumb to just come in and say that. Eventually you get home pop in the tape, and in the end see Anoop singing as tears roll down his face, and you think to yourself man I just wasted an hour of my life. The NBA Playoffs are the same thing. Why waste the next 2 months, watching something that you know the conclusion of? Which leads me to number 2:

2. The NBA Playoffs take longer to complete than a ZZ Top bread takes to grow!

Seriously, these playoffs start in mid to late April and have the potential to not finish until mid-June. That’s longer than some people’s marriages (sadly). The reasoning behind this being that games as spread out with 2 to 3 days between contests. Why is is that every other sport doesn’t have this problem? Both baseball and hockey conduct their playoff series within 9-10 days if the series goes the distance…in basketball a 7-game series takes 2 weeks! Do you want to watch the Spurs bank shots off the glass for 2 weeks?

3. No complying rivalries this year.

Chris, I know you remember those epic Bulls vs. Knicks series of the 90s, or the Blazers-Lakers, Pistons-Bulls, Pistons-Celts, Bulls-Cavs, even the early 2000’s with rivalries like Lakers-Spurs and Spurs-Mavs. Now, with the injury to KG, there are no interesting “I think they may brawl,” every game comes down to the last shot rivals. Even if The Big Ticket was healthy, we still would only have 1 series out 14 that would draw that type of interest. Personally, seeing whether Kate will pick Jack or Sawyer sounds more interesting to watch.

Anyways, until June, I’ll get my TBA highlights while watching SportsCenter every morning while eating a bowl of Fruit Loops. You want a bowl?

The NBA Playoffs

Danny and I will disagree on this but I will come out and say it, I love the NBA playoffs. I love the intensity of the games. I love that they have 3 or 4 games on in a day sometimes. I even love how long they are and the drama that builds with each game. At the end of the day its more basketball and you won't find me complaining. As I watch the Jazz-Lakers game, here are some thoughts I have about the playoffs so far:

-I feel bad for Utah, but as I watch this game I've said to myself, "am I wasting my time?" This Lakers team looks incredible. They're playing horrible right now and are only down 1 in the fourth quarter. Watching this series is almost like watching the older brother play the younger the brother. The older brohter lets the younger brother get a basket every now and then to make them feel special and so theyll feel like they have a chance. Once he builds them up, he pulls out the full arsenal of moves and leaves the little one in the dust. Unfortunatley for Utah, they can't pick up their ball and go home.

-Since consistency is important, and baseball players get accused of this all the time, I'll just come out and say it, Chauncey Billups must be on steroids. Don't get me wrong, I've always thought he was a great player, but this guy has put up over 30 points in back to back games, hit jumpshots, going to the basket, and spinning around the league's BEST POINT GUARD! He's done all that, and made Chris Paul look human. Maybe he's one of the 103 players that wasn't named on the infamous list that A-Rod was on? Whatever the case, I'm enjoying watching him. It also warms my heart that the man he was traded for, Allen Iverson, told the Pistons he would rather retire then play on the bench (when they were clearly better without him) and how his team looks like a JV team against the Cavs, while Chauncey Billups is leading the 2nd best team in the West (a much tougher confrence), is teaching Chris Paul how to play playoff basketball, and yet, you haven't heard one word from Billups about it. He just goes out there, and plays his game. AI could learn something from Mr. Big Shot.

-Orlando may be one of the most overrated teams I've seen in quite some time. I keep hearing things like "Dark Horse of the East" but every time I watch them I think "is this really it?" I really feel like Dwight Howard's lack of a post game has been exposed against Philly. Here's what's wrong with that sentence, Philly isn't in the playoffs if they play in the Western Conference. I've also heard the whole, "well he doesn't get the ball enough!" argument. Here's my issue, the great big men who have played in the NBA were able to get the ball in the post and went to work. They weren't great because they had 15 dunks every game. Until I see a few more drop-steps, hooks, etc. the Magic might be in trouble. And so here is the controversial statement of this article, on the offensive end, I think Dwight Howard is overrated.

-I'm not sure if people understand how good Brandon Roy really is. The man just put up 42 points against two of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, Ron Artest and Shane Battier. With that, he's basketball's version of a five-tool player. He drives, he can drive and pull up, hit the 3, play some D, handles the ball, and can play the 3, 2, or if need be the 1. This Portland team will be in the playoffs for a long time to come.

-It's looking like we're going to see a Cavs-Lakers Finals, which I think could be a good one. The Kobe-Lebron matchup is always a fun one, although I think Mo Williams will be the X-Factor of that series if it happens. I've still got the Lakers winning it all, but I'm hoping for something different. Let me know what you think.....

Welcome

This is the culmination of a dream. A dream dreamed up several years ago by two friends after reading countless Bill Simmons articles, watching hours of ESPN, and enduring the joy, pain, sickness, jubilation, sorrow, distress, nausea, and heartache that comes from being a life long fan of professional sports. All this has come to a point, to where our thoughts will be published. Danny Lamonte and Chris Cortes are two lifelong Yankees fans that will attempt to solve the problems of the NFL, NBA, MLB in this blog all without ever touching the train wreck that is the NHL. You'll notice the two of us have two styles. If you are above the age of 35, you will probably enjoy Danny's humor much more than my own. This is something I can live with. Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Chris Cortes, and these are my confessions.....