A NIKE CONSPIRACY?

Don't believe in basketball conspiracies?

Well...this definitely change your mind.

In this Team USA picture, there is only 1 guy who is an Adidas spokesperson. Guess who that is...

Yep, it's none other than Magic center Dwight Howard, whose Adidas shoes are conveniently covered by Coach K's shoes.

This fact is made even more suspicious because...why the hell is the coach sitting when everyone else is standing? The ony time this is accepteable is when you have two rows and the front row is sitting.

Howard gets sweet revenge though, as his hand conveniently covers the Nike swoosh on his shorts.

And that's why the NBA a business, not basketball at it's finest.

SO YOU WANNA TAKE MY SUPERSTAR?

When you go after someone else's star player, you always say it's just business, nothing personal.

I'm guessing the Warriors won't be so believable saying this after they offered 90Million over 5 years to the Clippers' star forward (for now, anyway) Elton Brand.

This happened a little less than a day after the Clippers lured away the Warriors' (formerly, anyway) star point guard Baron Davis with an offer of 65Million dollars over 5 years. This puts the Clippers in a pickle as they can only offer Brand around 75Million over 5 years.

Of course, part of the Clippers' appeal to Davis was the fact that the LA star could play at home with 2 dominant big men, Brand and Magette plus a workman-like center in Kaman and a somewhat big guard in orehabbing Shaun Livingston.

Now, Brand has the option to play with high powered guards in Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson(instead of the oft injured Livingston), a legit inside-outside threat in Al Harrington and a Kaman-like white center in Andris Biedrins.

Makes more sense for Brand to go to the Warriors, without even talking about the extra 15million he'll be earning to change into the Warriors colors.

What do I think he will do? The last time an NBA player showed loyalty was when Andres Nocioni spurned the Grizzlies fatter contract offer to remain with the Bulls. A month later, the Bulls tried to trade him to the Grizzlies for Pau Gasol.

So I say Brand jumps ship. Aside from the manic Nocioni, there really isn't anyone else in today's NBA who can claim complete loyalty to the teams.

AGENT ZERO GETS HOW MUCH?

125-127 Million over 6 years?

Are you freaking crazy?

For a guy so crazy, he's had his home remodeled to simulate higher altitude? (for more efficient oxygen consumption, I think)

For a guy so petulant, he sabotaged his chances of ever making the US Men's Olympic Team by berating and blasting more sterling stars like LBJ and Melo, then denigrating lesser stars like Kirk Hinrich and Joe Johnson (remember his "I can't believe they even considered them" line?), and finishing off by threatening to score 50 points on the teams coached by the Olympic coaches?

A guy so eccentric that he threw an "intimate" club party for 3000 of his closest friends and grunts "hibache" every time he shoots?

A player who plays only one end of the court, who is not known to make other players better, who is never mentioned in the MVP race?

I guess this is why I'm not the Wizards' GM. Coz I just can't figure it out.

PACMAN PACKS A PUNCH!

You could practically see it coming.

For 9 rounds, people were expecting hapless, helpless David "Dangerous" Diaz to fall face first.

Every Pacquiao punch that landed on a cheek, a chin or a kidney brought a gasp of expectation and a half out of the chair movement from expectant Pinoy fans.

But David Diaz took it...and kept coming.

But nobody does that forever, especially not to powerpunching Manny Pacquiao, nicknamed "Ang Pambansang Kamao" (The National Fist).

And so, in the 9th round, a left straight finally took the air out of the Diaz balloon and left him crumpled on the canvass.

The irony of the fight was that Manny Pacquiao didn't even look like he was in a fight. His face was unmarked, his sweat, clean og blood and bruises.

Diaz, on the other hand, looked liked he brought a knife to a gun fight. Blood streamed down his face and his right eye had practically closed.

It was a long brutal night for Diaz, a night that also saw him fatten his bank account by 850,000 dollars...but he earned every penny of it with blood and pain.

Pacquiao, on the other hand, got roughly 3million dollars, and all he had to do was dance around a punching bag.