Sports Quick Hits 03/19

1. Mavs Lose, Again
In proved to be yet another excruciatingly frustrating loss in a long line of excruciatingly frustrating loses, The Mavs battled back from 25 points down...only to fall short at the finish. This team as constructed, with supporting players who think they are stars, a lack of basketball IQ, and a coach who doesn't seem to know what he's doing anymore, is just good enough to do what they've done for the last month: keep the game really close against really good teams, but not good enough to win. The whole team needs a major overhaul, starting with the head coach.

2. Allen Iverson Returns to Philly
Perhaps I should hold off on this until after the game, but long time Sixer great Allen Iverson is returning to Philly with the Nuggets tonight for the first time since he was traded. A headline on ESPN.com today quoted Iverson as being unsure whether he would recieve cheers or jeers when he is announced. Let me chime in here and say, despite Philly fans being the most retarded group America has to offer, there had better not be a SINGLE boo tonight when Iverson takes the floor. This guy gave that city everything he had EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for 12 years, carrying them when there was literally nothing else of value on the team, and even took the high road when the team blamed him for the trade last year. Iverson has had his problems in the past but he meant everything to the 76er franchise while he was there and booing tonight would be in dispicable taste even for citizens of Philly.

3. Timberwolves Owner Slams KG
In the same vein as the Iverson story, Wolves owner Glenn Taylor was quoted today as saying Kevin Garnett quit on the team last season in the last 5 games. First off, why did those 5 games matter? They didn't. The Wolves were going nowhere even if they did win all 5 games. Second, what did Taylor hope to gain by making a comment like this? There was absolutely no point to laying the blame at Garnett's feet 11 months after the fact. Third, and most important, anyone who has EVER watched an NBA game knows that the absolute last thing anyone would associate with KG is a quitter's mentality. Just like Iverson in Philly, Garnett gave the team everything he had every night without one word of complaint about the D League players that usually surrounded him on the roster. He single handedly kept that team in playoff position for years. I don't believe for a second that Garnett prematurely shut it down last year, but even if he did, hasn't 12 years of striving and carrying a team of spares on your back earned him the right to rest his over-used knees for the first time in a decade? Glenn Taylor should be absolutely ashamed of himself for putting this sack of crap out in the media and I only wish the Celts were playing the Wolves again this year so KG could tear them apart.

4. Terrelle Pryor Makes His Decision, Finally
Today it was announced that after months of waiting and speculating, top high school football quarterback Terrelle Pryor has chosen to go to The Ohio State University next fall. Pryor, the number one prospect in the country in just about everyone's book, chose OSU over Michigan, a move that could hurt the Wolverines new offense as they transition to Rich Rodriguez's Spread Option.

As a Buckeye fan, I'm both excited and terrified. There is no questioning Pryor's talent and anytime you can take a player of his magnitude away from your rival, it's a good thing. But the way Pryor has handled his signing, by refusing to commit when everyone else did and keeping the attention on himself for as long as possible, reminds me too much of former PSU great Maurice Clarett. Just like Pryor, Clarett was a fantastic talent who helped the Buckeyes win their championship in 2002. But he also had such an ego, such an overinflated sense of self worth, and such a desire to make his name known, just like Pryor seems to have. In the end, Clarett spent only one year with the team before being suspended and ultimately cut for his off the field issues. He got the Buckeyes in a heap of trouble and wound up in jail serving a long prison sentence. I'm not saying Pryor is a bad guy, but he worries me. He seems like a guy that you don't want to see playing against you but at the same time, you're not really sure if you can trust him on your team. I hope he turns out to be the player he is capable of being and stays away from the trouble he is capable of causing as he leads the Buckeyes over the next three years.

5. Larry Harris Fired
A quick note in one of my recent posts provided a link to an article Bill Simmons wrote to announce his "candidacy" for GM of the Milwaukee Bucks. Today that campaign took on new steam as the Bucks fired Larry Harris, their current GM, who has done about as bad a job as anyone in the NBA. As bad as the Bucks have been and as much heat as they have taken, I'm not so sure it wouldn't be a smart idea, at least from a PR standpoint, to offer the job to Simmons. The franchise is going nowhere right now so even if Simmons was terrible, he could be fired in 2 years and the team will be right where they were before the hiring. So remember to vote "Simmons" on Prop 109 when you head out to your casting center.