Sunday, February 21, 2010

New Faces, Same Old Heartbreak (ETS Daily Exclusive)


Despite the Knicks acquiring Tracy McGrady, Eddie House, and Sergio Rodriguez, who all played in their first games as Knicks Saturday at MSG, the OKC Thunder still managed to rip Knicks fans' hearts out. McGrady turned in an exceptional game, shooting 10-17 from the field and adding 26 points. He was also 5 of 7 from the line, but it was his last two misses that cost the Knicks the game. Up by 6 with a minute to go in the ballgame, McGrady went to the line and missed both shots, which eventually led to a Thunder comeback, capped off by a Kevin Durant 3 pointer which tied the game with mere seconds left to play. The Thunder would go on to win in OT, 121-118. Speaking of Durant, you know, the guy who has had 27 straight games scoring more than 25 points? Well, he added 36 points of his own. Also for the thunder, Russell Westbrook shot 13-23 for 31 points, along with 10 assists. House scored 24 pts off the bench for New York, and grabbed 5 boards, but all this solid play from the newcomers simply wasn't enough to cast off the same old spell. The Knicks have now lost 6 in a row, and fall to 19-35 on the season, 8 games out of a potential playoff spot with 28 games remaining in the regular season, and one can only assume there are far more stomach punches yet to come. For Knick fans, July 1st can't come soon enough.
Saturday, February 20, 2010

Vince McMahon World’s Best Bad Investor

As I have said in the past, Vince does some incredibly bone headed things, however I have also coincided that regardless of who is more skilled (obviously I am) Vince is surely the more successful one. It may seem odd to criticize a billionaire, but there is no doubt in my mind that Vince has wasted millions with poor investments and missed out on millions more because he wasn’t smart enough to capitalize on a good thing. The most obvious of the bad investments was his World Bodybuilding Federation from the early 90’s. With rumors of a federal steroid investigation already brewing, it was not only a stupid businesses move but also a stupid legal move. Vince’s other famous flop, was of course the XFL while a great investment, Vince unfortunately did not have the foresight to follow through. Luckily for the
fans, Vince has been much more successful in creating stars, however his track record is far from perfect. Let’s take a look at a few:


Hulk Hogan: During a scripted segment Kurt Angle was said “Hulk Hogan became a Real American Hero, because Vince McMahon told him he was going to be a Real American Hero. If Vince wanted Hogan to be a Zookeeper he would have been Zookeeper it's that simple”. This quote is no doubt true, but makes one wonder; why did Vince seek to commit alchemy; the practice of turning lead into gold? Make no mistake, Hulk is lead, if dropped into the harsh environment which is ROH or Dragon Gate, he would have surely sank. While Vince may have turned Hulk into gold and made him the biggest name in all of wrestling, it could have all turned out so much better. Just imagine if he had used these creative juices on an all around athlete, how over could Vince have gotten this Meta-human? Hulk may famous, but it isn’t as one of the world’s best wrestler, it’s as one of the world’s best entertainers. Vince Surely misused a lot of time and effort on this man.

Bryan Danielson: As talked about in my last post, Bryan Danielson is one of themost talented technical wrestlers in the world today. So naturally I think Vince signing him is not only a shocking move (Vince is notorious for hating talented workers) but also a wise business investment. However Vince has horribly misunderstood a time honored practice. Anyone who has taken a business class knows that gold is a stable investment, and in troubled times (such as the wrestling industry is facing currently, at least rating wise) you should hold gold. In this scenario Bryan is gold, and Vince is following the lesson plan, he is keeping Bryan nice and safe in the bank. The only problem here is that Bryan isn’t gold, he’s a human, a human in his prime, and every day he sits on the shelf he is missing out on a potential five star matches. He may claim that he has some ring rust, but I can assure you Bryan is a better worker than anyone on WWE television even on his worst days. Personally I’ll take Danielson v. anybody before I sit through another Mark Henry match.

Check Back later this week as I continue to rip apart Vince McMahon!
Friday, February 19, 2010

Raptors, minus Chris Bosh, devour Nets at Home (ETS Daily Exclusive)

Same shit, different date. Lopez had 22 pts and 8 rebs, Harris had a double double with 19 pts and 11 assists. Everyone on Toronto shot well, the Nets played no defense at all, and Yi Jianlian shot 2-13 from the field. Josh Boone also got 8 minutes, the same amount of time as Kris Humphries. Why anyone still goes to these games is beyond my ability to rationalize.

Role Reversal: WWE’s Latest Move Raises Some Questions

With the debut of former ROH Champion Bryan Danielson a mere four days away, now is a good a time as any to take a look at a bizarre twist of fate. This Tuesday on the Syfy network, Danielson will debut as Daniel Bryans, a rookie wrestler trying to make his debut in the WWE as part of the their NXT initiative (formerly ECW). While I do admit most wrestling fans have never heard of ROH or any of its talent, I would never in my wildest dreams refer to Danielson as a rookie. Danielson has been wrestling since 1999 and has already had a brief stint in WWE developmental in 2001. Throughout his career he has wrestled elite wrestlers such as C.M. Punk, Brian Kendrick, Christopher Daniels, Low Ki, Samoa Joe, Paul London, AJ Styles, and Charlie Hass, as well as shitty yet more famous wrestlers like John Cena. Danielson was trained by some of the best, studying under both Shawn Michaels and William Regal, and has won best technical wrestler every since 2005 and most outstanding wrestler every year since 2006. Not to take anything away from the Miz, who has certainly come into his own since his 2003 wrestling debut (2006 WWE debut), but Danielson is far and away the superior WRESTLER.


On the converse, The Miz certainly has the advantage on Danielson in terms of public speaking ability; one would have to be oblivious to say Danielson is uncharismatic. During his tenure in ROH Danielson was able to captivate crowds, not only due to his superior wrestling ability but also due to his numerous catch phrases interjected during his matches. Akin to Jericho’s recent addition of “ask him” during submission moves, Danielson has always informed the referee that he has till five! on rope breaks, something he always got the audience to reiterate for him. Danielson has even managed to make a song as cheesy as Europe’s “The Final Countdown” into a cult phenomenon.

WWE needs to realize, that as Danielson himself says, he is “the best in the world”. Pairing him with Miz is just another example of Vince McMahon refusing to accept the fact that a wrestler or company (ECW) could become popular without him and this is his attempt to either recreate Danielson or destroy him. I know Bryan agrees with everything I’m saying, but I urge him not to comment, I would want Vince to derail his push because of something as silly as the truth (we all know Vince hates the truth).

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