Joe Luke With The Final Word
By Joe Luke

Former Phoenix Sun Mike D'Antoni has decided to leave the team that has four amazing players for the New York Knicks. That is right basketball fans, the New York Knicks, who won a combined total of 56 games the past two years under Isiah Thomas, the worst coach ever! Just for you to understand how bad that really is, the Suns won 55 games this year and the best team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics, won 66. Knicks fans might be excited but I say the worst is yet to come.

D'Antoni had some great years with the Suns and made it to the Western Conference finals twice. This year, he and the Suns were eliminated in the first round to that goon squad known as the San Antonio Spurs in five games. Some will still say they do not see the down side of this but here it comes.

The Suns' starting five consisted of Steve Nash, Shaquille O'Neal, Amare Stoudemire, Grant Hill and Raja Bell. That is an unbelievable line-up with no down side other than age for a couple of them. Than you have the bench players who were Leandro Barbosa, Boris Diaw and Gordan Giricek, which if I may say, makes this a deeply talented team.

On the other side of this move you have the horrible Knicks that could not get in the hunt for the playoffs in the East, where a losing record is good enough to get in and going 500 or better makes...
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Joe Luke With The Final Word
By: Joe Luke

I take one vacation and the world of sports comes off the hinges. I had to step away for a minute because the NBA once again told the referees to knock the Suns out for a second straight year. The NBA is starting to resemble American Idol in the way that the results must be fixed. This is only the beginning of the madness that has taken place since my disappearance and I will tell you how it is right now.

I am so tired of hearing that the Spurs are the greatest fundamental team ever created. The Spurs are the new goons of the NBA. They try by any means to knock you on the floor by hitting, kicking, and in some situations scratching. The ones that cannot handle that kind of beating on the Spurs are the actors, who might be better than Matt Damon in the Departed. Tony Parker proves to me that all French men are soft and please tell Tim Duncan to stop crying. Maybe that is why no one likes the Spurs? They are the spoiled kid that gets everything he wants and feels like he actually earned something. Thank God for bought refs, if you are a Spurs fan that is.

Second is Kobe for MVP, which to me defines the bs in the NBA right now. Let me get this out of the way, Chris Paul or Kevin Garnett would have been better choices and deserved it, if not more than just as much. So Kobe gets the award fine, but le...
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Joe Luke With The Final Word
By Joe Luke

This is a new type of column I am writing on Sportscholarz.com due to the large amount of e-mails I have been receiving lately. This is where you will find my answer to your questions - the right answers. So let's get this madness started.

Q: Why has no one signed Barry Bonds this year in MLB?
Jim from Scranton, PA
A: Well Jim it is not because of ability, but rather the attention he will bring with him. The clubs that can afford Bonds really do not need him right now and/or want to see if they can make it without the kind of negativity that will come with him. The teams that would not care about that attention cannot afford a one year contract like he would want. The real issue is the baggage that comes along with Bonds and not the suit case kind.

Q: Is Roger Clemens receiving better treatment than Barry Bonds?
Boomy from Queens, NY
A: First Boomy, is that your real name because we might have to talk to who ever named you. But to your question. Yes he is receiving better treatment and it could be because of many reasons. You can touch race, but I would like to believe we are over that hurdle in sports. You can talk about the personality problems that Bonds had with the media. It might have to do with Bonds holding the most treasured record in all of sports. But if you ask me,...
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Putting It To Bed With Ted
By Ted Fergusen

Let me start off by saying I love living in the United States. I have served in the armed forces and love all of our freedoms. That being said, I also believe that Americans are far too sensitive and can't even joke around anymore. Everyone is so worried about hurting someone else's feelings that no one has fun.

The sporting world is one of the most politically correct places in the universe, no one will say bad things about other people or even poke fun at them (there are rare occasions but not nearly enough). Take for example the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Washington Wizards series in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Washington center Brendan Haywood called LeBron James a crybaby for complaining about every time he got touched, so in jest, a local branch of Papa Johns pizza made up some t-shirts with their logo and James, the number 23 and the word crybaby under it. The shirt was worn by the fans in game six.

This shirt is funny because its true, James does complain about everything. The only NBA player that complains more is Tim Duncan. So it's done right, someone makes a joke and everyone has a good laugh right, wrong.

The spineless cowards that run Papa Johns issued an apology to James saying “At Papa John's, we're huge fans of Cleveland, the Cavs and LeBron James.&rdq...
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Putting It To Bed With Ted
By Ted Fergusen

The Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. is something every basketball fan should see because the history of this place is amazing to say the least. Well, this past weekend, some of us Scholarz decided to make the pilgrimage to this wonderful place. So Joe Luke, Benjamin Riley and I loaded up the eco friendly car and set off on our six-hour drive.

The drive was the least of our hard times. We listened to some good music and some not so good music when Joe was playing DJ. The drive went very smoothly all the way up until we got into Massachusetts and we realized that the road system was designed by children all hopped up on Mountain Dew and Skittles. To say that these roads were dangerous would be the understatement of the century, with merging traffic coming from both directions and street signs being like a unicorn and rarely seen. Our lives were in danger many, many times, but like the fans we are we pushed through it to reach our destination. We got there late in the evening, so we decided to get a room and then see the Hall in the morning.

The entrance to our hotel was something out of the movies. It had mirrors all around, beautiful flooring and just a great atmosphere; and on our way to check in Joe noticed a computer room for guest to use. The sign read “Where the Internet nev...
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Putting It To Bed With Ted
By Ted Fergusen
     
What does it take to stay on a team in the NFL where it is truly a “What have you done for me lately league?” Apparently not even an MVP performance can save you from the unemployment line.

Just ask former stud running back Shaun Alexander.
     
Alexander received his pink slip on Tuesday after a couple of sub-par seasons. In 2007 he rushed for 716 yards and a whopping 4 touchdowns in 13 games. 2006 was no better for him when he rushed for 896 yards and 7 touchdowns. Most of us know his name because in 2005, his MVP season, he set a rushing touchdown record with 27 (which would later fall) and added 1,880 yards.

Now I know you are going to say: “but Ted he was hurt those past couple of years, it wasn't his fault he was not 100%.” Well that's the way it goes and maybe he can tell that sob story to whatever team he suckers into picking him up.

Alexander had a great 2005 season no doubt about it, but then something funny happened, he got a big contract and he got a lot worse. He wouldn't fight for extra yards, he never tried to run anyone over, the second someone got near him it looked like he was playing two-hand touch, it didn't take much to bring the former bruiser down.
     
In order to save some money, the Seattle Seahawks made ...
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