REPORTING FROM THE JOCK-OSPHERE
by Ryan Corazza and Evan Bartsch
Jocks Blog. We Report. (You Decide.)
All the best jock blogs in one place.
The National Team member chilling with his teammates:
"We have a lot of fun together on the court, but we also have fun together off the court," he writes. "Friday night we all got together off the court. Myself, LeBron, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer all had a chance to get away from basketball at a club and really chill. We're going to have fun together and we're going to keep doing it with the rest of our teammates as well.
"While I might be one of the funniest guys on this team, LeBron is by far the craziest guy on this team. With him, it doesn't matter, he will say anything. Carmelo is very silly. We keep J-Kidd (Jason Kidd) and Kobe (Bryant) young because we keep them laughing a lot."
OK, that seals it: with both Wade and LBJ's acting prowess, Hollywood needs to throw these guys in a movie. They can be superheroes by night, two of the best basketball players in the world by day. No one will suspect a thing. No one.
The Blazers' big man is back on campus in the Buckeye state:
"So far summer has been good to me," he writes. "I've been in school and working out in Columbus. It feels good to be back here. I'm taking biology 101. It has a 2 hour lecture and a 3 hour lab 3 days a week! I'm also still working out 4 days a week.
"Last weekend I went to Chicago for the Taste of Chicago and I had a really good time. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically a huge festival in Chicago that has music and food from like 60 different restaurants that you can try. I only gained like 3 pounds even though I couldn't get a lot of food from the taste cause there was too many people. But my weekend was good and now I'm back in Columbus. Gonna get ready to go to class."
What do you mean you couldn't get all the food you wanted? You're seven feet tall! Make it happen! Where is your 'can-do' attitude?
Shaun Phillips: To Cap or Not To Cap
Shaun presents an interesting take here on capping rookies in the NFL:
"I think they gotta stop somewhere with this," he writes. "I love that everyone is making money but it's starting to get ridiculous how much money unproven players are getting before they take a snap. There are future hall of famers that are not making as much in their entire career as these kids are making in one check.
"I think the NFL should take some notes from the NBA on capping rookies. If you think about it most rookies don't really come into their own until 4th our 5th year anyway. So just imagine how much their second contract will be if they were to play their whole 50mil contract out; it makes you wanna laugh, huh. My final note is more power to them cause I want everyone to get all the money in the world 'cause I'm gonna get mine."
Shaun, it's o.k. to flip-flop; but people don't usually do it all at once. Pace yourself. Make statement A, and then come back in a couple of weeks and then bring statement B out.
Natalie Coughlin: What a Relief!
"Thank God. I've stamped my ticket to Beijing and a huge weight has just been lifted," she writes. "It's pretty late right now and I need to get to bed, but I'm a bit wired from today's swims. The last 15 meters of the 100 back hurt so badly! Brenden Hansen alluded to this after his 100 breast: the nerves were so high before my race since I didn't yet have my place on the Beijing Team. In my case and in Brenden's, those pesky nerves made our swims much harder than we would have liked. But, it turned out just as I was hoping. I broke :59 seconds (something I have been aiming for for quite some time) and placed myself on the 2008 Olympic Team.
"I was able to get through the 200 IM tonight after a quick turnaround from the 100 back, which also was something I was worried about. I'll explain my decision to swim the IM later& Now I need to get to bed and rest up for tomorrow's final! Thanks again for all the well wishes. I really appreciate them!"
Rafael Nadal: Not the Local Favorite
The Spaniard on his match today at Wimbledon:
"Well tomorrow (today when you read this), I have that big match here at Wimbledon," he writes. "I play against the local player Andy Murray. It is funny in one way since I have always gotten a lot of support here at Wimbledon. The crowds really support me and I really feel it. So tomorrow I suppose they will support mostly Andy. I have been asked a lot about that today. It is normal and I find it normal that the support will go to his side, but at the same time I am sure that they will be very respectful with me and I am also sure they will applaud the good points of both players. I expect this kind of atmosphere and I am sure that if the match is close and good the crowds will get very much into it. "
Curtis Granderson: Stealin' Ain't Easy
Think stealing a base is easy? Not so, sayeth the Tiger outfielder:
"People always ask me where I rank in terms of the fastest guys in baseball," he writes. "I'm not a good time guy (the 60 yard dash, this is used to compare speed in baseball), and my time is a lot slower than most. I'm also not a good race guy. Guys such as Carl Crawford, Joey Gathright and Jose Reyes would all beat me in a foot race. So considering I don't have the natural speed element like some players, I have to be able to pick the right pitch to run on and get a great lead in order to steal a base.
"Last year, I was able to steal 26 out of 27 times successfully. Since I had success last year, pitchers, catchers and managers are paying more attention to me on the bases, which has made it more difficult this season, being that I've been caught four times already. This is what amazes me about the guys who steal 40 or more bases a year, because the opposing team knows when those guys run and they can't do anything about it. And to think, guys like Rickey Henderson and Vince Coleman, among many others, used to steal 100 bases a year. Former Tigers great Ty Cobb stole 892 bases in his career."
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