I still don't think it's going to work

$400 million isn't a great deal of money compared to $1 billion (Barclays Center). Mayor and former point guard Kevin Johnson rolled out the plan for a new arena in downtown Sacramento. Several different revenue streams would be utilized to pay for construction, no taxpayer vote would be required to approve the project according to the Sacramento Bee. In the past residents of Sacramento have been reluctant to sign off on anything that would raise their taxes. Until the economic picture improves in the nation Barclays might be the only arena completed over the next several years. A key theme from me reading many emails there was hope in the community to retain the team Sacramento residents just didn't want to pay for it. I thought for sure this new proposal would be met with a little more optimism but that does not appear to be the case. Maybe the opposition emails I'm reading are from a smaller group of citizens and there is a silent majority of people okay with the proposal. What do you do?

Did you know or see this?

The video of Justin Bieber "breaking" Steve Nash's ankles? It looked real but I really question if it might have been staged. Think you still got game why not an NBA D-League tryout for you? Chicago and Los Angeles are the sites chosen for September 24th. There is a $150 participation fee which will certainly be returned 10,000 fold and more once you make an NBA roster. My home Kansas City will be a big loser with the demise of the Big-12 Conference. The Big 12 post-season basketball tournament is a financial winner for metro merchants, the same applies for the Border Showdown football game between Mizzou and Kansas when held at Arrowhead. Remember a few weeks back the feature on smallish players, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has a 5-4 player on it's roster. Eric Valentin wanted to play at a D-1 school but found few schools were willing to take a chance on him strictly because of his height. Valentin had averaged 13 points and 8 assists a game during his senior year at Orlando (FL) Christian. As a walk-on player his desire and work ethic resulted in him being awarded a full scholarship.

I would defend my story too

The bombshell Miami story has slipped from the front page of various sports websites. At the time this story broke on Yahoo Sports several in the media were hinting Miami's football team would receive the "death penalty" for all the improper ties the story detailed. There was an indication Mizzou's Frank Haith was involved, one of his players had received a $10,000 payment to attend Miami. After Jason Whitlock attacked the story the writer began a process to defend his work. I can't blame him working on a story for a year naturally he'd feel defensive regarding any criticism. The problem for me the basketball portion of the story is questionable in several areas, and keep in mind this is information provided by sources beyond Yahoo and Nevin Shapiro. Nevin Shapiro claims he gave DeQuan Jones $10,000 at some point during the summer of 2008. A yet to be identified family member is supposed to have asked Shapiro for the money, Jone's mother claims it wasn't her. The exchange of money might have occurred but during the summer, Jones had signed a letter of intent in November of 2007. Shapiro provided the writer photos one in which Haith, Shapiro and Miami President Donna Shalala appear. Shapiro is presenting Shalala with a booster check at a Miami bowling alley. Second photo, Shapiro, Haith and an assistant coach are seated at a restaurant table we assume eating dinner. Shapiro then retreats a bit claiming most of his dealings were through this assistant coach but Haith "must" have known the full story. Are we to believe Shapiro gave someone $10,000 in cash with a "promise" this player would be attending Miami? I will leave the football portion to others, the basketball part is plain fuzzy. As I almost always say, I've from Missouri "Show Me!"

I'm guilty

The demise of print journalism can be pointed at me! I can remember a time and this is after television print was vital to allow you to follow any sport. Even the expansion of sports programming on television failed to provide the nuts and bolts many of us sought. Many in my generation sought newspapers, magazines anything we could locate to read about our favorite sport or it's individual athletes. Every year about this time I began my quest to acquire Street & Smith's NBA publication, in November the collegiate version of the same magazine was available. Of course Street & Smith published similar versions for football, baseball and hockey, in more recent times they might have provided a soccer edition. In any event the magazine provided top notch writing and coverage of the NBA, college and high school basketball. The magazine is still published I just don't purchase it anymore---no need with ESPN.com, CBSSports.com and others available. Now you see why I'm pleading guilty.

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."

Winston Churchill - British politician, 1874-1965