Mattie T’s Quick Hits (4th of July edition)

Gooooooooood Morning America!

Happy Independence Day out there to everyone across the land!

We shall 1st begin the Quick Hits today with the Chicago Bulls.

Now i know that some people are not too pleased with the Bulls’ 1st round selection of Joakim Noah, but it appears that he might be included in a blockbuster trade.

Chicago is talking with Memphis about a deal that would land the 7 foot & former Rookie of the Year winner Pau Gasol in the Windy City.

In exchange, Memphis would receive Andres Nocioni, the draft rights to Noah & Chris Duhon.

All of us that watched the Bulls last season knew that Chicago was a jumpshooting team, and jumpshooting teams don’t have much success in the playoffs. I think this move is very vital to give Ben Wallace some help in the frontcourt & create a strong low-post presence.

Hey, it worked for Detroit when they got Rasheed Wallace in ‘04, didn’t it?

In other basketball news, the Orlando Magic made the 1st big free agency signing on Tuesday, nabbing Rashard Lewis away from the Seattle Sonics for a 5 year deal reported around $75-85 million. Lewis is coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high in points per game (22.4) & free-throw percentage (84.1%).

The two teams might do a sign & trade so that Lewis can get a 6th year on his contract & so that Seattle can get some players in return.

Orlando also withdrew their offer for Darko Milicic, which had his agent (Marc Cornstein) so upset that he said “Darko will never play for the Magic as long as Otis Smith is their GM.”

Damn that’s deep!

There are a reported 25 teams that are interested in Darko, which includes Chicago.
Should be interesting to see where he ends up at for next season.

This next story is an emotional one. The Utah Jazz have agreed to release Derek Fisher so that he can focus on finding the best care for his 11 month year-old daughter, who has cancer in her left eye.

Fisher could end up reuniting with the L.A. Lakers, who he spent his first 8 seasons with & won 3 championships.

On to the NFL!

Oakland Raiders’ RB Dominic Rhodes has been suspended for the first 4 games of the season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

Rhodes will be eligible to return for the team’s Week 6 game (Raiders have a Week 5 bye) at San Diego.

Rhodes is expected to split time at RB with LaMont Jordan, who is coming off an injury-plagued season in which he appeared in only 9 games due to a torn medial collateral ligament.

Torrie Cox of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers also got hit with a 4 game suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy & will be eligible to return for the team’s Week 5 Game at Indianapolis.

Terrell Owens is in the news yet again.

Owens is suing club Avalon (located in Manhattan, NY) for $600,000, stating that his name & photo were used in the nightclub without his permission.

Owens has participated in the Cowboys’ off-season mini camp & should be ready for the start of training camp on July 24th.

Greg Olsen become the first rookie to reach agreement on a contract when he inked a 5 year deal with the Chicago Bears on Tuesday.

Olsen is the first tight end taken in the 1st round by the Bears since they selected Mike Ditka back in 1961.

Bears fans already have high hopes for Olsen & hope that he can follow in the footsteps of Jeremy Shockey & Kellen Winslow Jr, who are both Miami TE alums & are considered as two of the best players in the league at their respective position.

You know i wasn’t going to forget about today’s National Hot Dog eating contest, did you?

The annual contest (held from Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY) will be televised this morning at 11 am on ESPN & will feature defending six-time champion Kobayashi trying to go for a seventh straight title.

Kobayashi has been battling jaw pain, but declared that he’s “ready to go”.

The biggest threat to end his successful six-year run could come in Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, who ate an world record 59 & a half hot dogs in 12 minutes during last year’s competition.

Kobayashi holds the event record by eating 53 & 3/4 hot dogs in 12 minutes, also done during last year’s competition.

I hope everyone has a happy & safe 4th of July. It looks like i am going to go catch Transformers tonight, because i’ve heard so far that it looks really, really good! Hopefully i’ll be in agreement after i finish watching it myself.

Have fun at whatever barbeque you decide to hit up today and please, NO DRINKING & DRIVING!

Until then,

Mattie T

Sports Writer for BMS Radio Chicago

www.BMSRadio.com

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