From the BRAIN of Jason Thompson-

I was asked to share a few memories of Melvin Eggs for our GameShow audience.  Well, that’s tough.  Not because there are too few memories, but because there are so many.  There is just not enough space here to write about all of his great moments so I will narrow this blog to my personal favorites.  Everyone has there own favorites - these are mine.

THE ORIGIN OF A NICKNAME

I can’t say I was there in Rucker Park the day a skinny Mevlin Eggs earned his first nickname but news of that day - the day Melvin Eggs made legend - spread like a wild fire across the playgrounds of America. 

It was a Saturday afternoon.  It was still early on that Summer afternoon when Melvin and his seven older brothers (Nick “Over Easy”, Dale “Sunny Side Up”, Darnell “Scrambled”, Kevin “Poached”, Billy “Boiled”, Willy “Hard Boiled”, and Danny “Easter”) walked onto the court.  Melvin was the youngest but was clearly the tallest and most talented of the very talented Eggs brothers.  When the Eggs brothers appeared at Rucker they would say “It could never be hot enough on the Court to cook one of the Eggs”.  They were good. Melvin was great.  But Melvin lacked the one thing his brothers had - a nickname.

As the afternoon progressed the Eggs brothers were frying their opponents one after another.  “Order Up!” they would yell after each trouncing.  They were so good together Melvin could take plays, and even games, off without the Eggs missing a beat.  Late in the afternoon their cousin ”Raw” appeared with a Turkey leg.  Mevlin was hungry and asked for a bite.  ”Raw” told Melvin he could have all he wanted - but not while standing on the ground.  He could eat as much of the Turkey leg he could while dunking a basketball.  Melvin grabbed the Turkey leg in one hand and a basketball in the other - his thumb and pinky finger almost touching around the ball.  With two dribbles Melvin leaped at the basket… from the three point line.

The dunk was perfect off of his left hand.  What happened next is what made a legend.  Melvin turned and handed “Raw” a smooth, clean Turkey leg bone.  Melvin “Turkey Leg” Eggs had earned his first nickname. 

-

As an aside.  His first attempted dunk in a dunk contest took place when he was just seven years old in Russia.  It did not go as well.

Did you catch the Xavier v. West Virginia game last night. It was a great game made even better by Bill Raftery’s call. We got great play from two very good teams then we got overtime making it even better ’cause we got more Bill Raftery. Over the last twenty years there have been two voices of College Basketball. One over the top but well meaning, Dick Vitale. The other statesman like and all knowing, Bill Packer. Both are great in their own idiom but it’s time time to crown the voice of the people, Bill Raftery. He’s the king. The voice of the common guy who loves talk a little smack and has from time to time jumped out of their Lazy-boy after a phenomenal play screaming OOHHHH! It’s time to send Raftery in.

 Bill’s been around as long the other two but he’s always been put on the “B” game or relegated to just “East Coast” hoops. The fact is I can’t get enough of his games and he needs to be given the crown of “Lead Color” on every college hoops game. He’s got the pedigree. Raftery earned a degree in history from La Salle University and a master’s degree in education from Seton Hall. In 2001, he received an Honorary Doctorate from LaSalle University. Aside from his commentating duties, Raftery is the president of W.J. Raftery Associates, an event/marketing firm.
Raftery is known for his creative colloquialisms, his unique pronunciation of “Man-to-man defense” and his often original ways of expressing play-by-play activities. The following are some of his more oft-used and memorable quotes.
“Shoulder … shake … a little lingerie!”
“A little pirouette, and they said this was a beer town!”
I wheel the wheel barrel down the street to the tin!”
“Give it to the big fella!”

“Send it in, Jerome!”

“The Big Guy”
“With disdain to the tin!”
“Send it in, Verne!”
“…with the kiss!”
“With the sweet kiss, off the glass…”
“With a little dipsy do”
“Dagger!”
“Onions!”
“Nylon!”
“The vegetable cart”
“Put a little english on it”
“With the teardrop, that’ll make you cry”
“Panties on the deck”
“We got a little nickel-dimer here”
“The small change”
“With the blow-by” Mark it FP
“With authority!”
“Send it in, big fella!”
“From the Right Wing!”
“There’s a little lingerie on the deck”
“The bounce to ecstasy”
“You might call this Newton’s Law!”
“Most unattractive but beneficial”
“With the dribble drive”
“Attacking the tin!”
“Strong… to the goal!”
“Bring your lunch!”
“Elevation!”
“A little ricochet romance!”
“Get the puppies set!”
“He can do it all; let him into the band!”
“(insert player’s name) with some early onions!”
“Fill the lane! Provide the lift!”
“He can make you ask for your mommy.”
“Walter at the altar: High Mass!”
“Bottle of blackout!”
“Deployment!”
“Divine intervention!”
“With a little smoocher!”
“Protect the women and children!”
“Chubby Checker Do the Twist!”
“A Large Edifice”

From the Brain of Jason Thompson-The Western Conference NBA race will go down to the wire for EVERY playoff spot this year.  Each team has roughly 14 games to go and there exist a very real possibility that a 50 win team misses the playoffs in the West.  (You should probably read that last line again.)  That’s right, a 50 win team may be in the NBA lottery.  This is usually the time of year when I yell at teams racing for the 8th and last spot in the playoffs to lose out.  I never understood why a team would want the 8th spot which means two extra home games and a lesser draft pick (unless of course you are the Warriors with a Mav opponent in the 1st round).  I won’t waste my breath this year because every team that makes the Western playoffs will truly believe they can win it all.  Most of them are wrong.So here is how I see the West finishing:1.  LA Lakers.  12 games remain with just four on the road.  Of their last 10 in April they will play just three playoff teams.  Watch the April 11^th and 13th games vs. New Orleans and the Spurs to see how legit this team will be in the playoffs.   57-252.  New Orleans Hornets.  They finish their season playing 10 of 14 on the road including a six game road trip beginning this week.  They will go 9-5.  Their last game of the season vs. Dallas I include as one of their losses.  The Hornets are legit.  56-263.  SA Spurs.  12 games remain for the defending champs, 7-5 looks probable here.  The one dreaded back-to-back on April 13th and 14th (Lakers, Kings) looks like a trap.  The West is so tight the Spurs’ last game vs. the Jazz may decide which team gets home court in the 1st round as a 4 v. 5 match-up.  54-28 4.  Utah Jazz.  They get a mixed bag over their last 11 games.  They see the T-Wolves twice, the Wiz, Bobcats and Clippers.  On the tough side their April schedule includes the Spurs twoce, the Hornets, Mavs and Nuggets.  Figure 7-4 to finish the season and the Jazz will have their best chance in the playoffs since Stockton-Malone.  53-29.5.  Houston Rockets.  12 games left, just four vs. legit playoff teams.  The Rockets hold on to the 6^th spot based on a steady diet of lottery teams (Kings (twice), T-wolves, Trailblazers, Sonics (twice), and Clippers (twice)).   They will go 7-5 losing to every Western playoff team in the process.  54-28. They will lose in the first round regardless of their opponent.6.  PHX Suns.  13 games remain with more than half against legit playoff teams.  6-7 is  real possibility here and there is a very real possibility they finish the season losing five of their last eight.  Headed in to the playoffs, there will never be a better 6^th seed.  53-297.  Golden State.  The NBA Gods foresaw the Warriors and Nuggets battling for the last playoff spot.  They meet at Denver (March 29) and in Oakland (April 10) in what will probably decide who gets in.  The Mavs will not be nearly as tough without Dirk and they will see the Dirk-less Mavs twice.  I wonder when the Mavs’ Nelly-curse will end.  51-31.8.  Dallas Mavericks.  So Dirk is gone for two weeks.  If we set his return for April 7^th, the Mavs will play at Denver and a home-and-home vs. the Warriors; two teams that want that last spot in the playoffs.  They would also play at the Lakers (April 4^th) and at Phoenix (April 6^th).  A 2-5 record over that stretch is probable.  With Dirk back the Mavs will see the Sonics (twice) and Portland.  The last game of the season vs. the Hornets may be the Mavs shot to make the playoffs. 50-32OUT- Denver.  The Nuggets have not played defense in a month.  They will lose to every playoff team down the stretch and some non-playoff teams.  They will finish their last 12 with a 6-6 record thus narrowly avoiding history as being the only 50 win team to miss the playoffs.  48-34.Your Western Playoffs will look like this: LA Lakers (1) vs. Dallas Mavericks (8)Utah Jazz (4) vs. Houston Rockets (5) NO Hornets (2) vs. Golden St. (7)SA Spurs (3) vs. PHX Suns 

    Every year on the Monday following the NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET announcement I take the time to watch something. Thanks to YouTube and other outlets I don’t have to dig out my VCR and dust off what is now a 15 year old tape of Jimmy Valvano. Over these years he has come to epitomize what the Tourney has become; THE SINGLE GREATEST SPORTING EVENT IN THE WORLD. He was the classic Cinderella Coach with his North Carolina State team in 1983. He coached NC St. to the greatest upset in NCAA history. Every year we wait for another David and Goliath upset of that magnitude but none could ever match what Valvano and his Wolfepack did so long ago. This year there will be great games and “Shining Moments” but they will be just moments. Jimmy V has left His Mind, His Heart, and His Soul in this great event.Take few minutes and watch a great man at the end of his life sum up why we love sports SO MUCH! Then go to http://www.jimmyv.org and make a donation. It will be worth far more than any entry fee you’ll pay for your office pool.

Having talked about the playoffs, the surprises and disappointments for the season for five months, it’s now about time when everyone starts talking awards. Who is deserving? Who is the best?

The MVP gets the most attention, and already there is a burgeoning debate among Kobe, LeBron, Kevin Garnett,and now Tracy Mcgrady with a little Chris Paul thrown in. Kobe and LeBron square off for the best player attention and Garnett, the first half leader, gets the credit for resurrecting the Celtics. Paul is for the -how-are-they-doing-that Hornets.

Though there’s plenty of debate, the voters usually get MVP right.

The one they get wrong almost all the time is coach of the year.

This season it should be the Jazz’ Jerry Sloan.

What, you say, how could it be Sloan when his team last season won 51 games, its division and was in the conference finals?

Because he is the best coach who has done the best job this season. Which is what the award should be.

What the award comes down to, in part, because it is so difficult for so many of the voters to figure out just what the coach is doing, is, essentially, what predictions the voters got wrong.

The voters, mostly print and broadcast media, generally rate teams based on what they’ve seen before and what they expect for this season based on that. So if a team generally does better than expected, well, it must be coaching.

That’s how Sam Mitchell won last year, which was just nuts. Same with Doc Rivers back in 2000 in his rookie coaching season, though Rivers has come a long way since then and is a legitimate coach of the year candidate this season. Also, Hubie Brown with Memphis in 2004. Those teams merely were underestimated by voters who hadn’t seen them before and didn’t take into account the personnel changes they’d made. Yes, all those coaches contributed and did good jobs those seasons, but I doubt any were the best coach at the time.

There’s a lifetime achievement element in my pick of Sloan as he never has won the award despite more than 1,000 coaching wins and just one losing season in the last 19, 20, actually, as the Jazz is just a few wins from Sloan’s 19th winning season in the last 20. C’mon gentleman and ladies, what are you watching!

Sloan, of course, would recoil at receiving an award for longevity. He’s upset enough when he receives any award he deserves.

But you have to consider what is great coaching since there is little secret to the pick and roll, except to the USA team a few years ago against Greece in the World Championships. Ah, but I digress.

Obviously coaches have to communicate, and Sloan has his unique form that is, shall we say, direct. Whatever, it’s worked as his players never fail to play hard and compete. He’s what everyone would call the tough guy, not exactly the so called players’ coach. Yet, his practices are relatively brief and he delegates more responsibility to assistants than perhaps any coach in the NBA. It’s not about credit and control for Sloan, but confidence. You’ll never see his name in the dictionary by ego, where many NBA coaches reside.

Though to many the ultimate test of a great coach is whether he can adjust and put players in position to succeed.

That’s mainly why Sloan, to me, is the coach of the year.

For more than a decade I watched Sloan’s Jazz with John Stockton and Karl Malone methodically wipe out the San Antonio Spurs with a series of crushing pick and rolls, relentlessly and continually, going again and again until the team got something. Opponents moaned about Stockton, perhaps the toughest six footer ever, calling him dirty. Big guys don’t like those interior screens put on them and Stockton never stopped, bumping, holding, pulling, grabbing, shouldering, whatever it took. And with that “Who, me?” look.

Malone? He was tough and mean. His blows were out there for everyone to see and they knew they were coming. More opposing power forwards got the flu in Salt Lake City than any other American city, Yes, Maloneitis.

And so they went and it’s now Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, a terrific point guard and power forward. 

Tough? Not that much. Mean? Not really. Defensive oriented? Not at all.

So here’s Sloan, who was the most in-you-face player when he played and had that type of team with Malone and Stockton.

And now his Jazz is an offensive juggernaut with a seven footer in Mehmet Okur firing up threes and needing a roadmap to find the lane. He’s got a smallish power forward in Boozer who is one of the poorest at his position in blocks and in defensive quickness. He’s got a terrific point guard in Williams who isn’t that enamored of defense, but will match anyone on offense. He plays one small forward who was run out of the East for a lack of defense in Kyle Korver and another in Matt Harpring who’d play it if he could, but his knees are worse than mine.

The Jazz average more than 105 points per game, fifth in the NBA, offensive proficiency rarely heard of for the Jazz until the last few seasons with Malone and Stockton when league scoring was down. Their field goal defense is 21st. They’re 24th in rebounding, but second in assists.  They trail just the Warriors, Suns, Lakers and Nuggets in scoring average. You never want to get down in the trenches with any Jerry Sloan team. Yet, there’s no one in the West the Jazz can’t run with.

Jerry Sloan’s run-and-gun Jazz?

It’s really what the great coaches do.

Pat Riley was Showtime in L.A. and then Thugtime in New York. Whatever it took.

Phil Jackson believed in defense and equal opportunity from the Red Holzman days until Jackson realized just ”coach” the best players and titles will come.

Gregg Popovich believed in throwing it down to his big guys and waiting for the double team and rotation for an open shot. Then he got road runner Tony Parker and manic Manu Ginobili. So it became Pop goes the Spurs.

There are several good candidates for coach of the year, and the Hornets’ Byron Scott probably is the early favorite with his team in the midst of the West race when many had them missing the playoffs. Yet, that was an injured and uncertain Hornets team on the move again last season. Rivers has been terrific with the Celtics in hanging in and pushing the defensive buttons. Stan Van Gundy has worked around several missing parts and one “Superman” center to give the Magic purpose and Rick Adelman has weathered injury and uncertainty and changed with the desires of the talent to produce an unlikely contender after a slow start. All are deserving candidates and good coaches. And Jackson has remained steadfast and determined in believing in the Lakers and having his players respond.
 
Still, I’m on board for Sloan. Though don’t tell him because if he wins it will only make him mad.

But no coach has done better in adjusting to his talent, emphasizing its strengths and accepting its weaknesses and producing consistent effort and success. It’s simply what coaching is about and Sloan continues to do it as well as anyone.

The Dallas Mavericks lost a game and their best player (for one game) to the Utah Jazz.  They lost the game Monday night (116-110) because Utah is WAY better than people think.  They lost Dirk Nowitzki for their next game because of a flagrant foul on Andrei Kirilenko.

Many of you do not like the NBA because you do not understand the NBA.  Here is a brief lesson on the “flagrant foul”.

There is a HUGE difference between a “hard foul” and a “flagrant foul”.  How many times do you see an NBA player go to the line because he was touched during the act of shooting?  I believe when fouling a player you should get your money’s worth.  A foul, if committed, should greatly impact the shooters ability to complete the shot.  I hate “and-one’s”.  “Hard” fouls are simply fouls made with some degree of finality- Shooter attempts shot; shooter gets fouled; ball goes nowhere near the basket. 

The difference between the hard foul and the flagrant foul has everything to do with talent, possiblity, and the likelihood of injury.  The “talent” part means - a block attempted by a short/non-shot blocker is MUCH more likely to be a “flagrant” foul.  If you have height/springs/hops/or “ups” you have license to swat at will and commit “hard fouls”. 

“Possibility” refers to the possibility that the defender could possibly have blocked the shot.  That has as much to do with circumstance as it does with the “talent” of the offending player. 

Lastly, the possibility of injury is relevant.  Taking a players legs out is always a “flagrant foul”.  Fists, hands, elbows to the face are always “flagrant fouls”.  Everything else is well, probably just a hard foul.

So with these rules as a guide, Dirk committed a “hard foul” and not a flagrant foul.  He is 7′ tall and remarkably agile (talent).  Watching the replay AK-47 could have jumped straight up so there was at least the possibility the shot could have been cleanly blocked.  Lastly, pulling a guy down by his side is not creating the probablity of injury.  These guys are athletes.  Falling down and getting up is part of the game.  In fact, that is what defines a sport “a sport” and its players as “athletes”.  Poker - not a sport.  Soccer - is a sport (but not a good one). 

So here is what I would call the definition of a flagrant foul - and another cheap shot at the Mavericks.

Rob and I were shocked when we realized many of you we call “friends” have never seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

 For those of you who have not seen it, here is a taste of the comedic genious that is the Holy Grail…

Nice toss Kobe, The Zen Master must be proud.

Rob

Quick, name three current Boxing World Champions. Bet you couldn’t. If you did, then I’ll bet you saw the Klitscko v. Ibranotgonnapunch bout last Saturday. I did and I wish I hadn’t. I’ve seen better fights on Springer. Lets just be thankful it wasn’t PPV so nobody was jacked out of $50 and forced to endure 12 rounds of pussyfoot hand slapping. Wlad ”The Soviet Slapper” Klitschko is the best heavyweight in the world but that isn’t saying much. I haven’t seen a HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP since Mike Tyson was judging beauty pageants.  

All that being said I still love Boxing, I love it so much that I’m gonna set it free. I let College Football’s BCS go. Now I’m letting Boxing go in hopes that maybe one day it to will come back as the sport it once was. Until then it’s all about MMA baby!

 Fly away Boxing, fly fly fly. Now I want to see a FIGHT!

Rob

Who would have thought John Cusack had it right way back in in 1989.

From the BRAIN of Jason Thompson

I have always been a conservative leaning kind of guy.  Not the bible-thumping family-values type.  Nope.  Just the use-government-only-when-absolutely-necessary and spend-no-more-than-you-take kind of conservative.  I liked Alex P. Keaton (Family Ties).

But like most people I have grown very weary of politics because they are basically all the same.  They listen to every voter in America - if that voter will pay the going rate.  I will never be able to afford the cost so I just kinda check out and hope “the government” won’t hastle me.  Just try and stay below the radar.

Two things caught my attention today.

1st - The GOP is polling people like you and me to see how far they can go in attacking “women” and/or “minorities”.  Wow.  That is just about the lowest thing I have every heard.  We have an unpopular war.  We are facing recession.  We have record deficits, a massive expanding debt… But rather than focus on “issues” they are spending money to find out wether - “women should stay in the kitchen where they belong” would offend us as voters.  As an educated man, at what point did the GOP think - would “black men are criminals” be palatable to the voter?  Let’s test this message…  Don’t believe me?  Check this out.  GOP fears charges of racism, sexism - David Paul Kuhn - Politico.com  Their conclusion - the GOP should “be sensitive to tone and stick to the substance of the discussion”.  After spending barrels of money on this research, I have to ask - Remember when common sense was free?

2nd - There is a photo being circulated picturing Barack Obama in “tribal” dress.  To the average guy like me, it looks like something out of a Talaban/Al Queda training camp - which is exactly what the Clinton campaign WANTS you to think which is why it was blasted onto the net today.  http://www.drudgereport.com/flashoa.htm  The problem - the photo was taken in 2006 when Obama took a 5 country trip to Africa and he is standing with a Somali elder.  You know - the area of Africa where gun toting warlords have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children.  The kind of place where you would kinda want to know first hand how you can help these terrorized people.  To Hillary Clinton, it was okay to use this out of context photo to scare me into thinking Obama may be a member of Al Queda.  This is the same scare-the-hell-out-of-them tactic that I just can not stand.

Both stories underscore how these campaigns view me the voter - I am a complete idiot.

This idiots reaction to the GOP and their “how big of a rascist/sexist can we be” and the Hillary Clinton “I heard Obama may be a terrorist” campaign strategies?  I will be voting for the black man in tribal dress.