Video Heaven: Rodman interviews and The Admiral crashes

I’m making this post about me. Why? Because two of my favorite players ever are in this clip, and I was not expecting this when I began to watch it.

Two weeks back Dennis Rodman was interviewed at the Hall of Fame Ceremony by CBS 3 in Springfield. I will watch anything with Rodman, he’s an icon and the greatest defender of all-time. Rodman is always entertaining, and most importantly, the guy was a great teammate. This year Rodman showed up to support his former teammate Scottie Pippen and last year he came through for both Michael Jordan and David Robinson.

This interview went from great to legendary when Robinson crashes and the two begin to reminisce on their relationship and time together in San Antonio. I honestly almost began to breathe heavy, that’s how excited I was. My two favorite players ever (along with Ben Wallace) in one interview, unexpectedly.

Seriously, the only way this interview could be better is if Wallace, Bill Cosby, Will Smith, Hulk Hogan and Kanye West showed up — seriously.

Michael Jordan in NBA 2K11

Classic Video: MJ clowns Penny

While remembering great Penny Hardaway moments just seconds ago, I totally started thinking about the 1996 NBA All-Star Game. During the intros, Michael Jordan figured he’d show his jokester side to the world by tearing the pants off of a then 24 year-old Hardaway.

A hilarious moment that I thought was the funniest thing in the world back when I was 12.

I had that warmup suit (I got it for my 12th birthday), it’s the best NBA warmup suit ever. It was a little too tight on me at this point in my life, so I sold it on eBay last summer. Now that I think of it, that was not worth the mere $50 I got for it.

It’s probably a good thing LeBron traded in his number ’23′

Michael Jordan is the best basketball player of all-time, and every great player that plays the game and at some point may have to face comparison to “His Airness.” Obviously, LeBron James entered the league with that “The Next Jordan” title. Wearing number’23′ probably didn’t help his cause in avoiding the comparison — along with his self-appointed and league-hyped greatness.

As James joins Dwyane Wade‘s Miami Heat along with Chris Bosh, he hands in his number ’23,’ and that’s probably a good thing. Jordan spoke about James’ decision at a celebrity golf tournament this weekend:

“There’s no way, with hindsight, I would’ve ever called up Larry (Bird), called up Magic (Johnson) and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s get together and play on one team,’ ” Jordan said on NBC after playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada.

“But that’s … things are different. I can’t say that’s a bad thing. It’s an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.”

FOXNews

Obviously James is one of the best players in the game today, and one of the greatest players of the last decade, don’t think for a minute that anything I write about him is taking away from that fact.

I don’t want to take the comments out of context or make them out to be bigger than they are, but at the same time, that’s Jordan’s way of saying, “You are not me kid…none of you are.”

LeBron James couldn’t live up to his own hype in Cleveland

LeBron James pissed off a lot of people last week, there’s no other way to put it. If you’re one of the 100,000 people that live in Miami, well, you’re obviously pretty damn happy. Same goes for front-runners of our universe — the bandwagon is filling up.

The people of Cleveland went into outrage, and rightfully so. They’re allowed to feel betrayed, that’s part of the business in sports. If LeBron is insulted that people raged the streets burning his jersey, he probably shouldn’t have made his announcement on a reality show-esque prime-time ESPN special.

If his announcement came in the middle of the day, via an update on ESPN or one of the other online sports outlets (as all other free-agent updates do), I’m sure the people wouldn’t have hit the streets in the fashion they did. The thing is, LeBron and his team of handlers, they wanted the build-up and they wanted this hype.

It was ridiculous, and that’s why so many people are angry. That’s why people are laughing at him and “witnessing” first hand just another example of how uncomfortable LeBron James is as a person. He’s a puppet and a follower, who craves the attention to validate himself.

We’ve never seen this type of display in all of sports, and hopefully we never have to see it again.

Jordan picked as 2K11 cover athlete

When NBA 2k11 drops this coming October, we won’t see LeBron James, Dwight Howard or Kevin Durant grace the cover for their first time. Instead, the clocks will turn back and Michael Jordan will be the cover athlete of the popular basketball game franchise.

2k Sports made the official announcement Wednesday and also added that Jordan will be part of the game development — probably assisting in the motion capturing process.

Since Jordan is gracing the cover, I hope this means that 2K Sports will do more than just add him to their All-Decade Teams. Could this finally be the year that an NBA game will add the great teams of the past, like Madden has? I’m talking 1977 Blazers, the ’80 Lakers, the ’89 Pistons, the ’93 Suns, the ’94 Rockets, ’95 Magic and many more. I want to play a Heat/Knicks series in HD on XBox 360.

I know it may be a long shot, but if they’re going to put the effort of putting a player from the past on the cover, then they should try to give the hardcore fans like me something more than just being able to play with Michael Jordan, even if licensing is a pain.

Please 2K, make it happen.

Make this not just be because even though the league has a bevy of talented stars –they still rely on Jordan more than any of those players, because he’s more marketable at age 47 than any player currently playing.

2k10 Fresh Awards: Rookie of the Year

Guess what?

I finally beat the NBA before their official announcement, well, I’m still writing this, so by the time I post it, who knows? This is the first time that I can remember there being three legitimate candidates for  the Rookie of the Year Award. There were some really good rookies during the year 2009-10, but obviously it comes down to three players: Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans.

After two weeks of action, it looked as if Jennings would win this thing hands down. He had me completely under the belief that my Evans pick would be incorrect. Then shortly after, it look like Evans was going toe for toe with Jennings. Keep in mind at the very start of the season, the Kings were playing good basketball and Jennings was tearing it up.

As the season went on, Jennings started to lose steam. Jennings went from averaging 22 points in November, to 16 points in December, 14 in January and all the way down to 10 points per game in February. It was a dramatic drop — granted his assist numbers and the Bucks’ winning stayed steady. His shooting percentage in the month of February was a miserable 30 percent.

Then came Curry. He was solid the first few months, but after the All-Star break, the kid took over. In the first 51 games of the season, Curry averaged 15 points, five assists and four rebounds per game. In those final 29 games after the break, Curry put in 22 points, eight assists and six rebounds each night — including a ton of threes, two steals a games and a 47 percent shooting clip. Curry was ridiculous.

Meanwhile, Evans was steady throughout the course of the season and after the Kevin Martin trade, his numbers jumped — but they never took the dip like Jennings’ or started slow like Curry’s. Evans averaged 20 points, five rebounds and six assists per game, but his Kings only won 25 games.

This is where it gets tricky.

Larry Bird vs. Michael Jordan for Big Macs

Here’s a classic McDonald’s commercial with two of the greatest players of all-time, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. This one should bring back some memories, nothing like playing H.O.R.S.E. in the front yard for a Big Mac. Story of my life.

On one other note, Jordan needs a damn stylist!

2k10 First Round Predictions: Eastern Conference

The NBA playoffs have started today, and don’t fear, I’m bringing you predictions as always. I get to start fresh and have the 16 teams that made the playoffs in front of me, this should be easy.

I also thought the same last year — what a mess!

Someone has to make some bold predictions, and generally I like to be that guy, don’t take away from my knowledge of the game — I know what’s up.

This year I’m going to call it perfectly, so let’s start with the Eastern Conference.