InClement Weather: Saturday Night Live (Thoughts)

1) Horseracing won't matter until a Triple Crown winner can be found.

2) Kobe Bryant and the Lakers are as solid a bet in Game 7 of their Western Conference Semi-Final matchup against the Houston Rockets as the North Carolina Tar Heels were over Michigan State.

3) David Ortiz has dodged steroid speculation solely on the basis of being on the Red Sox roster.

4) John Lackey was ejected after 2 pitches. Mike Scioscia will explain to us why he's smarter than all of us as a result.

5) Wayman Tisdale was Blake Griffin before Blake Griffin. I know I'm not the first, nor the last, to say it.

6) If LeBron James wins a title with the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, he's going to re-ink with his homestate team this offseason.

7) Manchester United won their third straight Premeir Title. It doesn't take a genius to realize that this team does exactly what the Yankees don't do: pay big and win bigger.

8) Manny Ramirez apologized to his team. How cute. No, check that. How sweet.

9) The Brett Favre saga continues. Honestly, he might have 2 or 3 more offseasons like this to go. Sit tight...

10) People are barking at Carson Palmer for being overconfident on the 2009 season outlook for his Bengals. Exactly how do you want your franchise, $100+-million quarterback sounding? "Realistically, we're a 5-win team. But maybe we can get lucky and push it to .500." Some people are far too stupid to be potentially procreating.

11) Pau Gasol is also the most hollow "star" player in the NBA. Zero defense, zero heart, and zero ability to step up and show any muscle in a tight game. Hollow stats and trivial chest pumps after and-1s against shooting guards. That is why this guy couldn't win a game in the playoffs, A GAME, before Kobe Bryant. You rule Pau!

12) Bye bye Syracuse's hopes in 2009! Addition by subtraction perhaps with Harris and Devendorf NBA (I mean, Europe) bound and the additional of Iowa State-transfer Wesley Johnson...or so I thought. As for Mr. Flynn signing with an agent, well DAMN!!!

I suppose post-Final Four pre-season rankings leave you with that "just fell short" feeling. Don't they???

The Non NFL Post

For those of you who have come to PHSports looking for a football post, sorry. Not today.

The day before the NFL Season kicks off, I am going to offer some quick thoughts on things outside of the National Football League.

I know what you're saying "Hey, dude. Where are the chains? Where is the heavy metal regalia? Where’s like the whole atmosphere of this thing?"

In short, I am trying to broaden your horizon when all you want to do is zone on the NFL. Because I want you all to be smarter. Or, at least take a step in the right direction. Without further adieu, here are the quick hits ...

* The English Premier League set a new record for transfer fees. How much? Try a half a billion pounds. Now, that is some serious cash.

* Robinho to Manchester City (not a typo) for £32.5M? Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United for £30.75M? A Belgian midfielder I've never heard of joining Everton for £16M? This guy being sold for a chunk of meat? Yes, a chunk of meat. This is what happens Soccernet takes from CNN's journalistic standards (i.e. none except when there are storms), which place odd stories over real news. What does that say about us as consumers? Back to Berbatov. For the second time this summer, Tottenham Hotspur, the team that was ‘forced’ to sell a player. Earlier this summer, it was Robbie Keane. Meanwhile, for their tears, they profited by over £30M between the purchases and sales of Berbatov and Keane. Despite this, Tottenham has zero chance of making the UEFA Champions League. That begs the question: Did they have a realistic chance before Berbatov bolted? No. And that’s exactly why they should quit crying. When Leeds United (my favorite club) hit hard times due to mismanagement at the top (thank you, Petey), who was it that bought Leeds players (Robbie Keane, Paul Robinson, Aaron Lennon) on the very cheap and did not cry then? That would be Tottenham. Case closed.

Al-Fahim: The EPL's Next Supremo?

Credit: Kipp Report

* Manchester City can no longer be called Manchester *hitty. They can, but not with justification because they're quite talented and they're now staked by Dr. Sulaiman Al-Fahim, who claims he will bankroll City to the Champions League. Watch out, Arsenal and Liverpool. The Dubai businessman said, "I always feel like I'm a kind of bulldozer, a full insured bulldozer. If nobody likes it, it starts moving - even if there are cars in its way, it has to crush the cars and move. I can't stop. If I have an idea, I have to do it." It's pretty amazing what people will say when they have a limitless bankroll. More on Al-Fahim ... according to his Wikipedia profile, he is the CEO of Hydra Properties, a real estate company located in the UAE that he founded in 2005. His educational background include a PhD in Real Estate investment and an MBA in Finance and Real Estate from the Kogod School of Business from the American University in Washington. Al-Fahim has often been referred to as Abu Dhabi's version of Donald Trump. With statements of ambition such as the one likening himself to a bulldozer, I can begin to understand the comparison. However, I wouldn't bet on The Donald's companies to have a vision statement which has the name of the company misspelled in the first sentence. Someone just got fired.

Why did Kansas win the national title?

Credit: Streetball.com

* Were Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers listening to any Afroman before they got busted for smoking marijuana at the NBA Rookie Camp? They’ll start the season on the suspended list.