Let's start the Humpday roundup with another tidbit on Trevor Ariza. Actually this ESPN article on Ariza has already been flagged by Sideout11 in the fanshot section. But I found this part to be really funny (emphasis added):
Sources say several factors led to Ariza's decision. First, his toddler son lives in Los Angeles with his mother and Ariza liked that Houston was a much shorter flight than Cleveland. Second, Adelman promised him the Rockets would feature him offensively while the Cavaliers refused to guarantee him a starting job. Instead, the Cavs told him he'd be given a legitimate chance to compete for the spot against last year's starter, Delonte West.
"He wanted to be sure he'd start," the source said. "That was a big hang-up."
Seriously. Did the source consider how incredibly dumb his (or her) comment across in that piece. So Ariza went to Houston because Houston was a much shorter flight to LA than Cleveland? It must have been even shorter than to that flight from LAX to LAX if he stayed with the Lakers. lol And then to thrown in the argument that he went to Houston because he would be "starting" with the Rockets. Was there any doubt that Ariza had put himself in a situation where he had pretty much carved out a solid spot in the starting rotation with the Lakers?
Never has a UCLA associated player in the NBA been made to look so dumb (and greedy) by his handlers. And right now all signs point to a monumental screw job by his agent. Whatever. I was glad Ariza was finally finding a niche in the league after flailing around for four years. Had he stuck around with the Lakers he would have been on our radar. But at this point not sure how many of us are going to follow him if he flames out in Houston, throwing away what could have been a great opportunity to carve out a lasting legacy with one of the greatest teams in all of sports.
Moving on, speaking of going away, Dohn has another update on Brandon Warner:
Received word that Compton College defensive tackle Branden Warner, who originally committed to UCLA, is at New Mexico State and ready to enroll in summer school.
Hopefully, that puts an end to this ever-twisting story.
And hopefully that will be the last update on Warner as well.
Staying with football Reggie Carter will be the player representative for UCLA at the Pac-10 Media Day, which is on July 20 in LA. Reggie will of course going to it with Coach Neuheisel. BTW speaking of the Pac-10, apparently the conference officials have discovered social networking tools. More details over here.
Lastly, since we are talking about social networking tools, always on the cutting edge SB Nation has released some new features adding the options of mobile commenting and retweeting. More details available over at SB Nation's Blog Huddle.
The mobile commenting should make the game threads (or pregame threads) even more fun. Those of you lucky enough to go to the Rose Bowl or Pauley Pavillion will be able to post right from the games, tailgates, or over night camping out sesssions before big games. We now have less than two months to go till kickoff.
GO BRUINS.