2010 All Star Let-Down - Can the NBA fix this?

Each year there is a growing notion that the NBA All-Star weekend is all about the money and all about flash over substance. How else can you explain some of the useless babble that is added in to the scheduled events? But usually there are some great moments and genuine electricity sparked from the event that seems to justify the pomp and vanity. Dwight Howard coming out of the phone booth, Nate Robinson in Kryptonite green, Tracy McGrady throwing an alley-oop to himself off the backboard.

So far no such luck with the 2010 All-Star Weekend. Let's start with the 2nd year of HORSE. HORSE, really? How did this make it to a 2nd year? They wasted an hour of TV time and still had to shoot it out the old fashioned way due to time constraints. Kevin Durant won mainly because he can shoot the lights out, not because he could do any real tricks. Rajon Rondo gave him a run for his money but just couldn't pull it out in the end. And poor Omri Caspi. He didn't make many shots at all. And the shots he did make were the ones he came up with...for example, banking a free throw (sounds really hard doesn't it).

Next came the Shooting Stars competition. This year's representatives were the LA team, Sacramento team, Texas team and the Atlanta team. I won't bore you with the play by play on this but the two finalists were the Texas team and the LA team. The LA team posted a very respectful time of 55.2sec...but the Texas team, on the back of a half-court shot by Kenny Smith, posted a relatively amazing time of 34.3sec. Relatively in the sense that in the grand scheme of things, the Shooting Stars competition is not a main draw. Its a nice little event but no one would miss it if it was gone.

Next came the Skills challenge. Russel Westbrook was out early. Brandon Jennings was flying around the court but came up just short. The finalists were Steve Nash, last year's winner, and Deron Williams. If you were watching the competition without looking at the clock you would swear that Deron Williams was in the lead. Nash just doesn't look as fast in real time, and his overall time was about 5 seconds slower than last year, but he won convincingly, mainly because of his passing accuracy.

Then the 3 point competition. To be honest, this wasn't too bad, and in retrospect was probably the best competition of the night. Don't get me wrong, no one was shooting the lights out. But rookie, and former Davidson stand out, Stephon Curry led everyone after one round and looked like the favorite to win. In the second round it looked like either the pressure got to him or he was tired, or maybe he simply was not stroking well but in any event, Paul Pierce beat him with a score of 20 to Curry's 17.

And finally, the crown jewel of the All-Star weekend, the dunk contest. Here were your contestants: DeMar Derozan, Shannon Brown, Gerald Wallace and Nate Robinson. It didn't seem like anyone wanted to win the first round. Shannon Brown missed what looked like what was intended to be a 360 Statue of Liberty dunk and then settled for an ordinary dunk where he switched hands in the air...and took off from the opposite baseline...still not sure why he needed so much space for that kind of dunk. Gerald Wallace posted a couple of ordinary looking reverse dunks. Nate Robinson posted some solid dunks (one self pass Windmill and one alley-oop reverse) Nothing to write home about, believe me. The best dunk of the first round by far belonged to DeMar Derozan who had a teammate throw an alley-oop off the side of the backboard and then ended in a Windmill.

The final round was boring and non-descript. Derozan and Robinson were the finalists. Derozan had an alley-oop dunk over a teammate (sounds cool but he actually used his hands to push off the guys shoulder) and running double-clutch dunk. Nate followed with self bounce pass dunk and a self pass off the backboard reverse slam. To watch this contest was to realize that there is an apathy among the league's best dunkers and David Stern needs to fix this somehow. DeMar Derozan had the best dunk of the night, but Nate Robinson had the best overall performance. Who won? Nate Robinson barely pulled off the 3 peat with fan voting in his favor 51%.

Overall this has been a pretty lame All-Star weekend. We'll see what happens tomorrow night with the All-Star game. If the NBA insists on keeping this Friday, Saturday, Sunday schedule then Mr. Stern needs to make sure that its crown jewel is worth the anticipation. Without the dunk contest the whole weekend seems pointless. And so far this weekend has seemed pointless.

Do the Chargers Look at Brees with a Jealous Eye?

What do you think the Chargers are thinking right now? They let Drew Brees go because his shoulder was bothering him a little and they had a young stud in the wings. But they consistenly get bounced out of the playoffs after having a seemingly powerhouse team every year.

Meanwhile, Drew Brees racks up yardage, points, accolades and more importantly - wins. This guy is a winner plain and simple. And now hes' got a Superbowl and an MVP to go along with it. Above all of that he's a class act.

Phillip Rivers will have a great career, but the Chargers have still got to look over their shoulder every once in awhile and wonder - what if?

The Gutsiest Calls Get the Glory

Another Superbowl in the books and it turned out to be a pretty good game. When Peyton Manning lofted that pretty ball into the air over the defenders head for their first touchdown making the score 10-0, it really looked like the game was over already. It looked like the Colts were going to nurse the lead going into the half and then do what they've always done this season, explode in the second half.

But in the second quarter Drew Brees and company started to get their stride again. Even though they only scored 2 FG's, you could tell they were starting to click again. Then we had a very old, traditional, non-controversial half time show (where is Janet and some wardrobe malfunctions when you need them?) and on came a second half that was awesome.

First of all, to me the greatest call of this game was the onside kick to open the second half. Genius. This was even more gutsy than the call to go for it on 4th and goal with another run play. (For the record, I thought it was gutsy but the wrong call..and not just because they didn't convert. At least one of those plays should've been a pass) I remember thinking when the ball was in the air..."genius!". If you're going to do it, that's the time to do it, in a big game when absolutely no one was expecting it. It was only a 4 point game and their defense was playing pretty well and I thought it was worth the shot. I thought all of this while the ball was still unclaimed. You've got to take risks sometimes and I was agreeing with this call before we even found out that it actually worked.

If that was the biggest call, then the biggest play was Tracy Porter's pick 6 while the Colts were threatening to tie the score. That sealed the victory.

The biggest winner here, though, is not Sean Payton or Drew Brees, or even Jeremy Shockey who is a forgotten story (and player) around here. The biggest winner without question is the city of New Orleans and the whole state of Louisiana. Is there anyone who is actually upset that the Saints won? I'm surrounded by true Carolina Panthers fans, a division rival, and they were rooting for the Saints. I don't even think Colts fans are upset that the Saints won. Upset that the Colts lost, yes, but not upset that the Saints won. Good for them. Who Dat?

Who Dat Gonna Win the Superbowl?

The time is finally here. Tomorrow the two juggernauts of the NFL, prematurely crowned many weeks ago as the favorites to represent the NFC and AFC and finally came through after being doubted, second-guessed and taking a few losses, the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts will square off. Who will win?

The fan favorite seems to be the Who Dat nation of Saints fans and the many women who will be watching the game purely to see Reggie Bush...I can't tell you how many young and old women have told me that they are watching just to see him. The analyst favorite seems to be the reliable, offensive powerhouse of the Colts. Not necessarily because of the team, but because Peyton Manning is a savant at his position.

I agree with anything that a Colts fan or analyst will tell me. Yes, the Colts won every game that they actually tried to win. Yes, Peyton Manning is uncanny at figuring out defenses and ripping them to shreds in the second half. Yes, they've played better defenses than the Saints (the Jets for example). Yes, this is the first time the Saints have been in the Superbowl while the Colts have been here before and won. And yes, the Saints barely beat the Vikings and in all honesty should have lost that game.

But here's where I stand with this. I believe that the Saints offense will make for a powerful defense and the Colts will have to play under pressure on both sides of the ball. (Let's not forget that the Saints defense is not shabby at all. Not as good as the Jets, but not shabby) I believe that the Saints really want it and that is an intangible that cannot be overstated. I also believe that the key to this game will come down to 2 players. You're expecting me to say Drew Brees and Peyton Manning, but that's too obvious. Besides, they will probably both play lights out. The two players that will shape this game the most is Dwight Freeney and Reggie Bush.
In all likelihood, Dwight Freeney will not play. That could be huge for the Colts. Freeney is their best pass rusher. They do have some other players that are pretty good, but none can really take his place. Reggie Bush is always an X factor and it seems like he's been showing some glimpses of really adapting to this NFL game over the last few weeks. If the Colts cannot adequately replace Freeney's effect on the defense and if Reggie Bush can make 1 or 2 big plays on special teams and on the run game, it may be hard for the Colts to come back from those early leads they habitually give up. I'm picking the Saints.

Who Dat!?!?!

Lil Penny vs MVP's

Most of the kids who love the Kobe & LeBron Most Valuable Puppet commercials probably have no idea it started with Chris Rock giving voice to Lil Penny in commercials years ago. For that matter, they probably don't even know who Penny Hardaway the character who the dimunitive, talking action figure was based on. But I was watching the videos on You Tube recently and was surprised by how much I had forgotten about those commercials. They were well done and pretty funny.

That being said, the MVP commercials are better. Very creative, funny and very appropriate to the personas Kobe & LeBron have engineered for themselves. The Christmas commercials this year I thought were really good. Even one of the newer ones where Kobe's shoes burned the house down is pretty good. I've posted links below. What are your favorites?

Classic Lil Penny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK88MQWsYj8

Kobe's shoes too hot!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_tI0eMeimw

Who Will be in the Superbowl?

This year's playoffs have been a crazy ride. But when it comes down to it, the 2 teams everyone thought were favored to face each other in the Superbowl still have a chance to make it a reality. Of course, everyone thought they would be facing each other as 2 undefeated teams but looking back that kind of fairy tale is too far fetched and unrealistic.

Tomorrow the Saints will face the Vikings for the NFC championship. The Vikings have a potent passing game, the potential for an explosive running game if they ever actually let Adrian Peterson loose again, what looks to be a rejuvenated defense and did I mention one of the best Quarterbacks to ever play the game? The Saints...well, they're the Saints. Highly potent offense, solid running game, potentially explosive special teams and a defense that plays well when it wants to. By the way, Drew Brees is certainly no slouch at QB either. This is a tough game to call, and I could see it going either way. For the sake of making a pick, I will go with the New Orleans Saints.

In the AFC, the Colts will be facing the Jets. On paper this seems like such an easy pick. But in reality the Jets are playing really good football. They remind me of that Ravens team that won the Superbowl several years ago. Outstanding defense, solid running game and less than stellar at the QB position. That being said, there's no way you can go against the Colts in a game like this. They've won every game this year that they've actually tried to win. Brett Favre may be one of the best (or arguably the best) QB to ever play, but Peyton Manning is the best in the league right now. He will not allow this team to lose. The Colts defense is fast...not necessarily great, but fast...besides the Colts offense is their defense. With the Jets its the opposite. Their defense is their offense. This game is not as easy to call as it seems, but I'm definitely going with the Colts. How could you not?

So that would leave us with The New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts in the Superbowl. This was a foregone conclusion about 5 weeks ago, but then the Saints lost some important games and the Colts intentionally lost some games and everyone abandoned hope. Now, if conventional wisdom holds true, they should have a chance to atone for what everyone else saw as "backing into the playoffs."

The Colts and the Saints, yup...sticking to it. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

The Hottest and Coldest Teams Entering the Playoffs

So who would've guessed three weeks ago that the seemingly Super Bowl bound Colts and Saints would end so poorly? Both of these teams were juggernauts heading into week 15. Now they are like tame pussycats. As good as they are, my confidence is now shaken that they can reach the Promised Land this year.

Let's start with the Saints. I was impressed at how many close games and come from behind victories they had throughout the season. I really thought they had a chance of finishing the season 16-0 and go to the big game. But the Cowboys really exposed them. Then they lose to the lowly Bucs. Then they rest their starters and lose to the Panthers. The Saints are good, but the Playoffs are about momentum and theirs is frankly going in the wrong direction. I can't see this team making it to the Super Bowl when the NFC is so wide open now. The Saints are definitely mortal.

On to the Colts. Again, another team that could've and should've gone undefeated and maybe even shut the Dolphins and Mercury Morris up for good. I understand why the coach opted to take Manning out, but I can't agree with it and now we see the results. They've now given rest to their starters for 2 straight weeks, suffered 2 straight losses and have a bye to begin the playoffs. There is no momentum with this team. Will they even remember how to win? There's too many good teams in the AFC to have such a lackidaisical attitude headed into the Playoffs.

So who's hot? In the NFC, there's none hotter than the oft cold in December Dallas Cowboys. They were the first to beat the Saints, then they soundly beat two division rivals to close the season. Their defense looks solid on the line and in the secondary. Their offense seems to finally be clicking on all cylinders. They have the kind of momentum that could be scary if they don't get in their own way.

In the AFC, and perhaps the entire NFL, there is no team with more momentum than the Chargers. They always turn it on in December, but they've actually won their last 11 games. Phillip Rivers is playing some of his best ball right now. San Diego could be a very difficult team to beat.

To recap, the hottest, sexiest teams in the NFL are no longer hot, sexy or even favored in my opinion. Meanwhile, the two teams who typically have playoff misfortune appear to be hot, sexy and primed for action. Of course, these are the playoffs so anything can happen. I'll be watching.