[QUOTE=smootsmack]I used to be a tv producer (did news and sports). Had the pleasure of working for 5 years with Frank Herzog. But anyway I left that a couple of years ago to go to grad school and start my own company.

I should say though that I don't want to give the impression that Rip is an a-hole. He's not. He's a good guy. Rod Strickland, now there was an ass![/QUOTE]

Oh wow... very cool indeed! Best of luck to you in your venture. If you ever hit a point where need a top-flight databse administrator, by all means let me know!

The difference between the Lakers and the Redskins, is the NFL has a salary cap. The NBA can amass as much talent in one place as they want. They have a salary cap, but it's set so high that it doesn't matter for shit. I've never liked the whole aura of the Yankees or the Lakers. Even before they were great. However, I do see parallels between how the Redskins are run and how those other franchises get run.

I'd also like to respond to whoever called Shaq the best center ever with HA!

Watch any given game. See how many non-calls he gets. He is the greatest center ever if offensive fouls and 3 second violations count as positive towards that goal. He's an overweight ogre that seems to have every official wrapped around his pinky. If Shaq didn't get calls, he'd foul out in the first half.

The Pistons are killing the Lakers tonight and I'm lovin' it!

The Lakers should be embarressed by their effort in the NBA Finals. I feel bad for Malone, but everyone else deserves to be getting their asses kicked. What a tankjob. Congratulations to my favorite NBA Team as a young kid, the Detriot Pistons, it was well deserved.

That was an excellent sight. Piston win big!

I thought the series sucked. I don't care that the Pistons won. Larry Brown up until last night was one of the best, if not the best, coaches not to have a won a professional title. And Joe Dumars is my favorite NBA player of all time so I have no problem with the Pistons winning the title but I wanted a competitive series and this was far from it.

I know Shaq isn't too popular with some people here but I thought he came to play and played hard every night. But beyond that it was really sad, for lack of a better word. Pistons double and triple teamed Bryant every time and no one else (namely Rush, Fisher, and George) stepped up. Payton has looked totally out of place with the Lakers this year and Malone's age seemed to catch up with him.

I wonder if Kobe was distracted at all during this series knowing that regardless of the results the season was coming to a close and now he has to face the toughest challenge of his life. He's got no basketball games to escape to now.

As the Pistons just demonstrated once again, there seems to be two consistant themes in winning championships in any sport.

1. Individuals putting the team's needs before their own will give the team the best shot to get to a championship.
2. Defense wins championships.

Joe Gibbs knows this lesson well! So do the Pistons, the Pats, UConn, the Ravens, ...

C'mon season.. get here....

And Larry Brown is Gibbs' age as well.

I actually liked the series because it showed that good team BBall could beat the ego-laden star system NBA. And I do hate the Lakers, and it doesn't surprise me that once they took a hit, they folded. They just stopped playing, which is pretty weak for a pro team. But they did get their asses handed to them.

Hockey and Basketball are over. It's just baseball now until the [U]real sport [/U] begins!!!!

Larry Brown and Pat Riley are my two favorite NBA coaches. I'm so happy to see Larry get one. The Lakers didn't have a shot against that defense. Kobe would get double/trippled up when he drove, and Fisher/george/rush/etc all had a hand in their face nearly every shot. The Lakers aren't used to having that much pressure applied.

[QUOTE=Daseal]The difference between the Lakers and the Redskins, is the NFL has a salary cap. The NBA can amass as much talent in one place as they want. They have a salary cap, but it's set so high that it doesn't matter for shit. I've never liked the whole aura of the Yankees or the Lakers. Even before they were great. However, I do see parallels between how the Redskins are run and how those other franchises get run.[/QUOTE]

the spending of the lakers and yankees is vastly different as to the fact that the friggin yankees lately have had a total team salary equal to that of 4 or 5 other teams combined whereas the the nba has a cap in place that takes into account not only player salaries but the coaches salaries as well i believe. the lakers pretty much have most of their cap put into shaq, kobe, and phil jackson. the only reason they got payton, who was the worst offseason pick up in the nba last year, and malone for as small amount of money the lakers gave them was that the lakers offered them the best oppurtunity to win that elusive ring.
I'm a diehard lakersfan, but i'm also a smart fan who can recognize when another team is better. the pistons were vastly superior athletically but the uneven foul calls was ridiculous. i'm not saying the fouls the lakers commited weren't fouls, but virtually nothing was called against the pistons especially in regards to the defense of kobe. i really think this would have been a different series if malone was healthy and the team consistently went to shaq cuz if he'd had as many shots as kobe if not a bit more, shaq would have averaged around 40-50 points a night.
all in all i'm extremely dissapointed the lakers could play so well against the spurs and wolves and then just pretty much not show up at the most important time especailly against a team that barely got by the nets and the pacers.

[QUOTE=Daseal]I'd also like to respond to whoever called Shaq the best center ever with HA!

Watch any given game. See how many non-calls he gets. He is the greatest center ever if offensive fouls and 3 second violations count as positive towards that goal. He's an overweight ogre that seems to have every official wrapped around his pinky. If Shaq didn't get calls, he'd foul out in the first half.[/QUOTE]

that's pretty one sided. if u really watched the games then explain all of the calls the refs don't make in his favor as he gets bumbed and hit on virtually every play. he's the hardest player to referee on both sides of the ball cuz he virtually dwarfs every other player in size and strength.

It's not that hard to call offensive fouls...

[QUOTE=cpayne5]It's not that hard to call offensive fouls...[/QUOTE]

or to call defensive fouls of players grabbing and slapping...

can anyone without a doubt tell when someone is really knocked back by shaq or if their flopping since flopping has become so prevailent, including the master flopper divac?

what is it about teams that win a lot that cause people to be drinking the hateraid? i used to really like the yankees when they had don mattingly, but once "the boss" pretty much out bid everyone else for the title both before and during the season, i just came to detest them. i've also hated the bulls since mj went to them. what is it about certain teams winning so often that rubs people the wrong way?