I’ve always been comfortable as a kid growing up to think that when my career is over, I want them to think of me as an overachiever despite the talent that I have,” Bryant said. “To think of me as a person that’s overachieved, that would mean a lot to me. That means I put a lot of work in and squeezed every ounce of juice out of this orange that I could.

4:40 is classic! Amazing to see such candidness.

Lebron James isn’t honoring the greatness of No. 23, but manipulating Michael Jordan’s marketing savvy. The changing of his jersey number as a nod to M.J.’s basketball career is a purely fictional cover story. It’s a tribute to Jordan all right, but more like a cynical ode to his business sense. James wants to grow his global brand and push product; flooding the market with a fresh jersey number does the job.

Between now and then, James ought to spare us the fantasy that moving from No. 23 to No. 6 is about anyone or anything else.

All about Michael?

This is all about Lebron.

Preach on Adrian.. preach on.

It's tough for me to admit it (because I often disagree with what he says), but Adrian Wojnarowski is one of my favorite sports writers. He always takes a strong, intelligent stance on matters and presents a fresh perspective. Wojnarowski is one of the few (Bill Simmons, JA Adande) that tackle more than just the physical aspects of sports. Sports to me is the most interesting when you understand the stories, the franchises, the legacies and the personalities behind the games. Kobe struggling to accept Lebron's "best player in the game" status, Lebron scouring for championships to substantiate a greatest-of-all-time discussion, Brett Favre seeking a second, third, and fourth chance to vindicate his legacy and leave on top, Adam Morrison scraping together a career after living life as a college idol (6 points today woo hoo!!). Arcs like these endear me to the characters. They elevate sports above merely winning. It's the journey and the development that really enraptures and makes the conclusion, even a forgone one, ever more satisfying.

CANNOT believe that after 5 bajillion sports commentators warned Blake Griffin of the "Clippers Curse" that not one of those assumption could jinx/break it! CANNOT stand to think that Griffin's career will forever be marred by injuries a la Shaun Livingston / Danny Manning.

I hate to quote Bill Simmons on this but.....

"Dear Blake,

Run. Just start running. Run for your life. Run like the star of a horror movie. Don't turn around. Run and keep running.......

Our final tally of post-1976 injuries to marquee Clippers players: five career-altering knee injuries (Livingston, Manning, Harper, Smith, Nixon), one career-ending ruptured disc (Johnson), one career-altering back surgery (Vaught), three season-ending torn Achilles (Brand, Archibald, Nixon), one heart arrithymia (Cummings) and multiple foot stress fractures (Walton). Every one of those guys was a top-three player on the team or headed that way." - ESPN (June 24, 2009)

On another note, can we please fix Kobe Bryan'ts ailments before the playoffs. Pretty pretty please? I'll gladly give the keys to Bynum/Pau/Odom/Artest and let them figure things out for a bit.

Steve Nash is one of my favorite sports stars of all time.

"Vitamins. Water. Repeat. PSH. No thanks!"

GOB anyone???

"Yeah, the guy wearing the $4,000 suit is holding the elevator for the guy who doesn't make that in four months. COME ON! "

Click the TechCrunch link to read how Facebook just won the VitaminWater flavor contest. Yes, "Sarah" is technically the winner. But for all purposes here Facebook wins this one.

via Abhilicious

But with only enough time to take a dribble or two, or to catch and fire, I’d go with the best bad shot-maker ever. Because even when it’s a bad shot, Kobe gives you a good shot at winning.

Jackson processed it all, then said two words that resonated as much as Bryant’s three-pointer: “I agree.”