ORLANDO, FL – The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic in five games Thursday night, winning 99-86 and putting an end to last season’s nine-month playoff drama just in time for this season’s All-Star break.
“It feels good to be champs,” said Laker star Kobe Bryant. “But now we have to focus on this season, which started months ago.”
The Lakers narrowly defeated the Charlotte Bobcats Wednesday night to improve their current season record to 38-12, and were still able to turn around the next day and play for last season’s championship – many of the players without any rest.
“It’s tough,” said the Lakers and Rockets’ small forward, Trevor Ariza. “Some nights I’m not sure if we’re playing in the playoffs of the previous season – playing to win or go home – or if we are playing a current regular season game that doesn’t matter. You have to keep the energy level up no matter what. You just have to stay positive and give it all you got, give 40 percent, maybe 42, and hope your opponent is more hung-over and has more turnovers.”
Ariza, who left the Lakers to play for the Houston Rockets, like so many players who are traded or released, could only differentiate if he was playing in last season’s playoffs or this season’s regular season by the color jersey he wore each night. In fact, in Game 3 against the Magic, Ariza played the whole first half in a Rockets jersey.
“The two teams that don’t make the playoffs don’t know how lucky they are,” said Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson. “They can then take a week off and then start the next regular season without having to worry about playing in the playoffs too.”
Jackson added, “But I’m still glad we’re in it every year. Beats watching the playoffs from the locker-room during halftime of your less significant regular season games.”
The Lakers returned to Los Angeles for the city-wide celebration, but the parade did not last long – the champs suit up and play Denver later tonight. Plus, practices have already started to prepare for next season’s preseason, which is only 2 months away.
This year’s All-Star Game looks to be an exciting one, with a horse making the starting roster due to fan-based voting, but networks are concerned that the timing might not be the greatest this year. Due to a scheduling snafu, the All-Star events fall on the same weekend as the NHL finals from three seasons ago.
Contributor Peter Alan Herbert – “Writer Dude” – is a master of flapdoodle and rigmarole. You can catch more of his Fake (Sports) News, Real Funny, short stories, rants, and other musings at www.peteralanherbert.com. Stay tuned to The Blue Workhorse for more from the Writer Dude.
Kevin McKeethan, a Kent State graduate football assistant and friend of The Blue Workhorse, recounts the Golden Flashes' mens basketball team's dramatic 74-73 victory over Western Michigan Saturday night.
This finish is like nothing I have ever seen before.
There have been any number of last-second winners in the past, but I have never seen a guy finish like this as time runs out. When I think of game-winners, what comes to mind are 15- to 18-foot fadeaway jumpers, spot up long-ball threes, or even full-court drives where guards flail a lay-up up that prayerfully drops ala Tyus Edney's NCAA tourney drive against Missouri to keep the Bruins' season alive. But this was different.
With his team trailing by two with just over seven seconds remaining Saturday night, Kent State's Rodriguez Sherman decided to win the game. But instead of a game-winning three pointer, Sherman downed Western Michigan with the old-fashioned three-point play on an untraditional game-winner:
An unbelievable finish to a highly competitive and spirited game.
“When I went to the basket, I knew I had to dunk it because he might block it. When I got past the guard, I saw a little bit of lane and my eyes got real big. I still can’t believe it right now.” - Rodriguez Sherman, post-game press conference
What is lost in the reaction to the outstanding finish is the second-half scoring battle between Western Michigan's David Kool and the Golden Flashes' Chris Singletary. Kool posted 38 points, including a bucket with eight seconds remaining that had given the Broncos a 73-71 lead prior to Rodriguez's slam. Singletary had 24 points on 60 percent shooting.
Also overlooked is the comeback Kent State executed with solid defensive stops and rebounding in the final three minutes.
What should also be noted is that Sherman made a mistake in essentially the same situation at the end of the first half. Receiving the inbounds pass with about nine seconds to go, he drove to about half-court and threw up a 50-footer with about 4.5 seconds to go -- clearly plenty of time to drive and dish or finish much closer to the rim.
He was obviously coached up on the situation and certainly came through at the end. The dunk was sensational. Coast-to-coast with about seven seconds left, the crowd was gasping for air quietly like any other last-second shot opportunity for the home team, but the transition from anticipation to fruition came so much more quickly and explosively than anyone expected when Sherman dropped the hammer. Plus, the whistle gave him a chance to win the game.
Again, it was unlike anything I have ever seen or been a part of. Congrats to coach Geno Ford and the Flashes. They have the ball rolling in the right direction going into the meat of their MAC schedule after winning their last four games.
Editor Shotgun Spratling contributed to this story.
Taylor Lilley caught fire from downtown making a career-high nine three-point field goals to lead the Oregon Ducks (13-8, 4-5) to a 85-77 victory over the Women of Troy (13-7, 7-2) at the Galen Center Saturday afternoon.
Lilley finished with 36 points, another career high, and Oregon's constant pressure led to 18 USC turnovers as the Ducks won for the first time in almost four weeks snapping a five-game losing streak.
After a tight first half, the Ducks pulled away in the second half using a 10-0 run that began with a Victoria Kenyon offensive putback with just under 15 minutes remaining and ended with a Lilley three-point shot from near-NBA range.
The Trojans' Kari LaPlante had a career day with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Despite shooting only 4 of 11, she was a force down low getting to the free throw line a career-high 10 times making all 10 of her free throws.
Oregon led 38-35 at the half after shooting 50 percent from behind the three-point line led by Lilley, who made six of seven from long distance after having her first shot blocked by Briana Gilbreath.
Lilley finished the first half with 21 points while Micaela Cocks scored 13 of her 24 points during the first 20 minutes. For USC, Ashley Corral finished with 22 points and Gilbreath added a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Picked to finish fifth in the conference in the preseason, the USC women (13-6, 7-1) kept pace in the race just one game behind the nation's No. 2 team, Stanford, with a dominating 61-34 victory over Oregon State.
The sophomore duo of Ashley Corral and Briana Gilbreath nearly outscored the Beavers (9-9, 1-7) themselves combining for 32 points to lead the USC Trojans to the win at the Galen Center.
Using a suffocating combination of an extended 1-3-1 zone trap and a packed in 2-3 zone, the Women of Troy held Oregon State to a 24.5 field goal percentage and forced 17 turnovers.
Keeping the Pac-10's third leading scorer, Talisa Rhea, from getting solid looks, USC opened up a 26-19 lead at halftime and never looked back. Rhea finished with 16 points on five-of-17 shooting.
After the Women of Troy opened the second half with an 8-2 run, the Beavers cut the lead down to 10 with 12:54 remaining following a Rhea layup, but it was all USC after that as they finished the game on a 24-7 run.
Corral led all scorers with 19 points. She also had seven assists and five rebounds. Gilbreath added 13 points, nine in the first half, and Hailey Dunham also reached double figures with 10 points.
USC running back Stafon Johnson has had a long road back from a neck injury that almost ended not only his career but also his life. However, he'll take a step in the direction of a full return this Saturday when he plays in the Under Armour Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. It will be his first football game since a weightlifting accident in the middle of the season crushed his larynx.
Yesterday, Johnson received a letter yesterday from an inspired Under Armour's CEO, Kevin Plank in a team meeting, according to Jill Painter on the Daily News' Inside USC blog:
Dear Stafon,
On behalf of the entire Under Armour family, I would like to personally congratulate you on your participation in the Under Armour Senior Bowl. Your presence on the field will not only elevate the level of play, but also will serve as a powerful reminder of the tremendous courage, determination and strength you continue to display in the face of adversity.
Thank you for inspiring football fans around the world, and allowing us to share in your remarkable recovery. More importantly, thank you for showing us how a true champion is built.
At Under Armour, we challenge each other to ``protect this house, I will,'' which we loosely define as fighting with all your energy for that which is most important. to you. In the 13-plus years since I founded the company, I would be hard-pressed to find an athlete who has fought more honorably, or diligently than you. While we cannot begin to imagine the physical pain and trauma you have endured, we do understand and appreciate the magnitude of your efforts to return to the game.
I remain proud of your accomplishments and humbled by your journey, which has only just begun.
Humble and hungry, Kevin Plank Founder and CEO Under Armour
Having met Johnson, I have to say that I am rooting for him to make a full recovery and a successful career in the NFL. He has shown he is a resilient and hard worker, who has always been friendly and curteous, so best of luck Stafon.
Lane Kiffin is leaving for another family, and Layla isn't happy.
Fake (Sports) News; Real Funny
LOS ANGELES – Just weeks after leaving the University of Tennessee for the greener grass of Southern California, the new Trojans' head football coach Lane Kiffin announced Thursday he has agreed to take the open head father position of another family, leaving his current family behind to pick up the pieces.
“It was just too good of a fit to pass up," Kiffin said in the press conference, with his new, better looking, more successful family proudly looking on. “I really enjoyed the time I spent with my old family and appreciate the opportunity they gave me as father, son, and husband, but it was time to move on.”
Kiffin will be joining the Joneses immediately, replacing the family’s six-time Father of the Year, Pete Jones – who left his family to pursue a position in a struggling Seattle family.
“I wanted to get into my new family and home as quickly as possible,” Kiffin said. “This is a pivotal time for any new father and family staff.”
The deal happened behind closed doors and without much warning, resulting in a lot of criticism and harsh reactions from sportswriters, family enthusiasts, and Kiffin’s old family. His old daughters, Landry and Pressley, lashed out with some serious backtalk and were sent to bed without dinner. Baby Knox Kiffin was found burning his crib mattress and had to be sedated with several rattlers, a set of keys, and tear gas.
But as Kiffin mentioned, the deal had to be rushed because the winter is the most important time for a family to prepare for the coming season and school year, and it is the best time to conceive any new recruits.
“He had spent some time with the Joneses in the past, so I’m not surprised he would go back to them when the position opened up,” said family affairs expert Gary Buckman. “Eight years is a long time to be married to anyone. C’mon! And they just had a newborn and his daughters are always getting into trouble. Who wants to deal with that?”
“It was a pretty selfish move if you ask me,” said Dwayne Johnson, Kiffin’s second cousin. “I mean. What about us? We haven’t been a good family since, I want to say, 1998. He was supposed to rebuild.”
Many critics, however, are saying that Kiffin left not just for the money and smoking hot wife, but to go to a weaker, less competitive neighborhood. He inherits the biggest house on the cul-de-sac on a street where the Joneses have dominated for year, along with the prettiest wife and the most talented kids, but many think the young Kiffin has yet to prove himself as a father or husband…or a man, in general.
Some say he just wanted a new daddy, grandpa Jones, who would play catch with him and listen to his ideas, and not just drill him about football plays and strategy, while also never saying “stop being such a homo” when presenting his own new football play.
Kiffin, who is settling into his new LA home, is also reported to be in negotiations with Notre Dame’s new head coach, the former Cincinnati Bearcat coach Brian Kelly, to trade jobs mid season in 2010 – “just to mix shit up a bit.”
The Kiffins – wife Layla and children Landry, Pressley, and Knox – are now interviewing possible fathers to fill the vacancy.
“Fuck him,” said Layla Kiffin.
So far, though nothing has been announced, Bruce Pearl has been rumored to be the next potential husband to take Kiffin's place.
Though Pearl has denied this, he did say, "Oh yeah. I'd hit that."
Contributor Peter Alan Herbert – “Writer Dude” – is a master of flapdoodle and rigmarole. You can catch more of his Fake (Sports) News, Real Funny, short stories, rants, and other musings at www.peteralanherbert.com. Stay tuned to The Blue Workhorse for more from the Writer Dude.
Last month, former Major League pitcher Jim Bouton was gracious enough to take 30 minutes of his time to speak with me in a phone interview for an article about the transformation and evolution of the media that was published today on the LA-based Neon Tommy web site.
During his playing days, Bouton was a stud youngster pitching with the New York Yankees before losing his fastball due to an arm injury. In his second season, he went 21-7 with a 2.53 ERA while throwing 12 complete games, including six shutouts. He was selected to the All-Star Game and threw seven innings in the World Series allowing only one run. The next season, he won 18 games and was the winning pitcher for two of the Yankees' three World Series victories against the St. Louis Cardinals.
After parting ways with the Yankees, he played with the expansion Seattle Pilots, the Houston Astros, and then returned seven years after his last game with Houston to pitch with the Atlanta Braves at age 38.
During the 1969 season with the Pilots, Bouton kept notes and wrote Ball Four. The book, about his season, the teams' travels, and life in the clubhouse, hotels, and on the road, was highly controversial and was not accepted by many baseball people, including commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who attempted to discredit it and tried to get Bouton to sign a statement saying the book was completely fictional, which Bouton declined.
The behind-the-scenes book about Major League life was critically acclaimed and is considered one of the most important sports books ever written.
"Sportswriters were upset with Ball Four because they felt that I outflanked them. I had access that they didn't have. They were sort of looking bad because they had been portraying ballplayers basically as boy scouts and now here was a guy, who obviously had better access, that was showing that they weren't boy scouts. They were angry at me for drawing new boundary lines.
But that's sportswriters, other writers, cultured writers and serious/major writers on national subjects, people like David Halberstam for example, saw Ball Four as a good book - an important book that for the first time showed baseball from behind the scenes. That hadn't been done before. There were some writers that thought it was great, but it was basically the sportswriters, mostly baseball writers, that were upset with Ball Four. But most of those guys are gone now.
What you have now are younger writers that have replaced them. Of course, when they read Ball Four they were 12, and they liked it. And as they've grown older, they've sort of looked back at it as a benchmark of sorts. In many cases, it got some of these guys interested in becoming sportswriters. They read Ball Four and said that looks like a fun industry, a fun business, I'd like to write about that. What angered the older sportswriters in 1970, became an inspiration to the younger sportswriters that came of age in the 80s and 90s."
I asked Bouton not only about the the transformation and evolution of media since his playing days, but also some general baseball questions. Questions and his reponses are below:
DJ Steve Porter, who put together the absolutely fabulous "Press Hop" video, is back at it again. Here is his latest mix of NFL coaches postgame conferences that was featured on Inside the NFL:
The Kansas City Royals have been one of the worst professional franchises in sports the last 20 years having had a winning record only once in the last 15 years. They haven't been to the playoffs since they won the World Series in 1985. During this past decade, they only finished better than .500 once, when they went 83-79 in 2003 finishing third in the division -- also the only year they didn't finish last or next to last in the division. Kansas City even lost 100+ games four times this decade.
C - Miguel Olivo
It wasn't very difficult for Miguel Olivo to get this spot on the team having to only beat out John Buck (a lifetime .235 hitter that averaged 43 RBI) or Brent Mayne (.241 average & .636 OPS in two and a half seasons with Kansas City this decade). Over the past two seasons, Olivo has hit 35 home runs and driven in 106 runs in under 700 at bats. The Dominican backstop also threw out 32% of attempted baserunners.
1B - Mike Sweeney
For the first half of the decade, Mike Sweeney was Mr. Kansas City Royal appearing in five All-Star games from 2000 to 2005. Hitting .312 with an average of 31 doubles, 24 home runs, and 96 RBI, Sweeney was a power and gap-to-gap threat during the first six seasons of the decade. His best season came in 2000 when he knocked 24 dingers, drove in 144 runs -- one shy of Edgar Martinez's league best, and hit .333. He would hit .304 and .340 the next two seasons but would never hit above .300 again in his career with Kansas City.
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Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 