Ringing in the New Year with Jennifer Lopez, Omri Casspi, Chad Ochocinco, Al Michaels, Bob Costas & the San Diego Padres

Now this is what I call a great way to ring in the new year…JLo prancing around in a skin tight outfit in the rain.   Nice.  Very nice.  Although 2010 is only four days old there is plenty to talk about right now and I’ve decided to kick things off with a little stream of consciousness post about a variety of topics while scarfing down a roast beef & swiss on rye:  

Snap Takes

NBA Rookie of the Year Race- The season has kicked into 3rd gear and there are a lot of rookies making an impact.  Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans have undisputedly been the cream of the crop, but there are others making a name for themselves…notably Omri Casspi.  If I had to cast a vote for ROY today, the Jewish Jordan would be #3 on my list:

1. Tyreke Evans

2. Brandon Jennings

3. Omri Casspi

4. Ty Lawson

5. Stephen Curry

6. Jonny Flynn

7. Jonas Jerebko

8. DeJuan Blair

9. James Harden

10. Chase Budinger 

NBA Coaches Are Petty, Vindictive and Clueless- Memo to Mike D’Antoni, Don  Nelson and Eddie Jordan: put your best players on the damn court and you might win more games.  These three coaches have won a lot of NBA games in their respective careers but the records of the New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers are all abysmal right now.  Why?  One primary reason is that the three aforementioned coaches have refused to play Nate Robinson, Anthony Randolph and Samuel Dalembert at least 30+ minutes a game.  Simply inexcusable. 

D’Antoni in particular deserves to be singled out.  Human dynamo Nate Robinson didn’t get off the bench for the entire month of December because D’Antoni’s panties were in a bunch over a few innocuous issues (one being Nate shooting at the wrong basket after the buzzer sounded at the end of a quarter).  Nate had 14 consecutive DNP’s before being allowed back on the court against the Atlanta Hawks a few days ago.  How did Nate respond?  He was 18-24 from the floor, scored 41 points and handed out 8 assists in a thrilling come from behind victory over one of the league’s best teams.  Genius my ass.  Without Steve Nash around, D’Antoni is just another hypersensitive coach unable to sniff .500.

BASEketball - For some reason I never saw even a minute of BASEketball until late last month.  All I can say after watching it is WOW.  As in, wow, I can’t believe Bob Costas and Al Michaels actually read the script before agreeing to be in that movie.  While there are definitely15-20 solid minutes of comedy in the film, about 2/3 of it was just utter nonsense. 

The San Diego Padres Are A Joke – While real major baseball teams spend the off-season trying to acquire quality players, the Padres always seem to be picking through the bargain bin at a used bookstore.  Yesterday I read that 40-year old Brad Ausmus might be brought in to be the back up catcher this season.  It would be Brad’s 2nd tour of duty with the team after serving as their starting catcher in 1994 and 1995.   In case Padres management hasn’t noticed it is now 2010.  The same article said that Reed Johnson was likely going to be signed to shore up the outfield.  Here are the 33-year old Johnson’s career statistics.  What an absolute embarrassment of a franchise. 

Chad Ochocinco - Although Ochocinco injured his knee and laid an egg last night against the Jets, he has had a very productive season for the playoff bound Cincinnati Bengals.  Up until now, I had always thought Chad was a supremely talented malcontent.   Well, after reading the book Ocho Cinco, my opinion of him has changed…slightly.  I found his blunt observations refreshing and the sections written by his peers to be very revealing.   Clearly, the vast majority of the NFL has a lot of respect for Ochocinco.  This is definitely a book that doesn’t pull any punches and as an added bonus has the most I’s and me’s in the history of modern publishing.  Overall I’d give Ocho Cinco a solid B+.