thesportsfag | my gay sports blog

Gilbert Arenas Suspension
The NBA leveled an indefinite suspension against Washington Wizards’ foward Gilbert Arenas on Wednesday for a gun incident involving teammate Javaris Crittenton. The latest reports corroborate the initial Washington Post story that Crittenton actually loaded his gun during the incident at the Verizon Center. If true, Crittenton deserves a life long ban from the NBA.

Part of the Arenas suspension may stem from his seemingly playful nature in this pre-game huddle photo where he appears to making light of the situation modeling phantom six shooters with his hands.

Gilbert Arenas making light of gun probe in pre-game huddle. Source: Getty Images

Clippers best the Lakers at home/road
The Lakers play four more home games than any other team in the NBA since they share an arena with the Clippers, which is somewhat unfair. Yet, the Clippers beat the Lakers, who were without Pau Gasol –nursing a strained left hamstring — by eleven last night at the home/road venue.

Southwest is the Best
We are almost at the halfway point in the season and the Southwest division has proved itself to be the toughest division. The worst team in the division, the Memphis Grizzlies, are 17-17 and whatever team wins this division will be battle tested and ready for the playoffs.

Buy, hold or sell
Buy the Spurs – 8-2 in their last 10, as they learn how to work Richard Jefferson into the rotation.

Buy the Cavaliers and Celtics.

Hold the Lakers – still have played only 12 of 35, approximately 36%, of their games on the road.

Sell the Suns – not sold that the high-scoring, no defense act will win against good defenses in April.

Sell the Magic – losers of three straight against teams with losing records.

If Alan Iverson retired in the woods and no one was around to hear it, would anyone care?

OK, so maybe I’m getting my metaphors all mixed up here but the range of emotions I felt from hearing about AIan Iverson’s retirement ranged from good riddance to who gives a fuck. It’s about the same feeling I had upon hearing of the retirement of Lou Dobbs at CNN.

Iverson first burst onto the scene for participating in an infamous brawl at a bowling alley. What’s there to fight about at a bowling alley? Someone make fun of your shoes?

He quickly turned me against my all-time favorite NBA team, the Philadelphia 76ers, when they drafted him. His ‘me-first’ attitude didn’t garner much respect from even the most hard core Philly apoloist.

Just like his football counterpart Me O (Terrell Owens), he was shocked that only one team was interested in his services this past off season. Days before he signed with the Grizzlies, Iverson tweeted that God was leading him to Memphis but after learning that he wasn’t a starter I guess God told him to be an asshole and quit the team.

Iverson, like Me O, is a fading star with an over-infated sense of self who thinks he would tarnish his legacy if he wasn’t starting. What a stupid, selfish fucktard. His nickname was ‘AI’ which I always thought was perfect for him. AI = Absolutely Ignorant.

UPDATE: On 12.02.09 The Philadelphia 76ers announced they had signed Allen Iverson to a one-year deal after learning that their starting guard Lou Williams would be out eight weeks with a broken jaw. Good luck with that.

As a gay man I enjoyed watching Superhero movies partly because of the story but mostly because of the ultra tight, crotch-revealing uniforms. Christopher Reeves as Superman and Chris O’Donnell as Batman’s sidekick Robin were my favorites, although the guy who played Flash Gordon in that Flash movie got my hormones fired up as well.

So when a sports star earns a Superheroes nickname, I must admit the gay sports fan in me is a little intrigued, but even more so when two athletes who take on the same nickname face off. So was the case with last night’s Eastern Conference Finals rematch between Cleveland and Orlando. The game featured what was to be a battle between the original Superman, Shaquille O’Neal, and new-age Superman Dwight Howard.

The Magic and Cavaliers are clearly, along with Boston, among the top three teams in the East and the original Superman is now in a supporting role for the King, LeBron James. Lebron went for 36 and 8, as the Cavaliers cruised to 102-93 victory in Orlando. You could add Dwight’s numbers to Shaq’s numbers and they’d still come up short of Lebron’s totals on Wednesday night.

So while Lebron played his normal role, Shaq, a shadow of his former dominance, was relegated to acting as Dwight Howard’s kryptonite. In what is sure to be a theme in future Magic versus Cavalier games this season, Shaquille O’Neal was able to lure Dwight Howard into early foul trouble, rendering the new-age Superman who finished with just 11 points and 7 rebounds, powerless.

Using Shaq as a foul magnet is a surprising plot twist, one that I believe will become a recurring story line in the sequel(s) later this season. Vince Carter came up big for Orlando scoring 29, but without the outside presence of suspended All-Star forward Rashard Lewis, the Magic shot only 22% (4-18) from behind the three-point line.

And while Lebron James once again stole the show, the big question here is whether the original Superman will continue to snuff out Howard in his supporting role to open things up for the King.

Hottie Watch: J.J. Reddick came off the bench for 10 points and 3 rebounds in 19 minutes. I love this shirtless photo of Reddick. What a great spot for some ink but I think it’s a bible verse or something.

Is there anyone outside of Minnesota who’s surprised that overhyped Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio backed out of a deal to play for the Timberwolves? Rubio told Minnesota owner David Kahn that he’s staying overseas to better prepare for the NBA, just not with the Twolves right now. As I stated in an earlier post drafting Rubio would be a disaster for any team. Yet, the Timberwolves compounded their mistake by drafting another point guard in the same draft as Rubio. It’s probably best not to send mixed signals to a teenage prima dona like Pricky.

I can’t recall another team ever taking such a big gamble with a top 5 pick. If you’re Minnesota, and prior to the draft Rubio is telling teams not to draft him, you better make sure he’s coming before you pick him at #5. Or, since you own three 1st round picks, you draft to build around a point guard who’s not trying to call the shots as an 18 year old. This may be worse than the Minnesota Vikings trading for Herschel Walker and setting the Cowboys up for three Super Bowls.

Rubio is able to sign with Minnesota after the 2011 season but if the same management team is still in place I wouldn’t be surprised if he demanded a trade.

What a weird draft this year. It’s certainly not loaded with can’t miss players but rather looks like a draft full of complementary players. No debating between the likes of LeBron, Dwayne Wade or Carmelo. No, the only intrigue in this draft is whether the Grizzlies will draft a guy who has said he doesn’t want to play in Memphis. Come ‘on David Stern do something to save this years draft or I will go to softball practice instead. How about letting Wally Szczerbiak or JJ Reddick make the draft selections shirtless?

Let’s sexy this bitch up or I’m gonna be out in the 100+ heat for two hours hitting grounders to drag queens. (more…)