Merry Christmas

This just doesn't get old.



Merry Christmas everyone. Have a good one.

Air Penny Overload pt. VII

Oh my.



I need this issue.

サイヤ人の王子、ベジータ

I've found ベジータ. Never thought he'd be in Okinawa.



I think I spent almost my entire weekend in my car.



I've been running on two things: steamed buns and Zidane Juice.

Jason Richardson A Sun

Suns trade Raja Bell and Boris Diaw to the Bobcats for Jason Richardson. Big move. A starting lineup of Steve Nash, Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, Amare Stoudemire, and Shaquille O’Neal is pretty scary, but losing Diaw off the bench will hurt some. The Suns haven’t had a playmaking 2-guard on the perimeter since Joe Johnson left for Atlanta, so it’ll be interesting to see if Nash will benefit from having a backcourt mate that isn’t strictly a spot-up guy. J-Rich isn’t nearly as good as JJ, but I’m nonetheless digging how the Suns now have legitimate offensive threats at every position. If there’s one thing that Richardson can do better than JJ - and most other players in the league - it’s finish at the rim, so at least Nash will have a Shawn Marion-esque target on the break. Here’s to hoping that Porter will let them run. Bell's defense will be missed, but Richardson is shooting a pretty staggering 46% from beyond the arc this season, so it isn't likely that the team will miss Raja's outside touch.

On the other hand, Steve Kerr, in his attempt to build a "defensive squad," has managed to trade away Shawn Marion and Raja Bell, the team's two best defensive players. I love Matt Barnes and Richardson, but they're clearly guys who would be better suited to running in D'Antoni's system. Bottom line: the starting 5 has the potential to be one heck of an offensive juggernaut, but trading Bell and Boris for Richardson does nothing for the defense. I agree that a shakeup was necessary, but if you're going to pick up players who are built to run, you'd better let them run.

As Joey Styles Would Say: "OH MY GOD!!!"

Ok, now this is great stuff. Taken from PWI:

During the recent trip to Iraq, JBL was harassing former WWE announcer and now WWE.com head Joey Styles. JBL was basically bullying him, being rude, condescending and also spilling a drink on Styles at one point. JBL seemed to target Styles since it was his first trip with the company to Iraq, something Styles was looking forward too. Many people in the company don't like when JBL does these things, but they feel that they have to deal with it due to the fact that he is a tenured veteran and has a lot of political stroke backstage.

After a few days on the tour, JBL (who was drinking) did something to Styles that upset him so much that he physically retaliated. Several wrestlers tried to break up the situation, but JBL broke free. This is when Styles threw a punch that not only laid out JBL, but also blackened his eye. Many within the company feel that this is karma, due to the fact that JBL has "hazed" people for years, including the Blue Meanie beat down at the first "One Night Stand" as well as the European Tour where Smackdown talent Palmer Cannon quit the company due to the actions of JBL.

This was the talk of the locker room last night at Raw. JBL was reportedly very out of character, as he was quiet and subdued backstage. Styles tried to downplay the entire incident when people brought it up. Most feel that this is a double embarrassment for JBL, first of all because he got punched out by an announcer, and secondly because he is very instrumental in setting up the Iraq tours.

Not that I’m that big of a JBL hater (I’m not) or that I’m that big of a Joey Styles fan (I’m not), but this is absolute gold. A former WWE champ getting dropped by the guy who oversees WWE.com? I don’t know if there’s any real cure for douchebaggery, but this would probably be the closest thing.

2 More Weeks

It wasn’t my intent to be one of those people who count down the days until they get to fly home, but there it is. I think I’m just looking forward to speaking English for two weeks straight. If there's one thing I'm bummed about, it's this:

12/20/08: Air Jordan 11/12 Countdown Pack
12/21/08: When I get home

Crap. I'm usually all for release dates being moved up, but this is a different story since the 11/12 CDP will likely be sold out within 24 hours. Oh well. My backup plan is to pick up another pair of Spizikes (I'm really into the Cactus ones) and a pair of these if they're in stores:



Air Max 95. Old school colorway.