Typical Phenom

Chuck Liddell Vs. Quinton Jackson- KO, round 3 Terry Jackson Vs. Ivan Salaverry- Submission, round 2 Josh Burkman Vs. Karo Parisyan- KO, round 2 Houston Alexander Vs. Keith Jardine- TKO, round 2 Kalib Starnes Vs. Chris Leben- Decision Thiago Silva Vs. James Irwin- Submission, round 2 Sean Salmon Vs. Alan Belcher- KO round 2 Jeremy Stephens Vs. Din Thomas- Submission, round 1 Carmelo Marrero Vs. Wilson Gouveia- Decision

I don't define players by stats. Averaging 24 points a game for most players would mean they're good offensive players. For others, they may just fit the system right. I don't consider Karl Malone a great offensive player and look at where he's at in the record books. But it generally came on 6 pick and rolls followed by 12 free throws. Solid, steady, above average. I'll give in on the "scoring a lot but losing" debate because it's really just my opinion. If I see a guy score fifty and his team loses, to me, he didn't dominate the game, he just scored a lot. To dominate is to outdo your opponent completely: score more, put them in foul trouble, create for your teammates....win the game. And I don't think I ever saw Oden actually dominate a game. And I know Oden's young and I think he's got a great future, but his main focus and best attributes are defensive, not offensive. That's all I was saying.

You mention the Florida game as the best example of a dominant performance, but they lost and to me, that means he wasn't all that dominant. If you really think he's going to be a top offensive player in the league, that's fine, but I'm just not seeing the reasoning. Because other centers weren't polished, it's too early to close the book on him? That's fair and I'm not closin the book, I'm just saying that as of right now, I don't see it happening.

The way you're talking, Portland has suddenly become the most feared team in the league. They have a good, all around two guard who I don't necessarily see as a go to guy so much as a very steady, very dependable player. You've got an athletic forward who hasn't developed a strong enough post game yet. And you've got, if they draft him, a rookie center who will in all liklihood develop into a monster of a defensive center but still only be in that above average range offensively. There's no go to guy, there's no definitive team leader, there's no playmaker, and there's not a lot of depth. All these things could get addressed, but until they do, I'd stop with all the "Teams are scared, Portland's gonna be a dynasty" talk. I do, however, think if you leave Jack at point and let Webster try and play the three, they could be a young exciting team and start to get things turned around.

In this day and age, I don't think any player can single handedly lead a team to a championship. Ask Kobe. That said, Durant will be better offensively, Oden has the potential to have more of an impact. I don't think either of them will be busts, they have the fundamentals down. Thing I like about Durant is he's got heart, you can build a team around him. And yes, with Roy and Aldridge, it's a great foundation in Portland. I'm just happy that I'm 30 minutes from Seattle and 2 hours or so from Portland. I look forward to attending games for both.

It's simply Brett hanging on to see if he can take some of Dan Marino's spots in the record book now. Otherwise, he'd have taken all these signs and simply retired. The Packers haven't made too many moves to pump up the offense that surrounds Brett, instead making draft picks like A.J. Hawk and Justin Harrell. Greg Jennings being as good as he's been constitutes one of those sleeper picks. So, if you were Brett, would you have just quit by now? I would've.

All of the Corrales-Castillo fights were great examples of boxing. Like EBG said, he was always one to watch. Shame.

Like Biggz said, all De La Hoya pressing the fight did was change the gameplan. Mayweather did a fantastic job of adjusting to that, but if DLH had continued to press in the final rounds, he probably could have pulled it out. Surprisingly, one of the judges gave one of the final rounds to De La Hoya, not sure how. Mayweather landed more power punches and landed a higher percentage of his punches, Oscar just threw more. Majority of those were glancing blows that didn't have a whole lot of effect.

I love it when pulling the goalie actually works. It's so rare. Now, just gotta come through in OT.

I mentioned Smith possibly ending up in Baltimore and I love the fact that he did. It's a place where he won't feel pressure right away, probably be a 3rd quarterback at first. He can learn from a McNair, there's a strong locker room there, team leaders, and if they stay defensive minded, then Smith will just have to be in a Dilfer-role of not blowing the game. Now, this whole conspiracy theory is stupid. Randy Moss has 20 million dollars coming to him, not every team is willing to pick that up. Most of them aren't. You're saying the Raiders only talked to the Patriots and Packers? Mike Shannahan, who hates Al Davis publically, they don't work together...he got a call from the Raiders regarding Moss, Shanny just wasn't interested. And Maxx, you think they should have taken Aaron Rogers and a 5th round pick, then draft Calvin Johnson? There's a reason the Packers are willing to deal Aaron Rogers, he's shown crap to anybody. He's likely to not even get a chance when Favre leaves now, why would the Raiders bother with that deal? Al Davis wants to win, probably more than any owner in the league, why would he do something to hurt his team? At this point, the Raiders would have cut Moss on June 1st if they didn't make a trade anyway, they just wanted him off the team and, more importantly, out of the locker room. He may revive his career and I hope he does, but he wasn't gonna do it in Oakland. Better to get anything for him, move on, and start building with younger guys.

At some point, on field production does take precadence over factors like size and how they did at the combine. Garrett Wolfe is 4th all time in yards per game for a career. Herschel Walker and OJ Simpson are two of the three ahead of him. That said, he's not applying to be a full time back, though I don't rule out the option either. He's gonna contribute on special teams, he's going to come in and change the pace, and he'll be a third down back. He has good hands out of the back field and a whole lotta speed. To speculate that he shouldn't have even been drafted? I'd say that's the dumbest comment of the day, even moreso than the Crouch discussion. For shame.

I know some of you quit watching after the first and second round, so here's the highlights from my perspective. 3rd Round Selections of Note include: KC Chiefs- Tank Tyler, DE from NC State. The strongest guy in the draft, benched 225 42 times at the combine. Arizona got Buster Davis, linebacker from Florida State Carolina picked up Charles Johnson, DE from Georgia. Some had projected him as high as late first round, most had him somewhere in the second. Denver got Ryan Harris, OT from Notre Dame. INteresting thing about him...if anyone remembers, there was a show on MTV. It wasn't Made, it was one of those True Life shows and a few years back, they did one on a high school athlete, an offensive tackle who was trying to gain weight. At the end, he gets a scholarship from Notre Dame. That was actually Ryan Harris. Buffalo drafted Trent Edwards, QB from Stanford who was projected early-mid 2nd round. Dolphins grabbed Lorenzo Booker, running back from Florida State Bears got RB Garett Wolfe, who'll be trying to duplicate Michael Turner. Provides a nice change of pace to Benson. Daymeion Hughes, CB, from Cal went to the Colts. Some had him projected as a possible first rounder, then he dropped to second. Good steal for the Colts.

First two picks of Round 2, very interesting. Cards trade up to take a big chance on Branch. Bills trade up to take Posluszny, another bust or boom type player in my opinion. Good to see some teams taking chances though.

Troy Smith will not be a good NFL player. You can quote me on that. He's much too short for the position and isn't talented enough. A good parallel is Eric Crouch: Heisman Trophy Winner, speedy and had a decent arm. Got drafted and faded out. Smith will be playing in Arena Football or CFL in the next 3-4 years. Don't get me wrong, he was very good in college, but its a different game in the NFL.

As I mentioned previously, the Raiders getting Jamarcus Russell and Dwayne Jarrett? Lane Kiffin's smiling. Only Indy stands in the way.

I like Olsen with this and Harris with their next pick.

In order, I wanted Meachem, Staley, Grubbs, or Bowe. So I'm happy, just not AS happy as I coulda been. Still, thrilled to have a wideout finally.

It'd be even funnier if we'd been able to stare at him in the green room. BOO GOODELL AND HIS RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS.