Real Deal

Pullling a post out of the Game 3 topic, posted today (before Game 4). And it's something I heard as well. Wade swatted him a couple of times, he lost the ball 5-6 times and it was on him, he chose to shoot contested jumpers in the second half and OT, and now Kenny Smith is slamming him.

The Heat weren't trying to double him every possession. There were many times he had Bibby stuck on him, one man, and he took an ill-advised jumper. He's one of the best finishers in the game...and in Game 2 or 3 (can't remember which), he was missing layups, floaters, etc...and now, he's bricking jumpers. No point guard in their right mind tries to take jumpers over a 6-8 LeBron James, either. Rose has to get a foot in the paint, at the very least. He did get offensive help in this game. Deng and Boozer were efficient, but he decided to take 27 shots. People take jabs at Kobe for doing it, and they go after LeBron, Westbrook, and other all-stars, so I have no idea why we aren't talking about Rose and his 37% or so shooting against an inferior Indiana Pacers team, and the poor performances he's had throughout the rest of the playoffs.

I'm sorry, but Derrick Rose has been shooting the ball poorly in every series. He's taking bad shots, making questionable decisions, turning the ball over, and while he was once a player I was impressed with, I'm not so sure right about now. If he was facing double teams, it would be different, but there's no reason for him to struggle against Collison, Teague, and Bibby/Chalmers.

Still here for now. All of the tornadoes are rain-wrapped, which makes it nearly impossible to see from the ground. The assumed F5 (the north storm) just missed OKC metro, and is headed towards three or four towns, taking an east-northeast turn, which will bring it 0-10 miles from where I live. This stuff is terrible. I'm usually not intimidated by many things, but these last few days have changed everything. I'm really scared of what could happen. Joplin tornado was just upgraded to an F5, by the way, and now 123 are confirmed dead (and counting). I'm out. http://thelakersnation.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/81.gif

A possible F5 is running through Oklahoma, heading my way. It's near Edmond, which is a little north of OKC, and where my eye doc lives. Northwest OKC is under a tornado warning. Weather.com (or the Weather Channel) is covering everything. I think I'm going to go ahead and drive over to my parents' house in about 15 minutes. They have a basement. It's getting a little dark here, nothing going on yet, but you can tell the storm is coming. Probably won't have any internet tonight, who knows (unstable during storms), so I'll seeeeee youuuu guys tomorrow. Go Bulls.

Honestly never heard of that before, haha. No clue.

Three severe storms are close to OKC, two have dropped tornadoes out of the sky. One will likely pass 18 miles north of OKC. Another is on I-40 right now (a major interstate in OK), in El Reno, OK...and they were showing traffic approaching and driving away from storm chasers as the tornado fell out of the sky. Unfortunately, all three storms are in the same path, heading northeast, up to Kansas. EDIT: Six tornadoes are active right now in those three storms. The Weather Channel is doing a great job covering it.

Don't forget Jake Roberts, and I believe the Ultimate Warrior got the boot for it as well.

He died years ago, probably around 2005 or 2006. It's been a while.

That table showing their ages at the time of death is just jaw-dropping.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/post/Over-25-percent-of-the-performers-from-Wrestlema?urn=top-wp132

No idea. They are saying it's going to be the worst 2-3 weeks in years (for the area). All is calm where I live, but that'll change late afternoon...calm before the storm. The area around OKC and Tulsa (and basically most of central Oklahoma) is covered in what's called a PDS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particularly_dangerous_situation). What's likely to happen is the storm moving northeast and dipping into southeast Kansas. Never fails. It happened yesterday, and two days ago, and it just keeps getting worse with each passing day. Yesterday, I nearly flooded my car trying to drive home from Taco Bell. One of our main streets was completely covered, and there were two neighborhoods that I couldn't drive through (I'd open my door, and water would more than likely wash into the car). The last thing we need is an F4 tornado trying to fall into town. We already lost 50% of town with the 2007 flood, and most every home was gunned down with baseball-sized hail just a few years back (ended up being considered a natural disaster), so it would be nice to avoid this shit, for once.

One of my very good friends, Lisa, is taking pictures from her office in Kansas City this afternoon. http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/227276_971518661821_17002578_45046987_3205386_n.jpg http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/225854_971521146841_17002578_45047028_7963820_n.jpg http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/248620_971527623861_17002578_45047217_7588204_n.jpg

Rooks.

TIME: 8:30 PM ET TV: TNT

Here are a few pics... http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/228166_212819082074052_100000378855607_679969_6435207_n.jpg Up to 15 ambulances, from different cities, headed to Joplin. There were many more that arrived earlier/later and didn't travel together. http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/225816_212876645409420_100000612578627_692987_6340768_n.jpg http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/248411_212876528742765_100000612578627_692983_3092799_n.jpg This guy was frantically searching and rescuing people from homes after the tornado hit. http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/229165_10150198585549279_569884278_7189346_7924946_n.jpg Another rescued. http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/226746_10150198583194279_569884278_7189336_4342499_n.jpg After the destruction...clouds still hanging. http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/229500_224135250946701_100000506837002_917302_3307494_n.jpg Damage as far as you can see, up to four miles out through the busiest part of the city. http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/225870_221334754560738_100000526464100_861813_3104108_n.jpg A beat-up chopper in a war zone. It could be a couple of days before the weather clears up, too. As of right now, 14k people are without power in Joplin, and having the bad weather still looming, I'm sure it's difficult for rescue workers and assisting personnel to actually do their jobs, all without having to worry about what's going to happen next and where they will go.

Come on, dude. Go to the courts with Joakim Noah's hair, and see what happens to you. Then, shave it off, go back to the courts, and use as many racial and gay slurs as you can on the court, and let us know how things go after that. Don't compare the two. The league doesn't want to deal with ignorance and immaturity. When you're making millions a year, you should be biting your tongue when talking to fans and referees. I know you're on that "it's a free country" trip, but that doesn't excuse anyone from spitting gay and racial slurs in a professional atmosphere. In a legitimate job (excluding sports), people get fired for it. You don't walk into an office, dressed nice, ready for work, and throw around racial and gay slurs without someone kicking your ass out the door. You can't even get away with it at a McDonald's, let alone while working for a career-providing company.

The Thunder are too predictable. Props to Carlisle for the way he's coaching this team (just like he did with his previous teams...he's been here twice before). Also, Dirk is playing the best basketball of his career. Those off-balance jumpers are impossible to defend. Can't wait to see who Dallas will be playing in the Finals.

Worst thing I've ever experienced in my life, just walking through there. They won't let you help unless you're trained as medical or military personnel, don't want to risk injury or have anyone inexperienced trying to pull the wounded out from rubble. I'm kind of glad I couldn't, because it was devastating, and my chest was just pounding. Some woman got sick when two guys were carrying an old man to the back of a pickup truck, body wrapped up. They don't have enough ambulances to stick people in, and are trying to treat them where they are found, or they carry the dead off to (I think) a football field that they are basically using for a morgue. Smelled like natural gas and charred wood everywhere...just a weird environment. There's another tornado watch right now, and a warning (meaning, a tornado has landed) just an hour outside of the city. At this point, 116 are confirmed dead. They are saying it's the deadliest tornado to hit the US since 1953.

Up to a mile wide at the base, they are saying.

Now 89 confirmed dead, and counting. The tornado was an F4.

Well, this is [expletive]ing great...waking up to hail, lightning, rain, and 60 MPH winds. I guess we're in a tornado watch now...TV has the advisory all over it. Super. EDIT: Just a huge storm and hail, nothing serious.

TIME: 9:00 PM ET TV: ESPN

Damn man, the weather around here is scary. Two hours east, in a city I've been in quite a few times (Joplin, MO), an F3 or F4 tornado just wiped out 36 blocks, in the worst part of the city (through restaurants, two hospitals, big neighborhoods, etc.). Sonic, Pizza Hut, Payless, Long John Silver's, AT&T, Big Lots, and many other buildings were completely flattened, and one of the bigger hospitals had all of its windows blown out, patients thrown down the halls and through windows, and more. CNN was covering it earlier...stated that 24 were already confirmed dead, and then they found seven dead in a nursing home that was hit, and it was already getting dark, and they had searched for just 8-9 blocks of those 36. EDIT: They just said the tornado was a mile wide at the base, 150+ MPH winds. Crazy. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2773/4134389250_168b4b0e55.jpg (just one block) http://twitpic.com/51ar69 (Joplin Wal-Mart, people trapped) http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/248045_1675763664948_1563153681_31281512_5475834_n.jpg Then, an hour south of me (in Tulsa, OK), it's hailing like crazy, shattering windshields and busting shingles and siding. http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/248314_1829543495604_1150856299_31719837_3638966_n.jpg (someone I know on FB grabbed one of the hailstones off the ground, by his porch) I've had my front door blown completely off the hinges by a tornado that didn't touch down all the way, back when I was younger, and my town has been hit quite a bit by those that haven't touched (blew an entire roof off a church and threw it two blocks). We also had a "natural disaster" due to hail, shattered every window on two sides of my house, put about 400 holes in the siding, busted my windshield, etc. Weather around here is so underrated. It absolutely sucks. This was our flood in 2007 (50% of my town was wiped out due to a flood): http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1089/758046346_cd7a584e0c.jpg (you can see how high the water was from the markings on the house in the background) http://i53.tinypic.com/10rkb68.jpg (along with the flood, 72k gallons of oil spilled from our refinery, basically ruining everything it touched) http://www.eham.net/data/articles/17220/KC8VWM_Coffeville2.jpg (more oil + water) I'll probably hear the tornado sirens a couple of times over the next month, I'm sure. Can't wait until summer.

TIME: 8:30 PM ET TV: TNT