Friday’s Water Cooler – February 12, 2010
Here we go with today’s sports water cooler talk. Here, you won’t just find the straight news; you’ll find the stuff everyone is talking about – the ice breakers, the Twitter Sports Picks and topics…well, basically all the stuff you discuss at the water cooler.
Enjoy!
NBA All-Stars keep dropping like flies and major changes could be on the horizon for some struggling teams. We’ll kick off today’s sports news with the hardwood.
NBA news: Kobe and Iverson to miss All-Star game; Jamison to Boston?
We knew Kobe’s ankle could keep him out of Sunday’s All-Star game in Dallas; now it’s confirmed. Kobe won’t play and neither will Allen Iverson. A.I, has missed five straight games taking care of his sick daughter. He’ll be replayed by New York Knicks forward David Lee. Jason Kidd will join the West roster in Kobe’s place.
Pundits everywhere, myself included, have ragged on the Boston Celtics all month. “They’re done,” we say. “Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett are old.” Well, even if we haven’t underestimated Boston’s banged up stars, maybe we’ve underestimated general manager Danny Ainge. He’s never afraid to make a bold move and a huge trade rumor is boiling between the Celts and Washington Wizards.
The rumoured swap would have Boston send Allen, Brian Scalabrine and J.R. Giddens – all of whom have expiring contracts – to the Wizz for Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler. Pretty scary. It helps the Wizz too, ridding them of some big contracts and allowing them to start from square one next year. Washington has also offered Butler and DeShawn Steven son to Dallas for Josh Howard and another expiring contract; that deal is also quite possible. Stay tuned.
Another tidbit to discuss is not so much news as it is crazy food for thought. A Yahoo sports column today pointed out that the New Jersey Nets should have about $27 million in cap space next season. Combine that with Brook Lopez and a very legit shot at John Wall in the draft and you could have one or more of Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire joining that team too. That could create an unbelievable offseason transformation – a more grandiose version of what the Philadelphia Flyers pulled a few years ago in the NHL.
MLB news: Bidding war for Johnny Damon
Sure, Susan Boyle throws harder than him, but Johnny Damon remains one of baseball’s top table setters and a decent run producer at 36 years old. He hit .282 with 24 homers last season and scored 100 runs for the 10th time in 12 seasons. It’s thus no wonder the Atlanta Braves and Detroit Tigers are tugging at him from either side, vying for his services in 2010.
Tigers general manger Dave Dombrowski has reportedly topped Atlanta’s one-year, $4-million offer with a two-year, $14-million offer. I like the direction in which Atlanta’s franchise is headed but, Johnny, you don’t seriously have a tough choice here, do you? More money and you can DH? What’s the hold up?
UFC news; Belfort pulls out of title fight against Anderson Silva
Sigh. Yet another title fight in the UFC has been scrapped due to injury. Powerhouse knockout artist Vitor Belfort has waited months for his middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva, the No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and his wait just got longer. Belfort injured his arm while training and has withdrawn from his UFC 112 bout with Silva. Commissioner Dana White insists that Silva will still defend his title at the event Abu Dhabi. The logical replacement is top contender Chael Sonnen but he just fought last weekend and may not recover from his injuries in time to battle the Spider.
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One reply on “February 12th 2010: Daily Sports News – Gossip – Headlines”
I hope Atlanta does not get Damon as I would not want to see him playing for a team in the NL East. He just killed the Phillies in last year’s World Series.