Well I hope that everyone had an outstanding Holiday Weekend…Where do I start this morning…..
Let’s go local to begin things:
1. We are almost a week into the free agency period and still nothing on Paul Millsap. We’ve gone from 5 teams interested to Oklahoma City and the Jazz. But how interested are the Thunder? I’ve monitored closely everything going on over the weekend on the NBA Free Agent front and there hasn’t been a peep out there about Paul Millsap. If you are Kevin O’Connor this is great news. What it means is that there is little to no competition out there for Paul Millsap and the Jazz won’t likely have to pay an outragous price tag for Millsap. It’s not great news if you are Paul Millsap. The good news is that Millsap will be making a lot more than his $797K that he made last year, but the bad news is that he will likely be in the $7.5 to $8 million dollar range instead of the $9 to $10 million range. Now the question simply becomes when do the offers come for Mr. Millsap? Stay tuned!!!
2. While there hasn’t been much Millsap news, there has been a bunch of Carlos Boozer trade talk in the papers and on the blogs. Of all the scenarios I like the idea of Boozer to Detroit from Rip Hamilton. The salary issue with Hamilton 3 years and $37 million doesn’t bother me. He’s an all star caliber player, a good guy and someone that would fit ideally in the Jazz system and the backcourt with Deron Williams. Whether the Jazz actually pull the trigger on a deal that makes sense remains to be seen.
3. I read Jay Drew’s article on the BYU/Oklahoma football game in the Trib this morning. My only question is why is the alcohol angle being played up so big? I know that we are in Utah and the LDS culture finds alcohol consumption to be taboo, but seriously….This game isn’t being played in Provo or on a college campus. This isn’t the first time that BYU has played a football or basketball game in a venue where alcohol is being served and no one is being forced to drink, so why is it even an issue???? What I found much more interesting was the fact that OU was getting a ton more money and perks at the game itself…
4. RSL managed a draw over the weekend against San Jose. It wasn’t there best effort in recent weeks, but getting a point despite being down a goal and a man late in the match was a moral victory for Real. The one issue that is a bit troubling is the high number of “red cards” that have been issued this year. And the reason for the “reds”, which has been mainly mental meltdowns. I will be very interested to see how Jason Kreis and his staff address this issue moving forward.
Now for some other random stuff from the weekend…
1. Kudos to Roger Federer for becoming the winningest player in Grand Slam Tennis History with his epic 5 set win yesterday over Andy Roddick. Almost 9 years ago when working in Jacksonville, Florida some friends of mine from the ATP Tour were telling me about this young guy from Switerland that had the chance to become the best all around player in Tennis History. I was skeptical at the time, but I guess they were right. For me it’s hard to compare eras in any sport, because of advances in technology and training. But at this point at age 27 and 15 Grand Slams already in hand, it’s hard to imagine that Federer isn’t the BEST!!
2. Steve McNair was murdered over the weekend. Very surreal to be sure…This is a guy that I’ve interviews a number of times and covered many times when working in Jacksonville, Florida. He was in my mind one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever seen in the NFL. He took a physical pounding and continued to play week after week. He’s also a guy that got it done year after year without much of a supporting cast and came up just 1 yard short of NFL immortality in the 1999 Super Bowl.
If Dyson gets in to the end zone, does McNair get into the Hall of Fame? Hard to say, but he was truly one of the greats that I saw play the game.
