Dwight Howard’s Decision

Another year, and more controversy regarding the future’s of star players. The painful and confusing Chris Paul saga has finally ended with his trade to the Clippers. Now it is time for another NBA superstar to decide his future, Dwight Howard.

Dwight Howard, the center of the Orlando Magic, has the option to opt out of his contract following the 2011-2012 season to become a free agent. Ever since Lebron fled Cleveland and caused the Cavaliers to set the record for the most consecutive losses in a season, teams are trying to trade their superstars so they can get some value in return.

Dwight Howard dunking on his wish-list team

Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul were both traded before they became free agents by their teams, and now it is time for that to happen with Dwight Howard. Dwight has already asked the Orlando Magic to trade him, and he even went on to make a wish-list of the teams he would like to play for. This list of teams includes the Magic, the New Jersey Nets, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Los Angeles Lakers.

This is a pretty solid list for Dwight, he has the ability to make all of these teams either playoff teams or title contenders, but it is missing one thing, the Chicago Bulls.

Playing for the Orlando Magic, Dwight has been able to play in a big city with a great fan base his whole career. He has publicly stated several times that he enjoys playing for the Magic. So wouldn’t Dwight enjoy playing for the Bulls. Chicago is one of the biggest basketball cities in the country a great history of basketball success. Chicago has the reigning, 23 year-old MVP Derrick Rose, an all-star power forward in Carlos Boozer, and a former all-star shooting guard Richard Hamilton.

Howard has one the Defensive Player of the Year award two years in a row, and Chicago also has the best defensive head coach in the league. You would think that all this would attract Dwight Howard to Chicago right. Does it? No, and I have no clue why.

You would think the reigning MVP would attract a superstar

The proposed trade for Dwight Howard would send Dwight and a horrific Hedo Turkoglu contract to Chicago for Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, and bench players/ draft picks. So after this trade, Chicago would have a starting lineup of Rose, Hamilton, Turkoglu, Boozer, and Howard, and then Taj Gibson coming off the bench. There is no doubt that this team could compete, and even win an NBA championship.

Chicago gives Dwight Howard the best chance for him to win an NBA  championship. If the reason that he is leaving Orlando is because he does not think he has the right tools and teammates to compete, then it would make sense that Dwight would want to go to the team that best gives him that chance, but he doesn’t. I have no idea why, and you probably don’t either.

Rec Time

It is the best time of the year. The most competitive league in the town. Where the best athletes show up every Sunday to put on a clinic. No, we are not talking about the NFL, we are talking about the Sharon Rec Basketball league.

The rosters were announced yesterday, the 7th, and it brought an uproar to Sharon High. With only six teams, all of them are stacked with studs from top to bottom.

This years rec league is arguably the most talented league the town has had in a while. In fact, people chose to play in the rec league instead of playing high school basketball (See: Bradley Kaufman, Adam Block, Will Modelevsky, Andrew Ventresco).

I’ll give a breakdown from team to team, starting with the soon to be champions, Team 1.

Team 1, coached by Rick Dumont, is going to be a real threat come playoff time. With arguably the best player and best winner in the league in Eric Bloom, and made up of a great supporting cast from top to bottom, this team will be tough to compete with.

Team 2, coached by Mike Russo, enters the season with the highest ratings among the players. With superstar Nandu Mohan and the greatest depth in the league, it would not be a surprise to see this team playing for the championship.

Team 3, coached by Jay Kessler, is very star heavy. Players Bradley Kaufman and Adam Banks could be the best duo in the league. While depth is a problem for them, team 3 can hope to ride Kaufman and Banks to the playoffs.

Brad "Baby Ray" Kaufman looks to lead his team to victory

Team 4, coached by Paul Armstrong, is another one of those star composed team. With 9th-10th grade league MVP Eric Lesser teaming up with the biggest inside presence in the league, teams are going to have to play hard to beat these guys.

Team 5, coached by Eric Wolff, the league coordinator, enters as another one of the favorites to win the championship. With four strong players in Hefez, Ventresco, Joe Lanzel, and Adam Gray, this team was made to score points. While depth is an issue, other teams better be on there defensive game if they want to compete.

Lastly, Team 6, coached by Mike Schuster, is lead by the highest pre-season ranked big man in the league, Will Modelevsky. Stars Tyler Schuster and Benji Berg will attempt to assist Will in the team’s quest to raising the rec banner this season.

What do all these teams have in common? They got players who can ball.This will be a very competitive league, no doubt.

Chipotle Galore

If you want to eat mexican food, you go to Chipotle, simple. Chipotle is as good as any type of food gets, fast food or gourmet. Chipotle is the place to go.

For those of you who don’t know what Chipotle is, it is a fast-food mexican chain restaurant. People might be thinking, eiw gross fast-food. Nope, not with Chipotle.

Let’s take a relatively medium sized burrito, the burrito that I order. I get the 13′ tortilla, rice, chicken, lettuce, a little bit of tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream. According to a Chipotle Nutrition Calculator, this totals to 855 calories. Now, this may seem like a lot, but let’s compare this to another popular fast-food chain, McDonalds.

I’m going to pick a meal that seems somewhat equivolent to the amount of food in a burrito. Take the double-quarter pounder and then add a medium fry. Now that may not even be as much as food as a burrito, but it is 1,290 calories. So for all you health freaks, if your looking for a fast, delicious, and healthy meal, chipotle has got to be the best option out there.

McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder

Now let’s talk about the food in the restaurant. The most popular option on the chipotle menu is obviously the burrito. Once you order the burrito, you have the option of four types of meat; chicken, steak, carnitas, or barbacoa. Then you can choose from different vegetables, such as rice and peppers, and then from different sauces, such as mild, tomatoes, or corn, and lastly any extras, such as cheese, lettuce, sour cream, or guacomole.

According to a burrito analysts team, a person can order a burrito in 4,640 ways. Name the last time you had over 4,000 options at Wendy’s. My guess is you probably haven’t.  Point for Chipotle.

Chipotle is just better

Lastly, let’s focus on the taste. In my opinion, a chipotle burrito is the best tasting thing from a fast food restaurant I have ever had in my life. “It’s like heaven,” said Eric Bloom. Chipotle is just the best, hands down. All debate’s can end. Game. Set. Match. Chipotle.

Super Teams are not Evil

The NBA, whether the fans like it or not, is starting to consists  of more “super teams” than regular teams. Well you know what, all the NBA haters can keep quiet, and enjoy the ride. The super teams are not bad for the NBA.

Tell me the last time you turned on the TV and said, “Oh awesome! The Bucks are playing the Bobcats! I get to watch Andrew Bogut play against Stephen Jackson!” My guess is, you probably haven’t said that before.

I can certainly tell you though, that one night, you turned on your TV and said, “Oh yeah! The Heat are playing the Bulls. Now this is good basketball.” Yeah, this scenario is about 500% times more likely.

Miami Heat "Big 3"

Recently, NBA superstar Chris Paul finally announced that he wanted to be traded to the Knicks and join Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire. We all knew this was happening once Anthony fought his way out of Denver. Some people might complain about how ridiculous this is, or that nobody wants to see three of the leagues best players on the same team.

You know what I have to say to that, “ARE YOU CRAZY??” The NBA is a league that entertains fans more than many other leagues. It has some of the best athletes in the worlds playing a sport in which individuals have the most impact. Who doesn’t want to see the leagues’ best players on the court at the same time?

Your not changing the channel once Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony start to get going. Your not going to miss that amazing play that every sports show will be talking about the next day. If the super teams are best at entertaining the fans, then why are people complaining?

If it is not your hometown team, then why do people watch other cities play each other? Because basketball is fun to watch, and good basketball is more fun to watch than average basketball.

Now, does this mean I don’t feel bad for the Indianas or the New Orleans of the league? No I kind of do, but it is not impossible for them to compete in the league either. Look at teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Memphis Grizzlies. I have never heard anyone say, “Hey, let’s go to Oklahoma City for the weekend! I hear it’s awesome there!”

No, teams like these are able to become title contenders through good drafting and smart trading. All NBA teams have the ability do become successful. So don’t say that super teams are ruining the league because the lesser teams have no chance. Those lesser teams just need to work harder to promote themselves.

When Carmelo forced his way out of Denver, the Nuggets were able to get great value in return, and ended up earning the 5th seed in a stacked Western Conference.

I am a big NBA fan, and I have been lucky to witness the “Big 3” in Boston for the past several years. I loved this team not just because I am from Boston, but because they were stacked with stars and were great to watch.

Celtics "Big 3"

Now while I may not root for all the super teams being formed now, there is no doubt that I am watching them. They are surely entertaining as hell.