A new football league is coming in 2008 – the UFL (United Football League). Bill Hambrecht and Tim Armstrong (Google exec), are starting the project to compete with the NFL.

Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Maverics) has announced his intentions of owning one of the new teams. It should be interesting to see how this project works out.

Personally, I think the NFL provides plenty of football for us fans, but I am sure there are many who would disagree with me. What do you think, do we need another football league in the US?

The winner of this year’s NBA Draft Lottery was the Portland Trailblazers. They managed to get the first pick in the draft this year. They are expected to take 7 foot center Greg Oden from Ohio State. Greg is projected to become one of the top big men in the game.

Now that the 2007 NBA draft order is set…

Here is the order for all the picks in the 2007 NBA draft:

1. Portland
2. Seattle
3. Atlanta
4. Memphis
5. Boston
6. Milwaukee
7. Minnesota
8. Charlotte
9. New York1
10. Sacramento
11. Atlanta (via IND)
12. Philadelphia
13. New Orleans
14. L.A. Clippers
15. Detroit (via ORL)
16. Washington
17. New Jersey
18. Golden State
19. L.A. Lakers
20. Miami
21. Philadelphia (via DEN)
22. Charlotte (via CLE and TOR)
23. Chicago2
24. Phoenix (via BOS and CLE)
25. Utah
26. Houston
27. Detroit
28. San Antonio
29. Phoenix
30. Philly (via DEN, GSW, DAL)

Unfortunately, my Houston Rockets have a pretty low pick and they could really use a top 10 pick this year. Albeit, their new coach (Rick Adelman) should improve their offense quite a bit.

How did your team fair?

Today, Dallas Mavericks Center Dirk Nowitzki was the first European player ever named NBA MVP. Dirk certainly had an excellent regular season. From Tim Duncan to Kobe Bryant you could have made a case for quite a few players being right for the trophy. However, Dirk really did have a great year.

Dirk’s Dallas Mavericks won 67 games (not many teams have done that). He scored 24.6 points per game, had 8.9 rebounds per game, 3.4 assists per game, and shot over 90 percent from the free throw line. Not bad…

A lot of you have been making your case for who should win on this post. Now that it’s official what do you think? Should Dirk have won?

The official announcement isn’t due until next Tuesday, but ESPN is reporting that Dirk Nowitzki is scheduled to be the winner. It’s unclear how definite this is, but I guess we’ll all find out next Tuesday.

The other day the 2006-2007 All-NBA team was announced. The only thing that was a bit of a surprise was that Lebron James was missing from the first team. Many people thought that he would be on the first team. Steve Nash was the only unanimous selection.

The first team was made up entirely of Western Conference players. It consisted of Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash, and Kobe Bryant.

Here are the voting results for all of the 2006-2007 “All-NBA” Teams:

(First-place votes in parentheses)

First Team
F — Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas (125), 634
F — Tim Duncan, San Antonio (94), 573
C — Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix (36), 494
G — Steve Nash, Phoenix (129), 645
G — Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers (128), 643

Second Team
F — LeBron James, Cleveland (64), 494
F — Chris Bosh, Toronto (8), 234
C — Yao Ming, Houston (38), 333
G — Gilbert Arenas, Washington 295
G — Tracy McGrady, Houston (10), 278

Third Team
F — Kevin Garnett, Minnesota (5), 225
F — Carmelo Anthony, Denver (1), 142
C — Dwight Howard, Orlando (1), 108
G — Dwyane Wade, Miami (1), 241
G — Chauncey Billups, Detroit 86

Other players receiving votes
Carlos Boozer, Utah, 127; Shaquille O’Neal, Miami, 70 (3),; Jason Kidd, New Jersey, 58; Marcus Camby, Denver, 42 (2),; Shawn Marion, Phoenix, 41; Allen Iverson, Denver, 39; Tony Parker, San Antonio, 39; Vince Carter, New Jersey, 15; Deron Williams, Utah, 15; Josh Howard, Dallas, 11; Elton Brand, L.A. Clippers, 8; Mehmet Okur, Utah, 7; Baron Davis, Golden State, 6; Michael Redd, Milwaukee, 6; Ray Allen, Seattle, 5; Richard Hamilton, Detroit, 4; Joe Johnson, Atlanta, 3; Ben Gordon, Chicago, 3; Chris Paul, New Orleans, 3; Paul Pierce, Boston, 2; Ben Wallace, Chicago, 2; Jason Terry, Dallas, 2; Eddy Curry, New York, 2; Luol Deng, Chicago, 1; Chris Webber, Detroit, 1; Jermaine O’Neal, Indiana, 1; Pau Gasol, Memphis, 1; Tyson Chandler, New Orleans, 1; Manu Ginobili, San Antonio, 1.

Does this mean that Lebron is out of the running for the NBA MVP?

The Rocket has landed. Not in his first organization, the Boston Red Sox, or his hometown club, the Houston Astros, but back in the pinstripes again. Roger Clemens is a New York Yankee again. The announcement was made during the 7th inning stretch during a recent home game. Clemen’s contract will bring him upwards of $18 million which, because of his late starting date, equates to roughly $4.5 million per month.

The much maligned Yankees starting rotation was in desperate need of another starter. The Yankees are scheduled to start their 10th different pitcher this season. His return may help to solidify their lineup and bring them back into contention in the AL East. The Rocket has made it clear that the presence of Joe Torre and Andy Pettite was crucial in his decision making process. Not only will he give the Yankees a proven starter, but he will also be able to help the younger starting pitchers to mature and learn from possibly the greatest right handed pitcher of all time. His seven Cy Young Awards are not only a testament to his natural ability, but also to his longevity and endurance. At the age of 44 he hopes to bring the Yankees back to their championship form.

For those who haven’t seen it. Here is a list of the 2007 NFL 1st round draft picks in order of the placement. Hope your team did well in the draft. My teams did pretty well.

The following are ordered by pick, team, player name, and position:

1 Oakland JaMarcus Russell QB
2 Detroit Calvin Johnson WR
3 Cleveland Joe Thomas OL
4 Tampa Bay Gaines Adams DE
5 Arizona Levi Brown OT
6 Washington LaRon Landry DB
7 Minnesota Adrian Peterson RB
8 Atlanta Jamaal Anderson DE
9 Miami Ted Ginn Jr. FL
10Houston Amobi Okoye DT
11San Francisco Patrick Willis LB
12 Buffalo Marshawn Lynch RB
13 St. Louis Adam Carriker DE
14 NY Jets Darrelle Revis CB
15 Pittsburgh Lawrence Timmons LB
16 Green Bay Justin Harrell DT
17 Denver Jarvis Moss DE
18 Cincinnati Leon Hall CB
19 Tennessee Michael Griffin S
20 NY Giants Aaron Ross CB
21 Jacksonville Reggie Nelson S
22 Cleveland Brady Quinn QB
23 Kansas City Dwayne Bowe WR
24 New England Brandon Meriweather CB
25 Carolina Jon Beason OLB
26 Dallas Anthony Spencer DE
27 New Orleans Robert Meachem WR
28 San Francisco Joe Staley OL
29 Baltimore Ben Grubbs OG
30 San Diego Craig Davis WR
31 Chicago Greg Olsen TE
32 Indianapolis Anthony Gonzalez

How did your favorite team do in the draft this year?