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On Christmas day, the Cleveland Lebrons went to Los Angeles and showed why they should be considered a legit contender to win the NBA Championship this season. With his 35 points, Kobe Bryant may have won the head-to-head matchup against Lebron James, but Lebron got what really matter, a win. An eye opening 102-87 victory at that. Below is a photo of the two best players in the world going head-to-head.

Passing of the torch...

Growing up as a kid in the mid to late 90's and the 2000's you had to like Allen Iverson. He did it all. He was the underdog, he was under sized, he could score with the best of them, he was expressive, he had the "killer crossover," he had corn rows, he took a sub par team to the NBA finals, he had cool shoes, he rebelled, he poured his heart on the floor every night and finally he showed every child out there that you can make it, being yourself. With all that said, it pains me to watch him now, at this point in his career. While he is still all the things that I mentioned above, it just isn't the same. Everyone remembers the play where, a young Allen Iverson was going one on one with one of his heroes, Michael Jordan. We all remember the infamous crossover. It was great. Iverson was fearless. It was the new vs. the old. The youth vs. the wise. The best vs. the up-coming. As a child it was almost a symbol of the passing of the touch. Jordan wasn't done by any means, but Iverson represented a new age, more talent, the next greats.

About two weeks or so ago, I was reminded of the infamous crossover. As we all know Allen is on the downside of his career, but can still play at a high level. I saw a highlight from a Detroit pistons game that really opened my eyes. Rodney Stuckey went one on one with Allen Iverson, I'm sure one of his childhood heroes, and put a move on him I will never forget. The symbol of passing the torch immediately ran through my head. At this very moment I realized that there was a new generation of players that are ready to make their mark on the league.

So for all the die hard Iverson fans, I suggest you don't play this video.

P.S. How appropriate is this music in the background?

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This week we heard the tragic news that the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry lost his life during a domestic dispute with his fiance. While many athletes and professions spoke on the situation, none was more memorable than Chad Johnson. Johnson came to tears in his interview describing his feelings for the loss of his teammate. Here is a picture of Chad Johnson and Chris Henry on the field together, doing what they love to do. R.I.P. Chris Henry.

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Diego Sanchez entered the cage Saturday night, with the intentions of taking BJ Penn's Lightweight Championship. Instead the fight was stopped in the final round because of excessive bleeding, due to a gash in Sanchez head.

Down Goes Cuban!

Mark Cuban made a guest appearance on WWE Raw last week. He surprised the sports world by allowing a wrestler to slam him through a table. I'm sure there are a lot of people within the sports world that wished they had the honors.

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An emotional Allen Iverson coming to tears in his Philadelphia 76ers press conference. Allen expressed his passion for the game and his ability to still play at a high level. Iverson makes his return to the 76ers against his former team, the Denver Nuggets tonight. The game will be sold out and I assume many others will be tuning in on NBA TV.

Unhappy in South Bend

It has been almost a week now since Charlie Weis’ firing and I think it is time for me to voice my opinion on Weis’ five-year stay in South Bend. First, I’ll start with the numbers: Weis was originally hired in December of 2004. His contract was for six years, for about $2 million a season. His extension, which he received just seven games into the first year of his contract, was for 10 years and valued at approximately $30-40 million. This extension was given after Weis led Notre Dame to a 5-2 start in 2005. One of the games they lost in the 2005 season was the memorable “Bush Push” matchup against USC. Notre Dame went on to finish the season 9-3, ending with a Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State.

In his five seasons with Notre Dame, Weis posted a record of 35-27. Not bad, but also not worth the $30-40 million extension he received. After the 9-3 finish in 2005, the Fighting Irish improved in 2006 with a 10-3 record, finishing with another bowl game loss, but this time to LSU in the Sugar Bowl. Then, in the 2007 season things began to take a turn for the worst as the Fighting Irish finished their season 3-9. The 2008 season showed signs of hope when Weis led his team to a 7-6 finish and finally won a bowl game, defeating Hawaii. This year, Charlie’s 6-6 record in his final season in South Bend did not meet expectations, and ultimately led to his dismissal.

After Weis’ first two seasons at Notre Dame, I originally believed that he was indeed the “offensive genius” many had titled him to be, in addition to being a generally productive coach. Boy did he have me, and the rest of the football world, fooled. It took me a while to figure out why Weis’ last three seasons were completely different than the first two. Recruiting sure wasn’t the issue. In 2006 Notre Dame had the eighth-ranked recruiting class in the country, in 2007 they had the eighth-ranked class again, in 2008 they had the second-ranked class and in 2009 they had the 21st ranked class—all impressive numbers for a team that wasn’t bring home many wins.

This fall, I had an epiphany, realizing that Weis had been winning in his first two seasons with someone else’s players. Former Notre Dame coach, Tyrone Willingham, and his staff recruited Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija, Anthony Fasano, Maurice Stovall, Tom Zbikowski, Darius Walker and many other playmakers Weis used to win games. Typically, when a new coach takes a college football job, they are given a two to three-year grace period to recruit and develop the players they feel are best for their system. For whatever reason, Charlie Weis did better with the players he didn’t recruit than with those he did recruit.

In my opinion, Weis was not fired because of the poor records he was producing. Instead, it came down to a few key statistics. While Charlie Weis was head coach, Notre Dame went 3-2 against Navy, losing to them two out of the last three seasons. They tallied an embarrassing 0-5 record against USC, being outscored 85-190. They made only three bowl appearances and lost two of them. Finally, as an underlying college football standard, at least one that I grew up with, Notre Dame is never supposed to lose to Syracuse, Air Force or Navy, which were all done while Weis was head coach.

Like most people, I am happy with Charlie Weis’ dismissal and think it was well deserved. He has proven with his time in the NFL that he is a fantastic offensive coordinator, but his five seasons in Notre Dame showed that great assistants do not always translate to successful head coaches. Although Weis has taken endless amounts of criticism over the past two seasons, he is a winner in the end—at least at the bank. Notre Dame owes him $18 million for firing him, and he will most likely return to the NFL to accept an offensive coordinating job. His legacy in Notre Dame is something I’m sure he would like to forget, but he can prove himself to be a winner again once he takes a job in the NFL. For Notre Dame, I just hope this is a lesson learned and the coach they choose to fill Charlie Weis’ position has prior head coach experience.

So this is what you do when the other team scores...

This is bizarre. I know most people are wondering how this player could hit his own teammate, but I'm wondering why? This didn't look very inadvertent to me. Whether it was accidental or not I feel bad for the poor goalie and think that player deserves a year long ban from hockey.

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This is the scene of one of the more talked about stories in the last couple of days. It was reported on Friday that around 2:25 am, Tiger Woods 2009 Cadillac ran into a fire hydrant and a tree outside of his Florida mansion. His wife came to his rescue and reportedly used a golf club to smash a window and help an unconscious Woods out of the car. A statement has been made that alcohol was not the cause of the strange incident. Tiger himself has been very private and short in his responses about the incident. The police still have many questions that need to be answered and will continue to investigate and hopefully get to the bottom of this.