Pardon The Pulse

First PTP on the new site…interesting isn’t it?

Hey yall…getting to this fast since work has been busy for me and everyone here at IP TGC HQ. That’s confusing now isn’t it? So say it with me…

1.) NBA All-Star Weekend – Do you care?

Paulie: It’s an All-Star game, and therefore I don’t care.

Charles Joseph: Wow. I actually completely missed Paulie’s response the first glance over. It’s a worthless game nobody plays defense except for the occasional showboat block. There’s no intensity. It’s a pretty boring game to watch. And now, I turn it over to Danny who is gonna bore you all talking about the Hornets and how great the game is and blah blah blah.

Danny: Actually I could care less about the NBA All-Star game even though it is in New Orleans, and even though the Hornets’ coaching staff is leading the West, and even though CP3 and David West are on the West roster. It is pointless and most of the players care so little that they don’t even make it entertaining as a “let it all out fun” game. The Rookie Game is fun and I like the dunk contest sometimes, but other then that…the entire weekend sucks.

2.) Shaq To The Suns – Good Or Bad…and For Who?

Danny: You know, so I’m all about the Hornets. So what? This is good news for them because bringing Shaq to the West hurts the Suns more then it could possibly help them. Shaq is 34 and on the verge of retirement (or he should be at least). How the hell could that possibly help the team and replace Shawn Marion and a great back-up guard in Marcus Banks? It can’t, and that’s the truth.

Suns’ GM Steve Kerr thinks that if you’re in the West, you need a big time center in order to play with the big boys. And you know what? He’s right. The Spurs have Duncan. The Blazers have Oden coming in. The Hornets have Chandler. So you go and get Shaquille O’Neal? Maybe 14 years ago, or hell…maybe even 5 years ago this trade may have made sense. But Shaq is washed up and just not going to help the Suns move any further then they would have with Marion and Banks still on the team. The Suns just lost 16 points and 10 boards a game in Marion along with 5 points and some good reserve minutes from Banks. The Suns gained 14 points, 8 boards, a bad back, and 15 missed games this season. Someone got screwed on this deal and the Suns did it to themselves.

Paulie: I really don’t understand this trade. Why are you going to trade a promising young star and another guy for an aging, dilapidated dude that’s years past his prime? It just makes no sense at all.

Charles Joseph: Yeah, it’s a terrible trade for the Suns. Shaq has just about nothing left in the tank. All those years of hack-a-shaq have taken their toll and his body just can’t take it anymore. Combine that with the pressure of just being that big puts on a body and it’s no wonder he’s broken down so much the last few years.

The Heat made out great in this trade if, IF, Marion decides to stick around. He’s a great secondary option to Wade and once Haslem gets back they’ll have a formidable roster again. They’ll still probably finish the year in or near the league cellar but the future is bright. And now that they have Banks, then can deal White Chocolate to a team needing a PG for a few picks or players and be sitting very good for the next few years.

3.) Orioles Get Erik Bedard For Five Prospects – Thoughts?

Charles Joseph: Oh the wonders of having an extra year on your contract. Twins trade Johan Santana who is entering the last year of his contract and get four prospects neither of which were the Mets best hitting or pitching prospects, and the Orioles trade Bedard, who has a year after this one on his contract, for five prospects including Seattle’s top hitting prospect and top pitching prospect. Doesn’t quite seem fair.

This is a pretty good trade for both sides. With Bedard and King Felix at the top of the rotation, Seattle can compete in the west with infantile A’s and never good Rangers. Everyone is writing the Angels in as division winner, but Seattle should give them a run for their money. Baltimore wasn’t going anywhere this year anyway, so they turn Bedard into one of the top your hitters in the game to play the OF with Markakis and a reliever to take the closing duties until Chris Ray is healthy and a couple young pitcher with high ceilings.

Danny: I’m taking my free pass for the year or half year here because I honestly don’t know about this to discuss it. I can’t help it that I don’t care for baseball much.

Paulie: Dude, really, can we just call this one the CJ Puffinstuff show and wake me up when there’s an actual sports season going?

4.) NFL Pro Bowl

Paulie: Yet another All-Star game. This one even more meaningless than the others. And the one football game a year that I actively say that I’m not going to watch. I don’t know why they bother playing. Just do the skills competition and be done with it. It’s not like anyone except Antonio Cromartie is playing defense out there anyway.

Charles Joseph: All Day Adrian Peterson. What. The. Hell were you thinking? Actually trying in the Pro-Bowl? Come on, I know we all want Childress gone, but getting injured in the Pro-Bowl isn’t going to help anything. If you want Childress gone, which, lets face it, everyone does, get injured in the Pre-Season or better yet, hold out over a contract dispute, see how terrible this team is without you and they’ll see it’s you not him. Oh, and one more thing before I let you go here: AP, pleasepleasepleasepleasePLEASE promise to never sign with New England.

Danny: Another game I could care less about, and I honestly agree with Paulie here. This is one game every year that I just don’t give a damn if I miss it or not. The players never try or anything (except for Peterson this year, WTF?), and it is just useless. I love the skills challenges and the QB Challenge because there are mics on the guys and they joke around but still try. You can even hear the competitiveness in them when they do good or bad and really want to win even if it is just for bragging rights.

If only the all-star games for the NFL and NBA was like the MLB one and actually meant something to the team that wins it. Although that game is also played in the middle of the season like the NBA and is stupid because what if someone has a crappy first half and a tremendous second half of the season? They don’t deserve an All-Star nod? Of course not because the game is already done for. Stupid.

5.) MLB 2008 Season Predictions (We’ll do a full preview later on, but Spring Training is about to start so these are our general thoughts and predictions)

Charles Joseph: That left handed guy the Mets just traded for and paid a lot of money, he’s gonna win the Cy Young award. Not even close. He’ll have that wrapped up by April 15th. He’ll easily win 20 and might approach 300 strikeouts with a low 2 ERA and a WHIP around 1.2. He won’t however help the Mets win the East because Philly is repeating. Mets will get the Wild Card though. Cubs in the Central, D-Backs out West and the D-Backs will be the top record in the league. MVP will be the same as Cy.

AL East will be the Red Sox with the Yankee’s kicking themselves all season for not trading for Santana as the surprising Rays take second in the division. AL Central will be the best division in baseball with Cleveland winning the division and Detroit taking the Wild Card and the Angels pitch enough to hold off Seattle out West. Beckett gets his Cy Young and Victor Martinez gets the MVP.

Danny: Ummmmm…too early for me. GIANTS WIN! Yankees die!

Paulie: So, umm… Bonds tested positive for the roids right after he hit the 73. So I predict he will not be playing anywhere this season. I also predict that Roger Clemens will not be playing anywhere this year. I predict that the Cubs will begin the season with high expectations but fail to produce yet again. I predict that ESPN will briefly mention the other teams in the league, but will still remind us for 56 out of 60 minutes on SportsCenter that the only teams that really matter are the Yankees and Red Sox. I predict that Mark Prior will go on extended IR this season with some sort of elbow/shoulder problem. Ditto Kerry Wood. I predict that I go sleepy time now before baby wakes up again. Ni ni!

PEE-YOMPS (pimps)

You like movies right? Then head over to The DVD Lounge where there are a lot of good people watching a lot of crap so you don’t have to. And for a person who has over 1300 DVDs and watches every movie imaginable, Travis really finds some things that even I have never heard of.

Popcorn Junkies is a place you really need to go check out as well because there are great people like Caroline, Ping, Michaelangelo, Kubryk, and more bringing you news and movie reviews at all hours of the night and day.

Pulse Glazer has been a beast lately over in Pulse Wrestling. Check out his latest ROH column and while you’re over there, look at the tons of other great stuff he writes too.

Quickness here. We are done for the week folks, told you we’d be back. So go here in the forums to scream at us or you know you can always yell at us.

We shall return next week and just to let you know…we tried to trade Paulie to Pulse Wrestling for James Hatton, but then Matt spoke up and blocked the trade with his “no-trade clause” even though he isn’t really active anymore. CJ just sat back and laughed the whole time so I’m not sure what that is all about. But next week you’ll see your normal trio of good times here again.

Have a good weekend everyone and try to enjoy the NBA’s show-off contest.