Ramblings on the NFL, NBA trades, Suns

Good news coming from the desert... if you're a football fan. Rod Graves met Lex Luthor Drew Rosenhaus regarding the three of the six Cardinal players he represents (Boldin, Dockett, A.Smith). Graves called the conference positive and rumors emanating out of Indy is that Boldin is open to re-signing a new deal with the Cards. Very positive for the Red Birds, as are the reports that:

Franchised bone-breaker Karlos Dansby and his agent have had very positive contract talks with Mr. Graves and a deal is in the works for a long-term commitment. (Under the franchise tag, Dansby would earn $10.37M, or 125% of his salary last year, as he was already the third-highest paid LB, and the average of the top 5 salaries is $8.3M, hardly a raise from his $8.03M last season)

:: Breaking news as I was writing this :: Kurt Warner has announced that he will return for the 2009 season. As much as I hate putting confidence in Warner, losing him would be a blow to the team. This also could be a sign that Boldin will stay with the team.

With Dansby likely to be locked up, and Kurt returning, things seem to be progressing fast for the Cards. More recent news includes the hiring of up-and-comer Mike Miller to take over the "pass-game coordinator" position and Russ Grimm as "run-game coordinator." Whisenhunt will call the plays. Bill Davis has been promoted from LB coach to defensive coordinator. Maurice Carthon has left AZ for a spot on Todd Haley's coaching staff in KC. KC's RB coach leaves there to accept the same position with us. All solid moves in my opinion.

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Nothing too much of note happened at the NBA trade deadline. Several trades materialized and vanished faster than John Daley's long island iced teas at the turn.

I love Rafer Alston going to the Magic because he is one of my favorite players and seems like a more mature Jameer Nelson with that line-up. I expect to see a spike as he dishes to Howard down low and kicks it to Rashard "'Toine2" Lewis and Hedo "Stop calling me Peja" Turkoglu to bomb three's.

T3 (Turf-Toe-Ty) Chandler being returned for their cash back was priceless. head explodes from puns. The Thunder still managed to cast-off Wilcox however, who joins a star-starved cast of misfits on the New York 2010s.

None of this matters though as LeBron will win the NBA Championship as Ben Wallace cuts an out-route. zomg more double-puns

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Remember when the Suns dropped over 140 in consecutive nights, delivering a triumphant F-you to Terry Porter? They were loose, having fun, and kicking ass. Then it mysteriously vanished, like your eyesight when you get popped in the retina for the second time in a season. Amare went down and had season-ending surgery, resulting in a collective crap by Suns fans. Have we not been tortured enough? I'd rather be a team with no hope, than a team that constantly has that hope publicly shamed with hairy balls drawn on it's face in sharpie from the crazy night before.

The effects: Insert the Brazilian blurp at the 2, slide Father of the Year J-Rich to the 3, and slip all 120 pounds of deer-in-the-headlights Grant Hill in to the 4. You think Grant Hill looks surprised now? Wait until you tell him he's guarding Carlos Boozer, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, or LaMarcus Aldridge. If Hill doesn't work, we're prepared to give all 125 pounds of Matt Barnes a shot at PF, super.

This also means an immediate boost in PT for Anderson Varejao's long lost cousin and Brook Lopez's long lost brother Robin, super. And let's not forget we also get to see more of Lightning Lou or whatever they decided on calling him. Let's hope he takes guarding the Western Confrence bigs as well as he took Zach Randolph's wussy punch.

Suns final record before going down: 53-29 (5th in the Western Confrence)
Suns final record after going down: 48-34 (7th in the Western Confrence)

I just don't see the Suns missing the playoffs with Shaqzilla, Nash, J-Rich, Barbosa, and Grant Hill's ankles. As far as making it deep in the playoffs, this seriously hurts their chances. However, Stat COULD return for the playoffs, but how effective he would be, remains to be seen.

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Listened to: Lots