3 Things That Baffled Me (5/18)

1. The Brian Cushing Revote – Brian Cushing, a linebacker for the Houston Texans, won the Defensive Rookie of the Year award for the 2009 season, which was voted on in January. However, it recently came out that he tested positive for a performance enhancing drug (the same one that they bagged many Ramirez for last year), and the NFL decided to do a revote for the award. Cushing won the revote, but by a much smaller margin.

This same exact thing happened to Julius Peppers back in 2002, and they didn’t have a revote for his ROY award. One voter said it best, “If I had known in January when we initially voted that Brian Cushing had tested positive for a banned substance, I might not have voted for him. However, Cushing won the award in January, and I don't feel like we should revise history. I am concerned about the precedent.” I mean, if we’re having revotes, shouldn’t we revote on every major MLB award from like ‘96 to ‘05?

2. LeBron and the Cavs Give Up – I know he had a triple-double in Game 6, but was that not the worst triple-double you’ve ever seen? He had 9 turnovers, and he still looked passive on many occasions after his Game 5 no-show. And to top it all off, with the Cavs down only 9, facing elimination with over a minute remaining in Game 6, his team just flat out gave up. They didn’t even try to foul to extend the game. You think MJ would have ever let the happen? Not a chance in hell.

Let the “Summer of LeBron” begin. As much as I can’t stand listening to the media drool over the guy (who still hasn’t won anything yet), I am interested to see where he will end up. There’s going to be plenty of wild stories and speculation (a three way meeting between LeBron, Wade, and Bosh, and a packaged deal of LeBron and Coach John Calipari to the Bulls have already been rumored). Whatever ends up happening, it could change the landscape of the NBA for the next 10 years and beyond.

3. Bruins Collapse – A wise man once told me, “It’s better to be pessimistic, that way you’re either right, or pleasantly surprised.” Unfortunately, in the case of the Bruins, I was right. I saw this epic collapse coming in the middle of Game 5, where Boston got massacred 4-0. I knew they would lose the last 2 games, because that’s the kind of heartless, gutless performance I’ve become accustomed to watching from these Bruins over the years. This team needs a change at its very core, but I’d be baffled if it actually happened.

3 Things That Baffled Me Last Week (5/11)

DeSean Jackson’s comments on Donovan McNabb – People just refuse to leave Donovan McNabb alone. The other day, Eagles WR DeSean Jackson said that he was happy with Philadelphia’s decision to trade McNabb, as well as “I don’t think we lost anything, even with McNabb being gone.” Jackson’s not the first former teammate to take shots at McNabb. Remember T.O.? I just don’t understand the logic behind it. Both Jackson and T.O. made the Pro Bowl with Donovan McNabb throwing them the ball!

Of course, McNabb took the high road after these comments, like he always does. I respect the guy for that, but just once I would love to see him hit back and tell all the haters to shut the fuck up.

Bengals sign Pacman Jones – A match made in heaven. Eh, heaven doesn’t work actually. A match made in hell? Maybe jail?

What a bunch of idiots over there in the Cincinnati front office. How can anybody possibly think that Pacman Jones would be a good fit for the Cincinnati Bengals, who are trying to clean up an image problem after having about 376 players arrested over the past few years? I mean, the NFL personal conduct policy was pretty much invented for Pacman Jones.

Atlanta Hawks – Biggest fraud of a “contender” that I can remember in a long time. This is a team that only gets up to play the Boston Celtics, and managed to skate by with a losing record on the road, solely because they dominated at home. No real contender for an NBA championship has a losing record on the road. This is a team that got swept out of the second round of the playoffs (after barely squeaking by the injury-ridden Milwaukee Bucks in the first round), in one of the most lopsided series’ in NBA playoff history. And it was a 2 seed versus a 3 seed! It’s not like it was a 1 vs. 8 matchup. This is a team whose “superstar” player, Joe Johnson, pulled a Magic act of his own by disappearing in the second round against Orlando, and turned the Atlanta fans against him by calling them out for booing when their team was down 30 points at home. This is a team that far too many people got excited about. This is a team… that sucks.