Your Highness,

Let me preface my comments by saying this: You're a great player. Nobody, absolutely nobody, has your combination of speed, strength, intelligence, and skill. You will be a legend of the game, which is why I'm writing you.

We both know you're great. You don't have to work the cameras like you do. Just look at yourself in these pictures.

After each dunk, each highlight, you face the crowd, the scrub trying to guard you, or your teammates. More often, you face the the cameras. You pose. You scream. You do everything, except run back down the court.

Why? So we take notice of your greatness? Sorry, but we already have.

Last Wednesday,you took to dancing midplay. You shook your leg, your body, and Drew Gooden. You freed up Delonte West for an open three. But what made the nightly highlights? This: "OmGZ! Luk at Leebrone!"

Again, I ask you to stop. Enough is enough.

Sincerely,

Mr. Crimson

Who would threaten a pregnant women? If she is carrying Jonathan Papelbon's baby and is his wife, a small minority of Yankee fans would. Or, at the very least, they would create a situation that makes her feel threatened.

That's what happened during MLB's All-Star parade down the New York streets. Now, we have video of some of the remarks directed at the couple.

For some crazy reason, I bet they heard worse.

Sonics fans watch as their collective puppy is run over by a semi.

The Saga in Seattle is over, and the Kevin Durants (a temporary name, I would assume) are on their way to Oklahoma. The city of Seattle and the franchise which once called it home reached a deal yesterday, ending an era in a great basketball city.

The owners, led by that evil [expletive] Clay Bennett, will pay Seattle $45 million to get out of their lease. If Seattle builds a new arena, and a team doesn't move in by 2013, the owners, led by that evil [expletive] Clay Bennett, will pay Seattle an additional $30 million.

That adds up to $75 million, which, interestingly enough, is more than the $60 million the owners, led by that evil [expletive] Clay Bennett, claimed they would lose if they stayed in the Emerald City.

"The transition and move of this team begins tomorrow morning," Bennett said in Oklahoma City, forgetting relocation began when he bought the Sonics in 2006.

But for all you Sonics fans who are rather depressed, there is good news: the team's moniker, the Sonics, will not be making the move to Oklahoma! Yes?!?

I mean, who cares if you endured years of mediocrity to land one of the best prospects of this decade, Kevin Durant? Who cares if he teased you with his potential, realizing you won't get a chance to see it met? Who cares that, when a new team decides to move to Seattle, you will have to watch your former superstar destroy your crappy new team?

The NBA doesn't care.

They couldn't win the trifecta.

New Orleans Hornets Rasual Butler was arrested Monday morning and charged for carrying a concealed weapon and wrongful display of a firearm.

Rasual Butler is an idiot. Really, it's as simple as that.

Here is the summarized version of the incident according to South Beach police and witnesses. As Butler was leaving Club Mansion, he started pointing his gun at and threatening several people. The police arrived shortly thereafter to find Butler sitting in the back of his Navigator. He told the officers the gun was on the floorboard. They found a gun that was "loaded, with a round in the chamber, ready to fire."

He was taken in to the shop, though he maintained, "I'm a professional athlete, I didn't do anything wrong."

I love how the go-to defense for any South Beach arrest has to do with "athlete" and "didn't do anything wrong." I mean, they screwed Gilbert Arenas over with a disobeying the police arrest. Still, I don't see how that compares. Rasual, you told the cops you were carrying a gun that you legally couldn't carry in Florida! Maybe if you hadn't threatened other club-goers with it, your civil rights wouldn't have been violated by those pesky police officers.

Again, Rasual Butler is an idiot. Don't let your kids be idiots.

No Yankee has worn the number 3 since the club retired it 60 years ago. That is not good enough for some. Linda Ruth Tosetti believes the Babe "belongs to all of baseball" because he single-handedly saved baseball in America after several betting scandals. His number should never again be worn in a MLB game, she says.

Tosetti, Ruth's granddaughter, did what any woman with a "Ruthian mug" would do. She created a website and started a petition. The petition, which has been signed by 1383 people online, reads:

A PETITION TO RETIRE BABE RUTH'S NUMBER "3" THROUGHOUT MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

For his contributions to our national pastime, for his contributions to children all over the world and for his humanitarian works: Babe Ruth single-handedly saved the game of baseball with his mighty bat, his charismatic personality and his inherent sense of fair play. He made it possible for baseball to become the international game it is today.

When it was not possible for minorities to participate in Major League baseball, Babe was not deterred. He spoke up on behalf of these fine men, he barnstormed with them and his actions and words on their behalf has not gone unnoticed by baseball historians.

Please help to achieve this tribute for an American icon, George Herman "Babe" Ruth. Thank You!

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Tosetti's petition frustrates me on a few accounts.

First, this idea that baseball was "single-handedly" saved by Babe Ruth. He was a factor, but he was not the only person involved in leading it past betting scandals. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis was given absolute control after the Black Sox scandal. The suspensions and bans he handed out were important in ending that dark chapter in baseball history. The radio, exciting rivalries, and Ruth played important roles, too.

This next part just makes me laugh: "When it was not possible for minorities to participate in Major League baseball, Babe was not deterred." I am at a loss. I think this could be worded differently.

Lastly, what does it matter if Babe Ruth's number is retired or not? I mean, his legend has lasted over half a century without this honor.

Last April, Seattle Sonics owners spoke of keeping the franchise in Seattle. They just wanted a new arena, they said. Most NBA fans knew the truth: Clay Bennett and his Oklahoma City group were more eager to find a way out of their lease.

E-mails obtained by Seattle city officials show the owners of the Sonics were privately talking about moving the team to Oklahoma City. In an e-mail exchange from April 17, 2007, Seattle Sonics co-owners Clay Bennett, Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward joked about moving the team to Oklahoma City as soon as possible.

"Is there any way to move here [Oklahoma City] for next season or are we doomed to have another lame duck season in Seattle?" Ward wrote.

"I am a man possessed! Will do everything we can. Thanks for hanging with me boys, the game is getting started!" Bennett replied.

"That's the spirit!! I am willing to help any way I can to watch ball here [in Oklahoma City] next year," Ward wrote back.

Seattle city attorney Tom Carr said the e-mails make it clear that Bennett's ownership group, which bought the team in 2006, never had any intention of keeping it in Seattle, despite Bennett's public statements committing to keeping the team there. Bennett had committed to working with city and state officials through October 2007 to keep the Sonics in Seattle.

"We all believed [the new group always meant to move]. We didn't know it. Now we know it," Carr said, according to the Times.

Interesting, since for months later--in an e-mail dated Aug. 17-- Bennett told Commissioner David Stern, "I would never breach your trust. As absolutely remarkable as it may seem, Aubrey and I have NEVER discussed moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City, nor have I discussed it with ANY other member of our ownership group."

What does all of this mean? Well, Clay Bennett is a lying, greedy kerl who deserves to have 5 cc's of orange juice injected into his blood stream. The reason being that it throws off the pH of the blood and systematically causes every organ to fail, one after the other, while his insides feel like he's being burnt alive from the inside out. Or so I hear.

The Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat and Kevin Garnett answered questions at a postgame news conference. When asked about the Heat, KG offered polite praise of the team. Then, Paul Pierce stepped in.

"Man, I am going to tell you the truth. They got D-Leaguers out there, so I think we just handled our business. We're supposed to do that. We knew this was a game we were supposed to win, and we just focused from the jump and went out and did it."

In short, he is telling the truth. Currently, the Heat have nine healthy players on their roster. Six have D-League experience.

1. Earl Barron
2. Stephane Lasme
3. Kasib Powell
4. Blake Ahearn
5. Alexander Johnson
6. Joel Anthony
   

Obviously, the Heat are tanking. Do do they have to be so nonchalant about it? For example: Miami made its last two shots to finish with seventeen field goals against Boston. That total is the fewest since April 10, 1999 when the Chicago Bulls made just eighteen field goals. How does the coach respond?

"Oh, did we?" said Ron Rothstein, the Miami assistant who ran the bench while head coach Pat Riley missed his fourth game to resume his college scouting tour. "How about that?"

Pierce is right. The Heat are a bunch of D-Leaguers, but at least the team could care.

Remember Ray Ray McElrathbey?

The Clemson backup running back garnered national prominence after taking custody of his 11-year-old brother Fahmarr in 2006. The parents were both addicts; his mother to drugs and his father to gambling. Ray Ray McElrathbey was the man to step up and look after his brother.

McElrathbey then received a waiver from the NCAA, allowing him to receive assistance from Clemson and the public. This rare accommodation enable McElrathbey to care of his younger brother while maintain his collegiate eligibility.

McElrathbey and the university were applauded nationwide.

That is, until Saturday. Clemson announced that McElrathbey, despite having two years of football eligibility remaining, was no longer a member of the team since Ray was going to graduate in August.

Apparently, there is more to the story. Tiger tailback James Davis says McElrathbey did not have the option to stay on the team. The coaching staff decided not to renew McElrathbey's scholarship for the 2008-09 season. Clemson, coincidentally, is over the limit of eighty-five scholarship players, too.

Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, when asked about the situation, said, "We're pretty good at running back right now."

Running back James Davis said McElrathbey was expecting Bowden to pull his scholarship. "He said something about how they weren't going to renew his scholarship," said Davis, grew up with McElrathbey in Atlanta. "It really surprised me. But there's a lot of stuff you can't say. It's something I guess everybody has to learn to live with."

Considering the support McElrathbey would receive if he were to go public with story, why has he yet to speak out? According to Davis, McElrathbey will not speak out publicly with his side of the story because he "doesn't want them to badmouth his name if he wants to play football somewhere else."

It is simply disgusting the way Clemson and Tommy Bowden turned their back on Ray Ray McElrathbey. Since I could have not said it any better, I will simply concur with the guys at Wizard of Odds, who write:

Last December, Bowden used an offer from Arkansas as leverage to get a new contract and a fat raise out of Clemson. And now he has discarded Ray Ray McElrathbey because he thinks he can do better.

Bowden can go to Hell on this one.

Let this be a lesson to any recruit interested in playing for Bowden or any other coach who demands long-term security from their employer, but fails to show the same respect to their players. We can only hope a tsunami of negative publicity results from Bowden's decision because frankly, college football can use more kids like McElrathbey, a kid who has more character than his former coach.

Steelers rush linebacker and Pro Bowler James Harrison ripped through a door, broke a phone, and slapped his girlfriend before being arrested by police. Harrison was arraigned on charges of simple assault and criminal mischief.

According to police, he broke down a bedroom door at the woman's home after she locked herself in the room. While she was calling 911, Harrison broke the phone in half, according to an affidavit she filed with police.

The police also said Harrison struck the woman in the face with an open hand leaving "red marks" according to the affidavit.

Harrison made his first Pro Bowl in 2007. He finished the year with 98 tackles and 8½ sacks. It is still unclear whether he led the NFL in "broken phones in half."