It's time for the annual Cleveland Cavaliers Pittsburgh exhibition game, and without LeBron James in tow, the box office was going to need a jump-start. Who will save the day, you ask? Try Pittsburgh's own DeJuan Blair.
Showing posts with label San Antonio Spurs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Antonio Spurs. Show all posts
10/14/2010
7/26/2010
Dejuan Blair Joins the Rap Game
For some reason, many basketball players think they can rap (Shaq, Kobe, Ron Artest, etc.) and conversely, a lot of rappers think they can play basketball (Master P's never-ending hoop dream springs to mind).This is by no means a new phenomenon.
The latest basketball-to-rap crossover making the rounds is one with a local flavor, as former Pitt Panther DeJuan Blair has teamed up with Pittsburgh-based rapper P.O.P. in the auto-tune heavy, "2 Hard Living". The video, which pays homage to friends who've died young, was filmed in the Hill District.
While it isn't a song I'd listen to on a regular basis, I'm not going to be too hard on DeJuan. Everybody expresses themselves in their own way, and this happens to be a subject that's obviously close to his heart. But I do have one complaint for Mr. Blair: did he have to wear a Phillies hat in the video?
While it isn't a song I'd listen to on a regular basis, I'm not going to be too hard on DeJuan. Everybody expresses themselves in their own way, and this happens to be a subject that's obviously close to his heart. But I do have one complaint for Mr. Blair: did he have to wear a Phillies hat in the video?
10/21/2009
NEWS AND NOTES
--While I've been busy gushing about the statistical greatness of the Steelers and Panthers, the Penguins have run their record to 8-1, with Marc-Andre Fleury sporting a league-best 8-0 mark.
The boys of winter won another one last night in a solid performance, topping the St. Louis Blues 5-1 at Mellon Arena. Penguin goals came from Tyler Kennedy (his fifth), Evgeni Malkin (4, PP), Ruslan Fedotenko (2, PP), Matt Cooke (2) and Alex Goligoski (2). You've gotta love the games where the team scores five goals and only one is from the Malkin/Crosby camp. That defines a team effort.
The bad news, however, is that it might have been a costly victory - Sergei Gonchar could have a broken hand (or wrist). There's no official word yet from the team, but I'm not overly optimistic. Stay tuned on that one. It could be Martin Skoula time. [PG]
--At the Pete, Cleveland rolled to a 96-66 win against Dallas last night, Shaq was wearing a Big Ben throwback jersey after the game, and Mark Cuban made the case for steroids in sports. In other words, no surprises. [PG]
The boys of winter won another one last night in a solid performance, topping the St. Louis Blues 5-1 at Mellon Arena. Penguin goals came from Tyler Kennedy (his fifth), Evgeni Malkin (4, PP), Ruslan Fedotenko (2, PP), Matt Cooke (2) and Alex Goligoski (2). You've gotta love the games where the team scores five goals and only one is from the Malkin/Crosby camp. That defines a team effort.
The bad news, however, is that it might have been a costly victory - Sergei Gonchar could have a broken hand (or wrist). There's no official word yet from the team, but I'm not overly optimistic. Stay tuned on that one. It could be Martin Skoula time. [PG]
--At the Pete, Cleveland rolled to a 96-66 win against Dallas last night, Shaq was wearing a Big Ben throwback jersey after the game, and Mark Cuban made the case for steroids in sports. In other words, no surprises. [PG]
--Dejuan Blair had 17 and 10 in 15 minutes off the bench for the Spurs last night in their 119-102 win over Oklahoma City. To remind everyone, he was a second-round pick. Gotta love NBA GMs. [ESPN]
--Is Pittsburgh the most haunted city in the US? Outside of baseball, I mean? [PB&G]
--Speaking of baseball, the Pirates dumped Chris Bootcheck, Denny Bautista, and Craig Hansen (he of the Jason Bay trade) from the 40-man roster. They will be greatly missed. By opposing hitters. [PBC Blog]
--A Pittsburgher will be appearing on Jeopardy! tonight. Get your TiVos ready. [WPXI]
--A Pittsburgher will be appearing on Jeopardy! tonight. Get your TiVos ready. [WPXI]
--Bob Smizik says the Steelers made the right call on Jeff Reed. That's gotta be crushing news for those of you looking for a Piotr Czech endorsement. [Bob Smizik Blog]
--Meanwhile, Joe Starkey takes the opposite stance and calls out the Tomlin "timing" excuse. [Trib]
--And Mark Madden says the Skipster needs to stop drinking. That's gotta be crushing news for Pittsburgh-area drinking establishments. [Mark Madden/WXDX]
--Meanwhile, Joe Starkey takes the opposite stance and calls out the Tomlin "timing" excuse. [Trib]
--And Mark Madden says the Skipster needs to stop drinking. That's gotta be crushing news for Pittsburgh-area drinking establishments. [Mark Madden/WXDX]
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10/07/2009
DEJUAN BLAIR OFF TO A GOOD START
22 minutes, 16 points, 19 rebounds for the Pitt product in his NBA preseason debut last night. Me thinks the San Antonio Spurs got themselves quite the steal in the second round of the draft. Spurs fans think he's symbolic of a glorious mess in San Antonio, but as the Blog "48 Minutes of Hell" points out, the price was right:
Statistically speaking, Blair put up numbers that pace themselves alongside Andris Biedrins, David Lee and Emeka Okafor. Those three players are slated to earn 9, 8, and 10.6 million this season. Blair will earn $850,000.Blair is slated to be third or fourth off the bench for the Spurs, which gives you an idea of how deep of a team they have. Personally, I can't wait to see how the big guy progresses as the season goes on. I only wish for selfish reasons that we could have watched him for two more years at Pitt.
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6/26/2009
UMMMM....
The city of Pittsburgh, myself included, is pretty much speechless with the outcome of last night's NBA draft. Dejuan Blair, rumored to go as high as 10th overall, slipped to San Antonio at 37. Sam Young, also thought of as a potential first-rounder, went a pick ahead of Blair at 36 to Memphis. If not for the sudden death of Michael Jackson, this certainly would've been the most shocking news I heard yesterday.
In following a recent trend of Pitt athletes leaving early, the results ended up being much less than anticipated. Lesean McCoy, one of the top running backs in college football last season, went a disappointing 50th to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL draft.
I'm searching for answers as to why Blair fell so far, and the best I can come up with would be his knees, which were operated on twice while in high school. Still, he got picked behind a guy from the Congo and a guy who needs a liver transplant. I guess NBA GMs must not have seen Blair dominate #2 overall pick Hasheem Thabeet twice last season.
As for Young, his age (24) apparently did him in, sending him to the basketball Siberia of Memphis, Tennessee, where careers to go die. I mean, at least Blair gets to play with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, etc. Young is going to a team that was 24-58 last year and is most famous for helping the Lakers to the Finals last year and the title this year by gifting them Pau Gasol. Good luck with that.
Now, these two young men have to earn their contracts and their PT. There are no guarantees. They literally lost millions of dollars last night. For their sake, I hope they both attach super-size chips on their shoulder immediately. If not, they can give Chris Taft a call and compare stories of whose draft-day story was worse.
I'm searching for answers as to why Blair fell so far, and the best I can come up with would be his knees, which were operated on twice while in high school. Still, he got picked behind a guy from the Congo and a guy who needs a liver transplant. I guess NBA GMs must not have seen Blair dominate #2 overall pick Hasheem Thabeet twice last season.
As for Young, his age (24) apparently did him in, sending him to the basketball Siberia of Memphis, Tennessee, where careers to go die. I mean, at least Blair gets to play with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, etc. Young is going to a team that was 24-58 last year and is most famous for helping the Lakers to the Finals last year and the title this year by gifting them Pau Gasol. Good luck with that.
Now, these two young men have to earn their contracts and their PT. There are no guarantees. They literally lost millions of dollars last night. For their sake, I hope they both attach super-size chips on their shoulder immediately. If not, they can give Chris Taft a call and compare stories of whose draft-day story was worse.
Email: Mondesishouse@gmail.com Twitter: twitter.com/mondesishouse Facebook: Facebook Group
7/23/2007
The Best of Tim Donaghy's Game Fixing...in Video Form
ESPN.com's Bill Simmons, long an outspoken critic of NBA refs said this about the Spurs-Suns Game Three in this year's playoffs:
The Spurs were favored by four, with an over/under of 200.5 -- after San Antonio prevailed, 108-101, thanks to Amare Stoudemire playing just 21 minutes because of foul trouble.
Congratulations to Greg Willard, Tim Donaghy and Eddie F. Rush for giving us the most atrociously officiated game of the playoffs so far: Game 3 of the Suns-Spurs series. Bennett Salvatore, Tom Washington and Violet Palmer must have been outraged that they weren't involved in this mess. Good golly. Most of the calls favored the Spurs, but I don't even think the refs were biased -- they were so incompetent that there was no rhyme or reason to anything that was happening. Other than the latest call in NBA history (a shooting foul for Manu Ginobili whistled three seconds after the play, when everyone was already running in the other direction), my favorite moment happened near the end, when the game was already over and they called a cheap bump on Bruce Bowen against Nash, so the cameras caught Mike D'Antoni (the most entertaining coach in the league if he's not getting calls) screaming sarcastically, "Why start now? Why bother?" What a travesty. Not since the cocaine era from 1978-1986 has the league faced a bigger ongoing issue than crappy officiating.
Luckily, we live in the YouTube era, and the NBA doesn't police the video-sharing network nearly as much as the NFL. That means we can show you a "highlight film" of some of Donaghy's work in game three of the series, thus solidifying the thoughts that Simmons had a few months ago. I'm sure this makes Phoenix feel much better.
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