WWE And Vince Give Epic Fail Performance

After going to a bar with K-man, XM, and Catfish to watch the last WWE PPV, 'Judgement Day' I wrote in my little daily milieu, the random thought/quote/fact of the day, that I was done with pro wrestling. Sure I was a fan of the Attitude Era, who wasn't, but the storylines are not well-executed, the action in the ring is horrible when it comes to the big names, and the characters are stale. Oh, and in my opinion John Cena can not even sniff Stone Cold and The Rock's jockstrap.

The events of the past week though pulled me back in as I had to tune into see what Vince was going to cook up after moving Monday Night Raw to the Staples Center in L.A. after being double booked with the Nuggets' hosting of game 4. Vince talked a big game, insulting E. Stan Kroenke and putting up a 5 vs. 5 tag match as the man event with a Lakers versus Nuggets team and a mystery 5th man for the Lakers' team. I was excited to see how the WWE would incorporate this during the entire night since they had done such a great job setting it up all week.

In the end it was a tremendous letdown. Vince came out to confront a fake, dressed-up Stan Kroenke and revealed the E in his name stood for "Enis" and then let the crowd participate in the dickjoke connection of the name. Of course, it made me think of former Penn State draft bust Curtis Enis. Then Vince merely pushed the fake Kroenke down and his music played. No stunner? Not even a DDT? Lame.

Then we had this abomination of impersonators ring side:



That is supposed to be from left to right: Lakers' owner Jerry Buss, Jack Nicholson, and NBA Commissioner David Stern. First off, the fake Buss looks like a woman in a red wig. Is it really that hard to find a good Jack impersonator in LA? He had a speaking part backstage and sounded nothing like the real thing. The Jack Nicholson voice is an easy one to imitate, and every white man can do a halfway decent one. It is a few steps down from being as universal to an Arnold voice. The one that makes me shake my head is the David Stern "look-a-like" and by look-a-like I mean looks not a damn bit like David Stern. This is David Stern:

They got old white guy and glasses part right and that is pretty much it. You might say that most wrestling fans would not know the difference but this edition of RAW was supposed to bring in the casual viewers and gain new followers. It instead showed why wrestling, while popular, is not as big as it was and continues to shrink as MMA expands.

The final straw was the mystery tag-team partner. It was some guy named 'Mr. Kennedy' who I had never heard of but apparently has been gone for awhile with injury. Another fail, this was a time for a celebrity, someone tied to basketball, The Rock since this was in Hollywood (I can dream can't I?), or some other long lost wrestler not seen in a long time. I refuse to waste my time with it anymore (even for Kelly Kelly), although game 4 over on TWWL was almost as unwatchable with the constant whistles, 84 free-throws and technical fouls.

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NBA Playoffs: Where Egg on My Face Happens

"[I]f I were a betting man, I'd be all over Denver for game three."

3 second-half points for Mello and another bad pass that will undoubtedly earn Trevor Ariza $5-10 million extra dollars when he signs his next deal are things I should have foreseen. I'm not sure exactly why the Gasol hate has continued through these playoffs. He played very small in the middle part of the Rocket series, but from game seven of that series he's been the best big man in the playoffs. He's been a force on the offensive boards (more so than any of the "tougher" Denver big men) and unlike Dwight Howard, he's stayed on the court playing just as many minutes as Kobe. With Bynum playing like a big Tracy Morgan, Gasol's performance has been vital to their 2-1 series lead. Lamar Odom has been definition Lamar Odom. He scored 19 or more in 3 games against the Jazz, but since he's scored more than 10 only once. Midway through the Rockets series, it became apparent that Kobe would have to be on for the Lakers to win any game the rest of the way out. At the time, asking if he could do it ten more times seemed like a long shot, but now we're down to six "on" games for the Mamba, which seems much more doable.

On the flip side, if the Nuggets lose this series, it will be having an advantage in talent and owing it almost exclusively to mental miscues. Nene, his name is four letters long, can we please agree on a pronunciation. It's not as if he's got a Russian-Bulgarian hyphenated name. There are as many pronunciations as letters floating around currently. A guy that I believe can help swing this series, if he can get on the court: Renaldo Balkman. The energy that the Birdman typically provides has not been apparent in this series, but Balkman is another guy capable of making a difference without scoring (something the Nuggets have lacked thus far). I don't care if George Karl has to call Larry Brown to e-mail over some in-bounds plays on his Blackberry, if one more clutch in-bounds play is botched, he's going to lose this team, for good.

In the east, I couldn't be happier that the entire nation is getting to see the Orlando Magic's cheap-shotting, moving screens and constant arm-barring of Hedo. People want to sing their praises, but this has much more to do with LeBron's supporting cast playing like they just got done with ten rounds of drunken dizzy bat and go sell the Magic's defense somewhere else because I'm not buying. They are collapsing on the King and they're not paying for it. The Cavs guards have become intimidated (although Delonte has shown flashes) and they continually settle for jumpers. This, along with the horrendous officiating has resulted in the free throw disparity that so many people are talking about. Watching LeBron he's still an MVP caliber player, but he's looking much more man than myth in this series. He's certainly adept at scoring, but on the defensive end, he's ended up in no man's land on several plays, and I keep waiting for him to get mad to fire up his teammates, but when Mo Williams was face down bloodied, LeBron looked concerned, not incensed. Kobe, Larry, or Michael would've made the other team pay. To this point, the King hasn't. I do hope the Cavs pull this out, so we can call Turkgolu "Turk-Ehlo" for the rest of his career.

Just remember both series are 2-1, hardly insurmountable leads, there's plenty of chance for more egg on my face this week.

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'What Was the Difference?' and Other NBA Tidbits

Excluding the Doris Burke interviews, there is no more ridiculous, annoying, and hair-brained question in postgame analysis than 'What was the difference in tonight's game?' After both the Cavs-Magic and Nuggets-Lakers games this question has been posed, but the obvious, "Delonte/Fish missed the final shot." is never the answer, oh nooooo. Instead we listen to babble about how great the winning team played and we get to hear about the problems the losing team needs to fix. It's amazing that night in and night out, these talking heads can find no better questions to ask, other than generic BS questions that completely fail to, ya know, analyze the game.

Speaking of the games, if I were a betting man, I'd be all over Denver for game three. They haven't gotten to play in front of a home crowd in what will be ten days when the lace 'em up for game three and the Pepsi Center will be rocking. I anticipate the Nuggets getting a big lift for the game, potentially followed by a letdown in game four (much to the delight of Vinny Mac).

Speaking of Vince and the WWE, how epic is he going to try to make that Monday Night Raw? Nothing would give him greater satisfaction to outdraw the game in the ratings. Likely a pipe dream, I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled out all the stops, possibly involving a special guest (if you smell what I'm cooking).

Meanwhile back on the hardwood, are J.R. Smith and Sasha Vujacic competing to see who can get yanked back to the bench fastest by their coach following an atrocious shot? It was good to see 'The Machine' stay in long enough to do his trademark ball hug after getting a foul called. Sasha, it's the first quarter, you get six fouls and you haven't made a difference yet this playoffs, please stop with the melodrama. It's also hard to fault J.R. Smith for shooting every time he touches the ball, because every time he passes he turns the ball over or nearly does. At least with a shot, it's not a direct pass to the Lakers.

All this discussion about Kobe v. LeBron for the league's best player has me wondering where this puts Carmello in the discussion? If people want to say the Mamba and the King are on a different plane, I have no objections, but doesn't he have to be creeping into the discussion with Dwayne Wade, CP3, and Dwight Howard on that second tier? With two ad campaigns focusing on Kobe v. LeBron does anyone else get the sneaking suspicion we're heading for another Dan v. Dave disaster?

The LeBron 'clutch' questions need to be put on ice. Asking them after game one because he passed up a shot, is nothing more than trying to rile up the natives. If LeBron isn't clutch because he passed the ball to Delonte West, is Phil Jackson not clutch for deciding to pass the ball to Fisher at the end of the game? Was Paul Pierce not clutch when he passed the ball to Big Baby? Of course not, because Davis made it. It's cliche to throw out the Jordan to Kerr pass, but if it had been Game Seven, Jordan never passes the ball to Kerr and I firmly believe if it was Game Seven, the King wouldn't have passed it either. The team lost that game because they played lazy defense, not because LBJ wasn't clutch.

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NBA Playoff Hodgepodge

While the Nuggets dispatching the Mavericks in five games, it could be a carry-over from this series that ultimately short circuits Denver's chances at a championship. With the Kenyon Martin - Mark Cuban feud in the rearview mirror, will the NBA not have a hairline trigger with the Mr. Blue Light Special? I don't think so. The first time Kenyon and Kobe exchange barbs or the first time he puts Gasol on his ass, Stu Jackson is going to suspend K-Mart for a game and potentially cost Denver a game. The remaining series are too tight to give a game away, but thanks to an owner Martin finds himself in a position where either a) he can't play with abandon or b) he risks missing a game. Not an enviable position and one that could cost the Nuggets.

The Lakers will finish off the 13th seeded Rockets tonight. After the Rockets pulled off a March Madness-esque upset in game four, the Lakers took them seriously in game five and without Aaron Brooks and Shane Battier shooting lights out while Jeff Teague Kobe Bryant struggled, Houston had no chance. Tonight will prove no different.

Orlando has allowed two straight games to slip through their fingers and while Superman wants to pin it on coaching, the players are just as much if not more responsible. Repeatedly ignoring Rashard Lewis's mismatch on the offensive end is a failure by both the guards and particularly, Hedo Turkeyglue. For the Magic, the answer isn't to get it to the Big Offensive Ineptitude in the middle, it's to not settle for jump shots, something they've failed to do in crunch time for two straight games. Turkeyglue, I know the step back three worked in crunch time before, but that doesn't make it a good shot. Boston will likely close this series out tonight, because good teams don't force their opponents to go scoreless for nine minutes in the fourth quarter and lose at home. Mediocre teams that rode officials to several regular season wins do.

Finally, the LeBron championship discussion. First answer these questions, would it surprise you if Kobe Bryant didn't win another title? Steve Nash never got one? Dirk never got one? How about Shaq, KG, Iverson, or Duncan? What about DWade? That's every MVP from the last decade (and the best player on the Redeem Team) not named the Chosen 1. If no one expects these players to win again or wouldn't be surprised if they didn't get to the mountain top again, how many rings will the King get? More than Kobe(3)? More than Duncan (4)? More than Jordan (6)? Or dare I ask, Russell (11)? Going after Russell would be an incredible longshot, but for a guy that is on the cusp of winning (and leading his team to) his first title at 24, chasing Russell, like Tiger chasing Jack, may be the only chance we get to seeing LBJ's full potential. If he gets a couple and gets complacent (think Shaq), we may never get to see the full extent of the King's greatness. Looking around the league, I don't see how he doesn't get in at least Jordan's neighborhood with 5, but everything will change in 2010. Even after 2010, playing with LeBron has to remain the best show in town for role players and aging veterans in search of a ring, doesn't it? Personally, I'd like for everyone to start taunting him with you'll never win as many as Russell, just to see how he responds and hope and pray his response is to prove us all wrong. He's the hybrid of Shaq and Jordan, with the speed of a track star thrown in. Dwight Howard might be Superman (and Clark Kent on the offensive end), but LeBron is part Hulk, Flash, Iron Man, and MJ (from Space Jam).

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NBA Playoffs:Where Euthanasia Happens

Last night, the Atlanta Hawks were mercifully sent to the golf course. I'm quite certain the Malcontent was not happy about the outcome, but the Cavs' quest for fo, fo, fo can continue without any accipiters loose on the backboard. The Hawks fell by a combined total of 142 points in their loses or slightly more than 20 per game. Combined with the Hornets 123 point combined losses, they combined for the worst showing by two teams in one playoff in the history of the NBA.

The Cavs move on, but having watched this team sweep two straight teams I'm now convinced of one thing. LeBron James, who finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year awards is not the best defender even on his own team. Both Delonte West and Anderson Varejao are more critical on the defensive end for this team's success. LBJ leads the league in spectacular blocks (with all due respect to Dwight Howard, whose blocks are less-impressive based on his propensity to block shots out of bounds). He also leads the league in blocks on Sportscenter, partly because of the incredible nature of his chase down blocks, but also because of his status in the league. How many Lamar Odom blocks were on SportsCenter? Can people even recall one? I ask, because he had more blocks this season than the King. This is not to take away from LBJ's accomplishments (he deserved the MVP), but just to point to the dumbing down of sports (and sportswriters and broadcasters that vote on the award).

The Mark Cuban-Kenyon Martin feud grew to unhealthy proportions, but with everyone looking to dole out blame, there's an important element no one is touching on. The word "thug" has been code to mean the N-word for several years, particularly in the arena of sports. I'm not asserting that Cuban was insinuating the N-Word, but a hyper-sensitivity by Martin should not be judged too harshly. Combining the danger his mother felt, the use of thug and an emotional loss, it would be difficult for anyone not to drop a couple F-bombs. Feel free to point to someone like Jackie Robinson's restraint and remember that's one of the things that made him an American Hero.

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Justifying or Justified: 3 Observations from the Weekend

We've all gotten into arguments disagreements with a loved one where we're trying to justify our actions, even if we know deep down that we're wrong. Here's three observations from the weekend and I need folks to tell me if I'm justifying or justified in my beliefs.

1. The John Wall Breaking and Entering story doesn't concern me one bit. Wall, was cited for B&E after being observed walking out of a vacant house. There was no forced entry and nothing appeared to be missing. To me this is little more than kids being kids. This pails in comparison to Wake Forest's Al Farouq Aminu being arrested for shooting a woman with a BB gun, but because of Wall's undecided status people will want to make a mountain out of a molehill. If anything, I'm betting on the officer that stopped them being a State fan.

2. The Denver Nuggets will prevent Kobe from winning a championship. Denver's playing with a dash healthy serving of nasty these days and have already frustrated two of the best in the west (Paul and Nowitzki) and the Black Mamba could be next. When Dahntay Jones (or as I like to call him Gerald Henderson's defensive doppleganger) puts Kobe on his backside, who on the Lakers is going to step up and be the enforcer? Andrew Bynum in his first playoffs, Pau 'please don't touch me' Gasol, Trevor Ariza? The only possibility other than Kobe having the sole responsibility is Derek Fisher and no offense to Fish, I'm not sure he's got it in him. When these two teams meet, the series will undoubtedly take a toll on 24 and that won't bode well as they look forward. I'm not ready to say that Denver will win the series, but this team is underrated when it comes to experience. Both Chauncey Billups and Kenyon Martin have played in multiple NBA Finals, Carmello has performed well on big stages at the college and Olympic level, how nervous can Nene be before a game considering he conquered cancer and the same goes for Chris Anderson after beating his inner demons. That leaves J.R. Smith, who clearly has no conscious and would gladly hoist from near 30 with your life on the line. If the Lakers want to advance and have anything in the tank for the Cavs... er, I mean East Winners someone will have to step up to protect Kobe.

3. Boxing will never die. It will go dormant for long periods of time, but it will never die. When a great boxer is fighting, people will emerge from their two year pugilist slumbers and flock to TVs like moths. On Saturday with every sport but football represented, it was Manny Pacquiao that stole the show. He was better than Ovechkin v. Crosby, better than Bulls v. Celtics, better than the NASCAR Richmond race, the Quail Hollow Championship and yes, even the Kentucky Derby. Mine that Bird is a great story, but the race did have two favorites scratch, and the "sloppy" conditions were perfect for a smaller horse. A big part of upsets are who you beat and as it stands now Mine That Bird hasn't beaten any horse of note. Back to boxing, the sport has multiple problems, but when a great walks into the ring after a long night of hapless undercard bouts, all those problems melt away. When the Sweet Science is being practiced by a master, there are few things in sports that can top it and that's why when someone says, "Boxing is dead" from now on, I'll feel compelled to correct them.

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Break Up The Nugs

To steal a phrase from Doc Holiday, Wyatt the Nuggets are rolling. Last night Denver put the exclamation on a beatdown of the Hornets 107-68. The only salvaging point for the Hornets was that they did not get swept, winning game 3 by 2 points. Denver's average margin of victory in this series was 30.75. Chauncey has given the team a completely different identity from last year and the confidence is way up from last year. The team was only 4 games better in the standings, but it is night and day the way they are playing.

The Nuggets move on to the second round against the Mavs who dispatched San Antonio. Denver has to be seen as the favorite in this series but for now they are going to celebrate their first playoff series win in 15 years. Their last one was when they upset 1 seed Seattle who was coached by George Karl. If you forgot about that series somehow, this should jog your memory:

L.A. is still the huge favorite in the west, but if the Nuggets keep up this level of play they should blow by the Mavs and perhaps give the Lakers a run for their money assuming they get by the Rockets/Blazers.

Here's a short discussion we had about the Nuggets playoff performance (after game 2 of the Hornets blowout series), the changes the team has made, and could their be a duel even more incredible than the Bulls/Celtics as the playoffs progress?

 

Carmelo, Nuggets finally punch ticket to second round [NBA.com]

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Lil Bobcats (v.) Nuggets

Tonight the Bobcats take on the Denver Nuggets at home. Denver is riding a two-game winning streak, but they are 1-2 on the road this season. They have scored 100 or more in four of their six games and 94 or more in the other two. The Cats need to play solid defense because they don't have the scoring to keep up if they let Denver run. Charlotte's scored less than 85 in half of their games this season so slowing Denver down will be crucial. How the Bobcats handle Kenyon Martin and the PGs ability to defend newly acquired Chauncey Billups will likely be the keys to the game. More team notes after the break.

Last season, MJ was getting ripped repeatedly for his absentee approach. This season his presence has been much more visible, and he deserves credit for that. Whether it will mean increased success for the team remains to be seen, but his new approach implies he's more vested in this team and that can't be a bad thing. Jordan had an interesting Q&A with Scott Fowler and even discussed becoming the majority owner of the team.

One of the best quotes from MJ, "I do want people to understand I'm committed to this franchise. I'm committed to Charlotte. I'm invested. I'm putting my money up. They're not giving me a suite. They're not giving me front-row seats. I'm paying for these things. If I'm putting my money in it, I believe in it."

I loved MJ the player, but MJ the exec has been less of a love affair, but I want to believe. Without sounding too much like a MJ apologist, he was thrust into a position (that he wanted) with the Wizards. He never had the time to learn as a right-hand man in the front office and now in his second tour as an exec, he's made some mistakes, but also some nice pick-ups (Jason Richardson). Maybe MJ the exec has learned from his rookie mistakes and is finally rounding into shape.

While the Gerald Wallace trade may not be imminent, it does seem like it's going to happen. One of the potential trade targets, David Lee, has come up gimpy. From Ball Don't Lie, "David Lee did not practice yesterday and told The Post he has been suffering from a bone spur in his ankle for three weeks." Lee went on to say he would play throw the pain, but it would require eventual surgery. Lee's production has been down and trading for another forward with an injury seems like a losing proposition.

On the home front, Wallace shot just 2 for 11 against the Raptors and scored a season low six points, after the trade rumors hit a fever pitch. It'll be interesting to see if the ongoing talks affect his performance.

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