Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?

The Three Headed Heat Monster... Taking bets on when this is gonna break bad...

No, I'm not doing a tribute to Paula Cole...

I'm actually talking about the most recent developments in NBA free agency. Maybe it's nostalgia or my naivety in looking for "superstars" to stay where they were drafted.

Of course I'm talking about Lebron James leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers for "greener" pastures in Miami joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh as members of the Miami Heat.

First things first, I'm not a particular fan of LBJ, I personally have more respect for Kobe Bryant's talent, drive and ability more than 'Bron. And he's stayed loyal to the Lake Show, so my respect for KB goes up on that fact alone...

With that said, Lebron was quite entertaining in Cleveland when he WAS the show...

Of course he used the standard athlete's answer in saying that it was about winning hence why he chose Miami. Which he felt he could be a championship contender with Wade, and Bosh on the roster with him.

I guess I can understand that, in all reality he will be taking less money in order to play with Wade and Bosh. With that said I don't know how he plans on winning with a roster full of 2nd tier players outside of the aforementioned Wade and Bosh. Michael Beasley has shown flashes but with the new three headed monster coming in I can't imagine he'll develop much more since a good portion of touches will be going to James, Wade, and Bosh. The rest of the roster has been projected to be a motley crew of minimum wage players who would most likely be the 9th or 10th men on other rosters.

So... I can't wait to see how this pans out next year.

Aaaaand there's of course Cleveland... The jilted lover in this debacle...

I genuinely feel bad for the people of Cleveland, the "hometown" boy who made good turned his back on them and bolted for warmer weather when they could've offered him the most financial gain out of all the offers on the table.

So with that said, how bad is the situation in the Cavaliers' organization that their ONLY star had to sprint away ala Usain Bolt from them?

Lebron made the announcement and the reaction from both Cleveland and Miami was pretty predictable. I can't say I was surprised over the decision, there was a ton of speculation that at least Wade and James wanted to play together... But I didn't think that they'd end up together in Miami.

So on to the soapbox and making myself sound waaaay older than I am...

One thing that disappointed me was the fact that considering the fact that James was truly "The King" in Cleveland the fact that he went for Miami tells me that he doesn't want that anymore... Kinda funny when you're trying to "grow your brand"...

But the fact that in today's sports culture there are really no more "homegrown" stars anymore kind of feels like the girlfriend that cheats on you with your best friend... It kind of hurts as a fan of sports... I know I don't root for teams as much as I used to and I along with many have made a shift to rooting for favorite players no matter where they land...

I kind of miss the old days when it was okay to root for a team because you knew that for the most part the roster was going to stay together for the long haul and people would leave mainly from retirement or injury...

Today's sports culture seems to make it okay for athletes to just sell their way to a championship. Which I guess I understand, but I yearn for the days of the "lovable losers" where people would just grind and try to get better even though they've had bad rosters or bad luck...

There is of course the parity in sports that was pioneered by the NFL, people want to see their teams in the win column which has turned the professional leagues into little league where everyone's a winner... Somewhat absurd...

The first team I loved was the Houston Oilers which they won but they were never in that elite class, but they had a great roster that I loved to watch and I still watch them as the Tennessee Titans (although they've lost some key folks to free agency...). I also loved the New York Knicks back in the day when Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason, Derek Harper, and John Starks were ruling New York... They've fallen on hard times and I see that they are still in that boat despite the fact they just signed Amare Stoudemire... Aaaand of course there's baseball... Oh baseball... The Cleveland Indians were my favorite and still is to this day, albeit they are horrible now...

Of course allegiances do change, that happened to me when I moved to Arizona. I followed the Suns, Diamond Backs and the Cardinals... Do I share the same love for these teams as I did my originals? Maybe with the exception of the D-Backs of course not, but at the same time when that's the show in town, you gotta buy a ticket sometimes... What it came down to was I tried to love the teams we had even though the heros we cheer for left for greener pastures elsewhere...

With that said, I really do yearn for those days when our beloved athletes stayed with one team their whole careers. Is it practical in today's sports world of course not! But a man can have some nostalgia can't he???

UPDATE: Never mind... Michael Beasley just got traded to the Timberwolves forget that I mentioned him... lol

R.I.P. Charles "Mask" Lewis

For some of those that may care, TapouT co-founder Charles "Mask" Lews was killed in a high speed car wreck on March 11, 2009. Memorial services are planned and will be release as information becomes available.

TapouT is one of the first companies that strictly catered to the Mixed Martial Arts crowd. Mask was a personality as well as an savvy businessman. For those who've never seen TapouT the show should check it out. Mask seemed like a genuine person who was determined to succeed and touched the lives of those he met.

Check Out TapouT's Website

Random Hot Chick(s) of the Moment

Darn you Danny Hood for getting to her before I did!!!

I figured since we're on the eve of the NHRA Phoenix Nationals event I wanted to highlight Ashley Force-Hood.  She's hot of course and goes 300+ MPH in 4 seconds, in a Nitro Funny Car...  Need I say more???  Oh and did I mention she's quick witted and makes for great television!  

She along with father John Force had a show on A&E Driving Force which was funny as heck!   John Force me and my brother found is very similar to my father in that they both kinda speak their minds without a whole lotta thought...  LOL!  It also highlighted the other Force sisters (Brittany and Courtney) who are racers as well...  The oldest Adria wasn't highlighted as much since she wasn't racing, but she's married to one of John's funny car drivers Robert Hight.  Who by the way is a super cool dude!   

My brother and I got a chance to meet Ashley in Phoenix and she was super nice and cordial with all the fans in her pit!  If any of y'all have seen the photos from that event we were not in the right frame of mind when taking those photos with her... We totally got blazed out from a nitro funny car testing session in the Force Racing pit so we were still a little groggy...

Actually thinking about the whole John Force Racing Team was awesome that whole weekend! John Force is still the man in my book, just because he's one of them old school dudes who doesn't give a crap what anyone but his fans think of him.  Ashley is of course hot and super nice, so of course it made the experience great for us both!  

Middle Daughter (Kinda) - Brittany

Youngest Courtney

Yep, just like my dad...  LOL

Amazingly a Good Game...

Former customer of mine at Foot Locker Adrian Wilson sorry bro!

Can't believe the Cardinals came back and gave the Steelers a game!  Good till the end, and now I need some Pepto...  LOL  

But anyway congrats to the Steelers for winning a record 6th Super Bowl!

So we met Gina Carano...

Me and Gina Carano.  Freakin' Sweet!!!

Yeah...  Who knew a couple of weeks putting up that post about Elite XC I'd end up meeting one of the ladies in the picture on that post?  Certainly not me, strangely enough my brother got some scoop from one of his co-workers at the station that Gina Carano (i.e. the face of women's MMA currently and also is Crush on American Gladiators) was going be at the Silver Legacy Casino.  Of course my brother the MMA fanboy said I gotta go down there!  Thinking that there was gonna be a horrific line and he may want a picture with her, I said heck I'll go down with ya!  

Her signing time was 2PM and we got there about 1 and low and behold the line wasn't that long!  Score!  We were like within the first 10 or 15 people and we dug in for the wait.  Gina was a lot shorter than I thought she'd be...  Even in stiletto boots.  Well we snap some photos and stuff while she's sitting down and waited our turn.  When we got up to the front of the line she was very cordial and very nice!  She actually took the time and talked to everyone and got up for photos after signing.  As always, I had to have a slight akward moment though...  

So I went up to talk with her, now I'm used to the talent just signing stuff and handing it to you... Sooo, we just kinda looked at each other for a split second and she asked if I wanted it made out to me?  I'm like "Uh, you can make it out to Corrine (My big sister/cousin well more big sister than cousin), she really enjoys watching you on American Gladiators."  I'm sure she wasn't quite used to hearing that but she was like "That's cool!  So is this for your girl?"  I'm like uh no that's my cousin, she lives in Arizona...  Upon hearing that she laughed and said "That's really nice of you to get this for her!"  So we took our picture together and we said our goodbyes and we left and Adam was ecstatic and you see the result up at the top...  

Adam with Gray Maynard...  Really cool cat!

Adam with Matt Hughes...  He signed a picture for us...  LOL

Another cool thing that happened today was after seeing Gina Carrano.  I suggested we go to Scheels which is a sporting goods store that just opened here so adam could take a look at the UFC ring display set up, and Adam was like okay...  So we walk through the door and I see a sign that Matt Hughes (Former UFC Champ) was signing today at the store!  So we head on over to that area and we see that not only was Matt Hughes signing but The Ultimate Fighter participant Gray Maynard was there as well!  I was actually more excited that Gray was there than Matt Hughes because I enjoyed watching Gray fight while he was on the show.  The line was free flowing pretty good so me and little bro go into the line for some autographs.  After we get through the line I asked Adam if he wanted to get a picture with the guys, he was like uh yeah!  So little bro went through the line again and we got a couple of cool pics that he can post on his MySpace...  LOL!  Gray was a really cool cat, he was very cordial and poor guy I don't think many people knew who he was which is a shame because the guy is a great fighter!  Matt Hughes was cordial, but kinda looked like he didn't want to be there...  Although heck if I were going to Reno to do an autograph session I probably wouldn't want to be there either!!!  LOL!!!  So overall that experience was good but not as smooth as the Gina Carano experience...   

Very interesting day...  It was a very cool experience meeting Gina Carano and pure luck that we got to meet Matt Hughes and Gray Maynard!  Very cool day indeed!!!  

EEEEPPPPIIIIICCC FAAAAIIIILLLL!

Gina Carano and Julie Kedzie

Just read the story on ESPN.com, really who didn't see that sucker coming...  Elite XC is closing it's doors, man that was only what? 3 fights on TV???  Honestly that was a fight promotion that was doomed from the start.  As the saying goes, you mess with the bull and you get the horns... They didn't honestly think that they could compete for viewership with UFC did they?  

Although, to their credit they did try and bring MMA into the "mainstream" by broadcasting it on CBS...  They had rising stars such as American Gladiators' Gina Carano and You Tube sensation Kimbo Slice which was circus on to itself when it was announced that he was going into MMA...  

Gina showed that she could fight when she made weight (Well at least the one fight that I saw...).  Kimbo had glimpses of superstardom, but all to often got exposed as being a street fighter, especially when it went to the ground. 

The only production I saw was the debut on CBS...  Boy that was a crap show...  Damn near all the fights got stopped early which was a bitter disappointment!  

The product overall wasn't too bad but with the tanking economy something had to give...  I feel bad for the female fighters and the employees in all reality.  The female fighters because this was really the only outlet that actually had TV coverage.  Because they sure as hell can't turn to UFC...  Good luck cracking that nut!  And the employees I feel bad for because, well hell it sucks to be laid off!  I can speak from experience being in an industry that tanked because of legislation, it beeelooowwws to be laid off!  

Honestly I can't say what could have saved Elite XC from this fate because you look at UFC and what they've done and it would appear that Elite XC was on to something.  Especially seeing that they got a deal with CBS!!!  

Oh well Elite XC rest in peace...  We hardly knew ye....