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NFL Mock Draft 2009 Draft of 2009 Lacks Star Power NFL Draft 2009: Getting Started Super Bowl Well Worth Tuning In For
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Prospects On Center Stage NBA Preview 2008/09: Final Call
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Random Thoughts By Ron Jumper With it being a unique time of the year, I felt it was necessary to just throw some random thoughts out there about everything going on in the world of sports. With the NBA playoffs getting close, the NFL Draft almost here, and NBA prospects declaring for the draft, it is that unique time of the year when nothing is actually happening but a lot of things are buzzing and on the verge of happening. From Tampa Bay to Tim Duncan, yours truly has opinions that need to be expressed. Off the top, how about the whole Don Imus thing? Could anyone go downhill faster? Maybe if the NBA decided to take away the salary cap and Isiah Thomas was able to go wild with overpaid, jumbled-up talent. Imus has made remarks before about different races and should have known better than to say what he said. I really don’t have a problem with him being fired, I just don’t like the way he was fired. MSNBC and CNN originally didn’t plan on punishing him that harshly but folded under pressure like LeBron in the 4th quarter. As soon as they saw a few sponsors were going to leave the network, they suspended him for 2 weeks. When that wasn’t enough to stop the bleeding, they went ahead and fired him out of pure peer pressure and fear of losing money via sponsors. I would have actually had more respect for the networks if they had just gritted their teeth and defended their guy. I think him being fired was justified, I’m just saying the networks should grow a pair and stand behind what they feel the situation calls for. Partly, I just hate when the media influences what decisions companies make and always milk anything with race for all it is worth. Suddenly, slimy reporters climb up on their high horses to claim that we should treat everyone equal when they are as quick as anyone to judge and cut people down at a moment’s notice.  With the NFL Draft coming up, I have to say I’m exciting about it. As you probably know, I’m a Tampa Bay fan to the bone so this is one of the few times I’ve been excited in over a year or so now. The Bucs have the 4th pick in the draft and could end up with Calvin Johnson. If that kind of talent falls to the Bucs, expect to see Jon Gruden running naked through the streets of Tampa in the middle of the night. How could the obvious top talent fall to 4th, you ask? The Raiders are… well…the Raiders. They have been reluctant to trade Randy Moss or Joey Porter, so receiver isn’t a big need. With Aaron Brooks a complete disaster, the Raiders need a QB. With the Lions, I think fans would boycott the team if they took another receiver in the first round. With the Browns, they just drafted Braylon Edwards and probably don’t want to have that much money invested in one position, as QB is a more pressing need. So that leaves the Bucs at 4th getting the best prospect in the draft. If everything goes to plan, it could give the franchise a much needed boost. Amidst all the controversy surrounding Houston Nutt and the Razorback football program, I’d like to put that aside for just a moment. With the draft coming up, the Arkansas faithful can certainly be proud of the amount of players who should get their named called early on the first day. Jamaal Anderson is a top 10-15 pick, Chris Houston should go in the 15-25 range, and Tony Ugoh is a late first round-to-early second round pick. There is also Keith Jackson, Jr. and Sam Olajubutu who could be selected at some point in the draft. Brett Goode, Randy Kelly, Stephen Parker, Desmond Sims, Darius Vinnett, and Jacob Skinner all have chances of being late round picks or being picked up as undrafted free agents, that is 11 guys total that could be on NFL rosters next season. According to ESPN, we have 5 prospects ranked in the top 300, that is as good or better than anyone in the SEC but Auburn, Florida, and Tennessee. Not too bad…  With it all but certain Oden and Durant will enter the draft, I can’t help but wonder if this is how college basketball will be as long as the current system is in place. I wonder if every year the top high school prospects will show off their talents for one season at the college level and then take their game on to the pros. If any player was ever going to turn down the money and stay in school, it would be Greg Oden. Oden is a very mature young man and seems polished beyond his years with the way he handles the media. If he doesn’t stay, I don’t see any great college player turning down the chance to play in the NBA. I see this actually hurting the college game down the road. How could that be, you ask? Why does the average sports fan not watch the NBA as much as say the NFL? It is probably because they don’t know the players as well. Why don’t they know the players as well in the NBA as they do the NFL? It is because few of the NBA players played in college long enough to be a recognizable name among casual fans. If young stars like Chris Bosh, Josh Smith, or Monta Ellis had played in college for 3 or 4 years they would be more appreciated and recognized by the average or “casual” fan. In NBA circles, all of those guys I mentioned above are considered great young players who could someday be really special players. However, ask some guy who catches a game every once in awhile and I promise he has never seen any of those guys play, other than maybe on a SportsCenter highlight. My point is that unless it is Nash, Kobe, Dirk, Shaq, Wade, or Lebron it is likely the casual fan doesn’t know what he is missing by not watching more NBA basketball. He doesn’t know what amazing athleticism Josh Smith shows on a nightly basis and how exciting to watch he has been over his short career because the Hawks aren’t on TNT or ESPN. Chris Bosh has become an elite player this season and is leading his Toronto Raptors to the playoffs but I can promise if I told that average or “casual” fan that Bosh was an elite player in the league he would have a confused look on his face and wonder if I was on medication. If you are that average or “casual” NBA fan and you don’t live on the West Coast, you probably have no idea who Monta Ellis is at all. However, avid NBA followers know he has had a breakout season and is one of the more exciting young guards in the league for the Golden State Warriors. These are just a few examples of how people don’t know what they are missing by not watching more NBA basketball. How does that translate to the college game, you may be wondering? If all the good college players leave and new ones come in every year, the average or “casual” fan won’t know the players as well. More importantly, teams won’t be as good on a yearly basis because the rules have made for a more even playing field, making it harder to follow. Every year just depends on who signs those “monster” recruits and just has them dominate the competition. Soon it will become like the NBA or NFL and we will start calling 19-year old kids “busts” because they didn’t do what Kevin Durant or Greg Oden did as freshman for our school. Fans have always talked about how pure the college game is and how the players just care about winning, as opposed to the pros who just “play when they want to play.” Over time it will just become the norm for young studs just to care about doing great in their one-year audition at the college level, winning will become an after-thought for them.  Tim Duncan was involved in a very unique situation Sunday at Dallas. Duncan was hit with a technical foul from referee Joey Crawford for arguing a call, which was perfectly fine. Then Duncan was just sitting on the bench laughing with his teammates and Crawford hit Duncan with another technical and had security escort him out of the arena. It was a truly bizarre situation that I have never seen before. It made for entertaining television. That being said, Crawford is in the wrong here. Why do opposing teams’ arenas fill up when the Spurs come to town? Because the Spurs are always good. Why are the Spurs always good? Because of Tim Duncan, end of story. No one came to the arena to watch Crawford ref, they came to see their Mavs take on Duncan and the Spurs. At the time Duncan was thrown out, the Spurs were winning by 6 points with 1:04 left in the 3rd quarter. The Spurs would go onto lose the game by 5. This was a big game for both teams, so to put the Spurs at such a disadvantage right before the 4th quarter was wrong. When a superstar gets his first technical, it is widely known in the realm of officiating that you walk away or avoid him in order to keep the superstar in the game. If the superstar continues to cross the line, you go ahead and eject him. However, in this situation Duncan wasn’t even talking to Crawford. There is no excuse for ruining a perfectly good nationally televised game between two of the premiere teams in the league. Shame on you, Joey Crawford. Shame on you.  April 16, 2007 |
| NCAA Football | |
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Be Careful What You Wish For
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| NCAA Basketball | |
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Jumpology: My Bracket Jumpology: Scouting The Heavyweights Jumpology: Reviewing The Bracket
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