Too Funny…Kent State University is using a giant squirrel to talk to incoming freshman about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Simon the Squirrel will be appearing around to campus to discuss the consequences of booze and drugs…Dude check the picture and tell me this would not completely freak you out if you were stoned…

The Cherry Hill, N.J. (right outside of Philadelphia) based Nexxt Level Hoops Tourney is running right now with NBA players such as Cutino Mobley, DaJuan Wagner, Hakim Warrick, Mardy Collins, Rick Brunson, Alvin Williams and a number of Philly-area college players…in a game last night Alvin William looked terrific scoring 30, but DeJuan Wagner had 60 points and the game winning assist…

Oh boy…The University of Louisville recently discovered that the 3,000 postcards it sent to incoming freshman to promote Welcome Weekend 2006 contained the phrases "f-cking world" and "f-ckin lies" in small print…

Look…tennis is not on the top of my list of priorities, but the Roger Federer era that we’re in right now is really unbelievable…he’s won 7 of the last 11 grand slams going into the US Open this week…7 of freakin’ 11? I know we’re making a big deal out of Tiger Woods as th athelte of our times, but for comparisons sake he’s won 4 of his last 12 majors…that’s not even in Federer’s league…

Alcohol not a factor, but stupidity was…Seattle SuperSonics center was speeding down Sandy Lane in Bakersfield in a 2004 luxury sports sedan when he lost control and struck a parked car, according to the California Highway Patrol. It was unclear exactly how fast he was going at the time, said CHP Officer Greg Williams. Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, he said. Swift, 20, and his brother Alex Swift, 19, managed to emerge with only minor injuries, Williams said. The car sustained major damage and the Jeep had moderate damage. The cut over Swift's eye was visible Saturday at the Renegade Basketball Camp at Bakersfield College, where in a case of perfect timing, he was coaching kids.

Reason number #4857 the Suns will remain good for the next 10 years…the Suns still hold two of Atlanta's 1st round picks for the next two years…The pick this year is only top-three protected, and the Hawks may be just good enough to end up around fifth or sixth…the 5th or 6th pick in this year’s draft will be terrific considering this might be the deepest draft since 2003…strangely this correcponds directly with reason #489676 the Hawks suck...

A Utah newspaper is reporting that John Stockton is going to be doing motivational speaking, starting with a speech on “How to Lead Your Team to Victory” at an upcoming motivational seminar in Salt Lake City…who knew he could even talk?

1) Here’s Mike Kahn of Foxsports.com with his terrific 10 things column:
Ten things we've learned in the NBA

Nothing is guaranteed, even for the most gifted of basketball players. Just ask Dajuan Wagner, he of the 100-point high school game, All-American credentials after one year at Memphis, and the sixth-overall park of the 2002 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

1. Wagner has not played in the NBA since December of 2004, and last October had his colon removed, lost 35 pounds and has worked his tail off ever since to regain his strength and confidence. What this really means: For every star that is born, a star fizzles out. Although a short shooting guard — and not a natural point guard despite being closer to 6-foot-1 than his listed 6-2 — Wagner has regained 30 pounds and is working out five days a week in the Philadelphia area. There are reportedly a half-dozen NBA teams interested in him, with the minimum salary of just less than $800,000 a season for a fourth-year player hanging out on a limb. More importantly, his future is in the balance and he knows it. From the start with the Cavs, things didn't work out right, so to speak. A right ankle sprain, bone spur in his right foot and arthroscopic surgery on his right knee soiled an otherwise encouraging rookie season during which he averaged 13.4 points. Things only got worse, with colitis ultimately at the root of the problem. Now we're looking at a guy, still only 23, who once was considered to have Allen Iverson-like scoring potential, staring the game down for another chance. Many thought he was the best player in the 2002 draft, and right now he's on the outside looking in through no fault of his own. It's one more example college coaches should use with talented young players being lured by self-serving agents that four years of college basketball and a degree can only help on the court and create a much more secure life afterwards as well.

2. The New Jersey Nets have offered a tryout to another player whose career evaporated one day — the result of a motorcycle accident on June 19, 2003, that fractured his left hip, pelvis and career all in one moment of indecision — Jay Williams. What this really means: Like Wagner, Williams, the second pick of the 2002 draft by the Chicago Bulls, will not get a guaranteed contract from anyone. With his reconstructed left leg, he has lost an enormous amount of his quickness; and at barely 6-1 (being generous), the former Duke star's ability to play in this league is in great question. Although Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger got lucky in his motorcycle accident, Williams obviously did not. The thrill of professional sports is obvious, and the sense of being impervious to injury may linger, but it is sheer naivety on their part (as well as riders outside of the sports world) to believe otherwise. There is a big difference between thrill-seeking and having a hobby, not to mention putting your life and incredible career at risk. As the story goes, when Muhammad Ali responded to a flight attendant's request to fasten his seat belt with, "Superman don't need no seat belt," the flight attendant didn't bat an eye before saying, "Superman don't need no airplane."

3. As the U.S. national team blew through the World Championships as the No. 1 seed in Group D and began the second round with a 40-point win over Australia, a lot of things were obvious. Managing director Jerry Colangelo made the right choice with coach Mike Krzyzewski, along with staff Mike D'Antoni, Nate McMillan and Jim Boeheim. But most importantly, the players are completely committed to the team concept and regaining the lost stature of the past six years. What this really means: The kids from the bronze medal-winning 2004 Olympic team have grown up. Tri-captains LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony are light years more mature — with their talent gleaming. And there are plenty more, starting with point guard Chris Paul, swingman Joe Johnson, Elton Brand, Shane Battier and super-center of the near future Dwight Howard. That's not to minimize Kirk Hinrich's contribution, nor the experience and size Brad Miller brings. Granted, Antawn Jamison and Chris Bosh haven't risen to the same level, but there are always reasons. More than anything else, this entire experience has been a resounding declaration by Anthony that he is among the elite players in the NBA. He has worked dramatically at eradicating the body fat in a serious strength program, improved his ball-handling to the exceptional level as a small forward and has worked as hard as anybody at improving what was previously negligible defense at best. Last season, he was my preseason pick as Most Improved Player and was really the most underrated player in the league considering he led everybody in game-winning shots. It appears Anthony has grown up from all the issues he had his second year and now realizes what it means to be a gifted adult and to be placed back in the lofty category with James and Wade — his cohorts from the 2003 draft. What better place to prove this than on an international stage?

4. It required nearly two full months, but Al Harrington is finally — and officially — back with the Indiana Pacers as they completed the sign-and-trade to Atlanta sending a No. 1 draft pick and also brought back the contract of center John Edwards. What this really means: Rather than be concerned about the hand-wringing that went on in and around the organization when owner Herb Simon refused to give Harrington the six-year $57 million deal he wanted, consider how smart both sides were as Harrington agreed to the four-year pact for just less than $36 million — with his own option in year No. 4. The Simons have already been burned in recent years by inflated, long-term contracts for Jonathan Bender, Austin Croshere, Jamaal Tinsley and, in a lot of ways, Jermaine O'Neal. Harrington wanted to return to the Pacers with his close friend O'Neal, plus his parents had moved there during the first six years of his career with the Pacers after they drafted him out of high school in 1998. More importantly, he saw no reason to haggle over the money anymore. Harrington learned his lesson, forcing the Pacers to trade him two years ago because he preferred to be "the guy" for a bad team like the Hawks as opposed to being one of the top sixth man in the league for the Pacers. Now he knows how brown the grass can be on the other side. Even more interesting is to see how all of this coagulates as coach Rick Carlisle transitions the Pacers from a half-court-focused team into an athletic, ball-pressuring running group — playing small and fast.

5. Just as everyone expected, Pat Riley announced he was returning as coach of the defending champion Miami Heat. That it took so long only added drama to what was inevitable. What this really means: Riley really had no choice but to return. For all of his psychodrama over the years of commitment to the cause; the "Winner Within," and the incomparable commentary of conflict between "winning and misery (losing)," he had no choice. His players were all in to defend the title. Alonzo Mourning has proven to be the poster warrior of his coaching career — battling back from kidney disease and the subsequent transplant — and Zo is coming back. How could Riles say no when he was getting called out every other day by the likes of Mourning, Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade and the rest? Now he's got to see this season through after digging into the guts of the team last season and driving them to a title. They may not even get close to repeating this season, but it no longer matters. Riley has forever secured his spot as one of the greatest coaches ever in any sport, and his tribute to last year's team is returning. Beyond his final season, which is probably this one, Florida coach Bill Donovan still looks like the best shot of any college coach to have success at the NBA level. That will be the next transition moment in franchise history. It just couldn't happen … yet.

6. Politics can dampen any altruistic effort, even as magnanimous as the $29 million hospital Houston Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo has built in the Congo. What this really means: The veteran center had planned to open the 300-bed Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and research center on Sept. 2. But last week, he postponed the opening indefinitely because of post-election fighting. Travel has become dangerous, so Mutombo just backed off. The Congo native named the hospital after his late mother and donated $15 million of his own money to the construction. This is a dream come true for Mutombo to unveil a hospital of this magnitude in his hometown of Kinshasa, and the pity is how pettiness can get in the way.
Fortunately, people like Motumbo have the fortitude and understanding to march on when so many others throw up their hands in disgust. Thanks to Mutombo, perhaps this will open the door for others — natives or otherwise — to contribute significantly and smartly to a continent that is so desperately divided and destitute.

7. Very quietly, the little known NBA name of Jeff Bower has ignored the odds and history and rebuilt the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets into a playoff contender. Last week, Hornets owner George Shinn rewarded him with a five-year contract extension. What this really means: No other franchise has suffered more indignities during such a short period of time than the Hornets. Playing for a year in Charlotte despite lame duck status, then reaching nothing but too many empty seats in New Orleans, the Hornets were completely uprooted to Oklahoma City last season following Hurricane Katrina. Undaunted, Bower and coach Byron Scott have rebuilt this team around rookie of the year Chris Paul and nearly made the playoffs last season. With the additions of Peja Stojakovic, Tyson Chandler, Bobby Jackson and other veterans with rookie Cedric Simmons and Hilton Armstrong, they look solid for now and in the future. They'll only benefit from holdovers David West and Desmond Mason. But what they must get a grip on is how they treat this team. Does it make sense to have training camp in New Orleans when the team will be playing in Oklahoma City against this season? How serious can the Hornets be for the long term in New Orleans, a city with little to offer except hope in a league where franchises are having trouble making ends meet? Through all of this mess, Bower has kept his eye on the ball; and it's a surprising turn of events that brings parsimonious owner George Shinn to produce that kind of extension. Nonetheless, Bower certainly deserves it.

8. So now we've got Zach Randolph involved in another smarmy situation in Portland — this one involving an alleged sex show and eventual assault. He was not charged. What this really means: To say Randolph has had bad judgment — considering his bouts with the law over drugs, punching a teammate in the face and running around with gun-toting types — would be a gross understatement. In fact, he clearly has bad judgment, and he presumably always will. The question is how badly the Blazers want to keep this guy and his $84 million contract. At 6-9, he has that huge frame and gentle lefty touch from all over the court. He may spur thoughts of Willis Reed on paper — oh, if only he showed one-tenth of the functionality of Reed on and off the court. With second-year coach Nate McMillan and the job personnel director Kevin Pritchard did rebuilding the team in the offseason, they should do everything in their power to unload Randolph and his sidekick albatross Darius Miles. It is so ironic that those two and since departed Theo Ratliff all got enormously inflated contract two years ago just when management stated they intended to start spending wisely. Pritchard, a Kansas alumnus and product of the San Antonio personnel staff, clearly gets what it takes to win. The first thing the powers-that-be should do is give Pritchard the general manager title; the second is to allow him to do whatever it takes to unload Randolph and Miles. On a franchise that is in the infancy of a rebuild, subtracting those two would benefit the overall health of the franchise far more than losing the money on their contracts ever could.

9. And speaking of the Blazers and money, former Blazers star point guard Terry Porter, who did his best to put together a group to buy the team from Paul Allen, finally agreed to be Flip Saunders' assistant coach at Detroit. What this really means: Porter is one of the highest quality people the NBA has produced over the past 20 years and has earned the right to have significant status somewhere. It's just too bad it didn't happen in Portland, where he spent 10 years of his career as a player. Poter spent a year as an assistant coach in Sacramento immediately after his retirement, then after two surprising years as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, he was suddenly fired. After a year off trying to figure out his future, Porter now is back on the bench supporting one of his former head coaches, Flip Saunders. Considering he's now in the Pistons organization under the all-knowing eyes of president Joe Dumars and the respect he already has garnered around the league, there is little doubt his next stint as head coach will be with a lot more experience. And let's hope that it's sooner than later.

10. Life as head coach of the Houston Rockets has been nothing if not disappointing in the three years since Jeff Van Gundy moved in, so he's taken some steps — right into his own wallet to stir things up. What this really means: Van Gundy has purchased 50 season tickets, and there will be a contest among raucous fans on Aug. 31 to prove who is deserving of season passes by their enthusiasm for the Rockets. The top 30 will receive season tickets, and Van Gundy's initial plans include spreading the other 20 out over the course of the regular season. Nothing, not the drafting of Yao Ming, the acquisition of Tracy McGrady, nor the expectations of being in the new Toyota Center, has prevented underachievement. There has been bad luck regarding the back and knees of McGrady and the foot problems of Yao. But there are other issues at work here such as a poor roster around that duo. Maybe Shane Battier will give them more substance. But the fact of the matter is they still have a roster short on talent that will require McGrady and Yao to be healthier than they've been in any of the seasons they've been together for this. If they're not, Van Gundy could buy 1,000 tickets and it wouldn't matter. It's a great gesture of commitment on his part #&151; but it won't matter a lick if they don't get productivity out of some other players.

2) Eric Prisbell of the Washington Post with an interesting read on amateur Bball reform:

NCAA, NBA Could Team on Amateur Reform

NCAA President Myles Brand left open the possibility yesterday that college sports' governing body for the first time is willing to work with both the NBA and shoe companies to improve amateur basketball, which has come under increasing criticism this year. In remarks made at Hampton University, Brand said, "Maybe working together with the NBA and lots of others -- USA Basketball, the [Amateur Athletic Union], the National Federation of High Schools -- and including key elements such as the shoe companies working all together, is there something we can do to help improve that pre-collegiate environment?" Many high school and college coaches have long called for representatives from all levels of the basketball world to move toward reforming amateur basketball, which critics say exposes teenagers to many tempting outside influences while doing little to prepare them for life outside of athletics. Comments by Brand and NBA Commissioner David Stern, who this year said the NBA would consider becoming involved in helping secondary schools to better prepare their athletes academically, are seen by some basketball sources as a significant move in the right direction. Brand said he and Stern discussed the issue at a summit last year in Chicago and that another meeting is planned next month. Sonny Vaccaro, who over the past 25 years has directed basketball grass-roots efforts at Nike, Adidas and now Reebok, welcomes open discussion. "I beg for an opportunity like this, to talk to the people that Mr. Brand is talking to, to get together in a room and eliminate the politics to work this out," Vaccaro said. "When that happens, it will make my life complete in this game. I would welcome it. If everyone can make peace and make this work with the kids involved, then I feel that my cycle would have been completed. This would be a great way to walk away. We can make this work." The announcement by Brand comes during a year-long series in The Washington Post on the more controversial aspects of player development. The series included pieces on how foreign players arrive in the United States, prep schools with powerful teams but questionable academic credentials, the financial inducements used by AAU teams to recruit players as young as 9 and how one 16-year-old player and his family have been changed by the AAU experience. In the past, the NCAA has had little control over youth basketball, specifically high-profile summer league events that are run and funded by shoe companies beyond the oversight of any educational entities. For the most talented teenage players, the importance of summer league basketball has made the traditional high school basketball season almost irrelevant. One of the nation's best high school players, sophomore Renardo Sidney from California, has made his reputation strictly by playing in high-profile summer league events and said he does not feel he necessarily needs high school basketball to achieve his goal of playing in the NBA. Last year, the NBA decided players must be 19 years old and one year out of high school before entering the draft, thus prohibiting players from going directly from high school to the pros. The intent was that players would spend at least a year in college before turning professional, but this summer, a handful of the top high school seniors were contemplating playing overseas for a year instead of attending college. That way, they could sign lucrative shoe contracts and earn paychecks rather than spending a year under the auspices of the NCAA, which prevents athletes from being compensated for their performances. "It's one of the most recalcitrant and difficult problems we now face in all of college sports, in part because the NCAA has no control over what happens before college by definition," Brand said. Having student-athletes not capable of making the grade "makes it difficult for the coach and it makes it difficult for the young people who are being recruited, too. They are not always getting the straight information."


3) From SI.com’s Seth Davis, the Hoop Dreams live on:

Still dreaming - Agee's life hasn't been glamorous since Hoop Dreams

If you've seen the 1994 documentary classic Hoop Dreams -- and if you haven't, I insist you buy or rent it immediately -- then you no doubt remember the gripping scene when one of the film's teenage protagonists, Arthur Agee, takes on his father in a game of one-on-one with the whole family watching. The moment was straight out of The Great Santini: Some smack talking, an argument over the score and, finally, the son stroking a jumper on game point, leaving the onlookers cheering and the father muttering in disgust. The scene was all the more compelling because Agee's dad, Arthur Sr., had been absent from his son's life the previous year while he fought drug addiction and endured a stint in prison. If there's one scene in the movie more indelible than the one-on-one game, it is an earlier sequence where Arthur Sr., aka "Bo," shows up on a playground, says a quick hello to his son, then walks to the other end of the park to buy drugs -- in full view of Arthur Jr., his friends and the omnipresent camera. By the end of the movie, Bo Agee had re-entered his family's life, sworn off drugs and become a pastor, but the audience is left wondering whether a relapse is just around the corner. It wasn't. Two years ago, I visited Bo Agee's home in Berwyn, Ill., to interview him for a story I was writing on the two Hoop Dreams stars for Sports Illustrated's Where Are They Now issue. Not only had Bo apparently stayed clean and sober, but it was also obvious he was the bedrock of his family. Some of his grandchildren lived in Bo's house, and I remember Bo calling after them for most of the afternoon and coaxing the youngest to take some medicine. Alas, the story which seemed to hold such promise would end in tragedy. In December 2004, Bo Agee was shot and killed in the garage located behind the house I had visited, just a few feet from the barbecue grill where he had cooked us dinner. Arthur Jr. has spent the months since trying to pick up the pieces of his father's life while providing for his own family, which includes four children born out of wedlock to different mothers. The rebuilding process had been made even more difficult by the revelation Bo's death might not have been the result of some random robbery, but rather a paid hit. Berwyn police have charged a Chicago man for allegedly accepting money to kill Bo Agee. The suspect remains in custody and is awaiting trial. The way Arthur sees it, Bo, who had been earning extra money through a wholesale clothing business he was running out of his garage, apparently crossed the wrong person during some kind of dispute years ago and paid the ultimate price. "My dad turned his life over and became a pastor, but he was still human," Arthur Jr. says. "He still had things in his life that weren't right. A man's past can really catch up with him." Arthur's mother, Sheila, was so devastated by her husband's murder that she moved to her original hometown of Birmingham, Ala. (Arthur told me a burglar broke into his mother's house in Alabama last month.) That left Arthur with the responsibility of selling his father's house. "I've never sold a house, dude," Arthur says. "It got so bad I had to take out a loan on my car title just to rent a truck to move everything out of my dad's church. My family got broken up when my dad got killed. Now I'm just trying to get back on my feet as far as my personal life is concerned, because my stuff was way out of order." In an effort to gain some financial security, Arthur applied for a bank loan. That led to another disturbing revelation. The woman at the bank told him he was registered as deceased. According to Arthur, it turns out Bo had used Arthur's social security number to take out some two dozen credit cards in Arthur's name, and some of them were delinquent. That left Arthur several thousand dollars in debt and his credit in shambles. It also put him in the position of contacting the Berwyn police to, as he puts it, "file a report on a dead dad." "He scammed me," Arthur says. "I actually would have to press charges against him if he were alive." Asked if he feels anger toward his father, Arthur replied, "Do I? You don't understand. If my dad was alive, I'd want to kill him. To just swallow it and say like God wants, to turn the other cheek? That's hard to do." Sadly, Bo's murder is not the only tragedy to befall one of the main characters in Hoop Dreams. Curtis Gates, the older brother of William Gates, the film's other protagonist, was killed in a carjacking in September 2001. Though William and Arthur appear together for barely a couple of minutes in the movie, they were actually very close friends and remain so to this day. William understands better than most what Arthur and his family are going through, and it pains him to see his friend struggle. "When I went to Bo's funeral, it really raised for me the very emotions I dealt with when Curtis passed," William says. "During that first year, you go through what I call the first of everything. The first birthday without him, the first Thanksgiving, the first Christmas. It takes time to move on. I remember for a while there I was just stuck. That's what Arthur's going through right now. He's stuck." Still, life might be a little more stable for Arthur if he had spent the last 12 years building a dependable career. Unlike William, who became an ordained minister and runs the Living Faith ministry in the Chicago project where he grew up, Arthur is still banking his future on the fame he gained from Hoop Dreams. After spending several years bouncing around professional minor leagues (who signed him mostly for the P.R. benefits), Arthur tried to launch a Hoop Dreams clothing line two years ago but had to put it on hiatus because of a lack of investor interest. He created the Arthur Agee Role Model Foundation, he pitches himself as a motivational speaker, and these days he is spending a lot of time trying to stir up interest in another nascent nonprofit organization. He recently launched a Web site,Arthuragee.com, which he hopes will help him spread the word about his various ventures and allow him to sell Hoop Dreams memorabilia. Arthur's financial pressures are exacerbated by the $900 he must pay every month in child support. Wouldn't it be easier, I asked, to meet those obligations if he had a steady job? "F--- that!" he replied with a laugh. "Those people have no lives. They're working for someone else. I see a better life for me and my family. Besides, my non-profit is going to need me. There aren't too many jobs where you can just take off and fly somewhere." Another of Arthur's recent brainstorms was to put out another movie depicting what his life is like now. A film crew has recorded some 200 hours of footage, but while Arthur and his partner have gotten a few nibbles in Hollywood, so far they have not found a buyer. Arthur tried to enlist William Gates in his film project, but William passed, mostly because Arthur was not working with the same producers who made Hoop Dreams. "Sometimes Arthur will say, 'Hey, just trust me.' I can't just do that. We're not kids anymore," William says. "I never put all my eggs in the Hoop Dreams basket. I have a wife and four children, and at the end of the day, they're saying, What's for dinner?" I asked William if he thought Arthur was hanging on too long to his Hoop Dreams notoriety. "I'd say so," he replied. "Arthur has great vision and great potential, but it takes hard work, too. It's like basketball. If you know you're weak at shooting jump shots, you don't wait until the layup line to start working on your shooting." Today, Arthur lives in a house owned by his girlfriend of six years. The house is located in Berwyn, just down the street from where Bo used to live. "Every day I drive through that alley, just to be there," he says. "That's the place he died. I go back and look at the garage, look at the house." With the dreams he harbored as a teenager having gone by the wayside, Arthur must now figure out how best to deal with his current reality. "Every day is different. You have to hope that in the end the good days will outweigh the bad ones," he says. "I know God has a plan for my life, man. I've just got to ask no questions and keep going down this road."