mish mash of nba news

Wes Matthews is leaving Utah for Portland and Raja Bell is replacing him.. It is kind of surprising that Bell didn't take the easy way out and sign with LA. Maybe he couldn't bring himself to team up with Kobe after all of these years. It seems weird that the Blazers would go through all of this just to sign someone to backup Brandon Roy. They could have a nice little team in place if some of their players can stay healthy for a full season (Grandpa Greg).


The Heat's roster is about to become more concrete in the next day or two. It has been funny to watch everything play out over the last week and to watch Lebron James become public enemy number one in several cities following his DECISION. What I love about all of this is that EVERYONE is talking about the NBA right now. People that I know don't care at all about sports have been asking me frequently what I think about all of this. My opinion hasn't changed since I first heard everyone was going to Miami.

All of this makes me think we're in for one hell of a basketball season. The Heat and Lakers are obvious giants right now, with Orlando, Boston, Dallas, and even Oklahoma City not far behind. The Bulls are going to be a question make for me until they actually play a game together. I realize I should say the same for Miami, but let's not kid ourselves here. I would love to include the Rockets in this list of elite teams but I'm just not ready to yet.

Shaquille O'neal, Richard Jefferson, and Luis Scola remain on the free agent market. I still firmly believe Scola will be wearing red and white again next year.

I am pretty sure I am going to see Jimmy Cliff tonight.

Brad Miller in the house

I was just thinking that I hope the Rockets use their mid level on a decent older big man. Looks like they might be getting that in Brad Miller. While I was quietly hoping for Shaq, I'll take this. If this gets finalized I will post more info on my love hate with Bad Brad.

More NBA news

Apparently Al Jefferson is on his way to Utah. For some reason, Minnesota is trying to sign another point guard in Luke Ridnour. While he's not a bad player, there's no reason for them to add another point to the mix, especially with Ricky Rubio coming over next year. I guess this should open the door for a potential Johnny Flynn trade. Minnesota will definitely be one of the three worst teams in the NBA next season. Utah won't exactly make up for Boozer's departure with the addition of A Jefferson, but it is s tart. His health will be a major concern though. The NBA's landscape continues to make exciting and drastic changes.

I am content with the lineup the Rockets will be bringing o the table to start the season. That is of course assuming they resign Luis Scola. They would also be able to add a veteran with a mid level exception contract if I'm no mistaken.

RIP George Steinbrenner.

Between Earth and sky info/Alpha & Omega- Life Swallower

Trial was a band that I was very into in the late 90s. I was fortunate enough to see them twice in Buffalo and once in Syracuse. I was even more fortunate to interview Greg Bennick in Syracuse in 1999. People like him are one of the reasons why I first got into hardcore and stayed into it for as long as I have. In this day and age of "Hot Topic Hardore," it is very refreshing to see people playing hardcore with actual emotion again. Not only that, but Greg Bennick definitely takes activism to another level. If you want to get a feel for how much he has done outside of the four walls of hardcore, simply google search his name. Even I was amazed and somewhat shocked just how far he has come in the last ten years.
Between Earth and Sky is a new band featuring Greg Bennick on vocals, as well as ex-members of Catharsis, By A Thread, Gob, and Strain. With Bennicks vocals sounding similar to previous efforts, it is hard not to make the Trial comparison here. Even some of the music reminds me of them. There are a couple more melodies and less mosh than Trial though. I don't have a record player anymore, but I still intend to get this at some point. If you click that link you can also preview one of their songs. I am interested in hearing more from Band of Mercy as well.


Alpha & Omega- Life Swallower (6131)
California's Alpha & Omega are a band that kind of crept up on me. I had heard their name before, but didn't really remember hearing anything that earth shattering. When I saw them in Philly last year, I was blown away. And that was with somewhat of a scab lineup and what appeared to be an ill vocalist. I immediately picked up their Devil's Bed ep. Out today, this full length is the follow up to that ep. They seem to pick up right where they left off. Biohazard and No Warning mixed with a little bit of metal for good measure. There's a couple acoustic guitar parts on here and spoken vocal parts, which leads me to believe this band might be going completely metal at some point, which probably wouldn't be to my liking. I like the mix on this record though, it is just enough metal mixed in to keep my interest. Honestly, there's really no throw away tracks on here. Ultimately, it is the vocals that make a good hardcore band and luckily frontman Luis Hernandez has a great set of pipes. This band is about to go on tour with Bane, Cruel Hand, and Trapped Under Ice. I really want to hit up a couple of the shows in September.

David Stern just held a press conference.

Am I the only person that finds humor in the fact that the NBA holds their annual summer meetings at a casino?

Anyway, after the Sacramento Kings/Detroit Pistons game (Demarcus Cousins in the house), David Stern held a press conference to discuss what went on at said meeting, as well as to field the obvious Lebron James questions.

Highlights of the meeting:
- David Stern referring to Lebron's press conference as "illl conceived and poorly planned/executed".
- Stern making mention that the league probably will not investigate as to whether or not Miami's new dream team tampered with any rules.
- David Aldridge getting completed played by Stern, after asking how Stern felt about teams spending what he thought was over one billion dollars in "new money."
- Brian Windhorst getting "oh you're the one" after he introduces himself during the conference. Windhorst has been covering the Lebronse and also broke the Mark Cuban tampering allegation story last night.
-Deserevedly so, Dan Gilbert will be fined 100,000 for his public Lebron tirade in his letter to the fans last week.
- Stern says they a have a "long way to go and lot of time to get there" in reference to the new collective bargaining agreement. He seems optimistic about everything. It seems kind of eerie to me that the NBA is now finally just as popular as it was BEFORE the last lockout. Hopefully everything works out, there is plenty of time.

Phoenix close to reshaping their roster.

In what is a best case scenario for both players, Josh Childress will be going to Phoenix, along with Hedo Turkoglu. Those two players (along with Hakim Warrick and Channing Frye) are going to replace Leandro Barbosa and Amare Stoudemire, or at least try to. I think Childress will put up good numbers in Phoenix, while Turkoglu should bounce back from his mistake season in Toronto. While their roster is filled out more now, I think most Phoenix fans are still upset that Amare is going to be playing his home games in New York. This combination of players might actually end up being good enough to sneak into the playoffs again, especially with the west not being as tough as in previous season. It is tough to tell at such an early stage, but Phoenix might actually have improved their roster this offseason.

Original story here...

Two movies I'm stoked to see...

I've always been a sucker for action films. I could give you a list of some of my favorites, but yours is probably much cooler. Both of these upcoming movies I am about to mention feature some of my favorite (OLD) actors of the action variety, mixed in with some of the newer generation of tough guys and girls.

First up is The Expendables, which is due out August 13 . I remember walking by the poster to this in the theatre a while back and laughing at the ridicilously long cast of washed up action actors. While this movie clearly was made for 1997, I'll still take it in 2010 against all of this Avatar nonsense. I realize this movie will be lucky to earn a tenth the money that shit show brought in. That doesn't mean I won't be entertained for a couple hours. This movie will be a great warm up for September...


I really don't need to say anything about Machete. Anyone with access to a computer that has seen Grindhouse has been anxiously awaiting this one for quite some time. It looks like that wait will be over September 3. Danny Trejo has been all over the place over the last twenty five years in the film industry. He is mainly known for his roles in Robert Rodriguez films Desperado, From Dusk Til Dawn, and Planet Terror. He also recently had a great cameo role on the TV show Breaking Bad. Robert Rodriguez has supposedly had this role in mind for Danny Trejo ever since they shot Desperado together. The rest of this cast and the accompanying trailer make me excited at the least.



Both of these films are sure to be instant classics in the bad ass tough guy category.