The Bash ended Sunday night with Randy Orton successfully defending his WWE Title, just as I predicted. The Bash did have a few surprises though. Kane returned and beat Kahli's ass. Edge and Y2J left with the Tag titles. The biggest surprise was Cena beating Miz, I mean who saw that coming. The ppv left a few questions going into Raw. I am looking forward to a great show tonight. For the first time ever, I am doing the blog LIVE as Raw happens. Enjoy.
BBSD already had the results of the ppv on the homepage on Monday so there is no need to break it down. All I can say is that the show was entertaining. Punk kept his character teetering on good guy bad guy. Jericho and Rey ended their feud in fantastic form. Dreamer, yes Tommy Dreamer, held on to the ECW title. Raw's champ after the Bash is still Randy Orton. Oh and if you read my prediction blog, I didn't do so well. You win some and lose some.
Raw is live from San Jose, Cali. First out is the Chairman of the Board Vince McMahon. He announces a huge 15 superstar trade between all 3 brands. That sounds like something we need to know about! VKM has a guest host, his name is Dave Batista. Out comes the Animal. He still has his arm wrapped up after having surgery. I guess Randy isn't going to have a good night. He announces a 4 man tournament and the winner faces Orton at the next pay per view, Night of Champions. MVP vs HHH and Miz vs Cena. The WWE champion Randy Orton is out with Legacy. Now this is the way a show is suppose to open up with the champ. Batista says he can "fire" Orton and Legacy because Vince gave him unlimited power. Batista starts talking about the trade that Trump made. Orton is going to wrestle 3 of those men who were traded to Raw in a Gauntlet match. I love the opener. The WWE never announced who was traded, which is something to look forward to during the telecast. HHH vs MVP is announced next.
We return from the break with pictures of the 3 stages of hell match at the Bash. Lilian announces the first match of the tournament. By the way, a little info, Lilian is leaving the WWE when her contract runs up. I guess she is getting married to one lucky bastard and wants to start a family. She has been one of the best in ring announcers the WWE has ever had. Plus she is really hot. Out comes the Game. The pop for MVP is not a big one. He is a popular superstar but putting him up against HHH is kind of strange. 2 faces going at it. I think they could have put someone else in the match against HHH, maybe Big Show. MVP goes after HHH's left leg which was the focal point of Orton's attack at the Bash, good strategy. I like it when a wrestler takes a beating and has battle wounds instead of being completely healthy after a beat down the night before. MVP is actually getting booed. Triple H gets dominated in the match but somehow hits the pedigree and wins the match. Now he has to face either Miz or Cena. Oh should I just say he will face Cena next week. Nice match but what does it do for MVP? Nothing.
The unified tag champs are here tonight. The Colons are invoking their rematch clause. How great is it that Edge and Jericho, two of the biggest stars in the WWE, are on all 3 shows? Edge and Jericho talk. I think y2j is reading the dictionary at night before bed because he used a bunch of words I could never spell. I sure hope the Colons aren't buried now that they do not hold the tag titles. Wait, they were not showcased before with the belts. Faces have the upper hand going into a commercial break. Jericho in control now. Lawler says Edge and Christian instead of Jericho. Well they are both blonds I guess. Michael Cole is on his game tonight. Jericho yells at Primo and says that's classic Jericho. What the hell does that mean? Jericho goes for the Lionsault. Carlito moves and does the moonsault off the ropes. Cool spot there. Backstabber on Edge, but Jericho breaks the pin up. Spear by Edge and pin fall. Primo and Carlito argue in the ring afterward. A fun match to watch. I'm enjoying the show so far.
A video package is run of the history between Cena and Miz. Cena has been in the WWE for 7 years now. The WWE video packages are as good if not better than anyone else in the business. Miz vs Cena next. Cena with a good pop tonight. Miz comes out firing. Its worth noting that Cole and Lawler were talking about how Miz can't back up his words. Hard to do that when you have him lose in matches he must win to establish his character!!! Damn. Miz with the momentum heading into the commercial break. I am going to say this before Raw comes back on, Cena will win...again. Just letting you know, everyone watching Raw right now should be saying the same thing. The WWE is way to predictable with Cena. He has lost 1 big match all year long. The only big match he lost was to Edge and only because Big Show came out and cost him the match at Backlash. Ok Raw is back. Here comes the heroic comeback for John Cena. Miz dominates for 15 minutes and then Cena hits 4 moves and wins. WWE tried to make Miz look good but in the end, hes 0-2 against Cena. HHH vs Cena next week for a shot against Orton. Please WWE give us Cena vs Orton. I don't want to see Triple H and Orton again. Or somehow screw both men and have a triple threat match with Cena Orton and HHH. Do anything to change it up!
Ohhh yeah. If you haven't checked out the Macho Man DVD set, you should. Randy Savage was an awesome wrestler and a fun character. He was one of the best in ring performers ever. Dig it!
A number 1 contenders match for the Diva's championship with Kelly Kelly vs Mickie James. Lawler is way off tonight he called Cole, JR. The women have him flustered. Is it just me or is Maryse getting hotter every week? My god. I hope she reads this. Email me baby, mccall316@yahoo.com! I thought it was just a one on one match, but Raw comes back with Beth and Rosa are in the ring as well. A fatal four way match going on. Mickie James used a dragon sleeper. While she has that hold on Rosa puts a sleeper on Mickie and Kelly puts a sleeper on Rosa. Very nice spot with the women. Beth hits her sweet finisher on Kelly. Mickie gets Beth out of the ring. Rosa takes the Mickie DDT and picks up the victory. Mickie vs Maryse at Night of Champions. I am looking forward to this match. Yes a women's match to be excited about. Mickie can wrestle. I found out in this match that Rosa needs some improvement.
2 men not showcased on The Bash, Big Show vs Kofi. At least this might have legs for a new feud for Big Show. The match wasn't bad. The feud might go on now. The match ended on a double countout.
Next week Ted Dibiase the Million Dollar Man will be in charge. That's pretty sweet considering he can talk and is a face most fans will know. Raw has had a few backstage promos with Legacy. It seems there is a small riff between Dibiase and Orton. Maybe daddy Dibiase will make that a match. Hell yes!!! Evan Bourne is now on Raw! He is Orton's first opponent. Evan is a huge up and comer in the WWE. Had Evan stayed on ECW, he should have been ECW champ by the end of the year. Now, he should go after the US title on Raw. That is a great name to join the Raw brand. I went to an indy wrestling show this past Saturday night. Evan's brother was one of the wrestlers at the event. He showed some promise even with a bad opponent, maybe someday he will join his bro on the big stage. Evan got to showcase some of his talent against the best Raw has to offer. Evan went for the Shooting Star Press, but Orton countered. RKO off the 2nd rope. Orton 1 and 0. Jack Swagger is the next man out. ECW loses 2 huge talented guys. I hope they are getting something in return. If you don't know Swagger, hes a former ECW champ. He is a good in ring performer. Not the best on the mic but can work on it. Swagger is on the apron and just stands there and gets counted out. What the hell? He gets a mic and says he likes Orton and wanted to leave a good impression. Uh yeah that really made sense. Dude you make a bigger impression by giving the champ a battle. Mark freakin Henry is the final opponent. Ok, ECW had a scramble match last night and lost 2 of the opponents in that match. Henry grabs the mic and says he likes Orton and respects him. Henry goes on to say he wants to leave an good first impression. He locks up with Orton and throws him down. He sits on the apron for a few seconds but comes back in the ring. Henry actually gets a pop for coming back in the ring. It might be the first time in years Mark wasn't booed out of the arena. The audience hates Orton that much. Randy is also selling his injuries from last night. World's strongest slam on Randy. He gets the victory. Are you kidding me? Mark Henry just pinned the WWE champion. I don't care for that so much. The crowd actually got behind Mark Henry. I am in complete shock.
We have Triple H vs Cena to look forward to next week. WWE will be in Australia next Monday so they are taping a double show tonight. Raw will be taped right after this weeks episode. I usually read spoilers but I won't for Raw because it will effect my writing. Hope you enjoyed the live blog. Be sure to check out my buddy, John's blog on the NBA all decade team. I am going to take the rest of the week off after writing 4 blogs last week. See ya next week for another Raw blog. Thanks for reading.
J Call
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
The Bash Predictions
Yes I know what you are thinking, another double header for J Call. You gotta love it baby. WOOO! The WWE has set up a nice pay per view coming up this Sunday at The Bash. This may not be a better ppv than Extreme Rules but it has to be better than Judgement Day. The card is not quite finalized but I read the spoilers for Smackdown so I have the full card. Time to look into my crystal ball and tell you what the WWE is going to do this Sunday at The Bash.
Womens Title
Michelle McCool vs Melina (c). Melina walks into the Bash as the WWE womens champ. She has had the title for quite sometime. Michelle is a solid wrestler and I like this match up. WWE is doing a good job on Smackdown with their Divas, I cant say the same for Raw. Michelle has a chance to become the first ever woman to hold both the Diva and Women title. I dont think thats happening Sunday. Melina wins in a solid contest.
Unified Tag Titles
The Colons (c) vs Legacy. I guess Rhodes and DiBiase are not Priceless any longer. This feud has not been built up enough. They had nice contests the last 2 weeks. There have not been any backstage videos nor interviews. I love tag matches but hardly any story to this match. I have said it for 2 weeks, give the belts to Legacy. If you have read my other ppv blogs, I rarely get what I want. This time, I do. Legacy wins the tag titles.
Scramble Match for the ECW Title
Tommy Dreamer (c) vs Mark Henry vs Christian vs Swagger vs Finlay. I have been reading reports that the WWE has not enjoyed having Dreamer as champ. They dont believe he is over with the fans. Well when a wrestler hardly ever wins matches and is buried for five years what do you think the fans are going to believe? My head hurts trying to think about how the WWE writers think. Dreamer deserves to keep the belt. Will the WWE be patient? Swagger gets the ECW belt back.
IC Title vs Mask
Y2J Chris Jericho (c) vs Rey Mysterio. I told you this was going to happen back at Extreme Rules. I believe this will be the final match with Jericho and Rey. This feud has been great. No chance Rey loses his mask. He had it happen to him in WCW and he wasnt happy about it. The mask is his life, career, and legacy. Rey gets the IC title back.
Singles Match
John Cena vs The Miz. Finally! I have watched Miz run his mouth for weeks. Now it is the time to put up or shut up. The Miz has been dominating this feud, just like Show. Miz got the upper hand on the Raw before the ppv, just like Show. Cena beat Show in every ppv match. I want to believe the WWE will give the Miz the push. I just can't see it. Cena wins at the Bash.
World Heavyweight Championship
CM Punk (c) vs Jeff Hardy. CM Punk still isnt a heel, but he isnt a face either. I like this stage of evolving character. Jeff Hardy deserves the World Title, but so does Punk. He has to become a major player in the WWE and on Smackdown. Punk and Hardy will have more matches over the summer. This will be fun and entertaining. Punk will win by cheating and turn full fledge heel.
WWE Title Match
3 Stages of Hell
Randy Orton (c) vs HHH. I am trying to focus so hard on my crystal ball to get the winner of this match. Not only will I give you the winner of the match but each stage. The first fall is a regular match. As I said on the Raw blog this match has only happened once. 2001 No Way Out HHH vs Stone Cold. The first fall in that match was a regular match. HHH said back then he would break Austin's spirit in the 1st fall. He failed. Austin won the first fall. This time, HHH will win the first fall. The 2nd fall is a falls count anywhere. I can bet this match gets brutal. For the love of god, give me some blood in the match! This part of hell will look and feel a lot like the last man standing match on Raw. HHH will win this fall and even the score at 1 a piece. 3rd and final fall is a stretcher match. This is where it gets hazy. I know I have to make a choice. I can see why HHH should be champion. I can see why Orton should be the champ. Orton needs it more. Orton wins the stretcher match and keeps the title.
The Bash will finish with all 3 members of Legacy holding a belt. I hope Raw starts some new story lines. The WWE needs to change up the WWE title situation. I want to see more than just HHH, Batista, and Orton in main events. By the way where the hell is the US champ Kofi on this card. Should be a fun ppv this Sunday. Thanks for reading.
J Call
Womens Title
Michelle McCool vs Melina (c). Melina walks into the Bash as the WWE womens champ. She has had the title for quite sometime. Michelle is a solid wrestler and I like this match up. WWE is doing a good job on Smackdown with their Divas, I cant say the same for Raw. Michelle has a chance to become the first ever woman to hold both the Diva and Women title. I dont think thats happening Sunday. Melina wins in a solid contest.
Unified Tag Titles
The Colons (c) vs Legacy. I guess Rhodes and DiBiase are not Priceless any longer. This feud has not been built up enough. They had nice contests the last 2 weeks. There have not been any backstage videos nor interviews. I love tag matches but hardly any story to this match. I have said it for 2 weeks, give the belts to Legacy. If you have read my other ppv blogs, I rarely get what I want. This time, I do. Legacy wins the tag titles.
Scramble Match for the ECW Title
Tommy Dreamer (c) vs Mark Henry vs Christian vs Swagger vs Finlay. I have been reading reports that the WWE has not enjoyed having Dreamer as champ. They dont believe he is over with the fans. Well when a wrestler hardly ever wins matches and is buried for five years what do you think the fans are going to believe? My head hurts trying to think about how the WWE writers think. Dreamer deserves to keep the belt. Will the WWE be patient? Swagger gets the ECW belt back.
IC Title vs Mask
Y2J Chris Jericho (c) vs Rey Mysterio. I told you this was going to happen back at Extreme Rules. I believe this will be the final match with Jericho and Rey. This feud has been great. No chance Rey loses his mask. He had it happen to him in WCW and he wasnt happy about it. The mask is his life, career, and legacy. Rey gets the IC title back.
Singles Match
John Cena vs The Miz. Finally! I have watched Miz run his mouth for weeks. Now it is the time to put up or shut up. The Miz has been dominating this feud, just like Show. Miz got the upper hand on the Raw before the ppv, just like Show. Cena beat Show in every ppv match. I want to believe the WWE will give the Miz the push. I just can't see it. Cena wins at the Bash.
World Heavyweight Championship
CM Punk (c) vs Jeff Hardy. CM Punk still isnt a heel, but he isnt a face either. I like this stage of evolving character. Jeff Hardy deserves the World Title, but so does Punk. He has to become a major player in the WWE and on Smackdown. Punk and Hardy will have more matches over the summer. This will be fun and entertaining. Punk will win by cheating and turn full fledge heel.
WWE Title Match
3 Stages of Hell
Randy Orton (c) vs HHH. I am trying to focus so hard on my crystal ball to get the winner of this match. Not only will I give you the winner of the match but each stage. The first fall is a regular match. As I said on the Raw blog this match has only happened once. 2001 No Way Out HHH vs Stone Cold. The first fall in that match was a regular match. HHH said back then he would break Austin's spirit in the 1st fall. He failed. Austin won the first fall. This time, HHH will win the first fall. The 2nd fall is a falls count anywhere. I can bet this match gets brutal. For the love of god, give me some blood in the match! This part of hell will look and feel a lot like the last man standing match on Raw. HHH will win this fall and even the score at 1 a piece. 3rd and final fall is a stretcher match. This is where it gets hazy. I know I have to make a choice. I can see why HHH should be champion. I can see why Orton should be the champ. Orton needs it more. Orton wins the stretcher match and keeps the title.
The Bash will finish with all 3 members of Legacy holding a belt. I hope Raw starts some new story lines. The WWE needs to change up the WWE title situation. I want to see more than just HHH, Batista, and Orton in main events. By the way where the hell is the US champ Kofi on this card. Should be a fun ppv this Sunday. Thanks for reading.
J Call
Thursday, June 25, 2009
NBA Draft Breakdown
The NBA draft was last night. In case you missed it, my boy Blake Griffin went first. He is going to be a great player...when he leaves the Clippers in 3 years. Its hard to praise the worst franchise in the NBA. I also have to talk about some of the blockbuster deals going down but that's after the draft. The 1st pick was a given but after that, there were some head scratchers. Time for a breakdown of the top 10 picks.
1. LA Clippers: Blake Griffin, PF. Oklahoma. Ok this was the easiest pick of the night. As I said, it is hard to give some props to Donald Sterling. All I can say is, great job not trading the pick away. Now if only they could find someone to take Zach Randolphs terrible contract, they might have a decent team. But I doubt that.
2. Memphis Grizz: Hasheem Thabeet, C. Connecticut. This pick makes sense. I don't care much for Thabeet because he has no offensive skills, yet. He is going to help out on the defensive side though. Thabeet reminds me of Diekembe or even Greg Oden. Thabeet is a work in process.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder: James Harden, SG. Arizona St. Here is where I start the 2nd guessing. James Harden had 19 points in two games in the NCAA tournament. Yes I know you cant judge a guy by 2 games. But that is when you must play your best ball. Oh and he only made 3 field goals in those 2 games. I understand why you don't pick Rubio because you have Westbrook. What about Tyreke Evans instead? OKC could not move up and get Blake but I did not understand Harden.
4. Sacramento Kings: Tyreke Evans, SG. Memphis. As I said I would have rather seen this guy go to OKC. To bad the Kings did not need this guy either. Here's how it went down in the board room. Scout Guy 1 "I think we should take Rubio. We need a franchise pg who can lead our young core." Maloofs "I don't think that is a good idea. We can not afford to buy out his contract. Plus we have Beno Udrith. I think we should take another shooting guard because Kevin Martin and Rashard McCants isn't enough. Lets go with Tyreke." Well something like that. Yeah Beno freakin Udrith. Hes a future all star with plenty of potential. Come on now!! Isn't there a pill to take for gas called Beno? I needed one after this pick.
5. Minnesota T'Wolves: Ricky Rubio, PG. Spain. I love this pick for the T'wolves. Ricky is going to cost them some money to get him over to the US. He has great potential. Sac will regret not taking him when they select in the top 10 again and pick a point guard.
6. Minnesota T'Wolves: Jonny Flynn, PG. Syracuse. I loved the pick they got from Washington at 5. Why would you take back to back point guards? They need some back up in the front court. They even took Lawson with the 18th pick. They ended up trading Ty Lawson away. The better choice would have been Jordan Hill. He would have been a nice addition at the power forward spot backing up Kevin Love and Al Jefferson. Right now, Brian Cardinal, Mark Madsen, and Shelden Williams are not getting it done off the bench.
7. Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry, PG. Davidson. Yes, yes, yes! He fits perfect in the Don Nelson fun and gun offense. I cant argue at all in this pick. The kid is a star in the making. Now hes in the perfect system to jump start his career.
8. New York Knicks: Jordan Hill, PF. Arizona. Hard to argue this as well. Hill is a solid addition to a team in dire need of depth at every position. I hope they keep David "double double" Lee. If they do, these 2 will make a nice combo. Hill is small but D'Antoni does not love size in centers. The Knicks finally do something right. I guess now with Isiah Thomas out of the way, the Knicks might start to get better.
9. Toronto Raptors: DeMar DeRozan, SG. USC. He isn't OJ Mayo but he has potential. The Raptors depth is terrible at shooting guard. Anthony Parker and Jason Kapono are not starting material. DeRozan can step in and play with Calderon, Bosh, and Bargnani. I do not see them resigning Marion Barber because they want to save cap for next year and give Bosh every penny he deserves. If they can keep Bosh, the Raptors can become a basement dweller to playoff picture.
10. Milwaukee Bucks: Brandon Jennings, PG. Italy. I have to say, I have not seen anything of this kid. He is young and raw from what I can tell. He is only 19 years old. The Bucks have Luke Ridnour and Ramon Sessions at the point right now. This pick makes sense if Jennings comes over right away. The Bucks need to resign Sessions as well.
Ok there were some big trades that happened right before the Draft and during it. Since I was just talking about the Bucks..
The Milwaukee Bucks traded away Richard Jefferson to the Spurs for Oberto, Kurt Thomas, and Bruce Bowen. I'm a Spurs fan so what do you think I did when I heard about this trade? I would have done cartwheels if I could do cartwheels. It hurts to lose Bowen but he might get bought out and come back to the Spurs. With Jefferson, Manu, Parker, and Duncan this team has opened the Championship window for another two years. Meanwhile, the Bucks start the rebuilding process.
The Washington Wizards traded the 5th pick plus 3 crappy players or as my brother would say a poo poo platter for Randy Foye and Mike Miller. The Wiz pass up a chance to land Rubio and elect to go with Foye as the back up plan to Agent 0 Gilbert Arenas. Mike Miller is an expiring contract so they will save money in next years free agent extravaganza. The T'Wolves get nobody worth mentioning and Rubio with that 5th pick.
Atl Hawks traded Acie Law and Speedy Claxton to Golden State for Jamal Crawford. Atlanta gets a good shooting guard without giving up anything. Acie Law is a nice backup pg with some potential. He will play well for Nelson. Speedy Claxton has not been relevant since 2003 when he was with the Spurs. As a whole trade I like it a lot more for Atlanta than Golden State.
BBSD already hit on the Shaq trade. Shaq is headed for Cleveland for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic. Suns get rid of a monster 21 million off the cap. The Cavs get a big man they needed in the playoffs. Shaq is way past his prime. I would have rather seen Amare go to Cleveland than Shaq. But it does help Cleveland. Wallace is thinking about retiring which would save even more money for the Suns.
Last one, the Nets send Vince Carter to Orl for Rafer Alston, Tony Battie, and Courtney Lee. Alston was only in Orlando while Jameer Nelson was hurt. He served a purpose and now he will do the same in New Jersey. Meanwhile, forget about Turkoglu coming back now. I don't see how they can afford to keep Nelson, Lewis, Howard and Turk. If they can, Orlando has a good chance of getting back to the Finals. Orlando should have kept Lee but I understand why the Nets wanted him part of the deal.
The draft was fun, exciting and had some big headlines. I look forward to the free agent market opening up in July. I can't see this is the end of the trades either. Looks like it is going to be a fun filled summer in the NBA.
J Call
1. LA Clippers: Blake Griffin, PF. Oklahoma. Ok this was the easiest pick of the night. As I said, it is hard to give some props to Donald Sterling. All I can say is, great job not trading the pick away. Now if only they could find someone to take Zach Randolphs terrible contract, they might have a decent team. But I doubt that.
2. Memphis Grizz: Hasheem Thabeet, C. Connecticut. This pick makes sense. I don't care much for Thabeet because he has no offensive skills, yet. He is going to help out on the defensive side though. Thabeet reminds me of Diekembe or even Greg Oden. Thabeet is a work in process.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder: James Harden, SG. Arizona St. Here is where I start the 2nd guessing. James Harden had 19 points in two games in the NCAA tournament. Yes I know you cant judge a guy by 2 games. But that is when you must play your best ball. Oh and he only made 3 field goals in those 2 games. I understand why you don't pick Rubio because you have Westbrook. What about Tyreke Evans instead? OKC could not move up and get Blake but I did not understand Harden.
4. Sacramento Kings: Tyreke Evans, SG. Memphis. As I said I would have rather seen this guy go to OKC. To bad the Kings did not need this guy either. Here's how it went down in the board room. Scout Guy 1 "I think we should take Rubio. We need a franchise pg who can lead our young core." Maloofs "I don't think that is a good idea. We can not afford to buy out his contract. Plus we have Beno Udrith. I think we should take another shooting guard because Kevin Martin and Rashard McCants isn't enough. Lets go with Tyreke." Well something like that. Yeah Beno freakin Udrith. Hes a future all star with plenty of potential. Come on now!! Isn't there a pill to take for gas called Beno? I needed one after this pick.
5. Minnesota T'Wolves: Ricky Rubio, PG. Spain. I love this pick for the T'wolves. Ricky is going to cost them some money to get him over to the US. He has great potential. Sac will regret not taking him when they select in the top 10 again and pick a point guard.
6. Minnesota T'Wolves: Jonny Flynn, PG. Syracuse. I loved the pick they got from Washington at 5. Why would you take back to back point guards? They need some back up in the front court. They even took Lawson with the 18th pick. They ended up trading Ty Lawson away. The better choice would have been Jordan Hill. He would have been a nice addition at the power forward spot backing up Kevin Love and Al Jefferson. Right now, Brian Cardinal, Mark Madsen, and Shelden Williams are not getting it done off the bench.
7. Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry, PG. Davidson. Yes, yes, yes! He fits perfect in the Don Nelson fun and gun offense. I cant argue at all in this pick. The kid is a star in the making. Now hes in the perfect system to jump start his career.
8. New York Knicks: Jordan Hill, PF. Arizona. Hard to argue this as well. Hill is a solid addition to a team in dire need of depth at every position. I hope they keep David "double double" Lee. If they do, these 2 will make a nice combo. Hill is small but D'Antoni does not love size in centers. The Knicks finally do something right. I guess now with Isiah Thomas out of the way, the Knicks might start to get better.
9. Toronto Raptors: DeMar DeRozan, SG. USC. He isn't OJ Mayo but he has potential. The Raptors depth is terrible at shooting guard. Anthony Parker and Jason Kapono are not starting material. DeRozan can step in and play with Calderon, Bosh, and Bargnani. I do not see them resigning Marion Barber because they want to save cap for next year and give Bosh every penny he deserves. If they can keep Bosh, the Raptors can become a basement dweller to playoff picture.
10. Milwaukee Bucks: Brandon Jennings, PG. Italy. I have to say, I have not seen anything of this kid. He is young and raw from what I can tell. He is only 19 years old. The Bucks have Luke Ridnour and Ramon Sessions at the point right now. This pick makes sense if Jennings comes over right away. The Bucks need to resign Sessions as well.
Ok there were some big trades that happened right before the Draft and during it. Since I was just talking about the Bucks..
The Milwaukee Bucks traded away Richard Jefferson to the Spurs for Oberto, Kurt Thomas, and Bruce Bowen. I'm a Spurs fan so what do you think I did when I heard about this trade? I would have done cartwheels if I could do cartwheels. It hurts to lose Bowen but he might get bought out and come back to the Spurs. With Jefferson, Manu, Parker, and Duncan this team has opened the Championship window for another two years. Meanwhile, the Bucks start the rebuilding process.
The Washington Wizards traded the 5th pick plus 3 crappy players or as my brother would say a poo poo platter for Randy Foye and Mike Miller. The Wiz pass up a chance to land Rubio and elect to go with Foye as the back up plan to Agent 0 Gilbert Arenas. Mike Miller is an expiring contract so they will save money in next years free agent extravaganza. The T'Wolves get nobody worth mentioning and Rubio with that 5th pick.
Atl Hawks traded Acie Law and Speedy Claxton to Golden State for Jamal Crawford. Atlanta gets a good shooting guard without giving up anything. Acie Law is a nice backup pg with some potential. He will play well for Nelson. Speedy Claxton has not been relevant since 2003 when he was with the Spurs. As a whole trade I like it a lot more for Atlanta than Golden State.
BBSD already hit on the Shaq trade. Shaq is headed for Cleveland for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic. Suns get rid of a monster 21 million off the cap. The Cavs get a big man they needed in the playoffs. Shaq is way past his prime. I would have rather seen Amare go to Cleveland than Shaq. But it does help Cleveland. Wallace is thinking about retiring which would save even more money for the Suns.
Last one, the Nets send Vince Carter to Orl for Rafer Alston, Tony Battie, and Courtney Lee. Alston was only in Orlando while Jameer Nelson was hurt. He served a purpose and now he will do the same in New Jersey. Meanwhile, forget about Turkoglu coming back now. I don't see how they can afford to keep Nelson, Lewis, Howard and Turk. If they can, Orlando has a good chance of getting back to the Finals. Orlando should have kept Lee but I understand why the Nets wanted him part of the deal.
The draft was fun, exciting and had some big headlines. I look forward to the free agent market opening up in July. I can't see this is the end of the trades either. Looks like it is going to be a fun filled summer in the NBA.
J Call
Monday, June 22, 2009
Commercial Free Raw
I am pulling a double header tonight baby! For the first time ever in Raw's long history it is presented commercial free. It is all thanks in part of the new Raw owner, Mr. Donald Trump. I am still a little skeptical on him being an owner. The first night should give us a good idea of what the Donald will do with his new investment. Did it win this writer over or fail worse than Mr. McMahon "dying" on Raw? Lets find out:
Raw starts with a rundown of last weeks program. The pyro goes on and out comes the new "owner" Donald Trump. He welcomes us to a new era of Monday Night Raw. Wow Donald is giving every fan in the building a full refund. Crazy! I guess he is gonna be a popular guy in Green Bay. Another man who is popular comes out, Larry's boy, John Cena. He has a match vs The Big Show. I hope its not exactly like every other match they ever had. He rolls a tape of The Miz. I don't mind Miz but can we just get to Miz vs Cena. Miz arrives on the scene. Huge you suck chants towards the Miz. Always have to love the crowd getting into the show. Cena announces Cena vs Miz at the Bash. Thank you Cena. Cena goes on for a while longer. He makes some good points. Miz takes a cheap shot and then runs away. This was a good opener for the show. Im glad Cena and Miz are gonna go at it. Off to a decent start.
Smackdown's announcer team is there as well. Jeff Hardy out now. I guess the writers wanted 2 of the biggest stars of the WWE start the show. First Cena, then Jeff Hardy. 6 man tag. Hardy Kahli, ugh, and Rey vs. Y2J, Ziggler and EDGE!!!!! Woohoo!!! Ok now Im excited. I do not get MyNetwork on my cable system so I watch Smackdown on my laptop through hulu.com. I am always excited to see Smackdown wrestlers on Raw. Punk out to do commentary. The match starts off with some high flying action. First Hardy on all 3 then Rey. Kahli climbs up but is stopped before he can take a leap. The match was very exciting. The bad guys hit some of their finishers but in the end Hardy wins. This match helped every feud going on on Smackdown.
So far Raw's in ring action has been great. Backstage segments have been ok. Trump fired Santina. THANK YOU DONALD!!!
Tag champs out next. Wow WWE gave Carlito and Primo microphones. What? Priceless out next. I must have missed something because they have new music. I didn't notice that last week. Primo vs Rhodes. Tag teams getting some time to develop this feud. The match could have gone a few more mins. Rhodes cheats and grabs the tights to win. Give Legacy the tag belts!
The Last Man Standing match is next. They have a very cool Orton HHH video before it to hype it up some more. I actually did some homework this weekend. I told you last week that these 2 men have had 2 other LMS matches. I decided to watch them both. The 2007 No Mercy match was a quality match. Both men used the announcers table and ringside area. The ending was Orton giving Triple H an RKO on the announcers table. The 2008 Extreme Rules LSM was good but couldnt be great. Before Orton broke his collarbone going over the top rope, the match was well done. Both matches had similarities but also mixed it up. I wondered how the Raw LSM match was going to be different. HHH starts off this match quickly. Again the two men use the ringside area well, even going into the stands. HHH focused on the shoulder while Orton focused on HHH knee. A sweet RKO on the announcer's table. But HHH got up. Orton backed drop on the same table. Again Orton got up. The action spilled up the rampway. Close encounters as the battle worked its way towards the stands again. Triple H ran over some poor bastard with a ladder when Orton ducked. Pretty funny stuff there. Pedigree on the entrance way. Both men couldn't get to their feet. Another Last Man Standing Match ending in a draw. A fantastic match. But...
I hate to say this but I don't care for the WWE pg programming. If this was 4 years ago we would have saw blood. In a match where a chair was used, a TV monitor, the steal steps, and the ring post, someone should have been cut open. Just pisses me off. Plus we hear no1 say 'I'm gonna kick your ass'! Instead we get long promos where wrestlers tell each other to shut up or I'll make you. It just makes wrestlers look weak. I would love for them to go back to be a little more edgier.
Trump out in the ring promo. Trump says he will not use a gm. He says he will use a celebrity to run Raw each week. Out comes the boss Mr. McMahon. They showed a few backstage skits with Vince. He hadn't been having a very good night. Vince wants to buy back Raw. I guess this isn't going to last very long. Trump ends up selling Raw back to Vince for double the money. Well Vince is in charge again I guess. So how was this suppose to help Raw? Trump shows up for 1 week and makes headlines all over the world. In one week its over. Awesome! Pardon me, but this is just f'n stupid. I wanted to see this last a few months or so. This did nothing for Raw because now we are either getting Vince as GM or he elects one. Back to square one.
Vince and Orton backstage. Orton asks Vince to have some decency. Yeah that was gonna work. Vince makes 2 out of 3 falls match for the Bash. HHH vs Orton 1st fall regular match. 2nd fall falls count anywhere. If it gets to a 3rd fall, when does it, is a stretcher match. Now theres something to get excited about. 3 stages of Hell match a match only used once ever I remember correctly. Austin vs HHH at No Way Out in 2001. HHH won but the stipulations were different. First fall was regular match. 2nd a street fight. 3rd was a cage match. HHH and Orton had a cage match last year so I guess the writers decided to change it up.
6 diva tag match. Nothing to point out here, Mickie won. Lets get to the main event: Cena vs Show.
Show out first. Cena out with some new Irish green gear. I love Show utilizing the Spear now. He is a huge man and diving at someone with all your might is a great idea. Show also had another cool spot. Lifting Cena up for a powerbomb and dropped him backwards with Cena landing on his head. Slow and methodical match by Big Show. Cena tries to gain momentum a few times. Cena finally hits a big move. His leg drop off the top rope. Show gains it back with a Chokeslam and a splash off the 2nd rope. The finish was wild and crazy. Show won with the help of the Miz. Show looked to choke out Cena. Cena reversed into the STFU. Miz runs down and Cena breaks the hold. Cena gets Show up for an FU but Miz shoves Show on top of Cena. I wonder what will happen at the Bash? Well lets see everytime a heel gets momentum going into a ppv match with Cena, Cena wins.
Raw goes off the air with Triple H attacking Orton in the parking lot. As we fade away, HHH tells Orton this Sunday you are going to hell. Nice ending.
Raw provided a solid show this week. The in ring action was great. The backstage stuff served a purpose. I am really pissed that this Trump story last a whole 7 days. That is just stupid. Overall though it gave fans a great appetizer leading to the Bash. I will have a Bash prediction blog up on Thursday. Be sure to check that out. Also I have a US Open blog up on BBSD. All kinds of stuff happening this week on BBSD.com. Stay tuned. Thanks for reading.
J Call
Raw starts with a rundown of last weeks program. The pyro goes on and out comes the new "owner" Donald Trump. He welcomes us to a new era of Monday Night Raw. Wow Donald is giving every fan in the building a full refund. Crazy! I guess he is gonna be a popular guy in Green Bay. Another man who is popular comes out, Larry's boy, John Cena. He has a match vs The Big Show. I hope its not exactly like every other match they ever had. He rolls a tape of The Miz. I don't mind Miz but can we just get to Miz vs Cena. Miz arrives on the scene. Huge you suck chants towards the Miz. Always have to love the crowd getting into the show. Cena announces Cena vs Miz at the Bash. Thank you Cena. Cena goes on for a while longer. He makes some good points. Miz takes a cheap shot and then runs away. This was a good opener for the show. Im glad Cena and Miz are gonna go at it. Off to a decent start.
Smackdown's announcer team is there as well. Jeff Hardy out now. I guess the writers wanted 2 of the biggest stars of the WWE start the show. First Cena, then Jeff Hardy. 6 man tag. Hardy Kahli, ugh, and Rey vs. Y2J, Ziggler and EDGE!!!!! Woohoo!!! Ok now Im excited. I do not get MyNetwork on my cable system so I watch Smackdown on my laptop through hulu.com. I am always excited to see Smackdown wrestlers on Raw. Punk out to do commentary. The match starts off with some high flying action. First Hardy on all 3 then Rey. Kahli climbs up but is stopped before he can take a leap. The match was very exciting. The bad guys hit some of their finishers but in the end Hardy wins. This match helped every feud going on on Smackdown.
So far Raw's in ring action has been great. Backstage segments have been ok. Trump fired Santina. THANK YOU DONALD!!!
Tag champs out next. Wow WWE gave Carlito and Primo microphones. What? Priceless out next. I must have missed something because they have new music. I didn't notice that last week. Primo vs Rhodes. Tag teams getting some time to develop this feud. The match could have gone a few more mins. Rhodes cheats and grabs the tights to win. Give Legacy the tag belts!
The Last Man Standing match is next. They have a very cool Orton HHH video before it to hype it up some more. I actually did some homework this weekend. I told you last week that these 2 men have had 2 other LMS matches. I decided to watch them both. The 2007 No Mercy match was a quality match. Both men used the announcers table and ringside area. The ending was Orton giving Triple H an RKO on the announcers table. The 2008 Extreme Rules LSM was good but couldnt be great. Before Orton broke his collarbone going over the top rope, the match was well done. Both matches had similarities but also mixed it up. I wondered how the Raw LSM match was going to be different. HHH starts off this match quickly. Again the two men use the ringside area well, even going into the stands. HHH focused on the shoulder while Orton focused on HHH knee. A sweet RKO on the announcer's table. But HHH got up. Orton backed drop on the same table. Again Orton got up. The action spilled up the rampway. Close encounters as the battle worked its way towards the stands again. Triple H ran over some poor bastard with a ladder when Orton ducked. Pretty funny stuff there. Pedigree on the entrance way. Both men couldn't get to their feet. Another Last Man Standing Match ending in a draw. A fantastic match. But...
I hate to say this but I don't care for the WWE pg programming. If this was 4 years ago we would have saw blood. In a match where a chair was used, a TV monitor, the steal steps, and the ring post, someone should have been cut open. Just pisses me off. Plus we hear no1 say 'I'm gonna kick your ass'! Instead we get long promos where wrestlers tell each other to shut up or I'll make you. It just makes wrestlers look weak. I would love for them to go back to be a little more edgier.
Trump out in the ring promo. Trump says he will not use a gm. He says he will use a celebrity to run Raw each week. Out comes the boss Mr. McMahon. They showed a few backstage skits with Vince. He hadn't been having a very good night. Vince wants to buy back Raw. I guess this isn't going to last very long. Trump ends up selling Raw back to Vince for double the money. Well Vince is in charge again I guess. So how was this suppose to help Raw? Trump shows up for 1 week and makes headlines all over the world. In one week its over. Awesome! Pardon me, but this is just f'n stupid. I wanted to see this last a few months or so. This did nothing for Raw because now we are either getting Vince as GM or he elects one. Back to square one.
Vince and Orton backstage. Orton asks Vince to have some decency. Yeah that was gonna work. Vince makes 2 out of 3 falls match for the Bash. HHH vs Orton 1st fall regular match. 2nd fall falls count anywhere. If it gets to a 3rd fall, when does it, is a stretcher match. Now theres something to get excited about. 3 stages of Hell match a match only used once ever I remember correctly. Austin vs HHH at No Way Out in 2001. HHH won but the stipulations were different. First fall was regular match. 2nd a street fight. 3rd was a cage match. HHH and Orton had a cage match last year so I guess the writers decided to change it up.
6 diva tag match. Nothing to point out here, Mickie won. Lets get to the main event: Cena vs Show.
Show out first. Cena out with some new Irish green gear. I love Show utilizing the Spear now. He is a huge man and diving at someone with all your might is a great idea. Show also had another cool spot. Lifting Cena up for a powerbomb and dropped him backwards with Cena landing on his head. Slow and methodical match by Big Show. Cena tries to gain momentum a few times. Cena finally hits a big move. His leg drop off the top rope. Show gains it back with a Chokeslam and a splash off the 2nd rope. The finish was wild and crazy. Show won with the help of the Miz. Show looked to choke out Cena. Cena reversed into the STFU. Miz runs down and Cena breaks the hold. Cena gets Show up for an FU but Miz shoves Show on top of Cena. I wonder what will happen at the Bash? Well lets see everytime a heel gets momentum going into a ppv match with Cena, Cena wins.
Raw goes off the air with Triple H attacking Orton in the parking lot. As we fade away, HHH tells Orton this Sunday you are going to hell. Nice ending.
Raw provided a solid show this week. The in ring action was great. The backstage stuff served a purpose. I am really pissed that this Trump story last a whole 7 days. That is just stupid. Overall though it gave fans a great appetizer leading to the Bash. I will have a Bash prediction blog up on Thursday. Be sure to check that out. Also I have a US Open blog up on BBSD. All kinds of stuff happening this week on BBSD.com. Stay tuned. Thanks for reading.
J Call
One Long Road Ahead
He walked up to the 18th green. He wasn't going to win and the crowd knew it. They still gave Him a hero's' welcome. The Disney movie script was cancelled. He had so much on his mind but was relieved to have played so well. The crowd tried to will him to victory all weekend. Never the less, He had used this weekend, this course, and the fans as salvation. He knew what was ahead was much tougher than what He had just went through.
The US Open was this past weekend. 3 headlines arose following the event. Lucas Glover (Who?) won for the 2nd time ever in his PGA career. Tiger didn't win. 3rd, the fact that Phil Mickelson played in it and had a chance to win. In case you have been in a cave with no electricity, Phil's wife, Amy has breast cancer. She will be undergoing treatment soon. Phil had pondered the thought of not playing in the US Open. Instead he played well enough to put him in contention to win an event he wants to win more than any other Major Championship. Phil played as if he had nothing to lose. In fact, he didn't. His biggest challenge lies ahead.
Phil will be taking a leave of absence from golf. He already said he will be missing the British Open. Last year at the same time, Tiger was hurt and missed the rest of the season. I am not going to compare Tiger and Phil the golfers, but more on personalities. I am however going to miss Phil more than Tiger. Why? Well first of all I like more story lines in golf than just Tiger vs The Field. I can put myself in Phil's shoes more than Tiger's and it has nothing to do with race. Phil has flaws even on the golf course. Phil is a blue collar type of a person. Phil also shows emotion whether its his huge smile ore complete disgust. Tiger is almost robotic on the course. Tiger only does a fist pump here or an angry swing there. Tiger also rarely ever shows flaws. Don't read this the wrong way I like both guys. I just favor Phil.
I have a huge man crush on Phil Mickelson. I am not afraid to say that. I can remember back at the Masters in 2004, when Phil finally put it all together and won his first major. I sat at home on my couch watching, hoping, and pleading Phil would win. There are only a few sporting events that have made me cry. Yes, I a 25 year old male, will admit I have cried because of a sporting event. I was so wrapped up in Phil and his chase to lose the lovable loser title. On the 18th green, Phil putted to a victory. He leaped in the air like a little kid and the monkey flew off his and his fan's back. He got his green jacket and Amy was there loving every moment of it.
I think that is why I got so captivated. Here was a guy who couldn't win the big one. Phil struggled in every major and his wife stood by his side through it all. Now, the roles are reversed. Phil can't putt to a victory this time. He can only be there for support. I know I speak for everyone at BBSD, when I say we wish Amy a healthy and speedy recovery.
J Call
The US Open was this past weekend. 3 headlines arose following the event. Lucas Glover (Who?) won for the 2nd time ever in his PGA career. Tiger didn't win. 3rd, the fact that Phil Mickelson played in it and had a chance to win. In case you have been in a cave with no electricity, Phil's wife, Amy has breast cancer. She will be undergoing treatment soon. Phil had pondered the thought of not playing in the US Open. Instead he played well enough to put him in contention to win an event he wants to win more than any other Major Championship. Phil played as if he had nothing to lose. In fact, he didn't. His biggest challenge lies ahead.
Phil will be taking a leave of absence from golf. He already said he will be missing the British Open. Last year at the same time, Tiger was hurt and missed the rest of the season. I am not going to compare Tiger and Phil the golfers, but more on personalities. I am however going to miss Phil more than Tiger. Why? Well first of all I like more story lines in golf than just Tiger vs The Field. I can put myself in Phil's shoes more than Tiger's and it has nothing to do with race. Phil has flaws even on the golf course. Phil is a blue collar type of a person. Phil also shows emotion whether its his huge smile ore complete disgust. Tiger is almost robotic on the course. Tiger only does a fist pump here or an angry swing there. Tiger also rarely ever shows flaws. Don't read this the wrong way I like both guys. I just favor Phil.
I have a huge man crush on Phil Mickelson. I am not afraid to say that. I can remember back at the Masters in 2004, when Phil finally put it all together and won his first major. I sat at home on my couch watching, hoping, and pleading Phil would win. There are only a few sporting events that have made me cry. Yes, I a 25 year old male, will admit I have cried because of a sporting event. I was so wrapped up in Phil and his chase to lose the lovable loser title. On the 18th green, Phil putted to a victory. He leaped in the air like a little kid and the monkey flew off his and his fan's back. He got his green jacket and Amy was there loving every moment of it.
I think that is why I got so captivated. Here was a guy who couldn't win the big one. Phil struggled in every major and his wife stood by his side through it all. Now, the roles are reversed. Phil can't putt to a victory this time. He can only be there for support. I know I speak for everyone at BBSD, when I say we wish Amy a healthy and speedy recovery.
J Call
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