Favre to the Jets

You may have noticed a lack of Favre talk on this blog.

That's because I've avoided talking about this whole Favre unretirement thing until something actually, you know, happened.

This is in direct contrast with ESPN, who has spent hours on the "story" every day, despite the fact that no one outside of Green Bay, Minnesota and Chicago cared that Favre was "having talks with Packers management," and "flying into Green Bay," absolutely meaningless facts.

But finally, the long and boring saga appears to be over. Foxsports.com broke the story, and now ESPN is reporting that Favre has been traded to the New York Jets.

Praises be to news that is actually news.

I'll now go back to ignoring Favre and his indecision.

USA Olympic basketball

I must admit, I'm underwhelmed by the current edition of the U.S. Olympic basketball squad.

Sure, the mantra from everyone involved has been "This time, we've got it right!" After the embarrassment that was 2004, we've been waiting for the chance to reclaim what we believe is rightfully ours.

But you know what?

Things have changed since 1992.

Other national teams have gotten better. Specifically, they've gotten better at the international game, which is much different from the NBA.

The international game is all about good ball rotation and outside shooting. In the four exhibition games I've watched so far, none of the teams have even really attempted to establish a low-post game. Big men from other countries are spot-up, mid-range shooters (Okur, Nowitski, Yao).

Essentially, other teams are built around one or two big guys who can pass and shoot jumpers, a couple facilitators (point guards, usually) and a ton of shooters.

Meanwhile, the current makeup of the U.S. Olympic basketball team is as follows:

1. LeBron: dunker extraordinaire, not so good at the outside shot. Sure, he's come a long ways, but he's far from automatic.

2. Wade: Getting-to-the-hoop-guy extraordinaire. Not a consistent outside shooter.

3. Carmelo Anthony: More consistent with his jump shot, but not out to the 3-point line.

4. Kobe: Threat from anywhere on the court.

5. Jason Kidd: Can't shoot to save his life.

6. Chris Paul: Great from 10 feet, not a shooter otherwise.

7. Deron: Threat from anywhere on the court.

8. Dwight Howard: post-up guy, can't hit a jumper worth beans.

9. Bosh: Decent mid-range shot.

10. Boozer: great shooter until April of last year.

11. Prince: Decent shooter, but not great from the 3.

12. Redd: Great outside shooter. Excellent addition to the team.

See the problem? This team, the team that was supposed to be built for the Olympics, is built like an NBA All-Star team. Sure, at least this year's team has legitimate point guards (sorry, Marbury, sorry A.I.), but we're short on great outside shooters.

If I were in charge of making the roster, I'd get rid of Dwight, Kidd and Boozer and replace them with Kyle Korver, Raja Bell and Jason Kapono.

That would be a team ready for the international game. Imagine the wide-open looks the shooters (six now, instead of three) would consistently get from Deron, Paul, Kidd, LeBron, etc. And once these zone-busters started raining 3-pointers, opposing defenses wouldn't be able to play zone and clog the lane. LeBron, Wade, Paul, etc. would have a clear path to the hoop.

As it stands, Redd and Kobe are the only real threats to hit from deep at the shooting guard position. Deron can bomb it, but more often than not he's running the offense. And lately Kobe has been jacking terrible 25-footers instead of taking shots within the offense, so that means Redd is the only threat, which means defenses can key in on him, limiting his effectiveness.

So we'll have to see how our guys do in Beijing. The squad squeaked past a Bogut-less Australia this morning, 87-76. Why was it so close? Because Team USA went 3-for-18 from the 3-point line. Live by the three, die by the three. That's the international game. Australia packed the lane with a zone defense that the US couldn't break, as drives by Wade, LeBron, etc. led to turnover after turnover. It was a perfect blueprint on how to slow down the Americans.

You think other nations were paying attention?

BYU Football highlight of the week

November 24, 2000. Lavell Edward's last game as BYU's head coach. The game is in Salt Lake City, against the Utah Utes. Starting quarterback Brandon Doman is a virtual unknown for the Cougars. Sure, he led BYU to win over New Mexico in Lavell's final home game ever the week before, but could the scrappy option QB succeed at the pass-happy Brigham Young University?

Doman aquitted himself well, passing for 284 yards and one touchdown. The run game struggled, however, as BYU gained 100 yards on 42 attempts, for 2.3 yards per carry.

But in the end, it was an option run for a touchdown by Doman from inside the 10 that gave BYU the 34-27 win.

And the other classic moment in this game: a 4th-and-13 completion from Doman to Pittman with under a minute left in the game and BYU down. Utah's secondary seems to have a tradition of allowing that kind of thing.

Owen Pochman made four field goals in the win. Oh, that we had that kind of consistency last year from the kicker position.

One last thing... holy cow do I not miss those uniforms. Thanks for bringing back the classic colors and design, Bronco.

Here's the highlight.

Kaman for Boozer?

In a previous post's comments, something of a consensus was reached on what the Jazz should do with Boozer.

Trade him for Chris Kaman.

Why, you ask? The salaries match up, Kaman's interior defense is sorely needed in Utah, and after this season, the Jazz lose Carlos anyway, so they might as well get something for him if they can.

I was on the phone with Clippers GM Elgin Baylor when a friend of mine expressed sincere doubts as to the validity of this trade idea.

Concerns such as "Boozer will keep getting better, he's only 26," and "Kaman is a stiff!" were mentioned.

I was unable to combat these statements with actual statistics, so I decided to get on nba.com and do some work.

Ages: Boozer 26, Kaman 26.
Years pro: Boozer 6, Kaman 5
Regular season ppg: Boozer 21.1, Kaman 15.7.
Regular season rpg: Boozer 10.4, Kaman 12.7
Regular season FG%: Boozer 54.7, Kaman 48.3.
Regular season blocks per game: Boozer .5, Kaman 2.8.

As far as I can see, Boozer's edge here is slight. Yes, he scores more, but the Jazz need defense far more than they need the six more points per game Booz gives them compared to Kaman. Blocks are huge, too, as we all know Boozer can't jump worth beans, and apparently the Caveman can.

What surprised me were Kaman's rebounding numbers. which were actually third best in the NBA last season behind Camby and Dwight Howard.

I also think playing with Deron would up the Caveman's scoring a little. Last year his point guards were Brevin Knight, Smush Parker and uh... Dan Dikau? I can't imagine he got too many easy buckets. Could Kaman be Deron's Tyson Chandler?

To be fair, Kaman's shooting percentage was a little low for a center, but again, I think getting easy baskets thanks to Deron would remedy that.

And he actually has less experience in the NBA than Booz.

ESPN's Trade Machine says it'd work according to the NBA's rules.

So in short, this trade would mean the Jazz lose hardly any scoring, get more rebounding, enjoy much-improved interior defense and get something in exchange for Boozer.

Hey, Elgin, what do you say? You just lost a 20-10 guy, want a replacement?

More embarrassment

I think this speaks to itself.

I honestly wonder if my conservative beliefs will hurt my chances at finding a job in this industry.

UPDATE: Demands for context and a source are pouring in. The information is from Investor's Business Daily, as they dug it up from federal campaign contribution records.

An analysis of federal records shows that the amount of money journalists contributed so far this election cycle favors Democrats by a 15:1 ratio over Republicans, with $225,563 going to Democrats, only $16,298 to Republicans .

Two-hundred thirty-five journalists donated to Democrats, just 20 gave to Republicans — a margin greater than 10-to-1. An even greater disparity, 20-to-1, exists between the number of journalists who donated to Barack Obama and John McCain.

Searches for other newsroom categories (reporters, correspondents, news editors, anchors, newspaper editors and publishers) produces 311 donors to Democrats to 30 donors to Republicans, a ratio of just over 10-to-1. In terms of money, $279,266 went to Dems, $20,709 to Republicans, a 14-to-1 ratio.

Austin Collie injured

The Salt Lake Tribune reports Austin Collie has a stress fracture in his lower leg.

Stress fractures are tricky. It is possible that with rest, he could be fine after four or five weeks, which would mean he would sit out for Northern Iowa and be ready for Washington.

But the problem is that no treatment really exists for stress fractures. I should know, as I've had them in both lower legs for several months now. I've rested them for several weeks at a time previously and then, once I played basketball again, reinjured them.

From what I've read, it depends on lot on exactly which bone in Collie's leg is injured. I assume there is more information coming.

Here's hoping Collie can be back by Washington. Otherwise, I see BYU dropping at least two or three games they wouldn't otherwise.

NBA news

The Rockets are reportedly close to trading for Ron Artest. While the trade can't officially go down until August 14 due to NBA trade laws, everyone seems to be assuming it's a done deal, so here we are. In exchange for Artest, the Rockets give up Bobby Jackson and rookie forward Donte Green.

This is a big move for the Rockets, in my opinion. Artest can score (20 ppg last season) and play defense (2.3 steals per), so he'll help Houston where they need it and yet not take anything away from their strengths. Sure, he's insane, but I think he's got at least a year before his next meltdown. In the meantime, the Rockets just got quite a bit better. And if you remember, Utah barely squeaked past a Yao-less Houston last spring. I don't know if the Jazz can beat the trio of Yao, McGrady and Artest.

Meanwhile, the Jazz are pretty much done making moves this offseason. Apparently adding Brevin Knight is enough to get the Jazz past L.A. or San Antonio. Or New Orleans. Not to mention the fact that now they're stuck with Boozer... either they have to pay Carlos the max next summer, or they lose him to another team that is willing to pay him the max.

I suppose I can hold out hope that Boozer will decide he wants to play defense over the next couple months. I can also hope he learns how to score in the playoffs. But absent of these two things magically happening, next summer is going to be a bad time for the Jazz.

Possible Jazz improvements on this season compared to last season:

1. Brevin Knight performing better at backup point guard than Jason Knight (almost a given).

2. C.J. Miles being given more minutes and scoring around 16 ppg (60% chance).

3. Deron being quicker, faster, and overall more dominant than he was in 2007-2008 (85% chance).

4. Boozer moving away from his matador defense and developing lateral quickness (10%).

5. Boozer learning (or remembering?) how to score in the playoffs (50%).

Any others I'm missing? Let me know what possible improvements we could see from the Jazz in 2008.