Side Bets - reasons to get excited for the NBA

So i ran across this post on my favorite Sacramento Kings blog, SactownRoyalty.com , and thought it was awesome.

Seriously, the side stories around the NBA are more interesting than the actual games.  Stories about Charles Oakley/Michael Jordan, Barkley, betting, parties, video games, big houses and too many cars...

I think the NBA is clearly the standard when it comes to interesting side stories.

From the article:  "Kevin Martin knew he netted more than a sweet YouTube clip Monday when he crossed over Rudy Fernandez to dunk on Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge in the Kings' 112-98 loss to Portland.

Martin also won a $1,000 bet with teammate Mikki Moore on who would be the first to dunk on Oden.

Cuban Soccer Defectors

I've told a few people about the Cuban soccer players that defect whenever Cuba comes to the US to play soccer. I follow the US Mens Soccer team, and they're currently in the qualifying rounds for the 2010 World Cup. Currently they are in the group stage with 3 other teams, Cuba, Guatemala, and Trinidad & Tobago, the top 2 teams advance to the next round.

Back in March the Cuban Soccer Team was in Florida to play Honduras in an under-23 Olympic qualifier. 7 players escaped from the hotel they were staying at, seeking political asylum. Again last weekend Cuba was here to play the US team in the World Cup qualifying and 2 more players defected.

Its a very sad situation, i feel, that Americans tend to take their freedom for granted, demanding more of this great country when they already have so many blessings. These players are all risking their lives to escape a country that has a terrible past, and their stories are very remarkable. Please read the links, they're very interesting.

"Of course, my heart will be in Cuba with my family, but I want to have the freedom to better my life, to play professional soccer, to be the best I can be, and for that we had to make this sacrifice," Bermudez said in The Herald. "The key now is to get the legal paperwork out of the way as quickly as possible so we can get on with our plans."

Brady Quinn, When?

People are always asking me if i think Brady Quinn will be playing QB for the Browns anytime soon, and I, just like other Browns fans, don't know why he hasn't started playing yet.
But i think i figured out what might be holding the Browns staff from pulling the trigger on Quinn, here's an excerpt from an article by ESPN's James Walker:

"There is a lot of money involved between these two players as it pertains to playing time.

Anderson signed a three-year, $24-million contract before the season with incentives that could increase the deal to $26 million. The Browns gave Anderson $7 million up front in a signing bonus and their immediate returns would look feeble if Cleveland permanently benched him five games into the season.

Meanwhile, Quinn is sitting on the bench as one of the lowest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL this year. After the 2007 NFL draft, he signed an incentive-laden deal that could pay him up to $30 million over five years as the No. 22 overall pick. But through almost a year and a half of inactivity, Quinn has not met any of those incentives and the overall value of the contract continues to plummet. This year he is making the second-year minimum of $370,000. Quinn's salary would increase significantly to $1.693 million -- more than quadruple the original amount -- if Quinn plays 45 percent of the snaps this year.

It should only take Quinn eight starts to reach those playing-time incentives."

Browns Prediction

So, after a terrible start (1-3) the Browns might only win 2 or 3 more games. Romeo Crennel has destroyed this team, Derek Anderson has shown that he can't hang with the big boys, and Braylon just dropped his paycheck, among other things. After the first 1/4 of the season, the Browns have lost 3 games against pretty good opposition in DAL, PIT, and @BAL, and squeaked out a win @CIN.

i think i will start prepping my brown bag because the rest of the schedule is brutal. my prediction for their record is in the parenthesis:

NYG (1-4)
@WAS (1-5)
@JAC (1-6)
BAL (2-6)
DEN (3-6)
@BUF(3-7)
HOU (4-7)
IND (4-8)
@TEN (4-9)
@PHI (4-10)
CIN (5-10)
@PIT (5-11)

awesome, 5-11, thats just great, after a 10 win season we're going 5-11. ugh. Could we have gotten a tougher schedule? this is what happens after a season where the Browns played the NFC West, then this season we got the ridiculous NFC East. When's the draft?