Here’s the video below.

Who knows whether this was just innocent heckling or a joke about LeBron’s mama and Delonte West. Either way, the King was none too happy about it and he let the fan know. Given that LeBron’s sons were in attendance at the game, I can’t say I blame him.

26

Going into last night’s game against the Detroit Pistons, the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers were actually favored to win. Yes, the same team who lost 25 in a row were picked to beat the Pistons. Now, the Pistons are undoubtedly not world beaters but the Cavs are absolute junk. In reality, their roster might be the worst in the league history. Not surprisingly, the Pistons laid the wood to the Cavs for most of the first half and won 103-94. Sorry Cleveland, maybe another night.

50

In the biggest rivalry in college basketball, Duke stormed back from a 14-point deficit to defeat North Carolina, 79-73. The Blue Devils miraculously scored 50 points in the second half to just 30 for the Tar Heels. One of the biggest differences in the game was the 3-pt line. Neither team was on fire but Duke was able to sink 8, while North Carolina struggled going 2-16 from beyond the arc.

1250

It was only a matter of time, but a lawsuit was filed against the NFL, Jerry Jones and Cowboys stadium by some of the 1250 fans who were not able to get seats for the Super Bowl. The fact that the NFL knew about the situation days beforehand does not help their cause. “Los Angeles-based attorney Michael J. Avenatti, a Cowboys season ticketholder who attended Sunday’s game, filed the federal lawsuit Tuesday in Dallas and seeks $5 million in damages for the plaintiffs. The suit alleges breach of contract, fraud and deceptive sales practices.”

597

Former Michigan quarterback and Heisman favorite in 2009, Tate Forcier, has decided to take his talents to South Beach and attend the University of Miami. Forcier had threatened to transfer several times in his collegiate career but last month, he was suspended from the bowl game for not attending classes. Forcer leaves the team after throwing for 597 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions this past season.

23.5

The blockbuster deal that was supposed to send Carmelo Anthony to the New Jersey Nets is officially dead according to team owner Mikhail Prokhorov. For the time being, Carmelo will stay a Nugget and the Detroit Pistons Rip Hamilton will have to continue to ride the pine until a home is found for him. Anthony is having a good year but by his standards, his points per game is down from 28.2 to 23.5. Certainly doesn’t mean he’s lost his touch but maybe, just maybe the rumors are affecting his game.

2010

Several sources in the Boston media are reporting that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will be undergoing foot surgery yet again. The problem? A recurring and perhaps chronic condition that he has dealt with all season. It appears the surgery will be today but there is a chance Brady pushes it to Monday. How will this affect the team going forward? Who knows, but the amount of pressure on Brady to perform week in/week out without a supporting cast is starting to wear thin.

16.5

Carl Pavano and the Minnesota Twins have agreed to a deal of two years and $16.5 million dollars. Pavano considered going to back to the Yankees where he struggled at times but ultimately thought that his performance last year in Minnesota earned him some time there again. “When you go through free agency, there’s a lot of big decisions that you have. Obviously I couldn’t walk away from the rapport I have with my teammates, the staff and the organization.”

2-6-11

If the Chicago Bears go to the Super Bowl, they’ll have some support from the Commander-in-Chief. Barack Obama has pledged that if his “hometown” Bears beat the Packers on Sunday, he’ll be in attendance at the Super Bowl in Dallas. Pretty brave statement considering Obama doesn’t even have tickets yet. Wonder who ends up paying for those? Hopefully not the taxpayers as lower level seats are going for as much as $1900.

Derrick Rose, MVP candidate? Yea, count me as one his backers.

180

Michael Vick’s incredible MVP-like season came to a screeching halt with an interception in the end zone yesterday as his Eagles lost the Packers 21-16. Vick’s counterpart, Aaron Rodgers was near perfect in a game he had to be with 180 yards passing and 3 touchdowns. The Packers move on to play the Falcons next week in what should be an extremely tough match-up as Atlanta rarely loses at home.

41

The other NFL playoff game yesterday was beyond terrible depending on what side of the fence you fall on. If you are a Ravens fan, it was a dominating performance for a team that was head and shoulders better than their opponent. If you are a Chiefs fan, well, you realized your team has a long way to go. Outside of Jamal Charles’ 41-yard touchdown, Kansas City was barely competitive losing 30-7 at home.

78

In what will probably be a growing theme as long as they play together, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined for 78 of their team’s 107 points en route to a clutch overtime win over the Portland Trailblazers 107-100. James chipped in with 44 of his own but it was his 11 points in the extra frame that really left several, including his teammates speechless. “I am a fan of his on the court and I am just glad I get to experience this in the same jersey he wears, instead of being on the other end”, said Wade.

15

The big NBA trade rumor floating around for the last day or two involves none other than Carmelo Anthony going to the New Jersey Nets. At first, weeks ago, this deal seemed dead. However, now the Nets and the Nuggets have included the Detroit Pistons in the deal and sources are saying as many as 15 players could be swapped when it is all said and done. Personally, I think it falls through as these things rarely, if ever, come to fruition.

Last night he put on a virtual dunk-a-thon versus the lowly Pistons. But it was this 360 layup that really got fans out of their seats.

Suffice to say the man pictured below is a also a big fan of the home team. That, or he just really has a lot of self-confidence. Only a matter of time now before kids ditch those thundersticks and instead use his rotund belly as a noisemaker.

75.2

We briefly touched on this yesterday, but it needs to be said again. Donovan McNabb signed a 5-year, $78 million dollar contract extension with the Redskins. At the time McNabb signed it, his QB rating was 76, and now after his less than stellar performance on Monday Night Football, it’s 75.2. You really have to wonder if that’s the largest extension ever for a guy who was once benched against the freakin Detroit Lions.

49.32

Speaking of MNF, we hope to God that Michael Vick was on your fantasy team last night. His numbers were Madden-esque–333 YDS passing, 4 TD, 80 YDS rushing, 2 TD. And no, he didn’t catch a pass yesterday, although, I’m sure he could have. In most fantasy football leagues, Vick was right around the 50 point mark.

7

The probe into cycling and more specifically, seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong continues. Investigators made their way to France for a 1999 Armstrong urine sample that tested positive for EPO. While Armstrong has always denied using banned substances, the court of public opinion has seemingly turned on him the last few months. Armstrong is a great ambassador for cancer awareness and treatment, but in the end, like everyone else, he cheated in his sport. Ok, now that we got that out of the way, let’s move on with our lives.

.682

Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Jeff Reed is on the verge of being cut this week after missing his seventh field goal of the season on Sunday (68.2%). Reed, who hasn’t missed that many since the 2006 season says the Heinz Field turf is one of the reasons he’s kicked so poorly. “It’s kind of hard when you plant your foot and the hole — a piece of ground moves where the ball’s under the holder. I almost missed the ball completely”.

32

The Golden State Warriors are certainly an exciting team to watch at times, and other times, their excitement can lead to a heart attack. After leading in the first half by as much as 32 points over the Detroit Pistons, the Warriors’ offense floundered in the second frame. With 15 seconds left in the game, the Pistons actually had a chance to take the lead or tie–luckily for Warriors fan, the Pistons turned the ball over.

Instead, we’re left with Kevin Garnett and his idiocy. Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva, one of the more popular NBA players on Twitter, had this to say late last night after the game.

For those of us still awake at the time, we wondered what the hell Charlie V was talking about. Was it sour grapes after a loss or did he have a legitimate beef? A few minutes later, he followed with this.

For the medically uninformed out there, Charlie Villanueva suffers from Alopecia Universalis, a disease that results in hair loss on the body. If Kevin Garnett sees that as a joke or some ammo for trash talk, I truly feel sorry for him.

Let me be crystal clear with this as to not only single out Garnett. If your athletic strategy includes getting in your opponents head by ridiculing them for diseases and/or death, you sir, are a loser. I say this not only as a cancer survivor myself but as somebody who’s not ignorant to basic human decency.

The legend of Ndamukong Suh continues to grow in Detroit. The defensive tackle is putting up numbers that not only make him a rookie of the year candidate but a legitimate all-pro selection.

-His 6.5 sacks are more than Julius Peppers, Jared Allen and Albert Haynesworth….combined.
-Some argued that the Lions should have drafted Gerald McCoy instead of Suh. Seven games into the season, McCoy has 13 tackles, Suh has 22.
-He also has an interception and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

And oh yea, his talents spread to the basketball court as well. On Friday night during the Detroit Pistons home opener, Suh made 6-11 free throws in 24 seconds for charity. Just to give you an idea, Ben Wallace is a career .416 from the charity stripe. Given the Pistons lack of front court depth…..nah, nevermind.

208

A prankster pulled a fast one on ESPNU reporter Elizabeth Moreau. While staying in room 208 at Gainesville’s Hilton Garden Inn, a man called Moreau to tell her the hotel was on fire. After breaking some windows to try and get out the caller then told her: “that’s what you get for being a bad ex-wife” and further explained she was bad at ‘sucking dick. Um ok, awesome prank I guess.

11-01-10

It appears that current Detroit Pistons owner Karen Davidson will have a deal to sell the team by November 1st according to NBA Commissioner David Stern. At the Board of Governors meeting in New York, Stern opened with the impending Pistons sale in his opening statement. “It’s not as fast a track as Golden State, but we’re looking for something definitive to happen in the month of November.”

32

The most impressive number from the Oregon blow-out of UCLA last night wasn’t the score (60-13 if you fell asleep), it’s the number of first downs the Ducks had–32. When you constantly pick up 1st downs on um, 1st down, well then that kind of stuff is going to happen. On the other hand, time of possession could be costly sometime down the road for the defense. Almost 2-1 in favor of the Bruins last night.

7

LeBron James’ run with the Cavs was “7 years of joy” according to his Twitter account. This comes after a report that James dissed the city of Cleveland and its fans by telling them to “get over it”. Speaking of which Mr. James, mind getting over, uh, yourself.

108

Roy Halladay didn’t look like himself last night but alas, even 75% of him is good enough to win a playoff road game. Halladay hurt his groin and often rode the bike in between innings to stay loose. His pitch count was abnormally high early and somehow he sneaked out of the 6th inning having thrown 108 total while scattering 6 hits. The teams head back to Philly for Game 6. It’ll be interesting to see if both the Yankees and Phillies can pull off miraculous 3-1 deficits in the same year.

186-299

How bad has it gotten for the Pittsburgh Pirates? Royals bench coach John Gibbons said thanks but no thanks to their job opening. The Pirates last manager, John Russell, was let go by the franchise on Oct. 4th and it appears there aren’t many contenders lining up for the position. And really, can you blame them. Russell’s stint with the Pirates resulted in a 186-299 record.

11

The economy has hit the state of Michigan harder than any other area in the United States. So when the Detroit Pistons offered free season tickets to 50 die hard fans, you’d think people would jump at the chance. And while more than 300 people registered, only 11 showed up for auditions yesterday. A poor showing by both the Pistons PR/Marketing team and the fans themselves.

75,000

Apparently, a $75,000 fine was enough for the Steelers James Harrison to consider retirement. The NFL levied the fine two days ago and yesterday, Harrison was excused from practice as he contemplated whether he could play “in that kind of environment”. Oh yea but Josh Cribbs, don’t worry, I’m sure some Tylenol will fix that killer headache he has.

717

Lance Berkman has played 717 games at first base in his career. After taking a tumble last night, he almost didn’t make it to 718 this year. Filling in for the Yankees’ Mark Texiera who is out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury, Berkman wiped out and hit his head chasing a foul ball last night. Thankfully for Yankees fan and well, Berkman, he was able to somehow finish the game with the aid of smelling salts and some new spikes.

258

Manchester United star forward Wayne Rooney has made it clear he does not want to stay with the team. Despite his success along with the teams, Rooney said he wanted assurances from the club that they would still go out and attract the top players in the world. After losing Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez in the offseason, ManU did not make an attempt to replace them with high profile players. Evidently, the $258 million the team held in cash reserves is being used for uh, more important things.

6

Heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko has not lost a bout in six years but that’s not enough proof of his dominance from his rivals. Derek Chisora, who is fighting Klitschko in December said that he’s not impressed by the champion. “The best thing about IBF, IBO and WBO champion Klitschko is his ring entrance”, said Chisora. Color me shocked–some smack talk before a boxing bout. Wake me up when the heavyweight championship actually means something again.

500,000,000

It appears that Mike Ilitch, the owner of the Detroit Redwings and Tigers will add another Motown team to his resume. An agreement is allegedly in place for Ilitch to buy the Detroit Pistons. What will this mean for one of the richest men in sports? Well, a new arena downtown seems to be the most logical. Estimates for a dual hockey-basketball center are around 500 million dollars. Someone might need to take out a loan.

550,000

After his second DWI in three years, the Panthers have parted ways with receiver Dwayne Jarrett. Rightfully so too. Jarrett has more DWIs than TDs (2 to 1) and for some reason, he is being paid over a half million right now. See you in the UFL Dwayne.

50

In a little over three years with the New England Patriots, Randy Moss caught 50 touchdowns and had arguably the greatest season of his career in 2007 with 23 touchdowns. But now it appears he has worn out his stay. Several NFL insiders are reporting that Moss is headed back to where it all started–the Minnesota Vikings.

520

Apparently, some HS running back ran for 520 yards and 7 touchdowns last Friday in a game. And while I’m sure Kapri Bibbs is a fine player, those numbers just don’t seem right. HS games are full of “statisticians” who are essentially the math teacher at the school. Rarely are the numbers for yardage accurate.

197

That’s the amount of seconds Dwyane Wade played before he went down with an injury yesterday against the Detroit Pistons. According to the Miami Heat. he’ll be out for two weeks with a slight hamstring pull. But don’t worry, ESPN will bring you round the clock updates from Wade’s doctor, his home care nurse, and his heating pad manufacturer on “The Heat Index”.

12.93

Denard Robinson is a special player. He has amassed 15 TDs on 98 carries and 96 pass attempts. So in essence, every 13 times (12.93 to be exact) he touches the ball in a threatening position he gets into the end zone. You can argue that he has done it against weak competition, but regardless, those numbers are something few if any in college football could pull off.

Yesterday, at the referees’ annual meeting in New Jersey, the NBA announced new guidelines on what constitutes a technical foul. No longer will players be allowed to overtly argue calls. In fact, barring a “heat of the moment” type emotion, everything else will fall under the umbrella of a ‘T’.

Unfortunately for us NBA fans, Rasheed Wallace retired on August 10th of this year. So if you’re looking for someone to test the boundaries of the new technical foul rules, you’re going to have to look elsewhere. A good place to start would be his Celtics teammate Kendrick Perkins who led the league with 15 last year. A far cry from the 40 Rasheed picked up back in 2002-2003.

Anyways, despite the fact that Rasheed is gone, NBA players can still learn from the savvy veteran. So if you’re a rookie coming into the league and want to know exactly how to avoid a technical foul, watch these videos….and do the exact opposite.

Here are the new guidelines and here is Sheed demonstrating how to break every one.

NBA rule: “Players making aggressive gestures, such as air punches, anywhere on the court”
Video: A montage of Rasheed in the 2010 NBA finals including a dazzling array of uppercuts and hooks.

NBA rule: “Excessive inquiries about a call, even in a civilized tone”.
Video: Sheed, in the nicest way possible (at least for him) calmly tells the official there was body contact. Then he adds some expletives, only for emphasis of course.

NBA rule: “Running directly at an official to complain about a call”.
Video: Sheed heads to the bench but not before he tries to get in the refs face

NBA rules: “Players who use body language to question or demonstrate displeasure”.
Video: How dare you stare in Ronnie Garretson’s direction Sheed. The infamous confrontation during the 2000 WCF

Anybody who is familiar with the exploits of Dennis Rodman knows that there is no story out there that will surprise you. This is a man who once showed up at a Pistons practice with a shotgun and planned to kill a teammate who slept with his girlfriend. And yea, that was 20 years ago.

Since then, he’s had publicized sexual encounters with Madonna, Carmen Electra and according to Rodman himself, over 2000 other women. And now after this mic’d up sexual romp in the Hamptons, we now know that number to be 2,006.

Rodman had quite a lot to drink and had been making shout-outs on the mike. He headed up to his room with six girls. Then, the next thing you could hear through the speakers downstairs was Rodman describing in full sexual detail what he wanted to do to them.

Only six girls? Eh, must have been a slow night for the Worm.

Hamptons partygoers get earful of Rodman sex [NY Post]

As it stands right now, the Detroit Pistons are having one of the worst seasons in their franchises history. A culmination of bad free agent signings, bad trades, injuries, and older players have now come to fruition.

Both Charlie Villanueva and rookie Austin Daye took to their twitter to vent their frustration.

Charlie V:

I respect Joe D so much, that I will keep my mouth shut, just needed to vent a little

Let’s put it like this, I rather not say anything cause I don’t want to get fined

This has been a very fustrating year, it just only got worse 2day, I have never experienced, in my 5 years, what I have experience this year

Austin Daye:

Sonthin happened to me today that won’t every happen again and I’m just venting right now but I’m twisted mad and and gunna b ready 4 r game

@Adaye5 every1 I’m twisted (mad) right now but when I’m in LA imma work myself to death to try and get myself right for next year

While nothing specific was stated, it appears that practice turned into a verbal joust between players and coaches and even included head coach John Kuester allegedly punting a basketball

Via 97.1

I spoke to one Pistons source who tells me that practice yesterday turned in to a bit of a bickering-fest, with players and coaches involved (not unusual) and John Kuester even got so frustrated that he allegedly punted a basketball.

A once proud franchise is now relegated to New Jersey Nets status. A far cry from the years of playoffs and championships. The only saving grace is that twice before in the last 30 years they have had these type of putrid seasons. In the ensuing draft though they got all-star caliber players in Isiah Thomas and Grant Hill. Not too shabby. Is John Wall that type of player? Perhaps, but if anything it’s better than what is going on now.

With the Pistons down 3 points and 1:40 remaining, Will Bynum tipped the ball to himself and went in for what appeared to be an uncontested breakaway layup. But Lebron James swooped in at the last moment and took the ball almost from the cylinder as a referee looked on. One of the most egregious non-calls ever.

The Pistons and the coaching staff expressed their displeasure after the game

“Bad call. They know it was a bad call,” Pistons coach John Kuester said. “It’s a shame. That was a momentum-breaker. But, hey, that’s the NBA.”

Then there was a call where the officials gave James the continuation after he took three steps before completing a conventional three-point play. But you kind of have to expect that kind of stuff against arguably the top player in the league.

“Those are some tough calls,” Villanueva said. “Those were momentum-changing calls, I’ll say. I felt like we was getting in a roll of things. But the refs, they’re not perfect. They make mistakes and whatnot. We just have to live with it and deal with it.”

Thankfully, as the NBA has told us numerous times before, Tim Donaghy was a rogue referee and acted alone. Take that, Lee Harvey Oswald conspiracy nuts.

LeBron James’ triple-double sinks Pistons {Freep}

Allow me for a second to preface the following couple of paragraphs.

Bill Simmons is a talented journalist and probably the best sports writer in America today. I also realize that Twitter is as informal as it comes and when you have as many followers as he does, you’re bound to piss off a handful of people.

But Simmons’ Detroit bias is well-known. In fact, I don’t expect him to be fair and balanced when he lived through the 80s Celtics/Pistons clashes. Speaking as somebody who lived through that from a Detroit perspective, I couldn’t dream to write about Boston objectively.

But this tweet was so amazingly stupid, it hurt my brain.

Coming into this season, the Pistons have missed the playoffs twice since the mid 90s. Twice. They reached the Conference finals 6 years in a row and have a NBA title in the last decade.

Compare that to the Detroit Lions who have ONE PLAYOFF WIN IN THE LAST 50 YEARS. They have won two games in the last two seasons combined. The fan base is so beaten down that most Lions games this past season were blacked out. Having not sniffed a playoff berth in over a decade, the fans have decided to just stop spending money on their team.

I was at Ford Field for the opener this past season and it’s fair to say that the fans around me were more interested in that chick fight than the game itself.  I’ll even go as far as making this absolutely absurd but true statement

Of the 25 most depressing things that have happened in my life, the Detroit Lions account for about half.

That should give you an idea of how bad things are for Lions fans and how thankful we are that the Detroit Pistons are 10x the franchise that shitty team in Ford Field could ever be.

He has been President of the Pistons for 15 years and the Palace for 18.

ClickOnDetroit.com’s Rob Parker said Tom Wilson, CEO of Palace Sports and Entertainment is out.

According to Parker’s sources, Wilson is officially gone from the position already.

…An official announcement is expected later today.

Many changes have been expected since the passing of William Davidson, who owned the Detroit Pistons, Detroit Shock, Detroit Fury and was the former owner of Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Vipers.

Davidson, 86, died on March 13, 2009.

His wife, Karen, is still owner of the team.

Normally, this wouldn’t be newsworthy but with the death of owner Bill Davidson last year, things have been a bit rocky in the franchise. His wife, Karen Davidson is shopping the team to potential buyers and the information was confirmed by former owner Oscar Feldman in a Detroit paper last month.

“Karen is inquiring into selling the team, and her limited partners concur in that decision,” Oscar Feldman told Crain’s this afternoon.

All in all, not looking good in Motown these days. The team is having an awful year and now the franchise is on the verge of being sold.

When Detroit was struggling and couldn’t find an honest man to lead the city, they turned to former Piston and Hall of Famer Dave Bing.

And now that the entire state of Michigan is in a free fall, many rumors have been circulating that former Piston and current GM Joe Dumars might be looking at the gubernatorial prize.

Though they were just rumors, Dumars released a statement yesterday denying it.

“I am flattered by and very much appreciate those who strongly believed I would make a formidable candidate and an effective governor for the state. But I am not a politician and do not have plans to run for public office. While I certainly will consider new and different business opportunities that come before me on the business front, my attention now is squarely focused on the Detroit Pistons.

“I love the state of Michigan and am optimistic about its future despite the difficult economic times and immense challenges currently on our doorstep. I wish the best to all the candidates running for important leadership positions in the months ahead.”

Listen, I know that athletes have been successful as politicians in the past. Kevin Johnson, Steve Largent, Jack Kemp…Hell, you can even throw Gerald Ford (a former UM football player) in there.

But can you imagine the public outcry of Joe Dumars making a “Darko Milicic-esque” political mistake? Instead of him trying to bolster the auto industry, he’d end up brokering a deal to make Michigan the center of anime porn (yea, the Darko mistake was that bad…trust me).

And I’m not saying that Dumars’ isn’t a shrewd businessman. The man is responsible for swindling Danny Ainge and the entire Hawks organization into giving him Rasheed Wallace for a championship belt to be named later. But running a state isn’t like running a basketball team….

Its not like any Joe Schmo off the street can do it. I mean, maybe if Dumars starred in the “Predator” he might have been able to pull it off…just saying.