NFL Draft Craziness, NBA Playoffs Begin, NHL Playoffs 2nd Round Begin

NFL Commisioner Roger Goodell (L) with #1 Overall Pick, Andrew Luck (R)

The 2012 NFL Draft has come and gone, bringing along a whole slew of rookies to the NFL. Because of the new CBA, rookies will be paid less than ever before, a condition successfully argued in what many called the "Jamarcus Russell Clause." Although it is rare for a 1st round draft pick to be a total bust, it does happen enough where teams can be lost on hundreds of millions of dollars simply for being a bad team and drafting a bust. Busts can take a long time to truly evaluate, because it can take years for some players to truly come out of their shell, as well as having just the right conditions. John Elway is still considered the most sure-thing draft pick ever, but he didn't win his 2 Super Bowls until he was almost 40. Will Andrew Luck win a Super Bowl within 5 years? Or will it be 15 years? Only time will tell.


The entire list of 1st round draft picks after the break, along with coverage of the first games of the NBA Playoffs, and evaluation of the 1st round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

More Problems For the Saints, Stanley Cup Playoffs Full of Upsets

As if the Saints didn't have enough problems with the Bounty scandal, still awaiting Roger Goodell's player punishments, there are now new allegations from anonymous employees of the Superdome that claim a very complicated, but incredibly illegal scheme was going on. Before current GM Mickey Loomis arrived in New Orleans, his predecessor installed an audio monitoring system in his office in 2000 where he watched games so that he could directly listen in on what the Saints offensive and defensive coaches were saying during games. When Loomis was hired in 2002, allegations say he personally requested the monitoring system re-wired so that he could only listen in on opposing coaches visiting the Superdome. The monitoring system was no longer used after 2004, when Hurricane Katrina struck and the Superdome was used as temporary shelter.


If allegations prove true, Loomis violates not only the NFL bylaws, but U.S. federal law as well. Under federal law, people can not be monitored with video/audio without their consent without suspicion of a crime (wire-tapping). Loomis is already serving an 8-game suspension for his involvement in the Bounty scandal. Most analysts agree that if allegations prove to be true, Loomis should receive a lifetime ban. The NFL claims it discovered these allegations at the same time as ESPN, but the feds say they have been aware of this whole ordeal for quite some time and have been investigating.


Stanley Cup upsets after the break.

Analyzing the 2012 NFL Schedule

Yay! the 2012 NFL Schedule was released! Again! See, what the NFL does is they have a rotating schedule that is based on a simple premise. Each team in the same division (i.e. NFC East) will play the 3 teams in their own division 6 times, another division in the same conference (NFC South) 1 time each, and a division from the other conference (AFC North) also 1 time each on a rotating 4 year schedule. Next year for example, the NFC East will face the NFC North and AFC West (that means a face-off of the Manning Brothers next year!). The big deal however, is that the exact time and dates of the games are not revealed until April, because the NFL wants to create a schedule that appeases numerous factors such as:

• 49ers and Raiders games not to be scheduled against each other
• Giants and Jets games not to be scheduled against each other
• Seahawks, Raiders, 49ers, and Chargers games to start later than 10 AM PT for home games
• Hot weather games (Chargers, Cardinals, Dolphins, etc.) to start later than 1 PM ET for home games before November
• Cold weather games (Giants, Jets, Patriots, etc.) to not air night games in December
• Primetime (Sunday/Monday/Thursday Night Football) airing of as many playoff rematches and marquee game rematches from the previous season as possible
• Primetime featuring the 49ers vs Raiders and/or Giants vs Jets, regardless of how the teams performed the previous season
• Primetime featuring a rematch of the Super Bowl, or previous Super Bowls if both teams are still relevant
• Primetime featuring the last 2 Super Bowl winners
• Primetime featuring intriguing storylines involving notable free agent moves and trades made in the offseason
• *NEW* Each of the 32 teams receiving at least 1 appearance on primetime

Well, the final schedule has now been released, so we can finally take a look at what every primetime game will be. The Sunday, Monday, and Thursday night games (with notes!), after the break.

Dwight Howard Says He Doesn't Want to Play For Stan Van Gundy Anymore. Dwight Howard's Back Says It Doesn't Wan't to Help Dwight Howard Walk For a While

Earlier this week, a non-story came out about Dwight Howard allegedly saying that were he to come back from his herniated disc in time for the playoffs, he would refuse to play for Stan Van Gundy. Well, it turns out his herniated disc injury is so severe that he will require back surgery, causing him to miss the remainder of the season/playoffs and the summer Olympics.


Karma's a bitch, isn't it? A herniated disc is a severe injury that Howard may never fully recover from, so I guess it's finally time to crown Andrew Bynum the best center in the NBA. All Bynum's done is mess up his knees, but his play this season has proved that his knees haven't stopped him from becoming better and better each and every year.

So ESPN Decided to Talk About African Americans in Baseball...

Oh Christ, this can't end well. ESPN began the day on First Take by having a discussion about Rob Parker's latest article which talks about the fact that only 8% of all players in Major League Baseball are African-American, specifically Blacks who are not of Hispanic descent. Rob Parker went on Numbers Never Lie* later that day, which sparked an argument with Michael Smith over the reason why MLB is 8% African-American. Rob Parker claimed it was because MLB decided to "outsource" its training camps to Latin America and start recruiting talent from there, while Smith argued that baseball has a perception of being a White man's sport and as such, is not as preferable to football or basketball. Here's how the NFL, MLB, and NBA break down in ethnicity based on 2011's numbers:


NFL
African-American: 67%
Asian: 2%
Latino/Hispanic: 1%
White/European: 30%


MLB
African-American: 9%
Asian: 2%
Latino/Hispanic: 27%
White/European: 62%


NBA
African-American: 78%
Asian: 1%
Latino/Hispanic: 4%
White/European: 17%


Clearly, the numbers show that the NFL and NBA are dominated by Black players, while baseball continues to be dominated by Whites, despite the increased amount of Latinos.


During First Take, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark made a guest appearance and explained his own history with sports and how he always considered baseball his #1 sport, but his AAU team encouraged him to stick with just one sport, preferably basketball or football. Clark acknowledged that if were not for his AAU team, he probably would have remained primarily a baseball player.


Later on Numbers Never Lie*, Parker made a comment that was slightly racially charged against Latino players which I'm sure ESPN contributors Israel Gutierrez or Beto Duran will not let him live down. Parker claimed that David Ortiz is not black, because he is Hispanic; Ortiz is from the Dominican Republic.

David Ortiz (L), Rob Parker (R)

Uh... Is it just me, or is David Ortiz darker skinned than Rob Parker? Ortiz has a very thick accent, but without hearing him speak, I bet most people would immediately think of him as being Black... which he is. Rob Parker seems to forget that Hispanics/Latinos can be of ANY race. Pau and Marc Gasol are Hispanic, but they are clearly White. Rob Parker also claimed that European NBA players are not really White, which I have heard before, with him claiming that Dirk Nowitski is not a "White player"... despite the fact there are plenty of White athletes who are not from Europe that are not Anglo. Ben Roethlisberger, for example, is clearly of German descent, so by Parker's logic, he is not White.


This isn't the first time Rob Parker has made idiotic race based statements and he does a very poor job at hiding his contempt for the rise in Latinos in baseball. It's not like they're taking jobs away from African-American players. Black kids, especially in the inner cities, find basketball and football to be much easier paths to success since baseball tends to recruit kids straight out of high school rather than from college. By pursuing basketball and football, these kids get a chance to strive for playing professional sports while also getting a chance at an education.


Parker also stupidly suggested that kids in Latin American countries are crazy for baseball and all want to become baseball players. I don't know what planet Parker lives on, but in every Latin American country, the #1 sport is soccer.


Go look up more stupid shit Rob Parker has said over the years. The man makes Skip Bayless look sane.

A New Resident Evil 6 Trailer That Confirms EVERY Rumor to be True and.... a New Release Date?

Get More: GameTrailers.com, Resident Evil 6 - Captivate 2012: C-Virus Trailer HD, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

A new trailer for Resident Evil 6 has arrived, confirming every single rumor to be true. The blonde girl is in fact Sherry Birkin. The guy with the buzz cut running around with Sherry is not Alex Wesker, but rather Albert Wesker's son. Chris Redfield and Leon Kennedy will appear on screen together and will oppose each other, at least temporarily. And of course, now a new character has been introduced as the main antagonist as well as a new virus, the C-Virus. Not a lot of gameplay was shown, in favor of showing cinematics, but the biggest bombshell was the end of the trailer showed the release date of 11/20/2012, only to have the first four numbers crumble away and replaced by 10/02/2012, meaning Resident Evil 6 has informally gone gold.


The new release date is deliberate. The old release date would have placed the game as the 3rd game in the Fall release schedule after Bioshock: Infinite and Assassin's Creed III, but the new release date places it as the first major Fall release.


What kind of release date will Tomb Raider get now?

The Lakers Successfully Pulled off the Most Hilarious Trade in NBA History

Before the start of the NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, and New Orleans Hornets were set to make a blockbuster trade that would have changed the faces of all 3 of their franchises for years to come. The Lakers would have received Chris Paul, the Rockets would have gotten Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom would have been sent to the Hornets alongside Luis Scola, Goran Dragic, Kevin Martin, and the Rockets 2012 1st round draft pick. Commisioner David Stern rejected the trade for "basketball reasons" and then all 3 franchises were left to pick up the pieces from trading several important players only to receive them back. Lamar Odom was so disappointed at being traded for Chris Paul that he demanded to be traded away. Just a few days later, he was sent to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for 2 draft picks. Many Lakers fans called foul at this, as the NBA had just rejected a trade that would have made 3 teams better, but allowed a trade of the reigning 6th man of the year for 2 draft picks and a trade exception to Mark Cuban's Mavericks.


That was in December.


Today, the Mavericks have announced that they will be parting ways with Lamar Odom and will list him as inactive for the remainder of the season and playoffs while they figure out what to do with him in the offseason, preferring to trade him. Odom has played his worst season ever as a professional in Dallas, garnering career lows in points and rebounds. The Lakers got a trade exception (which they have yet to use) and 2 draft picks from Dallas, which could be very favorable to the Lakers if the Mavericks continuing playing like shit.


What makes the trade even more hilarious, is that Odom's wife, Khloe Kardashian-Odom, had just finalized a lease on a condo in Dallas! OOPS!

Amazing Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth Part 1

The past few years, writer Dan Slott has marked his tenure on Amazing Spider-Man with yearly events during the summer. Last year's Spider Island was extremely silly, but it was well received and helped set up the new status quo for 2011-12 of Peter Parker yet again being single due to his trust issues with women, but becoming well known at Horizon for curing the Spider Island epidemic (even though it was his own damn fault) as well as inventing many other things.


This year's event, Ends of the Earth, begins with Spidey battling the Thermodynamic Man, but inadvertently freezes a firefighter's foot to the point that his foot is amputated cleanly and has to be sent to the hospital. Thankfully, the firefighter's foot will be able to be safely reattached because of an invention Peter created, originally to battle Hydro Man, but now used in hospitals to transport organs with more time to spare. Peter goes on a seemingly normal day to have lunch with Mary Jane, noticing people using the inventions he has made at Horizon, most of them reverse engineered from tools he has made to fight super-villains.


His normal day will be ruined however, thanks to Doctor Octopus and the Sinister Six wreaking havoc on the entire western hemisphere by speeding up the global warming process... and then immediately afterwards claiming that Doc Ock can fix global warming, going so far as to publicly demonstrate his mathematics. Doc Ock seemingly wishes to do a good deed for the world since he will die very soon. The scientists at Horizon seem to verify Ock's math and theories, but they are interrupted by mayor J. Jonah Jameson threatening to shut down the entire company because they were "responsible" for his son almost losing his life in space in the previous 2 issues of Amazing Spider-Man. Peter Parker gathers together a new battle armor specifically designed to combat the Sinister Six and heads to the HQ of the Avengers, calling for their help because Spidey knows Doc Ock would never cure global warming without some type of catch.


Dan Slott has proved himself over the last few years to be the definitive writer of Spider-Man since the departure of J. Michael Straczynski. Ever since JMS left, Spidey had been lifeless and full of retcon after retcon, removing Spider-Man's new mystical origin, enhanced superpowers, and stronger relationship with Mary Jane in favor of making him unemployed, single due to retcon, and back with his original origin and powers. Slott reinvigorated interest in Spidey after Joe Quesada appeared to be doing his best to make people hate Spider-Man, by simply writing better and giving Peter Parker a steady job that allows him to work unusual hours, taking into advantage his genius. The art work in this issue is also fantastic, drawn by Stefano Caselli, finally ending the reign of Humberto Ramos, one of the worst artists on Marvel's payroll.


Ends of the Earth will end at the end of the summer, so check out this series!