For some reason the people that pitch us shaving cream and razors think we need to see two athletes lathered up and having a good time in the bathroom for us to consider buying their product. But what about two men applying shaving cream to one another while handling razorblades is supposed to be appealing? I can’t be the only one that thinks there’s something weird about being crammed in a little bathroom with your homeboy breathing on your neck and checking you out in the mirror’s reflection.

Brett Favre and Reggie White use the classic ‘Old guy teaching young guy’ model that led to David Robinson schooling Tim Duncan about shaving gel.

“What about the gnomes?” That shit floors me every time.

Japanese ad execs have the same ‘two athletes together’ theory so they hooked up Mixed Martial Artist Mark Coleman and Wanderlei Silva.

I didn’t understand a word of this commercial but the message was the same.. Lame.

shaving commercials, NBA, NFL, MMA, video, youtube

The San Antonio Spurs have eight or nine guys that should take the game tying 3-point shot instead of Tim Duncan. Timmay had four career playoff three pointers and none this season until he lined up and drilled the shot to send this great game into double overtime. I have the Suns winning in seven, so I’ll say blowing a 16 point first half lead, a late 6 point lead, and allowing Tim Duncan to hit a game tying three are no big deal.. It’s only one game. One hard to swallow game.

Video Courtesy of Odenized

Tags: Tim Duncan, Three Pointer, 3+Pointer, overtime, video, youtube

The Spurs rolled to their 4th championship in 9 years a little easier than I thought they would. I thought Cleveland had the chance to win at least one game in the series, I predicted two, but San Antonio was too much. The Spurs are a well oiled playoff machine. Even when they don’t win the title they’re in the mix. The Cavaliers are a franchise with a Superstar and a subpar supporting cast. They could be title contenders for years to come but they’re gonna have to shake up the roster.

The Spurs deserve their congratulations.. Tony Parker earned the Finals MVP award. Parker’s penetration, steady jumper, and clutch shots made him the hands down winner. Robert Horry picked up his 7th ring. That’s nuts. Guys are happy to play 7 seasons, Horry has 7 RINGS. Barkley, Stockton, Malone, KG, and Elgin Baylor 0 rings between ‘em. Robert Horry 7. Wow.

Props to the San Antonio Spurs, the NBA Champions.

Spurs/Cavs Game 4 recap. Courtesy of ESPN.com

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjpvXynyVHU]

Remember when these “Trophy Love” commercials were all the rage? The thing that always bothered me is that the name of the NBA trophy is the “Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy”… It seemed weird to me that all of those cats were in love with someone named Larry. Anyways…

The San Antonio Spurs are on the verge of capturing their 4th LOCT, and LeBron James is about to have a long summer. In a game that was viewed by many as Cleveland’s best chance to take one from San Antonio, both teams put the scoring on hold and locked down on coughcough defense. Tim Duncan played only 33 minutes and Cleveland still couldn’t capitalize meaning my predicition of Spurs in 6 is gonna need a miracle in order to see the light of day.

Here’s a few other things I was wrong about:

1. “Tim Duncan is the Finals MVP”. I’m not completely wrong on this but Parker is probably the leader for the award right now. If the Spurs wrap up the series in game 4 and TD has a big game, Duncan could still be the MVP.
2. “Cleveland wins their first game at home”. It was all there for the Cavs to take but they couldn’t hit an open shot to save their lives… Or their series. Tim Duncan had the foul trouble that I thought he would, but Cleveland’s scoring trouble was the bigger factor.
3. “We are all entertained”. The ratings suggest that very few of us are entertained but let’s not rush to make this an NBA issue. People just aren’t watching sports the same anymore. You can look at the World Series declining ratings here or flashback to 2006 when game 1 of the World Series flopped. Everyday can’t be Superbowl Sunday.

As for LeBron handing off to Anderson down the stretch of game 3, I honestly believe he expected to get the ball back. Unfortunately for LBJ, Floppy Jao took matters in to his own hands and frankly, he’s gotta make that basket… And LeBron was fouled by Bruce Bowen at the end of the game. There’s no question about it. The continuation call could have gone either way but James should have gone to the line for at least two free throws.

The biggest thing I’m taking away from this series is that if Cleveland’s front office can get LeBron a Scottie Pippen, the Cavs will rule the East for years. All of the players on the Cavalier roster are role players. There’s no Scottie Pippen, there’s no Dennis Rodman. There’s nobody else on the roster that the other team has to truly worry about. Michael Jordan was surrounded by the right mix of players to highlight his talents. Danny Ferry and company need to do the same for LeBron.

Cavaliers And Spurs Final(ly)

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According to information provided by the Oregonian’s Jason Quick and my assumptive deduction, 2 players from the Garnett, Iverson, and Kobe trio were recently offered to Portland in exchange for the #1 pick. You can listen to Jason drop the hint here or just check out this quick excerpt:

“I know that two Western Conference teams have offered their superstars in return for the number one pick… And they are Hall of Famers and the Blazers have turned them down on both.”

There you have it. So how did I end up with Kobe, KG, and AI representing the players on the block? Walk with me.

NO CONSIDERATION: Portland and Seattle obviously. New Orleans, Memphis, Utah, Golden State, and Sacramento all have zero Hall of Famers on their rosters at this moment.

NOT YET: Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and the L.A. Clippers all have players that are close or should play their way into the Hall of Fame. Dirk Nowitzki should be in one day, Tracy McGrady needs a few more solid years and he has to do some damage in the playoffs, Yao Ming could get in one day if he continues to improve, and Elton Brand has a legitimate chance if he continues on his current pace. I don’t have Steve Nash from Phoenix in the Hall of Fame yet. I know Steve has the two MVPs but his career numbers 14pts, 7.6ast, and 2.9rbds, are still lower than Stephon Marbury’s 19.9pts, 7.9ast, and 3.0rbds, even with Nash’s incredible 3 season stretch.

NOW WE’RE TALKING: San Antonio, Denver, Minnesota, and the L.A.L are the only teams in the Western Conference that have Hall of Fame locks on their rosters right now. Let’s go ahead and assume that the Spurs aren’t dealing Duncan. That’s a safe bet right? Well, that leaves Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant as the only players that could have been offered to Portland.

So who were the two players? I could see Minnesota making that offer. They would set Garnett free and start over with a major chip in their pocket. The T-Wolves would have been looking at a young nucleus of Oden/Durant, Randy Foye, and Rashad McCants (depending on what you think of McCants’ game). The Nuggets would presumably move Iverson out, bring in Durant/Oden and piece either one of them together with Melo, Camby, J.R. Smith, and hold on to Steve Blake. What about the Lakers offering Kobe? I can’t see Portland turning down a trade offer that includes Kobe Bean Bryant unless they are so turned off by his off the court problems, and so wary of his emotions that they wouldn’t want the best player in the league on their roster. Plus, the Lakers would become a non-factor for a couple of years while their young roster developed. I can’t see the La-La land management doing that.

That means (to me) that Minnesota tried to trade K.G. and the Nuggets tried to trade Allen Iverson for Portland’s number one. I guess the Blazers figured why trade for aging superstars with a ton of mileage when they have the chance to draft a player that they could have for the next 15 years. Portland was right on with this decision. They’re not an A.I. or Garnett away from the championship so there’s no need to bite at the lure of a big name.

I originally peeped this story over at Henry Abbott’s True Hoop. It’s the ninth link down. Courtesy of ESPN and True Hoop

You can read the paraphrased version of Casey Holdahl’s interview with Jason Quick here, or you can listen to the entire interview here.

This is the snippet of Jason Quick on the two Western Conference teams offering Hall of Famers for the #1 pick.

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Tonight’s the night that it goes down. Two legacies are in the making. LeBron will become the legitimate face of the league or the Spurs will reach official dynasty status. Gone are the Kobe Bryant trade demands (maybe), no more “the Suns got screwed” (hopefully), and hasta la vista to Flip Saunders (wishfully). It’s time for the NBA Finals.

The Cleveland Cavaliers: I didn’t give them a shot against the Pistons until about 12 points in to LBJ’s final 25 points of game 5. Even when I saw the Cavs outplaying the Pistons earlier in the series, something wouldn’t let me change my mind about Detroit advancing to the Finals. That something is stupidity. Sometimes you have to face the facts and in this case the fact was: Cleveland was the better team. I didn’t believe that going in to the series.. I mean, who couldn’t beat a wounded Wizards team and then Jason Kidd and the Heartless? It was hard for me to fathom that the Cavaliers poor shooting, insufficient role players, and questionable coaching would be able to take down the battle tested, finals focused Detroit Pistons. I was wrong.

The San Antonio Spurs: The Spurs were my true pick to make it to the NBA Finals, but I tried this little experiment at the beginning of the playoffs so I had to ride with the Rockets. You can take a look at my brackets over at BallHype (who has some nice t-shirts btw) and see that I had the Spurs over the Suns. The Spurs have been the best team in the league since the All-Star break, but everybody was caught up in Phoenix and Dallas. It didn’t matter to me that Amare and Diaw got suspended during the Spurs/Suns series.. What I mean by that is the Spurs were gonna beat Phoenix if it went 6 or 7. They were better. The San Antonio/Utah series was a sparring match. SA wanted to get some good work in and then take a rest before matching up with the Eastern Conference… Have you noticed that I made it this far without mentioning Tim Duncan? That’s how it is for the Spurs.. Not a lot of hype, but great execution and the ability to match styles with any team. Wanna slow it down and play half court ball? San Antonio will run everything through TD and slowly dissect you. Wanna speed up the tempo? Parker and Ginobili will run wild on you while the 3 point bombers camp behind the line for a kick out. Pick your poison.

HOW WILL IT END?

If you don’t want to know how the NBA Finals end then stop reading now. For those of you brave enough to stick with me, here it is. The San Antonio Spurs win the championship. It goes 6 games, with San Antonio winning games 1,2,4, and 6. Cleveland wins their first game at home and their last game at home. Tim Duncan is the Finals MVP, but Parker and Ginobili have their moments. Robert Horry hits a big shot down the stretch in one of the games, but I don’t want to give away which one. Cleveland wins game 3 because Tim Duncan is saddled with foul trouble, and they win game 5 because LeBron goes nuts. The Spurs celebrate and the Cavaliers learn a valuable lesson and we are all entertained.

For a really good listen check out The Finals Preview Podcast. Courtesy of The Basketball Jones

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Everybody in the NBA including superstar players, coaches and ball boys know that David Stern isn’t messing around this year. Remember how many techs were called the first few weeks of the season when the league was stressing it’s new “behavior policy”? The policy now extends to NBA refs. One of the NBA’s finest, Joey Crawford, has been suspended for the rest of the regular season (two days) and the playoffs for his ejection of Tim Duncan on Sunday. David Stern on the suspension:

“Joey Crawford’s handling of this situation failed to meet the standards of professionalism and game management we expect of NBA referees. Especially in light of similar prior acts by this official, a significant suspension is warranted. Although Joey is consistently rated as one of our top referees, he must be held accountable for his actions on the floor, and we will have further discussions with him following the season to be sure he understands his responsibilities.”

All of the details aren’t in yet on this story, but something major had to go down for Stern to hand out an Artest type suspension. Here’s Tim Duncan’s account:

“He looked at me and said, ‘Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?’ If he wants to fight, we can fight. I don’t have any problem with him, but we can do it if he wants to. I have no reason why in the middle of a game he would yell at me, ‘Do you want to fight?”

I’m not sure (ok I’m positive they’re not) if Tim Duncan and Joey Crawford are in the same weight division, but there has to be a way to get the two of them on the De La Hoya/Mayweather undercard.

NBA suspends Joey Crawford. Swacked from ESPN.com

Tim Duncan ejected by Joey Crawford. Swacked from Youtube.com

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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.

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