Big Ticketless

With kevin Garnett more than likely missing the playoffs, I think the Celtics are goin to be hard pressed to repeat or to even get back to the finals for that matter. KG is the heart and soul of that team and true enough they have The Truth Paul Pierce and the best jump shooter in the game Ray Allen but they wont be enough alone. Their defensive intensity is not the same their confidence is not the same the Boston swag is gone. I hope Doc can get them playing better because they have looked this way while playing at home, and based on last year's playoff team with a healthy KG and a very key role player James Posey they struggle on the road in the playoffs. In all honesty though who cares GO LAKERS!!!!

Aquaman Changes stroke

Arguably the greatest Olympian of all time is getting ready to start competing again after the 2008 Beijing games where he set the record for gold medals at one games by an Olympian with 8, but somethings a little different for him. Phelps said that since he has changed his goals and is starting to focus more on the shorter races he wanted to change his technique up. I always was taught that if it ain't broke don't fix it but I guess Mike didn't get the memo. Hopefully he's done swimming and bong water and ready to defend his crown again as the King of the Pool.

Let Vick Play

When does enough become enough the NFL's Commissioner Roger Goodell says the way for Michael Vick to get back on the field is through genuine remorse but I think he is very remorseful for what happened. Time in prison will make anyone sit back and re-evaluate their situation and let them reflect on what was wrong with or what is wrong with them your conscious eats at you. And i don't want to sound cruel but he was fighting dogs he didn't kill a person like numerous NFL players have Like Leonard Little, Dontae Stallworth, and don't forget about Pacman who ordered a hit on a security guard and know he didn't die but be is paralyzed from the neck down. Little and Pacman both got reinstated, and Stallworth is still battling his legal issues. So i understand he needs to truly be sorry but let the man go on with his life and earn a living.

Rose"s" for the League

The Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose was named the NBA's rookie of the year today after having a stellar freshman year of pro ball. Rose is only the third Bull to win the award along with great company Elton Brand and Michael Jordan. Right now Derrick is poised to take out the defending champs Boston in their opening round series, the two teams split the first two games in Boston after the rookie scored 36 in his first play-off game tying a NBA record st by Chris Paul he also dropped 11 dimes. In game two he didn't do as much but his team still only lost by 2 and that was because of Ray Allen great last second three with a hand all in his face. Boston barely got out alive in the first round last year and this year doesn't look any better for them maybe a little worse if you ask me. Congrats to the kid I hope him and his squad pull off the biggest upset of the playoffs.

Gator ridin "high"

With the up coming draft looming just days away new news has surfaced about one of the gems of the draft. The explosive Percy Harvin tested positive for marijuana at he NFL's scouting combine. Harvin who helped lead Florida to two national championships in his tenure at Florida was a more than likely lock for the first round may see his stock falling a bit after these results. I personally don't think it is going to hurt him that bad a lot of players have went through these same types of issues but the timing and red flags that it has thrown up is terrible for him. I still think he will be taken in the first two rounds and i think he will be a good NFL receiver.

Armored Tank

In my my opinion the Bengals made a big splash in free agency by acquiring Tank Johnson, from the Dallas Cowboys. with our defense making the strides that they made last year jumping from the bottom of the league in defensive rankings up to 12 was huge, considering that half of our starters missed considerable time this year. I know he didn't really do much in big D but they ran a 3-4 defense and that really doesn't suit his game. Now that he's back in a 4-3 scheme he can play his natural position and get back to his old form when he was with Chicago and arguably the best d tackle in the game. Hopefully all of his character issues are behind him because we definitely don't need those but I think he definitely going to help our team.

Tiger's Return

Tiger Woods returned to the PGA tour this week and the excitement has returned to pro golf. Tiger who was coming off ligament damage and a broken leg said he felt a little soreness but said that, that was expected after winning his first match tiger went down in the second round to a inferior opponent but after a lay-off like his it is understandable to be a little rusty. It's only a matter of time before the Tiger is back in rare form.

Haynesworth Gone

Okay people I know I said I wanted to pickup Albert Haynesworth in the free agent market but thanks to the Washington redskins that is no longer possible. Dan Snieder gave Mr. Haynesworth a 7 year 100 million dollar contract making him the first ever 100 million dollar defensive player. I guess this recession we are in isn't affecting everyone all the same because the redskins also signed DeAngelo Hall to a fifty million dollar deal which i really don't understand because he was constantly getting beat in '08. Hopefully we (The Bengals) can still make a splash in free agency with a big name acquisition.

Will Crabtree's injury affect his draft status

I believe that Michael Crabtree will be just fine come draft day even though he has a hairline stress fracture in his left foot. He said he hurt it a couple weeks ago while training with ex- Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson. Crabtree found out about the injury this weekend when he arrived for the scouting combine even though he pulled out of that workout he has already stated he was going to hold off on surgery until after his pro day on March 26 because he feels no pain in the foot. With that being said I think if it had been me I would have ran at the combine got the surgery immediately after that and moved on with my ten weeks so hopefully I could be done by time rookie mini camps and ota's start. I still feel as though Crabtree is the best wide receiver if not the best player in this year's draft and regardless of his forty time i think he will still go high first round because he is a flat out beast of a ball player. Back to back Bilitnekoff winner as a red shirt freshman and sophomore, holds every receiving record in NCAA over that span of time 41 touchdowns in just 2 seasons. and I could go on and on. The scouts put to much emphasis on the measurable's of a player in my opinion so much stock is put into a forty time when speed doesn't necessarily make a great football player. That was proven with Anquan Boldin who ran a 4.7 forty and with Jerry Rice ran a 4.6 forty Chris Carter was a 4.59 4.6 guy so was Michael Irving and the list of great average speed receiver's goes on. But it is about game speed and that's what they all had and that's what Crabtree has.

I want Haynesworth

Albert Haynesworth is reportedly testing the free agent market and man wouldn't it be nice if we ( the Bengals) got him. Supposedly Tennessee offered him a 4 year deal worth 36 million but he decided to weigh his options and I think he is out of there for sure. We were already under the cap by a nice ways and with the almost certain release of T.J. and possibly Chad we should have even more money to go out and solidify our defense one step more. Because we all know defense wins Super Bowls we went from the 27th ranked unit to the 12th ranked in new d-coordinator Mike Zimmer's first year with a beast of a plug like that in our middle Kieth rivers at the second level and steadily improvements to that secondary we could be a force to be reckoned with not to mention the potential defensive talent we will acquire through the draft. I know I might be a little overzealous but we need a big free agent splash and this is the perfect one but if we get any big name game changer i will be pleased. We can't afford another year of our key off season pick-ups being Antwan Odom and Ben Utech.

How come no number one ranked college team can manage to stay there

A big trend seems to be growing in the world of college basketball, no number one team can stay ranked that for more than a week. I don't know if we should credit this to more parody among the teams and the talent pool across the country is evening out or these young men get the big head and lose focus. I think it is probably a combination of both, the talent on teams has gotten a lot better but these young players start believing the hype from all the people on campus and run into a buzz saw. The fact that the other team knows they are playing the number ranked team may play a part too because we all know everyone gets up to play number one, and number one should know that they are wearing a huge bullseye. Maybe what this is really saying is, that rankings are over rated and they don't matter until the last one comes out mid april.

Bengals are crazy for franchise tagging shane graham

I cant believe that the Bengals organization chose to put the franchise tag on the place kicker. True enough he is the fourth most accurate place kicker of all time but we are in dire straights right now at a lot of key positions and to be honest our kicking game was not a real big area of concern for me last year. We need to be focusing on O-LINE and PASS RUSHERS and our soap opera wide receiving core. I'm not saying that we need to keep both of them around but to lose both T.J. and Chad is a big pill for me to swallow right now. I guess we will see next week when the free agency period starts up and the bidding wars begin.

I hate Pittsburgh

I am really angry that the Steelers have won yet another super bowl, 2 in the last 4 years and a record 6 total. However I do want to congradulate my old college teamate Nate Washington for winning his second ring and also Andre Frazier a hometown product winning his second ring aswell. As for the rest of the Steeler's go to h*ll. I feel that Arizona should have definitely won the game but shoulda coulda's and woulda's just don't when ball games. Even though the refs didn't make it much easier for the Cardinals either, not only do I think they blew the call on the last play where they ruled it a fumble when his arm was clearly coming forward, I also believed they missed the unsportsmanlike conduct call on Santonio Holmes for mimicing LeBron James' cloud of smoke routine. Which would have been a huge 15 yarder added on to the ensuing kickoff. I'm not saying that the refs stole the game from the Cards but I am saying the refs stole the opportunity from the Cards especially on the last play. But with that said I gained so much more respect for Kurt Warner who I already believed was a Hall of Famer now I think he is a lock, and for Larry Fitzgerald who's play in the postseason has catapulted him to the tops of everyones wide reciever list. So my hats off to them they tried to put the team on thier back but it just didn't work out like they hoped. until next year when the Bengals make thier run im done talking about pro football especially the cheating dirty low-blow steelers.

High School sports getting bigger and bigger!!!

Is it just me or in recent years have High School sports really become a booming, prosperous industry. You have high school games of all sports on major cable television channels for just about every season there is, and you even have recruiting services ranking kids in elementary school. I can remember even back when I was a senior in high school in '03 and the scope of this whole phenomenon was no where near this big. In fact it was just really starting to get some traction on the heels of LeBron James being catapulted into super stardom I would have never imagined it would get to this though. I guess people are just obsessed with child phenoms, or maybe it's the idea of seeing your future stars before they become who they are destined to become. Whatever it is I don't think it is a fad because I have to admit i am a huge fan of the high school sports industry and i find it entertaining; however I don't want it to become such a common occurrence that the kids involved start acting like the pros instead of H.S. student athletes.

In class learning the tricks of the trade!!

All this blogging is new to me but I am really getting the hang of it. Dr. S is trying to get us to be computer literate people but to no avail with me sike!!!! just kidding this is a piece of cake.

Here I Come World

Hello everyone welcome to Lauris' Lounge thanks for checking out my blog.