Big Al

That's cool. The two songs I was thinking of was "What I Do," where said fadeout would've been more pleasurable to these ears had it been an instrumental fadeout instead of repeating the chorus over and over. Same goes for "Black Nightgown(?)". Wonderful grooves, nonetheless!

Er, Sangry didn't say that; I did. Sangry says a lot of shit, but that one was mine! Sorry 'bout that. Hey Bruce, do you honestly think that if the shoe were on the other foot and Shaq had fouled Stack or any other Mav for that matter, that he'd be getting the suspension handed out to Stack? Because let's be honest: Shaq just about breaks Stack's nose, and does he get suspended? No fucking way! Everyone--the Mavs, the Heat, the refs; hell, even the Heat FANS--realize this was a BS call. And to anyone who doesn't believe Stern isn't behind THIS one: I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'm looking to sell. That said and off my chest: GO MAVS!!!! We still got a lot of basketball to play! I just hope my team shows up tonight! And that was Clarence Cleamons I heard from the other room? Geeeeezus, I thought Kenny G picked up a tenor sax!

From espn.com Stackhouse suspended one game for flagrant foul MIAMI -- Shaquille O'Neal mocked his collision with Jerry Stackhouse as being less vicious than a love tap from his daughters. The NBA declared it worthy of a one-game suspension. The Dallas Mavericks are calling it a joke. Following the league's announcement Friday that Stackhouse must miss Game 5 of the finals for his hard foul on O'Neal in the third quarter of Game 4, the team's top three officials all lambasted the punishment. "It makes no sense at all," owner Mark Cuban wrote in an e-mail. "There have been more 'accidental' elbows to Mavs players' heads this series than is statistically possible. (Wasn't it [Heat coach Pat] Riley who said that there is no such thing as an accidental elbow?) More stiff arms to faces of our double teams, all without response from the league." Stackhouse was called for a flagrant foul when it happened. But after reviewing the play and discussing the details with both players, league vice president Stu Jackson opted to upgrade the punishment. "The contact by Jerry Stackhouse was clearly excessive and warrants a suspension," Jackson said in a release. The series is tied 2-2, with the Heat having won the last two games. Game 5 is Sunday night in Miami. Before the league's decision, Dallas coach Avery Johnson said he didn't think the blow deserved a suspension, noting that O'Neal wasn't penalized for hitting Stackhouse hard enough in Game 1 that he opened a gash across the top of his nose that required three stitches to close. Once the announcement was made, Johnson called it "ridiculous" -- among other terms. "It's just a bunch of baloney," he said on his weekly radio show with Dallas' 103.3 ESPN. "For lack of a better word, it's sickening. Our fans should be upset, our players will be." Donnie Nelson, the team's president of basketball operations, called it "a low blow, especially at this critical time." "We're really surprised and appalled," he said. "The timing of it is the most unfortunate part. This is a bitter pill." Miami was leading 68-51 in the third quarter of Game 4 when Jason Williams stole the ball from Dallas' Josh Howard and drove to the other end of the court. A few steps beyond the foul line, Williams dished to O'Neal for a likely crowd-thrilling dunk but Stackhouse swooped in from the side, taking him down with a head-high shove. "It was a hard foul," Stackhouse said after the game. "When Shaq is going to the basket, we want to try to make him go to the free throw line and earn it." O'Neal did, making both foul shots. Given the ball back, the Heat got two more points to stretch their lead to 20 for the first time. They went on to win 98-74, leaving O'Neal in a playful mood, especially when asked about the foul by Stackhouse. "My daughters tackle me harder when I come home," O'Neal said. "I'm one of the last players of the old school, and you know, you just have to take a hard foul like that and keep on moving. It actually felt pretty good to get hit like that. Thank you, Jerry. Appreciate it." The Heat may really appreciate Stackhouse's absence from Game 5. Stackhouse is Dallas' top reserve. He's averaging 13.8 points this postseason and 13.0 in the finals. He had 16 in Game 2, including 10 straight over the final 79 seconds of the first half that propelled the Mavericks to a victory. This marks the third time this postseason a Dallas player has been suspended. Jason Terry was lost for Game 6 of the second round against San Antonio for punching Spurs guard Michael Finley below the belt and center D.J. Mbenga just completed a five-game suspension for running into the stands to aid Johnson's wife during the conference finals. Mbenga will return for Game 5. "And that's six more fouls," Johnson noted. An irate Johnson also told radio listeners O'Neal was being protected by the league, saying: "It's been around forever -- certain players get royal treatment, certain players don't." Cuban touched on the same topic. "Shaq creates more dangerous contact camping in the lane for 5 seconds trying to set an NBA finals record for charges taken by a center than Stack did trying to prevent a layup," Cuban wrote. Johnson opened his show with a Cuban-like rant against the way the league has handled cases like this, later saying there is "no rebuttal, no trial and jury, just a judge." "I've been holding my tongue all year about the foolishness, just the foolishness that goes on there," said Johnson, who was voted the NBA coach of the year in his first full season. "They're so inconsistent. I'm just embarrassed to have to deal with some of the things I have to deal with. ... We are in a position where we have no authority and we're always reminded of that -- we're just coaches." Asked whether he feared the Mavericks are being targeted because of how vocal Cuban is with barbs toward the league, Johnson said, "I would sure hope not." "If there is some truth to that, I hope certain people can't even look themselves in the mirror because that's a disgrace," he said. Perdue's take First of all, I don't think the suspension is warranted. I had the opportunity to see replay, after replay, after replay, and it appeared to me that Stackhouse was trying to make a play on the ball. Shaq was protecting the ball on his right side and Stackhouse was coming from the left, so Stack had to go through Shaq to get to the ball. Now the Mavs have to figure out how to replace Stackhouse's scoring for Game 5. But Stackhouse cannot be replaced by one player. Several guys have to chip in to get the job done. Jason Terry, Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard have to fill the scoring void. Look for Mavs coach Avery Johnson to put Adrian Griffin back in the starting lineup. This will allow him to bring Devin Harris off the bench to provide offensive spark and scoring punch. -- Will Perdue in Miami

Unbelievable indeed!!!! I'm not ready to call this the work (i.e. fix) of Stern, but I'm getting damn close. I mean, come on man: aren't the Mavs shooting themselves in the foot enough by themselves? I think Sangrey's right, though: just like it did for the game without Terry, this oughta unify these guys in a way previously unseen. At least, I hope so.

When you gonna change your signature to read "D-Wade is my daddy"?

Who reported that? Skip Bayless?

Well, I'll tell ya, Rick's playing like he's grown the old one back and sprouted two new ones! His one arm plays fiercer than most rock drummers with BOTH arms, at least on this CD.

All I got was the Comcast home page.

what's so sad about the two best teams in the nba playing a tight final series, each winning in their own house? Agree with ya there, but Dallas wasn't playing anywhere NEAR the level they should be playing. I mean, game 3 was exciting, but Dallas seems to have carried the last 6 minutes of that game forward with no end in sight. I hope it goes seven as well, but let's hope that both teams are playing at their highest levels if/when that happens!

Way to go, John!!!

No kidding! That was embarrassing! SEVEN ^%#$#^%&$ POINTS in the 4th quarter, a new playoff record. Lovely. Dirk hasn't been having a great Finals to begin with, and tonight was a letdown of apocalyptic proportions. Shaq was in rare form tonight. That MF is unreal; never seen such a huge dude be so MFing limber! And I still love him and that big-ass smile of his; even if he was kicking our asses tonight. Miami's defense was a brick wall tonight. My guys weren't going anywhere past the 3-point line. So it's a whole new series again. THIS was the Miami Heat I was dreading when this series began. It ain't over yet, but the momentum is DEFINITELY in favor of the Heat right now. NOW we got a series goin'. (Personally, I blame that dumbass Mark Cuban for going on Letterman last night and trash-talking the NBA and just giving the Heat that much more reason to want to beat his stupid ass. Way to go, dummy! Money may buy you a basketball team, but it apparently can't afford class! )

This is painful.

And while they're at it, show Dirk where the MFing BUCKET is!!!!

Somebody PLEASE take down Dwayne MF Wade!!!! This cat is possessed!!! It's hilarious the crowd chanting "David Hasselhoff" when Dirk tries the free throws!

As well as the NBA and NHL finals here in the States!

I've been on a real Dan kick lately, and been listening to this. I like the groove for the most part, but some of these songs take FOREVER to fade out. There are also times when the arrangements become too cluttered that it buries the song, not to mention the couple of songs with that harmonica, which is reeeeeally grating. But other than that, a fine album. Between his own album and the past couple of Dan albums, these guys are on a serious winning streak right now.

That'd be more than he ever did when he was actually IN a Mavs uniform.

Excuses, excuses.....

When I heard that on the radio last year, I thought it was some young alt-metal band. Would NEVER in a million years have known that was Def Leppard.

Are you kidding? She'll go ga-ga over this disc!!!

In fact, I so wanted to NOT like this album. Mind you, I didn't spend a penny on this album: I won it in a radio contest in a package that featured two tickets to the upcoming Tom Petty concert and the Sgt. Bilko DVD set. Quite an eclectic package! Anyway, I was going for the Petty tickets, and figured I would just drop the CD and DVD at the local used CD store and getting something I wanted. (Ironically, the Sgt. Bilko DVD set was just discussed in the "TV shows on DVD" thread; because of that, I actually watched it and yeah, it's definitely a keeper) But back to the CD. First and foremost, I absolutely HATE Def Leppard. Over-synthesized hair-metal at its WORST!!! And the fact that this crap is now being considered "classic rock" makes me wanna puke that much harder (but then, Boston, Journey, Steve Miller, and Aerosmith are also considered "classic rock," so it's not like that label has any meaning anyway). So when I heard they were doing a covers CD, it made sense: what better thing for an overrated overhyped has-been washed-up band to do? Isn't that what they all do? So when I won this thing, again, I had no intention of listening to it. Then I actually played the disc. {{{{{sigh}}}}} I hate when this happens: no matter how hard I try to deny it, THIS CD FREAKIN' ROCKS!!!!! All the hallmarks of past Leppard albums--synths, power ballads, sterile sound, etc--are not only absent, their fully BANNED. The drums thunder, the bass rumbles, the guitars reach out and THROTTLE ya! I mean, this is about as anti-Def-Leppard as you can get!!! I guess that's what happens when you set your sights lower than magma: you might actually enjoy the ride. I'm not saying you should run right out and buy this NOW (like Skid already has ), but if you're looking for a simple honest ballsy wall-to-wall rocker, well.... you could certainly do worse, and if you're like me, you already have!

dude he MADE 'em! as opposed to dirk - i MISSED it when it counted! Hey hey HEY!!!! Only one shot! Can't blame Dirk for his team not sinking any buckets. Wait: neither did Dirk. NEVER MIND!!! Tomorrow night will determine how much the Mavs bounce back. I bet they bounce back with a can of whup-ass so big, it'll make the Phoenix blowout look like a child's game.

When I first heard this skit from Delirious when I was a kid, I'd never heard a James Brown song, yet the skit was funny. Now that I've heard a shitloada JB songs, this skit is MF hilarious!!!!

Forgot to mention: PayPal OK, checks from folks I've dealt with previously. Thanks for looking!

.......Oh my! I guess I should add, the dude is probably a few years older than I am. Ewwwwww!!!!