Top Topics

ESPN's 1st and 10 is dramatically affected by the participants. Today, ESPN subjected us to Pat Forde and Jemele Hill.

The first topic is Manu Ginobli. Dana Jacobsen asked if Ginobli ruined the series. Honestly, I didn't watch the game because I can't stand watching the Spurs the way the refs are officiating the games. Pat Forde praised Ginobli for drawing fouls. He then admonished Kirilenko, Boozer and Okur for not getting to the foul line. I won't get bogged down arguing that you shouldn't drive to create fouls. Tonight, despite rooting for the Cavs, I was a little sick when Drew Gooden drove in and threw his hip into a Piston and then shot the ball in the direction of the rim while facing the sideline. Gooden contorted his body to produce contact and prevent his shot from being blocked. He wasn't trying to make the shot. Ginobli and Parker do it all the time and it shouldn't be rewarded by the officials. Moving on, the comparison to the Jazz frontline doesn't really make sense. Why single out the Jazz frontline to compare to a SG? The player on the Jazz who should be taking it to the hole and getting to the line is PG Deron Williams. Kirilenko, while a slasher, is not a guy that is going to take over games late consistently by taking defenders off the dribble. Carlos gets to the line a fair amount, but he's not in Ginobli's class when it comes to creating off the bounce. And, Okur doesn't have the type of game that will result in a lot of foul shots. Penetrators like Parker, Ginobli, Wade, Bryant, etc. shoot lots of FT's. Williams has to be that guy for the Jazz because Fisher and Giricek aren't. That is probably the biggest weakness the Jazz have. But, it seems odd that Ginobli shot 13 FT's in the 4th quarter while attempting only 3 FG's. It's hard to imagine there wasn't a lot of flopping ... similar to the Daniel Gibson spasm and flop to make it look like Richard Hamilton touched him tonight. That call was ridiculous (and I was rooting for the Cavs!). Hill seems to think Ginobli is creating a villian persona. I don't see that. Sure, the Jazz fans didn't like him, but does anyone outside of Utah really care?

Jemele says the fans and media are going to turn on Roger Clemens because the Yankees are going to miss the playoffs despite Clemens pitching well. Really? The Yankees are now 14.5 games back (13.5 when the program aired). The good news for NYY fans is that they're not double digits back in the WC race! The media and fans should be smart enough to realize that if Clemens is pitching well, it's not his fault if the Yankees don't make the post-season. When they signed Clemens, there weren't many other options. It's not like they signed him in the off-season and let other FA's go elsewhere. If Cashman and Steinbrenner were saving capital for Clemens, then maybe the fans need to look at that decision. Both panelists think Clemens should face the Red Sox. Personally, I agree with the thought that pitching Clemens on Monday against the White Sox makes sense. They have Wang, Mussina and Pettitte scheduled against the Red Sox. Wang and Pettitte won games against Wakefield and Schilling the last time these two squads faced off. Mussina got roughed up a bit. But, if you want to insert Clemens instead of Mussina, you'd have to have either Clemens or Pettitte pitch a day early and you'd have to push Mussina two days. I don't know how well Mussina would react to such a move. If Pettitte had been knocked around the last time out against Boston then pushing him back would make more sense. Remember, Clemens hasn't pitched in the AL (or against a lineup like Boston's) in a while. It makes more sense to pitch him against Chicago so he has more breaks in the lineup (potentially easy innings).

Dirk for Kobe? Hill and Forde like Kobe more than Dirk. Obviously, that deal would leave a big hole up front for the Mavericks and overload the Lakers with PF's (Nowitzki, Odom, Brown). I guess the Mavs could play small ball with Harris, Terry, Kobe, Howard and Diop in the middle. Hill likes the LA - Chicago trade of Kobe for Deng, Gordon and Ben Wallace. That would leave Chicago with Hinrich and Bryant in the backcourt, and a frontcourt rotation of Sefolosha, Nocioni, Brown and Thomas. Sure, it gets Kobe into the easier Eastern Conference. But, are Hinrich, Nocioni, Thomas and Brown an upgrade over Farmar, Walton, Odom and Brown? It's not the kind of upgrade that will put Kobe back in contention for another NBA crown. Now, if you could add Kobe to the Bulls without giving back Deng, Gordon and Wallace, you might be on to something. And, look at the Lakers after that trade. You'd have Farmar, Gordon, Deng, Odom and Wallace. Is that better than the current Bulls squad of Hinrich, Gordon, Deng, Brown and Wallace, with Duhon, Sefolosha, Nocioni and Sefolosha off the bench? Not particularly. Hill seems to think Kobe would be another "MJ" in Chicago. If you trade away Deng, Gordon and Wallace, who is left to play Pippen and Grant in the championship run?

Hill was wrong in predicting the Pistons would win. She thought Hughes not being healthy would allow Billups to take advantage of smaller guards. Why not put James or Pavlovic on Billups and let Daniel Gibson chase Hamilton all over the court?

Bonds and the Hall-of-Fame, Venus - Serena, Tony & Eva ... exciting. Who cares about a $30K wedding cake? I wouldn't order one, but if they want to spend their money on that, fine. I hope it looks, and tastes, really good. Hopefully, it won't just fall down in a heap on the floor.