NEW - SportsUnderground.com - Sports Wagering Tips and News
SportsUnderground has been on the web for nine years and our goal is to provide opinions and laughs on sports topics along with a plethora of betting picks.
Unfortunately there isn’t any college games this evening, but things will be back to normal tomorrow with the NIT, CIT, CBI and the NCAA play-in game.
76ers -3
Hornets/Clippers over 201
Knicks/76ers under 212.5
Overall Record:
College Basketball 51-34-3 (2009-10) 248-183-9 (overall)
NBA 1-2 (2010) 45-38 (overall)
NHL 1-2
MLB 90-69-5
College Football 37-24 (2009-10) 142-115-1 (overall)
NFL 35-20 (2009-10) 138-92-5 (overall)
Rumors have been flying for at least two years now that LeBron James will be leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers after this season when he becomes a free agent. Well, King James filed paperwork yesterday to change his jersey number from 23 to 6 starting next season and it has all the conspiracy theorists in a tizzy. This news surfaced on the same day the Cavaliers played the Knicks for the final time this year and only a few months before free agency begins. If you plan on going somewhere else you might as well start anew with a completely different number ala Michael Jordan, right? In New Jersey Courtney Lee currently rolls with #6, but no one on the New York Knickerbockers has that number. Hmmm.
Let me play devils advocate here for just a second. LeBron idolizes Michael and stated earlier this season that no player should wear #23 and went on to say Jordan should be the new NBA logo. So might this be the reason for the change in his jersey number? Also, LeBron owns a $25 million dollar pad in Akron that he wouldn’t be selling anytime soon, if ever, should he choose to leave. And finally, LeBron would get paid more by the Cavs than any other NBA team could offer and he actually does seem to be someone who leans towards the ‘home is where the heart is’ mantra. In my humble opinion LeBron isn’t going anywhere and all the speculation is just media fodder.
I do see one small possibility that could lead to LeBron leaving town and it will make things really tricky if it does happen. Should LeBron win the NBA Finals this year he very well might feel like his work is done in Cleveland and move on to a different team. So to all you Cav fans do you want to win it all this year or do you want to keep LeBron? I think I know the answer to that question, but I will leave it at that for now!
Michael ‘Air’ Jordan has reached an agreement to be the new owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. BET founder and current owner Bob Johnson of the Bobcats announced earlier this morning that he would sell the organization to Jordan. It was only a couple of weeks ago that speculation began on the sale of the team so negotiations progressed very quickly. One of the main reasons the deal was done so fast is due to lack of interest from other parties. George Postolos president of the Houston Rockets was speculated as the only other person of note interested in purchasing the team. Jordan has his work cut out for him considering the Bobcats have not won more than 32 games in their first four seasons, but they are currently in ninth place in the Eastern Conference so things could be looking up.
Went 4-1 last night in college basketball so feeling good today. Here are the picks to go with tonight in the NBA. Good luck!
Heat -6.5
Hawks -6
Knicks -2
Overall Record:
College Basketball 32-20-2 (2009-10) 229-169-8 (overall)
NBA 44-36
NHL 1-2
MLB 90-69-5
College Football 37-24 (2009-10) 142-115-1 (overall)
NFL 35-20 (2009-10) 138-92-5 (overall)
David Stern made the announcement today, one many have been waiting for since December, that Gilbert Arenas has been suspended for the rest of the NBA season. This was supposively at the request of Gilbert and the word is he will ask the union not to fight his suspension. The suspension will cost Arenas nearly $10 million of his $16.2 million salary this year. Gilbert is playing this up pretty well because we all know the only reason he is asking to be suspended for the year is so he can avoid being suspended for an even longer term. When Arenas decided to bring unlicensed guns into the NBA workplace he made a gigantic mistake. When he later made jokes about his mistake and even mimicked the act of shooting guns with his hands in a pre-game huddle he showed complete lack of remorse. It is still up in the air if Gilbert will play out the remaining $80+ million contract with the Wizards or if the organization will void his contract. I think the Wizards decision on to void or not to void will come down to whether or not Gilbert is senteced to jail time. On a separate note Javaris Crittenton who was the other teammate involved in “gun gate” has also been suspended for the rest of the season by the NBA.
If you didn’t get a chance to catch WWE this past Monday you missed out on Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban as the official guest host of Monday Night Raw. In typical wrestling fashion the WWE guest host got involved in the action and Cuban paid for interrupting the disagreement between John Cena and Shamus. Cuban was eventually sent through a table set up in the ring corner by Seamus and that was the end of Cuban’s stunt. Is there any question after watching this video why the ole codgers who run Major League Baseball won’t allow Mr. Cuban to own a team? I personally don’t think there is anything wrong with it, but MLB wouldn’t even allow spider webs on the bases a few years ago.
Mark Cuban WWE wrestling video:
The Golden State Warriors have finally been able to ship Stephen Jackson out of town after an ongoing battle between Jackson and head coach Don Nelson. Jackson and guard Acie Law were traded from Golden State to Charlotte for guard Raja Bell and forward Vladimir Radmanovic. Jackson has been doing everything he can to get traded in recent weeks and it was rumored he was intent on heading to either Cleveland or one of the Texas teams. Each of these teams are “winners” and the Bobcats are 3-6 with a lineup not set up for success at this time. The under talented team in conjunction with all the baggage Jackson carries since he is prone to give up if things don’t go his way has me questioning how this is going to be a good fit with Larry Brown and Bobcats? Jackson is owed $28 over the next three seasons after this season which I feel is a contract GM Rod Higgins should have never taken on considering all the factors. Jackson is happy to be out of Golden state today, but the Warriors organization is happier to no longer have this cancer around and in the end Jackson will want out of Charlotte.
Word on the Hollywood streets is Lamar Odom and reality hack Khloe Kardashian has now signed their prenup. The interesting thing is the official marriage license won’t be filed for a few more days. The specifics have not been released on the prenuptial agreement, but rumors indicate the fugly Kardashian girl wants a cool half a million each year they are married plus a $5 million home in case the two were to get divorced down the road. That being said, Khloe won’t be able to get her greedy little hands on his latest $33 million contract with the Lakers. It isn’t very surprising she is making these demands because let’s face it this marriage might not last longer than it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
I’m sure the title comes as no surprise to anyone considering we are talking about Ron Artest, but this blunder could be even worse than his rap CD. Artest was recently acquired by the Los Angeles Lakers and wants the fans to know if they don’t repeat as NBA Champions they can point their fingers at him. I thought playas would have learned by now you never, and I do mean never, come out and make bold statements and predictions because the chance of them blowing up in your face is extremely high. Artest stated, “They should. That’s exactly what should happen if we don’t repeat,” while promoting an exhibition game in late October at the San Diego Sports Arena. “They won last year, and I’m the new addition. The fans expect to repeat. Everybody in L.A. expects a second ring. And if we don’t then yeah, they should point it right at me, throwing tomatoes and everything.” I’m sure Lakers fans are smart enough to not take the throwing tomatoes statement literally because Ron would not hesitate to jump in the stands and beat your a$$.
If you saw the NBA Hall Of Fame induction ceremony last night you arguably witnessed the best class ever to be inducted at one time. You had the classiest of class Jerry Sloan, David Robinson, John Stockton and C. Vivian Stringer receiving their accolades and induction into the Hall of Fame. All the while the drama of this 3 hour celebration was building up to when they announced, “the Greatest of all time” Michael Jordan.
Here is where a celebration went off the rails and turned into Michael’s personal diatribe. Not that he schooled everyone on the court, won rings and MVP’s and became the top money earner for endorsements ever. He decided to let the world know he was mad and he wasn’t going to take it anymore.
He started off by going after the coach who cut him from the varsity as a North Carolina schoolboy and even brought in the man Leroy Smith who made the team just to call him out.
Jordan then proceeded to call out Isiah Thomas, who allegedly orchestrated a “freeze out” of Jordan in his first All-Star game. He stated in his speech, “I wanted to prove to you, Magic [Johnson], Larry [Bird], George [Gervin], everybody that I deserved [to be there] just as much as anybody else, and I hope over the period of my career I’ve done that without a doubt.”
He then transitioned into bringing in old Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy and Jordan called him, Pat Riley’s “little guy,” who accused Jordan of “conning” players by acting friendly toward them, then attacking them in games.
Jerry Krause was not there because he was boycotting Tex Winter not being inducted, so he says, but Michael took a dig at him while thanking the ownership past and present and saying, “Jerry Krause, uhem, I know I didn’t invite him here.”
Lastly, Utah’s Bryon Russell was on Jordan’s list. Jordan recalled meeting Russell while he was retired and playing minor league baseball in 1994. Michael spoke of how Russell insisted he could have covered him if Jordan was still playing which obviously bothered the greatest of all time. Russell later in his career got two cracks at Jordan in the NBA finals and he was the defender when Jordan hit the clinching shot to win the 1998 title which Jordan said he relished this even today.
On a side note Michael, why not start off your speech by acknowledging your former business partner from the Charlotte Bobcats who had just died in a plane crash earlier that day. I thought for the “Greatest of All Time” it might go down as “One of the Worst All Time” speeches.
Michael Jordan NBA Hall of Fame Speech Video: