Larry Brown Sports

Athletes oftentimes lend their name to stuff without knowing the finished product. We realize that. Perhaps Kevin Durant is just a big supporter of the rapper DNA. He may have agreed to record an introduction to one of his songs without knowing what the actual lyrics would be. Either that, or Durant has no problem with his boy taking a shot at Russell Westbrook. In the first 30 seconds of the song “Underrated and Underpaid,” DNA has a line about never passing the ball like Westbrook. Check out the audio that I Am a GM passed along, keeping in mind that some of the lyrics are very NSFW:

The line is somewhat harmless. Unless Westbrook is extremely sensitive, it shouldn’t bother him that much.  The puzzling thing about Durant endorsing the song is that he and Westbrook have admitted to butting heads in the past.  The Thunder stand a much better chance of succeeding if their two superstars can get along, so I’m not sure why Durant would risk straining the relationship even further.  If he didn’t know, that’s one thing.  If he did, the decision warrants at least a little criticism.

Poor Craig Sager. All he was trying to do is grab an interview after the most impressive comeback of the NBA season thus far, and he ran into Kevin Garnett during one of his episodes. The Celtics managed to come back from 27 down on the road to beat the Magic, so you can understand where Garnett’s excitement stemmed from. Kevin may have gotten spit and sweat all over Sager’s tool-bag suit, but that’s what happens after you find yourself on the winning end of a bar fight.

Garnett is a notoriously dirty player in the NBA, but you can’t deny the dude gives some funny interviews when he’s all jacked up. Whether it’s dropping an f-bomb or not letting the reporter get a word out, Garnett creates some entertaining moments.  At least he realized Sager was trying to give an interview and gave him a chance to speak.  Not only that, but he dropped a compliment on him at the end.  What more can you expect?

With each passing day, the situation seems to become more uncomfortable.  At this point, we still don’t know if Peyton Manning will be healthy enough to play football in 2012.  Manning says he has been rehabbing his neck injury and working hard to get back on the field, but he has consistently stopped short of making any promises about playing next season.  What we can see, however, is that it is highly unlikely that he will be a Colt for much longer.

On Monday, Manning was critical of the way Jim Irsay and the Colts’ management have cleaned house within the organization, wondering if he would be the next person to be run out of town.  Irsay responded to those comments on Thursday.  Needless to say, he did not sound happy with his franchise quarterback.

“He’s a politician,” Irsay told the Indy Star. “When it comes to being competitive on a scale of one to 10, 10 being the highest, we’re both 11s. There have been plenty of eggshells scattered around this building by him (Manning) with his competitive desire to win.

“I don’t think it’s in the (best) interest to paint the Horseshoe in a negative light, I really don’t. … The horseshoe always comes first. One thing (Manning has) always known, and he’s been around it so long, you keep it in the family. If you’ve got a problem, talk to each other. It’s not about campaigning or anything like that.”

Read The Rest of the Story…

Ron Artest has been known as one of the better defensive players in the NBA throughout most of his career. Teams bring in Artest — oops, Metta World Peace — to prevent points, not score them. World Peace almost always draws the assignment of defending an opponent’s best offensive player, but this year his defense has slipped a bit. Some say it’s simply age taking its course, but World Peace has a more interesting theory.

“The defense, I got to bring it back,” World Peace said Thursday according to ESPNLosAngeles.com. “I got bored with defense because it was so easy for me to stop people over the years. I got real bored with it. When you’re playing against guys and you’re stopping guys every single time, what else are you going to do (but get bored)? It caught up to me, but this year I’m doing better. This year I’m almost back to where I want to be.”

Hate when that happens.  You would think the Lakers’ mediocre 11-8 record would keep him somewhat interested, and perhaps it has.  World Peace played well defensively during a 96-91 victory over the Clippers Wednesday night.  As far as getting bored is concerned, World Peace’s teammates aren’t upset with him.  In fact, Kobe Bryant can relate.

“That’s happened to me before as well,” Bryants said. “That’s human nature sometimes. You have to have (and) you have to find challenges that kind of get you going and keep your energy. ”

World Peace said that some of the Clippers were talking trash during Wednesday’s game, which woke him up.  The bottom line is the Lakers aren’t exactly breezing through the Western Conference.  If they want to make another run in the postseason this year, they’ll have to do their best to limit the boredom.  Maybe giving World Peace a Red Bull or something before the game would help.

If you were watching the semifinal match between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray at the Australian Open Friday and saw what appeared to be Vlade Divac sitting in Novak’s box, you were not imagining things. That really was Vlade Divac sitting in Novak’s box.

Divac and Djokovic apparently have a relationship (Novak has tweeted a picture of them together) and are both sporting ambassadors for Serbia. Nole is perhaps the country’s most popular athlete; Vlade is the president of the Serbian Olympic committed.

Reports say Vlade was in Australia to discuss some Olympic business in Sydney this week, and he scooted over to Melbourne to watch Novak compete. As strange as you may find it, it’s nothing compared to when P. Diddy was in Nole’s box.

You remember the big to do in November about Yale quarterback Patrick Witt’s decision to play in The Game against rival Harvard over interviewing for a Rhodes scholarship? Apparently the whole thing was a big sham.

The New York Times reports that several days before Witt announced he was choosing to withdraw his candidacy as a Rhodes scholar because the interview conflicted with the Harvard game, his candidacy had been suspended. The Times says the Rhodes Trust learned about an informal sexual assault allegation made against Witt by a female student in September.

Even though Witt knew he was no longer a candidate for the scholarship, he continued to act like he was. His act of deception mirrors what happened with his coach, Tom Williams, who lied about having a similar Rhodes scholarship predicament 20 years earlier. Williams also lied on his resume and resigned in December.

The Times’ report “is based on interviews with a half-dozen people with knowledge of all or part of the story; they all spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing matters that the institutions treat as confidential.” If you’re interested in this story, I highly recommend you read their entire report.

Rob Gronkowski is and remains one of LBS’ favorite athletes. After the AFC Championship Game Sunday, he conducted an interview with ESPN Deportes and showed off his Spanish skills. The Patriots tight end apparently is embracing his Chicano side, and busted out with even more Spanish on Thursday night:

That translates to “Hi!! My name is Rob Gronkowski. I am very smart. Good night.”

Can’t disagree, Rob. You truly are a genius.

Sarah Burke was honored with a torchlight parade at the X Games in Aspen (Colo.) Thursday night. Burke was a Canadian freeskier who died last week, nine days after crashing at the bottom of a superpipe during a training run.

A number of the world’s best skiers and snowboarders gathered in the same superpipe where Burke won four X Games gold medals to honor her memory. They watched a video tribute (seen above) that showcased her talents and highlighted her personality.

“I just ski because I really like it. I’m not going out there to win the most money or to make a huge difference. I just really love it,” Burke says. “To be recognized as one of those most influential … it feels great.”

Burke won four X Games gold medals in superpipe. She was was the first woman to ever spin a 720, 900, and 1080 in competition. She also helped get superpipe added to the Winter Olympics.