Odom: :I'm Willing to Play for Less"

Lamar Odom made a comment that he is willing to take a pay cut to play for the Lakers before they won a championship ring. Have you heard Lamar make the same statement since?

Every player has a price and they all have their priorities. Some players are clearly all about money, some are all about winning, and the rest are a combination of both. Which category does Lamar Odom fall under?

Karl Malone, is the first player that comes to mind when I think of a player who gave up a HUGE pay day in hopes of getting a ring. He left a lot of money on the table in Utah to try and win one with Kobe and Shaq. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for him. In hindsight if he knew he wouldn't have won a ring, he wouldn't have passed on all that money. Actually, if Jordan let him have one back in the 90's Karl Malone would've been just fine taking that payday and spend his last years in Utah for a non championship contender team.

So like Karl Malone we have players like KG, Gary Payton, and Charles Barkley who gave up some star status, some stats, and some cash in hopes to chase that ring because to them that was their number one priority. They already have their legacy intact, they have the Hall of Fame in the horizon and they've already made their dough.

Looking back at Odom clearly he is not like a Karl Malone. I'm sure he knows that too. He's a great player but he won't be immortalized like Malone. He also already has his ring so there's no need to make the Malone/Barkley type of sacrifice to chase one. If you look at Odom's checklist:

1. Ring (got it)
2. Candy (got it)
3. Money (you could never have enough)

Clearly money is now his main objective. There's a reason he hasn't made that statement of willing to play for less. He no longer has to make that sacrifice. Plus, if Odom wasn't about money, he would've signed when Artest did.

I'm not going to send Lamar to the bench since you can't blame a guy for wanting more financial security for his family. Besides, I'm sure whoever his next coach will be, will send him there anyway.

Lebron DUNKED!!! On

For a guy known to be a comedian, he sure seems like the type that can't laugh at himself. You can't take yourself too seriously Lebron. Since being a sore loser and not even shaking hands and congratulating his Olympic teammate, Howard, Lebron has given us so much evidence showing how much he really just cares about himself. I guess we should have been tipped off, when he barely tipped off those poor waiters and bus boys on his late night dinner and drinking with friends at a restaurant a little over a year ago.

This past Monday evening at his own skills camp, Lebron got dunked on by a college sophomore Jordan Crawford of Xavier. A photographer present at the camp said he others were able to video tape the pick up game without incident until moments after Lebron got it in his FACE!!! Supposedly, after the dunk Lebron called over a Nike Exec who then started confiscating the evidence of this playground humiliation.

Lebron James is so conscious of his self image, and must think so much of himself that while in the middle of a heated basketball game, he can stop to think of the possibility of the dunk airing on youtube that he stopped the game to ensure that no evidence of the dunk will be seen outside that gym. It makes you wonder what goes through James' mind during important basketball games with the Caveliers. Is he thinking team, or himself? The fact that he tries to play GM and keeps alluding to a move to NY, makes me think it's the ladder. Your fans have been absolutely loyal to you. While yes, you play your ass off on the court, outside of that, you aren't very loyal to them.

One more thing, why hide the dunk? It's not like it's never happened before. Sometimes when you try so hard to save yourself from humiliation, you expose yourself to even more than you would have received. So Lebron James, you need to take a seat on the bench, have a timeout, and think about your actions

Will you cheer the Americans on this 4th of July Weekend?

Happy Independence Day America. This should be a great 4th of July weekend. Nothing like a BBQ with the friends and family. To top it all of, on this weekend for our great country, we get a chance to cheer on two sports athletes fighting on our behalf. Andy Roddick is making a surprise appearance in the Wimbledon final where the 3rd time might be the charm to try and beat the magician, Roger Federer. On this side of the Atlantic we have Joey Chestnut, pictured below, who will go for a 3-peat in an effort to again beat who once seemed unbeatable, Kobayashi.


Now is it Un-American of me to be more intrigued with a Federer and Kobayashi win. After all, sports is great because it breaks racial, gender, and international boundaries. So as a true fan we are drawn to what is more intriguing. In this case, a man on a mission to truly set himself apart in the tennis world by winning an unprecedented 15th Gram Slam Title, and a guy set on regaining his mystique by shoving 70 hot dogs in 10 minutes down his pie hole. Seriously, what is more intriguing than that???

Have a great weekend, and try not to blow fingers off with illegal fireworks. Bam!

Artest joining the Lakeshow

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Send us an email with the following:

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Seriously, you answer #5 and you're benched!

...and here we go

For most things in life, the best time to start is always now. So that applies to this blog as well. Why not just get started now. Baseball is pretty exciting and Manny-wood for those who care is coming back. Will his performance decline like all the other roiders a la A-Rod. Speaking of declines, NBA free agency just started and when everything is said and done will our opinion of Mitch Kupchak rise or fall?

Shaq goes to Cleveland, Vince to Orlando, Gordon and "contract year" Charlie goes Motown, Yao will remain injured, and now we wonder where Ariza and Artest are going. Ariza wants money and Mitch is smart not to overpay. I'm sure someday Ariza will be as good if not better than Artest, but right now Ariza will give the Lakers a 90% chance of winning it all again next year, while Artest would give them a 99% chance of winning it all the next 2 years. Either way they'll get millions.

The NFL's new crop of millionaires are about to spend some time relaxing and honing their skills before the start of training camp in the NFL. My question is will Viva Sanchez live up to his hype and will Stafford remind us that he was the #1 overall pick. Yawn... I've personally never seen a 5th pick over shadow the 1st pick. It's like a guy who's never worn a Viking uniform overshadow the guy that's been fighting in purple for so long. It's okay Tavaris, if they don't love you, I'm sure your mother does.

Uggh.. Argghh. Eeeyaaa.. They should seriously start putting those "bam" "boom" "pow" signs on women's tennis as they did in those old batman television shows. I don't think it's a bad thing. Now two things stand out in women's tennis. The grunting and short skirts. There is nothing wrong with it. Don't try to hate on Sharapova and her followers. Can you name any other sport where the women get as much if not more attention than their male counterparts. Maybe Stern should send a memo to all his WNBAers to start grunting as well.

For now I'll send all the Federer haters to the bench! Sit down! Federer dismantled the guy who beat Nadal in the French. This year's win in the Wimbledon isn't washed down just because Nadal is not in the tournament. Just the fact that you already expect Federer to win Wimbledon just shows you know he is the absolute best we've ever seen hold a tennis racket. Do fans and critics expect Nadal to make it to every grand slam final? No! But we always just assume Federer will always be there in the end. Now that's dominance. Twenty one straight grand slam semifinals. Are you kidding me? That is crazy good.

Not a lot of benching on this one :) Trying to play nice. That won't last long.