Buffalo Bills (Week 3)

By Will Shung

If the Bills aren't in the top 5 of your current NFL season power rankings, they should be by now.  On Sunday they accomplished something nearly nobody would have predicted could happen (and has not happened since 2003); they beat the New England Patriots.  Going into this Week 3, however, this was probably the biggest match-up on paper considering both teams were still undefeated at 2-0.  But while the Patriots' undefeated record in this early part of the season is never a surprise anymore, the Bills' is. 

To be fair, this was more a game of Tom Brady mistakes than it was of Bills stellar play.  Brady threw for four picks in this game.  Four.  However, he still managed to throw for 387 yards and four touchdowns.  I don't know what to call that kind of performance.  Maybe...no, I just don't know.  But the Patriots defense is to share the blame as well, and in particular their passing defense.  Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 369 yards himself and four Bills receivers caught for more than 80 yards.  

Despite Brady getting off to the best statistical start in NFL history by throwing for about roughly a million yards by now, his team's record is 2-1!  Not bad, but this last loss was at the hands of a team who, despite coming into Week 3 was also undefeated, was ranked no higher than middle of the NFL heap on most respected NFL power rankings.  The Bills were, in most cases, the lowest ranked undefeated team.  Statement game or not, fluke or legitimate, the Bills have got to be considered amongst the leagues elite after this week.  Would somebody please put this team in the top 5 now please?  Thank you.

The Vancouver Whitecaps

By Sean Cruz

Entry into the MLS was the dream for the Vancouver Whitecaps for many years, and at the start of the season the club had lofty aspirations.  Club President Bob Lenarduzzi announced the goals of the club included making the MLS playoffs and winning the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. 

After the first game you could believe the hype. A dramatic 4-2 victory against Canadian rivals Toronto FC, a brilliant display of attacking football and a crowd to rival any in the MLS.

Then the wheels fell off.  Winless in their next 11 games with 6 losses and 5 draws, the front office decided to axe popular Icelandic coach Teitur Thordarson in favour of Tommy Soehn, who was the team's director of soccer development.  While Soehn did provide a home win within his first few games in charge, things have not gone well for the Whitecaps as a whole.

The past few months have highlighted the hilarity in which the team manages to lose or draw games and the way the front office has acted this season.  Lenarduzzi has been forced to concede that mistakes were made and that things did not go to plan this season.

Roster decisions have been head scratching as well.  French Defender Mouloud Akloul was released soon after scoring the deciding goal against Montreal in the Nutrilite Canadian Championship semi-final, a decision made while Captain and US international Jay DeMerit was still on the shelf with a long term groin injury.  Canadian defender Kevin Harmse barely got to show his worth and was released.

One of the more shocking issues though was the treatment of hometown boy Terry Dunfield.  One of the co-captains of the team and a favourite of Teitur Thordarson, the coaching change came while Dunfield was on international duty.  It was clear that when he came back to the team, there was a personality conflict between him and Soehn, and Dunfield didn't help matters when his poor penalty kick against the Columbus Crew was stopped; a goal that would have tied the game.

The real kick to Dunfield though was trading him to Toronto FC a week before the Whitecaps were scheduled to face his former team Manchester City in a friendly, a game surely made in part due to Dunfield's former association with the team.  I remember overhearing a conversation during a promotional event for the match in which players for both teams were discussing the Dunfield situation, with the Whitecaps players saying it was bullshit the way Terry was treated at the end of his time here in Vancouver.

Dunfield has barely gotten a game for Toronto but is still selected regularly for the Canadian National Team.  The Whitecaps got allocation money in return, something they needed due to the fact they spent most of their original allotment on left back Jordan Harvey, when they already had a more than capable left back in Alain Rochat, whom Tommy Dreamer (Soehn), as some of the Whitecaps faithful call him, has now put into the center of defense.  The Caps also got the rights to 17 year old Canadian Kevin Aleman, who by all accounts will never play for the Whitecaps unless it’s his final option.  Good trade there, guys.

The Whitecaps identified that they did not have enough attacking depth, due partly to the fact that they've mismanaged their attacking options.  While both Eric Hassli (10 goals) and Camilo (8) are in the top 10 in MLS  scoring, the drop off after that is dramatic.  Atiba Harris is tied for 3rd in team scoring with 2 goals in only 5 games, with the Whitecaps seriously mismanaging his knee injury, opting for rehabbing the knee which did not go well before finally opting for full surgery 4 months after the injury occurred.  While he is starting to train again the team could have had him back a lot sooner and perhaps the goals would have been more plentiful.  Young Omar Salgado, who has freely admitted that he has a tough time gelling with his team mates, has one goal, while Chinese striker Long Tan leads the reserve team with goals, and recently contributed to Shae Salinas' winner against the Houston Dynamo.

Salgado's troubles coming up in a minute, but the lack of attacking options forced the front office to make waves once again, bringing in the MLS' first African Designated Player in Gambian striker Mustapha Jarju. Or at least that's what he was presented as.  Although his strike rate in Belgian League 2 isn't bad, 43 goals in 118 appearances, His role is more that of a midfielder than a striker - a position he plays regularly for his national team – Jarju has simply looked lost so far this season.  Soehn and the whitecaps countered that when they signed him he wasn't match fit due to the European season ending, and also that the team hasn't really had him for a long period of time due to his national team commitments.  Jarju has refused to talk to the media recently and may be second guessing his decision to sign with the Whitecaps rather than stay with his team RAEC Mons, which he had helped win promotion to the Belgian First Division Juliper Pro League.  Some fans though are willing to give him till next season to prove his worth.

This brings us back to the clubs treatment of Omar Salgado  Originally, due to FIFA regulations, Omar would have been unable to join the team for 1st team action until September 10th, due to international transfer regulations for under age players.  The Whitecaps countered that the MLS was a multi-country league and FIFA relented, letting the Whitecaps make use of the 1st overall draft pick in the MLS Super Draft.  In hindsight, letting Salgado stay with the U.S. U-18 team for the summer would have been better for his development than regularly taking verbal (and occasionally physical) punishment from his elder teammates.  To his detriment though, he does have a tendency to go down under contact and regularly complains about calls.

Recent roster decisions have had calamitous effects on the Whitecaps psyche.  Soehn axed popular right back Wes Knight, who at the beginning of the season was Teitur's choice as the starting right back.  Soehn, then inexplicably started midfielder John Thorrington at right back in the game against New York, a decision which would come back and bite him as it was Thorrington who let his mark, one Juan Agudelo, slip by him and latch on to a long ball to tie the game at 1.  Note that during the two team's previous encounter, also a draw, it was none other than Wes Knight who man-marked Agudelo into oblivion.  Again, that game happened to be Thordarson's last game in charge. Soehn has other natural right backs in Bilal Duckett and Jonathan Leathers, but has preferred Thorrington and fellow midfielder Jeb Brovsky on the right of defense. The New York game was also notable for another reason. Captain Jay DeMerit said it best with a tweet after the game: "1-0. Up a man. Game needs to be finished off. Period. #frustrationfrustration".

Of course, realising their mistake in getting rid of 2 defenders earlier in the season the Caps added Trinidad and Tobago international defender Carlyle Mitchell, pending an international transfer certificate.  Mitchell, who is listed as a center back, will no doubt try and be shoehorned into the right back slot once his papers come through.  The Caps could have used him for the game against the LA Galaxy since the Whitecaps’ defenders failed to heed their own advice on staying tight on LA attackers, letting them score on 2 free headers on the way to a 3-0 defeat.

While we're at it ripping on the team there was also the whole debacle with the temporary grass surface installed in advance of the Manchester City friendly – a game that was already sandwiched between a Saturday and a Wednesday game.  The temporary surface was installed before Saturday's game against Real Salt Lake, a game that ultimately was delayed due to rain making the surface unplayable.  During the Manchester City game, you could see players replacing clumps of grass during play, and the surface no doubt contributed to City striker Yaya Toure's ankle injury (Toure did recover though in time to start the Premier League season).  The regular turf would have handled the rain fine, but because of the decision to play the friendly 2 days after a league game, the match was rescheduled to be played at Bell Pitch Downtown on October 6th.  Only problem with that is it’s also the night of the Vancouver Canucks season opener which is across the street at GM Place.  Can you say gridlock?  And I wonder which game is going to draw the bigger crowd.

The other oddity this season was the announcement of a new head coach to take place of Tommy Soehn for the 2012 season.  NASL Carolina Railhawks coach Martin Rennie was introduced as the Whitecaps new coach for next season, a move that most would agree is a step in the right direction, the fact that it was announced in the middle of the current season left members of the media scratching their heads.  General consensus though was that the Caps secured Rennie before the Montreal Impact (who will join the MLS next year) could get their hands on him.  While Rennie's pedigree in the lower divisions in the US are impressive, finishing no worse than 2nd in his 6 seasons as head coach, it remains to be seen whether he can replicate his success at the MLS level.

There are some silver linings, however, as the Whitecaps wrap up their season.  Firstly, they are moving into the renovated Bell Pitch Downtown.  This might motivate the players to play better knowing they are playing in an actual stadium now with an actual locker room instead of the converted portable they've been using at Empire Field.  Secondly, the season is almost over.  If you think its depressing being a fan of the Whitecaps this season, think how much worse it has been for me to cover the team on a daily basis.  The players themselves have talked about how hard it has been to stay motivated when the team is constantly losing.  Last, but not least, they will start next season with a new coach in Martin Rennie.  Whether Rennie will, or will be allowed to, clean house as he did when he joined Carolina remains to be seen, as MLS player contracts are structured differently.  Tommy Soehn will remain with the team as Director of Soccer Development and will be loathe to let players he recruited to this team go so easily.  Lastly, you have players such as Eric Hassli who bleed white and blue – a guy who truly gives it his all for the full 90 minutes and sincerely wants to be here.  The ‘Caps just have to find more of those guys and put them in the right combinations.

Mayweather Vs. Ortiz Recap

By Will Shung

There was only one world that came to mind and can be attached to the fight at the end of the night: unfortunate.

It was unfortunate that Victor Ortiz had to try to accidentally throw an intentional head butt to gain an advantage in the fight.  It was unfortunate that Ortiz's lack of big fight experience and overly sportsmanlike conduct ultimately lead to his demise.  It was extremely unfortunate that Floyd Mayweather took advantage of a perfectly fair situation to win the fight.  But most of all, it was unfortunate that the fight was decided by an act of opportunism rather than fair play.

For three and a half rounds boxing fans were treated to a truly great fight.  Mayweather/Ortiz had the making of an instant classic (and in some ways it still ended up being that).  For the first time, Mayweather seemed he was being out-boxed not by the opponents skill, but by his age.  Mayweather, who could as well be in the latter stage of his prime, fought a dangerous young man ten years his junior and was a decorated champion in his own right.  Despite what most would have considered disadvantages for Floyd, Floyd was still Floyd.  He was accurate, fast, and cocky as usual.  Ortiz at no point in the fight looked like he was more experienced than Mayweather, but he did look like he was hungrier.  Ortiz fought like there was no tomorrow.  He got us interested through the HBO 24/7 episodes by sharing with us his tough upbringing and hard life, but won us over as fans when the bell rang, let his hands go, and went after one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world as if he was fighting for his life.

Victor Ortiz brought it on Saturday night.  He didn't quite bring a technically sound arsenal or any big-fight experience, but he did bring a ton of heart.  It was just too bad that it didn't mean anything at the end.

Midway through the fourth round we saw a flurry of punches from Ortiz that landed and (from the looks of it) at least stunned Mayweather a little.  Mayweather weathered the storm quite well, but before Ortiz withdrew from his combinations and regrouped for the next step of strategically dismantling Mayweather, he decided to lunge forward and connect on Mayweather's chin with a head butt.  Yeah.  It was no "unintentional" butt either; it was flagrant.  Clearly the overwhelming situation of actually having Mayweather on the ropes for a moment was too much for Ortiz to handle that he felt, in order to hammer home the victory, he must commit an illegal act to gain enough of an advantage that will nurse him to the finish line victorious.  That, obviously, was the wrong idea.  An intentional head butt straight into Mayweather's chin is clearly illegal.  But Ortiz committed it anyways and it was so blatant that referee Joe Cortez had to stop the fight momentarily to deal out the proper discipline and penalties on the scorecards.  While he was doing this, however, Ortiz was being overly apologetic about his own actions.  He instantly corralled Mayweather and even gave him a kiss on the head to try to make good.  Floyd didn't really look too fazed by the butt anyways (it only left a small cut on his chin) so let's get ready to keep boxing right?  At this point the fight got incredibly interesting.  We saw for the first time an incredibly vulnerable Mayweather, and a truly legitimate and worthy opponent in Ortiz.  But before the fight can go down as an instant classic and on it's way to becoming one of the best in boxing history, Floyd Mayweather decides he's not having any of the dirty play from Ortiz.  So, with referee Cortez's head slightly turned away to give the instructions ringside regarding the point deductions, Ortiz was still adamant on making nice with Mayweather.  The coast was clear for more boxing already, but Ortiz didn't think the fight was back in progress yet.  And as referee Cortez was still looking to the judges,  Mayweather threw a combo - a baby left hook that served as retaliation for the butt, and also as a wake-up call to Ortiz to let him know the fight was back on.  The hook stunned Ortiz, but for some reason, instead of actually bringing his hands back up to defend himself, he decided to turn to the referee with a look of "did you just see that?"  Clearly Cortez did not.  Mayweather, on the other hand, realized Ortiz still had his guard down so, at that point, he only did what he was supposed to do as a prize fighter: punch the guy.  Mayweather delivered a straight right that landed right on the button with no resistance from Ortiz and that dropped him to the mat like a ton of bricks.  Cortez only partially saw the second punch, but regardless of what most people at the MGM Grand Arena and watching at home on pay-per-view immediately considered to be a cheap shot or sucker punch, it was technically a legal one.  Cortez began the count on Ortiz, and seconds later Mayweather got his 42nd win and still remained undefeated.  That was the fight.

There were so many things wrong with the bout I don't know where to begin.  Most of those things were moral and ethical issues, but some technical as well.  I understand Ortiz felt bad about the head butt, but he apologized for it, gave Mayweather a kiss, and that should have been that.  After the kiss on Mayweather's head, Ortiz should have got back into his corner, got his guard up, and concentrated on knocking the fuck out of Mayweather.  Referee Cortez should have been between the two fighters when he was dealing out disciplinary action and deducting points.  He was not, however, and it was literally a split second of non-attention from the ref that allowed Mayweather to pounce and take advantage.  And then of course there's Mayweather himself.  As HBO commentator Jim Lampley said best, there is no reason why a prize fighter, like Floyd Mayweather, should resort to opportunistic tactics in order to gain an advantage in the fight; especially when Mayweather carries the reputation of successfully and legally defeating all forty-one of his previous opponents.  But the wrong didn't stop there.  When Mayweather gave his customary post match interview in the ring with legendary boxing analyst and commentator Larry Merchant, he said a few things that he probably should not have said.  Blatantly attempting to avoid any questions about "the sucker punch", Floyd very soon got agitated by Merchant and went on a tirade about how Merchant never gave him a fair shake and called him a "piece of shit".  Along with that, he also made some derogotive comments about HBO - the company that has co-produced and promoted every Mayweather Productions fight.  I think it's clear to say Floyd lost a very good business partner last night, not to mention fans of him, and of boxing in general.

Mayweather did play within the rules on the night of September 17th.  He legally knocked Ortiz out, but most people made up their minds immediately after the fight that Floyd committed a dirty play.  But, as the rules of boxing clearly emphasize, a fighter must protect themselves at all times.  Ortiz wasn't protecting himself at all when he got hit.  And if you are going to simply stand there with your guard down, time in, and the ref allowing for action to continue, you're practically giving up the fight.  I mean, how much longer was Floyd supposed to wait for the kissing and making-up to finish?

With the events that transpired Saturday night, Mayweather has successfully killed any further interest in a potential mega fight between himself and Manny Pacquiao.  Mayweather hasn't completely tarnished his legacy, but his reputation has taken a huge hit.  With his offensive comments to Larry Merchant and HBO, it's questionable whether or not he'll have the giant broadcasting company to continue promoting his future fights.  And with every fight that is not a Mayweather Vs. Pacquiao fight, boxing fans get a little more frustrated, and by now probably offended.  Floyd Mayweather Vs. Manny Pacquiao was supposed to be the fight of this century.  After the events of last night, and with Pacquiao scheduled to fight Juan Manuel Marquez for the third time in November, there is really no point any more.

Denver Broncos (Week 1)

 By Will Shung

"Did John Fox hear the Tim Tebow chants?" everyone was asking.  Tim Tebow?  Who cares?  John Fox didn't give a shit about his quarterback!  It wasn't his quarterback that lost the game for them, but rather the Raiders' special teams, and the Broncos' defense.

To be perfectly fair, Kyle Orton did all he could to give the Broncos a chance in week 1.  Sure, he threw a pick (one), but we've all seen quarterbacks throw multiple interceptions in a game and still come out with the win.  The guy also threw for 304 yards in that game!  Those aren't quite Tom Brady numbers (no one was even close to touching Tom's 517), but they're still more than decent.  He had help too.  Brandon Lloyd and Eric Decker combined for 142 yards - more than the entire Raiders' receiving staff combined.

What gave the game away for the Broncos was their rush defense, and what gave the Raiders the slight edge was their special teams; and in this case their field goal kicker: Sebastien Janikowski.  The guy hit one from 63 yards out!  Sweet mother of Jesus that's long!  That tied an NFL record, of course.  And when you had the twelth best running back from the previous season (Darren McFadden) break 150 yards on you, that doesn't help.

Tim Tebow is not the answer, and neither is Brady Quinn (oh no).  The answer lies in the Broncos' seemingly weak rush defense and a bit of luck.  After all the mistakes and agony that Broncos fans endured through on Monday night in Week 1, they still only lost by 3.  If Janikowski missed his 63-yarder the game would have went into overtime.  And if McFadden hadn't of pranced his way into the red zone with so much ease all night long, the Raiders would have probably scored one less touchdown and the Broncos would have won the game perhaps 20-16.

This is all hypothetical, of course.  I mean, what if these are legitimate problems that the Broncos have overlooked in the offseason and go disregarded as this season progresses?  John Fox is a smart guy; he should figure this one out.  It's not going to take much to be better.  The Raiders weren't exactly a great team either and sure enough losing to them at the home opener is not the greatest of starts to am NFL season, but the season is still very young.  Bronco fans be strong!  They still look very good.  The Broncos host the Bengals next week.

When Will Sidney Crosby Be Ready To Go?

 By Will Shung

As if the fact that Sidney Crosby missed the rest of the 2010-11 NHL regular and the proceeding playoffs due to a concussion wasn't worrying enough, on September 7th Sidney Crosby, Crosby's two doctors responsible for his rehab, and the Pittsburgh Penguins' General Manager Ray Shero held a press conference to discuss how Sid's doing?  What?  You mean a reporter couldn't just have sat around a Sidney Crosby solo practice session and conducted a short interview afterwards?  Nope.  Instead, Sid and company felt the need to hold a forty minute press conference to tell the press, Penguins fans, and everyone else interested in NHL hockey that Sidney Crosby is doing fine.  But is he really?

On new years day 2011 during the Winter Classic played at Heinz Field against the Washington Capitals, David Steckel hits Crosby in the head from the blindside and instantly dropped him to the ice.  Crosby was slow to get up, but was able to skate to the bench under his own power.

On January 5th, only a few days separated from the vicious hit he took from Steckel, Crosby plays at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning.  During that game he got drove to the boards from behind by Lightning defenceman Victor Hedman.  The next day the Penguins flew to Montreal, but upon that trip Crosby felt severe discomfort with symptoms of headaches, dizziness, and fatigue.  Later he consulted with Michael Collins, a concussion specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and he diagnosed Crosby with a concussion.

It has been eight months since Crosby's initial incident that forced him to the sidelines and into serious rehabilitation for his brain injury.  For long periods of time we never heard from Crosby.  We never even bothered to pay too much attention to him or the Penguins since they got ousted in the first round of the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Lightning.  "How is Crosby actually doing?" you ask - not so great.

Despite Sid's constant positivity throughout the press conference, he was forced to answer tough questions - I mean seriously piercing questions about his health and future in the game of hockey.  "Were there ever times in the last few months you considered retirement?".  "What are the chances you'll return this season?".  What is his is place in the future in the game exactly?  Well, he's going to make a full recovery, go on to play very well and help the Penguins win a few more Cups right?  Maybe not.  This press conference was more disturbing than it was optimistic with Sid sitting in the middle of the table flanked by two very respected doctors (who know what they're talking about) spitting out words like "vestibular system" and "neurons", and if those words were too complex for you, try "inability to decipher his place in space" and "doesn't know where his hands and feet are".  Yeah, I bet you understood those terms.  Basically, when Sid first got hit he didn't really understand the severity of the injury he sustained.  Only a few days later when he tried to gut it out at the next home game did he realize there might be a serious problem with his brain and motor skills.  Only problem was before they could pull him out of action and have him properly assessed, he got clipped one more time into the boards and that forced him to leave for good.  Way to go Penguins coaching and training staff.  Good job in clearing him for action when he was probably one more severe head shot away from landing in a wheelchair.

And that brings us to that oh-so common word these days in the NHL: head shot.  I know the league has come a long way in dealing with these things.  I know the tolerance level is very low and the disciplinary action taken on head shots these days is very serious.  But why has the NHL not taken it out of their vocabulary all together?  Why are there players out on the ice who still skate around every night hunting down vulnerable players to potentially intentionally injure?  And the penalty for such unsportsmanlike and disgusting acts is only a game misconduct and a suspension of a few games?  Please!

Players who play dirty have no place in the NHL or any professional (or even amateur) league for that matter; they should be kicked out all together.  And that's not just for the NHL (listen up NBA, NFL, and MLB).  Players who display a disregard to the well being of fellow competitors on the field of play and commit acts of intentional injurement would no longer be able to play in their respective leagues.  Period.  They would have their contracts terminated, and would even adopt a criminal record.  And I'm saying that exactly because, in this case, the NHL's poster boy got sidelined and his future in the game is in jeopardy.  "Poster boys" and "ambassadors" of professional sports are exactly those figures for good reasons: they help promote the sport, make the sport popular to youth, and help the leagues (most importantly) make a ton of cash!  When you lose one because they got "legally" hit by a fellow competitor and is forced to miss an entire season and even contemplate retirement, that's not cool.  How do you think David Stern would feel if a player undercut Derrick Rose on his way to the basket, suffers a bad fall, breaks his back, doesn't ever fully recover, and is forced to end a bright career abruptly?  How do you think Roger Goodell would react if a free safety were to deliver a late hit on Tom Brady long after he stepped out of bounds on the sidelines and suffers a broken collar bone in the process, hence forcing him into early retirement?  Yeah, probably not good.

This brings us back to Sidney Crosby.  Crosby has just reached his prime in the game of hockey.  Up until he sustained his concussion he was fresh off winning an Olympic gold medal and, the year before that, a Stanley Cup.  He was what every peewee hockey player aspired to be and what every NHL hockey player trained so hard to try to be better than.  And in a split second, he was reduced to a mere mortal who can't even stand upright and couldn't concentrate while watching game film.  Sad.

I'm not going to accuse the NHL of being a league of dirty players, but there are a few bad apples in the bunch.  The league is one of the most competitive in the four major North American professional sports leagues if not the most.  And the funny thing is that when the NHL reaches the post season, all that blindsiding and cheap-shotting garbage goes right out the window - almost.  The point is there's no intensity like playoff hockey intensity; the action is fast and the drama is unbearable.  It's a lot like a really great thrilling movie, but for those moments to exist, it must have it's hero's.  Sidney Crosby was the biggest one the NHL has had in a long time.

The NBA Is In Deep Trouble

 

By Will Shung

The NBA is now officially a league of gamblers, thugs, whiners, college showoffs, and, just recently, murderers.

First, back in 2007, you had the Tim Donaghy referee betting scandal where Donaghy, along with possibly other officials, called games in a bias manner to possibly control the outcome of a contest.

Early in 2010 we were faced with the Gilbert Arenas gun incident.  The guy brought firearms into the team locker room at Verizon Center as a joke to settle a dispute from a card game on a team flight.  Uhhh...yeah.

In the summer of 2010, Lebron James (fresh coming off his horrendous effort in the Eastern Conference Semifinals) took all the heat off of Arenas by staging "The Decision": an hour and a half telecast on NBC that basically served as a two minute public address to the world (but especially to the Cavalier fans of Cleveland) that, because he's been losing so much (James and the Cavs finished with the best record in the East the previous two seasons) he had to join forces with two of the best players in the game to give him a chance at winning a championship.  He still didn't win one that season.

As we speak the NBA is in lockout mode.  The CBA cannot be settled and players are starting to flee; good players too.  Players like Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire, Kevin Durant, Tony Parker, Dwyane Wade, and many others are already semi committed to playing ball either in China or Europe if a deal cannot be reached and there is no season.  Interesting thing is these players all have active contracts with their respective teams, but apparently there is nothing stopping them from playing somewhere else and putting their supposed NBA talents on display outside of he NBA just as long as there's no NBA basketball to be played.  Some players like Wilson Chandler of the Denver Nuggets have already signed a permanent contract with Zhejiang Guangsha of the Chinese Basketball League and will not be returning to play for the Nuggets even if the season were to start on time or later.

"What are all the players doing during these uncertain times?" you ask.  Playing pickup games in college gyms obviously.  What else?  NBA superstars Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul participated in a sanctioned by nobody, attended by anybody, and played for nothing exhibition game in some college gym in Baltimore, Maryland on August 30th.  Tickets to the game ranged from $40 to $100, which meant some kid working as a pizza delivery boy in Baltimore only had to shell out his entire weeks pay and he could have had courtside seats to watch his basketball hero's.  Score!  Durant apparently scored 59 points, and James put up 32 himself, but was apparently shown-up by Durant the entire night (nothing new there), but who cares?

And then there's the issue of Javaris Crittenton.  Just last week he was involved in a drive-by shooting in Atlanta, but not as a victim, but as the perpetrator!  A young lady by the name of Jullian Jones (a mother of four children) is dead and Crittenton is a prime suspect.  What the fuck?

The NBA is in deep trouble right now.  Not even the feel-good story of Dirk Nowitski finally winning that coveted NBA championship (over Lebron and company's mini dream team no less) can dig the league out of the whole it as dug itself into, and will probably continue to dig, as the summer ends and what should have been training camp season approaches.

The last time there was a lockout in 1999 the league settled it mid season and still managed to fit in a fifty game regular season and a playoffs.  That year a surprise champion came about in the San Antonio Spurs.  The league quickly recovered with young and talented up-and-coming stars like Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, Shaquille O'neal, and Kobe Bryant.  A Lakers reign and many annual rivalries between the Lakers and Spurs, and the Pistons and Pacers in the east helped bring up TV ratings.  But what are they going to do to clean up this mess right now?  Until the NBA settles this ridiculous CBA garbage, set a full eighty-two game schedule, and have players from other countries want to come to play in it, rather than flee from it, and stop killing people, I'm going to, for the time being, count it out as one of the four major professional sports in North America.  Because, to be perfectly honest, its pathetic.