Written by Zach Harper | 17 December 2008

Firing Coaches is Trendy and Expected
By Zach Harper

Sports fans have become the most annoying and hated character in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. 

No, not the Nate Robinson-sized Oompa Loompas.  And no, not even the annoying kid that wanted to be on television. 

Sports fans have become Veruca Salt, the demanding, spoiled brat who wants everything good in her possession and wants it five minutes ago. 

In this age of internet, email, text messaging, twittering, twittering on your phone, and instant Facebook updates from anywhere in the world, society and more evidently, sports society has become an instant gratification monster that will whine, bitch, and complain that we aren't being given the best team in front of us.  We're upset that we haven't won five straight world championships in whatever sport our favorite teams play in.  We're upset that coaches, who have probably forgotten more about <insert sport here> than 99.9% of the fans will ever know, are still employed after their first three-game losing streak. 

In the past seven weeks, the NBA has seen six coaches fired due to not living up to expectations that were never realistic to begin with.  That's six out of 30 NBA coaches losing their jobs in the first seven weeks of the regular season.  That's 20% of the coaches in this league now unemployed, less than two months into the regular seasons.  And here's the crazy thing:

Most of them were on terrible teams with no real chance of contending.  So why fire them? 

Check out the rest of this article by Zach Harper right here


How about all of the games?
By Zach Harper

I was in mid-season form with the remote control Tuesday night so I decided to speak on all of the games instead of singling out just one.

Charlotte Bobcats 110, Chicago Bulls 101
A phantom foul on a D.J. Augustin three-point attempt allowed the Bobcats to tie the game and an Emeka Okafor block on a Derrick Rose layup attempt sent the game into overtime. Okafor scored seven points in overtime and the Bulls only managed seven ovetime points as a team. The Bulls settled for a lot of bad long range jumpers and the Bobcats were the aggressors as they went to the line 43 times compared to Chicago's 19 attempts.

Los Angeles Clippers 98, Oklahoma City Thunder 88
The Clippers won their third straight game for the first time since the beginning of the 2007-2008 season and the Thunder dropped to 2-24 as they continue their quest for 74 losses. The Thunder turned the ball over 20 times in the game, which led to 29 points for the Clippers. This was actually the only uninteresting game of the night because it's the Clippers and the Thunder.

New Orleans Hornets 91, Memphis Grizzlies 84
Chris Paul vs. O.J. Mayo may be the next great match-up for this generation. The two guards went at it and provided one of the best games of the night. Mayo had 20 points to try and counter the 18 points, 9 assists, and 5 steals from Paul but the Hornets went to the line twice as many times as the Grizz did. The Grizzlies four-game win streak was snapped, which caused Darko Milicic to rip everybody's jersey in half.

Houston Rockets 108, Denver Nuggets 96
Tracy McGrady had a triple double and Yao Ming scored 32 points as the Rockets dominated the second half of this game. They allowed just 35 points in the second half and surprisingly, the duo of Nene and Chris Anderson couldn't stop Yao down low. Ron Artest came off the bench in this game for 20 crazy points and Aaron Brooks scored 18 points in the start for Houston.

Portland Trailblazers 109, Sacramento Kings 77
Kenny Natt got his first loss since taking over the Kings yesterday and the Kings were completely dominated in the second half of this game. John Salmons scored 16 points in the first quarter but only gave the Kings five points after that. The Blazers completely dominated the Kings on the boards (59-38) and the Kings only had two players score in double figures. Oh, and Brandon Roy is a good basketball player. He had 29 points with 15-15 from the free throw line.

Los Angeles Lakers 116, New York Knicks 114
The Lakers fouled Nate Robinson intentionally with four seconds left to give him two free throws before he could attempt a game-tying three-pointer. The strategy worked to perfection as Chris Duhon's 60-footer missed everything at the buzzer. The Lakers were playing without Pau Gasol and trailed for most of this game. Kobe helped wipe away a double digit deficit and Lamar Odom had 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 assists in place of the Spaniard. Nate Robinson scored 33 points off the bench but was unable to ride the roller coasters at Magic Mountain during the day after not making the height requirement.

Boston Celtics (23-2) at Atlanta Hawks (15-9) at 4pm PST ESPN
By Brandon Gallawa

In all reality you should tune in to the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network all night tonight because this isn't the only game worth watching.  The Spurs will also be visiting the Hornets tonight, and that should be an absolutely legit game.

The Celtics appear to be the greatest team in the history of the world and have no intention of relinquishing that title.  It is almost as if they took it personally that the Lakers got so much early attention.  They have won 15 in a row and have dominated every opponent.  They're also doing it not only on the back of KG but also Rajon Rondo who is maturing into one of the best all-around point guards in the East.  It almost seems like they decided to dismantle every team in their way until Christmas Day because of the early transgression of not talking them up enough.  They have had to face some tough teams this month before being able to unwrap the Lakers on Christmas, and this should be their last major test before then.

This game isn't such a clear-cut win for the Celtics since the Hawks really aren't a push over.  The Hawks have been fantastic at home going 9-1 with a +5 point differential.  They were able to weather the storm with Josh Smith out and have leaned heavily on Joe Johnson and Al Horford and have gotten great play from Mike Bibby and Marvin Williams.  They have also played the champs as well as anyone over the last year.  Obviously they pushed the Celtics to seven games last season in the first round of the playoffs playing them very tough at home.  They also matched up well against them earlier this season, and the Celtics might be 22-3 right now had it not been for Paul Pierce's game-winner against the Hawks back on November 12th.

Key Match-Up: Ray Allen versus Joe Johnson
I know that it is tempting to pick Rondo against Bibby, but Rondo has pretty much torched Bibby over the last 7 months.  It is also tempting to pick Horford against KG because Horford has had good showings against the Celtics, but KG won't even match up against him that much.  The head-to-head I'm looking forward to is Johnson and Allen.  These two have been playing superbly so far this season, and they seem to bring out the best in one another.  Johnson's 28 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals were wasted earlier this season.  Let's see if he can have a great game and lead the Hawks to a win.
Prediction: I really want to choose the Hawks, but I can't pick against Boston until someone shows they're beatable.


How about you get caught up in some Wednesday Good Knowledge blog?
By Brandon Gallawa

I respect the hell out of Chad Ford, but there is just no reason to start putting mock drafts and draft position rankings out there yet.  We don't know exactly who is going to be picking first.  We don't know what trades will be made before the season is over, how certain college players will perform come tournament time or how Euro imports will stack up against home-grown talent.  There should be a moratorium on all draft previews until after March Madness is over.  Let's see if Blake Griffin can perform on the big stage against better competition.  Let's see if Stephen Curry has another magical run in him.  Don't we want to know every possible aspect of the potential Euro players including health and how they respond to a full season against the European leagues?  Shouldn't we wait to see how the coaching decisions play out since that will undoubtedly alter the draft order?  Four of the bottom five teams have fired their coaches this season, and the Clippers should be seriously considering it.

That all being said I absolutely love seeing Ricky Rubio, Brandon Jennings or Stephen Curry's names listed next to the Kings on the lottery page.  Yet another reason to not pay attention to it because who knows if it actually will happen?  I don't want to get my hopes up.  I should have never clicked the link because now I'm watching Jennings and Rubio highlight packages against the Euro leagues on Youtube non-stop and fondly remembering Curry's performance in the tournament last March.  See what you've done, Ford!  You've given hope to a broken man, and as Red said in Shawshank Redemption "Hope is a dangerous thing.  Hope can drive a man insane."

After all the talk about how Al Harrington looked like Earl from Dinosaurs on the last podcast, I really started to think this was one of the most underappreciated shows from my youth.  Now you may be questioning the tag I placed on Dinosaurs, but it was truly underappreciated.  It was extremely smart show despite the fact that all the major players were essentially puppets or guys in dinosaur suits and a bastard of a baby character whose only purpose was to spout catch-phrases and hit the father in the head.  Many of the characters were named after petroleum companies such as Sinclair, Phillips and Hess.  There was also a lot of satire throughout the show, and it discussed a lot of hot button issues such as war, divorce, damaging the environment, equal rights, religion, censorship, drug abuse, corporate crime and government interference.  I really am considering buying the series on DVD once I get my inevitable Best Buy gift card for Christmas.

For the rest of the Good Knowledge blog, check out Brandon's page.



"They're bringing in Big Shot Larry." -- Bulls' announcer, Stacey King, during the final play of regulation in the Bulls-Bobcats game. Thanks to Wade from BothTeamsPlayedHard.

Maybe you disagree but I like to think of myself as a knower of basketball and someone who has a higher understanding of the league and its players. I have a pretty decent scouting report of just about every player in the league in my mind. I have never and would never consider Larry Hughes a big shot kind of guy. I've thought of him as a big underachiever, a big contract, and a big disappointment. But never as Big Shot Larry.

By Zach Harper



Top 3 of the Night
1. Tracy McGrady - 20 pts, 14 rebs, 10 asts, 3 blks, 8-17 fg
Ever since T-Mac rested his injuries, he's played quite well in his return to the court. His triple double last night gave fantasy owners a false glimmer of hope, which coincidentally is the same title as their 2008-2009 Season Recap DVD.
2. Brandon Roy - 29 pts, 5 asts, 4 stls, 7-12 fg, 15-15 ft
Does anybody realize that this guy is fast approaching being a top 10 player in this league?
3. Chris Paul - 18 pts, 9 asts, 5 stls, 11-12 ft
That's 105 straight games with a steal to tie Alvin Robertson's record. He'll get his chance to break the record against the Spurs tonight.

Bottom 3 of the Night
1. Raja Bell - 0 pts, 8 mins, 0-5 fg
Raja Bell was ejected after just eight minutes. Not only that, but he jacked up shots like his name was Al Harrington in those eight minutes.
2. Derrick Rose - 6 pts, 7 asts, 3-16 fg
Derrick Rose is still getting his shot blocked by Emeka Okafor. He tried to create shots and wreak havoc on the Bobcats but everytime he got to the basket, Emeka was there to turn him away.
3. Chauncey Billups - 8 pts, 6 asts, 3-10 fg
Billups was unable to get into a rhythm against the Houston defense and was outplayed by Aaron Brooks. Billups failed to score in double figures for the second time this season.


Here are the Top Blog Posts from yesterday.

1. From Suns.com-
Virtual Locker Room Tour that will keep you busy forever. Great job
2. From Kornheiser's Cartel via Ball Don't Lie-
Saved By the Bell Characters = NBA Players
3. From Both Teams Played Hard-
Knicks are Coach Killers for the rest of the league




To check out today's media fun, click this link and scroll down to Section 8. 

Thanks for reading today's Eight-Second Violation.  Send your comments, criticism and words of praise to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

< Prev		Next >