Larry Brown Sports

LeBron James may have been using the basketball court as his personal disco lately but he actually had an opportunity to groove as much as he wanted on Wednesday night. Why? Because it was LeBron’s 25th birthday! It’s crazy to think that LeBron James is only 25-years-old since it feels like he’s been making headlines for an entire decade but yep, he’s only 25. He got the party started with a 48-point effort against the Hawks and then he celebrated at a club afterward. Here’s a video of LeBron James’ birthday party and keep your eye out for the Coby Karl cameo at around the 1:50 mark:

LeBron’s lucky Mike Leach wasn’t in attendance otherwise he would have stuffed LBJ in the closet for wearing those sunglasses indoors. In case you missed the game on Wednesday, there was a key moment down the stretch where Bill Belichick was serving as Cleveland’s clock operator. The shot clock never reset following a Cavs possession and it resulted in a poor shot for Atlanta on the other end. Two close games in a row for both teams, two wins for the Cavs. They’re rolling.

UPDATE: This whole story is a hoax. I’ll continue to stick with the TMZ story.

Very early on in the Tiger Woods scandal I concluded Tiger got beat up by Elin based on information I read on TMZ. There wasn’t much dispute over that notion considering Tiger’s hospital stay, the fact that Elin had a golf club at the car, and that Tiger wound up crashing at a low speed. Now a report is coming out saying that Elin indeed beat Tiger with a golf club and that he underwent facial surgery as a result:

At one point Tiger turned away to look at the TV and, as he turned back, Elin hit him on the right side of the face with the head of a nine iron. She put a huge gash in the right side of his face next to his nose, causing his nose to bruise some, virtually knocking two of his upper teeth out and breaking the bone on the upper right side. Tiger ran scared as hell out of the house, with Elin swinging the golf club, through the hallway to the garage.

The report added that Tiger flew on a private plane to Phoenix to visit a plastic surgeon and cosmetic dentist for reconstructive surgery and that’s why he kept postponing the meeting with the Florida CHP. I guess Tiger and Ben Roethlisberger have something in common. Now one aspect of the story that has largely gone ignored is the domestic violence/abuse side. Adding everything Tiger did wrong up still does not excuse Elin’s violence. Where are the Abused Men’s Groups to step up and represent?

(Tiger wax figure courtesy of PUNTE)

It’s hard to know what to make of the current investigation and situation surrounding Texas Tech coach Mike Leach. Leach is being investigated by the school for his alleged treatment of receiver Adam James after doctors said James couldn’t practice because of a concussion. James’ father is a high-profile analyst and former player with a lot of clout who has a platform as a broadcaster for ESPN. Texas Tech is on the hook for millions of dollars to Leach, including an $800,000 bonus if Leach is still the team’s coach by Thursday. People are suggesting that Texas Tech is trying to get rid of Leach because of the money they owe him and that they’re using the James case as a reason for justifiable cause. James appears to be using the current climate of sensitivity amongst football players who have concussions to garner anti-Leach sentiment. While there was initially widespread outrage towards Leach for his alleged mistreatment of James, new information paints the situation in an entirely different light.

Several letters and emails from CBS Sports from current or former Texas Tech coaches and players describe Texas Tech receiver Adam James as an entitled, lazy, and selfish player who was unqualified to play Division-I football. One email even called James a jerk. Reading all these emails allows one to see another side of the story, one that displays the incident as something other than the gross mistreatment of a concussed player by a coach. After seeing the other side of the story, I believe this an example of a spoiled child hiding behind his powerful parents to get back at a coach who was hard on the kid and made him earn his playing time. What makes matters worse is that James’ parents are drumming up this negative sentiment against Leach on ESPN without describing all of his son’s shortcomings. Was it right of Leach to place James in those isolated rooms during practice? No. Did James need to be disciplined for a poor work ethic and attitude? From the sounds of it, absolutely.

Mike Leach is nowhere near the bad guy he’s being made out to be by the James family. It’s a shame that people are jumping all over the guy without looking at all sides of the story. Furthermore, why is Texas Tech so motivated to get rid of the guy? Did they reach by overspending to keep him? That’s their mistake, not Leach’s. Anyway, check out this Lubbock news report for more insight on the story at hand and then let me know what you think.

Read The Rest of the Story…

The Washington Wizards are easily one of the most disappointing teams in the NBA this year. With a loaded payroll and team full of talent, they were expected to contend for one of the middle playoff spots in the Eastern Conference like they had with the Arenas, Jamison, and Butler trio in the past. Unfortunately things have not panned out as planned and the Wizards are a putrid 10-20. Sick of watching his team invent new ways to lose, Flip Saunders has finally pinpointed the team’s problem: pathetic defense. The team’s head coach made some strong comments following Washington’s blowout loss at home to the Thunder, a game in which they allowed Oklahoma City to shoot 54% from the field:

“Guys want to come out of the zone and play man-to-man, but they can’t guard anybody. I can go out there on that floor and take anybody on our team on one-on-one at 52 years old and drive right around them,” Saunders said. “We’ve got to wake up. As I told them: Don’t think it can’t get any worse, because it can. There’s no question it can. We’ve got to have a sense of urgency.”

Even though the team is 10 games under .500, I’m not ready to give up on them just yet. They have far too much talent to be that bad, especially in such a crappy conference. Earlier in the month they could not close out a game and wound up losing six straight games by a combined margin of 14 points. Getting some tougher defense inside is a pipe dream, but closing out games better is a necessity. This team is much better than they’ve shown. I understand the point, Flip, but don’t get too carried away with your abilities.

This is the first post we’ve done about John Wall here at LBS and I have no doubt there will be many more to come. Fittingly, it is a post about Wall’s sensational ability on the court. The fabulous Kentucky freshman dished out a school record 16 assists on Tuesday night against Hartford. He also put his incredible leaping ability on display when heading out of bounds following a steal. Check it out:

You have to figure John Calipari used one of his shady recruiting methods to land the superstar point guard (hello Worldwide Wes!) and it’s well worth it. With the loads of talent the Wildcats have on this team, a Final Four run should be in store. In fact, they’re currently my pick to win it all.

The huge debate that arose this week came after the Colts pulled their top starters in the middle of the third quarter against the Jets. The team was up 15-10 at the time and wound up losing 29-15, ending their unbeaten season. Indy is now 14-1 and coach Jim Caldwell and president Bill Polian are getting plenty of heat for their decision to protect their players. Peyton Manning was seen with a disappointed look on his face on the sidelines and admitted as much after the game. He even got in a subtle shot at Brett Favre and Brad Childress when asked about being pulled:

“I was not surprised,” Manning said. “I knew potentially that was part of the plan. There was not a head coach-quarterback argument of any sort. I’m on the same page as coach Caldwell. I was told before the game to be flexible and go out and score as many points as we could. I’m disappointed we didn’t score more.”

It’s hard to understand how that comment was a shot at the Vikings just by reading it; you had to see Manning’s face to see the grin he had on his face to know he was taking a jab at Favre and Childress. If you saw him, you would have recognized that he put emphasis on the head coach-quarterback argument part. Now that the Colts have lost and their perfect season is over, the questioning has come. I weighed in on the debate for The League panel at the Washington Post. Check it out here to read where I came out on the issue.

Despite being the talk of the NFL for most of the regular season because of their 13-0 start, the Saints have slipped out of the spotlight lately. They lost at home last Saturday night to the Cowboys and they gave an encore performance that was nothing short of embarrassing. New Orleans fell to the lowly Buccaneers who won for just the third time all season, 20-17 in overtime. That the Saints actually lost was news to team owner Tom Benson who got caught on camera celebrating prematurely:

Thanks to Black Sports Online for the video and my boy Botros for the tip. The enthusiastic celebration of Garrett Hartley’s miss makes one wonder where Benson’s luxury box is located. Yes, Hartley’s kick hooked and barely missed, but why would you start celebrating if you realized how close it was? The best part was the woman who joined Benson in the celebration (his wife?) — do you think she had a clue what happened or do you think she was just one of Benson’s hype chicks?

Eagles coach Andy Reid sure has been showing his playful side on the sidelines the past few weeks. Two weeks ago, Reid chest bumped with DeSean Jackson following a touchdown for the second time in the season. Last week against the 49ers, Reid gave an opposing player a shoulder shrug. This week, he was busy slapping one of the refs on the butt prior to an official review as a way of saying “Give us a good one!” Check out the screen caps:

So Chad Ochocinco gets fined thousands for trying to slip a ref a dollar bill as a joke and Andy Reid slaps one on the butt to try and get a good call. It worked out for Reid considering the review gave Jeremy Maclin a catch on what turned out to be the game-winning drive for Philly. That throw was one of the best passes Donovan McNabb made in the entire game — it was a laser beam down the left sidelines for Maclin who made a diving catch while falling out of bounds. At 11-4, the Eagles are looking strong but their work is not done considering they play the Cowboys in week 17 with home field advantage in the playoffs on the line. Their six game winning streak should give them plenty of confidence heading into the clash in Arlington.