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Apparently Scottie was as surprised as we were that he was getting into the Hall....

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Quote Of The Hour from Scottie Pippen - Spekaing on the topic of having Michael Jordan presenting him [Pippen] at his NBA Hall of Fame induction ceremony later this week: "I figure if anyone deserves to be on the stage with me, it's him."

Whoooaaaa... Slow your roll Scottie. I know this is your big day in the sun, and I sure you saw MJ using his HOF speech to talk a gang of smack last year, but let's keep some perspective. There is a "Michael Jordan" regardless of Scottie Pippen, Bill Cartwright, Luc Longley or BJ Armstrong - but their most definitely is no "Scottie Pippen" without His Airness - just ask the fine folks in Portland.

Scottie was a very good second option, who had a few nearly great seasons, but if he spent his career playing for the Warriors he woud stand about as good a chance at making the HOF as Mitch Richmond. In the one season where the Bulls became his team, Pippen had the chance in the play-offs to play the role of MJ - but he suddenly developed a headache and became a barely serviceable back-up to Tony Kukoc, destroying any chance he ever had of being considered a truly great player. He does have six rings and Jordan never won one without him, but we're not convinced that was an endorsement of Pippen or just a matter of being in the right place, at the right time (six times over again).

On the subject of Celtics fans chanting "Ug-ly Sis-ter" in reference of Lamar Odom's wife Khloe Kardashian, Doug Gottleib just pronounced on ESPN Radio, "She is an LA six, but a Boston ten!"

Although I am an admitted semi-fan of the Lakers, I don't care about them nearly enough to take any offense to the Celt's fans harassment of LO's reality star bride - particularly since I regularly refer to her by the Perez Hilton coined named "Kong Kardashian".

Being that I'm an LA local, I have seen Kong and her better looking siblings In Da Club on a few occasions, and, although she's not my cup of tea, Khloe actually isn't that terrible looking in real life - or at least wasn't the last time I saw her (supposedly she's put on some serious lb's lately, which probably isn't helping her looks). I may even say Gottleib is low-balling her LA score and, given her celeb cred, I would likely hand her a "dressed up 7". To give you some perspective though, I think that her sister's are both much better looking but still wouldn't give either anything more than a high 8 on their best day - my personal grading scale is not strictly linear, but more akin to the Richter Scale whereby each point becomes exponentially greater than the previous.

However, I digress... The real thing to consider here is whether or not Derek Fisher was correct in complaining about the fans shots at his teammate's wife, saying there had to be a line drawn somewhere as to what was appropriate material to heckle about. I think in many cases the player's wives should probably be a no-no, but when you decide to marry a media-hungry reality star during a 2 hour E! special - well I think you lose your right to complain.

The main point of Gottleib's diatribe was that Boston is a town full of ugly chicks - and while I'd like to be able to say he's wrong, I honestly can't think of a single "hot chick" from Massachusetts. So, if you've got any nominations, leave them in the comments (and being married to a dude from Boston doesn't count - meaning no Jennifer Garner).

During tonight's Hawks - Bucks playoff game, color-man Kevin McHale went off on some strange tangent about point scoring and referenced Larry Bird proudly saying: "I know you're watching!"

Really, you KNOW that he's watching a completely useless weeknight game on TNT?!?!

Despite his penchant for grotesquely short shorts, McHale was a great power forward playing alongside Bird and Robert Parrish in the 80's and then he turned into a terrible GM with the Timberwolves. He's a mediocre commentator, but that line really got me.

Unless McHale had checked in with Larry Legend right before he went on air, it seems like a pretty ridiculous statement. If it was the Celtics (the team Bird spent his career playing for) or the Pacers (the team Bird now owns part of), then I would understand - even if it was a top team like the Cavs or the Lakers, or a fun team like the Suns, it would make sense... but the Hawks & Bucks?! Neither of these teams seems to have any interest in even winning this series - probably because both of them know that they aren't getting past the next round. Their first round playoff match-up is the NBA's equivalent of the island on Lost -  some strange post-life time warp that, when you're there, feels like you're on an important mission, but once you leave you are dead.

So if Larry Legend really was spending his Wednesday evening watching this game then he either is completely and utterly obsessed with the NBA or someone needs to remind him of how rad he was in the 80's and tell him to get it back together.

Ah, so that's how those speeches are written! This explains so much. Who know there was an actual writer behind these. GENIUS!

Oh, and warning. This might might be NSFW if your boss frowns against f-bombs and other graphic language. But if your boss is cool, then fire it up!

Earlier this week, SB Nation's Andrew Sharp asked a simple question. What's more valuable in sports: a great owner, or a great player?

He used the example of the lowly Nets as he pondered if they would be better off getting the #1 overall pick or an insanely wealthy owner who was willing to spend dollars like they are going out of style (which I think they technically are).

It was a really good article, breaking down each major sports league - as to who was more important to a team's success, the owner or the player.

Check out the article @ http://www.sbnation.com/2010/3/11/1365424/you-choose-owner-or-draft-pick

Clearly we at Project Franchise think that its not quite that cut and dry - as we believe that it starts with the owner (and their GM/"Front Office"), but that all the money in the world wont necessarily buy a winning team... Just ask Daniel Snyder. Hopefully our team will help to show a new model, where the fans actually have a voice and can help make the best decisions for a team as a group - meaning there is really a new component in the formula, where the quality of the team will be dependent on the quality of the fans!

How awesome was that USA hockey win over Canada? Inspirational you say? Well the team was inspired for sure...by a 5-year-old.

Apparently Josh Sacco and his dad Jim have watched the movie "Miracle" over and over again, so much so, that Josh has memorized Coach Herb Brooks speech (down to the same outfit and pre-game notes). Prior to the big win on Sunday, Josh gave this exact speech to Team USA, and well, I think it's fair to say the kid must've done a pretty good job.

They better keep this kid around for the remainder of the Vancouver games.

Miracle-Herb Brooks" Pre-Game Speech (via jsacco14)

As a feature of tonights SC, ESPN decided to put together a baseball version of 2-Pac & Biggie - a couple of 90's sports stars talkin mad $h*t via the media. I'm 100% sure that Jose Canseco is a slimey dirtbag who has shamed himself and the game, and who is not telling the truth about steroids because of a more objective, but rather to make money and screw the sport he believed screwed him - however, compared to McGwire he's a friggin saint. Big Mac has similarly only come groveling back to the public just so he can have a prayer of getting into the HOF and so that he can go work with Tony LaRussa in St Louis - who is basically the new McGwire as he lies to our faces and dodges questions about how much he knew about the Bash Bros juicing while he was in charge in Oaktown.

The QOTH was delivered by Canseco during his rebuttal to McGwire saying he wont stoop to Jose's level, when he called out Big Mac's tearful apology citing the classic Jimmy Dugan line as he sheepishly turned and looked directly into the camera - "Mark, there's no crying in baseball, you know that..."

ZINGGGGGGG! For a strange, twitching weirdo who literally got knocked out the last time we saw him on TV that's a hell of a line... Hopefully just enough to force McGwire back into the dark cave he's been hibernating in for the past 5 years.

Today on ESPN's 1st and 10 Jemele Hill proved why she should not have a job analyzing sports, particularly professional basketball.  On the show she debated two points with Skip Bayless.  The first was who between Kobe and Jordan was more clutch and the second was who was better at the age of 20, Durant or Lebron.  

On the first point Jemele stated that Kobe was a better clutch player than His Airness.  Am I a Kobe hater? Yes. Do I accept that Kobe Bryant is one of the 15 greatest players in NBA history?  Yes.  

To even put Kobe's ability to perform in pressure situations on the same level as Jordan's is absolutely ridiculous. 

In 6 NBA Finals appearances, Jordan won six titles and six Finals MVP trophies with several game-winning Finals shots, including Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, his last Finals appearance.  

Kobe has also made 6 Finals appearances, winning 4 titles, 3 with the most dominating center of this era and has won a total of one Finals MVP trophy.  He has made one game-winning Finals shot against the Pistons in Game 2 of the 2004 NBA Finals, a series the Lakers went on to lose comprehensively 4-1.

Jordan averaged 33.4 points in the playoffs, the all-time record, on 48.7% shooting from the field to go along with averages of 6.4 rebounds and 5.7 assists.  All of these are increases from his regular season averages.

Kobe also has impressive playoff averages of 25.0 points on 44.7% shooting to go with 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists.  His points and rebounds average slightly decrease from his regular season totals and his field goal percentage is nearly an entire percent lower than his regular season average.  His assists average goes up by 0.1. 

The fact that you can't hand check players and that the level of contact allowed now is far less than during MJ's prime makes it even more amazing to see what Jordan accomplished.  I could keep going on, but if you want more proof of how in every way Jordan is more clutch, check out these stats.

Bryant: Career Achievements and Playoff Stats

Jordan: Career Achievements and Playoff Stats

Now her second argument was that Durant as 20 year-old was slightly better than James simply because he had a better outside touch.  This is the most ridiculous premise to determine who's a better player because it simply neglects other aspects of the game.  

Durant's average of 25.3 points per game on 47.6% shooting is outstanding.  He also averaged 6.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists.  All in all an extremely impressive second year in the league at the age of 20.  

James played with more pressure on him as a phenom in his second year than Durant has ever experienced and averaged 27.2 points on 47.2% shooting.  I will agree with Jemele that Durant has a more polished perimeter shooting game at this age than James had at that age.  However James averaged 7.4 rebounds and a ridiculous 7.2 assists as well.  He also averaged one more steal per game than Durant (2.2 to 1.3).  

None of this is to say that Kobe is not a great player or that Durant is not one of the most talented young players in the history of the NBA.  However to compare Kobe's or any player's pressure situation abilities to Jordan's is an act of stupidity anybody who watched playoff games in the 90's knows without looking at the numbers.  Similarly Lebron's all-around game was so much more advanced than Durant's at the same age that looking at one aspect such as perimeter scoring and then using that as a basis to determine a better player is perhaps an even greater act of stupidity.

Then again rooting for the Celtics is exactly like rooting for Hitler, right Jemele?