Jan 14th 2009 5:20PM by Brett Pollakoff (author feed)
Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban has never been afraid of injecting himself into a situation, and Tuesday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets was just another example.

Cuban took exception to an elbow that was thrown by the Nuggets’ J.R. Smith to the head of the Mavs’ Antoine Wright near the end of the first half. While it didn’t connect, Cuban didn’t like what he saw, and wasn’t afraid to have a little dialogue with Smith about it as the teams headed into halftime.Continue Reading

Jan 14th 2009 5:56PM by Eamonn Brennan (author feed)
On the internet, you learn new things every day. For example: Did you know that the Pittsburgh mayor is changing his last name? Wild, right? I bet you learned about that on the internet today. Want to know what I learned today? That Jeff Foxworthy is a Braves fan, and he is none too pleased about Frank Wren’s decision to let John Smoltz play for a team that has a ‘B’ on their hats rather than an ‘A’:
“I got a message from the Braves PR department. Derek Lowe was coming in and they wanted me to come talk him into joining the Braves,” Foxworthy said. “I was like, not after what you did to my buddy.”Continue Reading

Jan 14th 2009 6:15PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Terrell Owens is 35 years old and has a $3.1 million roster bonus coming his way in June. Those facts, coupled with the perception that he’s not the easiest guy to work with, probably have everything to do with speculation that the Cowboys might release him in the coming months.

Last week, the ‘ Jean-Jacques Taylor wrote that the organization faced some serious offseason questions, particularly of the “Do we have on staff who can control T.O.?” variety. The obvious answer is: “Bill Parcells,” but I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed (or has it?*)

That said, as MDS pointed out at the time, “We should be clear that Owens is in no way, shape or form similar to [the recently released] Pacman [Jones]. Owens is both a much better player on the field than Pacman and a much better person off the field than Pacman. These are not similar situations.”Continue Reading

Jan 14th 2009 7:00PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Derrick Favors, the number one college basketball prospect in the country according to Scout, announced his college decision today and he’s going to be a Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket.

Paul Hewitt (right), GT coach, is probably pretty thrilled. Sidney Lowe, who runs the the coffee-less N.C. State Wolfpack, well, probably not so much.

It was mentioned as well during the press conference that the Jackets are hoping to land John Wall, the number one point guard in the country. That seems unlikely though — Wall and Favors only had Memphis as a common recruiting link.Continue Reading

Jan 14th 2009 7:30PM by Will Brinson (author feed)

It was rumored before the BCS Championship Game that Sam Bradford allegedly would bolt for the NFL, provided he didn’t get injured. The rumor, however unsubstantiated, made a lot of sense considering Bradford’s success this season and the likelihood that he would be a top ten pick (to say the least).

But contrary to those reports and the millions of dollars that were waiting for Bradford, he has decided to stay at Oklahoma and sling rocks for at least one more year under big-game coach Bob Stoops.Continue Reading

Jan 14th 2009 8:30PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Derrick Favors, the number-one ranked college basketball prospect in the country, just announced that he will attend Georgia Tech for his brief stint in the NCAA. As a reminder that Favors is kind of decent, enjoy the following YouTube mashup of him posting a 42-point, 20-rebound, 12-block line.

So, yeah, to say that he’s good is probably an understatement — Favors will most likely only be in Atlanta for a single year, but he’s going to make Georgia Tech very, very watchable while he’s there.

Jan 14th 2009 8:56PM by Matt Moore (author feed)
Kobe Bryant makes something somewhere north of $30 million dollars a year, at least. He makes $22 million from the Lakers this year. All of his endorsements aren’t public knowledge, but you can bet they provide a pretty hefty amount of coin.

So all in all, he’s doing pretty well for himself.

Or so you think.

This economy has hit all of us hard. And if you want to survive, you need to treat your assets as a business. You never know when that $30 million a year is going to suddenly vanish into nothing. I mean, that’s not really that much more than the average American family makes, you know? Plus, Kobe loves Cheesecake Factory. Do you know how much that costs?

Luckily, Kobe and his people are thinking ahead. They’ve figured out a way to weather the storm. And it’s all in KB24.com.Continue Reading

Jan 14th 2009 9:30PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Mark Sanchez had a pretty good run at USC this year. The team went to the Rose Bowl, pummeled Penn State and has a legit argument to be the national champion.

And he enjoyed his run so much that he’s leaving sunny Southern California and heading to the NFL. It seems like an odd thing to do, I suppose, because, well, USC would be a fun place to live and he would be the most popular guy on campus. On the other hand, it makes a whole hell of a lot of sense from a business perspective.

USC is losing a large number of its defensive core to the NFL. But aside from that, think about the various competitors for draft slots he’ll be going up against this year versus the potential competition next season.Continue Reading

Jan 14th 2009 11:45PM by Mark Hasty (author feed)
Look, let’s get one thing straight right up front: The University of Iowa did not just discover that Ed Podolak, its longtime radio analyst, liked a good party. Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette confirms that Podolak’s good-time proclivities were an open secret in the Hawkeye Nation. So if you think Ed Podolak was forced into retirement because the University didn’t like the pictures floating around the internet, please know that it goes deeper than that.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Podolak had to go. While many people are dubious that Podolak actually retired, Hlas says Podolak left of his own volition. That, unfortunately, is what makes an already sad story a little sadder.Continue Reading

Jan 14th 2009 11:53PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
The LaDainian Tomlinson saga in San Diego is quickly becoming one of the more prevelant themes of an NFL offseason … that hasn’t even begun yet.

But we are talking about LdT, and when someone of his stature is suddenly rumored to be on the trade block, only to ignore said trade rumors — which comes just before the team and the San Diego media further the notion that he might have played his last game with the Chargers, well, it becomes kind of a big deal.

Tomlinson has, since the latest reports that Ryan mentioned Wednesday, changed his stance too. He’s no longer pretending to not hear people talking; now he’s calling the rumors “ridiculous.”

Continue Reading