Month: February 2009 (Page 50 of 57)

DVD Review: Duke beat North Carolina

The Duke Blue Devils #1 goal every season is to beat North Carolina. The two schools are just eight miles apart and the players and fans hate each other (literally). This three-disc DVD set includes three of the biggest Duke wins in this storied rivalry from the full-length, commercial-free television broadcasts.

From the back cover…

February 3, 2000
Chapel Hill, NC
Duke 90 ∙ North Carolina 86 (OT)

The Tar Heels, unranked coming into the game for the first time since 1990, struggled in the first half. Shane Battier scored 14 first-half points for #3 Duke who jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead. Duke pushed the lead to 19 early in the second half before North Carolina turned the game around scoring on 19 of its final 22 possessions, including a Joseph Forte three-pointer with 5.2 seconds left to send the game to overtime. The Blue Devils scored on their first six possessions in overtime and got seven points from Carlos Boozer in the extra frame to hold on for the victory.

February 5, 2004
Chapel Hill, NC
Duke 83 ∙ North Carolina 81 (OT)

The first game in the rivalry pitting Mike Krzyzewski against new UNC head coach Roy Williams didn’t disappoint. #1 Duke turned up the defense late in regulation with a 10-0 run, taking a 72-69 lead on two free throws by Luol Deng. #17 North Carolina fought back hitting a game-tying three-pointer and sending the game to overtime. Duke’s Shelden Williams’ two blocks and aggressive defense forced North Carolina into a late turnover. Duke’s J.J. Redick made two free throws to take the lead before North Carolina’s Rashad McCants drilled a game-tying three. That set the stage for Chris Duhon’s reverse layup with 6.5 seconds left in overtime to give Duke the win.

February 9, 2005
Durham, NC
Duke 71 ∙ North Carolina 70

In arguably the most anticipated game in the rivalry since 1998, #2 ranked UNC came up Highway 15-501 to visit the #8 ranked Blue Devils for a heavily hyped, prime time broadcast. By keeping the game almost entirely in the halfcourt, the Blue Devils and their vaunted defense simply were too much for North Carolina. J.J. Redick scored 18 points and freshman DeMarcus Nelson added 16 for Duke who forced UNC into 23 turnovers to seal the victory.

Did Santonio Holmes really get two feet down?

If you look at these pictures from SPORTSbyBROOKS.com (via Will Leitch’s personal blog), yeah, Holmes did:

Santonio Holmes

Santonio Holmes

Santonio Holmes

From the looks of that second picture, it appears to me that he stuck both feet into the ground and therefore it was a touchdown. The top picture (which some media publications are using to prove that Holmes didn’t get two feet in), was likely taken either before or after the second photo. In fact, if you look at the first and third photos, Holmes has a piece of the turf stuck in his shoe. In the second photo, the turf appears to be absent, which would indicate that the first and third photos were shot after the second photo and therefore Holmes got his right foot down.

Later I’ll be reopening the JFK case by looking at evidence photos, so make sure to stop back.

The dance continues – Manny, Dodgers still talking

Even though their one-year, $25 million offer to Manny Ramirez was recently rejected, the Dodgers will resume talks with Scott Boras in efforts to get a deal worked out to re-sign the free agent slugger.

Manny RamirezWith Spring Training opening in less than 10 days, even with Ramirez’s rejection of the one-year offer Monday night it appears that the intensity of negotiations has increased. The offer was the Dodgers’ third attempt to retain Ramirez, who in November did not respond to a two-year, $45 million offer plus an option and three weeks later did not accept the club’s offer for salary arbitration.

The market for the gifted slugger has been murky, although Boras insists it has heated up. The Dodgers are the only club known to have made an offer. The Giants are the only other club to have acknowledged interest, although like the Dodgers, it is short term only. Boras said he continues negotiating with several teams on Ramirez but again declined to name them.

The Dodgers, with no designated hitter rule available to provide a transitional role as Ramirez ages, have insisted they will not provide the four- or five-year deal he is seeking.

Is this ride making anyone else sick?

The Giants might hold the key to ending this charade. If they and the Dodgers are the only clubs that are even interested in Manny, then they should make an official offer and then sit back and wait. I’m assuming that if they truly wanted Ramirez, they would make an offer that’s lucratively better than the one that the Dodgers have offered. If not, then what’s the point? To drive the price up for the Dodgers? There are no other teams interested so that seems like a fruitless idea.

With an official offer from the Giants in place, Boras could wait to hear back from the Dodgers. If L.A. is still unwilling to budge, then Manny should shit or get off the pot. Either take the Dodgers’ one-year deal for $25 million and become a free agent next year, or take a two to three-year deal depending on what the Giants offer.

Larry Johnson officially asks out of Kansas City

In the same week that Tony Gonzalez expressed his desire to bolt Kansas City, Larry Johnson also is asking the Chiefs to either trade or release him.

From Rotoworld.com:

Larry JohnsonLarry Johnson told 610 Sports in Kansas City Wednesday morning that he wants a “clean break” from the Chiefs.

L.J. believes the organization hasn’t backed him, and it’s ruined his public image. He must not realize there is a new GM in town and KC will have a new coach shortly. Johnson also thinks he was on the trade block at the October deadline, and that the Chiefs “have been trying to trade me ever since I got here.” It’s pretty clear that L.J. was told he was great too many times by too many people in the mid-2000s. He’s lost touch with reality.

I agree with the writers at Rotoworld. Here’s a guy that caused a stink two years ago when he thought he wasn’t getting paid enough. So in August of 2007, the Chiefs signed him to a six-year, $45.05 million contract, which included $19 million in guarantees and a $12.5 million signing bonus. In October of last year, Johnson was suspended one game for allegedly pushing a woman at a nightclub, which also brought him simple-assault charges.

And now he’s saying the organization hasn’t backed him? Get a grip. They paid him what he wanted to be paid, stood by him when he got into trouble off field and now he thinks he can pick and choose what teams he wants to play for. Ridiculous.

What are the Knicks going to do with David Lee?

During a chat yesterday, Chad Ford had this to say about David Lee:

Donnie Walsh is trying to find a home for Eddy Curry or Jared Jeffries that frees up some cap space so that he can re-sign Lee. It sounds like that’s close to Mission Impossible, though I said the same thing about Zach Randolph this summer. If he can do that, I think Lee stays. If he can’t, he’d be smart to get something now instead of losing him in the summer. There is LOTS of interest in Lee both now and in the summer. He’s one of the few restricted free agents teams think they can steal away because of the Knicks cap situation.

Let’s be clear — the Knicks don’t have to trade anyone away to re-sign Lee. Ford is talking about clearing cap space so that the franchise doesn’t have to pay a luxury tax next season. They are currently on the hook for $69.3 million and that doesn’t count new contracts for Lee or Nate Robinson. With the the luxury tax threshold unlikely to change much from this season ($71 million), Walsh would need to move a contract or two to clear space for signing Lee and/or Robinson. Lee is the priority because he’s such a good fit in Mike D’Antoni’s up tempo attack. He is averaging 16.0 points and 11.7 rebounds per game, and is shooting almost 57% from the field.

Eddy Curry will make $21.7 million over the next two seasons but has only appeared in one game this season. The Knicks desperately need to get him some minutes if they hope to trade him before the Feb. 19 deadline. Jeffries is getting some minutes, but he has been horribly unproductive (PER: 7.39), though he was never much of a stat guy.

The bottom line is that if the Knicks want to re-sign Lee, they can. Their projected payroll goes down to $18.2 million for the 2010 season, so they would only take the luxury tax hit for one season if they chose to sign Lee to a multi-year deal (or matched another team’s offer this summer, when he becomes a restricted free agent).

What’s he worth? I’d say his play this season has put him into the range of $10-$11 million per season. I’d be careful not to pay too much more, because right now he’s putting up great numbers on a bad team that plays at a blistering pace.

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