Real Deal

Spoken like a true high-schooler on a summer vacation. Basketball is year-long. You don't have to be in the gym 24/7, or shooting baskets, but your mind has to stay in the game...especially when you're in Melo's position. He's sitting in between a fat extension and a trade, unsure of his future, weeks away from training camp and less than a month away from the first preseason game...and he's not thinking about basketball?

It's of all-time, not today. You really think people won't remember Kobe's rape trial over LeBron leaving Cleveland? In 30 years, only Cleveland fans will be butt-hurt over that. There are fans from every team (even the Lakers) that hate Kobe. I just don't see how that even compares. He had his jersey burned. I would rather see my jersey burning than have Utah Jazz fans bringing sex dolls with Kate's name on them to a game, flashing it in front of me while I'm shooting a free throw, and hearing the entire Denver Nuggets crowd chanting "rapist" during a game. Rapist chants, or traitor chants? I know which one I'd rather hear.

I can't stand him, but he's got a good voice. Usher stuck him under his wing, so he could definitely be going places very few have been.

I hope you're kidding. Let me know when you see fans bringing blow-up sex dolls to games, shirts that say "Rapist" across them, and websites dedicated to sending LeBron James hate mail & messages at his home address, his email address, and his cell phone number. Just because Bryant is now some "hero" doesn't mean he wasn't the most hated at one point. LeBron has been a hero for the city of Cleveland for seven years. Up until the last couple of years, Kobe has been hated his entire career in the league, even as a cocky rookie that would showboat during games, take three airballs and piss off the Lakers fans in the series against Utah, and draw comparisons to Jordan, who most everyone idolizes. LBJ doesn't even touch the hate Bryant has had. If you were on JBB, and you saw the work us mods had to do every single day for a couple of years after he was accused of rape, you'd be grateful you're a Heat fan.

San Diego will score 120 points against the Chefs.

Haha, I was dying laughing after that comment about him looking like a 28-year old lesbian. That was messed up.

I actually figured Carson would walk into the opener and have a pretty good game, but it looks like the same Palmer we've been watching for a few years now. It's sad, really...and I'm thinking Cincy thought the same, surrounding him with receivers that are capable of having monster games. And I'm more inclined to believe that the Pats took the second half off. Most of them were content with the Bengals scoring, acted like the game was already over (and it was, but you get the picture).

Question for you G-Men fans: why doesn't Jacobs get more carries? I know Bradshaw's capabilities, but he's not Chris Johnson. I miss seeing Jacobs breaking out of the pack, steamrolling dudes and getting that extra 10-15 yards.

Not being able to stop the run is going to kill them all season long. Not saying they will have a losing record, but they have to work out the kinks before they fall into January. I didn't expect Foster to go into Jamal Lewis mode, and I figured the Colts would take this game comfortably.

Exactly, just like if it were a catch on the 40 yard line. Whether or not you guys like the rule, it's clear as day. Johnson should've tucked the ball in, and you can tell he didn't spike it or intentionally let go of it. Same thing happens when a player catches the ball, toes in, and lands out of bounds. If he lands out and the ball pops out, it's an incomplete. The rule is actually a good one, because if you allow for two steps while you're falling, and ignore the ball coming out when you hit the ground, you have to make it a rule that a player hit, while going to the ground, still scores despite the ball coming out...and the problem with that is, it wouldn't make sense on any other part of the field. Plus, it leaves a major gap when determining whether or not a player had possession when he scores, and that relates to any catch on any part of the field.

Yeah, but we're talking Derek Fisher integral (more defense, less clutch), not Mike or Scottie. And the dude was a mess during our first championship season with Kobe and Shaq...worse than Smush on the offensive end, and gambled way too much. That second season, I can't say he was even a part of it...played half the year, didn't even really play in the playoff run (six games, scoreless in four, didn't start in any of them, didn't play over 8 minutes in five of those). Short was a decent defender, played the passing lanes well. I've only seen about five or six total games of him, though, when he played the Bulls and Sixers (because I watched so much of Barkley and Jordan VHS tapes, it was sad)...but he wasn't that bad on the defensive end. Plus, he shot the ball at a high percentage for a slashing, skinny forward, which is so important. People say Kevin Durant doesn't do much other than score, either, but I'd stick him on my team over almost everyone else in the league at this point. As far as first-round knockouts, McGrady was good at that. His first four visits with Toronto and Orlando, he fell all four times...noting those two teams because they were pre-Yao. In his prime, and before his injury, Short didn't have much to work with outside of Sleepy and Barry Carroll. By the time he landed in Houston with Hakeem, he was already coming off the bench and struggling to stay healthy.

All true title contenders I can think of over the last 3-4 years have had that one player to stop guys like Bryant and Wade. Boston lost theirs when Tony Allen walked (it was Posey in 2008, but even Allen played decent minutes in the regular season). So it's hard for me to give them an "A" on the report card. Delonte West will get eaten alive...much better defending point guards or less-gifted twos. Handing them a "B+" seems fair, though, because they stacked themselves at the four and five with some talented bigs, which is NEVER a bad thing. Jermaine and Shaq are basically starters, along with Perkins, and Jermaine can also play the four. I can't say how much Erden will contribute, but he looks to have improved his game slightly.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaha.

Happy birthday, Justin. Damn dude, I noticed you don't even get on your Facebook, haha...no use in expecting you to see anything there.

They are all lucky that Bryant, Wade, and James weren't in there with Durant. Those wins would've been by 40+ points. Anyone else hear boos during our national anthem? LOUD BOOS? You know what? Good. I loved every second of it. Durant dominated that first half, and Odom dominated the second. GOLD, baby.

Yeah, I'll watch the Raiders for an hour and a half...but that's the cut off. I want to watch football badly, but priority #1 is basketball.

ALL OF YOU are required to watch this game. You can watch football for an hour and a half, but be sure you have it on ESPN at 2:30 PM ET. No exceptions. I mean it.

BANNED. :o

I was a senior in high school. I walked into the school at around 7:50 and teachers were directing us to go to our seminar classes (they were standing out by their doors, and kept looking at the TV's in the room). Seminar was like a home base where we would do homework and sign out to visit teachers, and every classroom had a TV hooked up for us to view a high school channel called Channel ONE. Well, I went to the class and sat down, and the people that were in there were just sitting, weren't talking, just shocked and watching the TV. We sat there for about 10 minutes, and saw the second plane hit. Pretty scary. Bush announced that they were due to terrorist attacks sometime after that, and then the plane hit the Pentagon. That event actually put the school on lock-down (wasn't that we were thinking we'd be attacked, but our school's security was always a little off the wall to begin with). About an hour later, the first tower collapsed, and I'd say about 15 minutes after that, our Principal announced that we were to be released from school. Came home and watched the rest unfold, didn't even move from the TV most of the morning or afternoon. More angry than scared, really...but devastated is probably the perfect word for it.

The missed threes were killer at the end. At one point, you guys were 12-23 from downtown, I believe, and you missed your last six threes. I was rooting for Serbia, especially after the fake eye injury (good way to not miss both free throws). He was poked in the eye, but he wasn't stabbed. Plus, I never liked Hedo to begin with. Time to put Turkey in the freezer and shut the door on them.

RUN THEM TO DEATH. FAST BREAK, BABY!

TIME: 2:30 PM ET TV: ESPN Re-air at 7:00 PM ET, ESPN2 Game can also be viewed on http://www.espn3.com.

We got you, Slaven. SICK game, though...one of the best I've seen in FIBA tourney history.

Neither team is really athletic. I was more concerned with Turkey, but after watching this first half, they have a lot of holes. It's the first time I've actually seen them play. Serbia will need to use up all of their fouls on Team USA, if they advance, and they'll need to move the ball a little better. They rely on that three a bit too much, and they work their shots out from plays made at the top of the key more than anything else. Not much deep into the post.

It's on right now. http://www.espn3.com http://www.atdhe.net/23393/watch-serbia-vs-turkey