The Wizards

If you did not watch game 5 between the Wizards and Cavaliers on Wednesday night, you may have missed one of the best games of the first round of this years NBA playoff. The Wizards, facing elimination, finally showed some heart and pulled out a close win against a good team. Caron Butler, scored the game winner with just over 3 seconds remaining in the game. The key to victory? Gilbert Arenas. That's right, a man who cheered the team on from the bench was the biggest factor. No doubt, when healthy, Gilbert Arenas is one of the best scorers in the league. He can shoot, with confidence,  from any part of the gym and stroke the nylon as if it were a freethrow. But Gilbert is not a player who can contribute when he is less than 100%. In fact, he is a liability defensively and on offense, his bruised knee kept Agent Zero from getting the lift needed to sink the jumpshots he is so well known for.

By adding Arenas to the playoff line up, Coach Eddie Jordan tried to make a square peg fit into a round hole. The Wizards team chemistry and on-court rotation allowed them to come at opponents with waves of All Star talent and quality role players that kept most defenses on their heels and opposing offenses off balance. Now that Arenas has shut it down for the rest of the playoff, perhaps the Wizards will be the team we have watched the entire season and be able to defeat the Cavaliers and advance to the second round of the playoffs. It seems a foregone conculsion that Ernie Grunfield will open up the bank vault to ensure that Arenas stays in D.C. for the forseeable future. But with each Wizards victory sans Agent Zero, one must wonder if the thought may cross Grunfield's mind that the Wizards may be better off using that money to bring in a solid low post presence. This season, Antonio Daniels, Roger Mason Jr. and Nick Young have shown that they can play important minutes and have an impact on the game. Imagine how much farther the Wiz could go with a warrior in the paint?  I am not suggesting that Arenas should not be signed. But, this season, it seems that things have flipped upside down. Instead of the Wiz being better with Agent Zero, they have unquestionably been better without the quirky, jumpshooting guard.

 The Rocket

Kids should continue looking to Roger Clemens as model of what not to do. Not because of his alleged steroid abuse. But because he was unable to let the Mitchell Report storm just blow over. Nope, not the Rocket. He is going to fight to preserve his clean name. His is a Cy Young Award winner and a certain first ballot hall of famer, how dare someone accuse him of steroid use. Roger vowed to fight this false accusation. He vehimently denied of steroids until his personal trainer Brian McNamee shows up with needles saved from when Clemens was injected with steroids. Suddenly, Roger begins to "misremember" things. Kind of like when a certain politician "mispoke" about facing sniper fire. Once you get past the creepiness factor of someone saving old needles, one has to begin to wonder if Clemens really cheated.

Now, Roger is facing a scandal worse than alleged steroid use. Early this week, we found out that Clemens had an on-going affair with Mindy Mcready, a country singer. No big deal right? Plenty of folks have extramarital affairs. True, but how many of them begin when the young lady involved is only 15?

Clemens and Mcready have admitted that a relationship existed. Clemens, again denies the relationship was sexual. He says he was just a friend to Ms. Mcready. Show of hands, how many men out there take women on expensive trips and to nice hotels as "just friends". No hands? HMMM? This story has everything needed for a Hollywood script, including a party Michael Jordan, Monica Lewinsky and a cigar.

Clemens is said to have met Mindy Mcready at a karoake bar when she was only 15. He allegedly signed his name on a t-shirt and threw it on stage. The rest is history. Brian Mcnamee, Clemens trainer, says he remembers Clemens and the then 15 year old Mcready sharing a hotel room that night. I am really hoping Mcnamee doesn't have any souveniers from that night. He does seem to have a penchant for keeping DNA stained items.

All of this has spiraled out of control for Clemens who began this crusade to clear his name. He wanted to preserve his hall of fame credentails  and record setting career. He was hoping that history would not put an asterisk next to his name. If Roger felt compelled to speak, he should have gone the Jason Giambi route, hold a press conference and apologize for something, but not neccessarily steroid use. He would still be thought of as one of the games best pitchers and maybe not a first ballot but a second ballot hall of famer. Now, the hall of fame is a long shot and after further investigation pedophile instead of Hall of Famer.