Only player who deserves MJ comparison…

By Eric Freeman
via BALL DON’T LIE

Michael Jordan thinks only Kobe Bryant deserves comparisons.

Ever since Michael Jordan retired — all three times, really — the NBA has searched for the heir to his throne. Many players have popped up as pretenders to the throne, from Harold Miner to Jerry Stackhouse to Vince Carter. In recent years, people have stopped trying to find a clone and just searched for a similarly dominant great player. If you ever wondered why LeBron James is seen as such a failure, a lot of it has to do with his inability to meet the example set by Jordan.

There are many great players in the NBA these days, most of whom have never been directly compared to Jordan. Nevertheless, His Airness says only one player comes close enough to his greatness to merit the comparison. Not surprisingly, that player is Kobe Bryant. Here’s what Roland Lazenby, a great writer currently working on a Jordan book, tweeted on Sunday (via PBT)

Kobe’s ultimate competition is MJ. That’s why MJ watches him. MJ made people think what he was doing wasn’t human. Ditto the Kobester.

I never said Kobe was better than MJ. MJ just told me Kobe’s the only one to have done the work, to deserve comparison.

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Random Thought #040: Come All Star Weekend… Orlando Might Not Have No All Stars

http://www.bringchrispaul.com

By Chris McCoy

So I’m researching Orlando clubs for a possible RJP All Star party #STAYTUNED… and what do I see? Not a letter to Santa, but to the Orlando Magic GM Otis Smith, begging for CP3 in time for the holidays.

"Santa couldn't even pull that off son.... #stoptrippin"

C’MON SON. <—– Even this kid knows better than to ask Santa for that WISH! It seems like Dwight don’t even wanna be there, you know he ain’t gonna be able convince nobody else to come there. The billboard is sponsored by the website bringchrispaul.com, which was started by web entrepreneur, Ryan Totka, and is the official campaign to help keep Superman in Central Florida. He knows the only way Dwight stays put is if he gets more help…. but here’s the problem: I don’t think anyone’s coming to Superman’s rescue!

Especially not Paul.

Paul wants to be in a large market with a shot at a title every year… so does Howard for that matter… Let’s all count how many championships the Magic have… Damn, you don’t even need your fingers to count to zero. I don’t think any other image could express Orlando’s chances better than the image below of Paul and the Orlando skyline… that should tell you everything you need to know: HE’S TOO BIG FOR ORLANDO. Ain’t happening. Sorry. What y’all need to start learning how to swallow is the fact that come All Star Weekend, y’all might not have no All Stars LOL.

What Would You Give Up For CP3?

Eric Gordon averaged 22.3 ppg and 4.4 apg last year, Curry averaged 18.6 and 5.8 apg, while Rondo averaged 10.6 ppg and 11.2 apg

By Ken Berger of CBSSports.com

The Hornets began to seriously engage in trade discussions for superstar Chris Paul Tuesday, with the Celtics, Clippers, Warriors and Mavericks among the most serious suitors, sources told CBSSports.com.

The Clippers’ opening salvo was an offer that included Eric Gordon and restricted free agent DeAndre Jordan, with L.A. hoping that the prospect of playing with electrifying forward Blake Griffin and the big stage of Los Angeles would be enticing enough to Paul that he would eventually commit to the team long term.

The details of offers surrounding talks with Dallas and Golden State weren’t known, though Yahoo Sports reported that the Warriors’ offer centered around Stephen Curry and rookie Klay Thompson. But the Celtics stepped forward with an offer that would not have to come with any commitment from Paul that he’d re-sign with Boston after the season. According to a person familiar with the discussions, the Celtics offered Rajon Rondo, two future first-round picks, and restricted free agent Jeff Green in a sign-and-trade for Paul.

The impetus behind the Celtics’ potential rental offer for Paul was intriguing: Come to Boston, take a shot at winning a title with Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett while the window is still open, and then have enough room to entice Dwight Howard to come on board as an unrestricted free agent next summer. Garnett and Allen come off the books July 1, leaving the Celtics with only $30.4 million in committed salary for next season, when Howard can opt out of his contract with Orlando.

Though Paul has never expressed a desire to play in Boston, if he liked his new surroundings and the Celtics’ chances of luring Howard, he would be in a championship-contending situation and could get his max deal of five years, $100 million six months after the trade.

Who Is Justin Cruz?

Click to follow @IAmJustinCruz

Justin Cruz

19

Born in Buckhead, Georgia

Eye of the Beholder

Currently in college at the University of Nebraska studying business, but will be transferring to Clark Atlanta University in November to continue school, pursue a modeling career and make my name known!

By Chris McCoy

A month ago, Justin Cruz made a lot of noise on the internet by being linked to the Josh Selby gay rumors which originated on  Benny614TV. There were emails, and pictures, but no one in cyber space seemed to believe him… including me; the details just didn’t add up. We reached out to Justin before writing the article, but he didn’t respond until after it was posted.

During our correspondence, not only did he say that the “rumors” were true, but that he’d also been involved with several other celebrities and wanted to tell his story. So we sat down to discuss the old and the new. We encourage you to form your own opinions about what he has to say… but Justin Cruz is a man with A LOT to say.

RJP
So for the record you’re an openly homosexual man, correct?

JC
Yes.

RJP
Now we have to stop and reflect on the Selby rumors for a second because of how many people are second guessing them in the first place. How do you explain the emails being six and a half months older than the Twitter account in the emails?

JC
Well at the time I was gonna make a Twitter account, but never bothered until some friends of mine were on there.

RJP
So you told him to follow a Twitter you’d only thought about creating? That seems a little odd. When did you open the account and why’d it take you so long to start tweeting?

JC
It was around June… Well I made the Twitter account and didn’t know how to use it since its way different then Facebook, so I didn’t use it for a while.

RJP
So you emailed him in February, opened the account in June, didn’t tweet until August, and then closed the account before the rumors surfaced? Why?

JC
Yes and No. My Twitter account is still up and running… I’m not gonna let anybody scare me off lol!

RJP
Lol I hear you, so wait are you referring to @hatedbymostly or @IAmJustinCruz
that you created in June?

JC
@IAmJustinCruz. Oh, and I wanna set the record straight… that WAS his phone email.

RJP
Thanks for clarifying… several people were suspicious because the emails were from a Blackberry and not an iPhone… but it looks like he had both a Blackberry Torch and an iPhone 4 in those pics he sent you. Can you confirm that?

JC
Yes… and if you seen on the emails he had two phones.

RJP
Alright so about this night with Shelby, was there just one? or multiple encounters? Where did you and Selby link up? What hotel? What city?

JC
It happen twice… in Wichita, Kansas. I actually went to his house the first time where he and his family stay.

RJP
You live in Atlanta, right? Did he fly you there?

JC
I’m in college at the University of Nebraska… so I just drove down there its only a 2hr trip.

RJP
Damn up in momma’s house?

JC
Lol. Yes… but I didn’t meet her, it was just the two of us.

Random Thought #039: SHOUTOUT To The Fans Of Wisconsin

By Chris McCoy

Fans in Wisconsin are #winning right now.

The Milwaukee Brewers are up 1-0 in the ALCS versus a team they beat by 6 games to win the division. The Wisconsin Badgers are not only 5-0 and a top 5 team in both the computers and the polls, but are also top 5 in scoring offense and defense; outscoring opponents by 38.2 PPG! Oh and let’s not forget the NFL’s best team, the Green Bay Packers, who are the only undefeated team with five wins (for the moment – the Lions are 4-0 and play tonight on MNF), have the best player in the league, Aaron Rodgers, and their defense is only getting better by the week.

Brewers = 2011 World Series Champs??

As one of the most enjoyable teams to watch this year, it’s easy to find yourself cheering for the Brewers, who have never won a World Series, and lost their only appearance  in 1982 in 7 games as an AL team. Everyone’s preseason favorites to win the World Series (Phillies and Red Sox) are done for, so at 96-66 the Brewers and Rangers have the best records of the teams left in the playoffs. Plus on top of the fact that the Brewers find themselves playing an inferior team for the pennant, the NL team will have home field advantage in the World Series this year. The road couldn’t be paved any smoother for them. If any year is their year, 2011 is it!

Russell Wilson is a legit Heisman Trophy contender this season with 1391 yards though the air, another 140 on the ground and 15 total TDs to 1 INT.

While the Badgers are sitting at 4th in the RJP, AP and USA Today polls, let’s take a look at who they have to play versus who LSU, Alabama and Oklahoma have remaining…

Remaining Ranked Opponents:
#1 LSU: Auburn, Alabama and Arkansas
#2 Alabama: LSU and Auburn
#3 Oklahoma: Kansas State, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Oklahoma State
#4 Wisconsin: Michigan State and Illinois

Alabama or LSU WILL LOSE…. hell they play each other November 5th, and Oklahoma’s remaining schedule is brutal, although all of those games are at home. It’s extremely feasible that Wisconsin could finish their schedule undefeated and find themselves in the BCS Championship Game.

The Packers are ROLLING, and the defense is only getting better on a weekly basis. Last year, the defense didn’t really get it together until week 5 or so, so I won’t hold that against them quite yet. Aaron Rogers is the best QB in the league right now (Sorry Tom), and while they play in the toughest division in football this year, I don’t doubt that they’ll win the division and put themselves in position to take a shot at back to back titles.

IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BE A FAN IN WISCONSIN… SHOUTOUT to all my cheeseheads. Let’s see how it all unfolds.

Pitt and Syracuse Headed To the ACC

What will college football look like in an NCAA full of super conferences? With Pitt, 'Cuse, A&M and possibly OU and Texas making moves, we'll find out soon enough

The latest dominos have fallen in the ever-changing world of college conference realignment. Now schools from coast to coast are left to figure out how they will be affected.

The jump by Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the Atlantic Coast Conference from the Big East, formally announced Sunday by the ACC, could create another catalyst that hurls intercollegiate athletics toward the era of 16-team superconferences.

Or it could give the power players in college sports a chance to catch their breath while they sort out their next moves.

Will Texas and Oklahoma stay in the Big 12 or join another league — possibly the Pac-12? Will the ACC stop at 14 members or keep growing to 16 — and if so, who might the next two additions be?

Will the Southeastern Conference be forced to keep up by adding a 14th school if and when Texas A&M joins? And what happens to the Big East after once again losing multiple cornerstone programs to the ACC?

“I can say that in all my years of collegiate athletics administration, I’ve never seen this level of uncertainty and potential fluidity in schools and conferences,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said on a conference call. “Schools, they’re looking for stability, and when that stability doesn’t exist, for whatever reason, as long as that’s going on, I think the conferences that appear to be stable moving forward are going to receive inquiries from schools that are desirous of having that kind of stability.”

Until now, the focus of this most recent round of realignment had centered on the Big 12.

Random Thought #039: Kansas City Chiefs, Hot Ghetto Mess

Charlie Murphy as the host of Hot Ghetto Mess/We've Got To Do Better

By Chris McCoy

The Chiefs are definitely looking like a hot ghetto mess this year. They’ve been outscored 89-10 in the first two weeks of the season by two teams (Lions and Bills) that won a combined 10 games last season. While both teams are 2-0 and clearly much improved, Chiefs fans have got to be scratching their heads about how an 11-5 division champion in 2010, could be the team that wins the Andrew Luck sweepstakes in 2012. They could definitely use Luck, because Matt Cassel SUCKS. He sucked last year, but at least they were winning, so we shrugged it off. It’s a harder pill to swallow when your offense is as inept as the Chiefs’ has been this season. Through two games they’re averaging 235 yards of total offense a game, and Cassel has passed for a total of 252 yards combined in those two games. At this rate he’ll catch up to Cam Newton’s two game total of 854 in week 8 (Week 6 = their bye week). Hopefully Cassel and the Chiefs will wake up and start to compete, for now all I can do is quote Charlie Murphy, “We got to do better”… and as in we I mean they LOL.

Random Thought #038: #5 FSU vs #1 Oklahoma

By Darius Barnes

Tallahassee is preparing for what could possibly be the biggest game of the year for the Seminoles, when the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (1-0) face the No. 5 Florida State Seminoles (2-0) at 7 p.m. CDT. The Florida State Seminoles have been waiting for this game since last year when they went in to Oklahoma and got crushed 47-17. This was a loss that has been on the Noles mind ever since they took that ride back to Tallahassee and I’m sure its been the game they have circled on their schedule. The Noles started the 2011 season coming in at number 5 while the Sooners are number 1. This game will arguably be the biggest game of the year for the Seminoles since this will be only the second time the Seminoles have hosted a No. 1 team, the first being Florida in a 24-21 FSU victory 15 years ago (1996).

New uniforms for a new era.

Coach Jimbo Fisher has his team more prepared this year and are ready to take down the Oklahoma Sooners. Players are a year older and are ready to avenge the beating they took last year. I’m personally ready for this game and all of Tallahassee is also. And if the hype around the game wasn’t enough, rumors have been circulating that Florida State will be wearing new uniforms this season to mark a new era in Seminole football. This era has been in the works for a long time but many think that the Noles have a chance to do something this year. Lets hope the hype around the game and anticipation of seeing the all white uniforms boost the Noles confidence.

Right click and save

The Seminoles need a resurgence for Tallahassee fans to get back into the football ways of winning and being on top like they once did dominating the ACC back in the 90’s. If they can pull this game out we will be well on our way.

To get everyone in the game spirit and build a rally around beating the Sooners a Facebook graphic may just add more excitement to the city and students who will be cheering and on their feet for 90 minutes. Add this graphic to your profile if you are for Nole Nation. To download the image right click it and save.

__________________________

Contact Darius: dbarnes.rjp@gmail.com

Random Thought #037: Cam Newton, Baller

By Chris McCoy

All the talk Cameron Newton has been hearing from NFL analyst like Merril Hoge must have fueled him… because he came out BALLING. Unfortunately I was facing Cam in my fantasy league (He had Peyton Manning, Cam’s his back up), and he proceeded to put up the second most points by a QB. No rookie or any quarterback making their first start, has ever had a debut like this:

Talk about a breakout performance

Not only is Cam the first player to ever throw for over 400 yards in his first career start, but he’s changed the question from: “Will Cam be any good?”  to “How good can this guy be?” I’m not ready to put him in the Hall of Fame just yet, but let’s compare his numbers to the top 5 passers in NFL history in their first NFL starts:

Dan Marino had also had an impressive debut in '83.

Brett Farve: 14-19 210 yds 2 TDs (5)
Dan Marino: 19-29 322 yds 3 TDs 2 INTs (3)
Peyton Manning: 21-37 302 yds 1 TD 3 INTs
John Elway: 1-8 14 yds 1 INTs
Warren Moon: 12-29 201 yds 2 TDs*

Number in parenthesis denotes in which career game played the quarterback made his first start if anything other than his first.

*Moon played 94 career CFL games before making his NFL debut.

Well played Cam… Welcome to the NFL

Playing Like A Girl 2: My All-American Game Experience

By Tamar Faith

“If any of you make it to the All-American Game, I’ll pay for your trip myself.”

He didn’t know it yet, Ickey Woods would be shoveling out the airfare for my trip to the 2011 All-American game.

It had been my lofty goal since first hearing about it; but at the beginning of the season it seemed more like a pipedream then its now great and fond memory. My DB coach Lonzell Hill and I kept close watch of the Women’s Football Alliance stats all season. I stayed on the Top 3 for Individual Touchdowns and Rushing yards for the majority of the year, but the ultimate decision would depend on votes from opposing team’s coaches.

I ended up learning via Facebook that my teammate Tiffany Kraemer and I made the 2011 team. She earned 2nd team honors as a Linebacker and I would be playing in the All-American game as a First Team Tailback.

When we arrived at Pennington Stadium in Bedford Texas, we were greeted by the Columbus Comets coaches- who took on the responsibility of coaching the National Conference team. It was obvious from the beginning that most of these girls had played in an All-Star game before and/or spend a few years in the league. Not even an hour in, I was dubbed as the “lingerie girl” because of mentions of my participation in the infamous Lingerie Football League. This title came with questions, doubts, and side eyes. But I was determined to show them why I had been chosen as their teammate for the weekend. As a rookie, I didn’t completely understand all of the verbage. I’m sure that I annoyed a few girls by asking continuous questions. However, it was clear that I also impressed a percentage of them with my running. I returned back to the huddle with high-five greetings and some of the coaches suggested that I’d have a home on their team if I were interested in relocating.

What was that play again?

Getting prepped for the game I had very high expectations… my first play, however, lowered my confidence.

The quarterback never mentioned a formation in the huddle and a few other girls and I were scrambling just before the hike. This happened one more time during the first half – and as you can imagine, it affected my playing time; especially considering there were 6 other backs to choose from. Ultimately, I had a few good runs, but the game was hardly a reflection of the football season that had brought me to this point. The National conference led the game until the 3rd quarter when the American team scored. We responded and won the game 13-6.

The experience was mostly a motivating one. It was the first time all season I felt in some way inadequate – it will serve as motivation for me to become more educated on the game. I also had an opportunity to play alongside the girls who I had been gunning for all year. It was cool to get to know these ladies outside of their jersey numbers. As for me, I’ve only become more eager. I anticipate more Sizzle representation at next year’s All-American game and I hope to take the pride associated with the WFA into my upcoming LFL season.

Continue on to our interview with Tamar→