Roethlisberger Suspension

There was some talk that the Steelers would move Roethlisberger if they could land a talented prospect in exchange for him, but with the first round of the NFL draft having come and gone, that scenario seems less probable now. On the one hand, it isn't likely that you'll be able to get equal value when you give away a quarterback with Ben's mobility, arm, age and resume. On the other, if Steelers management is going to factor in Santonio Holmes' questionable behavior into his trade to the Jets, I don't see how they can't consider doing the same with a case involving a possible serial rapist.



Certainly, common belief is that wide receivers are replaceable, while quarterbacks - especially those of Roethlisberger's caliber - are not. Fair enough, but keeping him on the roster does nothing for a franchise that reportedly is concerned about cleaning up its image. Yet purely from a football standpoint, you can't justify moving Big Ben without getting a substantial package in return. If I'm Pittsburgh, I'm swallowing that 6 game suspension and giving Roethlisberger a chance to avoid that 3rd strike. As a fan, it's tough to continue rooting for a guy who's clearly something of a dick off the field, but who knows? Maybe having $2.8 million shaved of your salary is enough to get you to turn over a new leaf. But maybe not. I still feel that if the Steelers franchise wants to compete for titles in the future, Roethlisberger is the guy to take them there. For better or worse, that may be the bottom line.

In unrelated news, the Suns/Blazers game is getting that semi-matinee treatment on Saturday, so I'm going to be watching the game at 5:30 in the morning on Sunday down here. You do what you gotta do.

Air Max Penny I

Isn't she lovely~? Coming in Spring of 2011:



I've got 6 pairs of Penny IIs, a pair of IIIs, 2 pairs of IVs and 2 pairs of Foamposite Ones. But for one reason or another, I've yet to own the original Air Max Penny. I'd explain if I could, but I can't. The "Orlando" Black/White-Varsity Royal colorway is a given, but the second colorway will reportedly be a Black/Bright Mandarin-Club Purple makeup. I could be wrong, but Mandarin/Purple more likely than not = Phoenix. Can't wait to see some images of that bad boy.

MvC3

That's got a nice ring to it.



Oh, it's on. A lot of the usual suspects are said to be included on the preliminary roster, along with rumored new faces such as Chris Redfield (well, confirmed since he's in the trailer), Green Goblin, Super Skrull, Deadpool and DMC's Dante. Deadpool? Super Skrull? I'm sold. If we can't have the Fantastic Four, Super Skrull works just fine for me.

桜木 6

Dunno why I never caught this before, but the soon to be released Varsity Red VIs were on the feet of Slam Dunk's Sakuragi Hanamichi.



Via KIX-FILES:

In the story, Sakuragi wore the Air Jordan 6 at the beginning and changed to wear Air Jordan 1 after his Air Jordan 6 was broken. He persuaded a sneaker shop owner to sell him the Air Jordan 6 Chicago Bulls colorway OG in 300 Japanese Yen.

The success of Slam Dunk is cited as an influence in the increased popularity of basketball among the Japanese youth during 1990s. Until now, Slam Dunk is still the most popular basketball comic around the world. The Air Jordan 6 also became one of the most popular Air Jordan shoes in Japan, especially this particular “Sakuragi Hanamichi” colorway.

KTFO

Wrestlemania XXVI Thoughts (Part II)

I'll be skipping the Divas match, but let me just say that Vickie Guerrero is the best sport ever. Here's to hoping that Vince is paying her a fortune because she certainly deserves it. I haven't been this amped for a pair of title matches since we had Eddie/Angle and HHH/HBK/Benoit at WMXX, so that's saying a little something.

Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon

Pretty surreal. Vince reveals that he has payed off the entire Hart family to be lumberjacks in his corner, which is promptly followed by Bret revealing that they're actually in his corner. Okay then. Match was about what you'd expect from a post-stroke Bret and a senior citizen. Vince sells the beating like a champ, but the crowd is mostly dead until Bret finally locks on the Sharpshooter 10 minutes in. Not much of a match, but if it brings a bit of closure to the "Bret got screwed" saga, then I suppose that it wasn't for naught. Coolest moment was probably the Hart Dynasty hitting Vince with a pretty stiff Hart Attack, which hopefully means that management has some plans for them.

Smackdown World Title: Chris Jericho vs Edge

Now we're talking. Unless I'm mistaken, this would be Edge's first big match since returning from surgery. Things start slow but get going towards the end with Jericho working on Edge's surgically repaired ankle. Cool moment saw Jericho seamlessly counter Edge's spear into a Codebreaker. Uh, Edge, perhaps your opponent wouldn't see the move coming if you didn't encourage the 70,000 in attendance to chant "spear." Y2J eventually gets the pin after a good old-fashioned belt shot and a second Codebreaker. Both guys have had better matches, but this was nonetheless quite excellent.

RAW World Title: Batista vs John Cena

Pretty good reaction for both wrestlers, and this one definitely has that big match feel to it. A pretty awesome power bout ensues, with both guys swinging for the fences and repeatedly landing the big moves on one another. Say what you will about Cena, but damn, the dude is freakishly strong. Dave Batista is no cruiserweight, but I haven't seen anyone get that much air out of an F-U (Attitude Adjustment, whatever) since Brian Kendrick. Cena is a beast. Finish comes when Cena rolls through a powerbomb attempt and locks in the STF(U). Real good power match. I've always been hot or cold on Cena, but he won me back over to his side with this one. Funniest moment of the night comes when Cena walks over to a bunch of fans wearing "We Hate Cena!" t-shirts and celebrates in front of them with a huge grin on his face. Gotta love that.

Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels

And here we go. Similar start to last year's match, with Michaels dancing away from the Undertaker's strikes and peppering him with chops. Undertaker eventually injures his leg while going "old school," which prompts Shawn to go to work on it with a bunch of submissions, including the anklelock + grapevine combo. Nothing wrong with that, but it'll just be weird 10 years from now when we're watching this reputed Taker/HBK classic and we can't help but say, "Hey, that's Kurt's move." Anyway, in a bit of luck (or a rather stunning display of ring psychology), Michaels moonsaults Undertaker through the announce table and catches him square in the legs. Ouch. The match features a great running story throughout, with Taker repeatedly throwing all 4 of his finishers at Shawn, but HBK just refusing to die. Awesome ending with Taker imploring a withering Shawn to just "stay down," and HBK responding by using the last of his energy to slap the Undertaker across the face. Jumping Tombstone Piledriver, 1, 2, 3, farewell, Shawn. Not quite as flawless as last year's masterpiece, but this one meant more and will thus be the one that everyone talks about for years to come.



Overall? One of the better Wrestlemanias. I still prefer X-Seven and XX, but this one was great in its own right. A couple of the undercard matches desperately needed more time, but the two title matches and HBK/Taker delivered, so there's not too much that you can complain about here. Definitely check it out.

Wrestlemania XXVI Thoughts (Part I)

I'll be doing this in two parts because I just can't sit still and watch wrestling for 4 hours straight anymore. On paper, this looked like it would be one of the all-time great Wrestlemania cards, so let's see if this bad boy manages to live up to some of the hype. They've got the stadium roof open, and the set looks incredible in typical Wrestlemania fashion

Unified Tag Titles: Big Show & the Miz vs R-Truth and John Morrison

Truth comes out first doing his rap thing. I wonder if he's just as incomprehensible to the live audience. Morrison follows, and as Dave Chappelle once said, everything looks better...in slow motion. And finally, ShoMiz, with that terrible entrance music and all 27 of their titles. Predictably fun match, though I had to play it back since I went to get a bag of chips and the match had somehow finished while I was away. Seriously? ShoMiz get the win after Big Show punches Morrison out of the sky. In a perfect world, you'd have the Hart Dynasty or Cryme Tyme challenging for the titles here, but I can understand throwing RonJohn together because there's no question that they deserved a spot somewhere on the card.

Randy Orton vs Ted DiBiase vs Cody Rhodes

Pretty massive pop for Orton. I've only been a sporadic viewer of the product at best, so Orton sort of caught me off guard with how well he seems to have nailed down that deranged persona of his. Everything, from the way he stomps on his opponents to the way he moves around the ring is unique, which really adds another dimension to that character. He unfortunately made DiBiase and Rhodes look like a couple of pussies here, but the decisive booking should probably vault Randy back into the title picture. If the WWE is smart, they'll keep him as a renegade Austin-type tweener, one who's a little too crazy to discern between good and bad.

Money in the Bank: lots and lots of people
Jack Swagger comes out looking like a proportionate Kurt Angle. I actually kind of dig his fake Rage Against the Machine music. My money was on Christian, but I forgot that Drew McIntyre was in there as well. The usual fun match, but nothing really crazy as Shelton Benjamin has apparently decided against going through with his annual attempt to kill himself. Kofi Kingston slips on a ladder while trying to teabag Kane in the corner, but makes up for it later by using two halves of a broken ladder as stilts in an attempt to get the briefcase. At one point in the match, Christian reverses a Matt Hardy Twist of Fate into a reverse DDT off the ladder, but Michael Cole still calls it a Twist of Fate. God, Cole sucks. But then again, Jim Ross would have probably called it an Unprettier, so I guess nobody's perfect. Finish comes when Swagger(!?) knocks Christian off the ladder and grabs the case (after taking an eternity to get the thing unhooked). I actually have no problem with Swagger winning, I just hope that they tag him with a new nickname because the All-American American sounds like a Carl's Jr. sandwich or something. The guy has size and talent as opposed to just size for a change, so he's not the worst guy to elevate.

HHH vs Sheamus
The arena roof remains open, which means that Sheamus will be getting some sun, perhaps for the first time in his life from the look of things. Just weird seeing HHH this far down the card. He even comes to the ring sans any Halloween costumes or an appearance by Motorhead, which is pretty subdued by his standards. Hunter eventually gets the pin via Pedigree after an okay match. Sheamus probably should have got the win here, but they put him over as a guy who could hang with HHH on the big stage, which I guess counts for something. First time really seeing Sheamus in action, but I guess he isn't terrible. Just terribly white.

CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio
This should be pretty darn good. Punk cuts his typically awesome promo while walking down to the ring. Apparently this feud escalated when CM Punk interrupted a birthday celebration for Rey's daughter on an episode of Smackdown. Let's just ignore wrestling logic for second - Mysterio celebrating his daughter's birthday in a wrestling ring? And we're supposed to be mad at Punk for interrupting that? If I paid money to go and see Smackdown live, I'd want to see wrestling matches, not birthday parties. Anyway. Criminally short match, but lots of cool stuff thrown in during the allotted time. Rey even manages to (mostly) hit that springboard backflip DDT that he only ever pulled off at Halloween Havoc with Eddie Guerrero. Lots of cool GTS reversals by Rey, and he eventually gets the pin following a 619/splash combo. Awesome chemistry between these two, but the match needed at least 10 minutes.

Part 2: Bret/Vince, World Title matches, and of course, Taker/HBK II.