$20 Chinese Food!

Is there anything better in this world than LeBron James?

I am not an athlete idolizer by any means, but it seems as if anything LeBron touches right now is pure gold. The Olympics. The NBA regular season. Announcing he will be in next year's dunk contest. That State Farm commercial where he dances like Kid N' Play. And now the puppet commercial. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtzQ0eXVoJo

And then the ridiculousness of LeBron got a little more ridiculous tonight. With one second remaining, LeBron hit a fadeaway three to snatch victory away from the Magic.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4200792

Simply insane.

And it made me wonder a little more what I already debated and thought about in terms of LeBron and the Black Mamba. Not necessarily who is better, but who would you rather have at the end of a game?

I always made the argument that LeBron is now a better player than Kobe, but when it comes down to needing someone to hit a game winner I would choose Kobe. Is that the right choice?

After looking at the fantastic website http://www.82games.com/, I learned some interesting stats. They break down game winning shots for the following seasons: Regular Seasons: '03-04, '04-05, '05-06, '06-07, '07-08, '08-09 (thru 2/4) and playoffs: '03-04, '04-05, '05-06, '06-07, '07-08. Game Winning Shot Opportunity = 24 seconds or less left in the game, team with the ball is either tied or down by 1 to 2 points.

Under this definition, the league leader is LeBron James. He is 17-50 (34%) while Vince Carter is second with 16 (31.4%), Ray Allen with 15 (38.5%), and Kobe Bryant with 14. Here is the shocker! Kobe is 14-56 for a shooting percentage of 25%. He has the most missed game winners in the league!

82 games also looks at clutch players. For these stats "Clutch" is defined as: 4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points.

The top 3 at the end of the 08-09 regular season? Kobe at 56.7 points/48 minutes, LeBron at 55.9 points/48 minutes, and Carmelo Anthony at 54.4 points/48 minutes. No suprise that these three are still playing. Yet how about these other numbers for LeBron per 48 minutes in clutch time? 14.3 rebounds, 12.6 assists, and 3.5 steals. He just takes over the game in all aspects.

So who do you take? Hard to argue with this:

Hah! Trade Me!

Two of the most controversial and hated athletes in professional sports made news yesterday and both of them showed why we don't like them very much.

Alex Rodriguez continues to hit well and the Yankees continue to lose. Last night he chose to do something about the latter. After connecting on a single in the top of the ninth to give the Yankees a 7-5 lead, Rodriguez apparently distracted Blue Jays third baseman Howie Clark (who?) on an ensuing pop up by Jorge Posada.

By the way, this was Howie Clark's first game of the season. The guy is 33 years old and has 248 career at-bats.

Rodriguez yelled "hah" according to him, but "mine" according to Clark. The ball dropped as Clark backed off the ball. The Yankees went on to win 10-5.

On the one hand, why didn't Clark just catch the ball? I don't care if you hear someone yell "mine" or "hah" or "hey Clark, why are you here?". Unless a guy vehemently yells "mine, mine, mine", don't you just catch it?

On the other hand, A-Rod showed again why no one likes him. Remember when he knocked the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove in the playoffs? Clearly he is a dirty cheater. No really, apparently he is a dirty cheater as the New York Post reports he went to dinner, a strip club, and his hotel room with some random blonde chick who isn't his wife. Hah!

Meanwhile my least favorite Kobe (#1 Steak, #2 Chris Farley's brother in "Beverly Hills Ninja") decided he wanted to be traded while being interviewed on Steven A. Smith's radio show.

This is how I imagined the conversation.

Steven: "KOBE! KOBE! YOU ARE THE BOMB! NO ONE IS BETTER. WHY THE HELL DO YOU PLAY WITH PATHETIC GUYS IN LA?"

Kobe: "I don't really want to. I think they all suck. Especially when they shoot. Don't they know I get to shoot all the time? Even when I am on the bench."

Steven: "YES! KWAME BROWN SUCKS! THEY ALL SUCK! EITHER YOU OR ALLEN IVERSON SHOULD BE MVP EVERY YEAR."

Kobe: "Why are you yelling? But you are right. Except for the Iverson part."

Steven: "MY MAN! YES! THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS! SO YOU ARE ASKING TO BE TRADED?"

Kobe: "Yes."

Steven: "DID YOU HEAR THAT AMERICA?"

Everyone always hears you Steven, even when the TV is on mute. Kobe then told the local sports radio station and Dan Patrick that he wanted to remain a Laker. Then of course he told the L.A. Times that he still wanted to be traded.

Ok.

So Kobe may or may not want to be traded. The only thing we know for sure is that he wants to be the center of attention. Why else would someone go on three or four radio shows in one day and interview with the newspaper? Why not just say "no comment"?

Kobe remains selfish and despite the lack of talent around him, refuses to let anyone else shoot. I hope they trade Lamar Odom for a pack of 1988 Hoops and then make Kobe play the rest of his career with Vladamir Radmonivic and Kwame Brown.