Let Me Hear You

A couple of questions for “Top Dog” Dave and the Shout-out followers, let me hear you.
Last week the NBA held their annual Draft, new location, but the same old Draft. This year’s Draft was repeatedly pronounced a weak Draft Class, and no big names were likely to come from this Draft, of course only time will tell. The biggest name in the Draft, or at least the most talked about Draftee was Brigham Young Universities very own Jimmer, who was selected 10th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks, but the rights were traded to the Sacramento Kings. So with the Draft completed my two questions are as follows:

1: The 2011 Draft started out with Kyrie Irving going number one to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Derrick Williams going number two to the Timberwolves and Enes Kanter going third overall to the Utah Jazz. What do you think about the first 3 overall selections in the Draft? How would you have drafted differently and why?

2: Do you think Jimmer is a good fit with the Kings organization? Why?

Let Me Hear You. Got a question for us, throw it down in the comments, and we will give you a Shout-out.

VOTE! and give a Shout-out to Jimmer

Voting for 2011 ESPYS - Vote for Jimmer as the Best Male Collegiate Athlete of the year. Place your vote at http://espn.go.com/espys/#!/voting/
In order to vote for Jimmer you will have to scroll through the other categories, but don't give up, You Can Do it.

To help remind you of the Year that was Jimmer here are a couple of videos.

True Measure of a Champion Shout-out

In April I gave a Masters Shout-out that recognized the achievements of Charl Schwartzel in capturing the Masters Championship and the green jacket that accompanies such an honor. At the end of the Shout –out I gave a notable Shout-out to the young Rory McIlroy who had show cased his amazing talents through the first three rounds of the Masters, only to collapse in the final round, particularly on the final nine holes. As part of the notable Shout-out I made the comment “everyone seemed to indicate that this young man has a good head on his shoulders, and in his post round interview he mentioned learning from this experience and evaluating what he can take away to become a better player in the future.” Today marked to final round of the 111th U.S. Open Championship held at Congressional Country Club, an event that was dominated from start to finish by, you guessed it Rory McIlroy. The young man was not just victorious, but was spectacular in victory, setting or tying twelve Major Championship records that once seemed unreachable. Rory, now 22 years and 1 month is the youngest to win the U.S Open Championship since World War II, and the second youngest to win any Major Championship, only trailing Tiger Woods Masters win at age 21 years. Many of the records Rory passed or tied with his magnificent performance, once solely belong to Tiger, and like the young Tiger there was a sense of innocence and passion from the young Rory throughout the tournament and in post Championship interviews. Rory’s superb performance and eventual victory in the U.S Open Championship also marks the fourth straight Major Championship that Rory has been in contention, and in which he has lead at some point, if not for most of the tournament. As in all major sports Rory is quickly being touted as the “Next,” and in this case he is being crowned the “Next Tiger Woods.” The truth is that Rory my become the next superstar of Golf, but it is also important to note that “Next” should be applied to the” Next Generation” as a player in his 20’s has claimed the last 4 major titles, including a one, two finish today at the U.S. Open Championship with Rory age 22 years and Jason Day age 23 years (Not to mention that the last 5 Major Championships, dating back to Phil Mickelson’s 2010 Masters Victory, have been won by International players).

The true measure of a Champion is not how many victories you have, but the victories that come from your defeats. Rory you were gracious in defeat and humble in victory, and now you are the 2011 U.S. Open Champion, Congratulations.

Jake

Shout-out to Class

Recently the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Championship, beating the Miami Heat in six games. The Championship is the first for the franchise, and for a number of notable individuals: Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, and normally out spoken owner Mark Cuban (not to mention Rick Carlisle joins an elite club of 11 men, who have both played for, 1986 Celtics and Coached, 2011 Mavericks an NBA Championship team). I know everyone has his or her personal feelings about Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban. (Fun fact: Cuban purchased the Dallas Mavericks in 2000 from H. Ross Perot Jr. whose interest in the team was purely related to his desire of real estate surrounding the arena.) Cuban has been loud, obnoxious, and at times out right defiant in his method of ownership. Although Cuban’s style may be unconventional, no one can question his passion for the game and his team. Cuban attends most of his team’s games, home and away, his player’s locker room is the ultimate kids room/comfort lounge, and Cuban annually increases the NBA’s revenue due to his comments or actions.

Personally I am a fan of Cuban’s style as an owner, team first approach and passion for the game, something the Dodgers could have used over the past couple years. Although I like the guy, normally Cuban’s actions can’t be described as Classy, but in the recent celebration following the Mavericks game six victory to clinch the title Cuban requested the David Stern present the Larry O’Brien Trophy to Don Carter the original owner and the individual responsible for bringing NBA basketball to Dallas in 1980. Of course Cuban followed this class act by later declaring, "Rings are old school, Rings are done. It's time to take it to the next level and do something different." Oh well, he was a classy guy for a night.

On the flip side of class we have another connection to the Champion Dallas Mavericks, DeShawn Stevenson. Following the game six victory to clinic the Championship, DeShawn decided to make comments directed toward the Miami Heat, specifically Wade and James. DeShwan said, "The way they act, the way they treated Dirk [Nowitzki], all the things that they said were very classless. To win on the court the way we did it, it was wonderful." You can read the story at http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=6657084. DeShawn recently backed up his comment by being arrested on Tuesday June 14, for public intoxication (http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=6664021), NICE.

Whatever happened to the good old days where you backed up your statement by “NOT” doing something stupid? Jalen Rose look what you have taught the younger generation.

Jake

Tricky Tricky

I realize that we have been slightly M.I.A for the last couple of weeks. I hope this post helps make up for it. I especially had Kaytlyn in mind when I created this post. I plan to have very little reading and hopefully entertaining videos!

The last few weeks have produced some pretty clever trick plays in various sports. I realize that there have been tons of trick plays worthy to be included in this post. I'll tell you straight up that Boise State will not have a presence in this post. I've included 2 recent trick plays and a classic.

This first one is awesome because it tricks everyone including the camera man! They obviously score on the play but it wasn't the game winner.


I think this second one is better than the first because a couple players had to completely sacrifice their dignity for the cause! Well played.


This "oldie but goodie" play has become legendary. This wins my vote for the best because One player completely sacrificed is dignity for the win! and it worked!


Big SHOUT-OUT to misdirection! Leave a comment and tell me which play is your favorite!

-Dave