Vince is averaging 22.6 ppg, 3.8rpg, and 5.4apg and could be headed to the All-star game for the 9th time in his 10 year career. He's also a heavy favorite to be selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame when his career is over.
But who cares?
We wanna see the Vince Carter that jumped over the 7'2 french center at the 2000 Sydney Olympics
And more importantly we wanna see Vince healthy and exciting. The exact opposite reason thing he started out as. Otherwise he's just plain boring. Whatever happened to the "Half Man Half Amazing" basketball player who had everyone in shock and awe just a few years ago.
Vince's body(espescially his knees) is beat up and beat down and the sad reality is that we'll never see it again.
Standing in at 5'9 and 180 pounds he definitely has turned heads in a sport dominated by Goliaths and has gave us all a false sense of hope that the average man can play profesional sports and be good at it. Even though for most of us its obviously not true, its nice to have that thought run across our heads.
A breakdown of his stats in 2008:
He hit an average of .326(second best in AL), 17 home runs 83 runs batted in Led AL with 118 runs scored He also led in double(54), Led the AL in runs scored(118) Made 6 errors at second base in 773 plays(.992 avg) 213 hits(tied for most in the league) 3rd player ever to win the MVP award a year after winning Rookie of the Year award(Cal Ripken Jr. and Ryan Howard are the other two)
But wait there's more. He hit leadoff, second, and even cleanup for a team that had David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis and was the main reason they made it to the ALCS in 2008.
Not only did Pedroia take home the 2008 MVP trophy but he is also the 2008 Silver Slugger winner and Gold Glove winner
So my question is...When does the Dustin Pedroia Fathead come out? I'll have plenty of wall space for it
This past Sunday Jimmie Johnson became only the second NASCAR driver to win three consecutive championships. The only other time this has happened was three decades ago when Cale Yarborough won in 1976, 77, and 78. Naturally with history in the making one would think that leading up to the race Jimmie would only have to answer questions about the comparisons to Yarborough, or his emotions leading up to the big race. While I'm sure he did get some of these questions at press conference, he was hit with another..."What do you think of people calling you boring?"
I will never understand how a NASCAR driver can be called boring but a blogger at Yahoo Sports found a way. On their website, a list of the most boring champions in recent years was made and Jimmie made the list. A few days before the race Johnson was asked about it and he questioned why it should even matter when he as an important race coming up.
Why should it matter?
Its extremely hard to win one championship in any sport, let alone 3 consecutive. Many great athletes have either fallen just short of a title or has never gotten close. Some key examples include, Charles Barkley , Dan Marino , Karl Malone , Patrick Ewing , Tony Gwynn. These players still have to answer questions about not winning a championship even though they're all in their respective hall of fame
Now think of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000,'01, and '02, and the Chicago Bulls in '91,'92,'93and again in '96,'97, and '98.
Now imagine being strap down inside a chevy for 4 hours, almost every week, going up to 200mph, and racing the heat of Fontana, CA and the misarable weather of Charlotte, North Carolina. Your risking life and limb for about 8 months to entertain people who pay good money to see you cheat death. Jimmie Johnson doesn't have commercials where he's being chased by hopeless middle aged women, he doesn't climb the fence after a win, he doesn't race dirty, he doesn't have any notable rivalries, and he's not be the son of a legend. Jimmie just does what he has to do....Win.
Let's face it, he's not gonna tell a knock-knock joke during post race interview but neither would you after doing what he has to for a living. He's gonna kiss his wife, thank his sponsors, thank his team, and thank the fans for coming out
All the boring stuff that he would be ridiculed for if he didn't do it.
I'll admit the routine can get old especially with that other showman he beat out to capture the history making championship win but at the end of the day Jimmie Johnson will be remember as a legend and not for being boring.
But for those of you who still cant jump on the bandwagon. Here's something you might like...
Jimmie Johnson highlights with some music to go along with it...enjoy
Apparently the San Diego Padres are having some financial problems. Actually they have one major financial problem. Their owner John Moores is going through a very nasty divorce and because of that he needs to cut costs. The Padres are on the verge of trading their 2007 Cy Young award winning pitcher, Jake Peavy. The story doesn't end there unfortunately. The Padres informed their future Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman that he wont be back for 17th season with the team. Here's a quick history of Hoffman's career:
Hoffman has played 16 years with the Padres He is the all time Major League Baseball leader in saves(554) He has played over 900 games in the Majors 6 time all-star(1998,1999,2000,2002,2006,2007) 2 time Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award(1998,2006) Holds MLB record for most Pitching Appearances with one team(803)
Hoffman isn't the first franchise player to be let go by the team he helped make relevant again and you would think that someone with his kind of resume should be told that he is being let go after a long sit down conversation with handshakes and well wishes at the end.
It didn't actually turn out that way.
Only there was no face to face conversation. The way Trevor found out that he wasn't coming back to the team made the Omar Minaya/Willie Randolph situation look great in comparison. There was no face to face conversation. A phone call at 3am would've been much better for Hoffman. The Padres didn't call Hoffman at his house or on his cell. The Padres didn't send him a text message. The Padres didn't even send him an email.
They faxed him.
Of all the ways to break up with someone that has to be by far the worse way to do it. Even Jennifer Aniston had it easier. Usually when someone would break bad news over the phone, through a text, or any other impersonal way of communication, its considered improper. But leave it to the San Diego Padres to take it a new low. Trevor is off to finish his amazing career somewhere else and we'll have to see his trade mark high kick delivery in a different uniform next year. And he deserves to add to his saves record with a team that will appreciate him and respect him a little better than San Diego.
To take a page out of the SNL Weekend Update book, I saw this and all I have to say is
Really?!?
Kevin Garnett, a player who I have an enormous amount of respect for, displayed one of the most obvious acts of bad gamesmenship...
...he taunted a player no one has ever heard of
I actually dont have a problem with taunting itself. It makes the game more interesting and it adds more to rivalries, which in turn makes a Celtics/Raptors game actually worth looking at. (The two teams meet up again on the 23rd). What I dont like is the fact that "The Big Ticket" went after a player who averages only 8.9 points per game. He's never taunted Kobe, Shaq, LeBron, Carmelo, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul, or Amare Stoudemire. But apparently Jose Calderon is special
Here's a quick look at Calderon
He was an undrafted free agent signed from Spain and is in his fourth year as the Toronto Raptors point guard with a career average of 2.3 rpg, 6.2 apg, and 0.9 steals to along with those 8.9 ppg
So Really KG ?!?
What did Jose Calderon do to you that pissed you off? Were the only two franchise players Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Bosh(9 all-star apperances between them) busy.
Were you trying to create a buzz for your team and get everyone excited about the game? Well it worked because I did WAY more research on Jose Calderon than I ever thought I would.
Maybe its because it was the eighth game of the sesaon and you're already bored
Well the new look Pistons will be in town on the 20th and it'll be interesting to see if he taunts Allen Iverson, Rip Hamilton, RaSheed Wallace, or Tayshaun Prince
But know him he'll probably direct his attention to Arron Afflalo or Alex Acker. Ever heard of them
