ArkIrish920

1. Dirk Nowitzki, Elton Brand, Gilbert Arenas, and Jermaine O'Neal, have all returned in the last 2 days. Gilbert will be huge if the Washington Wizards are to have any success in the post-season. He played well in 21 minutes today. Dirk returned to a roaring standing ovation in a HUGE game against the Golden State Warriors Wednesday night. The Mavericks dominated this one from tip-off to the final buzzer and took a 2 game lead over the Warriors for the 7th spot in the West.

2. Tom Crean a sellout? I don't think so. He has served his duty at Marquette and has probably gotten Marquette as far as they can go. Although, some would argue that he went from a better conference (Big East) to a non-basketball conference (Big 10). For 2.3 Million dollars a year and an 8 year contract. Who wouldn't love that? Lets see how Bill Self reacts to having 3.5 million a year waved in front of his face by Mr. Boone-Pickens.

3. Major League Baseball teams finally figured out how to swing the bats...or is it that we are at the 3-5 spots in the rotation now? Surprises to start 2008? Heres just a few:

Detroit Tigers (0-2)
Kansas City Royals (2-0)
Washington Nationals (3-0)
Pedro Martinez already on the DL (This really wasn't a surprise)

4. The Cubs look awful so far in their first two games...besides Fokudome's 3 run shot in their first game, they have been outscored by the Brewers 12-2. Maybe Moises Alou shouldn't have come out and said he wouldn't have caught that ball? Well at least Cub fans have a new excuse when they don't make the playoffs again this year.

5. My Atlanta Braves finally won their first game of 2008, newly acquired Jair Jurgeens pitched a solid 5 innings, and left the game with a 3-2 lead. The Brave offense got going in the Bottom of the 8th, with a 3-run shot by Yunel Escobar and a 2-run shot by Mark Teixeira (1-13 before HR). Hopefully the Braves have got their **** (you know what) together!

What to watch for on Thursday:
1. Chris Henry gets issued a full year suspension from the Commish, congrats Henry you beat up an 18-year old kid.

2. Kansas City Royals going for a sweep of the Detroit Tigers in the first series of 2008. Who saw this coming?

1. The Western Conference Race got even more interesting on Tuesday, a day after blowing a 22-point lead to the Phoenix Suns, the Denver Nuggets hold off a Suns rally and found their way back in the Top 8 in the West. With a Golden State loss the 7, 8, 9 is Dallas, Denver, and Golden State

2. Skip Bayless is officially a moron. On his morning TV show 1st and 10 he stated that the Boston Celtics would only be a 3, 4, or 5 seed if they played in the West.  Really? The Celtics have what kind of record against teams from the Western conference? How many teams have a winning head-to-head record against the Celtics? Yeah....go back in your hole Skip.

3. Indiana didn't take too long in hiring a new head coach. Officials announced today that Tom Crean will be hired officially as the Head Coach in a press conference scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.  This coming shortly after University officials announced that Indiana guards Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis were dismissed from the team.  If Eric Gordon decides to go Pro, Indiana will have no returning starters from this years team.

4. At 11:32pm CST, 37 Runs have been scored during todays games, for 8 games, thats less than 5 runs scored per game. Runs seem to come as a gift (3 runs scored today came on bases loaded walks). Is the pitching really that good to start the year? Or is this just the beginning of the season, and the lumber is just cold?

5. Boone Pickens is the man! As if nobody already knew, he basically runs Oklahoma State University. They already have the best facilities in the nation, if you don't believe me, take the Virtual Tour of the Athletic Facilities, Google it!  Rumors speculate that he is the one forking the cash to pay for Sutton to "resign". Rumors also speculate that he would be more than happy forking out 4 million a year to get Self to come to Kansas.

ATTN: Bill Self (Cha-Ching$$)