Need more proof that the power of positive thinking is helping the Houston Rockets? Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller and guard Derek Fisher have traded words through the media, resulting in Miller meeting with the team for 30 minutes after Wednesday’s shootaround. The Rockets first round opponent has some in house fighting going on.. That’s gotta be a good thing. 

Forget for a minute that Larry Miller’s original comments came after a game Sunday, and I didn’t start supporting Houston until yesterday. I’m gonna need you to ignore the part of the story that states both parties have said everything is ok now. Let’s focus on some of the things Derek Fisher had to say after Miller ripped the team.

” … what it’s not time for is peripheral people to have comments about what’s going on in our locker room and questioning who we are as a team. And I don’t really care who that is.”

Well said Mr. Fisher.

Derek admits that he had been biting his tongue for some time:

“He made a statement, and I made a statement in response to not only his statement but just overall. It was something I probably wanted to say overall but just held onto it. It was something I just feel is important, and I want everybody to hear that, not just to him, just to Coach (Jerry Sloan) or to the fellas. It was to everybody. That’s important to me.”

Like I said earlier, Miller and Fisher have said everything’s good between them but I don’t believe it. “The Secret” is conspiring to guide the Houston Rockets to the championship by any means necessary. I’m not hoping that any of the Utah Jazz get arrested.. Off court problems are weclome though…

A couple of former Rockets must not know what being positive means or they don’t read my blog. TNT’s Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley might be using the tough love tactic.. It’s just that they sound like they’re being negative.

Chuck and Jet, you guys have the opportunity to inform millions of people about the Rockets trek toward the title. Use your platform to spread the love, don’t start shoveling the dirt. If the Rocket’s and their fans can’t have the support of two of their own, doesn’t that mean that the terrorist Utah Jazz have won?

***The Houston Rockets are a proud franchise. Stop telling me the only reason they won a couple of titles in the 90s is because MJ was playing baseball. I have to go with the history books..The Rockets were absolutely, POSITIVELY, back to back champions in ‘94 and ‘95. Woulda coulda shoulda whatever.***

Miller apologizes for comments. Thank you Desert News

Barry, Smith, Barkley cutting Rockets no slack. Thank you Houston Chronicle

Walk into the light friend..not away from it. EVERYTHING is right with Houston.

DIGG IT  *  DEL.ICIO.US  *  REDDIT  *  BALL HYPE

I’m a fan of the Philadelphia 76ers. They didn’t make the playoffs so I don’t have a rooting interest in this year’s tournament. Since Philly’s out I can enjoy the basketball, but I don’t care who wins the title.. I’m just looking forward to some great series and incredible individual performances although it would be nice to pull for a team on a (every other) nightly basis. 

 I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with “The Secret”, but it’s the latest get rich quick scheme self-help concept spreading like wildfire. It’s a movie/documentary sort of thing that teaches about the Law of Attraction. To put the basic theme of “The Secret” in a nutshell, you are what you think and we all possess the ability to manifest things into our lives. According to the movie, in order to get your dream job, ideal mate, or happiness in general, you need to think positive, reinforce your positive thinking, and of course take action. You can check out the first 20 minutes of the movie below:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b1GKGWJbE8&mode=related&search=]

This is the official website for “The Secret” and you can get the wiki11 here. As always, there’s two sides to every story so “The Secret” has a number people that think the whole idea is complete bullshit.

What does this have to do with the NBA and sports? Nothing at all.. Until now. Lemme say thanks to everybody that took part in the “Can You Help A Brotha Out?? leave a number” post. I wanted to involve the masses because A) I’m a man of the people and B) I didn’t want there to be any suspicion about the validity of the team selected.

Here’s what happened.. I put all of the teams that qualified for the NBA playoffs into a hat. I drew the teams from the hat one by one. Each team was assigned a number based on when they were drawn from the hat… For the slow people, I picked San Antonio from the hat first, so they were number one. New Jersey was drawn 2nd, so they represent the number 2,  et cetera. After giving all of the teams their number, I tallied the results of the CYHABO post to see which number received the most “votes”. The numbers 2 and 3 tied with 3 votes apiece. Here’s the breakdown of the votes per number:

1. SAN ANTONIO (2 votes)
2. NEW JERSEY (3 votes)
3. HOUSTON (3 votes)
4. MIAMI (1 vote)
5. UTAH (0 votes)
6. LA LAKERS (1 vote)
7. DENVER (2 votes)
8. CLEVELAND (1 vote)
9. ORLANDO (2 votes)
10. DETROIT (2 votes)
11. DALLAS (1 vote)
12. PHOENIX (1 vote)
13. CHICAGO (1 vote)
14. GOLDEN STATE (1 vote)
15. WASHINGTON (2 votes)
16. TORONTO (2 votes)

To break the tie, I had to flip a coin (and throw the validity out the window). Heads was New Jersey and tails was Houston. The quarter landed on tails.

So… I’m gonna test “The Secret”. Sort of. For the duration of the Rockets’ stay in the playoffs they are my “Secret” team. I’m gonna (and I encourage others to join me) try to only think positive thoughts about Houston. No Jeff Van Gundy humping Zo’s leg jokes… No reminiscing over Shaq dissing Asians welcoming Yao to the league, and definitely no ”Houston we have a problem” references. I will post at least one positive comment about the Houston Rockets everyday until they win the championship.. Or get eliminated. I’m gonna have to be hella positive seeing as Tracy McGrady has never advanced to the second round of the playoffs, and the Rockets are facing a tough first round test in the Utah Jazz. The only glitch I can see with my plan is the “taking action” aspect. There’s no action that I could take that would increase the Rockets’ chances of winning it all. I don’t have 12  Jeff Gillooly’s aka Jeff Stone.

There you have it. I wanted everybody to select a number in hopes of having one number dominate the polling. I didn’t wanna do the lottery on my own, pull SA, Dallas, Phoenix, Detroit, or Miami, and then have everyone thinking I rigged the contest. I guess “the best laid plans….”

If you’re a fan of a team that didn’t make the playoffs or you just wanna have some dumb fun, join me in “secreting“ the Rockets to a championship. 

CAN YOU HELP A BROTHA OUT?? (apparently not many people could) Courtesy of You Been Blinded

DIGG IT  *  DEL.ICIO.US  *  REDDIT  *  BALL HYPE

Koren Robinson has a new anklet. Thank you Seattle Times

Dwayne Jarrett is gonna have the Cabana Club crackin’ tonight. (3rd paragraph down) Thank you Eurweb.com

Who’s the favorite to win NEXT year’s college hoop championship? Check the odds here. Thank you to sportsbook.com via Gambling 911

Joe Frazier to box his daughter… In court. Thank you Delaware Online

Michael Jordan’s son checking out Valpo. Thank you NWI Times

10 things to root for instead of Barry Bonds. Thank you Tufts Daily

Joe Torre and A-Rod feel Barry Zito’s pain. Thank you San Mateo County Times via InsideBayArea.com

USC’s Nick Young says no Mayo on mine. Thank you LA Times

Time is running out… If you haven’t checked out my “Can You Help A Brotha Out??” post, please do. I’m asking for everybody that goes to that post to leave a number from 1 to 16 in the comments section. IT DOESN’T MATTER if the number you leave is a repeat. You’re all kind of voting on something that will be revealed in a post tomorrow. One thing I don’t understand is that quite a few people have visited the post but only 20 people have left a number. To quote Mark Jackson, “You’re better than that”.

DIGG IT  *  DEL.ICIO.US  *  REDDIT  *  BALL HYPE

Steve Spurrier wants to help the Confederate Flag get off the pole. Courtesy of Larry Brown Sports

Michael Jordan is one of the most competitive people on the planet. Did you really think he would let Neil Diamond beat him at anything? Courtesy of the Washington Post

The (inconvenient) truth is, Mother Nature hates sports. Courtesy of the Ap by way of Post-Gazette.com

David Wright’s 23 game hit streak postponed due to rain. Courtesy of Metro Canada

Leigh Steinberg arrested for DUI. Rumor has it Roger Goodell will take away his Blackberry for a year. Courtesy of The OC Register

Speaking of losing Blackberry privileges, Charles Taplin is gonna lose his for contacting LSU football players. Courtesy of the AP by way of The Town Talk

Tim Duncan get’s ejected for laughing. I was just as shocked by the ejection as I was at the fact that Tim Duncan can laugh. I didn’t think his model was programmed with emotions. Courtesy of Fan IQ

Purdue..The Cincinnati Bengals of college football. Courtesy of Covers.com

If Eagles fans give Donovan McNabb a hard time, what would they have done with Akili Smith or Ricky Williams? Eagles offseason talk here. Courtesy of The Burlington County Times by way of PhillyBurbs.com

De La Hoya forces Mayweather to fight with bad gloves? Courtesy of The Grand Rapids Press by way of MLive.com

And finally…. Props to everybody that has left a number in the Can You Help A Brotha Out?? post. I’m accepting your numbers up until midnight Pacific on Wednesday. It doesn’t matter if you repeat a number that somebody already posted. So, again, please click here  and leave any number from 1 to 16 in the comments.

DIGG IT  *  DEL.ICIO.US  *  REDDIT  *  BALL HYPE

 

I need a little bit of help from anybody that stops in and checks out this post. If you could do me a favor and leave a number between 1 and 16 (1 and 16 included) in the comments section I would greatly appreciate it. It’s going to be used for a post on Thursday, so the deadline to get the number in is midnight Pacific on Wednesday.

 I’m conducting an experiment, and since none of you have any idea of what it is, you can’t influence the outcome. I don’t care if you log in as “me, crap@crap.com” I just need one number between 1 and 16 (1 and 16 included).

It doesn’t matter how many times a number repeats.. I need to see which number gets voted for the most.

Thanks!!

DIGG IT  *  DEL.ICIO.US  *  REDDIT  *  BALL HYPE