Sports Round-Up, Volume 6

Dead Coach Walking?: You cannot be serious. Are the Cleveland Cavaliers really thinking of firing Mike Brown, the reigning NBA Coach of the Year? Seriously?! I mean, I guess I can see where fans would be upset over Cleveland losing in the Eastern Conference Finals to Orlando, but let's face it ... the Magic were the better team in that series. Besides, if I'm Cleveland, I ask what LeBron James thinks before I do anything. If he wants Brown to stay, and Cleveland fires him, that might just give James more incentive to leave when his contract's up.

Feel-Good Story: How great would it be if Phil Mickelson finally won the U.S. Open next weekend at Bethpage Black? Mickelson winning the tournament would be a feel-good story by itself, considering how many close calls he's had, but add in his wife Amy's battle with breast cancer and we would have probably the only U.S. Open story that could trump Tiger Woods winning in a playoff last year on one leg. To be perfectly honest, I hope it happens. I think everyone would love that story.

Looks Guilty: Is it just me, or does Tim Floyd's resignation as basketball coach at USC look like an admission of guilt? The NCAA is investigating a charge that someone affiliated with the school (maybe Floyd himself) paid O.J. Mayo to attend the school for a year before heading to the NBA. Personally, the NBA is culpable as well; without that asanine rule where high school graduates have to wait a year before declaring for the draft, we probably don't have scandals like this one and the one facing Memphis.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T: The Philadelphia Eagles gave quarterback Donovan McNabb a raise on Friday, giving McNabb a raise rather than an extension. Still, the raise pretty much solidifies McNabb as the team's quarterback, and if Brian Westbrook can get healthy before the start of the season, the Eagles could be dangerous. McNabb has inexplicably never been truly embraced in Philly, and after five NFC Championship Game appearances in eight years, it's nice to see someone in Philly show this guy some love ...

Stuck in New England: So the Yankees are apparently 0-8 against the Boston Red Sox so far this season. We gonna find a way to blame A-Rod for this, too? Or are we rightfully going to point the finger at the pitching? I'm sorry, but A-Rod can't help the fact that Chin Ming-Wang's ERA is hovering around the legal drinking age. He's also not the one coming onto the mound in the late innings with a book of matches and a can of lighter fluid.

Sports Round-Up, Volume 5

Set an Example: That suspended Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez is receiving votes for the All-Star Game just proves fans don't care about performance-enhancing drugs nearly as much as the media and baseball purists. Still, Ramirez actually being at the game would create a media circus and would take away from the midsummer celebration that is the All-Star Game. ManRam should, and probably will, bow out if he's selected, which would be best for everyone involved.

Cleveland Doesn't Rock: First, LeBron James and the Cavaliers are bounced from the NBA playoffs by the Orlando Magic, then the Indians and Yankees face Night of the Gnats, Part II, with a special cameo from a flock of seagulls. What is going on in that city? Oh, well, it could be worse; they could be the Natinals.

LeBron's Speech Impediment: While I think everyone's making far too big a deal over LeBron James not shaking hands or speaking to the media after Cleveland's Game 6 Eastern Conference Finals loss to Orlando, he does deserve some criticism. Poor sportsmanship does no one any favors, and really, what makes LeBron's actions so different from those of Kyle Busch when he gets out of his car and refuses to talk to the media if things don't go his way? I like LeBron, but if he keeps showing such immaturity, the NBA's Golden Child might need to come along with a pacifier.

Rose is Just a Rose: Don't blame Derrick Rose if the allegations that he had someone else take his SAT before going to Memphis are true. If it weren't for the NBA and commissioner David Stern's asanine wait-a-year-after-high-school-to-enter-the-draft rule, such a thing might've never occurred. The NBA's age-limit rule only feeds into the hypocrisy and and indignation inherent within the NCAA, and it just proves how flawed that rule is.

VY: While I have no problem with Vince Young telling a Baltimore TV station on Tuesday that he might want to look elsewhere if he can't win back his starting job with the Tennessee Titans, making such sentiments public won't help his cause. The best way to get back into the locker room's good graces is to keep your mouth shut and work your butt off; talking about trades will only make you look like a prima donna, and leave your agent to release statements the next day trying to do damage control.

Shaqtastic: Who do you think Shaquille O'Neal is rooting for in the NBA Finals? The teammate and coach in Los Angeles he can't resist taking shots at, or the coach he called "The Master of Panic" and an Orlando team O'Neal never won a ring with? Either way, I think the Big Aristotle might be getting a phone call once the series is over asking how his *** tastes.