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USA Men's Basketball Finalists Named

A list of 20 NBA players was revealed yesterday as candidates for the 2012 Olympics and it is a smorgasbord of top tier talent.  Blake Griffin from the Los Angeles Clippers & LaMarcus Aldridge of the Portland Trail Blazers were added to the pool that included the roster from the gold medal winning Olympic team from 2008 and the roster from the 2010 world champions.  The candidates include a slew of MVPs, all-stars, & NBA champions with Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, & Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat, Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls, Russell Westbrook & Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, Carmelo Anthony & Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks, Chris Paul & Chauncey Billups of the Los Angeles Clippers, Lamar Odom of the Dallas Mavericks, Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets, Eric Gordon of the New Orleans Hornets, Rudy Gay of the Memphis Grizzlies, Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves, & Andre Iguodala of the Philadelphia 76ers.  There will be a final roster of 12 players, with 6 alternates, issued by June 18 and head coach Mike Krzyzewski (also head coach of the Duke Blue Devils) & USA men's basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo will have a heck of a time dwindling it down.  For shits and giggles, here's my personal opinion on who the final 12 & 6 should be...

1 - LeBron James

2 - Dwyane Wade

3 - Kobe Bryant

4 - Derrick Rose

5 - Chris Paul

6 - Kevin Durant

7 - Carmelo Anthony

8 - Dwight Howard

9 - Blake Griffin

10 - Kevin Love

11 - LaMarcus Aldridge

12 - Deron Williams

(Alternates)

1 - Russell Westbrook

2 - Chris Bosh

3 - Rudy Gay

4 - Tyson Chandler

5 - Chauncey Billups

6 - Andre Iguodala

Regardless of their final decisions, this USA men's basketball looks to be dominant and will likely continue their domination of national play.

And This Happened...

Tim Tebow will be the starting QB for the Broncos next year - In a move that should have gone without saying, the Denver Broncos have announced Tim Tebow will be the starting QB next year...at least for training camp.  From what I can gather by this announcement, there's still a chance Tebow could be the back-up at the start of next season should he falter in training camp.  That's ridiculous.  This is a guy who came off the bench and led a 1-4 team to the playoffs, including a win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.  It's about time the Broncos just go ahead and lay all their eggs in one basket and trust Tebow.  The kid can win and he's got more heart than most players.  Let him take the reigns, Denver.

Dwight Howard adds the Los Angeles Clippers to his list of teams he'd accept a trade to - I guess Dwight Howard likes what he sees in Lob City.  With the addition of Chris Paul, the Los Angeles Clippers have established themselves as a place where other players would like to play ball.  Dwight Howard, who requested a trade from the Orlando Magic, has announced he wouldn't mind being traded to the Clippers.  This is significant considering how small Howard's list of acceptable trade destinations is.  Along with the Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, & New Jersey Nets are the only teams Howard would like to be traded to.  Howard is reportedly "intrigued" by the Clippers, who have a 7-3 record to start the season, he apparently likes the idea of playing with all-star PG Chris Paul & all-star PF Blake Griffin.  Can you imagine the amount of alley-oops Howard would get on this team?  He would be an absolutely perfect fit and make the Clippers the immediate favorite to win not just the West, but the NBA championship as well.

Former Super Bowl head coach Mike Martz retires - Mike Martz, who was last seen as the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears has announced his retirement from coaching.  Martz, most famous for spear-heading The Greatest Show on Turf in St. Louis during the early 2000s finishes his career after stints in San Francisco, Detroit, & Chicago as offensive coordinator.  He kicked off his NFL career in St. Louis as offensive coordinator in 1999 which saw a Super Bowl victory for the Rams.  Their offense was ranked number 1 during the season, scoring 526 points, which is the 4th most in NFL history.  The following season, Martz was named head coach of the team.  In 2001 his St. Louis Rams were 14-2 and were led by MVP QB Kurt Warner & Hall of Fame RB Marshall Faulk but ultimately were upset in the Super Bowl by Tom Brady & the New England Patriots.  Since his departure from St. Louis, Martz has had a rocky career, but will always be remembered for being the mastermind behind one of the greatest offensive teams of all-time.

Baylor suffers its first lost & Syracuse remains undefeated - Even though nobody pays attention to NCAA basketball before March, I figure I would toss some news into here because it was a slow day.  Number 3 ranked Baylor Bears were ousted by the number 7 ranked Kansas Jayhawks last night, 92-74.  The loss was Baylor's first of the year as the Jayhawks made a statement and asserted themselves as the studs of the Big 12 conference led by Tyshawn Taylor & Thomas Robinson.  Number 1 ranked Syracuse Orange remained dominant as they defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers 71-63 and continued on their campaign for an undefeated season.  20 straight wins for Syracuse this year, which is good enough for the most consecutive wins to starts a season for the Orange.  Considering NCAA basketball doesn't really get interesting to me until March, it's nice to have something like this to pay attention to.