THE METS SCORED!!!!!!

Luis Castillo breaks a 23-inning Met scoreless drought with a 2-out single in the second inning to tie the LA Dodgers 1-1. 

Wow, I'm celebrating a Luis Castillo RBI.

http://www.homeruncards.com/imagesrc/luis-castillo.jpg

David Wright: 'We stink right now'

The Mets are going through one of their worst stretches in recent memory, from the injuries to the absolutely unwatchable offense (scoreless in last 22 innings), it seems only fitting Met fans are reminded of past great Met teams. 

On the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated, the 10th 'Where are they now?' edition, features the '69 Miracle Mets with Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver on the cover.  

That team was might have been the best underdog franchise to win a professional championship, and is most likely the source of when many people from NYC and North Jersey area became Metropolitan fans.

Back to reality.

New York Daily News:

"I just think we stink right now, we're just not very good. When you don't pitch, you don't hit, you don't play defense, you're not going to win very many games. We're not playing very good baseball. ... I don't think anybody's having very much fun right now." - David Wright

picture from New York Daily News

UPDATE: J.A. Adande says respect your elders.

Today during the 6 p.m. Sportscenter the non-PTI guys Dan LeBatard and J.A. Adande discussed what is more embarrassing LeBron getting dunked on OR have the tape of your getting dunked on confiscated?

Adande gives a lot of credit to LeBron, citing his maturity, for having the 'smarts' to have the tape confiscated. J.A. then goes on to say that in this day and age no one remembers the written word. 

Excuse me J.A. but how exactly do you make a living? Oh yeah, your a god damn journalist.

To further his argument he goes on to state that no college sophomore should be dunking on the almighty LeBron James. Adande's tone suggests that it would be sacrilegious for for a 20-year-old college student to dunk on the reigning NBA MVP King James (who's 24 years old btw), and that only Kobe Bryant-caliber players should be allowed to do that. 

Please, get off LeBron's dick J.A.

In case your not sure J.A. Adande has a slight bias, check out this gem:

J.A. Adande: Lebron doesn't need New York to shine brighly

'Bron 'Bron Dunked On

This week at the LeBron James Skills Academy there was a bit of role reversal, Mr. James was a witness of himself getting posterized.

Xavier University's Jordan Crawford knocked the crown off LeBron's arrogant unsportsmanlike dome, en-route to a two-handed slam that is destined to become a YouTube sensation, right?

Wrong.

Rumors are that James made Nike confiscate tapes from the lucky cameramen that captured LeBron's embarrassment in their lenses.

 CBSSports.com's Gary Parrish has the story:

Turns out, there were at least two cameras rolling Monday night when Crawford dunked on James during a pick-up game here at the LeBron James Skills Academy. It was a two-handed jam, the kind that would've circulated quickly on YouTube. But Nike officials eliminated that possibility shortly after the dunk happened by allegedly confiscating tapes from various cameramen.

Freelance photographer Ryan Miller was one of the cameramen shooting the game.

He told CBSSports.com that Nike Basketball Senior Director Lynn Merritt took his tape.

"He just said, 'We have to take your tape,'" Miller said. "They took it from other guys, too."

Worth noting is that there is no policy against filming at the LeBron James Skills Academy, and Miller said he had been filming all day without incident. Nobody ever told him to stop. Nobody ever said there was a problem ... until after Crawford dunked on James.

"LeBron called Lynn over and told him something," Miller said. "That's how I knew his name was Lynn. LeBron said, 'Hey, Lynn. Come here.'"

Minutes later, Miller said Merritt demanded his tape.

"There's nothing I can think of besides LeBron just not wanting it online," Miller said. "It's a good story to tell people, I guess. But then again, I'm kind of pissed. I lost my tape."

This is another perfect example of the hype/marketing machine that is LeBron James. It was another selfish and dumb act to add to the young king's portfolio. James is a grown man; he needs to learn when to show some humility and let a kid like Crawford have his moment.

Which reminds me of this quote after the Eastern Conference Finals: 

"If somebody beats you up, you're not going to congratulate them. That doesn't make sense to me. I'm a competitor. That's what I do. It doesn't make sense for me to go over and shake somebody's hand."

The greats look foolish sometimes, it shows that they are human, and that is what fans relate to, not Muppet characters and weird Sprite commercials.

I'm still waiting for LeBron to turn the corner, but for now he's still a kid who's never paid his dues while rockin' a free Wes Unseld jersey.

Shaq Fu's Tour de Lance

 So I'm watching PTI and one of the topics of conversation was about Shaq challenging Lance Armstrong to a bike race. This is just another example of Shaq's love for the ridiculous, and egocentric. 

 Here is a step-by-step account of how Mr. O'Neal (aka the Diesel, Shaq Fu, The Big Aristotle, The Big Daddy, Superman, The Big Agave, The Big Cactus, The Big Shaqtus, The Big Galactus, Wilt Chamerneezy, The Big Baryshnikov, The Real Deal, Dr. Shaq, and Shaqovic) laid down the gauntlet. 

Step one - Diesel Challenges: “O lance armstrong I challenge you on a time trail anytime anywere, I dnt smell fear do I, smmmmm smmmmmm dats the sniffn sound

7:27 PM Jun 19th from TwitterBerry"

Step two- Livestrong Responds: "@THE_REAL_SHAQ It's on. Oct 25 - Austin, TX. Let's see u take on my backyard. 20 miles @ LIVESTRONG Challenge. Leave training wheels @ home.

8:31 PM Jun 19th from UberTwitter

Step three:  Michael Wilbon pledges for Shaq's amazing athletic ability by nostalgically recalling a beachfront 100 yard race between himself and the Big Aristotle. He explained that he was beating The Big Cactus until the last twenty yards when Dr. Shaq turned on the thrusters and kicked sand in Mr. Wilbon's face. 

 So beating Mike Wilbon a middle-aged sports writer in a 100-yard dash on the beach means you can beat Lance Armstrong, arguably the greatest cyclist ever, in a bike race? 

You could give Shaq a motorcycle and Lance a bike while wearing ice skates and I'd still pick Lance. 

However I truly hope this race is televised, as an ESPY skit.

special thanks to twitter, wikipedia, and picture from http://www.strangecosmos.com/images/content/110576.jpg