Yesterday, in perhaps his most prolific artistic contribution to society, our forefather Matt Ufford introduced us to Philip Rivers with a mustache, and it might be the only thing on this planet that makes King Laserface even remotely endearing at this point. Seriously, I just dropped his ass in a fantasy league for a bye week tight end. I’ve been starting Carson Palmer over him, and I’m winning because of it, that’s how little Rivers is worth right now.

Yet here we are, Thursday Night Football only a few hours away and this is the juicy cow pie that the NFL is offering us – the San Diego Chargers vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. This is like the exact opposite of a Monday Night Football game. Hell, this is lower than Tuesday night MACtion.

Philip Rivers. Matt Cassel. It’s Thursday Night Football in America.

Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, Oklahoma City Thunder fans, step back from the lighter fluid. Seriously, you’re acting a little foolish. Look, as a fan of a team that just traded its star player away, I certainly understand that you’re pretty broken up over the Thunder trading away Kevin Durant yesterday. Wait no, not Durant. My bad, I meant Russell Westbrook. Wait, no. It wasn’t Westbrook either. It was James Harden, the team’s 6th man. But hey, he does have a pretty sweet beard.

In case you were too focused on your fantasy football teams yesterday, the Thunder traded free-agent-to-be James Harden (and some other dudes) to the Houston Rockets for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and picks. According to the above picture that someone emailed me of Harden shirseys being torched, OKC fans are apparently mad at Harden for not accepting the Thunder’s reported offer of 4 years, $55 million. Instead, Harden opted to seek a max deal (5 years, $80 million) with another team. Oh, and there’s another teeny weenie little itsy bitsy reason that Harden wanted out.

Read the rest of this entry »

We expected a series that would border on instant classic and so far, with the Miami Heat leading the Oklahoma City Thunder 2-1, the NBA Finals are sort of living up to those expectations. Truth is that both teams are having their moments of brilliance, while both teams are also having their moments of the complete opposite of brilliance. We’ll call them Bobcats moments.

Tonight’s Game 4 – once again at 9 PM ET on ABC – is the classic must win for the Thunder, as a 3-1 deficit to the Heat would be practically insurmountable. Will the Thunder be able to rise to the occasion and even the series at 2-2? Will LeBron James continue his unstoppable march to his first championship and Finals MVP? Will I continue to argue that Shane Battier is currently the Finals MVP? Will Joey Crawford allow Erik Spoelstra to play defense again?

Find out tonight as we chat it up once more.

And don’t forget to earn your FEAR THE BEARD badge by participating in tonight’s discussion. All you have to do to unlock it during the game is share the post on Twitter the helpful button at the bottom of the post or click the “like” button to share the open discussion on Facebook. If you don’t unlock the badge, we’re creating a Metta World Peace one to “accidentally” elbow you in the head.

In my haste to get caught up on the things that I loved and hated most about the NBA Playoffs so far – Rajon Rondo and Joey Crawford, respectively – I almost forgot my absolute biggest new sports man crush, James Harden. If the Oklahoma City Thunder don’t win it all this season, they better damn well get it done next season, because after that they’re probably going to have to do it without Harden, who will be due for one hell of a payday.

I don’t, by any means, think that Harden is a superstar. I also don’t think he deserves a max deal. However, if my team – and this is hypothetically pretending that my team won’t be in salary cap hell for the next three years – decided to throw the checkbook at Harden, I would squeal with delight. There’s just something about him that makes me love basketball even more than I already do. Maybe it’s the beard or maybe it’s just his fearlessness, but Harden is flat out F-U-N to watch.

After the jump, I’ve created a little mish mash of my favorite Harden moments from this year’s playoffs and other games to show my respect, in case he wants to be my best friend.

Read the rest of this entry »

Worst Kama Sutra page ever.

Last night’s Western Conference Finals Game 1 between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder was everything that we’ve expected this series to offer us ever since we all predicted that the Top 2 seeds would be playing each other. The Spurs took the first game 101-98, although it wasn’t actually that close, as James Harden made a 3-pointer with one second left in the game that either made a ton of gamblers happy or the complete opposite. But the one thing that every NBA fan expected from this series was no-nonsense intensity and all heart basketball, because these are arguably the two most exciting teams in the NBA. At one point, I think Tim Duncan even nodded his head after someone made a shot. It’s that exciting.

That’s why it was pretty disappointing that in an otherwise entertaining and intense game, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili and Harden reminded everyone how much flopping sucks. In the 4th quarter, with the Spurs clinging to a one-point lead, Ginobili and Harden collided as the former was seemingly attempting a shot and they both flopped. Simply amazing.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Oklahoma City Thunder may be a powerful No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, and they may have been the obvious favorites against the Los Angeles Lakers, but it’s still always an accomplishment for any team when it knocks off Kobe Bryant and Co. In this case, the Thunder’s 4-1 series win was so convincing that someone, somewhere decided to celebrate with their very own James Harden cake.

Sure, it’s strange and a little bit creepy, and there’s no chance that it’s better than a Cookie Puss cake, but I’ll bet it’s delicious nonetheless. However, I couldn’t help but wondering where it stacks up against some other recent athlete-inspired cakes. Let’s have a virtual cake-sampling, shall we?

Read the rest of this entry »