Death Of The Suns, Part 2

Apparently it's all the rage to write about the death of the Suns. Love him or hate him (I used to be a huge fan, but he gets more and more homer-ific by the day, which is annoying), The Sports Guy at ESPN has another good article about the Suns Run 'N Gun era here.

Commercial

It is, admittedly, a tad dizzying. But this soccer commercial from Nike is pretty sweet, regardless...


(H/T to Awful Announcing for the find)

Death Of The Suns

Just a superb article on True Hoop about what the Suns did for the NBA. I absolutely love True Hoop (even if it is part of ESPN), and stop by there every day. So go check it out.

David Stern And The NBA

Yes, i live in Phoenix. Yes, i am a big Suns fan. Yes, i was incensed last year when Amare and Boris were suspended for Game 5. Yes, i've written extensively about it here.

All that said, i am over last year's suspensions. What happened is over and done with. I no longer show any anger towards it; i have accepted what happened and gotten over it.

David Stern, however, continues to rub it in Suns' fans faces.

I understand that there were no suspensions over the KG/Zaza altercation in the Celtics-Hawks game the other night. The issue at hand is that both Kendrick Perkins and Marvin Williams, during the altercation, were on their respective benches and stepped onto the court. In fact, both of them admitted to doing so.

But i'm actually glad no one got suspended. Neither team deserves to lose a player based on their small actions that did not result in escalating the situation.

But if what i heard is true, if Stu Jackson actually uttered the words 'I saw no intent in either player's actions', as is being reported, then i am FURIOUS. No intent?! NO FUCKING INTENT?!?! You said last year that intent did not matter and could not be discerned. If that's true, then i call Bullshit on David Stern, Stu Jackson, and the NBA.

I used to have a lot of respect for David Stern, he has done a lot of great things for the NBA, both domestically and nationally. But between this ruling, last year's ruling, how he handled the referee gambling situations, and how is currently butchering the Sonics situation, it may be time to look for a new leader.

Phoenix Sports Odds & Ends

I haven't kept up writing reactions to the Suns-Spurs series as well as i would have liked, mostly because i can't properly put into words exactly what i've been feeling about it. After Game 1, which everyone agrees was an instant classic, the series looked poised to become on of the all-time greats.

Then Game 2 rolled around, and the Suns stayed close towards the end before folding. Then they lost at home in Game 3. And suddenly they were down 3-0 and on the brink of elimination.

Game 4 was a win, which was predictable all things considered. Game 5 is tonight, another must-win for the Suns in order to avoid elimination. There are a considerable amount of people out there that believe the Suns will win tonight, and at least make this somewhat of a series. I am skeptical at best.

As a indictment of how deep my skepticism runs, i will be attending tonight's Dbacks games instead of watching the Suns Game 5. I also have tickets to tomorrow's Dbacks game. Oh, and well pretty much every other game this season at Chase Field. Season tickets. They're a beautiful thing.

Especially when the team is so damn good.

The Dbacks are rolling. Absolutely cruising, rolling through the competition like a freight train on the way to an MLB best 19-7 record and a 6.5-game lead in the division. They have played in eight series, and have lost only 1. On offense they lead MLB in runs scored, RBI's, Slugging Percentage, and total bases. For pitching they lead MLB in ERA, wins, (least) losses, hits given up, and Batting Average Against.

Does this sound like a team that might be good? How about you combine that with the fact that they are one of the youngest teams in baseball also?

This baseball team is fun to watch, in the way they play the game, in the way they come up big in the right spots, in the way they interact with each other. Everyone keeps saying that the season is still young, but it's not that young anymore. We're a month into the season, and things don't look to be stopping for the Dbacks.

I do not know know what the rest of the season holds for the Dbacks, but if they keep playing the way they started this year, it's hard to imagine many teams finishing ahead of them...

(By the way - Found this through my brother, but check out the forums over at Diamondbacks Bullpen. These guys are awesome with their info, and their gameday threads are second to none from any team and any sport.)

Where You Came From

Time for my (almost) weekly feature, Where You Came From, where i take a look at the countries that have visited this site and the search terms that brought you here...

In the last 9 days (it's been slow around here) we've had visitors from Germany, Canada, France, Italy, and the good 'ole US of A. My international audience has been sorely lacking as of late.

Now for my favorite part of this post, the search terms that brought people here. As always, these are copied and pasted, therefore not corrected for any errors spelling or otherwise.

1) dennis green quotes vikings
2) The Big Shaqtus (2)
3) Marwan Williams (2) (Seriously, every week? Still?)
4) fuck brett favre (2) (Ha ha ha, i still love that that one brings people here...)
5) dennis green postgame (3)
6) shirts iowa 2008 wrestling national championship
7) suns vs celtics 2008
8) kenechi udeze press conference
9) Phoenix SUns Scandal Iowa (Huh?)
10) http smitty's blogspot com (So close...)
11) 2008 nba playoff after game press conferences
12) Suns and Spurs postgame press conference
13) stupid sports quotes "dennis green" (That one says it all...)
14) NBA postgame conference April 19 2008
15) a bad day coach dennis green
16) dennis green basketball (Again, huh?)
17) "pitcher hit two home runs in a game" (That would be Micah Owings...)
18) ahh ha (That's random)
19) Dennis Green
20) trampling video gworld (No idea how that brought someone here...)
21) referee betting scandal quote (Arrgghhh... don't get me started)
22) Miami Heat Postgame Press conference

So that's it. As always, thanks for stopping by. Stick around and leave some comments...

Uh oh!

Hey NFC North:

You are in trouble.

The Minnesota Vikings, who already have the best tandem of interior defensive linemen in the League, and therefore the best run defense in the League, just traded for and signed the League's sack leader from last season, Jared Allen (All the major news sources have the story, but read about it here).

Thank you Kansas City and Herm Edwards, for being so inept that one of the best Defensive End's in the NFL wanted no part of signing a long-term deal with.

And so the Vikings defense just got a whole lot stronger. Best run defense. Last year's sack leader with 15.5 sacks. One of the best safeties in the NFL, Darren Sharper, the NFL's leader in INT's since 2000. A great corner in Antoine Winfield.

This defense is gonna be stacked.

Oh, and did i mention they have arguably the best running back in the League, Pro Bowl MVP Adrian Peterson?

Is it September yet??