Fresh off of his “One-upping” of the Kobester, Knicks fans around the world are slobbering more than ever at the thought of Bron Bron in the blue and orange.  Like sugar plums dancing in their heads, so too do visions of  a 6′8″ freak of nature physically overpowering everyone in his path in the midst of dominating whenever he so chooses.  Believe me, no one wants to see LBJ in a Knicks uni more than yours truly.  But, for my money, I’d still take Kobe any day of the week.

There’s something indescribable about watching Kobe at his best.  It’s poetry, without words (I think they call that something cheesy like “poetry in motion”).  It’s fun.  It’s the kind of stuff that makes you want to watch him torch your favorite team over and over again, because he’s just that good.  It’s like watching Michelangelo chisel David from stone, without having to look at a statue of a big naked dude.  I know there are a lot of people out there that don’t like Kobe, either because he rapes women, or he bashes on Shaq, or for whatever reason they can come up with.  But, I just can’t help but love the guy.  He is now on the plus side of sixty points 3 times.  His Airness only made it there 4 times… and never broke 69.

As for the King… I mean… he’s great.  He can put up 50+ points and still do all the things necessary to make his teammates better around him.  I’m sure you’ve heard him referred to as a “facilitator” about a gillion times on ESPN.  And as I said- bring the guy to New York.  Do it yesterday.  I can’t wait for it…  He’s just not as nice to watch though.  When I watch him, I feel like he could be as good of a wide receiver as he is a small forward.  He could easily be dominating whichever sport he desired, and it just so happens that basketball was his choice.  Kobe was born a basketball player.  Lebron was born an athlete.  Which one would I rather have?  No fuckin clue.  Which one would I rather watch?  Kobe… any day of the week.

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Apparently there was a football season after Tom Brady got hurt in Week 1.  My understanding was that the NFL planned to suspend its operations until number 12 was ready to return.  I failed to notice my mistake until I tuned in for the Super Bowl this past weekend.

While I don’t have any significant analysis of what was a tremendous game, I”ll make one observation: Ben Roethlisberger deserves a lot of credit for his performance in the game.  I still think that Big Ben would struggle to make my  list of top-10 QBs in the league (Brady, P. Manning, Brees, Rivers, Palmer, Cutler, McNabb, Warner, Ryan, Romo), but his ability to keep plays alive, while unsustainable, was the major difference in the game.

Moving along to more pressing matters: the Patriots announced yesterday that Matt Cassel would be given the team’s franchise tag, guaranteeing him $14.6 million dollars; however, based on positive reports about Tom Brady’s health its doubtful that Cassel will be on the team at the start of next season, as Coach Belichick will not want over $29 million tied up in one position.

The maximum the Patriots can receive for Cassel is two first round picks, an amount that is considered relatively unrealistic, but there are a number of factors out there that suggest that a large return can be expected.  In January Mike Lombardi and Floyd Reese argued that due to the dearth of quality quarterbacks in the league the Patriots should expect a high first round pick and a number of other high picks.  Via a top-10 list Bar Stool Sports wrote that they expected a team to sign Cassel outright, giving up two first round picks in the process.

Maybe its irrational optimism, but I tend to agree with this analysis.  At the end of the day Quarterback is the most important position in the NFL and there are too many teams experiencing mediocre play.  While Matt Stafford and Mark Sanchez could be great players, their contracts will likely have significantly more guaranteed money than Cassel’s eventual contract and the recent track record of top-10 QBs is not impressive (see Messrs Vick, Carr, Harrington, Leftwich, Smith and Young).

A list of NFL teams and their likely current starter show the amount of teams that could conceivably be interested in an upgrade:

1. Detroit - Dan Orlovsky?
2. St. Louis - Mark Bulger
3. Kansas City - Tyler Thigpen
10. San Francisco - Shaun Hill
13. Washington - Jason Campbell
15. Houston - Matt Schaub
17. NY Jets - Kellen Clemens (even though the Pats are not voluntarily sending Cassel to Jersey)
18. Chicago - Kyle Orton
19. Tampa Bay - Jeff Garcia/ Brian Griese
20. Detroit - I say again Dan Orlovsky, the guy who ran out the back of his end zone.
22. Minnesota - Tarvaris Jackson

While some of these higher draft picks are clearly wishful thinking I see Minnesota, Detroit and Washington as the three most likely suitors.  Assuming John Kitna is not returning, Detroit cannot go into the season with Orlovsky running the offense.  His defenders will say that Jason Campbell has had four different Offensive Coordinators in four years, but whatever the reason his lack of development calls into question his future potential.  Minnesota is my favorite to strike a deal as they are a decent QB away from being a serious contender in the NFC. Tarvaris Jackson was the difference between the Vikings and the Eagles in the playoffs this year.

Either way, I hope this Trojan nets us this Trojan.

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He's having fun

This is what happens when I take too long to write a post.

Beckham announced Wednesday that he’d like to stay with AC Milan rather than return to the Galaxy in early March.

”I’ve expressed my desire to stay here but at the moment I’m still a Galaxy player,” Beckham said. ”I respect the Galaxy and everything they have done for me. They have always been great to me.

”I knew I would enjoy it, but I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I have and do as well as I have.”

I don’t blame him. He’s picked up two assists and scored twice in official matches for Milan. “To be given the chance again to play at this level at my age is pretty incredible and I’ve enjoyed it so much I would like to continue it.” Makes sense.

So, it looks like Beckham’s time in MLS is over for now, at least. I’ll go into what I think this means for the league later, but for the moment I’ll say I think Los Angeles should make a deal and move on.

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I just got finished watching the latest epside of How I Met Your Mother.  To my surprise and disgust, it seems the show has unabashedly and unremorsefully ripped me off.  The character Marshall refers to himself as “Vanilla Thunder” during his days of playing basketball.  It is well known that I have been referring to David Lee as Vanilla Thunder for at least 2 years.  I am shocked, appauled, but mostly, I am hurt.  Pure disregard for my cleverness, creativity and quite frankly, my feelings.

…This isn’t over, How I Met Your Mother… not by a long shot.

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