There are 3 different things in this picture of Yao Ming's Bike that make me giggle.

More than half-court, actually. Too bad iit didn't count.

Bill Simmons' new book, The Book of Basketball, came out this week. ESPN celebrated by posting 5 excerpts from the book. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

In case you didn't know, Unlikely Words hates sharks.



Via

I wasn't going to post the Ron Artest Michael Jackson Tribute video below, even though it's pretty awesome. But then I found out, from Dave, that Ron Artest chose his new number with the Lakers, 37, because that's how many weeks Thriller was #1. And then I had to share it.

Why choose failure? Last week's mention of Rick Pitino made me giggle about this quotation and then I couldn't help but post it:

Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they're going to be gray and old. What we are is young, exciting, hard-working, and we're going to improve. People don't realize that, and as soon as they realize those three guys are not coming through that door, the better this town will be for all of us because there are young guys in that (locker) room playing their asses off. I wish we had $90 million under the salary cap. I wish we could buy the world. We can't; the only thing we can do is work hard, and all the negativity that's in this town sucks. I've been around when Jim Rice was booed. I've been around when Yastrzemski was booed. And it stinks. It makes the greatest town, greatest city in the world, lousy. The only thing that will turn this around is being upbeat and positive like we are in that locker room... and if you think I'm going to succumb to negativity, you're wrong. You've got the wrong guy leading this team.

--Rick Pitino

Hoping it helps the Celtics win tonight, here are the four pictures tied for second place in the, "Funniest Big Baby Davis Picture" contest. (The winner is obviousy this hilarious picture.)

Some basketball fans will argue that shooting 33% from behind the 3-point line is the equivalent to shooting 50% in front of it. Bill Simmons gets this question in his latest mailbag and chides the questioner for being stupid.

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I don't know why I can't stop writing about Candace Parker, but every time I see an article about her, I feel compelled. So here's ESPN The Magazine's cover treatment about Parker musing on whether she's the female Jordan. The title of this post stems from the fact that the article mentions Parker's C Cups in the first sentence and twice in the first paragraph. Thanks for straightening that out for us, ESPN The Magazine.

The question of the female Jordan reminded me of a post I saw linking to a list of players who have been called "The Next Jordan". That list was published in 2008, but I also found a list published in
2007 and one published in 2005. As far as I'm concerned, when Lebron wins 6 titles, we can start discussing him as the next Jordan, for now, it's a little premature.

Ranking Pro Sports Franchises.