Could This Deal Have Been Done With Foye?

I think this latest draft day trade marks the end of my tenure as Wolves fan #3267. I sick of McHale fucking with my world. I'm sick of Taylor just sitting there and allowing his team to be run by a buffoon. I'm sick of Hoiberg's heard condition keeping him from ever pulling a Shawn Chacon. If I ever see McFail on the streets he's getting a face-punch. We were promised Mayo.

Look, this trade did some good in getting us a decent swing man in Mike Miller and trading away two bad contracts and a bench player in return for one bad contract and a back-up center. My problem is that O.J. Mayo is going to be a star in this league and Kevin Love will be nothing more than a solid player and McHale love slave. The Wolves trading Mayo away cements his greatness in the league. Ray Allen, Brandon Roy and now O.J. Mayo. What gets me is that Memphis is just as notorious as the Wolves for making horrible decisions. Did we even attempt to offer Randy Foye instead of Mayo? Telfair-Mayo-Miller-Love-Jefferson would have been beautiful. Then you've got a bench consisting of McCants, Gomes and Corey Brewer plus whatever is left after all is said and done.

We could have convinced the Griz that Foye was just as exceptional a player as Mayo is and known that this team would be fielding 2 potential all-stars instead of just Jefferson. This team as it is now is just going to put up 35-40 wins and leave us with the tenth pick for the rest of our lives. We had the 3rd pick in a 3 star draft and messed it up. Give me Mayo and another year of futility, another high lottery pick and a set foundation. Love-Jefferson is not a foundation.

Randy Foye is not a point, was a bad trade and this team refuses to admit it. The trade probably would have been good for Foye, too. He could have started over and relinquished that combo that everyone attaches to him. Telfair would have blossomed as a point with Mayo as his back court counterpart. McCants might not have been so agitated by his being the 6th man if there was less confusion at his position. Love and Jefferson are going to play the same position- 4 and a half. On offense Love and Jefferson will be good together with love's passing and range and Jefferson posting up but defense is another situation. Mayo would have been the defense and a few years down the road may have taken it upon himself to enforce the defensive philosophy on his teammate. Now we have a team with no real point since they'll stick with Foye through thick and thin and no true center... we've just got 2-4 covered really well.

They will flounder, just not well enough for us to ever put ourselves in the position where we can draft a potential superstar that high in the draft. Keeping Mayo might have broken the cycle of everything. I would have been the first time since 1995 that we made the right decision on draft night and kept it. That might have in turn tempted fate to allow us to move up in a draft for once. I needed Mayo more than I needed to rid this team of 'toine and Jaric.

Fuck McHale and his love for Love. A trade like this could have been made in the next month using something other than Mayo as prime piece of real estate and returned the exact same type and quality of players. Foye has trade value. Mayo has the ability to become a superstar. What we got in return is not what we needed.
I am now a Blazer's fan. They are THE FUTURE and they do it right.

So Into the Wild

I found this on Hockey Wilderness last night and thought I'd pass it along what with the draft tonight and the lack of other sports news right now. I'm not so sure how I feel about this, I loved Into The Wild and can see where this satire is coming from but it just off in the hockey department.
Apparently they decided to mispronounce Gaborik's name on purpose but there aren't enough people who know the correct pronunciation for that to be funny... I think they f'ed up after the film was already cut. I also don't know why the dude would be going to Ontario to win a contest with Minnesota's franchise player.

I also despise the Minnesotan accent... yes, Minnesotans have an accent but its never that pronounced unless you've spent your whole life in the sticks.

Tales From Behind The Bars

It's always unfortunate when sports and prison intertwine. It's also inevitable. Like Big Poppa said, "Mo Money, Mo problems." Today there are two Minnesota sports/jail stories. Both are no surprise, but sad none the less.

Isaiah "J.R." Rider, inventor of the east bay funk dunk and 5th overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1993 draft is once again in jail. This time he is accused of auto theft after being arrested early Saturday morning in the skid row district of Los Angeles. He has since been released on bail to await trial.

Rider has had a history of law trouble that dates back to his college days when he was arrested for throwing a milkshake through the drive-through window of a Jack-in-the-box. During the 95-96 season Rider was convicted of 5th degree assault after kicking the manager of a sports bar. Rider had a few more brushes with the law during his playing years, none worse than possession of Marijuana and possession of an illegal cell phone, but once his career was over the real trouble started. In January of 2006 he was charged with kidnapping and domestic assault. In February of 2007 he plead guilty to felony cocaine possession and evading an officer. In January of this year Rider was charged with unlawful Firearm possession after getting into an argument with a taxi driver.

The other sports related jailing is not about an actual athlete. Souksangouane Phengsene was jailed Sunday night for suspicion of DWI. Most people don't remember that name, let alone have the skill to properly pronounce it, but Phengsene was the man who killed Malik Sealy in 2000 on his way home from Kevin Garnett's birthday party. Souk was drunk that night as well and was charged with criminal vehicular homicide. When he crashed into Sealy Phengsene was driving the wrong way down highway 100.

In 1997 he was charged with drunken driving in Des Moines and again in 2006 in Crystal. Unfortunately, since he plead guilty to vehicular homicide and not DWI in the Sealy crash the 2006 charge was not enhanced. Hopefully the judge will take a good long look at this man's driving record, throw him in jail for a while and rip up his license forever.

Useless Post #257

A man with an extremely vague dream started this blog 257 posts ago. That dream became even more unfocused as he allowed a handful of friends to add their musings. About that time Mr. Bez began keeping track of the visits. In the year since the counter began functioning we've had 45,000 plus visits. I'd say that’s pretty good, but I'd also place the blame on the abundance of traffic squarely on the succulent shoulders of Jessica Alba and Jessica Biel. Unfortunately, these women have fallen out of my favor... not because they are not beautiful, but because Ms. Alba is pregnant and may not be a Ms. for too much longer and because Ms. Biel is dating one Mr. Justin Timberlake. I can't dream if Timberlake is messing with my kool-aid. I can't dream if a lady be growing something inside of her.

The question is, how do we get the unsuspecting public to stumble across SPK? We've seen growth. In fact, I believe that some of you people who stop by during the week and actually looking at our content may not even know me personally. You may not even know Bez personally. I want to know in the comments section if you do exist. Let your typing be read!

Regardless of whether or not this is true I've decided to dump Alba and Biel as the unofficial ladies of Some People's Kids and start all over with two new ones. The first is Megan Fox, goddess of robots movies with tattoos and eyes that will pierce your soul. The second is Rachel Bilson, uber sexy girl next door. I absolutely hate admitting that I watched the O.C. my first two years of college, but I've come to terms with it citing the fact that it was always a coed event. Then I saw Bilson on Chuck before the writers refused to be fleeced by the AMPTP anymore and I fell in love all over again. If we have another month where 16,000 people show up it will be their fault and I will know that I am not the only man who has moved on.

Remember to let us know if you enjoy our site in the comments section. Thank you, that is all.

Eddie Griffin Dies In Crash

The former Timberwolves forward lost his life when his SUV collided with a freight train in Houston, Texas. Investigators say Griffin ignored railway warnings and went around barriers at around 1:30 am on Friday. His body and vehicle were so badly burnt that dental records were needed to identify the body. ESPN got a hold of his attorney, Derek S. Hollingsworth, who had this to say:

"I was able this afternoon to get some dental records from the one dentist he had gone to see in Houston, and they were able to use that apparently to positively identify him."

The New Jersey Nets' seventh pick out of Seton Hall in the 2001 draft spent 2 full season with the Wolves before being released after 13 games last season. Griffin also spent time with the Houston Rockets who acquired him on draft night from the Nets for 3 first round draft picks. Griffin was released after his second season by the Rockets after issues with substance abuse and being accused of firing a weapon at his then girlfriend. The Forward averaged 7.2 points, 5.8 rebounds,1.7 blocks and 22.2 minutes.

Watching Eddie play you got the sense that there was greatness locked away deep down inside. There were nights when he was on fire whether it be hitting multiple threes, cleaning up the glass or blocking any and everything that KG couldn't manage to put his hand on. It was nights like that that justified the extension given to him by McHale. His inner demons got the most of him and lead to the downfall of his basketball career. Alcoholism is a terrible disease that ruins so many lives. Judging by the night and the time of the incident I don't believe it would be without merit to assume that it may have played a part in his tragic demise although investigators have yet to determine if alcohol was involved. The Houston Chronicle interviewed John Lucas about the incident.

"Eddie is free now," said former Rockets guard and NBA coach John Lucas, who worked with Griffin in Lucas' Houston-based rehabilitation program. "Eddie was just a special basketball talent. He was doing well for periods. He would go up and down mentally and spiritually. But Eddie was a good person.

"I'm just sad, just so sad."

He may have been the butt of a joke or two over here at SPK, but our best goes out to the Griffin family. It is always a tragedy when a life is lost at such an early age.