I am all for free speech. It's what makes our country great. Feel free to spout any ignorance you want.

As much as I dislike them and was initailly put off by their Supreme Court victory, I suppose Westboro and it's members have the right to speak freely. As ignorant and misguided as I know Terry Jones is, I must admit that I am ashamed that on a recent trip to Michigan, his rights were violated. Jones was set to protest jihad and Sharia Law in Dearborn, MI in front of the country's largets mosque two weeks ago, but was forced to go to court on charges of possible mischief. I can see where his message has the potential to lead to violence, but it's still protected. Rather than being allowed to hold his protest, Jones was locked up in a Wayne County jail and held on a $1 bond.

This has become an ugly incident in Michigan and, unfortunately, has given Jones more of a platform.

Unfortunately, the voices of the ignorant seem to be louder than those of the sensible. Case in point: Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall.

Mendenhall is still another example of why famous people should stay far away from Twitter. As people celebrated the death of Bin Laden, Mendenhall went online to express his disgust with it all: "What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side..."  

Clearly Mendenhall is agrees with the conspiracy theory and has a right to do so, but he'd be far wiser to do so on a less public platform. Perhaps it isn't Christian and perhaps some of the celebrations weren't terribly classy, but a lot of people didn't think this day would come and were understandably joyful.

Milwaukee Bucks forward Chris-Douglass Roberst certainly thought that some of the beer swilling celebrations were a bit beneath Americans: "We just looked like Afghani people, a decade later. That's not what we should be doing, celebrating with beer and all that. I didn't agree with that. That's just me." Roberts has a history of anti-war tweets which have brought him many angry rebuttals. I somewhat agree with Roberts on some of the celebrations, however, especially chanting "Nah nah nah nah".

As much as I'd like to leave it at that. Mendenhall just kept going.

"We'll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style." 

"I believe in God. I believe we're ALL his children. And I believe HE is the ONE and ONLY judge."

"Those who judge others, will also be judged themselves."

"For those of you who said you want to see Bin Laden burn ... I ask how would God feel about your heart?"

"There is not an ignorant bone in my body. I just encourage you to think." 

The Steelers have quickly released a statement trying to do some damage control. The message must have gone through to Mendenhall, as he has not been on Twitter for sometime now. I must personally agree with Mendenhall's statement of not having an ignorant bone in his body. I find myself thinking that Twitter is the last place he should raise these points and if he'd paid attention to past Tweets from athletes on important matters, then perhaps he'd have seen the firestorm he's stumbling into. Whatever fan following the man had has surely dropped expoentially. I also have to believe a number of his teammates, coaches, and certainly owners are less than thrilled with him.

Athletes have a voice, but they must realize that their fame and athletic prowess makes comments like these all the more damning. As much as Mendenhall probably enjoys the beenfits, he is sure to experience the downside of his fame.

What makes this worse, Mendenhall has a history of ignorant, historically inaccurate comments. Mendenhall jumped on Adrian Peterson's band wagon of comparing playing in the NFL to the slave trade. He stated in one tweet: "Anyone with knowledge of the slave trade and the NFL could say that these two parallel each other " "

I don't feel I need to clear this one up. If he finds the NFL to be so reprehensable however, then perhaps he should quit. While I am all for free speech, I certainly hope Mendenhall can will use his non-ignorant bones and learn not to Tweet. 

(LeBron to  A-Rod "When I grow up I wanna be just like you!!!")

Greetings from the Hoodwood where the residents are sleeping just a bit safer tonight because of the brave ones that eradicated a sorry excuse for a human being.

Is LeBron the next coming of A-Rod???

When LeBron James made his now lampooned announcement that he was “taking his talents to South Beach” last summer many people said that the Heat were getting a stacked team. I saw it as a if you cant beat ‘em join ‘em move. The more I watch LeBron play with Dwayne Wade, a legit superstar and winner in my eyes, the more Im convinced that LeBron is fast becoming the basketball version of Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod is the one constantly pleading to the New York Media “will you please love me now??” As much as A-Rod tries, his big money contract will always be a millstone and his failures at crunch time will leave him short of the admiration and respect that the long time iconic captain of the Yankees, Derek Jeter gets in spades. LeBron is in the same quandary as D-Wade is cast as the Jeter of the Heat; long time iconic leader of the team, highly respected, money at clutch time and possessor of the one thing that LeBron so desperately wants a championship ring. A-Rod got his ring (after a clutch performance in the 2009 playoffs) so the cant win the big one millstone is off of his neck. But it hangs on LeBron and he had better come up big in the playoffs right now, if D-Wade carries this team to another title, Bron will be accused of coat-tailing.

The Spurs are done…hallelujah!

To the utter chagrin of the NBA, ABC & ESPN especially Skippy Bayless the Memphis Grizzlies eliminated the San Antonio Spurs in six games in the NBA playoffs. The powers that be figured that the Grizz would be happy getting their first ever playoff win, or maybe be satiated with winning a playoff home game. Instead with the supposedly invincible sheen taken off the San Antonio Spurs, the Grizzlies sent the 61 win #1 seeded Spurs home before the first of May. ESPN’s spin doctors mourned heavily and even tried to chasten the public for not recognizing the Spurs as a true dynasty. Dynasty my ass, yes the Spurs won four titles in nine years between 1999 and 2007 but I discount two of their titles winning one in a half season and winning another after getting a star struck Cavs team in the finals. The Spurs only real title I say was in 2005 when they bested the defending NBA champ Pistons in a great 7 game series. Ive been saying it all along and people call me a hater, the Spurs were protected and given every chance to win. Problem is when the teams that are supposed to roll over, don’t. I know, I know the Spurs are the small market team that could, supposedly the team that wins the right way with its laconic star, no nonsense coach and international roster. Spare me, I have no love lost for the Spurs and am glad they are done.

So Much for Happy Endings

Just last week I was celebrating the end of the NFL lockout and the possibility of the NFL owners being forced back to the negotiation table, a judge in St. Louis in the Court of Appeals granted the NFL owners request of a stay of the injunction that was handed down last that had ruled the lockout illegal. Now we are back to square one, but now the players that were drafted of the weekend are in limbo as are the players that were not drafted but could have been signed as free agents. In a time that us football fans should be discussing our respective teams drafts and burning up the hot stove on what free agents will go where, we see Goodell and DeMaurice Smith’s ugly mugs and have to wade through court battles, legal briefings and other financial bullshit praying that we will have pro football in September.

Iced up in Canada

I feel sorry for the Vancouver Canucks, it bad enough when you have the kind of star crossed history that they have. This team is readily glad that there are no New York based teams left in the playoffs. Both of their Stanley Cup Final runs were ended by New York teams (1981 by the Islanders and 1994 by the celebrated Rangers squad) But to have the pressure of a whole nation on it back? The Canucks also have a nasty precedent to follow, each time a Canadian City has hosted an Olympic games that cities team would win the Stanley Cup the following year. Montreal was in the middle of a four-peat in 1976 when they hosted the Summer Games and Calgary won the Cup in 1989. Where was the last Olympic games??? Vancouver…uh oh. The Canucks nearly gagged a 3-0 lead to the Blackhawks and celebrated the game 7 OT goal as if they had won the cup. They now face a dangerous Nashville Predator team that is deep talented and seemingly unafraid of the 50+ win Canucks. The series is tied at one going back to Nashville and as the only team north of the border left in the Stanley Cup playoffs, hell there were only two Canadian teams that made the playoffs, the burden of a whole nation has to be unbearable. Anything less than the 35 pound chalice coming to the Pacific Northwest will be unacceptable to Canadians.

Phat Dap/Head Slap

Phat Dap

To the Memphis Grizzlies, who won their first ever playoff series. As mentioned earlier the Grizzlies knocked off the top seeded Spurs in six games clinching on Friday Night in front of a raucous crowd at the FedEx Forum in Memphis. Zach Randolph has shook off the old Jail Blazers stigma and has emerged as a bona fide superstar, probably the best player in the league that you likely have heard little about. Given a national stage Sunday to shine, Randolph acted a fool (that’s a compliment in hoodwood playing terms) going off for 34 points and 10 rebounds and totally punking out a would-be rowdy crowd in Oklahoma City’s Ford Center. When it was all said and done the Grizz had stolen home court from the Thunder with a 114-101 game 1 win and are priding themselves as the lop eared mutt turned junkyard dog  that no one wants to deal with.

Head Slaps

To Jameer Nelson, whom I wonder if he picked up the two tickets that were left for him by the Atlanta Hawks spokesman Arthur Triche. The tickets were for the last night’s game 1 East Semifinal matchup between the Hawks and the Chicago Bulls. Nelson was overheard saying “See you in the 2^ndround” to the Bulls Derrick Rose. The Magic were especially confident after having had swept the Hawks out of the playoffs last year by an average of 25 points per game last year. But the Hawks got sweet revenge and sent the 52 win Magic home in six games.

Another Head Slap goes to the Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.  I railed long and hard about McCourt last week, but instead of quietly looking for a buyer to take the Dodgers off his hands, taking a mammoth (though undeserved) profit and slinking quietly away. McCourt is girding for a fight. McCourt was recently quoted as saying  “Nobody handed the Dodgers to me and nobody’s going to take it away.” He must’ve forgot the sweetheart deal that was arranged by MLB to get him the team and how seriously leveraged he had to get to even acquire the team. McCourt is girding for a fight and putting what should have been private matters on front street. Ive never been a big Bud Selig fan but I hope he runs McCourt out on a rail and that right soon.

That’s the View from the Hoodwood, Until Next Post fellow Sports Fans!

David Legwand was the first draft pick in the history of the Nashville Predators back in 1998, and a mere 13 years later, he finally made it to the second round of the playoffs.  The series between Nashville and Vancouver could be one of the better series of this round, from a defensive style of hockey standpoint.  Vancouver had some problems in the first round getting their top line producing, and Nashville has been very balanced so far.  Toss in the remarkable play of Pekka Rinne, and this is going to be a very low scoring series.  Plus, that just means we get to see these guys do their things at Canucks homegames.

And then we have the Bruins and Flyers.  I do believe everyone will agree with me, and I have said this before, Philly needs a goalie.  Sure, you can make a good run with a hot goalie one year, but you need some stability.  There have been many goalies in the past few years that have made the impressive run, such as Kiprusoff, Halak, Ward, Emery, and so on.  I thought that this was going to be the year that Miller did that for Buffalo, but I was wrong.  In the Boston/Philly series, this one has all the ingredients to get ugly.  Philly was extremely undisciplined in the series opener, but Boston was still unable to tally on the power play.  In hockey, there are good penalties to take and bad ones, and Philly loaded up on the slashing and roughing penalties.  Boston will be one team that Philly will not be able to bully, and if Boston decides enough is enough, things could get interesting.

Back to the Western Conference, we have the Sharks and the Wings.  One thing is for sure, this series will be on NBC.  Granted, I won't be watching any of it because I can't fucking stand Pierre McGuire.  He is like the fucking Rain Man of hockey.  He can tell you where everyone played their junior hockey, how many points they scored, and where they were born.  Sure, I guess I could remember all that kind of stuff, but I'm to busy trying to do normal things.  Like get me some strange and have some fun with my life.  This series will be one that Bettman and the NBC will adamantly push to the American market.  That is why I'm curious is Vancouver will make it to the conference finals.  We will all get to see how quickly NBC will switch their focus to the Eastern Conference just so they don't have to showcase a Canadian team.  But I digress...the Sharks are a team ripe with opportunity, but they always seem to shit the bed and leave everyone hoping for next year.  Trust me...as a Boston fan, I can tell you that Thornton's OT winner against the Kings was probably the biggest goal of his playoffs career.  Fuck, do I ever hate Pierre McGuire.

How far Tampa goes in the playoffs is entirely dependent on Roloson.  Sure, we have all seen Rolie carry weaker teams all the way to the finals, but that was also a few years ago, and Rolie is a little longer in the tooth and greyer in the pubes now.  Tampa has a well rounded team, and I am actually a little impressed that Steve Downie has smartened up moderately.  I was pretty hard on him a few years ago, and he has actually calmed down a bit.  Washington may finally be moving in the right direction on their back end.  Neuvirth looks to be their goalie of the future, but he is going to have his hands full with a balanced Tampa offence this round.

Now, I don't know if Harvey Dakota is going to like this next part.  How much longer is the NHL going to try to sell the Coyotes to the Hulsinger group?  They keep trying to find new ways to raise the money and deal with the Goldwater Institute when they have a billionaire in another city, with a perfectly good arena, and a perfectly good market.  That is all I am going to say about that.

No hockey fight of the week, but instead, here is something new.

SIDE BOOB OF THE WEEK!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

The NFL gave us all a warm, fuzzy feeling for the first two rounds of the annual draft Thursday and Friday.  With a court ruling stating that the Owner’s Lockout was illegal, it gave us hope that this strike was close to being over.  The players were even allowed to go to their team facilities and to workout Friday.  Then the third round of the draft began, which was met with the news that the Owners had found an Appeals Court which ruled in their favor, and the lock-out was immediately back in effect again.  Perhaps we were naïve to think that the players had won any moral victory when the lockout was lifted, I know that I was innocently naive.  Money rules everything, and the longer this strike goes on, the more money the attorneys for both sides receive.  In the end NOBODY wins except the lawyers, who always get the candy.   The owners, the players, and the fans are all their fodder.  That’s just the way it is.

I admit this fact; I was up and about at 3 A.M. EDT today and primed to watch the Royal Wedding.  I watched for the historical significance, which in this circumstance is akin to saying that I watch Oprah (I do not watch her) for her historical relevance.  I must admit the English love their Royal Monarchy and were uniformly ceremonious throughout the entire pomp and circumstance, which was certainly long and labored but fun to observe none-the-less.   I even have a song for Cate to dedicate to the Bonnie Prince, who just removed himself from the top of the World’s Most Eligible bachelor list.

The unimaginable has hit the fan for Jim Tressel, Ohio State’s beleaguered head football coach.  On top of his school banning him from coaching the first two games next season (he upped the penalty himself to five games to appease his players who are also banned) for lying to the school, the NCAA has just announced that, in their separate investigation, he also fibbed to the NCAA.  Tressel finally admitted (a tad too late) to all everyone that he’s no angel.  In a YouGabSports exclusive, here is the context of Tressel’s admission:

Tressel thinks that he is going to tap dance right through all of his problems and to keep his job.  Hey Jim, those are Acme Rocket Skates that you are wearing and not tap shoes.  Here is a more likely result: