I’m envious
Poplulus architects a Kansas City based firm will design a new arena for Las Vegas. According to reports the $350 million dollar building will seat 20,000 spectators and naturally will be built to NBA/NHL specs. Groundbreaking will take place next spring and it will open in the spring of 2016. You are probably wondering why the “I’m envious” headline on this story? I’m unsure if there is a “pecking” order for an NBA franchise however Vegas may have moved ahead of my town Kansas City. The issue that has always been a detriment to a team has been gambling.

In recent years that issue has been infrequently mentioned even by David Stern. The commissioner appeared to be opposed to an NBA team in the city however he’ll leave the scene in February. Las Vegas is glitz; Kansas City is well its Midwest and plain. From a regional standpoint we might have a larger regional population to draw than Las Vegas. Nobody is gonna drive 200 miles every night to Kansas City but they may on a weekend. Last months NBA exhibition game a fan was interviewed who drove from Omaha Nebraska. Everyone in Omaha is not an NBA fan however the metro population is nearly 900,000.

I’ll make this my call
I’ve decided the decision is mine; I’ve concluded a nickname belongs to only one athlete. It cannot, should not be utilized or substituted for another athlete. During one 10:00 p.m. sportscast a local broadcaster pronounced Royals pitcher “Big Game” James Shields the winner. The nickname “Big Game” belongs to legendary Laker forward James Worthy. I‘m unsure who bestowed Worthy with the nickname but it belongs to him. One more point of fact, if you mentioned Big Game James to most basketball fans the majority would probably believe you were referring to Worthy.

I would place a wager no one (except this local sports anchor) refers to James Shields as “Big Game.” We can’t hang “Catfish” on another athlete it belongs to former Yankee pitcher Jim “Catfish” Hunter. The “Big O“is basketball legend Oscar Robertson while “Iron Mike” belongs to former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. Even former Yankee Reggie Jackson lent his voice to this discussion; *“Reggie Jackson still thinks that he -- not David Ortiz -- is the true Mr. October.” See where I’m going with this? I wonder if I should send the local anchor an email. Oh well baseball season is over but next year. *New York Post

He did it once again
I thought Devin Booker might be headed to Mizzou, my conclusion was based mostly of the fact his dad Melvin was an All American guard at the school. My expectation that Booker would be outfitted in black and gold will not occur, John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats strike once again. Booker a 6-5 180 pound shooting guard is rated by Rivals the number 30 prospect in the Class of 2014. In addition Trey Lyles 6-10 255 pound power forward (number 8 prospect) also gave his verbal commit to Kentucky.

Once again ESPNU awards Kentucky the top school recruiting position for 2014. Maybe there was something to the statement made by Kelly Oubre’s dad. Oubre recruited by Kansas and Kentucky chose the Jayhawks. It was reported the young man’s dad claimed “Calipari kicks players out of his program” Just joking folks, doesn’t make a great deal of sense. Why would a coach force an athlete to leave for the NBA? I’m still trying to figure that one out.

Don’t air your dirty laundry
This bothers me to write this, my all-time favorite Laker has done it again. I thought at one point the opinions he expressed regarding his former team were “television.” Magic was proving (at least I thought) he could be just a critical of the Lakers as the other studio hosts, never mind he owned a piece of the team at one point. Magic announced recently he was leaving his ESPN broadcasts duties behind him, his schedule would no longer permit him to allot the time.

Despite leaving the broadcast he’s still talking and continues to criticize Laker decisions. On ESPN radio the other day he repeated his; “dislike for Jim Buss, D’Antoni is the wrong coach and the Lakers should have re-hired Phil Jackson.” Magic should forget about the Buss factor, Jimmy (as an owner) aint’ going nowhere until he decides he wants to leave. I’m no huge fan of D’Antoni however he’s the coach at least for now. The fair evaluation would be waiting until this season is complete prior to deciding to replace him. As for the Phil Jackson suggestion, PJ himself recently expressed doubt he’d ever coach again he indicated his health was the reason. I just wish Magic would keep his thoughts to himself.