Don't suck tips for game 2

With game 2 between Mavs/Spurs tipping off in mere hours later tonight, I've compiled some trends you should watch for during the game to see if the Mavericks have made any adjustments from game 1.

I need to get the taste of Ranger, among other things, out of my mouth

Dear Mavericks,

You haven't had a playoff game since Sunday night. Since that glorious victory over the Spurs I have had to endure the following.

-Some absolutely horrendous games between Heat/Celtics, Bucks/Hawks and Blazers/Suns. Those games made me throw up and crawl into the fetal position.

-Watch Texas Ranger baseball. Really bad Texas Ranger baseball. I don't know what's worse: the lackadaisical defense, the terrible bullpen, Ron Washington's decisions or actually wondering if Ian Kinsler is the right man for the lead off spot when he returns. I need some serious psychiatric help.

-Nonstop coverage of the NFL draft that makes my head spin. I can hear Mel Kiper Jr. in my sleep. "I think Tim Tebow is going to be an H-back in this league...Only way I can see Tebow preform at this level is at the H-back position...When me and Tim Tebow get married the first thing we're going to try that night is the H-back position..."  Make it stop.

So please Mavericks, I implore you, make the madness stop. Just win tonight and all will be forgiven.

Because I know just how FANTASTIC you are when holding a 2-0 lead in the playoffs.

Love,
Josh

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Video: J-Kidd and the Matrix give Clipper fans something to cheer about

The Mavericks are rolling and the biggest roar from the Clippers crowd came from this nasty alley-oop courtesy of Jason Kidd.




Now I know the NBA probably has some stake in NBA TV (It would only make sense. It's a sound investment) but did they have to use their broadcast, which in turn featured the Clippers broadcast duo? Not to be Buzzkill McGee but those two are some total Debbie Downers. Who cares if he's hanging on the rim?! Did you see what he just did?! For shame.

Where's Mark and Bob when you need 'em?

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ARE YOU REAAAAAADY?!

Video courtesy of Dallasbasketball.com




Bring on the playoffs. April 17th can't come soon enough.

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Would you like franchise with that?

There's a thing about hitting in the three spot in a batting order.That's the spot that, typcially, is for the teams overall best hitter. The hitter with the best combination of power, hitting for average and sometimes some speed. In the 2008 season, Josh personified the three hole: .304 average, 32 bombs and an ops of .901.

So just look at other three hitters in the bigs. There's Chase Utley, Hanley Ramirez, Mark Teixeira and of course Albert Pujols. The guy hitting behind Tex, I believe his nickname is A-Rod, was also a pretty good three hitter around these parts some years ago.

My point is, the three spot is usually reserved for the franchise guy (or one of them). So, how many franchise guys do you know get benched after two games? Yeah. For as much as A-Rod struggled in the first weeks in April around here, he was never sat down or benched. You just don't do that, that is, if you HAVE a franchise player to play there.

I know this is just overreaction to Josh's awful start (0 for 7 with 4 K's) but how  bad is it when you replace one of your 'franchise guys' because of the lefty match-up with...another lefty. Excuse me if I'm wrong, but David Murphy hit .234 against lefties last year. And .258 the year before. Yeah, getting Murphy in the lineup really screams situational hitting.

For all I know, this is a pretty mindless rant. For all I know, J-Ham will go nutzo for the next month, and we can just have a laugh about this incredibly, incredibly small mini-micro slump. I hope he does.

If he's a franchise player, he will.

Baseball is back, whether you like it or not

I have a small confession: football is not my number two sport. Shocking, I know.

For those of you that know me (my 10 or 11 friends) this isn't a big deal. I've had my fair share of reasons why I don't splurge all my sporting attention to the NFL or college football. And I also have my fair share of reasons why baseball, yes baseball, is my second favorite sport.

Instead of trifle you with mundane, nostalgic reasons of why I adore a sport that plays 162 times a year as opposed to 16, let me just trifle you with why I'm so happy baseball is back. I don't care that 75% of the people I do hate baseball.

What's German for paint?

Dirk Nowitzki likes to shoot jumpers. If I haven't floored you with that basketball knowledge and insight yet, just wait.

While everyone's favorite jump shooting German is once again having an MVP caliber year, I believe there is a dirty secret that no one has really talked about, especially given the Mavs success over the last two weeks: Dirk isn't taking it into the painted area with success nearly as much as he could/should be doing.