The Canadian Hero. Written by: Chris Smith

George "Rush" St. Pierre has taken over the UFC. He is the current welterweight champion with a record of 22-2 for his fighting career. George comes from Montreal-Quebec Canada and is known as one of the greatest fighters to ever enter the octagon. With great versatility, strength, and speed, no one can stop him. Honestly, there is a person in his weight class that would be able to beat him. He destroys his opponent not only with fear but with technique as well. if anyone has technique, its him. He's a man, a prodigy of fighting, and a idol for many.

NBA Playoff Update

What's going on with these playoffs?! First the Bulls, a Favorite to get to the Finals have had a tough time against both Indiana and Atlanta, two teams that figured to do nothing when we first came into these playoffs. The Lakers get swept by the Mavs! A team most people wanted to play in the first round because they weren't supposed to make it out of the first round. One thing in these playoffs is sure, take all of your preconcieved notions and throw them in the trash because you won't need them this year.

In Fact, the Mavericks and Heat are the only two teams to assert their dominance over their opponents with the Heat leading their series 3-1 and the Mavs having won their series 4-0, and those two series were against the two teams in the finals last year the Lakers and the Celtics. the other two series still in progress are more of a mystery.

Derrick Rose finished with 34 points and 10 assists
In a losing effort

No one has a clue who is going to win the Memphis-Oklahoma City series. Just when you thought the Grizzlies would put this series away by going up 3-1 the Thunder surged back and won the game after 3 OVERTIMES!! Tying this series up at two games apiece and meanwhile the Mavs are looking on and liking what they're seeing. Whoever stumbles out of this series with a win is going to be target practice for a Mavs team with a weeks amount of rest. We all saw how well Kidd played with a week off and with the team being an older one any amount of rest they can get will be good.

The Hawks have been a team that has truely surprised me. I didn't think they would get out of the first round, and I didn't think either team from their series had a chance against Derrick Rose and the Bulls but I was obviously wrong. Tonight they play at Chicago to see who goes up 3-2 in the series and I think Chicago will be the one to do it. Despite their trouble against the Pacers and their current struggles vs the Hawks they have always been good at home. I think the Bulls go up 3-2 but I don't think this will be decided in 6 as they have proven nothing when it comes to traveling to their opponents homecourt.

Durant scored 35 points and helped
put away the game in the 3rd overtime

The Thunder are probably going to win this series as they have regained homecourt advantage after stealing a game from the Grizz on their homecourt but I think and hope it goes to 7 games with in my dream scenario the 7th game being an overtime game. I think the Grizzlies will be more drained from their game 4 performance then the Thunder and because of this I think the Thunder wins easy on their homecourt.

These are just my opinions, this year of the NBA Playoffs has made one thing clear. When it comes to the NBA Playoffs, no one knows what's going to happen.

Mavericks Sweep Lakers, Move On to Conference Finals

Terry finished the night with 32 points after hitting a playoff tying 9 three pointers
on only 10 three point attempts

The Dallas Mavericks have moved on to the conference finals for the first time since 2006 and they did it in impressive fashion. The Mavs absolutely demolished the Lakers by shooting over 60% from 3 point land as a team and having two players shoot over 90% beyond the arc.

Yeah That's right I said 90%.



Barea takes an elbow from Bynum that got
The 7 foot center ejected with only 6 points
and 6 rebounds all game



Terry and Stojakovic combined for 15/16 from Three, with Terry making 9/10 and Peja being a perfect 6/6. In fact, Peja didn't miss a shot the whole game going 7/7 with 21 points (He made a free throw to come up with the odd number). Another thing that was impressive in this 36 point win was the amount of points the Mavericks got out of their bench.

40? Too low.

50? Keep Going.

60? Not yet.

You've got to be kidding, how much?

The Mavs Scored 86 points from their bench, with 75 of those points coming from 3 guys, Terry, Stojakovic, and Barea. That is the exact number of points scored by the Lakers AS AN ENTIRE TEAM!

Granted, the Mavs aren't going to get this kind of performance from its bench consistantly but just the fact that they could go off like this on any night should make any team scared. Now the MAvs can sit back and watch the Grizzlies and Thunder beat each other up, and I hope it goes 7 games, with whoever walks out of that series drained from an emotional game 7 the Mavs should snap them up in another sweep after being well rested for a week

What? Are there any indications either teams starters or bench are up to par with what the Lakers had? And we all know what happened to them.

Tonight the Grizzlies are trying to go up 3-1 in the series but I hope the Thunder come back and ensure this goes to at least 6 games. The Mavericks could definitely use the rest.

Bryant leaves court frustrated after being a
non-factor in game 4 with only 17 points

On a different note, the way the Lakers left game 4 was absolutely atrocious and I don't think I've seen anything like the Bynum elbow in the NBA in my lifetime. Granted 18 years isn't that long, but who's counting? It was an absolute disgrace to both Phil Jackson and the Lakers organization and I'm sure he's getting time off at the beginning of next year because of it.

The Mavs put away the Lakers in 4 games and did it with record breaking 3 point performances from their bench. Can't say it will happen again, but I sure did enjoy watching it.

Mickey Spagnola: My sports-writing inspiration

One thing that got me inspired to begin sports writing was that I read a lot and I like sports a lot, I check sports websites more then I check facebook which is saying a lot. I like almost any sport just tell me the rules and I'm interested, but the one person I enjoy reading the most is probably Mickey Spagnola. Mickey is a writer for dallascowboys.com, a site that I check routinely every day for new news. I like everything Cowboys as I am a Cowboys fan but I enjoy reading his posts the most because of his way of keeping the reader entertained and informed. I like that he can bring humor into sports and seems like a very easy going guy who enjoys doing. His style has a lot of short sentences to emphasize his most pointed points in between long paragraphs of opinions and is one that I feel I borrow from at times.That's why he's my sports writing inspiration.

Excerpts:

"The Cowboys got better this weekend. Already.

That puts them miles ahead of where they were last year at this time.
 
That puts them light years ahead of where they were this time two years ago."

"Not only did it seem they were adding little in the draft - what with Bryant's injury and that to second-round pick Sean Lee - they stood pat in veteran free agency, too. In fact, regressed. Did nothing. Got rid of Flozell Adams. Got rid of Ken Hamlin (though a good thing). Got rid of Patrick Crayton. Got rid of Deon Anderson. Got rid of Bobby Carpenter. But what? Didn't sign a soul, the only exception being to bring on Alex Barron in the Carpenter trade, which quickly ended up the equivalent of doing nothing, too. The improvement was supposed to come from within, that the players they had, especially young guys such as Mike Jenkins and Anthony Spencer and Alan Ball and Kevin Olgetree, were going to improve, thus the Cowboys were going to get better.
 
Bad assumption.
 
Because as I hypothesized last year after closely monitoring the NFL the previous 26 years, if you are staying the same in this league you are getting worse. Reason why: Other teams are doing what they need to do to get better, to catch you. And if you aren't widening your lead in a race, chances are someone else is gaining on you in this socialized system where the meek shall inherit. "

Mavs Win Again, Take 2-0 Lead

The Mavs are taking down barriers one at a time. The first game they proved the were mentally tough enough to win a close game against a team like the lakers. Game two they proved that they can flat out beat this Lakers team. The Lakers didn't even come close to winning in wednesdays matchup against the Mavs. This is a result of the stifling defense that the Mavs have been playing the entire postseason. The Mavs have allowed only 88 points per game on average to their playoff opponents and have only let the score top 90 twice.

Dirk lead all scorers with 24 points Wednesday night
in a 93-81 win over the Lakers

Another key stat from Game 2 was this stat, the lakers were 2-18 from three point range all night. They didn't make their first one until 2:50 left in the game. Neither team played exceptionally well but the Mavs found a way to win and now have 4 consecutive wins after that horrendous Game 4 against Portland. Another  thing the Mavs have to account for in their 2 wins over the Lakers is that Dirk is actually playing like Dirk. In the Portland series he had poor shooting percentages despite being able to make his point totals by getting to the free throw line.

Against the Lakers he has quite simply gone to another level. He is one of the most unguardable players in NBA History and has created a shot that almost always goes in and the opponent has no chance of blocking it. Pau Gasol found this out on a three point play in Wednesday nights game when he had Dirk's jersey in his hands as Dirk did his signature one-legged-turn-around-fadeaway. I don't know of any other player who could make a shot like that on a consistant basis but it is a regular sight for Nowitzki and one that he has consitently hit in this series and one all Laker's players are beginning to fear.

 I predict the Mavs continue their winning trend and go on to win tonights game, and we all know what going up 3-0 in a series means. Exactly 0 teams in NBA history have come back from a 3-0 defecit in a playoff series and despite the presence of Kobe Bryant this Lakers team won't be the first to do it. It all comes down to tonight. To me this game decides who goes to the NBA Finals as I can see neither Memphis or the Thunder beating either of these teams in the West Finals and I can't see the Lakers come back and win on Sunday after losing today. This game's for all the marbles, it's gonna be a good one.

Mavs Trip Up Lakers, Steal Game 1

Kobe had 37 points, 0 Assists, 5 Rebounds
1 Steal, and 1 Block in a Game 1 loss to the
Mavericks.

Before this season if I told you the Mavs would go to the playoffs win their first round matchup and then win the first game of the conference semifinals against the Lakers in Staples Center you would have called me insane. Especially if I  also told you that at the beginning of the third quarter they were down 16, up a creek without a paddle.  But that's exactly what they did Monday and what they plan to do again tonight. This series is over, I don't know how many games, maybe 5, maybe 6 but this Mavs team will go to the western conference finals and from there go on to the NBA finals. What, do you think Oklahoma or Memphis are going to beat them after the Mavs took down the Lakers?

Monday night was not a dominating performance by any means but it did prove one thing, Kobe can't win a game by himself anymore. Consider the fact that in the two games he had the highest scoring of the playoffs this year, both were losses, Monday night he had 0 Assists, 0!! As in no assists at all. He had his highest scoring total of the playoffs beating his previous high, gained in the first game of the playoffs against the Hornets and we all know how that went. He also had a chance at a barely contested 3 point game-winner that clanked off of the back of the rim. Kobe isn't as clutch as he was anymore. I'm not saying he's not clutch and he's not one of the best players in the game because he clearly is, he just no longer has that other level that makes him nearly unstoppable. Kobe is now human.

Dirk had 28 points (Including the two free throws that won the game),
14 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 2 Steals, and 1 Block in a Game 1 win.

Monday nights game proved another point that was equally important. What were the Mavs going to do when faced with adversity? Were they going to lay down and take it or were they going to rise to the challenge? They proved Monday night that they won't take a beating, they'll claw their way back into a game if you let them. They were behind almost all of the second half and their biggest lead in the whole game was 5 points, compared to the Lakers 16 you might be wondering how they won. Well it certainly wasn't the refs, who sent the Lakers to the free throw line twice as often as the Mavs. The Mavs earned the win Monday night and proved that they are a team that isn't to be messed with. I only have one thing left to say. Buckle your seatbelts because we're in for a wild ride.