Is a Kobe Clippers’ jersey next?

So the Shaq part of the Shaq/Kobe saga has come to an end as he’s now a member of the Miami Heat. One thing’s for sure; we’ll see more Heat on TV than we have since those Knicks playoff series. Shaq and Dwayne Wade should become a great one-two combo and they should roll in the division they’ll be playing in.

So Kobe is going to announce today what he’s going to do. Is it just me or has everyone forgotten about his upcoming trial that could put him in jail. I know, I know, I’ve heard that there isn’t that much of a case against him but the possibility is there.

I’m sure I’m in the minority on this one but I don’t think that if Kobe left the Lakers all would be lost. Sure, the Lakers would go from contenders to pretenders right now, but it might be good five to ten years down the road. The Celtics and Bulls are two franchises that prove that one more championship in a dynasty run can be disastrous when trying to rebuild when the glory is gone. Both those teams are still trying to get back to contention. Maybe the Lakers cut their losses early and rebuild quicker. Quite frankly, I don’t want to watch Shaq and Kobe get old and decrepit like Bird, McHale and Parrish did.

The pride of Aliquippa isn’t running for United States Senate! Mike Ditka claims he has too many other prior commitments. Boy, all I can say about that is THANK GOD. This guy would have made Jesse the Body look like a career politician! At least he would have been associated with Illinois and not Pennsylvania! For the record, had he run he would have won in a landslide. The fact that he’s a Republican would make no difference whatsoever; he’d have won a member of the Nazi party he’s so loved! That man has legendary status in Chi-town. It’s funny because although he did win a Super Bowl ring (with arguably the best one season team in NFL history and the greatest defense EVER) no one outside of Chicago thinks of him as a legendary head coach. All American at Pitt and HOFer as a Cowboy I’ll give you. Yes, he was a great sound bite, but not a great coach.

Congrads to Phil Garner for getting the manager’s job in Houston. I loved “Scrap Iron” as a player and thought that he had a sinking ship type jobs previously in Milwaukee and Detroit. Isn’t it ironic that former Pirates replaced both managers that were fired this year? (Al Pedrique stepped in for the fired Bob Brenly in Arizona earlier this year.)

As a follow up to my discussion of the decrease in stolen bases in MLB yesterday I did some research and discovered that there hasn’t been a thief with more than 80 since Rickey Henderson got 93 in 1988 with the Yankees. In fact, if you average out the decades it breaks down as such: 1970s, the average stolen base champ had 74.8 swipes, 1980s was 98 and 1990s was 70.4. Thus far in the 2000s the average is down to 57.75. Clearly the 80s was the height of small ball, in particular Vince Coleman on the hard artificial turf at Busch. The 80s gave baseball fans 6 different occasions of a base stealer swiping 100 or more. The only way we’ll see that is if there is hardcore drug testing put in place AND it has a direct affect on the long ball.

I saw a story on ESPN.com yesterday about Nascar bringing a race to the New York area, possibly Staten Island. I think that’s great but at what cost? To me, it’s a lose-lose because you have to do one of two unpopular moves; you lengthen the season or take a race away from another track.

I was glad to see a Jeffersons marathon on TV Land last night, that really was a great show. In my mind, best spin-off ever. I know people will say Frasier and that’s valid, however I just think that show morphed into something completely different. By the end of its run it was totally unrecognizable from Cheers.

Love, piece and hair grease!