One Race, One Win.

Not too shabby for the current King of the Restrictor Plate. Give the boy some good equipment again and watch him prove his plate prowess.

Congrats to the whole 88 crew - it's always nice to put on a good show on your first day at a new job.

And for the record...There's 2 things concerning Tony Stewart that I'm sure about: First, I'm not sure if Jr. is really better than his dad at plate tracks, and second, dude, what's up with that hair this week? Oh, but thanks for punching Kurt Busch - I don't care if it's Tony Stewart or Jimmy Spencer that does it, I just like hearing about Kurt Busch getting punched in the face.

And Congrats to Art Monk

On February 5th, 2007, I posted the following blog:

http://de3fan.blogspot.com/2007/02/art-monk-deserves-to-be-in.html

asking why Art Monk who had better numbers across the board than Michael Irvin was not in the Hall of Fame yet when Irvin had just gotten inducted.

Better late than never! Congratulations, Art Monk! It's LONG overdue, but congratulations on being inducted into the pro football hall of fame!

Pau Gone-Sol!!

Let me start off by saying regardless of whether the move was made to make the team more sellable or simply positioning the team for a fresh start for the future, this was a move that HAD to be made. I've been calling for the trading of Pau Gasol since his second year in Memphis while he still had the appearance of potential - the fact that it took so long may have been helpful in earning 2 first round picks in the deal.

Something that Grizzlies management needed to keep in mind while building this team for the future – at the height of the Memphis Grizzlies success with Pau as the centerpoint, all the team could manage was 3 straight sweeps out of the playoffs.

If they needed proof to see that building the team around Pau was NOT the best way to move forward, they just need to realize that the GLORY DAYS of this program are the NBA benchmark for playoff futility.

An email I sent to Gary Parrish shortly after he started his local show:

"Pau needs to be traded as soon as possible. Since his 2nd year in the league, I’ve been saying “trade Pau” while there was still something to be gained from him. The phrase I used was “trade Pau while he has the appearance of having potential.” Now he has a huge contract, and there’s no perceived potential…Pau’s just Pau, and everyone knows what that is. Trade Pau and get what you can get…draft picks, expiring contracts…an autographed Michael Jordan rookie card if that’s all you can get.

It’s time to quit trying to build around Pau. It’s time to build around Mike Conley and Rudy Gay. We’re not moving forward keeping Pau as the centerpiece. Keeping Pau is continued stagnation, and nothing to get excited about. Much like moving Battier for Gay, it’s a necessary step toward long-term gains. "

I couldn't have said it better. Will this trade make the Grizzlies better right now? Of course not. But the move had to be made in order to move forward in the future. The team sucks WITH Pau - why not lose the huge contract and let the team suck WITHOUT Pau and save money in the process...while getting better with draft picks.

And the last thing I have to say about this...STOP SAYING PAU IS A 20 AND 10 GUY!!!! The big doofus is an 18.9 and 8.8 guy!! 19 and 9 if you want to round...not 20 and 10. The past 2 season he scored 20.4 and 20.8 PPG but that big, pathetic, soft idiot hasn't EVER averaged 10 rebounds a game in any season.


AND going into this season had only scored 30+ points in a game 19 times since his 2001 rookie season in the NBA!! (according to his bio page on NBA.com)

What I'm waiting for - is when Kobe punches him in his soft nose for being the Pau Gasol that we all know and can't stand in Memphis. There's a reason why J-Wil wanted to do it on a nightly basis when he was here!

Bye Bye, Pau! Can't wait to see you in a Laker uniform...or any other uniform would have been fine with me!