BREAKING NEWS!!! Bamahoops blogger fails doping test!

Faces two year doping ban in the process....

Alias, A.K.A. Alias, has reportedly failed a doping test carried out in the hills of North Georgia. Witnesses took this photo where it appears the 50+ year old was posing as a Mark's Madness member. It is also alleged that he was caught with blood doping agents in an attempt to acclimatize to the higher altitudes relative to Lower Alabama. More on this to come....

Weird news (non sports)

Call it a break from sports here... enjoy.

Bentonville, AR
A 305 pound inmate has filed suit saying officials at the Benton County Jail are not feeding him enough.

Obese Inmate Sues County Jail For More Food (video)

Broderick Lloyd Laswell said he has lost 100 pounds over the last eight months.

Laswell is in jail on a capital murder charge. He is one of two people accused of killing Randall Walker, 47, in his Garfield home in September 2007.

40/29 News reporter Melissa Kelly sat down and talked to Laswell Monday inside the Benton County Jail.

Laswell told Kelly he is hungry all the time and feels like he is being tortured.
Laswell said he weighed 418 pounds at the time of his September 2007 arraignment, even though his book-in sheet says he weighed 382-pounds.

Link to rest of the story

ROSS TOWNSHIP, PA
A Shaler couple's wedding night ended in a brawl and a trip to jail.

Local dentist Dr. David Wielechowski and his bride, Christa, spent their wedding night in the Allegheny County Jail and now face a court hearing on a number of charges following their post-wedding brawl at the Holiday Inn in Ross Township.

According to the criminal complaint, the couple got into a fight late Saturday night only hours after exchanging wedding vows.

The fight began on the seventh floor of the hotel. Two guests heard Christa scream and tried to restrain the doctor.

Police said the bride and groom rejected the Good Samaritans and turned on them. During the exchange the bridal couple allegedly picked up metal planters and threw them at the would-be rescuers.

And you thought this only happenned in the south.

Tempe, AZ
A man accidentally shot himself in the stomach after waving his gun in anger at a fellow driver in Tempe, and police said Monday he will face charges.

David Lopez, 33, is expected to survive and could face charges including disorderly conduct, reckless display of a firearm and felony flight from police in the Friday night incident, Tempe police spokesman Brandon Banks said.

Banks said soon after Lopez shot himself, he tried to evade police by driving into a nearby neighborhood, but he crashed his car into a canal embankment. Lopez then ran on foot, but police soon caught up with him.

Dude... most guns have a safety. Read the rest here.

The week in CBB news (dated 4/26/08)

- LSU finalized the contracts of Athletic Director Alleva, Mens' BB coach Johnson and football coach Miles. Really, the only reason I posted this was to make the photo appropriate. Thanks to F.B. for that in my email.

- Johnny Dawkins is learning to fly after 11 years under the careful supervision of Coack K at Duke. Dawkins has accepted the Stanford job. Maybe he'll be more successful than previous Duke assistants as a HC. We shall see.

- Tom Izzo is rumored to be a candidate for the Chicago Bulls job. It's not the first time his name has been mentioned with a NBA opening. For the first time I think this one has legs to it. Maybe Izzo is tired of recruiting.

- Tyler Hansbrough is returning for his senior year at UNC. Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington are testing the NBA waters, but more than likely will return. Make a wild guess who the preseason #1 is going to be.

- Jamont Gordon declares for NBA Draft, but hasn't hired an agent. On the surface it seems like he's coming back, but there's been some "chatter" that he pulled a Dontae' Jones in the classroom. No Hansbrough and no Gordon means the SEC West is wide open next year.

- John Calapari signs an extention at Memphis through the 2012-2013 season. This means nothing as he's been (allegedly) weasling his name into the Chicago Bulls coaching discussion. When a bigger fish comes calling he'll bolt out of Memphis.

JUCO PG signs with Alabama

Anthony Brock is on board.

It's a questionable signing assuming Steele comes back and Torrance is his backup at the point. Maybe Steele isn't coming back...

NFL Draft- RBs, updated underclassmen list to NBA, and more

NFL Draft
First off, I have no interest in wasting my entire day watching the NFL draft. Truth be told, I might catch 30 total minutes of it. More than likely I'll wait until there's a recap on the web.

Saying that, this year's draft has more game changing RBs than any year I can remember. Here's a link to the scout.com rankings of RBs. I'm going to deal with the RBs I saw on TV (or live).

-Darren McFadden (Ark)- I didn't see Herschel and only remember Bo from his LA Raiders days, but IMO McFadden is every bit as good as they were in college. He's fast enough to run away from defenders and strong enough to run them over. Looks like he'll be a NJ Jet so he should have ample opportunity to be the face of the franchise... being that the rest of the team sucks. If the Falcons had 1/2 a brain they wouldn't have wasted $$ on Michael Turner and picked McFadden at #3.

-Felix Jones (Ark)- underrated big time. He can get to the sidelines in a flash, has breakaway speed and can run in between the tackles. The question is can he handle a full load of carries. I think he can.

-Ray Rice (Rutgers)- I think he regressed from last season, but that's probably due to defenses keying in on him as the Rutgers passing game struggled. He's tough, can grind out yards, and break tackles. I don't know if he's big enough to be an every down back right now, but could be in a year or 2.

- Steve Slaton (WVU)- next to McFadden he's the most exciting RB in the draft. Breakaway speed, tough to tackle, can get you the "gritty" yards... the only questions with him are health and holding on to the ball. I sure wish my Tampa Bay Bucs pick him as Carnell hasn't been a success.

- Tashard Choice (Ga Tech)- he's a sleeper pick. He's the only reason Ga Tech was worth half a crap last year. He pretty much carried the team and despite being the guy defenses tried to stop he still put up decent #s.

- Rashard Mendenhall (Illinois)- to be honest I don't see what the hype is about him. Yes he had a great game against tOSU, but for the most part his competition was mediocre. He has decent speed, but other than that nothing that stands out to me.

-Kevin Smith (UCF)- not big on him either as most of his stats were piled up against inferior defenses. Mississippi State pretty much shut him down in the Liberty Bowl. He could be a decent 3rd down back n the NFL.

-Mike Hart (Michigan)- he has a lot of drive, but nothing off the chart in terms of speed, breakaway ability, or elusiveness.

- Jonathan Stewart (Oregon)- good speed and something I don't think any of the other RBs do as well as him... block.

Latest underclassmen to NBA list
From si.com. The more that declare, the better the chances are that Steele and Hendrix return. I still think Hendrix is gone regardless.

Other stuff
-Kevin O'Neill has been reassigned by Arizona. I'm not a big fan of his coaching, but he's getting the shaft there. I suspect he'll be leaving soon.

- A quick rant on reality TV. I'd sooner watch reruns of Full House that sit through most "reality" TV shows. I can't believe people watch Big Brother as it's quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever seen on TV. With the exception of Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Rock of Love/Flavor of Love (both are for comedic value) I don't get the whole reality TV thing. It's just bad acting. I guess that's why I pretty much stick to watching sports on TV.

Ways to make MLB more appealing to the general masses

Before I start... they like us... they really like us. This blog is the highest ranked Alabama blog according to blogged.com. Actually, I didn't see any other Alabama blogs listed (looked in football and basketball), but that's besides the point. :)

For the record I'm fine with it the way it is, but to the casual fan there's too many lulls. I say that's due to a short attention span, but that's another blog for another day.




1) Allow fighting. It works in the NHL and it would be even more interesting in MLB. We need more Nolan Ryan/Robin Ventura moments. While I'm on the topic of fighting, let me say that umpires are getting too cute with their warnings for close pitches. Let the players settle their differences.

2) Give the pitcher 15 seconds to throw his next pitch from when the catcher throws him the ball. Too much stalling there. Also, only allow 1 batter timeout per at bat. When the pitching coach or manager comes out to talk to their pitcher, they should have no more than 30 seconds before the ump walks out there to break it up.

3) Move the fences back. The general consent is people love the HR, but the truth is the game would be more interesting watching players busting ass for a triple. Opposite field HRs were at one time a true feat of strength... now every ham and egger can hit one out opposite field.

4) Alternate the DH/P in the lineup. I like the DH as I really don't care to see the pitcher hit, but it would make things interesting by having them alter in the lineup. The MLBPA probably wouldn't like that.

5) Between innings... come up with something more interesting than voting for some stupid song. Hire some cheerleaders and let them dance on the dugout for 2 minutes.

Next blog (I think)... the NFL Draft and the amazing amount of talent at the RB slot.

The week in review CBB news

- Travis Ford leaves UMass for Oklahoma State. He got himself a nice $9.1 million deal. IMO OSU is going to regret this 7 year deal. What has Ford done to deserve this sort of contract? Oooh... he took his team to the NIT finals. Wow.

- UCLA's Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, and Luc Richard Mbah declare for the NBA draft. That pretty much makes Arizona the preseason favorite in the PAC-10.

- Memphis loses Chris Douglas Roberts and Derrick Rose. Again, no surprises there.

- Finally Philip Pearson didn't get the Jax State gig. He lost out to a former Hobbs' assistant. What this means is CMG's staff remain intact. Make of it what you will.

As more and more underclassmen declare for the draft the likelihood of Steele and Hendrix coming back becomes a reality. Here's the latest nbadraft.net 2008 Mock Draft.

This is the slow season for hoops so I'll be throwing some baseball stuff on here. Lucky for me I have a business trip to NYC so I get one last chance to visit Yankee Stadium before they tear it down. Heck I might even visit that dump in Flushing where the Mets play. I can't complain.

Will Steele and Hendrix stay in the NBA draft?

Ronald Steele
My guess is he comes back. He has a lot to prove to the scouts. Does he have the same explosiveness he did 2 years ago? What about his shot... can he still drain it at close to a 50% range? For most GMs, he's got to prove his knees are 100% before they entertain thoughts of taking him in the 1st round. I could see a team taking a gamble on him with one of the later 1st round picks as Renaldo Balkman was drafted in the 1st round when he shouldn't have sniffed the draft. I put him at 70/30 he returns to Tuscaloosa.

Richard Hendrix
I've been saying for a while that regardless of his draft status he should remain in the draft. He's graduating, had a really good year, and the most important thing... I doubt he can improve his draft status. Even if he ends up in Europe it's one more year for to earn 6 digits. This year or the next he's at best a late 1st rounder/mid 2nd pick. I can't think of a reason why he should come back. My guess is 60/40 he hires an agent.

Let me add that I can see Hendrix as a poor man's Charles Oakley IF he can improve his midrange shot. He's physical enough, about the same height, and can be a force on the boards at the next level. While I gave up on the NBA after the 99 lockout, I hope he ends up in NY. I assume Isiah won't be there.

An ESPN rant...

... I know I'm not the first to do this nor will I be the last.

This rant is a year in the making. I'm going to break this down into the sports they cover (or don't anymore) that I watch.

MLB
I know I write a blog about Alabama basketball, but baseball has been and always will be my favorite sport. I used to watch Baseball Tonight almost religiously on ESPN. It used to be the best baseball show on TV. Gammons was good (despite his obvious Boston loyalties), Harold Reynolds was informative, and Buster Onley and Tim Kirkjian (probably butchered his name... oh well) brought some good insight to the network.

Then they hired that assclown Steve Phillips. You know Steve... the failed GM of the NY Metropolitans. Somehow, this know-nothing still has a job and is one of their featured "talents." I'm still in awe of some of the stupid things that come out of his mouth.

If that wasn't bad enough they added that fat guy with the mullet John Kruk. He brings a whole lot to the table... stumbling on his own words and often contradicting himself in the same sentence. Oh yeah, he's annoying to no end.

NHL/NASCAR
I funny it humorous that ESPN for years didn't cover NASCAR UNTIL they got a NASCAR contract. ESPN used to cover hockey extensively UNTIL they decided to not renew their contract with the NHL. The result... 10 seconds of NHL per 3 minutes of NASCAR coverage. While I readily admit I have no interest in NASCAR and follow the NHL less now that I ever did, how do you devote more time to a non-sport over a sport?

NFL
NFL Countdown at one time was a pretty good NFL preview show in spite of Chris Berman. Now, it's painful TV. Outside of Steve Young and sometimes Chris Mortensen is there a reason to watch that crap? Oh, BTW... Berman has become even more annoying with age.

College basketball
If you look past Vitale's obvious Duke and UNC biases you can see he's knowledgeable about the game. The problem is he's now a cartoon character of himself... and utterly annoying to no end. I find my mute button anytime he calls a game.

The College Gameday crew of Rece, Jay, Digger, and Hubert seems forced. Rece Davis does a decent job of being the point man and Jay Bilas is probably the best in the game right now, but Digger Phelps and Hubert Davis bring the program down. Hey Digger... your biggest accomplishment in life happened 30+ years ago. It's about time you stop living off it. Hubert is plain horrible. He is neither entertaining or informative. I'd sooner hear Tim Brando say, "the iron unkind" than listen to Hubert.

I can't believe I'm going to say this... the LF announcers are superior to the ones working for ESPN.

College football
This is one of the few things ESPN continues to do well. From their announcers (save Pam Ward, but I don't watch noon Big 11 games) to the gameday crew (I even like Corso), to the highlight they got it covered and covered well. They should model their other sports coverage after this.

In their efforts to expand their viewing audience, ESPN got away from what made them so great. From moving to making news instead of reporting it (at times), dumbing their sports coverage with a bunch of know nothing sideline reporters, hiring "controversial" columnists to generate a spark, making really bad sports movies, and generally dropping the ball in sports coverage ESPN is no longer must see TV for the sports fan. Unfortunately, FOX is even worse and no one else has stepped up to challenge them so IMO we're stuck with crap for the foreseeable future.

Latest and greatest coaching changes and underclassmen declaring for the NBA draft

- Coaching carousel from ESPN... disregard the updat date of Jan 2008 as it's been updated since. There's 3 name jobs that are still open... Oklahoma State, Providence, and Stanford. Providence and Stanford are probably going to hire assistants while OSU lays a trail of cash hoping to lure a successful DI HC.

- Current list of underclassmen putting their name in the hat for the NBA draft.

For those that want to know about A-Day, check out tidedruid, roll crimson tide, or rollbamaroll links on the right side of this page. I have zero interest in glorified practice.

SEC News recap

Most of you know about them, but just in case...

- Ben Hansbrough is transferring from Mississippi State. Apparently he was unhappy his entire time there and the last nail in the coffin was not being able to access the Hump to practice. All signs point to him playing for Mike Anderson at Missouri.

- Anthony Randolph is leaving LSU for the NBA. He doesn't plan on coming back.. and who could blame him as he's projected to be a top 10 pick. I thought going into next season LSU was the SEC West favorite, but not no more with AR going pro.

- Sticking with LSU, they hired Stanford coach Trent Johnson. This is a surprise hire as it looked like they had their minds set on Travis Ford or Tony Bennett. It's a good hire for the program. If Mike Montgomery would've known this he probably wouldn't have taken the job at Cal.

- Mykal Riley is playing in the Portsmouth Invitational. Heck, I didn't know they still had showcase tournaments for seniors. I attended one in 1991 in Orlando. I think it was called the Red Lobster Classic. Melvin Cheatum played in that if memory serves me right. Anyways, 10 other SEC seniors are participating in this.

- Marreese Speights (UF) has also declared for the NBA draft, but has not hired an agent. The reviews on him should bring him back to Gainesville next year.

- Marquette release Nick Williams from his national letter of intent. What's that got to do with the SEC? Well, he could make his way to Alabama since his release is unconditional.

One of Gottfried's Few Positives...

6 Tide Basketball Players Make Academic All-SEC Honor Roll

The Southeastern Conference released its 2007-08 SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll on Wednesday and it included a school record six University of Alabama basketball players, bettering the 2001 mark of five. Alabama led the league in mens basketball with the six. Tennessee and Kentucky both had five. Florida had three. Vanderbilt, Auburn, Mississippi State and Arkansas had two. And Georgia, Ole Miss, South Carolina and LSU had one.

Read more.

Buy compact fluorescent bulbs and save Alabama basketball

By replacing all of your regular energy hogging bulbs with CFBs you could save 30% on your utility bill. I went through the task of replacing all of my bulbs with CFBs and now see the savings. I was a skeptic at first, but now I see the (CFB) light.

I know LED lighting is the wave of the future and will quickly replace CFBs, but for now CFBs are the way to go.

So what does this have to do with saving Alabama basketball from falling to obscurity? You see there's a $3 million contract that needs to be paid off before we can look for another coach. If all the 783 Alabama basketball fans switch to CFBs and use the money saved towards buying out the contract we could pay off roughly 1/2 of the contract assuming the average savings is $600 a year per person. The remaining 500K per year is much more manageable. We could hit Saban up for it... what's 500K to a guy making $4 million per... right?

Justin Tubbs to transfer

It was widely speculated and now it's official. Good luck to him. It sucks we're losing a guy that played hard on both ends of the court.

From tidesports.com

This is on the heels of Pickett wanting out as well. From the Decatur Daily. I'm not going to lie... Pickett leaving won't break my heart.

Grading the Crimson Tide- Sellers, Torrance, and Tubbs

After this, maybe I'll put this dreadful season behind me. If this post doesn't work, the picture to the left should do the trick.

Kyle Sellers- his season statistics... 6 minutes, 0 points, 2 turnovers, and 0-2 FG. Like Dill and Cage he excelled at cheering the team on. Grade: C

Mikhail Torrance- I admit he's my favorite non-starter on the team. He outplayed Pickett at the point, yet rode the bench. He needs to improve on his 3 point shot and running the offense in the half-court, but his general court vision, defensive play, and ability to take it to the hole (without it being sent to the 5th row) is something that should get him more PT next season. Grade: B

Justin Tubbs- He stunk it up big time at the beginning of the year shooting the ball. Despite that he still played hard on the defensive end. Tubbs never got a chance to right his bad start as he rode the bench pretty much all of conference play. IMO I don't think the kid was given a fair shake this year. Grade: C

Regarding the game tonight between Memphis and Kansas... I think Memphis wins big. If you're a degenerate gambler you should know that betting on Kansas will put your bookie out of business as I've been AUful predicting games this postseason.

Rico Pickett suspended indefinetly and info on Alabama-UConn series

I guess we won't have an issue crunching roster numbers next season. Again, thanks to Mitchell for relaying this.

From rolltide.com.

I suspected we'd have 3 players on the current roster transferring out. My 3 original guesses were Justin Tubbs, Mikhail Torrance, and Pickett. The word is Tubbs is thinking about it and with this suspension I can see Pickett moving out. If Torrance moves on as well we'd be razor thin at the point (again). Add to that if Steele goes pro where would that put us? Hollinger at the point? Ugh.

IMO Torrance or Pickett will stay (right now my $$ is on Torrance)and Steele won't be a 1st round pick so we should be ok. I think Hendrix is gone though and one more will transfer out.

I forgot to post this, but Alabama and UConn are in talks about a series. There's an article on the Alabama scout page about it. If this were to begin next season we're going to have a murderous non-conference schedule. The Maui Invitational with UNC, Indiana, Notre Dame, Texas, Oregon, and St Joe's (choose 3), Clemson on the road, Texas A&M, and UConn... whew.

Ron Steele to test NBA waters

Steele declares for the NBA draft, but like Hendrix he's not hiring an agent and could return. I don't blame him.

Point guard Ronald Steele intends to declare for the 2008 NBA draft, his father said Saturday. Like teammate Richard Hendrix, Steele does not plan to sign with an agent, thus leaving the door open for his return to Alabama next season.

"He said he was going to put his name in the hat and see what happens," Ron Steele Sr. said. "He just wants to test the waters and see where he stands."

The elder Steele said his son "more than likely" will remain at Alabama for his final season of eligibility, but that depends on his projected draft status.

"If they say he could be a first-round pick, he won't be back," Steele Sr. said. "If not, he will."

An official announcement from the younger Steele is expected in the coming days. It is unlikely he would be forecast as a first-round selection, considering it has been more than a year since he has played competitive basketball.

From the Mobile Press-Register.

Thanks to Mitchell for pointing this out as I was busy this morning taking my boy to the emergency room for sticking cat food up his nose. It turns out that cat food breaks down and it came out in a nastier, less crunchy form. So if you have small kids and they shove cat food into their nose don't panic and save yourself a hundred bucks. :)

Grading the Crimson Tide- Knox, Pickett, and Riley

As I write this Kansas is killing UNC by 16 early in the 2nd half. I continue to pick them like a champ... I'm on FIRE! Not really.

Knox- I understand why the coaching staff slowly acclimated him to SEC play, but when the season was over (after the 2-6 conference start) he should've gotten more PT. What I saw from him in the 2nd half was impressive. When Hendrix sat out a game, Knox filled in nicely on both sides of the court. I wish he would've gotten more consistent time on the court, but it wasn't to be. I'm anxious to see him play next year. Grade: B

Pickett- He wasn't put in the best of positions to succeed IMO. He should've been splitting time at the point instead of being thrusted into the starting lineup as early as he was. His play was erratic... one game he'd look all world and the next one he'd look lost on the court. He lacks the court vision needed to be a PG... hipefully he works on his perimeter game as I think he could turn out to be a decent 2 guard. Grade: C

Riley- I probably screamed at my TV more times at him than any other player on the team this year. He took bad shots, played crappy defense, and turned the ball over too much the first 2/3rds of the year. Then, something happenned... not sure what, but Riley carried this team on his back with his super hot shooting. He's the reason we beat Vandy, Florida, and came so close to beating MSU in the SECT. I'm not sure who's going to replace his shooting next year. He's going to be missed. Grade: B-

Grading the Crimson Tide- Hillman, Hollinger, and Jemison

Senario Hillman- he didn't play much to start the season, but when he did get in the game you could feel the energy pick up. He hustles for every loose ball, stays with his defender, and of course gave us the best dunk highlights of the season. His perimeter shot was dreadful at first, but as he saw the court his shot improved. I really look forward to seeing him on the court next year for 25+ minutes. Grade: B+

Brandon Hollinger- for most of the year he was our best 3 point shooter... until Riley came on like gangbusters the 2nd half of the SEC schedule. We know his phsyical limitations, but he plays decent D considering he's outsized by 5+ inches. He needs to learn that driving to the basket normally results in his shot landing in the 3rd row, but I give him props for trying. The one knock on him is he's not a good PG (you hear that CMG). He's a reliable 2 guard... undersized, but when we need an outside scoring threat next year he'll be our 1st option. Grade: B

Demetrius Jemison- Let's be honest... he was AUful for most of the 1st 20 games. It wasn't due to effort as he's another one that gives it his all, but he simply wasn't scoring and was a liability on D. The last 1/3 of the season saw a totally different player... one that was hitting the 15 foot jumper, rebounding well, and doing a better job defensively in the post. Some people kept saying that DJ wasn't a SEC caliber forward (I'm not even sure what that means)... he proved them wrong to end the year. If Hendrix leaves we'll have to depend on DJ inside. I think he'll be up to the task. Grade: B-

Head coaching moves, Marvin Stone dies, and more

- First, it looks like Indiana found their man in Tom Crean. He leaves Marquette after 9 years for Bloomington. I think it's a stellar hire.

- Sean Sutton resigns at Oklahoma State. I'm kinda surprised by this as he's only in his 2nd year. Then again, OSU has been a top 20 program and the younger Sutton hasn't taken taken them to the NCAAs. Maybe CMG can push for this job (I kid... maybe).

- Ex-Louisville and Kentucky player Marvin Stone collapsed and died during halftime in a game in Saudi Arabia. Preliminary reports is he had a heart attack. He was only 26. Sad.

Link to yahoo.com sports for all the stuff I listed above.

Other news
- Lute Olsen says that Kevin O'Neill won't be back at Arizona as his assistant. O'Neill played coach for a year while Olsen took care of personal problems. While I'm not a fan of O'Neill as a coach I think Olsen screwed him over. I also have an issue with Olsen taking the year off to deal with personal problems. Most working stiffs in this country deal with it and still work.

- Indiana kicks 2 starters off the team. Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis were dismissed from the team. No reason given. Strange to me as IU was in the midst of a coaching search.

- No word on CMG's status... just in case you were wondering.

Mr. Wildcat passes away

Bill Keightley, the long time equipment manager for the Kentucky Wildcats, has passed away at age 81. He is an SEC legend and will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Keightley family and to the Big Blue Nation.

R.I.P. Mr. Wildcat