THE AMAZING TRAVELS OF THE MODERN NBA

As I surfed the web the other day, I came across the NBA commercial slogan that states: "The NBA: where amazing happens". Now to most that would mean that the players in the NBA are amazing...but I see it a little different. I see it to mean that in today's NBA, its amazing that the refs don't call more travels. It is truly amazing!

The players today are getting away with more and more as the officials turn a blind eye. Yeah, the NBA players are amazing...amazing at fooling everyone that they really made that drive through the lane without traveling. The refs are looking the other way as players like LeBron and Wade are "crab dribbling" their way to the hoop. 2 steps have now become 3 and 4 steps, making every move truly amazing. The fundamentals of the old school player has disappeared and in its place we now seen an extra step or two. Imagine what Magic, Dr. J and Wilt could have done with an extra step or two. Nothing irritates this old school coach more then the breaking of rules to entertain those in the stands.


Top 8 Missed NBA Traveling Calls

1. Cory Maggette - 6-Step Shuffle




2. Dwyane Wade - Spin Move



3. LeBron James - Vs Warriors




4. Lebron James - Crab Dribble (this one gets called but LeBron doesn't agree)



5. Kobe Bryant - Step Thru



6. Chancey Billups - 4 Steps



7. Kevin Garnett - Dunk



8. LeBron James - Again

FARRAH FAWCETT LEAVES A GENERATION IN MOURNING

Just a couple of days ago, I posted about my favorite posters of all-time not knowing that my post would be an honor to the late Farrah Fawcett. Farrah past away today at 62 ending her long bought with cancer. As I mentioned in my post, Farrah defined a generation of young boys who had her red one piece swimsuit ingrained into their minds. Her poster (the top selling poster of all-time) along with my "Ice Man" poster made my bedroom a true place of worship.

Here is a tribute to Farrah that I found online:

Tribute To Farrah Fawcett

RICKY RUBIO BRINGS BACK MEMORIES OF THE PISTOL

Does Ricky Rubio remind you of anyone? Does his no-look passes look familiar? Does his stutter step hesitation dribble bring back memories? Even his floppy hair and gangly arms takes me to a time of yest er year. It all looks so familiar. I got it...Ricky Rubio is the modern version of "Pistol" Pete Maravich.

Take a look:

Ricky Rubio



Pistol Pete




The comparisons don't just stop at the highlight reel. For example, Pistol Pete was the Third overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks in 1970 NBA Draft (behind Bob Lanier, and Rudy Tomjanovich) and Rubio may just be the 3rd pick in the 2009 draft. Pistol was better in college then in the pros but that shouldn't deter the Thunder from taking Rubio. If Pistol's career is any indication of how well Rubio will do in the NBA then we may be seeing an all-star in our mitts. We will see if Rubio can live up to these numbers:

Pete Maravich's NBA Statistics

CLASSIC SPORTS POSTERS - Defining a generation

Do kids today have sports posters on their walls or are they too busy text messaging and playing video games? Are sports posters still as popular today as they were when I was growing up? If they are, I can only imagine the walls of today's generation:

A poster of Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemons titled: "The Stash Brothers"
A poster of Michael Phelps titled: "The Weed Man"
A poster of Michael Vick titled: "Jail Bird"

When I was growing up in the 70's and 80's, sports posters lined our walls and pennants hung from our ceilings. We waited for the next great poster to come out so that we could be the first to pin it up. We would look at the posters with dreams of reaching the "show" or someday making it to the big leagues. Posters were our window to the future and we wanted to be just like those idolized in the posters. Here is my list of the top 10 sports posters we all had growing up.

Top 10 Sports Posters We Had Growing Up

1. George Gervin - "Ice Man"


2. Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco - "The Bash Brothers"


3. Bo Jackson - "The Ball Player"

4. Michael Jordan - "Free Throw Dunk"

5. Dr. J. - "Converse"

6. Brian Bozworth - "Land of the Boz"


7. Darryl Griffith - "Doctor Dunkenstien"



8. Jim McMahan and Walter Payton - "Chicago Vice"



9. Michael Jordan - "Wings"


10. Ken Griffey Jr - "The Next Generation"



Honorable Mention: Karl Malone - "Mailman" , Darryl Dawkins - "Chocolate Thunder and Shawn Kemp - "Reign Man 2"

Most Honorable: Farrah Fawcett
I know it is not a sports poster, but what would we have done with without this amazing poster? This poster defined a generation of young boys and also gave us hope that someday we would graduate into the "big leagues".