I try to keep my Orlando Magic homerisms to a minimum around these parts because people complain about it, but one of the greatest moments of my life as a sports fan came this summer when the Magic got the Philadelphia 76ers to take Jason Richardson. That’s not a knock on the 6ers, by any means. My beef was always with Otis Smith for giving J-Rich that stupid 4-year deal before last season, but the rumor was that Smith only did it because Dwight Howard told him to. This is just my roundabout way of saying that the Magic now have two more wins than I expected them to have before December.

That said, I don’t have any hard feelings toward J-Rich, because it’s not his fault that Otis loved handing out horrible contracts to the point that the Magic had to give away the best center in the game to any team that was willing to take on Chris Duhon’s ridiculous contract. So it sucks that Richardson was injured in the opening minutes of last night’s 6ers loss against the red hot New York Knicks.

The Knicks were paced by Carmelo Anthony’s 27 points, but the big highlight was Richardson spraining his ankle after he stepped on a camera man’s foot early in the game. And you can bet Richardson wasn’t too happy about it.

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Back in December, when the Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns completed a trade involving 6 players, Steve Nash Tweeted that he was sad to see Earl Clark go. That’s probably because Earl Clark never banged his wife. Jason Richardson, on the other hand… well that’s possibly a whole different story. The gossip blog circuit fired up yesterday after some rumors surfaced implicating Richardson as the cause for Nash’s sudden divorce, also in December.

Nash and his wife of 5 years, Alejandra Amarilla, were divorced just one day after she gave birth to their third child, and The Jersey Chaser is reporting without, you know, sources that Richardson is actually the father. For additional information, please see: Me, Myself & Irene.

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Suns guard Jason Richardson has been suspended by the team for tonight’s game after he was cited for a variety of traffic violations, most notably going 90 miles per hour in a 35 zone while his toddler son wasn’t in a child seat.

[A]n officer clocked Jason Richardson doing 67 mph in a 40-mph zone in the area of 65th Street and Camelback Road shortly before 8 p.m. Sunday… [T]he officer followed Richardson onto 64th Street, where Richardson’s car hit speeds up to 90 mph. The speed limit there is 35 mph…

Richardson’s 3-year-old son was in the back seat of the car. Police said the little boy was not in a child seat, which is required by Arizona law.

To be fair, “The Simpsons” was about to start, and it was the first episode ever done in HD.  And the opening credits got reworked!  That’s a pretty big deal.  We should be impressed he even remembered to put his son in the car.

[FanHaus]

Two sports, two big trades: the Mets acquired J.J. Putz from the M’s in a 12-player, three-team trade, and the Bobcats sent Jason Richardson to the Suns for Boris Diaw and Raja Bell.  All right!  Nothing stokes my fire like talking about PERSONNEL MOVES!  Wooooo!!!!

New Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik showed he has bigger balls and brains than his predecessors in getting top outfield prospect Franklin Gutierrez from the Indians and OF Endy Chavez, pitchers Aaron Heilman and Justin Vargas, and three more prospects from the Mets.  The Mets also got OF Jeremy Reed and another solid bullpen arm in Sean Green, while the Indians got whatever this is too much information to process.  The important thing is that the poindexters at USS Mariner like it, so I like it, too.  Mets fans have to be pleased that the bullpen won’t be blowing 29 of 72 save opportunities next year (Faith and Fear in Flushing likes it), while the Indians essentially move one prospect at a position they didn’t need for a prospect at a position they did (second baseman Luis Albueno).

Phew.  Jeez, I’m supposed to talk about the basketball trade now?  Well, the Bobcats will continue to suck for all time, and Amare Stoudemire will continue to complain about touches while the monolith of Shaq continues to destroy the memory of D’Antoni’s Suns.  Now please, someone find me a law-breaking cheerleader.  This actual sports news is killing me.

Some basketball team from Charlotte went up to Massachusetts and actually defeated the Boston Globetrotters last night.  Jason Richardson was the key to the upset, shooting 14-of-22 in a 34-point, nine-rebound performance.  The Celtics, who fell to a league-best 29-4, were hindered by a poor shooting night from Paul Pierce, whose no-look hook shot from half court wasn't falling, and by Kevin Garnett, who drew a critical technical foul for pulling down the referee's pants during a timeout.

Elsewhere in the Association: The other Beast from the East, Detroit, also lost last night, falling 102-86 to Dirk and the Mavericks… Steve Nash left with the "stomach flu" (he's totally pregnant), but the Suns still rallied from a 16-point deficit to win in OT over Indiana.  Nash will rejoin the team after its game in Utah, right after he donates some stem cells, so to speak… Whoa, LeBron had an amazing game but his teammates suck?  Who could have ever predicted such an outcome?