Apriori Concepts

I've been holding off on this for a few days, but here goes. WTF IS MICHAEL JORDAN SMOKING?

How do you take a back-up point guard who is 5-11 with the ninth pick in the NBA draft when you need a freakin' center and the best center in the draft is still on the board? Brook Lopez was a top five pick and fell in your lap. Roy Hibbert was a lottery pick last year and was available.

You took a point guard with your first pick three years ago and have built a team around a dominant power forward and two swift slashers and all you need is a big man to take the pressure off Okafor and free up some lanes for Richardson and Wallace and you take a tiny back up point guard, followed by taking a seven-foot tall, 145 pound guy with the 20th pick who averaged FIVE points a game in the FRENCH LEAGUE!!!!

I try, I really do. But what is in the water in Charlotte? Next thing you know, the Panthers will take a running back with their first pick in next year's NFL draft.

You never can waste too many first round picks with a single-minded focus on one position.

RELATED: From Bill Simon at ESPN:

5:24: Our first stunner of the night: Charlotte reaching for D.J. Augustin at No. 9, followed by a shot of a devastated Brook Lopez in the stands. Hey, any time you have a chance to grab a career backup with the ninth pick, you gotta do it.

(Do you think Charlotte's war room is located on the ninth hole at MJ's golf course? Like, it's basically him on his cell phone and two other guys on Treos trying to rush the pick in before they sneak in nine more holes? The Bobcats might be the worst-run franchise in the league. And that's saying something. If MJ's Bulls career was like Ted Danson's run on "Cheers," then his Wizards comeback was "Becker," and this current Bobcats debacle is definitely "Help Me Help You.")

5:26: Stu explains Augustin is only 5-foot-11, but he has the wingspan of someone who's 6-3½. Well, that changes everything! At the very least, he's wearing the most interesting outfit tonight: a gray suit with a purple shirt and a pink tie. That will be a good look for him when he's Charlotte's 13th man next season.

5:28: New Jersey happily and graciously takes Brook Lopez with the 10th pick. Brook? Not so happy. He's still reeling from the past seven picks.

(Come on, Brook, look at the bright side -- you get to kick Chairman Yi's butt in practice every day for the next five years, and if that's not enough, you can learn how to fake injuries from Vince Carter and become teammates with LeBron James in two years. Things are looking up, buddy.)"

 

 

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 07:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For a guy who has been on nearly 30 covers of Sports Illustrated, Kareem has never been your typical jock. In fact, he's been busting stereotypes his entire life.

Kareem Abdul Jabaar was my first sports hero and the hoops joy and pain I endured as a kid in the 1980s was directly tied to how well he did in the playoffs each year.

The 1983 finals, for example, were the most painful of my life because my grandfather had died in the fall of 1982 and I spent some time with my grandmother the next spring as she prepared to move to a new house. In fact, I think I was with her for two of the 76ers rambles during their sweep of the Lakers that season.

As I have mentioned, I read Kareem's autobiography, Giant Steps, as a teenager and his story is just incredible. Hanging with Wilt as a kid and a teen in NYC and Philly, finding himself as an unlikely loner/outcast at UCLA while being the best basketball player in the country, battling with Big E in the Astrodome, finally getting to the pros and squaring up against his hero, Wilt.

Kareem can't be put in a box and I think that is what frustrates people the most about his demeanor.

I think its a shame that he wasn't able to get a lasting coaching gig in the NBA. I think an entire generation of big-men were robbed of his influence, not only when it comes to basketball, but in terms of what he could have meant to them intellectually and broadening their off the court horizons.

Kareem has a new audio book out, and a feature on ESPN.com. He's also blogging for the LA Times.

And I haven't even touched on his affinity for jazz.

Go, man, go!

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I started rooting for the New York football Giants after they drafted the Amazing Lawrence Taylor from the University of North Carolina. As an original Pittsburgh Steelers fan and a fan of my original sports hero, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (whose biography I read when I was a wee lad, without my parents knowing that he talked all about jazz and weed and sex and going out partying with Wilt when he was still in high-school), most of my emotional investment in professional sports stems from where my favorite players from Carolina went after college.

But I digress.

The Giants have always been, like the Steelers, my kind of football team. Smashmouth running game, intense defense, and an efficient passing game. Of course, that has changed over the last decade as most teams have had to pass the ball more to overcome six-foot six 330 pound defensive tackles clogging the middle so linebackers the size of a grizzly bear with the speed of a deer can knock the running backs head off.

They also have had class players, good role models for young athletes. Now granted, Taylor was not an off the field model, but as shown in today's New York Times, the tradition of class continues.

Michael Strahan and Amani Toomer are both reaching the end of their careers, and this feature is a good story of leadership and loyalty in a year when pro sports has been engulfed with stories of cheating and classless back stabbing by men who owe their place in society largely to the amount of adoration bestowed upon them by kids who were just like me when I discovered Terry and Franco and Kareem.

The current Giants offense is so unpredictable, I can't imagine them winning today. But then again, I didn't give them a chance last week either.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 09:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Tayon Graves scored seven touchdowns Friday night in the state semi-finals, I knew I was watching a world class performance.

The boys at Reidsville Football pointed out the many school records Graves broke in that game, but I got to thinking when I noticed he has scored 43 touchdown in 15 games this year.

A lot of hoopla was made when LaDanian Tomlinson scored 28 touchdowns in 16 games last year in the NFL. Tayon has 43. Now he's not in the NFL, but I think that's an amazing feat in any league.

Oh yeah, only one person has ever scored more than five rushing td's in an NFL game, and that was Ernie Nevers, who scored six for the Chicago Cardinals against the Monsters of the Midway in Nov. of 1929.

Tayon has been a joy to watch for the past three seasons. He's one of the best running backs I have ever watched at any level.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 07:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Go Rams!

Tayon Graves, record breaker:

*Graves has rushed for a record 2,079 yards to date and has 43 rushing touchdowns and 262 points scored this season alone. His 40 carries, 285 yards, and seven touchdowns against Southern Vance are all single game school records. Even more amazing is the fact he has only eight yards in losses from scrimmage all season.

The senior also holds school standards with 732 career rushes, 5,377 yards, and 92 touchdowns. He needs just 11 carries to eclipse his own record of 251 rushing attempts in a season.*

 

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 09:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Proposed realignment of NCHSAA conferences would only help Reidsville's powerful football program.

GNR reports:

Reidsville would find itself in a potentially tougher 2-A football conference with Andrews and Carver.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 04:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sean Taylor is a hell of a football player. I hope he gets through this. 

*Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was shot at his Florida home early Monday and was hospitalized in critical condition, police and relatives said.

Miami-Dade police officials said police received a 1:45 a.m. call from a woman inside Taylor's residence in the affluent suburb of Palmetto Bay, saying that a man had been shot. Ambulance crews found the 24-year-old defensive star struck in the lower extremities, Lt. Nancy Perez said.*

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 04:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AP: 

*"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes," the indictment reads.*

Bye, bye, Barry. And good riddance. Those who lie, cheat and steal belong in the ash heap of history. I want Hank Aaron back.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 07:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Being a massive Pittsburgh Steelers fan, I find myself adrift in neverland with Tony Romo and Terrell Owens on my fantasy football team. We're having a great year.

But back in the real world, I get real frustrated whenever I watch the Steelers because they get blown out and play horrible. Until I turn off the tv.

It happened again yesterday, when I walked away in disgust with the Steelers down 21-6.

Big Ben put on a show in the second half. What a tough, gritty, Pittsburgh Steelers type performance he put on, running the ball, avoiding sacks and making great plays.

At 7-2, they are looking pretty good, especially when you consider they have given up a league low 126 points and are second only to the almighty Patriots machine (208 net points) in net points with 127.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 08:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man, what does it say about our small colleges when they continue to take out the largest and most succesful programs in the NCAA, and on their home courts at that.

I went to basketball camp at Gardner-Webb when I was a kid, so I'm extra happy about this.

Gardner-Webb coach Rick Scruggs had no idea what to expect from his players as he walked into the Rupp Arena halftime locker room up 11 points over mighty Kentucky.

Scruggs, a former coach at Pikeville College in the state, had always dreamed of playing against the 'Cats in Rupp.

Rick Scruggs used to coach at Pikeville College in Kentucky's shadow. Now he's masterminded a shocker in Lexington.

Still, he had nothing. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, that is, until his cell phone rang.

"I felt it buzz and vibrate and I started laughing," Scruggs said, speaking by phone at 1 a.m. on Thursday morning while still inside Rupp Arena. "I told our guys, 'Should I pick up the phone and say I'm too busy to talk right now because we're kicking Kentucky?' "

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 09:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good times ahead on Tobacco Road with UNC, Puke and NC State all ranked in the preseason Top 25.

A resurgent Clemson program is just outside the Top 25, meaning new battles in the ACC.

UNC comes in at number one, followed closely by UCLA and Memphis in a virtual three-way for the top spot.

Duke is 11th and NCSU is 24th.

Can't wait.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 09:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I been lovin' Alabama football since I was nine and saw the man in the black and white checkered hat lead his team to the national title with a win in the 1980 Sugar Bowl.

Last night's game was incredible, for its depth of meaning to both teams and the effort put forth by the players.

Darren McFadden dominated the Tide defense, willing his team back from a 21 point deficit late in the game.

Saban got in his defense's face on the Razorback's final possession, and they were able to stop Arkansas and get the ball back to set up the incredible finish.

What a drive. What a catch!

This is why I love SEC football.

I'm not too excited yet. The next two weeks will tell how good the Crimson Tide can be. They host Georgia next week and go to Florida State after that.

Roll Tide.

note to self: did you see florida destroy tennessee yesterday? wow.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)