Sam Bowie...Where Are Thou? (And some other stuff)

Does this bite for Blazer fans or what? It appears that they may be snake-bitten when they select a big Center prospect high in the draft.

Zac and Nat, please don't think the worst just yet. Oden is young enough that he should be able to pull through this just fine. Look at Stoudemire. Amare has come back pretty well from his own micro-fracture surgery and hes the best example of how someone that young can come through this.

The question does always remain - especially given the way the last two years have gone for Oden - is Oden injury prone? I brought it up to Nat before the draft. He was injured in HS for one year too. This could all be a fluke, but injuries just seem to happen to some guys. Or, sometimes its just that one freak injury that starts the beginning of the end. Remember Bo Jackson? The guy seemed indestructible before he was dragged down from behind, which began the sad ending to a career that seemed to be going places that no one had ever imagined humanly possible. For the sake of Oden, Portland fans and the NBA in general, let's hope this is not the case.

Billy-Gate

I KNEW that was the only reason that the Pats were beating the Jets! I'm kidding of course. We all know that they have great players and people who have seen Bellicheck in action knows the guy knows what hes doing as a coach, but this HAS to take some of the luster off his reputation, no?

The league had apparently warned every team and specifically the Pats to not do this type of stuff. But, ever arrogant Bellicheck, decided to do it anyway with a guy pointing a camera on a tripod aimed directly at Jet coaches where a former Patriot coach just happens to now be the head coach. Doesn't that also have to take away some of Bellichecks "genius" rep too? It doesn't take an Einstein sort of fellow to say to himself, "You know, maybe I won't do it against the one guy who knows I do this". Again, arrogance is a hell of a drug.

Apparently the league will conduct a full-scale investigation into the Patriots tactics now that this has come to light. For the last couple of years, teams have been going into Foxboro with hard wired headsets - obviously not the QB's helmets - because for "some reason" their communications would cut out during crucial downs (i.e. 3rd and 7, 4th and 1, etc.). Teams have alleged that the Patriots are using some sort of short-wave device to disrupt communications. Furthermore, the league will also investigate to see if Patriot defensive linemen had audio recording devices installed in their helmets to record audibles from opposing QB's so that the team could later decipher them AND catalog them for the next time they play against one another. It sounds like pretty serious stuff. So serious in fact, I think the league should have fined them even more. I'm imagining that if the league finds that more of this stuff is true, the penalty could become more severe than the already hefty penalty of:

Bellicheck: $500,000
The Patriots: $250,000 and a 1st round draft pick, should they make the playoffs OR 2nd and 3rd round picks if they don't make the playoffs.

Does anyone else think that this is comparable to Bonds and steroids? And if so, do you think that the Pats in general and Bellicheck in particular will catch any real flak? Steroids is cheating. This is cheating. I've said all along that steroids is just cheating. Not the end of the world Anti-Christ sort of stuff that they have you believe. Just like spit-balling, corking bats, etc. If all the allegations prove true, I'm curious to see what happens since the Pats have been THE most successful franchise in football for the last decade just as Bonds was the best player in baseball and going for the biggest record in baseball.

Yankees vs. Red Sox

Yankee haters gather around, this could be a weekend for you all to crow about, or just stay silent for a little while longer. The Yankees lost last night despite a great pitching performance by, yet another rookie, Ian Kennedy, ending their winning streak at 7. The Red Sox are coming off a couple of rousing come from behind wins. The series is at Fenway and the Yankees swept them the last time they played AND since June the Yankees have the best record in baseball and the Sawx have the second best record. Good series. Beer anyone?

Any wagers on the series Zac?