Kevin Blackistone Compares Big Baby to Obama

Seriously.

On a related note, Kevin Blackistone is a moron.

Here's the gist of it. On ESPN's Around The Horn, Tony Reali posed the question of whether or not Big Baby needed to apologize for shoving a 12-year-old kid after scoring the game-winning shot in Game 4 of the Celtics-Magic series. The kid's dad referred to Big Baby as a "raging animal," which he seemingly was:



Blackistone preached the "Can't we all just get along" sentiment by saying that the kid's dad's comment reminded him of when President Obama was called a "gorilla" during last year's presidential campaign and that that kind of language was just ridiculous and needed to stop.

Here's the problem K.B. (besides the fact that you're a moron): calling someone an animal has no racial connotation to it. Calling someone a gorilla certainly does.

The only reason racial tensions flare up over situations like this are because idiots like you fan the flames.

Shut up.

Links From The 'Field

An anonymous teammate on A-Rod's infatuation with Madonna. (@ the big lead)

The Brewers' manager has an interesting reaction to Trevor Hoffman's entrance music. (@ deadspin)

Just when you thought you'd heard the last from the infamous wardrobe malfunction. (@ moondog sports)

Romo's girlfriend in a Vanity Fair photo shoot... (@ epic carnival)

...and she prays for Tony's protection. (@ sportsbybrooks)

Good thing Stephen Curry is going pro in basketball and not rap. (@ deadspin)

Tom Izzo on Broadway. (@ sportsbybrooks)

Manny Pacquiao celebrating his victory with song. (@ sportsbybrooks)

The reason behind the Lance Armstrong-Sheryl Crow split comes to light. (@ deadspin)

Is Yanni determining the Caps-Pens TV scheduling? (@ sportsbybrooks)

Ben Utecht and Christian Rock. (@ sportsbybrooks)

John Tesh Wants You For An NBA Video Contest

That's right. And he even made his own video to entice you to give it a shot:



Priceless.

I love this stuff.

(H/T deadspin)

Manny On 'Roids, Toledo Point-Shaving

Is nothing pure anymore?

First, Manny Ramirez tests positive for PEDs. ManRam...did you not know there was a more stringent drug-testing policy in place now in Major League Baseball? Have you not watched TV in the last 12 months? Have you ever heard of a guy named Alex Rodriguez? You just can't chalk this up to "Manny being Manny"...this is just ignorant. It's not the late '90s-early 2000's anymore.

Then there's the University of Toledo basketball and football players involved in a point-shaving scandal that allegedly took place from 2004-2006. Here's the irony though: during those years, the Rockets were actually a decent program in both sports. The basketball team won 17 games in 2004, 21 in 2005, and 20 in 2006 (with an NIT invite). The football team went 9-4 in 2004, 9-3 in 2005, and 5-7 in 2006. You know what they did last year? 8-25 in basketball, 3-9 in football. How are you guys worse when you're actually trying to win?

Anyway, with all this negativity, I needed an escape to a better time. A time when "Rocket" was a great song...not a point-shaving punchline. Because sometimes, Manny, "we just got to fly":

Who Does Brett Favre Think He Is?

Cher?

In case you forgot, Cher began her "Farewell Tour" (a.k.a. the "Never Can Say Goodbye Tour") in 2002. It lasted 3 years. Then, in 2008, she signed on for another 3-year, 200-show stint at the Colosseum in Las Vegas.

Favre "retired" at the end of the 2007 season, tried to come back as a Packer last year (except that they didn't want him to), was traded to the Jets for the 2008 season, "retired" at the end of last season, and now is apparently in talks with the Vikings for a 2009 comeback. And he'll probably get picked up for these reasons.

So how long will the Brett Favre Farewell Tour last?

And which of these pictures looks more ridiculous?

Ovechkin, Crosby, and Woodstock

Rarely does the hype of a matchup between two individual players in a team sport live up to expectations. That seems to be true even more so in hockey, where the star players are on the ice for less than half of the entire game, and where goals are (usually) few and far between.

Not so last night. If you don't watch hockey, or missed last night's Capitals-Penguins game, you missed one of the greatest games (and perhaps the greatest individual battle between two superstars--Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby) in NHL playoff history. Here's a quick recap:



That's right. Both Ovechkin and Crosby scored hat tricks. Unprecedented. It just doesn't get much better than that. This was like Magic vs. Bird, Brady vs. Manning, Jordan vs. Dominique...only better.

The only music equivalent I could think of would be if The Beatles and Elvis Presley were able to somehow unite (each in their prime) and give a free concert in Central Park. And then they played for about 4 straight hours. And then partied with their fans.

This game was so good that, as pucksandbooks notes in a great On Frozen Blog article today, fans who weren't there will soon start to claim that they were.

Think about that. How good does an event have to be for people to lie about having been in attendance? I immediately thought of Woodstock. Estimates of Woodstock attendees have it around 500,000, but I'm sure if you took a poll of individuals from that generation, you'd get about 3 times as many that said they were there.

I'm interested to see what you think about this question. What events (music or sports) were so good or so historic that you've heard everyone claim they were there? Post your answers to comments.

T.I. And Sports Suspensions

Grammy winner T.I. was in attendance at Game 7 of the dreadfully bad Hawks-Heat series over the weekend. In case you're not familiar with T.I. (real name Clifford Harris, a.k.a. T.I.P.), don't feel bad. I'm not either. Apparently he makes music. The point is that, on March 27 (about a month and a half ago), T.I. was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for felony weapons charges. Yet thanks to our wacky judicial system, he gets to hang out at NBA playoff games, spend time with his family, continue working on his album, and decide when he wants to start his prison sentence (some time this month).

While this sounds ridiculous, such a situation is not uncommon in professional sports either. Take Matt Jones, Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver, for example. Last year, Jones violated the league's substance abuse policy when, in July, he was arrested for possession of cocaine and marijuana. Yet he appealed the suspension and, T.I.-style, was able to play almost the entire season, leading the Jags in receptions and receiving yards. The year before, Denver Broncos running back Travis Henry did the same thing, appealing a drug suspension while playing an entire football season.

But there are other occasions where a league issues immediate and final suspensions without the appeals process. Remember the debacle that was the NBA's suspension of Phoenix Suns players Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for "leaving the bench" following Robert Horry's hip check of Steve Nash in the 2007 playoffs? None of the suspended players were allowed to appeal the suspension until the end of the season.

And just this year, the NHL did the same thing. In the first round of the playoffs, Washington Capitals left winger Donald Brashear was suspended 6 games for this hit on New York Rangers center Blair Betts:



Brashear is unable to appeal the suspension.

So which method is the right one? I'm not sure. Probably something in between the two extremes, and probably something with a bit more consistency than currently exists. It's ridiculous to have a season-long appeals process, but it's similarly ridiculous to be unable to appeal at all...especially in the playoffs.

But I'm certainly biased...I'm hoping the Caps can Unleash the Fury on the Penguins again tonight.