Vote Obama in '08!

There are very few publicity stunts a presidential campaign can use to get on the front page of Hole Punch Sports. One of those would be practicing with my favorite college basketball team, the North Carolina Tar Heels, and Democratic hopeful Barack Obama did exactly that yesterday.

(The other way might be to straddle the fence and pretend to love two teams in the same sport equally, as one certain politician does so offensively in that story. It's just wrong.)

Judging by the behind-the-back dribble in Obama's YouTube mixtape, by this time next year our President might have better handles than I do. (But then that's probably true even if John McCain is elected.)

In all seriousness, I think it's awesome that Obama is so into hoops. His love of basketball was the subject of a recent story on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, which is available on YouTube and which I recommend watching if you have the time. The segment spends some time talking Obama playing the sport growing up and even shows a bit of him playing in a recent pickup game. (The biggest question from that is how he ever gets his compact jumper off in traffic.)

My favorite part comes at about the 5:41 mark, when they tell the story of when Obama's future wife had her brother (Craig Robinson, now the head coach at Oregon State) play basketball with Obama to see what kind of guy he really was.

Personally, I think this is a FANTASTIC way to evaluate someone. Dead serious. Like Robinson, I think you can tell a lot about a guy from how he plays basketball. If he's selfish, if he's cool, if he's a jerk—I've never played with someone whose personality traits weren't in some way reflected by their playing style. (Have you?) And if anything in the interview bugged me at all, it was when Obama only partially agreed with the idea.

The second-best part is near the end, when Gumbel asks Robinson to evaluate Obama's game on racial lines. The answer was pretty funny.

Basketball's important enough to me that Obama's love for it would make it the biggest thing I've ever had in common with a president (if he wins, natch). Don't know if that will make me vote for him. But if Obama wins and a puts a hoop in the White House, like he suggested, that would be pretty sweet.

NBA News

1. The Spurs beat the Suns 4 games to 1 with a win last night. And thus one of the two interesting first-round series is over. Remember when people were saying this could be one of the best opening series ever? Idiots.

2. With the Boston Celtics up by almost 20 in the fourth, the other good series feels like it's losing its luster. I really hope the Hawks can pull out Game Six.

3. We only have to wait until Saturday for the second round to start with the Spurs-Hornets series, which makes the playoffs feel less stretched-out than usual. But the next day (Sunday) could feature a bunch of first-round Game Sevens. I'm sorry, but that's just weird.

4. The Dallas Mavericks fired head coach Avery Johnson today. The franchise has clearly underachieved in the postseason, especially since blowing a 2-0 lead in the 2006 Finals. They won 67 games last year, but lost in the first round. This season the team traded for Jason Kidd but couldn't recapture their elite status.

Until the bizarre story of a player-run practice after Game Four came out, I didn't think Johnson was on the chopping block. But at least the actual firing was entertaining:

Johnson got the news during a meeting at his condominium Wednesday morning. Donnie Nelson, the team's president of basketball operations, was there, while team owner Mark Cuban joined via cell phone from Chicago.

The Mavs come to your home to fire you? That's nice; you have to respect any organization with that kind of class. And joining in on a cell phone call sounds kind of, I don't know, tacky, not a word I'd ever expect to apply to a guy like Cuban (end sarcasm). Seriously, though?

I also love that even though Don Nelson's son is running the team, and even though the elder Nelson laid the smack down on the Dallas franchise a year ago, Dirk Nowitzki's still smack-talking his former coach like this:

'You don't basically want to go back to the Nellie days where we just run and gun and have fun, and you get scored on every time down,' Nowitzki said.

With the team they have in place, you have to wonder whether this is the first of many moves for the Mavericks.

5. But hey, Nuggets coach George Karl will be back.

A weekend without sports

1. Amare Stoudemire after the Suns' loss to the Spurs Friday night put the Suns in a 3-0 series deficit:

'I definitely think we're one of the marquee teams in the league,' Stoudemire said. 'For us to be down 0 and 3 is something I wasn't even thinking about.'

I don't think I use the word "marquee" in quite the same way; I'll assume Stoudemire meant high-quality rather than high-profile. (Otherwise the quote makes no sense.) But with all due respect to Stoudemire and the Suns, why on Earth would they consider themselves one of the top teams in the league?

The Suns can flat-out shoot the rock: the team made over 50% of its shots this year, which is bleep-ing incredible. They were third in the league in scoring. They're talented offensively. But they're also the No. 6 seed in the conference, a conference made up of just 15 teams. In terms of percentile, these are not quite the Navy SEALs we're dealing with here.

I'm all for confidence. But is there any question the Suns have underachieved over the last few seasons, and isn't the attitude that they've already arrived one of the reasons they've disappointed?

If you can't be honest with yourself, and say, "Look, we're not where we want to be", what motivates you to do that extra work in the offseason? What drives you to stay hungry, to keep striving, to keep improving? I don't want to overstate the case; Stoudemire's one of the best in his profession on the entire planet. Still, something's separating him from the Tim Duncans of the world, and it isn't genetic jumping ability.

I've always thought the greatest athletes are man enough to face the truth, even when it hurts. John Elway often said his career could be complete without a Super Bowl win; after the Broncos finally won, he admitted he'd been lying the whole time. The fact is he knew it was important, and he never stopped trying to accomplish that goal. Or compare Stoudemire's quote with Magic Johnson's from the 1991 NBA Finals. The Lakers beat the Bulls in Game One, but the Bulls won the next four to win Michael Jordan's first championship.

After Game Three, Johnson had said it would be a long series: 'Nothing's been decided.' But after Game Four, he was clearly shaken. 'An old-fashioned ass kicking,' he said. 'Never dreamed it would happen.'

(That section comes from David Halberstam's incomparable Playing for Keeps.)

They're both surprised, but Magic can at least admit what's going on. Maybe I'm reading way too much into this, but it helps me understand why we wonder when Amare will live up to his immense talent, while Magic maximized every last drop of his.

* * *

2. Today was the start of the NFL draft, which I've followed pretty closely for several years. (I first remember listening on the radio in 1997, when Denver ended up with a transfer student and potential character risk named Trevor Pryce in the first round.) This year, I couldn't get into it, and sadly I'll admit I have almost no idea who any of the top guys were. (I did enjoy some of the predraft coverage, and especially liked Frank Deford's point about mock drafts.)

In a phone call with a friend this morning we discussed what positions the Broncos might focus on in the draft. My basic conclusion is that they need help everywhere, right? Like we have Champ Bailey, but we could still use more depth at corner. Or we have Jay Cutler, but we could still use someone who can throw. Har de har. Anyway, the Broncos picked up a tackle and a WR/KR/PR. Yes, we need a pass catcher, especially if Brandon Marshall has any hiccups in his recovery. And yeah, we need more skilled offensive linemen, though when I see us take a first-round tackle I think of George Foster. I just hope we picked the right guys.

(Also, as John tipped me to earlier this week, the Broncos traded a conditional pick next year for defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson, who was the fourth pick overall by the Jets five years ago.)

3. Also, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers are still kicking the Nuggets' butts. Carmelo and The Answer were a combined 10-for-38 from the field in Game Three Saturday.

For some reason (probably the draft) I was thinking about Peyton Manning this morning. Specifically, I was thinking how his struggles in big games in college probably foreshadowed his playoff struggles in the NFL. Makes sense, right? If there's a psychological aspect to performance under pressure, as we might assume, it would carry over to the pros, right? (Of course, Peyton overcame and won a Super Bowl eventually.)

The same friend I spoke with this morning once called Carmelo a choker during Melo's first NBA playoffs, and argued Jordan would never have played like that. (I think Carmelo had had a particularly bad first game.) And I was like, no, you're got it all wrong, at his age Carmelo is actually way ahead of Jordan. And he was. Jordan was a key starter on a championship team his freshman year; Carmelo was the superstar on his title team. And then Carmelo was terrific in his rookie year.

I didn't actually expect Carmelo to surpass Jordan as a player or anything, but the man at least had proven clutch credentials. And since then he's hit a bunch of game-winners in the regular season. So why doesn't he rise to the occasion in the NBA playoffs? It can't be nerves, can it? Whatever it was with Manning, he was at least consistent. Carmelo's not. Any explanations?

4. I turned on the TV in the third quarter of the Hawks' upset win over the Celtics tonight, when it was about 77-70 Atlanta. Atlanta was hitting everything, and they were at home, but I thought that if the Celtics could still pull this game out, I had to take them seriously as title contenders. But they didn't even make a run at it, scoring 18 and then 19 in the last two quarters. I don't know, it's just one game, and of course the Celtics will still win the series, but I almost felt like a certain determination was lacking. Maybe my standards are too high, but it's hard to see too many recent champions dropping a first-round game to such an inferior squad like that.

5. I also heard a little teaser for the upcoming Jazz-Rockets game, which included a comparison of Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer to, you guessed it, John Stockton and Karl Malone. I'm sure Jazz fans are obscenely sick of it (like the way I felt when every single Broncos safety was the next Steve Atwater), but I was thinking the same thing while watching the Nuggets play the Jazz two weeks ago.

To me, Boozer and Malone kind of makes sense. Both look muscle-bound, but both are surprisingly quick for their size. Over Boozer's last two years, he's been at about 21 and 11 for the Jazz, which is nice, but keep in mind that in his prime, Malone was a lot more like 27 or 28 and 11. Neither's a great role model; Boozer famously screwed over the Cavs and Malone elbowed David Robinson into the hospital (among other egocentric moves). Boozer is not as versatile as the Mailman, but he's not a bad imitation.

Williams and Stockton I don't see as much. Both can shoot, though I'd give an edge to Stockton there. Both are physical, but with Stockton it was more the cheap-shot elbows, while Williams is more of a bulky, create-contact type of player. From what I've seen, Stockton was a way better passer, but perhaps I've caught Williams on bad days. Also, while playing the Nuggets Williams had a milking for the ages. He got knocked down while driving the lane, but you would have thought he'd had his femur torn out judging from his reaction. I guess my point is he's not Stock and Boozer's not the Mailman, but the new Jazz are still worthy of your hatred.

Spurs up 2-0

Tonight's main attraction was San Antonio's win in their first-round series with the Phoenix Suns, a series some idiot straw men are already calling the greatest first-round series in NBA history.

Saturday's game was fantastic. Tonight's didn't really live up. The Suns jumped out to a sizeable early lead, but the Spurs hung in, chipped away at it, then produced a dominant third quarter to win.

Of the players: Shaquille O'Neal started out very well, playing with a bounce in his step that made him look like a much younger man. He kept going right back at Tim Duncan after baskets, which was fun to watch. He also hit five-of-six free throws when the Spurs were intentionally fouling him in the third. Shaq says he always hits them when it counts, which isn't true, but wouldn't even be true for Michael. (I recently called Duncan the best player since Jordan, but perhaps I should have said O'Neal. Your thoughts?)

Phoenix's backcourt, from Steve Nash to Raja Bell to Leandro "Captain" Barbosa  to G. Gordon Giricek, is still incredibly annoying. Nash in particular flopped on several occasions, but to be fair, the refs seemed to favor San Antonio. (Yes, the refs appeared to favor the defending champions at home; not sure what Nash was expecting.)

Tim Duncan played well, with 18 points and 17 rebounds, but my favorite play from him was a length-of-the-court pass to Brent Barry for a lay-up.

Manu Ginobili, fresh of his Sixth Man Award win, was also terrific, going for 29 points. Ginobili winning the award is silly; he's fourth on the team in minutes and third in minutes per game. Under the current rules, he's a candidate, and I have no doubt he deserves to win under those rules, but I think they're stupid. (Then again, so is an award for the best backup.) At one point the announcers kept talking about how Ginobili has accepted his role coming off the bench without complaint. Um, the dude doesn't start, but he plays a ton of minutes, gets to freelance on offense, finishes every close game and often has the ball in his hands with the game on the line. Why wouldn't he accept that role? He's got the best job of any one-time All-Star veteran in the league, right?

And finally, Tony Parker. I've realized the last two games that I have not fully appreciated Parker, probably because I got so sick of hearing about his girlfriend/wife over the years. But he's one of the toughest point guards in the league, at least mentally—he's faced the league's best guards in the postseason (Nash, Jason Kidd), and typically gets the better of them. He executes under pressure and always knows when to use his quickness to catch opponents off balance, but he's not afraid to take a big shot in the halfcourt offense, either. I'd much rather have him on my team in a big game than Nash. But I guess that's kind of a dumb/obvious thing to say about the defending Finals MVP.

NBA Playoffs Preview

The Eastern Conference

So far, I've been wrong about the Boston Celtics. They've been fantastic this year, finishing 66-16 and outscoring opponents by more than ten points a game. Only three other teams have a home record better than Boston's road record. The Celtics finished seven games ahead of the No. 2 seed; seven games are all that separates No. 1 from No. 8 in the West. Assuming they stay healthy, they should make the Finals. (Having said all that, I completely disagree with the Sports Guy, who said Kevin Garnett deserves the MVP award.)

Other potential contenders include the Detroit Pistons, who at 59-23 also had a better record than anyone out West. They have the second-best point differential in the league behind Boston. Because they've been together so long, they've been overlooked all year. The Eastern Conference Finals should be sweet, but I still think Boston is better. The Celtics won the season series with the Pistons 2-1.

Cleveland and Orlando are interesting, but there's not enough talent around their respective stars for these teams to be considered realistic contenders.

My winner? The Celtics.

The Western Conference

The West has been run by the Spurs, Mavericks, and, to a lesser extent, the Suns the last few years. But there's been turnover at the top. The Spurs captured the number three seed, but the Suns and Mavericks will start on the road as the respective 6 and 7 seeds.

Instead the top seed is the L.A. Lakers, whose star demanded a trade before the season because he, like all of us, assumed the team would struggle. Instead this Lakers squad looks like Kobe Bryant's best chance yet to silence his critics. But he's still a lone wolf because his supporting cast is flawed (and because he runs Hall of Famers out of town). Good thing Kobe's durable and smart enough to stay out of foul trouble, because no one else can carry the offense for long if he's out. And though the Lakers haven't been this good for a while, remember that Kobe is one of the very small number of stars who have proven they can handle championship pressure.

No. 2 is the New Orleans Hornets. I simply don't think the Hornets are ready, though I'm excited to watch star point guard Chris Paul in the postseason. Paul is just 22 and is considered by many a leading MVP candidate. The Hornets also have two of my favorites in reserve guard Bobby Jackson and perimeter shooter Peja Stojakovic.

The three-seed Spurs are the defending NBA champions, though they're losing to the Suns right now. The Spurs appeared to be putting it together with a late-season eight-game winning streak, but suffered big losses to Utah, Phoenix, and the Lakers down the stretch. However, they have a proven core of clutch players who are terrific together. In Tim Duncan and Tony Parker the team has two Finals MVP winners.

Fourth-seed Utah is terrific at home and should dispatch the fifth-seed Rockets with ease, but I don't expect much after the first round. Phoenix at No. 6 is loaded with talent and could surprise, but have they ever lived up to their regular-season billing? The seventh-seeded Mavs are dead in the water. I expect the No. 8 seed Nuggets to make things interesting against the Lakers with Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson. I'm tempted to say Lakers in six, but I worry that I'm underestimating Denver. If they play to their potential they could win the series, but the Nuggets are the ultimate roller coaster team.

Because of their clutch history and depth, I expect once again that the Spurs will win the Western Conference.

Way-early Finals Prediction

The Celtics put together a much more impressive regular season. So what? Well, the Spurs finishing third could be a sign of old age or rust. And it's true, many of the key Spurs are twelve months older than they were at the start of last year's playoffs.

But the Finals often come down to which team has the best go-to guy down the stretch. Most championship teams have a leader like Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaq or, yes, Tim Duncan. To me, no star on the Celtics has proven he can perform under those circumstances yet. Garnett hasn't, Pierce hasn't, and Ray Allen definitely hasn't. Can team play overcome individual brilliance? Sure, but the Spurs are a pretty sweet team, too. San Antonio in seven.

It's the Lakers

On the night my intramural team advanced to the second round of the playoffs, the National Basketball Association's playoff picture has fallen into place. And our beloved Denver Nuggets will be facing the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round.

This is bad news in my opinion; I would have much preferred to face the younger, less dominant New Orleans Hornets. However, you don't really get to complain when you squeak into the playoffs as the No. 8 seed.

As opposed to a full-blown preview right now, I prefer to focus on what I've seen from the Lakers lately, which is somewhat scary. Their biggest achievement, of course, is that they captured the Western Conference's No. 1 seed. I'm tempted not to read too much into this; after all, their 57-25 record is only seven games better than the Nuggets'.

More impressively, they've outscored opponents by 7.3 points per game (best in the West, third overall), and have the No. 4 scoring offense in the NBA (the Nuggets are No. 2).

But the weirdest thing about this Lakers team is how well Kobe fits in on it. From what I've seen, which admittedly isn't the whole season or anything, the Lakers are now the team of Kobe's dreams: built around his offense. But it works. In a recent game against the Clippers, a game the Lakers dominated but one in which he didn't shoot well, his teammates seemed to defer to him in just the right amount. Also, he didn't force crazy shots the way he has in the past.

That may not sound like much, but I think Kobe's selfishness has been the biggest thing holding him back in his career. Now he can just let his talent shine. I may be reading too much into what I saw that night, but this Lakers team seems to work hard and play well together. Good for them, because I don't really fear guys like Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.

I've been hard on Kobe in the past, and I still think he was unconscionably self-centered at times in the past. But he also played incredibly well on championship teams at a very young age. And he has many of the attributes of the league's all-time legends, like an insatiable work ethic and a constant drive to get better. (That's huge, by the way: in my mind, it's one of the things that separates the Elways of the world from the Marinos.) Now the question is, can the Nuggets' twin stars divert his attention and make him revert to one-on-one battle mode? We'll find out starting this weekend.

Carmelo arrested (DUI)

From an AP article you've probably already seen:

NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony was arrested early Monday on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, hours after his worst game of the season.

That "worst game" was Denver's win over the Houston Rockets Sunday night, one in which Anthony shot just 3-for-14.

The Nuggets won by 17, so I doubt he was too depressed about it, but whatever. The arrest overshadowed more exciting news yesterday: with Golden State's loss to Phoenix last night, the Nuggets are officially in the playoffs.

To me, the interesting coverage is in the ESPN video on that linked page, where Ric Bucher, who typically annoys me heavily, talks about the arrest. He anticipates the league and team will take no action until the toxicology report is back, which could take up to 10 days.

He also said it's unfortunate for Carmelo, because this arrest will cause everyone to bring up the bad stuff he's done: things like the backpack, the fight, and the video. I don't see that as particularly unfair: NBA or not, if you get arrested for a DUI people are going to talk about the time you got caught with pot or punched that dude in New York.

The real "image" problem for Carmelo is that people, especially casual Nuggets fans, think he's lazy (doesn't play D) or that he just doesn't care that much. And though I'm a Carmelo supporter (he's my favorite Nugget), I think this arrest gives people that impression. I mean, getting picked up a couple days before the playoffs? That's bad timing. And, if he was in fact driving drunk, that's pretty shameful, too. It doesn't add up-Carmelo can't find someone to drive for him? Shoot, I'd pick him up day or night if only for the chance it might keep the Nuggets focused on the playoffs.

Those who say Anthony doesn't care are right to an extent-I don't think Carmelo does care...about his image, at least. Sure, he's gotten some bad press. But if he seriously cared about his image, I'm sure he'd have no problem getting Nike's multi-million dollar publicity machine behind him. And he has done a ton of good, donating lots of money to a youth center in Baltimore, as well as millions to Syracuse.

Bucher also said he doesn't think the arrest will distract the Nuggets, and I think he's absolutely right. (Do you see the Answer coming down on a guy for this?) I just wish the Nuggets were in the news for having a great season (could be the team's first 50-win season since 1987-88) and making the playoffs, instead of for stuff like this.

NBA '08. Only on PlayStation.

I didn't want to skip over the latest Basketball Hall of Fame class without sharing my thoughts.

For those who haven't heard, the inductees included Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Adrian Dantley, coaches Pat Riley and Cathy Rush, owner William Davidson, and broadcaster/coach Dick Vitale.

I don't know Rush or Davidson at all. I'm currently reading Vitale's Wikipedia page, trying to find if there's any reason I should call his induction anything but a joke. Yes, that's harsh, and I do try to be nice on occasions like this, but I have no idea why Vitale will be in the Hall. (Also, Vitale is somehow the lede on that story, which means someone at the AP was in a hurry to get the piece done and went with the first guy who called him back.)

Pat Riley's one of the best coaches ever, winning titles with the Showtime Lakers and again with Shaq and Dwyane Wade just two years ago. The lamest thing I can say about him is that he trademarked the phrase "three-peat" while his Lakers were on the way to...not winning a third title in a row. (The Lakers won it all in 1987 and 1988, then were swept by Detroit in the Finals in 1989). That rarely gets pointed out. I almost feel like like you should bring it up whenever someone uses the phrase, except I have no desire to give those Pistons teams any credit whatsoever.

Dantley was a fantastic interior scorer and played for some of those Detroit teams, though he was traded to Dallas during the season of Detroit's first championship. I don't remember seeing him play, but he was discussed in David Halberstam's fabulous Playing for Keeps, where he was described as a terrific post scorer for a small forward. And I like this quote from his Wiki page:

Dantley finished his career with an average of 24.3 points per game. He scored his points with a mix of mid-range jump shots, high-percentage opportunities close to the basket, and frequent trips to the free throw line.

Jump shots, inside play, tons of free throws...sound like anyone you know? It's no wonder Dantley has worked as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets the last few years.

I'm excited to be reminded about Olajuwon and Ewing, two of the best centers of my lifetime. First, we have Olajuwon, the smooth, multi-talented Nigerian who eventually earned a gold medal with the 1996 U.S. Olympic team. Olajuwon was one of the game's true greats because he made an impact on both ends of the floor. He didn't just block shots, he got steals, too. He was a fabulous rebounder, a solid passer, scored a ton of a points, and won two rings and two NBA Finals MVP awards.

I remember one old Denver Post preview before the NBA playoffs, probably in 1997. It called Olajuwon the only player who could match Michael Jordan big shot for big shot. (Of course, he couldn't even match John Stockton and Karl Malone in that playoffs, so he would have been about two marathons behind Jordan, but still, it's impressive that people felt that way about him.)

In a recent Gmail chat with an older brother, we bemoaned the loss of personalities in sports, including guys like Ewing. Ewing is often remembered as a disappointment, which isn't fair, and which wouldn't be the case if he'd played anywhere but New York. His career stats are remarkably similar to Olajuwon's; though he lacked some of Hakeem's polish, he was an absolute force of nature. He was known for being on the wrong side of some famous Jordan moments, especially the 1982 NCAA Championship. But even that loss showed his physical dominance: did you know Ewing was called for goaltending on Carolina's first four baskets that night?

Of course, Ewing never won a championship, unless you're one of those wackos who thinks gold medals (1984, 1992) or national championships (1984) should count as "winning a basketball championship" for some reason. Yes, he never led the Knicks to the promised land, and his pro career probably never lived up to the promise he showed in college. But you can say that about all sorts of guys in every sport, and Ewing still had a better pro career than almost all of them.

Congratulations to all the inductees (including Vitale, I guess).

Buy a Mac

Memphis beat UCLA by 15, and Kansas topped North Carolina by 18 in the Final Four games tonight to set up a Kansas-Memphis national championship game Monday night (7:21 p.m. Mountain time).

I only saw the end of the KU-UNC game, which gave me a healthy mix of terrible shots and wide-open alley-oop dunks. You know, North Carolina was losing that game pretty handily anyway, but Kansas devoured their laughable attempt at creating pressure in the closing minutes. They just found the open man every single time.

I'm sure Kansas fans are thrilled to be the team that knocked out Roy Williams' team. But you know, I could give a [care] about Kansas right now. I understand it's my job to blog about this, and you guys expect me to write something because this is my blog, but as a person, that's just not very nice of you.

Anyway, by my reckoning, Memphis-Kansas was the lamest possible matchup we could have had going in to this Final Four. It reminds me of 2003, when I was pumped for a Titans-Eagles Super Bowl, and ended up getting Buccaneers-Raiders. (Come on, McNair-McNabb? That would have been sick. Instead we get Johnson-Gannon.) I was so crestfallen by that outcome that I basically don't get excited going in to any semifinals anymore. Seriously. Like I predicted a Packers-Patriots Super Bowl this year, but I kept thinking back to that year and feeling it wasn't going to happen. And that's how I felt about a UCLA-UNC matchup, though I admit a bit of the excitement just came from the history of those two programs.

On the plus side, at least the team I hated (Oakland) lost the Super Bowl that year. I don't hate Kansas quite that much, but they're pretty freaking annoying, so I'll be pulling for Memphis Monday night.

Cutler v. Marshall

There's an article up about an interview Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler did today with the Associated Press. In it, he covers a few topics, the headliner being his disappointment in wide receiver Brandon Marshall.

Marshall suffered a serious injury last month when his arm went through an entertainment center. Yes, really. The article says that the injury came when Marshall was "horsing around", which is awful if the pun was intended. But the injury was serious; Broncos' trainer Steve Antonopulos said in a statement that Marshall cut an artery, a vein, a nerve, two tendons, and three muscles. Ye-ouch.

The extent of the injuries makes the whole episode sound a lot worse than garden-variety wrestling. Still, though. You can call Brandon Marshall a chump, and you can laugh at his misfortune if you want, but I don't think you can call this an indictment of his character. Cutler disagrees:

'I've talked to him many times. I think a lot of people have. ... He knows he's running out of chances,' Cutler said. 'This wasn't like his DUI and other stuff he's had. It was an accident, but still, things like that can't happen. He knows it.

'But like I told him, I said, 'Brandon, they're going to quit giving you chances and you're going to have to go somewhere else. And that's going to be a shame.''

What does that even mean: it was an accident, but it still can't happen? I don't know. Also, as long as Marshall keeps producing like he did last season (102 catches for 1,325 yards and 7 TDs last year), he's not going anywhere, as the DUI proved. (Maybe I'm crazy, but a DUI bothers me a lot more than "horseplay", and I don't remember Cutler saying anything last year.) Anyway, I thought the article seemed to sensationalize a little bit, but Cutler wasn't exactly holding back:

'His DUI was a wakeup call,' Cutler retorted. 'He's had many wakeup calls. I mean, he's been in [coach Mike] Shanahan's office many times. I've been up there with him. He said the same thing: 'This is a wakeup call. This is the last thing that's going to happen. Blah blah blah.' I mean, until he goes out and proves it, we'll see what happens. [And you know, deep down I feel bad for those players who are expected to prove things.]'

Wait, why the heck would Cutler be up there with him? The quarterback comes to your performance reviews now? Anyway, what amuses me about the interview is that it seems like the whole thing sprang from somebody telling Cutler to act like a leader. Odd thing is, running to the press won't help that cause the way playing like a first-rounder would.

Cutler said of Javon Walker, who left for Oakland:

'You've got to have a No. 1 guy you want to go to. I think Brandon was going to be my guy. I don't know if Javon was going to be OK with 40, 50, 60 balls [considering I'd throw at least 20 of those over his head and into the stands.]'

I don't know, check it out, tell me if I'm being too harsh.

Nuggets-Suns, Round Two

The Nuggets beat the Suns 126-120 tonight at the Pepsi Center. All I can say is, man, I have to get to a game soon. So many cool moments:

1. If you haven't watched the Nuggets much this year, you wouldn't know this, but Eduardo Najera has turned himself into a three-point threat. Seriously. Okay, his 36.7% rate from beyond the arc isn't great, especially considering he doesn't shoot a lot with a hand in his face, but he hit two int he early going. It's tough to believe.

2. Another "this guy knows he can score whenever he wants" comment, this time when the matchup was Gordon Giricek guarding Carmelo Anthony. What can you say, it's true.

3. Nene looking awfully good in his ten minutes, much of which he spent guarding Shaquille O'Neal one-on-one, and doing it well. It's not the '98 Shaq, but Nene had no problems holding his ground. He was also crafty, knowing when to give up space so Shaq would lean in too far and end up forcing an off-balance shot. (This is a move players have pulled on Shaq in certain spots for years; I'm still impressed.)

4. Raja Bell getting himself thrown out of the game in the third quarter. Twice in a row he fouled Carmelo while Melo was posting him up. After the first foul, he talked and talked and talked and talked aaaaaaaaaand talked, trying to goad Anthony into doing something stupid. Anthony and Bell got a double technical. Then Bell got called for the second foul, started laughing incredulously, and was thrown out of the game. I love it.

5. Then Carmelo knocked down the free throw.

6. And then Anthony Carter inbounded and alley-oop pass from the sideline to Kenyon Martin, who was running up the baseline on the far side of the rim and dunked it home. They made it look so easy. Later in the quarter, Carter passed off to and set a screen for Allen Iverson at the very top of the arc, and Iverson buried a long three.

7. But most of all, I just loved the Nuggets holding on and making enough free throws at the end to win it.