5 reasons hockey is the greatest sport in the known galaxy.

#5- Absurd toughness. The current best player in the NBA is Lebron. In the NHL its Sid.

Lebron got carried off the court (CARRIED!) because of a leg cramp.

Sid played three weeks after having his jaw shattered like a Lego house.

But that’s nothing compared to Gregory Campbell (broken Leg) Andrew Shaw (Broken Orbital bone) Brenden Morrow (split kneecap) and Brian Bickell (you name it, it was broken/strained/pulled/bruised.). Those guys had injuries that would put most people in the hospital and didn’t miss a single shift, much let themselves be carried off the ice. In hockey that kind of effort and sacrifice is expected.

The only league that has the toughness and grit of hockey is the NFL…speaking of which.

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DWIGHT HOWARD TO THE HOUSTON ROCKETS: GOOD RIDDANCE

Sports’ least interesting figure answers some questions from reporters that bore him to tears

by Ryan Meehan

The Los Angeles Lakers have finally parted ways with Dwight Howard, and Kobe Bryant is no longer following Howard on Twitter.  Although that sounds like the second verse of a Taylor Swift song, that is an actual series of events that took place between two grown men this weekend in the National Basketball Association.  Howard agreed in principle to a deal with the Houston Rockets, and then we as sportswriters had to pretend like we’re actually interested.

My first thought when I read this was that it was a boring story.  And I still think that, but my initial reaction was going to be that this was something I wouldn’t even develop an opinion about.

But then I thought about it:  This is actually great news.  And the reason for that is because it takes two things that I don’t like and assures me that they are now in the same place. 

Jeremy Lin: Better Move For The Rockets Or The Knicks?

(Jeremy Lin picture via www.usatoday.com )

The choice has been made by the New York Knicks and Jeremy Lin is the newest member of the Houston Rockets. But was this the correct move for the Knicks? What does this mean for the future of the Houston Rockets?

In New York, it was thought that the signing of veteran point guard Jason Kidd meant that the Knicks were bringing in a veteran presence to mentor Lin. After all, the Knicks said they would match any offer that was made to Lin by any team. Maybe they thought that this declaration would be one that would keep teams away from him. Well, there was one team that wanted Lin and wanted him at any cost. The Houston Rockets stepped in and offered him a three-year, twenty-five million dollar deal. On the surface, that would seem like a deal that the Knicks would match, but as you look into the meat of the deal, the Rockets made it pretty hard for that to happen. The third year of the deal that the Rockets offered Lin had a price tag of $15 million.  If New York would have matched that, then they would have had Lin, center Tyson Chandler, forward Amar’e Stoudemire and forward Carmelo Anthony all signed to huge contracts in the third year of Lin’s deal. And that would have crippled that team and made it almost impossible to build a team around them. The Knicks made the smart move for a change and let Lin walk. And in addition to that, they brought back former Knick point guard Raymond Felton on a three-year, ten million dollar deal. These point guards may not bring the level of excitement that Lin did, but both are professional and are more proven point guards than Lin is at this point.

(Kevin McHale picture via www.blog.chron.com )

Stan Should Still Be the Man

Coaches are expendable. Players are not. That’s the traditional wisdom.

It’s hard to disagree with it. Someone try convincing the city of Cleveland that Mike Brown was worth more than Lebron James. Yeah, that would be impossible.

However, it’s time to do away with traditional wisdom in Orlando.

Sure, franchise players are incredibly hard to come by. These guys are your rare, one of a kind, Koh-i-Noor kind of diamonds only found in the British Crown Jewels collection. You don’t simply pick Dwight Howard’s up at the local corner store.  That’s why you have to do whatever you can to keep the gem, no matter what the cost may be. Well, supposedly.

Dwightmare: My Take

The sky is painted with blood in the bizarro world of the Orlando Magic

Over the past year, we’ve all formed our opinions about Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard. If you’re an NBA fan you think of Dwight Howard as a kind-hearted, emotional individual or you think of him as a back-stabbing, two timing, selfish prick. Hell, possibly somewhere even in between. Its more than likely that you think of him as being somewhere in between.

Regardless, we’ve all been annoyed by his situation with the Orlando Magic that people are now calling the “Dwightmare”. This narrative fits somewhere along the lines of “Melodrama” and “The Decision”. Just insanity in its purest form.

I love the game of basketball, and I love the NBA; it has more drama in it than a daily soap opera, though. No doubt its very irritating to constantly hear about who should go where and who should team up with who. There have been guys, e.g Russell Westbrook, that have been rumored to want out and ended up signing extensions for multiple years. The speculation with the games main superstars have led to the rumor mill churning with the heads of guys who aren’t even eligible to be free agents until two years from now. Not to mention under a completely different salary cap system with a much more punitive luxury tax.

Indecision Does Not Compare to The Decision

Dwight Howard is not Lebron James. Not even close.

Has everyone already forgotten the magnitude of the decision? Dwight Howard’s cat and mouse game has baffled us all but it doesn’t come close to reaching the 9.0 on the Richter scale that Lebron’s decision did. Lebron James shook the entire world and changed the entire landscape of the NBA. Dwight Howard is mildly disrupting it.

What is almost as mind-boggling as Dwight Howard’s Mitt Romney-like flip-flopping, is the amount of analysts who are equating this indecision, and even putting it above, “The Decision.” Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated says D-12 will be “every bit the villain Lebron James was in Cleveland” if he stays with Orlando for remainder of the season and signs elsewhere as a free agent.

Absolute nonsense.

Fantasy Basketball at its Finest

It’s Monday. That’s the time for us to get back to our normal lives. Some of us have classes, some of us have dull meetings at work that we must get to. Monday is usually all about getting back into the groove of your weekly duties. Especially after having a mind-blowing weekend. People usually have an abhorrence for Mondays–this is ten fold for me after All Star weekend.

This is the best weekend in sports to me. All Star festivities are amazing–if you’ve ever been you would know. I went in 2001 when the All Star game was in D.C. That’s when my passion for basketball really started to kindle. My father took me downtown and we had a blast. It was probably the best time of my life in my early childhood. I was only 9 years old at the time and I wanted to be the next Michael Jordan. We all know that’s not happening, but I’m grateful that the sport sparked my passion to be a thinker and a writer.

There is no better picture in sports than all of the best NBA players collaborating on one floor. It keeps the fans integrated into the process–to a fault at times–and makes us love the game even more. In recent years the dunk contest has been a failure, but people will still tune in because of the tradition. These things have so much meaning to basketball fans everywhere. The three point competition, the skills challenge recently, the dunk contest, the rookie/soph game–now the Rising Stars Challenge–epitomize what the fans want to see.

That weekend is more than a break, its a time where we can step back and look at how far the game has come. We can step away from the business part and look at the history of the game. We did that especially this weekend–there were some moments that were big in All Star game history. You had Kobe playing in his 14th all-star game–which isn’t a record but is astounding. Kevin Durant and LeBron James pushed almost broke Wilt Chamberlains scoring record of 42 points. Each man was six points away. Bryant had eclipsed Michael Jordan in scoring points in an all-star game, Chase Budinger recreated Cedric Ceballos’ blindfolded dunk, and this was the 20th anniversary of Magic Johnson’s return from his HIV virus.

This is the only time we’ll be able to see Russell Westbrook thrive as a shooting guard slashing to the rim. Steve Nash gave him a pin point laser pass that was about 60 feet across the floor. LeBron James won the dunk contest last night all the while going 6-7 from three-point range. By the way, Andre Iguodala placed a close second. Westbrook could’ve received honorable mention, but John Wall had been doing too much work on the rim the previous nights before.

This is the only time we’ll be able to see Rajon Rondo running with athletes. Possibly the only time for the rest of the year we’ll be able to see a few Boston Celtics involved in a game that goes over 96 points. Rondo gave LeBron James an awesome feed for an alley-oop from a little bit above the half court line. Chris Bosh received a few excellent feeds from Rondo too.

By the way, Boston and Miami working together is something else.

Blake Griffin murdered the rim with his powerful dunks. I didn’t believe that man could jump that high, but his head was well above the rim. He probably could’ve taken a bite out of it on all of his dunks. I lost count at about 5 but if I had to guess it would be around 8.

Dwight Howard–after playing a wonderful host all weekend–was dunked on about 3 times in a row. We’ll never see that again.

Kevin Durant was given the MVP after a 36 point outing. He deserved the award–I was proud of Durant because of him being from my area. I connect with him the most because I know some of the struggles that he has gone through. I have been through some of them and I know people who have gone through similar things. When saying that winning that MVP was a childhood dream he meant it; I’m glad he’ll be able to bring that home.

These games just make us wonder what it would be like to get all of these guys on the same team. They have no chemistry together, but yet they already know each other’s tendencies. What if Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James all played on the same team? What if Rondo had some elite athletes around him? What if Russell Westbrook played the shooting guard position with a point guard like Steve Nash or Chris Paul as his backcourt teammate?

Basketball is just so fun. There are things that these guys can do that no one else can. I hope you all enjoyed the weekend as much as I did.

Here are some of my favorite moments of the weekend.

Spicing Up This NBA Season

Do u realize that in the span of five plus weeks that there have been 20 or more NBA games played by every team in the league? That’s one almost every other day. What is David Stern trying to do, kill everyone?

Play has been sloppy, shooting percentages are down, refereeing has been atrocious (oh wait that’s normal), and some teams look tremendously out of sync (hi lakers).

Some nights you can see players at their best, then the next they look like they went to a Waka Flocka show the night before and stayed for the Diddy and Rick Ross after party.

The stuffing of games into a tight schedules has made for some hilarious parody (the 76ers and nuggets are divisional leaders), and some pathetic results (I’m talking to you New York Knicks). Are we all happy to have basketball back? Absolutely, but how much longer can this brand of basketball be acceptable for the human eye?

The funny thing about it is all some teams need is a jolt of energy to get their mojo going. For the teams that are out of sync and looking for a way to revive themselves the best way to get that jolt is by acquiring some fresh blood.

There are seven deals that I would make right now if I were an NBA GM that could put my team into title contention, make them a legitimate playoff threat, or just make their team better for the present and future. Call me crazy or reckless but the deals make sense to me:

Orlando Magic trade Dwight Howard and Ryan Anderson to the New York Knicks for Tyson Chandler and Amare Stoudemire

WHY IT WORKS: the Magic desperately need to get rid of Dwight Howard before he eats that team alive with his need to skip town.

Howard has said hat he has wanted to play for New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas and the Clippers (yeah, that line was right) and has two feet out of the door with his coat on and a carry-on bag.

The Dwight Howard saga has gotten to the nauseating level where I’m ready for it to be over and done with.

Trading to the Knicks works for both teams because he fits in with Carmelo Anthony much better than Amare Stoudamire does.

The Stat and Melo project had been a complete disaster as they can’t seem to find a decent flow at all. They are two players that do the exact same thing at two different positions.

Bringing in Howard would give Melo his freedom on the outside while Dwight controls the inside. Plus Ryan Anderson is the perfect forward for D’antoni’s offensive system and is a better rebounder than Amare.

The Magic get a better offensive upgrade from Dwight in Amare and Chandler still gives them a great defensive presence. Plus the Magic could still be looking at a 4 or 5 seed without Dwight in the middle.

The Boston Celtics trade Ray Allen to the Chicago Bulls for Taj Gibson, Kyle Korver and a draft pick.

WHY IT WORKS: the Bulls need scoring, the Celtics need youth.

Allen would give the Bulls a consistent third scoring threat behind Derrick Rose and Carlos Boozer. Plus his leadership could help push the Bulls into the NBA Finals.

The Celtics would get a starter for the departing Kevin Garnett in Gibson who is a good rebounder and defender and could bring constant energy. Korver could replace Allen on the offensive end and has a friendly contract. With the acquisition of a second pick in one of the deepest drafts in years the Celtics could address multiple needs in this draft and begin their rebuilding process.

The New Jersey Nets trade Deron Williams and Kris Humphries to the Los Angeles Lakers for Pau Gasol, Devin Ebanks, Derek Fisher and two picks

WHY IT WORKS: The Nets ain’t keeping Deron Williams… At all. Their fire sale to the Utah Jazz a few years ago failed and failed miserably and now they need to recoup at least a minimal amount of the damage.

This works for the Nets simply because the get two picks for the future in the next two drafts, a veteran in Gasol who when teamed with a healthy Brook Lopez gives them a formidable front line and a multi-dimensional and underused swingman in Ebanks. I know it’s not a lot but hey at least the fans in Brooklyn get a chance to see a former champion on there team

(jay-z probably regrets that line “the Nets could go 0-82 and I’ll look at you like this ***** gravy!”)

It works for the Lakers because the Lakers DESPERATELY NEED A POINT GUARD!!! And why not acquire one of the top five in the league.

With Williams there, there can finally be a balance between Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant that the Lakers need to be successful. Bryant can shoot the ball only so many times before someone gets annoyed.

(plus there would be that awkward moment when Humphries steps into the game and cameras cut right to the Kardashian family… Pure comedy.)

The Cleveland Cavaliers trade Ramon Seessions to anyone for a pick

WHY IT WORKS: so every other day me and my buddy Will’s conversation won’t be interrupted by this line…

Me: the lakers need help.
Will: they should trade for Ramon sessions and give us a pick.
Me: the Mavs could use a pure point guard with this Kidd injury.
Will: the Cavs could give em Sessions for a pick.
Me: this republican nominee race is foolish.
Will: it is. I wouldn’t vote for any of them… Unless they took Ramon Sessions for a pick.

The Washington Wizards trade everyone except Jordan Crawford, John Wall and Jan Vesely…

WHY IT WORKS:… I don’t care where they trade them or how they trade them they all have to go. SELL SELL SELL!!!

The Wizards are a dysfunctional mess and the only to clean up this glorified AAU team is to get rid of everyone except your two best pieces an your last draft pick.

This team is a bunch of knuckleheads who shouldn’t be major contributors unless there is a savvy veteran there to smack fire out of them everyday. Their lack of maturity cost Flip Saunders his job and is making Wall wish he stayed in Lexington for another year.

Teams could use these guys as serviceable parts. Trade Nick Young to the Clippers for Eric Bledsoe, they need more points off the bench. Trade Aundray Blatche to the Thunder do they can have another big body. Trade Jervale McGee to Minnesota for a true Center… JUST GET THEM AWAY FROM EACH OTHER AND DO IT NOW!!!

The Boston Celtics trade Paul Pierce to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Derrick Williams, Wayne Ellington and a pick

WHY IT WORKS: see the Ray Allen trade earlier.

(side note: let’s say that trade does happen, would the Timberwolves be a contender?

Since the arrival of Rubio and Rick Adelman the Wolves look like a different and more confident team. Then you add a veteran like Pierce who comes through in the clutch like clockwork and you would be hard pressed to find a team that could put together a better five than Rubio, Pierce, Wesley Johnson, Love and Darko. Doesn’t that get you at least a four seed in a weak Western Conference? )

The Los Angeles Lakers trade Kobe Bryant to the Philadelphia 76ers for Lou Williams, Andre Iguodala, Evan Turner and two picks…

WHY IT WORKS: listen, the Lakers ain’t doing nothing this year or next, they are looking rebuilding dead in the face and they have no way of avoiding it. So why not dump your most valuable piece for a ton of young talent and start rebuilding right now.

When you look around the western conference the old guard is dying. The Spurs are old, Steve Nash is dwindling away in Phoenix, the Mavs won right before Dirk’s window closed and the Lakers time has past.

In order to compete with the Clippers, Thunder and Blazers you gotta get younger and to do that you gotta part with your number one asset.

Kobe Bryant is playing at an extremely high level and he won’t play like this for much longer. Why not use him to your advantage and get all you can for him.

What have you got to lose? You’re not a contender.

For the 76ers… Why not? Go for it while you can. You lead the eastern conference, take a shot.

Sounds crazy but hey, this has been a crazy season so far. Why not add to the insanity?

Kevin is the brooklynbuckeye, why? Because he’s from Brooklyn,ny and is a graduate of the Ohio State university. Follow him on Twitter @brooklyngohard