ESPN's Worst Personalities

ESPN used to be my favorite sports network to watch. That was until the "personalities" at ESPN decided to try to become media stars instead of simply reporting the sports stories. Here are the worst offenders:

1) Colin Cowherd - ESPN has recently started airing Cowherd's broadcast in my area and he is terrible. Cowherd comes off as an arrogant self-important pompous fool. He has a terrible attitude and is very condescending. Cowherd swears that he knows everything and if you disagree with his opinion then he calls you ignorant.

2) Chris Berman - Berman's act is old and tired. The worst part is that his nicknames and acronyms aren't even funny. He rambles on and on about sports in which he has absolutely no knowledge whatsoever.

3) Trey Wingo - He is the most arrogant and cocky host of any show on the four letter network. Wingo comes across as unlikeable and just plain nasty at times. Just listen to his testy exchange with Doug Gottlieb for proof.

4) Stuart Scott - Stuart Scott falls in the Chris Berman category. He tries too hard to be street overusing slang and words that he thinks are cool. He needs to just go back to being himself and stop trying so hard to be hood.

5) Stephen A. Smith - When he first started Stephen A. Smith was bold and refreshing. He would raise his voice to make his points. Now all Stephen A does is yell and yell and yell.

Derrick Mason Retires

According to a story on Jocklife.com Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason announced his retirement today through his agent. The 2 time Pro Bowler played 13 seasons amassing over 10,000 yards and scoring over 50 TD's in his career. Mason's retirement comes at an odd time for the Ravens. Training camp begins in 2 weeks and the Ravens were counting on Mason to be the number 1 wide receiver again. Mason's retirement leaves a huge void in the Ravens receiving corps. The team does not have a reliable receiver on its roster and its too late to fill this void via the draft. This places pressure on GM Ozzie Newsome to acquire a wide receiver via trade. Anquan Boldin and Brandon Marshall are both still available via trade but the asking price is too high. It would be nice for the Ravens to get a prototypical number 1 wideout but if the team is unable to then they will need to acquire a solid possession receiver capable of catching 70 balls in a season.

Kidd re-signs with Mavs

Jason Kidd re-signed with the Dallas Mavericks today for 3 years and 25 million. This move makes completely no sense. Neither did the Knicks courtship of Kidd. Kidd is on the downside of his career and is not the missing piece to a championship team. Whatever happened to the Mavs team that was loaded with young talent. Their roster one had Steve Nash, Devin Harris, Marquis Daniels, Antawn Jamison and Michael Finley. In the early 2000's the Mavs had the most talented roster in the entire NBA. Dallas traded away much of their young talent for older players with much less upside. Now the Mavs are no longer the exciting team that they were in years past.

The Mavs will never win a championship as long as Dirk is their best player. They lack a number 1 option on the offensive end of the court. Dirk Nowitzki is a nice player but is a number 2 option on a championship caliber team. He is not a closer at the end of games like a Kobe, LeBron or Dwade. Dirk is a 7 foot jump shooter and not a tough finisher that can be counted on to win games in the clutch. Dallas should have been freeing up cap space this season to pursue a franchise player in 2010. Instead the Mavs are wasting valuable cap space pursuing Shawn Marion and Jason Kidd. It appears that the Mavs are content with being a 50 win team that flounders in the postseason.

Will Albert Pujols Be The Real Home Run Champ?

Albert Pujols just hit his 32nd home run of the season. Pujols has a shot at hitting 62 home runs this season and if he did would be the legitimate single season home run king. Barry Bonds holds the record with 73 home runs hit in 2001. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa have each hit over 61 home runs as well. All 3 players are linked however to using performance enhancing drugs to break the records. All of major league baseball's record breaking statistics from 1980 to 2006 can be attributed to steroid use. Roger Maris 61 home runs is still the single season standard. But now a player has a chance to seriously challenge that record for the first time since the end of the steroid era. If Pujols breaks Maris' record then he should be considered the single season champ. To be fair there are whispers there Albert Pujols may have used performance enhancing drugs himself. So far he has passed every test that has been administered to him. I would have to say that if Pujols breaks 61 then he would be the HR king in my eyes.

Celtics Still the Beast of the East

Move over Orlando Magic. Watch out Cavs. The Celtics are officially the best team in the Eastern Conference again. Rasheed Wallace has agreed to join the Boston Celtics. The Celtics projected starting lineup is:
PG Rajon Rondo
SG Ray Allen
SF Paul Pierce
PF Rasheed Wallace
C Kevin Garnett

There are very few teams in the NBA that will be able to match up with the height and skill of the Celtics big men. Sheed can score in the low post or pop the three. Garnett has a deadly jumper and is a beast on the block. The Celtics now have an athletic front court to complement their shooters. Teams will have to choose whether to double Garnett or Wallace.

Steve McNair Killed

Sadly former Titans and Ravens quarterback Steve McNair was found shot and killed in his apartment over the weekend. It appears that the married McNair was murdered by his girlfriend in a possible murder suicide. McNair should be remembered as one of the best college quarterback of the past 50 years and a very good NFL quarterback. He resurrected a struggling Oilers franchise and a Ravens franchise suffering from terrible quarterback play. I never knew quite how bad Kyle Boller was until Steve McNair came to the Ravens. McNair was at the end of his career and was still better then a younger Boller. He will be remembered for winning many games in the clutch and finishing just 1 yard shy of a Super Bowl championship.

Artest to L.A.

The Lakers are losing Trevor Ariza and have somehow managed to get even better. Ron Artest has agreed in principle to a 3 year 18 million dollar deal. Artest is a better scorer and defender then Ariza. He provides the Lakers with much needed toughness at the 3 position and has the ability to defend the best player on other teams. In the playoffs Artest can guard Carmelo Anthony, Brandon Roy, Richard Jefferson or any other explosive player on a Western Conference contender. This will allow Kobe to be an even greater threat on the offensive end. Ariza overplayed his hand and balked at the Lakers 5 year 33 million dollar offer. He thought that he could get more in the free agent market and has been proven wrong. He is leaving L.A. to take the same deal with a worse team, the Houston Rockets. He will find more pressure and greater expectations in Houston.

I like this move for L.A. Artest should fit in nicely with the Lakers. If they can resign Odom they will field a superior team to last years champions.