“A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz.”

World Series: battle of the titans.

Ill State of Mind

Empire State of Mind

“The strongest thing I put into my body is steak and eggs. I’m not a supplement guy.”

Welcome to the gun show. I bought mine at Walmart.

Rashard Lewis has been suspended for the first 10 games of the NBA season without pay for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. He claims that he didn’t know that the over the counter pills were considered steroids. He’s a key player on the Magic, and they will likely suffer without him, but maybe it will help resolve his recurring knee tendonitis. While the $1.6 million loss of salary is bad, it’s nowhere near the penalties faced in other sports.

The 10-game suspension for a first positive test in the N.B.A. is a little less than an eighth of the season. A first positive in baseball results in a 50-game suspension (about a third of the season) and a first positive in football results in a 4-game suspension (a quarter of the season).

– New York Times

On the plus side, the Magic’s underplayed bench will get some coveted court time. Lewis is only the 4th to recieve a suspension since the leagues drug-testing anti-dope program was initiated in 1999. The program is far from stringent, requiring no off-season testing. It is believed that the off season is when athletes benefit from the drugs the most, so if the Lewis scandal is at all indicative of a trend (unlikely), the NBA will have to reevaluate their policy.

“Every game we play is going to be the biggest game of the year…it’s in our hands.”

A few weeks ago, it was thought that Lamar Odom had seen the last of the Lakers. Candy Man fans feared that they would have to go out and buy Miami Heat gear and study up on Dwayne Wade, but luckily he’s been resigned to LAL. With the addition of Ron Artest this summer, it is likely that Odom will serve as the team’s sixth man back court. The starting line-up includes Artest, Bryant, Bynum, Fisher, and Gasol. The season doesn’t start till the end of October, but with Shaq on track to play with Lebron and the Celtics back in contention, it’s shaping up to be a good year.

“Greece is the word.”

Is Alan Iverson heading to the Eastern Conference?

No…well not the NBA’s Eastern Conference. The 34 year old free agent has a 2 year, $10 million contract on the table to go and play in Greece. No comparable offers exist for Iverson in the states, making a pretty solid case for him to read up on the Parthenon and feta cheese, but NBA players who have gone and played in Europe have attested to the other worldliness of the international league.

Iverson was plagued by a back injury for the duration of last season, causing the Pistons to bench him from April onwards. He’s still got a few solid years in him, but his Sixer style glory days are gone; surrendering the number 3 jersey he’s worn throughout his professional career when joining the Pistons is symbolic of that. His only other option at this point? Stay stateside and settle for a one year deal with a team like the Heat or the Knicks in a backseat position.

“The time has come,” the walrus said, “to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships – and sealing wax – of cabbages and Kings”

Omri Casspi is set to be the first Israeli to make it to court – the NBA court, that is. The 23rd pick in NBAs first round draft was picked up by the Sacremento Kings. Howard Beck of New York Times wrote:

When the Kings took Casspi with the 23rd pick, he became the first Israeli to secure a guaranteed contract, which will almost assuredly make him the first to play in an N.B.A. game. The celebrations began immediately on draft night.

“It was a huge festival in Israel,” said Dan Shamir, a longtime Israeli coach who worked with Casspi when Casspi was a teenager on the national team. “For many years, people were asking when Israel will have an N.B.A. player. When it actually happened, it made huge headlines.”

Basketball is only second to soccer as the nation’s most popular sport. The 21-year old already has a huge fan following from his performence on Maccabi Tel Aviv, his home team, and his faithful fans will follow his NBA career, even though it will mean waking up at 4 a.m. for games. They might be disappointed; the 6 foot 9, 225 lb forward will have to work hard with his new teammates to turn around the Kings performance last season as the team in the NBA with the worst record.

Regardless of the Kings 2009/10 season performance, Casspi’s guarenteed contract is unprecedented and a huge victory for the Israeli/Jewish community abroad and at home.

“Basketball is the MTV of sports.”

The Lakers offer to unrestricted free agent Lamar Odom for $9 million per season has been taken off the table after Odom’s agent Jeff Schwartz failed to respond on the player’s behalf. He may be heading back to the Miami Heat to join Dwayne Wade or over to the Dallas Mavericks.

Personally, I would like to see the Candy Man back in LA; Odom was an asset to the Lakers, and without him the team will have to depend on Andrew Bynum and former Houston Rockets player Ron Artest. The start to the regular season is a long way off, but keep tabs on trade talks, free agents, and the latest courtside news at HoopsHype.

“Quidditch is less popular in the Far East, because they prefer the flying carpet to the broomstick.”

Great news for all of you college going Harry Potter Fans: Quidditch is a sport offered at many colleges. It’s popular along the East Coast at a range of schools, including the elite Princeton. Participants wear capes and hold broomsticks between their legs. Perhaps UVA will be the next school to jump on board with this. Given the excitement over the 6th Potter film release tomorrow, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” I have a feeling it would be quite popular. Check out the College Quidditch League’s website here.

“Fluent in Finnish?” “Everyone has fudged their resume a little!”

You speak Prada?!

Ever since reading Confessions of a Shopaholic on an Amtrak trip to New York earlier in the month, I’ve been excitedly anticipating the movie’s June 23rd release on DVD to see how it compares. The book was decent; a fun, quick, mildly ridiculous girly read set in London. On Sunday night after the USA’s loss to Brazil in the FIFA Confederation Cup, I was more than happy to escape boy world, snuggle up in my covers, and pop this into my DVD player. The movie adapted the setting to New York, and cast the adorable Isla Fisher as Rebecca Bloomwood, which was a definite WIN. It was hard to watch (re: cringeworthy) in parts, but the screenplay was a good adaptation of the book that squeezed in all the good bits and added new twists and vignettes that were more screen worthy. It was a fun lesson on fiscal responsibility in the current economy, and minus the dancing mannequins, seemed largely plausible. Fisher as Rebecca is naive, sweet, happy-go-lucky…and incredibly wise (I’m serious). Rent it for movie night with your girlfriends, or enjoy after watching any major sporting event.

“The secret is to have eight great players and four others who will cheer like crazy.”

Last Year's NBA Draft

The 2009 NBA Draft airs tonight from 7 pm-12 am ET, and although it’s known that the number 1 draft pick Blake Griffin will be playing for the LA Clippers, nothing else is set in stone yet. Check out ESPN online for a list of the Top 100 Draft Picks. ESPN’s Mock Draft has pick 2 Hasheem Thabeet (Connecticut) going with Memphis Grizzlies, pick 3 Ricky Rubio (Spain) going with Oklahoma City Thunder, pick 4 Stephen Curry (Davidson) going with Sacremnto Kings, and pick 5 Tyreke Evans (Memphis) going with Minnesota Timberwolves. The Minnesota Timberwolves have 4 picks in the Top 30 (5th, 6th, 18th & 28th), promising them a fresh start with a young team in the wake of trading Kevin Garnett to Boston two years ago.

“Remember this—I’m going to bring a championship to [Cleveland]. I promise.”

It’s official; Shaq has been traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers! Lebron will finally have someone to run defense for him. With these two big hitters on the court, 2010 is already looking a lot brighter for the Cavs. In return for Shaq, Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic are headed to Phoenix. This trade puts Cleveland in a position to combat Howard of the Magic in the Eastern Conference next year, gives them the player they’ve been coveting since February, and guarentees that Lebron will renew his contract. The Cavs get O’Neal for a year, allowing them to try to lure in more all-stars in next summers free agent class. Expect to see Varejao re-signed and back on the court with these two heavy hitters next season too.

Update: Shaq learned of the trade via Twitter.