How can you not love Shaquille O’Neal?
The ever-playful new member of the Phoenix Suns was spotted backstage at a Miley Cyrus concert last week. The big man showed affection for the wildly popular young singer, while also giving a shout-out to Elmo.
It takes a real man to wear this outfit.
Is Chris Berman as repetitive when the camera’s are off as he is when they’re on?
You decide…
The Sports Truth senior college basketball writer, Colin Dwyer, will break down the field of 65, if the season ended today. We’ll start with seeds 1-4.
Now that football is coming to a close, and let’s face it, the G-men have zero chance. I’m willing to go ahead and put the infamous “Sports Truth Curse” on the Pats because not even that can stop them. Clear conditions, Arizona, no wind, Brady with a healthy ankle…thanks for comin’ out New York, enjoy the hot chicks at ASU, and have a safe flight home. Anyway, it’s time to talk about college basketball, and talk about college basketball at length. Since I am the unabashed expert on this website when it comes to 18-22 year old basketball, this breakdown of the 65 NCAA teams is probably as close as it’s gonna get to Selection Sunday. Anyway, let’s get goin…
1 Seeds
Kansas
Record: 17-0
RPI: 3
Thoughts: The Jayhawks just look far better than any competition in the Big 12, which is one of the best and deepest conferences in the country this year. Although I’m a little concerned about their lack of depth, their starting five could carry Bill Self’s squad deep into the dance.
Memphis
Record: 17-0
RPI: 2
Thoughts: The Tigers look to be the most talented team in the country. There is not a player in the country with a quicker first step than Chris Douglas – Roberts other than maybe Ty Lawson at UNC. The frontcourt was supposed to be a weakness for this group, but Dorsey and Dozier have been dominant underneath. Dorsey looks like he could easily be in a football uniform and Dozier is the long, athletic inside presence that gives opposing coaches nightmares. If I had to bet with my every penny I own (a.k.a. $57.95), the Tigers would be my choice to cut down the nets.
Chris Douglas-Roberts, a junior 6′7″ guard, leads #1 ranked Memphis.
The Sportstruth’s senior editor, Lucas Dwyer, provides his observations and thoughts from the weekend that was.
The weekend started and ended with Sunday’s Championship games. Maybe it was just because I live in Boston, but the lead-up to the day felt like a Super Bowl Sunday, but even better. Everyone adjusted their schedules to be able to catch the games and most people gathered at their favorite football-watching spot to enjoy the games. The best was that while everything felt like a Super Bowl Sunday and a Super Bowl party, we were treated two games, not one game and an absurd amount of pre-game analysis and build-up. The games turned out to be competitive and exciting as well, which can’t be said for many super bowls.
We’ve covered time and again that I’m a Patriots fan, but I was LIVID at Norv Turner for punting on 4th and 10 at the Patriots 36 yard line with nine minutes and change left in the game down by two scores. The punt was fair caught at the 11 yard line for a tremendous 25 yard punt. What did Norv think was going to happen? The Chargers would stop the Patriots, forcing them to go 3 and out (the Patriots had the fewest 3 and outs in the league this year) get the ball back and score twice in under eight minutes? Or that giving the Patriots the ball on the 36 yard line mattered at all? The Patriots were as likely to run out the clock from either 36 as the 11 over scoring a touchdown and if the Patriots ended up with a 4th down and time still left on the clock, a field goal still meant it was two-score game. Even if converting 4th and 10 is unlikely, try the 53 yard field goal! Why not? Nate Keading is a good kicker! Turner should have been fired before the game was over.
If Luke owned the Chargers, he would have made an announcement on the Gillette Stadium PA system letting the public know that Norv Turner had been fired immediately after his decision to punt.
Chalk it up to “that’s why the play the games,” but who would have imagined that the reason the Giants won and the Packers lost was Eli Manning and Brett Favre, respectively? Manning didn’t look bothered by the cold at all, electing to go with just a helmet to cover his head, while Favre was holding hand-warmers to his face repeatedly during the game. There was little noticeable effect on Manning, but Favre’s throws obvious lacked any zip, along with accuracy.
Columbus Blue Jackets Forward Rick Nash scores the game winning goal against the Phoenix Coyotes with 30 seconds to go. Is this the greatest goal of all time?
You decide…
The Sports Truth is proud to bring you The Weigh-In, in which we break down prospective match-ups within the world of sports (and sometimes pop culture) that you may never have considered. Because they are pointless, and above all, not real.
Our latest edition is a showdown of tennis “stars” with vastly different backgrounds who will face-off in the 2nd round of the Australian Open. One is a 12-time Grand Slam Champion. The other appeared in his record 62nd Grand Slam during the 2008 Australian Open. Who will emerge victorious when tennis’ superstar Roger Federer squares off against 20-year veteran Fabrice Santoro? Let’s take a look:
1. Physical Stats
Roger Federer: 26, 6′1″, 190 lbs, right-handed, one-handed backhand
Fabrice Santoro: 35, 5′9″, 163 lbs, right-handed, two-handed backhand and forehand
Edge: Santoro (a two-handed forehand? That’s got to be worth something)
Fabrice Santoro takes on Roger Federer in the 2nd round of the Australian Open.
2. Nationality
Roger Federer: Swiss
Fabrice Santoro: French
Edge: Federer (no one likes the French)
The Sportstruth’s senior editor, Lucas Dwyer, provides his observations and thoughts from the weekend that was.
Apparently my assertion that the Colts were not going away was wrong.
If I were a Colts fan, this would be sour grapes, but the Chargers got amazingly lucky (edittor’s note: Luke is a Patriots fan). The Colts easily could have and should have put up 35 or 42 points and yet San Diego won without Ladanian Tomlinson and Philip Rivers (you could argue they get better with Billy Volek, but we won’t do that here). Nevertheless, as the aforementioned Patriots fan, I’d much rather play San Diego than Indianapolis.
Can San Diego beat New England in the AFC Championship game if they play without Rivers and LT?
However, while we’re here, how is the early line for the Patriots and Chargers game -14.5? Sports Truth founder, Levi Matthews, believes that the spread technically should be lower than the Jax game, but believes that the Jaguars are a better team than San Diego. Maybe the spread is so high because we don’t know LT or Rivers status yet, and that makes sense, but you’d have to think that if they both play, the spread should be lower than the -13 the Jaguars were getting from the Patriots.
The International Association of Athletics Foundation has ruled that South African, double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius gains an unfair advantage from his prosthetic racing blades and can not compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Apparently the IAAF forgets that Oscar is at an extreme disadvantage because, well, he’s missing both of his legs, something moderately important to sprinting.
Oscar Pistorius’ prosthetic limbs give him such an unfair advantage in sprinting, he’s been banned from the 2008 Olympics, as if he were using a performance enhancing substance.
Gert-Peter Brueggemann, a German professor, conducted tests on the sprinter’s prosthetic limbs and determined that they give the 21-year old sprinter a competitive advantage. Brueggeman told Die Welt newspaper that Pistorius “has considerable advantages over athletes without prosthetic limbs.” Brueggeman did not elaborate on what these advantages might be, but one can only assume that such bonuses like immense pain where the prosthetic joins the limb, the need for maintenance on the prosthetics and the constant question of “what happened to your legs” are on the list.
Jon Sigurdsson, CEO of Ossur who developed Pistorius’ prosthetics, vehemently denied Brueggeman’s claims. Sigurdsson wrote to the IAAF saying that Pistorius “does not have a technical advantage over able-bodied athletes. Based on biomechanics alone, it is simply not possible for him or any amputee to have an advantage over the able-bodied.”
Gee, you think?
Is Jeff McVaney, Strake Jesuit High School’s starting QB, the next Tim Teabow?
You decide…
Move over Yao Ming.
A whopping 91 inches tall, Kenny George, a junior center for UNC Asheville, is the tallest player ever for Bulldogs as well as the Big South Conference. Additionally, the Chicago Latin product was the tallest player in the NCAA last year and one of the tallest players in NCAA history.
Make way for the big man! Kenny George, a junior, is a 7′7″, 360 lbs center for UNC Asheville.
George had an injury plagued sophomore season last year, but in his final five games went 30-34 from the field for an astonishing field goal percentage of 88.2%. During that five game stretch, George averaged 11.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.3 blocked shots.
