JR Smith Sighting

Also at the T-Mac Softball Tournament was our old friend JR Smith. It's nice to see JR out and about, and hopefully he's recovered fully from the accident that killed one of his best friends. Looking at that swing, his shoulder seems to have healed nicely. Good luck, JR!











Photo Source: NBAE/Getty Images

Babies!

Awww!

I love seeing athletes play the role of Daddy. Big, strong men with babies, in general, is one of the most endearing sights but it's that much sweeter when they're with their own. Two examples here are Dwyane Wade with son Zaire and Tracy McGrady with son Laymen. How cute is baby T-Mac??? And Z. Wade is growing up fast. Here's the last picture I saw of him. Dwyane brought Zaire with him to an appearance at Cottage Grove Middle School in Ford Heights, Illinois and Tracy brought Laymen to his charity softball tournament in Houston.

Also, I watched The Run: Steve Nash on NBA TV the other day and Steve has the cutest little twin girls, Lola and Bella. They were prancing around the locker room in little fairy outfits while Steve was asking for a "besito." Too cute.

Photo Source: NBAE/Getty Images

NBA Political Contributions

There's a fun little thing on Huffington Post that allows you to see who's giving what to whom. It lets you track donations by either name or address. I thought I'd try some NBA names and see who popped up. So far, Barack Obama is leading the race in the NBA. Here are the results:

Execs:
David Stern (Ruler): $4600 to Hillary Clinton
Billy King (Sixers): $4600 to Barack Obama
Jerry Colangelo (Suns): $2300 to John McCain
Robert Sarver (Suns): $2100 to McCain
Wyc Grousbeck (Celtics): $4600 to Barack and $2300 to Mitt Romney
Danny Ainge (Celtics): $2300 to Romney
James Dolan (Knicks): $2300 to Hillary
Magic Johnson: $2300 to Barack

Players:
Stephon Marbury: $2300 to Barack
Baron Davis: $2300 to Barack
Grant Hill: $2300 to Barack

Others:
Ahmad Rashad: $2300 to Barack
Arn Tellem (Agent): $2300 to Barack

A lot of the "superstars" - Kobe, Lebron, Dwyane, KG, AI, Tracy - haven't given anything. I wasn't surprised by that, but I thought I'd at least see Adonal "Democracy Matters" Foyle or Charles Barkley on the list. I was surprised to see Steph on there. Perhaps I've underestimated him.

There were 4 listings for Michael Jordan - 3 that couldn't be him and 1 that might. The one that might is retired from Washington DC and gave $2100 to Barack.

Anyway, try it out. It's kind of stalkerish in that it lists the address of the donor, too. So whether you're interested in politics or stalking, here's the tool for you.

Yao Ming, Married Man

Yao married his fiancee, Ye Li, today at the Shangri-La hotel in Shanghai. Less than 100 people were present for the very private affair. Despite living in Texas and being super-sized himself, Yao's still retained his Asian modesty. Now let the genetic engineering begin!

Photo Source: Xinhua Photo

Truth Hurts

Photo Source: NBAE/Getty Images

When Sharks Attack Humans Trespass

In honor of Gilbert Arenas, it was Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. An interesting fact I learned while watching one of the specials: On average, 4 humans are killed by sharks a year while 40 million sharks are killed by humans a year! Enough with the shark fin soup, Yao! There was also a really interesting documentary about the USS Indianapolis, which was sunk off the Philippine coast during WWII, and the subsequent shark attacks on the survivors. It's called Ocean of Fear: The Worst Shark Attack Ever, and it's worth a watch.

Photo Source: Discovery Channel

Big Earl Smith and Linda Shanklin: The New Sheriffs in Town

Recovered post from July 13, 2005.

Iggy and Mom

I don't care if you're Andre Iguodala or Horace Jenkins. Your parents need to come with your ass to whatever city you end up.

End of original post.

So I thought I'd finish this post, but I have no idea what I was going to say. I vaguely recall that I started writing this after watching an episode of NBA Rookies and thinking that Andre's mom and JR's dad were two of the coolest, most level-headed parents around. I remember taping the show - this is before I went DVR - but I have like 30 tapes from the past 2 years that I'd have to go through in order to find that episode. Hopefully, a few of them are labeled. If I ever manage to find the tape and recover my train of thought, I'll finish this post.

Art Imitating Life

Rick Fox is getting ugly, as in Ugly Betty, a great show I discovered a whole 2 months ago. Next, I'll hear that Pluto is no longer a planet. Can you tell I have my finger on the pulse? I didn't realize that when I moved to France, I'd be moving back in time. Just kidding. Kind of. :)

I actually had one of the best experiences of my life living in France and I'd highly encourage it to anyone with even a modicum of interest. I never understood players who thought playing overseas was a death sentence. Yeah, it's not the NBA and you don't make NBA money, but you can really make a nice life for yourself. Look at Mike D'Antoni, Joe Bryant, and Tony Parker, Sr. I'm loathe to agree with anything Stephon Marbury says, but I totally see his point about moving to Italy after his NBA days are over...except for the whole David Beckham analogy. Who you kidding, Steph?

Anyway, how did I get on this topic? What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rick Fox. His ex-WAG, Ms. Wilhelmina Slater herself, took pity and got him a role as her bodyguard for the upcoming season. It's nice to know that all pro-athlete marriages don't end with the scorched earth policy preferred by the likes of Joumana Kidd and Jean Strahan.

Source
Photo Source: Wire Image

Gisele and Jean Strahan

One used her body the modern way to become the world's highest paid model, and one used her body the old-fashioned way to become the world's first beneficiary of a prenuptial agreement. Not bad for two farm girls from different parts of the world. I feel like Gisele and Jean Strahan represent the two extremes of WAGs in sports. One is independent and successful and exists outside the accomplishments of her spouse. The other is one step removed from Superhead. Actually, she made Superhead stand up and salute her. More than half of her husband's net worth! In the prenup! Truly, a watershed moment for all aspiring WAGs.

Anyway, most WAGs fall somewhere in the middle. It's just where on the spectrum they lie. I think this will be a fun project to undertake. Plus it'll give me another excuse to mess around with Photoshop. As you can tell, I've been going a little Photoshop crazy lately as I try to learn the basics of the program. I took CS in undergrad, but I just had the computer nerd on my floor do all my work and projects for me. Yeah yeah, I know, who's laughing now, but he offered.....okay, after I asked him. What can I say, I'm an equal opportunity employer.

Photo Source: Vanity Fair

Behind Every Successful / Unsuccessful Man is a WAG

In the current issue of Vanity Fair (featuring NFL über-WAG Gisele Bundchen on the cover), Tiki Barber (p 303) credits his style to his "wife's guidance." That's in stark contrast to the fortunes of his ex-teammate Michael Strahan, who's caught up in a shit storm of alimony, allegations, and holdouts. Seriously, what doesn't Michael understand about a contract? When you sign one, whether it be with your wife or your team, it becomes binding. If you don't like it or don't understand it, don't sign it! C'mon, Mike, don't go out like that.