Note: This article was written by Stu “Big Daddy” Wilkinson with yours truly as a backup. Props Stu, mad respect.
…In terms of Sprite machine covers.

I have a soft spot for busts, especially in the NBA. I’m not talking about so-called busts like Kwame Brown or Darko either. Grant Hill’s not a bust either, I just love that cover. No, I’m talking about guys that didn’t get to that second contract, or to any contract for that matter. Guys that fascinated me in their pre-NBA careers, and then managed to amount to nothing in the association. I have put together a cromulent squadron of these busts, and I would argue that MJ could throw them on the court in Charlotte and nobody would know the difference.
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I just wanted to throw up a brief blog to express my excitement for this coming weekend, truly one of the greatest weekends of the calendar year for sports. I’m considering the weekend Friday-Monday just because there are big events going down Monday as well. Use this as your primer for a weekend where nobody should really get off the couch. I really wish I had this beer launching fridge ( You Tube Clip ), but my two television plus PS3 set-up will have to suffice. The fridge is only a few steps away, and there’s always that exchange student living upstairs to get me stuff.
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Note: This is Part 2 of a two part preview.

Ok, so Part 1 of my preview got some decent feedback. A lot of people feel I was too harsh on the Red Sox, and that’s probably true. I just really hate that they’re the Yankees, but pretending not to be the Yankees instead of taking a “screw you, you wish you were us” attitude like the real Yankees. It’s not becoming, and it makes me player hate. Anyways, I should probably amend my prediction and bump them into the 86-88 win range and scale the Yankees back to 96-97, so consider this an admission of fault. Today, I focus on the pitchers and the overall outlook.
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Note: Sam Cassady e-mailed me this piece looking for a response, and I thought I’d throw it up here.

I wonder if Bryan Colangelo regularly sees a fortune teller…

I mean, I liked the Luke Jackson signing before Garbo got injured, but now after the fact, I love it. Like Colangelo said, Jackson is a shooter, and so with Parker experiencing injury issues and Bargnani down, we need a “shooter insurance policy.” Jackson could have nicely fit that bill if needed. But, now that Garbo is gone, Jackson becomes almost a necessity in my opinion. Joey Graham (aka The Lost) can’t really do anything well, shooting included, and Mo is in “slow-Mo” mode right now, so I think Jackson steps right on in to play. Maybe Jackson won’t start - Slow-Mo will be penciled in - but I see Jackson filling a sort of Kyle Korver role for the Raps. He steps in, hits some open shots to expose a defence attempting to double on Bosh. His playing time will mostly be determined by how fluid he is in the offense — let’s face it, the Raptors don’t really play much ‘D.’At worst, Jackson ends up being a very good PJ Tucker (I realize they are totally different players - I’m talking about overall value and potential), but at best, I see Jackson evolving into the player we should have drafted over Araujo (I’ve tried so hard to forget him, I’ve lost the spelling of his horrible name!) in 2004.
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This is Part 1 of a 2 Part Season Preview.

So when I originally thought of doing this piece, I thought it would be a pretty topical piece about the Jays’ chances at taking the AL East or the Wildcard. As I thought about it more though, I realized I’ve good some good information to dish out so why hold it in. So the following preview will be comprised of three sections: the competition, the players, and the overall outlook. The players section will be most in depth and should even have some fantasy tips mixed in for you fantasy ballers. Enjoy, and I hope everyone is as excited for a _______ season as I am (I don’t want to give away this article’s ending).
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Note: This piece was written by Alex “Elbows” Pennycook and Stu “Big Country” Wilkinson, both repping Queen’s U.

Greg Oden or Kevin Durant?
Stupendous: Franchise centers whose names don’t start with Patrick Ewing win championships. Ask Luc Longley. The real question here is what will Greg Oden look like when he is 35? Martin Lawrence at the end of Life?
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So I couldn’t really think of any one thing to write about, so over the weekend I scribbled some notes down and thought I’d hit up as many topics as I could in one piece.
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So I couldn’t really think of any one thing to write about, so over the weekend I scribbled some notes down and thought I’d hit up as many topics as I could in one piece.
More after the jump!

Note: This article has been written by Trevor Smith aka Big Poppa Pump, writing in from Italy and representing Queen’s University.

Kobe Bryant grew up idolizing Michael Jordan, dreaming of someday taking his place at the throne at the top of the basketball world. Jordan, the most complete player in the history of the beautiful game, has long been the beacon of light that all players that followed Him (intentional) have aspired towards. For these followers it was the love and respect the Jordan garnered off the court that they desired just as heavily as the skills and success he possessed on it. Kobe spent much of his first decade in the Association being compared to and held up against Jordan’s legacy. The likeness in their game, their mannerisms, their swagger, were evident even to the most casual of fans. Hell, Ray Charles could see the similarities. And this likeness would grow to be Bryant’s curse. Throughout his superstar ascension all Bryant heard about was how, despite being the best player of his generation, he would never step out of Michael’s shadow and never be appreciated in the same way. The longer Jordan was away from the game, the more protective his fans became of his legacy and the more hyper-inflated their memories of his game became, damning Bryant as a result. It seemed that the legions of Kobe haters would never be silenced.
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There has been a lot of speculation all season about Sam Mitchell’s lame duck status with the Toronto Raptors. For those who don’t know, a lame duck coach is one who is in the final year of his contract. Mitchell’s lame duck status was heightened significantly at the end of last season when the Raptors hired Bryan Colangelo to be the new General Manager.

Rumors ran rampant that Mitchell’s time with the Raps was done, as Colangelo would soon bring over Phoenix Suns’ assistant Marc Iavaroni. The logic here was that Colangelo wanted to turn the Raptors into a Suns-style team with an up-tempo offense, and nobody would know how to operate that type of team better than Iavaroni, an assistant on the model team of such a style.With Mitchell’s contract up at the end of this season, combined with the lack of contract negotiations thus far, the general feeling is that Colangelo may still be looking at bringing in his boy to general this up-and-coming crew. This is all despite the Raptors’ 36-31 record and first place standing atop the Atlantic Division. I plan to layout five sound reasons that Mitchell should be given an extension of at least two-years to really see what he can do as he flourishes and matures in his role.
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