Bleacher Report - Articles by Derek Pivko

Should the Phoenix Coyotes Enter in the Jaromir Jagr Sweepstakes?

Derek Pivko — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:18:55 -0500

The biggest name in hockey that isn’t playing in the NHL this season is, Jaromir Jagr.

The future first ballot of Hall of Famer hasn’t played in the NHL since the 07-08 season. Jagr signed a two-year deal to play in the Kontinental Hockey League in July 2008.

Jagr is currently 13th all-time in goals scored (646), 9th all-time in points (1599) and 7th all-time in points per game (1.256). Jagr signed with the KHL to escape the demanding 82 season of the NHL and the fans have missed Jagr. His name alone would draw fans to any arena to see him play.

One arena that isn't drawing any fans this season is the Jobing Arena home of Phoenix Coyotes.

Despite a winning record, the Coyotes have failed to draw backs fans after they filed for bankruptcy back in May which caused outrage fans and season-ticket holders. The NHL is currently running the franchise until they find a suitable owner who would keep the team in Phoenix.

One way that the Coyotes could bring back fans is by signing Jagr. Jagr has publicly stated that he has an interest in returning to the NHL. However, if the Coyotes were to pursue Jagr it would be for a limited time.

Jagr is eligible to return to the NHL next season. However, at the conclusion of the 10-11 season Jagr will be 39 years old. Unless your name is Chris Chelios then players typically retire before the age of 39.

In my opinion the Coyotes could use Jagr as he could still serve as an offensive threat one which the Coyotes are lacking this season.

The Coyotes have a history of bringing in older veterans many of which were past their prime. The first name that instantly comes to my mind is Brett Hull.

The Coyotes currently have four players on their roster who are born in the 1970’s (Shane Doan, Robert Lang, Adrian Aucoin and Ed Jovonovski). All of these players are having great seasons with the Coyotes.

The difference between them and Jagr is that Jagr’s current contract with the Avangard Omsk (KHL) is almost more than all four Coyotes contract combined.

Therefore, Jagr would come with a heavy price tag and with a team that is currently bankrupt the Coyotes should pass on the future Hall Of Famer.

Rumors: T.J. Hensick to Sign with the Phoenix Coyotes?

Derek Pivko — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:05:49 -0500

One name that is currently under the radar after being waived by the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday is T.J. Hensick.

Hours after being waived by the Avalanche, Hensick’s name has become a popular topic amongst hockey message boards.

One team that should take a shot at claiming Hensick off waivers are the Phoenix Coyotes.

Think about it for a second. The Coyotes have a successful history when it comes to signing players off waivers. Last month the Coyotes claimed Paul Bissonnette off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins after he failed to make the Penguins roster. Bissonnette has taken over the duty of enforcer for the Coyotes as his popularity in Phoenix has soared.

Perhaps the most successful waiver pick up by the Coyotes was back in the 07-08 season when the Coyotes claimed Ilya Bryzgalov off waivers from Anaheim. Bryzgalov has since become the face of the Coyotes organization as his three shutouts has him tied for first place amongst goaltenders Tomas Vokoum (Florida) and Tim Thomas (Boston).

What could Hensick bring to the table?

Granted, he doesn’t have much of a scoring touch. But you can say that to the majority of the Coyotes right now.

Despite being 23, Hensick has four years of college (University of Michigan), almost a hundred games in the NHL, and has been a pro for three seasons. His resume alone is oozing with potential something which the Coyotes organization builds upon.

The signing of Hensick would serve as a wake up call for several Coyotes. Until last night, the Coyotes have struggled to put the puck in the net. The signing of Hensick would send messages to players telling them that they can be replaced unless they decide to turn things around quickly.

If the Coyotes claim Hensick off waivers, it would totally be worth the risk.

Especially when there is no risk to begin with. We learned at Michigan that he could be an offensive force. The Coyotes will face injuries throughout the season as well as healthy scratches. Having a guy like Hensick on the ice gaining valuable experience is worth the gamble.

Maybe he will finally live up to his potential, maybe not.

What do we got to lose?

Phoenix Coyotes Howling on Confidence

Derek Pivko — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:03:06 -0500

“Confidence is what it’s all about,” said Lauri Korporkski after the Coyotes dismantled the Dallas Stars, 5-2.

After losing a combined 1-6 over the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames in the last two games, the Coyotes returned to Phoenix with unfinished business. After being criticized for not scoring against the Oilers and the Flames the Coyotes had Marco Turco’s number on speed dial

The Coyotes couldn’t get enough of seeing Turco during the second period. They scored three straight goals on Turco, causing him to be pulled midway through the second period.

When healthy the Coyotes are a confident team that can put the puck in the net. Lauri Korpikoski, who the Coyotes acquired from the New York Rangers in exchange for Enver Lisin back in July, had a career game against the Stars. Korpokoski had his first career two-goal game and was credited with an assist after Zbynek Michaelek put the nail in the coffin against the Stars.

Despite giving up the next two goals, the Coyotes were on cruise control for the rest of the game despite losing Ed Jovanovski. They have unfortunately dealt with playing without their assistant captain. Jovanovski appeared to have sustained a lower body injury during the second period, the same injury which caused him to miss eight games this month.

Following the loss of Jovanovski, the Coyotes have turned to Keith Yandle, who has emerged as key offensive threat for the Coyotes. Yandle has four goals and seven assists on the season while Phoenix continues to put up a good fight in the Western Conference.

Perhaps former Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes is wrong when he said that the NHL could never succeed in Arizona. One thing we learned this week is that the Coyotes obviously can’t win in Canada after losing to both Edmonton and Calgary.

Instead, the Coyotes look to cement their status in Phoenix as they continue to push their way into the playoff hunt in a season which the Coyotes have howled their way through against all odds.

How Free Agency and Trades Changed the Coyotes From Pretenders to Contenders

Derek Pivko — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:06:41 -0500

If the NHL was to conclude today, the Phoenix Coyotes would clinch a playoff spot, the first time since 2002. The seven year drought would looks to end with the revamped Coyotes. Coyotes Head Coach Dave Tippett has built up an early Coach of the Year resume under a new and improved Coyotes roster. After an off-season of uncertainty the Coyotes have changed the way of playing including the acquisition of several free agents as well as trades. I have broken down the top 11 moves the Coyotes made in the off-season to find out just who gives the most credit out of the new and improved Phoenix Coyotes? At the conclusion we will discover which Coyote could challenge Shane Doan for Team MVP at the end of the season.

Begin Slideshow

Ed Jovanovski: Coyotes Anticipating His Return

Derek Pivko — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:34:11 -0500

What feels like an eternity, has only been two weeks since Ed Jovanovski last played for the Coyotes.

Jovanovski, the first overall pick in the 1994 NHL Draft, has missed seven straight games suffering a lower-body injured against Chicago back on Nov. 5.

Since the lower-body injury, the Coyotes are 3-3-1 without their star defenseman. Jovanovski, a potential Olympian for Team Canada, is listed as questionable when the Coyotes travel to Canada, for the first time this season, to take on the Edmonton Oilers.

Since Jovanovski’s absence, the Coyotes have shaken up their lineup to deal with other injuries. Zbynek Michalek, Matthew Lombardi, and Kurt Sauer, three very important pieces to the Coyotes roster, have dealt with injuries this season.

Following Jovanovski’s absence, one player has emerged as a potential impact player for the Coyotes. Shaun Heska, a fellow Canadian, has played in seven games with the Coyotes since being called up from San Antonio. During his time with the Coyotes he has served as an important member on the ice. While he might not be an Olympian like Jovanovkski, he has shown that he deserves to be a member of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Injuries have impacted the Coyotes greatly this season. After a successful October, the Coyotes have developed a strong case of the injury bug that every team fears. When the Coyotes are healthy they are a playoff team. However, with the absence of several Coyotes, the Coyotes have skated without veteran leadership and guidance.

The Coyotes should not have to rely on Shane Doan and Ilya Bryzgalov to carry the Coyotes into the playoffs. Hockey is a team sport, and with players like Matthew Lombardi returning to the team, the Coyotes are gaining back the missing pieces of their playoff puzzle. Once Jovanovski returns to the Coyotes the final piece of the Coyotes playoff roster will be found.

With December right around the corner (believe it or not) Dave Tippett and the rest of the Phoenix Coyotes should ask Santa for a healthy rest of the season.

Phoenix Coyotes Continue to Get Hurt By Penalties

Derek Pivko — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:07:25 -0500

Perhaps the Phoenix Coyotes should change their name to the Phoenix Penalties?

The Phoenix Coyotes failed last night's “Hockey 101” broadcasting last night. I’m not sure which was worse: listening to last nights broadcast or watching the Coyotes continue to give up pointless penalties.

If we have learned anything about the Coyotes this season, it is that they are a young team playing in an adult league. The Coyotes continue to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to losing games because of penalties.

Lasts night a prime example of shooting themselves in the foot occurred late in the first period when Jim Vandermeer was whistled for a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for running Kurtis Foster in the boards.

One thing that the Coyotes are lacking right now is defense. The Coyotes are already missing their top defensive line in Ed Jovanovski and Zbynek Michalek and losing Vandermeer due to a game misconduct cost the Coyotes the game last night.

The Coyotes gave up 28 minutes in penalties last night, which is the third highest on the season (29 minutes against Buffalo on Oct. 8 and 39 minutes against Anaheim on Oct. 31). On average the Coyotes give up 14.85 on penalty minutes a game.

While most of those penalty minutes are from Paul Bissonnette for fighting, the rest of the penalties have cost the Coyotes several games this season. Every game is important for the Coyotes, they can afford to lose games due to penalties.

Last night's game against Tampa Bay was one of the worst games they played all season. Granted they were without Matthew Lombardi, Kurt Sauer, Ed Jovanovski and Zbynek Michalek and Tampa Bay’s back up goaltender Mike Smith had an incredible game.

The only thing that was incredible for the Coyotes was seeing veterans such as Vandermeer and Vernon Fiddler make careless decisions costing the Coyotes a victory against Tampa Bay.

Every game is important for the Coyotes, they can not afford to lose games due to careless errors. You never know when the injury bug will come into effect and cost players such as Shane Doan or Ilya Bryzgalov to miss games. The month of November has not been good for the Coyotes. Out of the seven games the Coyotes have played in November, they have only won two.

The month of November will be one to remember if the Coyotes continue to play the style of hockey that they are playing right now. It was only last month when the Coyotes were considered the hottest team in the NHL, that title has now moved to the Colorado Avalanche.

If the Coyotes are serious about making a run in the playoffs perhaps they should have listened to last night's “Hockey 101” broadcast and perhaps they can learn a thing or two about staying out of the penalty box.

Paul Bissonnette: The Next Tie Domi?

Derek Pivko — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:50:27 -0500

Every team in the NHL has an enforcer.

However, The Phoenix Coyotes skated into training camp without their “enforcer” on the team. They would find their problem solver three days before the start of the 2009-2010 season.

Paul Bissonnette, 24, was claimed on waivers by the Coyotes back on Oct. 1after failing to make the Pittsburgh Penguins roster. Bissonnette started his career as a defenseman but has since translated into a unique forward.

Todd Richards, the head coach of the Minnesota Wild, made the move for Bissonnette from defense to forward while he was playing in Wilkes-Barre.

Richards told Bissonnette that they were going to move him up front as a try-out. The try-out has since been successful, as Bissonnette is now a member of the Phoenix Coyotes.

There is a certain reward for playing the style of play that Bissonnette has. The Frank Selke Trophy is awarded to the top defensive forward in the NHL. Last year, Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings won the Frank Selke Trophy.

If Bissonnette continues to play as an intimidating defensive forward, he could considered as a candidate for the Frank Selke Trophy at the end of the season.

Although he is not known as a scorer, he’s only taken two shots all season, with one of them going in. Instead, he is known for sticking up for his team mates on the ice.

If you haven’t seen him play on the ice this season, then you probably have seen him in the penalty box. Bissonnette leads the team in penalty minutes despite missing the first three games of the season due to being a last-minute addition to the team.

Bissonnette has become a fan favorite in Glendale but also an opponent’s headache this season. Bissonnette currently has six fights on the year and heading into tonight’s game against Dallas, don’t be surprised if he adds another fight to his resume.

Although it is early in his career, Bissonnette has the makings of becoming the next Tie Domi. Domi played 16 seasons in the NHL and was known throughout the league as the enforcer.

Domi should have built his house next to the penalty box as he served 3,515 minutes in the penalty box, which is almost equivalent to sitting 59 straight games in the penalty box.

Domi’s most memorable moment came while he was in the penalty box. Back in 2001, an intoxicated fan jumped into the penalty box after Domi squirted the fans with his water bottle.

The fan then knocked over the glass causing him to have a once in a lifetime experience and fight perhaps the greatest “heavyweight” of all-time in the NHL, Tie Domi.

Domi was never known as a goal scorer; instead, he prowled the ice watching out for his team mates or when necessary gave a momentum swing for his team, similar to the role Bissonnette has with Phoenix.

It is only a matter of time until the rest of the NHL takes notice of the secret weapon that is starting to become unraveled in Phoenix.

Phoenix Coyotes Struggling in November

Derek Pivko — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:37:48 -0500

October skies appear to have cooled off the city of Phoenix as the month of November has frozen the Coyotes' hot streak.

After finishing the month of October with a record of 9-4, the Coyotes have gone 1-3 in the month of November. Granted, we’ve just concluded the first week in November, but is it time to address the howling cries of the Phoenix Coyotes?

The Coyotes have become the latest victim of the injury bug causing Assistant Captains Ed Jovanovski and Zbynek Michalek to miss ice time. Jovanovski left Thursday's game against Chicago in the third period with a lower-body injury. Jovanovski did not play against Anaheim on Saturday as the Coyotes lost 4-3.

There is a good sign of relief as Jovanovski is listed as questionable for Thursday's match up against Montreal. As for Michalek, he is expected to be out until perhaps the middle of November as he has been placed on injured reserve (IR).

With Jovanovski and Michalek out of the lineup, the Coyotes have called up Shaun Heshka from San Antonio to try and replaced their wounded defense. With the loss of Jovanovski and Michalek it only makes things worse for Ilya Bryzgalov who has carried this team all season. Without Bryzgalov in the lineup, they are a bunch of non-scoring hockey players. However, with Bryzgalov in the lineup the Coyotes have a chance to win.

The biggest obstacle that the Coyotes have faced this season is the lack of scoring. Besides Shane Doan, the Coyotes do not have a real threat on the ice when it comes to putting the puck in the net. We hear about all these can’t miss prospects down in San Antonio but as soon as they get the call up to Phoenix they struggle just like the rest of the Coyotes.

One of the hottest prospects in San Antonio is Mikkel Boedker. The 19-year-old has appeared in six games with the Coyotes this season. Boedker has been back and forth with the Coyote organization this season. After finishing ninth on the Coyotes in scoring his rookie season the 19-year-old has since bounced back and forth between Phoenix and San Antonio.

If the Coyotes want to contend in the Pacific Division they will need to address the scoring issue. One player that the Coyotes could use as trade bait is Peter Mueller.

The Coyotes have a history of trading players to the New York Rangers. The most recent Coyotes and Rangers trade happened back in July when the Coyotes sent Enver Lislin to New York in exchange for Lauri Korpikoski. Perhaps the Coyotes could give New York another call and talk about sending Mueller to the Rangers in exchange for someone like Ryan Callahan or Brandon Dubinski?

One player will not change the team. However, if the Coyotes were to acquire the talent of either Callahan or Dubinski they would add a scoring threat to the team, a threat that they desperately need. However, is it too early to discuss trading Mueller?

Then again when was the last time you heard about the Coyotes being in the playoff hunt?

All Ready for Al Montoya?

Derek Pivko — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:01:00 -0500

With the sudden emergence of Ilya Bryzgalov’s early breakout season, the Phoenix Coyotes do not worry about a backup goaltender. Or do they?

This story sounds a little familiar to Al Montoya. After a strong college career at the University of Michigan, Montoya went on to play for Team USA in the 2004 World Junior Championships. Team USA went on to win the gold medal and scouts couldn’t get enough of the Wolverine goaltender.

One of those scouts was from the New York Rangers. The Rangers were just in the midst of losing Mike Richter to retirement and Kevin Weekes was not the man to replace perhaps the greatest Rangers goaltender of all-time. In the 2004 NHL Draft the New York Rangers selected Al Montoya with the 6th overall pick.

Many thought that Montoya would be the man to take over in net at Madison Square Garden.

However, this guy from Sweden named Henrik Lundqvist started gaining recognition. After the Rangers lost Weekes due to injury, Lundqvist was given the chance to take his spot and the Rangers have not looked back since.

Instead, Montoya became lost in the shuffle as the once promising goaltender from Illinois needed a ticket out of New York, and fast. Montoya went onto play for the Hartford Wolfpack from 2005 to 2008 while Lundqvist went on to become one of the top goaltenders in the NHL.

On Feb. 26, 2008, Montoya and Marcel Hossa were traded to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for Fredrik Sjostrom, David LeNeveu and Josh Gratton. Montoya was assigned to San Antonio to play for the San Antonio Rampage, an AHL affliate of the Coyotes.

During the 2008-2009 season, Montoya made five appearances for the Coyotes posting a record of 3-1 including a shutout over the Colorado Avalanche.

There is no question that Bryzgalov deserves the starting position for the Coyotes. With Bryzgalov in the lineup the Coyotes are playoff contenders and when Bryzgalov is not in the lineup they are not. Coyotes backup Jason LaBarbera is not the right man for the position. LaBarbera has given up eight goals in four appearances this season while posting a 1-2 record.

What would happen if Montoya took over for LaBarbera? Perhaps this is the time that the Coyotes start experimenting. Montoya, in my opinion, has a great future in the NHL. He will not be a career backup like LaBarbera. Could you imagine the Coyotes having two quality goaltenders?

I do not believe that Montoya should have to stick around in San Antonio when he could be starting for several NHL franchises. Come on Coyotes, show me that I’m right!

The Phoenix Coyotes Fight Up a Storm in the Desert

Derek Pivko — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:38:28 -0500

Despite a seasonal low-attendance on Halloween night, all 6,495 fans were in for a real treat after the Coyotes clashed with the Anaheim Ducks.

And clashed they did!

The Coyotes showed a side that they never showed this season (besides Paul Bissonnette) as the Coyotes staked up on penalty minutes and the gloves dropped rapidly.

Coyotes' captain Shane Doan stopped being a gentlemen player after Ducks defenseman James Wisniewski nailed him with a brutal hit early in the first period on Saturday. When Doan returned he showed a side that no one has saw this season and he sent a message to the NHL. The Coyotes are not a team to mess with.

Instead, the new Phoenix Coyotes have become the talk of the NHL. The latest NHL rankings rank the Coyotes sixth after the Coyotes are on the verge of a second four game winning streak this season. This has been a team effort and a lot of the effort is coming from the fabulous goal tending of Ilya Bryzgalov.

Bryzgalov received third place votes for NHL Player for the Month of October after leading the league in shutouts. However, in Phoenix he is their team MVP for the month of October. The Coyotes would be where they stand today without the strong showing of Bryzgalov. Bryzgalov is the mist of having a career season in Phoenix and will have the night off tonight when they play the Los Angeles Kings for the third time this season.

The series is tied up at 1-1.

Bryzgavlov is not the only Coyote that is enjoying a great start of the season. Coyotes defenseman Ed Jovanovski isn’t joking around on the ice. Instead, he is putting great use to his playing time while leading the Coyotes to an impressive 9-4 start. Jovanovski’s effort on the ice is showing as he and Shane Doan currently lead the team in points.

Jovanovski and Doan are starting to receive attention from Team Canada as the two are hopefuls of playing for their respective country for the 2010 Olympic Games.

The season is still young as we are just starting the second month of the 2009-2010 season. However, under coach Tippett, the Coyotes finally have a proven winner on the bench as Tippett deserves coach of the month status for the month of October. Tippett believes that his team can win and doesn’t want to call up any of his prospects from their AHL affiliate the San Antonio Rampage.

The Rampage currently have a lot of future stars for the Coyotes organization such as Kyle Turris and Mikkel Boedker. Turris is off to a fast start in San Antonio, in just 12 games, Turris four goals and six assists. It is only a matter of time until Turris gets the call back to Phoenix. However, for the time being the Coyotes are winning without him which means that Turris will not have be rushed into young and promising career in the NHL.

The Coyotes have a busy week this week. They host the Kings tonight and on Wednesday they head over to face NHL Player of the Month of October Craig Anderson and the Colorado Avalanche.

After the Avalanche they fly back to Phoenix to host the Chicago Blackhawks and on Saturday they travel to Anaheim to play the Ducks.

And if Phoenix plays the way they did last Saturday against Anaheim, we should be in for a great week of Coyote hockey.

Phoenix Coyotes Continue To Shut Out the NHL

Derek Pivko — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:51:01 -0400

The Phoenix Coyotes concluded a three-game road trip last night leaving all 18,087 fans in the Scottrade Arena singing the Blues.

The month of October has been very good to the Coyotes. The Coyotes are 8-4 on the season with star goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov improving his record to 7-3. Three of those wins were shutouts by the Russian goaltender.

Bryzgalov has built himself a strong resume early in the season as he currently tied with Ryan Miller for fourth place in wins. Bryzgalov also leads the league in shutouts. Without Bryzgalov in net, the Coyotes wouldn’t be where they are today. From a statistical standpoint, there are no Coyotes in the top 30 in goals, assists or points.

Instead, the Coyotes are playing as a team, a good team. It all starts with leadership as Captain Shane Doan and Assistant Captain Ed Jovanovski are having excellent games this season. Doan leads the team in assists, meanwhile Jovanovski is tied with Radim Vrbata in goals.

After what could have been a disaster game Monday night in Monday where Bryzgalov had to be pulled midway through the game. The Coyotes have bounced back winning the next two games in dominating fashion.

Coyotes backup goaltender Jason Labarbera earned his first win on the season Wednesday night after stopping 31 shots as the Coyotes got a payback victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets shutout the Coyotes on their home opener back on Oct. 10 through a sell-out crowd in Glendale.

You have to give credit to Coyotes coach Dave Tippett. The man deserves a lot of credit after being named Head Coach almost a week before the season. Tippett has lead the Coyotes to their best start since the Coyotes went 9-1-2 in 2000-2001. The Coyotes just missed the playoffs that year finishing ninth in the Western Conference.

The Coyotes return to Jobing Arena to host the Anaheim Ducks. The last time these two played each other was back on Apr. 11 which would be the last game Wayne Gretzky coached the Coyotes. The Coyotes needed a shootout to defeat the Ducks.

This time the Coyotes welcome back the Ducks to the Jobing Arena in hopes of beating the quack out of the Anaheim.

Phoenix Coyotes Heating Up the Desert

Derek Pivko — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:12:34 -0400

After months in exile, speculation began to unravel about the existence of the Phoenix Coyotes. Would the Coyotes pack up and move before the sun would rise in Glendale?

The bankrupt Coyotes have become the talk of the NHL as the first place Coyotes (5-2) continue to howl over the competition in heroic fashion.

There is no silence surrounding the Coyotes. Everyone knows that the Coyotes were a decision away from moving to Canada therefore the Coyote can not hide. Instead, the Coyotes have done the opposite of hiding the Coyotes have risen from the offseason troubles and capitalized on early season victories. These victories have put the Coyotes from pretenders to contenders in a matter of two weeks.

Yes, it is rather ridiculously early to talk about playoffs, but how can you not talk about how the Coyotes have shut out two Stanley Cup contenders in the Pittsburgh Penguins and the San Jose Sharks?

Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov deserves player of the month recognition after his work in net. Bryzgalov is currently tied for fourth place with five victories but he stands by himself in first place with two shutouts. Bryzgalov has stopped 141 shots from going in with an alarming .953 save percentage.

Not bad for a goalie who was put on waivers by the Anaheim Ducks back in 2007. Ever since 2007, Bryzgalov has become one of the top faces in the franchise.

One another familiar face in the franchise Shane Doan. Last night against the Boston Bruins, Doan didn’t need any goals to add to his legacy. Instead his team mates did the scoring while Doan did the passing as the Coyotes defeated an East Coast powerhouse in the Boston Bruins, 4-1.

Tim Thomas couldn’t solve the all of a sudden exploding Coyotes offense which came out scoring early. While Doan was busy with three assists on the night, Ed Jovanovski, Adrian Aucoin, Keith Yandle, and Scottie Upshall were busy putting the goals in the net.

Tim Thomas wishes he could have hit the reset button in the second period. Forty-four seconds after Yandle scored his second on the season, teammates Upshall put the nail in coffin cementing a 4-1 lead which secured the Coyotes third straight victory.

While the future of the Coyotes is still in question, the Coyotes continue to live in the present as they have started the 2009-2010 season one to remember. Will the Coyotes continue this impressive start?

Only time can tell as the clock continues to click closer and closer as the Coyotes season continues to unfold before our eyes

Coyote Wild In Phoenix: A Phoenix Coyote Preview

Derek Pivko — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:39:22 -0400

Jim Balsillie—take a look at what you will never have.

The Phoenix Coyotes are back on the ice where they belong after Balsillie almost melted the hearts of Phoenix Coyotes fan and the organization after trying to purchase the team and move them to Southern Ontario, Canada. On May 5, 2009, Balsillie opened his checkbook and offered $212.5 million to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes and relocate them to Southern Ontario.

Despite being full of money, this writer thinks Balsille is full of something else if he ever thinks he’ll become an NHL owner. This wasn’t the first time Balsillie tried purchasing an NHL franchise. Back in 2006, Balsillie made a great first impression on live television by making an expletive comment saying, “holy sh*t.”

Once again I stress, the importance of Balsillie is truly full of something else if he thinks he will ever become an NHL owner. Balsillie would eventually pull out of the bid of purchasing the Pittsburgh Penguins.

A year later, Balsillie would end up on NHL’s doorsteps: This time in Nashville, Tenn. This time, it looked like Balsillie was actually really serious about becoming the Predators owner as it was announced back in May 2007 that he had reached a deal to purchase the team. It was believed that he would send the Predators to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to the point where he was accepting season ticket deposits through Ticketmaster.

However, in the end the Predators stayed put in Nashville and Balsillie was left once again without an NHL franchise.

Balsillie would fail again for the third time when he tried to the purchase the franchise and the Coyotes have skated on. They no longer have to worry about where they will be playing. They would return to the Jobing Arena and fans of the Coyotes would no longer have to worry about losing their beloved Coyotes.

Despite the hectic summer amongst the Coyotes organization, they did change up the organization. They no longer have Wayne Gretzky, who stepped down as head coach nine days before the Coyotes would open their 2009-2010 season against the Los Angeles Kings. The Coyotes named Dave Tippett head coach almost a week before the season would begin. Throughout the summer months, the Coyote organization would make six trades in hopes of establishing a winning franchise. Perhaps the biggest trade happened on July 21st when the Coyotes sent Todd Fedoruk and David Hale to the Tampa Bay Lighting in exchange for Radim Vrbata.

Vrbata made a sudden impact as a member of the Phoenix Coyotes after scoring two goals this past Saturday against the Kings. Vrabata is joined by several new faces including Lauri Korpikoski, Vernon Fiddler, Robert Lang, Ryan Hollwig, and Adrian Aucoin.

With these key acquisitions, the Coyotes hope to improve their performance on the power play. Last season the Coyotes were ranked 28th on the power play.

The Phoenix Coyotes are once again a very young team. There are six Coyotes who are younger then the age of 23. However, with the youth there are some key veterans on the team. Shane Doan has been the Coyotes back when they were the Winnipeg Jets back in 1995. Doan is the captain of the Coyotes and will serve as captain of Team Canada for 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver.

Doan is the last remaining members of the Winnipeg Jets still playing with the Coyotes. He is without a doubt the best player on the team. He was selected as an All-Star last year and looks to help elevate the Coyotes into playoff contention this year.

Along with Doan, there are his assistant captains Ed Jovanovski and Zbyněk Michálek. Both Jovanovski and Michálek appeared in all 82 games last year and hope to have career years this season. Jovanovski is a feared defense-man who served 106 penalty minutes last year as Michálek is a young defense-man whom won a silver medal in the 2006 World Championships for the Czech Republic.

It is difficult to not include every member on the team. You can talk to any NHL Scout and ask him about the Coyotes and they rave about the young talent that is on the roster. However, with youth there includes a learning phase.

Can the Coyotes compete in the Western Conference? The Western Conference is a deep conference once again this year with teams such as the Chicago Blackhawks, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, and the Vancouver Canucks who look to dethrone the Detroit Red Wings whom have ruled the Western Conference for well over a decade.

However, you can not count out the Phoenix Coyotes. They might not have an owner right now, but this team has the potential to prowl on the Western Conference and make some howls this year.

Every Dog Has Its Day: Michael Vick Takes Another Bite At The NFL

Derek Pivko — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:33:36 -0400

The most hated man in sports is looking for employment. After two years of trying to avoid being sacked in prison, Vick will once again be chased by felons (considering he isn’t signed by the Cincinnati Bengals).

Is this the NFL that we want our kids to cheer for? Do you really want our kids to look up to these athletes? Charles Barkley was right (for the first time in his life) when he said, “I am not a role model. Parents should be role models.”

Although it’s virtually impossible to tell a child what to do, it is possible to tell an adult such as Goodell what he should have done—which is ban Vick for life.

Michael Vick does not deserve to play in the NFL. The NFL is a league for professional athletes. I firmly believe that there is nothing professional about Michael Vick.

The thought of seeing Michael Vick playing in the NFL this year makes me want to puke. With Vick coming back into the league the only thing he is doing is taking away somebody else’s job away from them.

In the sixth round of the NFL Draft the Seattle Seahawks drafted quarterback Mike Teel from Rutgers University. Teel could be the potential replacement for Matthew Hasselbeck.

However, if the Seahawks were to sign Vick then Teel would be out of a job. This coming from a man who helped turned a college football program from the laughing stock to a Big East contender...and he graduated with a degree.

Michael Vick would have never graduated from a prestigious college such as Rutgers, and if it wasn’t for football I’m certain that Vick would have never went to college. I'm sure Derrick Rose had better SAT scores then Vick did.

Since Goodell seems to be a second-chance mood these days, why not reinstate Rae Carruth when he is released from prison? Sure, the man will be 59-years-old at the time he’s released, but come on—he was a former first-round pick. Why not take a stab at Carruth, Roger Goodell?

Maybe that last sentence was a little inappropriate, but so is Michael Vick. Have we as a society forgot the hatred that we had for this man two years ago? Do we really need to look back and follow his allegations?

Nobody will forget what Michael Vick did. For a period of time people forgot about Michael Vick, and during that period of time I enjoyed watching the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons have moved on, and look at how they are doing.

If I was an owner and had to choose between hiring someone with a criminal background or a clean record I would instantly hire the person with a clean record. It doesn’t matter if I was hiring someone to be a dishwasher or a quarterback.

Since news broke about Vick’s reinstatement, Vick already made a foolish statement by saying, "I fully understand that playing football in the NFL is a privilege, not a right, and I am truly thankful for the opportunity I have been given.”

That last quote alone will come back to haunt him once he gets in trouble again. I believe the law hasn’t heard the last from Michael Vick.

It’s only a matter of time until Vick runs into the justice system. It is my opinion that it is foolish to believe that people can be corrected in prison. When someone is in prison they are living with other criminals, and they interact with each other. How can someone learn not to be a criminal when they are surrounded by criminals?

There is no such thing as corrections in prison. We can only hope that a person has learned their lesson while they pay their debt to society. I truly believe that Vick will be back in the news again. It might not be tomorrow, it might not be next week, but Vick isn’t fooling me.

I truly hope that NFL owners do not sign this guy. The man is trouble. He has a troubled past with a possibility of making it worse if he acts up again.

Why should a team take a risk on this guy? The man hasn’t played in the NFL since 2006. His “good” years are behind him.

If Vick could have won a Super Bowl it would have happened already. It is the goal for every NFL franchise to win a Super Bowl, and if you want to win a Super Bowl you need your team on the right path.

That right path doesn’t include signing Michael Vick. Sure, his name alone will sell a couple hundred tickets, but it won’t put a Super Bowl ring on any team’s finger.

If Vick signs with a team, I will offer him this word of advice: break a leg!

Dany Heatley: The Heat Is On

Derek Pivko — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:48:20 -0400

It seems every year the New York Rangers are in the market looking for their new savior of their franchise. This year it looks like Dany Heatley is their man.

Although is this what the Rangers need?

Back in 2003, Dany Heatley was perhaps the biggest name in hockey especially after the 2003 All-Star Game after tying a single-game record after recording four goals at the age of 22. Perhaps this was the guy that who the NHL was going to center around.

Then tragedy struck. In February of 2005, Heatley was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty to the death of his former friend and teammate Dan Snyder in a car accident. Ever since the car accident that took a young life, it changed Heatley’s playing approach.

No longer was the NHL going to center Heatley as their top player, as a few months later, two guys by the names of Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin were drafted and would become the stars that the NHL needed to save their sport.

Meanwhile, Heatley was busy giving speeches at schools, colleges, libraries, anywhere which catered the minds of young adults. Heatley would talk about the dangers of speeding and how he can no longer see his friend anymore because of a decision that Heatley made.

Although his stats have increased since his time in Ottawa, his name has still flown under the radar until now. Heatley is perhaps the hottest name on the market as the start of the NHL free agency is just underway and names like Marian Hossa, Chris Pronger, and Jay Bouwmeester all have different mailing addresses.

This leaves Dany Heatley on the market as the New York Rangers are calling for him after former big names such as Brendan Shanahan, Jaromir Jagr, and Scott Gomez couldn’t do what Mark Messier and the 1994 New York Rangers did.

Is Heatley the guy that is going to bring the Stanley Cup back to Madison Square Garden? After watching the Rangers crash harder than Sonny Bono did on his last ski trip in the playoffs against the Capitals, we learned a few things about the Rangers.

One, they need scoring and two, they don’t need Michael Rozsival or Wade Redden. The only thing Rozsival and Redden will do for the Rangers besides doing nothing is eat up cap space.

When the Rangers were eliminated by the Capitals this past season, I prayed that would be the last time I’d ever see Rozsival or Redden in a Rangers' uniform. Perhaps the years of going to church will pay off if the Ottawa Senators are foolish enough to take either one of them.

If Rozsival gets traded to the Senators, I will personally fly to his house and pack up everything he owns and ship everything to Ottawa, the quicker Rozsival is gone the better.

However, is Heatley the missing link to the Rangers 15-year drought at the Stanley Cup?

I personally don’t think so. One player is not going to bring home a Stanley Cup, it takes a team effort. The Rangers do have the pieces to contend in the Eastern Conference especially with a world-class goaltender in Henrik Lundqvist.

If the Rangers can bring in a scorer such as Heatley and sign a quality defenseman, then the Rangers could contend as one of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference.

I personally believe that the Pittsburgh Penguins are on the verge of a dynasty, but I would love to be wrong and would love nothing more to see the Rangers win the Stanley Cup next year.

Will it happen?

Time can only tell.

Never Too Late To Be Famous

Derek Pivko — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:33:23 -0400

Former Arizona Wildcat recruit Jarrid Famous might be back on the rebound.

Famous, a First Team Division 1 Junior College All-American, had signed a letter of intent on Apr. 23 with South Florida might be leaving the Sunshine state before he even arrived.

Mickey Carey, an assistant coach at Westchester Community College told the Tampa Tribune that Famous does not “feel comfortable with USF anymore.”

Famous was one of six recruits signed by South Florida which finished 4-14 in the Big East with a 9-22 Overall record. Famous was the most hyped recruit out of the six recruits and could have been the recruit to help South Florida Head Coach Stan Heath turn around the program.

Famous was a machine at Westchester Community College who lead the nation in scoring and rebounds this season.

Famous scored 757 points in 30 games averaging out to 25.2 points per game (third in the country due to other players played fewer games than him) and pulled down 408 rebounds averaging out to 13.6 rebounds a game (second in the country).

Famous is willing to sit out a year before transferring if he is unable to get out of his letter of intent. It is speculated that Arizona, Missouri and Seton Hall are leading candidates if Famous is able to get out of his letter of intent.

In other Arizona Wildcat news, former Arizona signee Tremayne Johnson signed with Eastern Washington. Johnson was the first recruit signed by the Wildcats back February.

However, once Sean Miller was announced Head Coach back in April, Johnson’s named was never discussed and he decided not to sign with the Wildcats. Johnson had also received a offer from San Francisco but chose to sign with Eastern Washington.

Johnson will have three years of eligibility after red-shirting his sophomore year at L.A. Southwest College.

Breaking News: Miami Dolphins Sign…Jimmy Buffett?

Derek Pivko — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:14:06 -0400

Do not waste away by adjusting your computer monitor. The Miami Dolphins have reached a deal with Jimmy Buffett.

Jimmy Buffett, a longtime friend of Dolphins' owner Stephen Ross, has accepted a business deal with the Dolphins organization. Ross, who is fairly new to the Dolphins after becoming owner back in January, is trying to dolphin kick the organization and make some splashes along the way.

One of those splashes involves Jimmy Buffett.

Buffett, 62, was recruited by Ross to become an investor in the franchise. Ross commented to reporters on Thursday about wanting the team to have more flair and to involve more celebrities.

"What is this area about?'' Ross said. "It's about entertainment; it's about lifestyle.''

NBA Mock Draft 2009: Who's Rising and Who's Falling?

Derek Pivko — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:37:48 -0400

1) Sacramento Kings—Blake Griffin, PF, Oklahoma

2) Washington Wizards—Ricky Rubio, PG, Spain

3) L.A. Clippers—Jordan Hill, PF, Arizona

4) Oklahoma City Thunder—Hasheem Thabeet, C, Connecticut

5) Minnesota Timberwolves—Brandon Jennings, PG, Italy

6) Memphis Grizzles—Earl Clark, SF/PF, Louisville

7) Golden State Warriors—James Harden, SG, Arizona State

8) New York Knicks—Stephen Curry, PG, Davidson

9) Toronto Raptors—Demar DeRozan, SG/SF, USC

10) Milwaukee Bucks—Tyreke Evans PG/SG, Memphis

11) New Jersey Nets—Gerald Henderson, SG, Duke

12) Charlotte Bobcats—DeJuan Blair, PF/C, Pittsburgh

13) Indiana Pacers—Ty Lawson, PG, North Carolina

14) Phoenix Suns—Jonny Flynn, PG, Syracuse

15) Detroit Pistons—Jrue Holiday, PG, UCLA

16) Chicago Bulls—James Johnson, PF, Wake Forest

17) Philadelphia 76ers—Terrence Williams, SG/SF, Louisville

18) Minnesota Timberwolves (from Miami)—Chase Budinger, SG/SF, Arizona

19) Atlanta Hawks—Eric Maynor, PG, VA Commonwealth

20) Utah Jazz—Patrick Patterson, PF, Kentucky

21) New Orleans Hornets—B.J Mullens, C, Ohio State

22) Dallas Mavericks—Jeff Teague, PG/SG, Wake Forest

23) Sacramento Kings (from San Antonio)—Darren Collison, PG, UCLA

24) Portland Trailblazers—Sam Young, SF/PF, Pittsburgh

25) Oklahoma City Thunder—Wayne Ellington, SG, North Carolina

26) Chicago Bulls (from Denver)—Tyler Hansbrough, PF, North Carolina

27) Memphis Grizzles (from Orlando)— Austin Daye, SF/PF, Gonzaga

28) Minnesota Timberwolves (from Boston)—DaJuan Summers, SF/PF, Georgetown

29) L.A. Lakers—Marcus Thornton, PG, LSU

30) Cleveland Cavaliers—Danny Green, SG/SF, North Carolina

Second Round

1) Sacramento Kings—Patrick Mills, PG, St. Mary’s

2) Portland Trailblazers (from Clippers)—Gani Lawal, PF/C, Mississippi State

3) Washington Wizards—Derrick Brown, PF, Xavier

4) Denver Nuggets (from Oklahoma City)—Nick Calathes, PG/SG, Florida

5) Memphis Grizzles—Victor Flaver, PF, International

6) Detroit Pistons (from Minnesota)—Tyler Smith, SF/PF, Tennessee

7) San Antonio Spurs (from Golden State)—Omri Casspi, SF, Israel

8) Portland Trailblazers (from New York)—Lee Cummard, SG, BYU

9) Detroit Pistons (from Toronto)—Michael Washington, PF, Arkansas

10) Charlotte Bobcats (from New Jersey)—Toney Douglas, PG/SG, Florida State

11) Milwaukee Bucks—Milan Macvan, PF/C, International

12) L.A. Lakers (from Charlotte)—Jerel McNeal, SG, Marquette

13) Miami Heat (from Indiana)—Jermaine Taylor, SG, Central Florida

14) Detroit Pistons—Jodie Meeks, SG, Kentucky

15) Minnesota Timberwolves (from Philadelphia)—Josh Heytvelt, PF, Gonzaga

16) Cleveland Cavaliers (from Chicago)—Jeff Pendergraph, PF, Arizona State

17) Minnesota Timberwolves (from Miami)—Jonas Jerebko, SF, Sweden

18) Phoenix Suns—A.J. Price, PG, Connecticut

19) Atlanta Hawks—Sergio Llull, PG/SG, International

20) Utah Jazz—Curtis Jerrells, PG, Baylor

21) San Antonio Spurs (from New Orleans)—Dar Tucker, SF, DePaul

22) Indiana Pacers (from Dallas)—Greivis Vasquez, SG, Maryland

23) San Antonio Spurs (from Rockets)—Paul Harris, SG, Syracuse

24) Charlotte Bobcats (from San Antonio)—Vladimir Dasic, SF/PF, International

25) Portland Trailblazers (from Denver)—Dante Cunningham, PF, Villanova

26) Portland Trailblazers—Emir Preldzic, SF, International

27) Phoenix Suns (from Orlando) - DeMarre Carroll PF, Missouri

28) Boston Celtics-Taj Gibson PF, USC

29) L.A. Lakers- K.C. Rivers SG, Clemson

30) Miami Heat (from Cleveland)- Jon Brockman PF, Washington

* Next NBA Mock Draft Update: June 1^st*

Zane Johnson to Transfer

Derek Pivko — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:44:57 -0400

It’s been Miller Time all over Tucson, Az. ever since Sean Miller arrived in the desert. However, for one Arizona Wildcat the party is over.

Zane Johnson raised some eyebrows today after announcing he will be transferring, though where he will be transferring to has not been decided.

Johnson, a Phoenix native and a close friend of former Wildcat and current Portland Trail Blazers guard, Jerryd Bayless, averaged 4.6, points, 1.8 rebounds, 19.1 minutes per game while starting in 13 of 33 games for the Wildcats.

There is speculation that Johnson might be joining former Wildcats head coach Russ Pennell at Grand Canyon University.

Pennell guided the Arizona Wildcats to a 21-14 record including a surprising Sweet 16 appearance in this year’s NCAA Tournament, after serving as interim head coach following the announcement of Lute Olson's retirement back on October 25, 2008.

If Zane Johnson decides to transfer to a Division I school he will have to sit out a year, as former Arizona Wildcats Lucas Laval-Perry and Jeff Withey did. All three former Wildcats were recruited by Lute Olson. However, none of them ever played a game for him.

Johnson is known as a dangerous three point shooter and whoever gets him will be left dribbling.

Reid Fliehr Arrested for Heroin

Derek Pivko — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:09:07 -0400

Having the last name of Flair (or Fliehr), it is only natural to be known as “the dirtiest player in the game”.

However, Richard Reid Fliehr brought the nickname “the dirtiest player in the game” to a whole new level on Sunday when officers found heroin in his vehicle.

The 21-year-old son of the legendary Ric Flair was charged with driving while impaired and driving with a revoked license.

According to a published police report, Officer Murphy of the Charlotte Mecklenberg Police Department said Fliehr stopped at a stop sign located on Shadow Lane Drive when he nodded off and hit the gas driving straight ahead into a four-lane road where he went on to a hit a small tree.

It was estimated that Fliehr was driving at 20 miles per hour when the speed limit is 35. The vehicle damage is estimated at $500.

The scene of the accident is only seven minutes away from the Fliehr’s house. The seven-minute drive home would turn out to be a seven deadly sin for Fliehr, whose physical condition was impaired due to drugs and alcohol. Officer Murphy discovered heroin in his Dodge vehicle, which is registered under his father’s name.

Fliehr would only continue to give his father’s name a bad name (no Bon Jovi joke intended) due to this was his third run in with the law in the last two years and his second run in with the law in two months.

Back on March 4, Reid was arrested following a traffic stop and was charged with Driving While Impaired. On June 23, 2007 Reid was charged with two misdemeanor charges: assault with infliction of serious injury and assault and battery.

It looks like Reid Fliehr is a figure four leg-lock away from throwing his life away. Reid is currently featured in The Wrestler Magazine which will be on newsstands until May 26where wrestling journalist Dan Murphy said, “With just one match under his belt, it’s too early to know if Reid Flair is destined for superstardom, but what he showed in his pro debut makes us think he’s on the right path.”

If the right path means getting arrested three times in the last two years then Dan Murphy is absolutely correct. Apparently Fliehr doesn’t know that what happens outside the ropes isn’t fake.

Reid’s pro wrestling debut on December 6th, 2008 might go down as the most memorable according to the Internet wrestling community.

Reid teamed up with his brother (who looks more like Flubber than a wrestler these days) to face legendary tag team the Nasty Boys with wrestling Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan as the special guest referee.

Can you name any other wrestlers who debuted in the same ring as Hulk Hogan?

Then again, not everybody grew up as Richard Reid Fliehr.

However, the future of Reid Flair remains uncertain after being spoon-fed his entire life, he now faces Superior Court level offenses after having possession of a controlled dangerous substance (heroin).

There is nothing attractive about heroin. You don’t find people shooting up heroin at clubs as it is not a social drug like cocaine. The only people that understand coke heads are coke heads themselves.

They speak a million words a minute while the other user waits for the other person to stop talking so they can speak in a garbled dialogue. Whereas, someone using heroin will experience feeling drowsy for several hours.

Just because someone is feeling drowsy doesn’t mean that they are using heroin, so if you are at work or school tomorrow and see someone who looks drowsy do not go out and call them a heroin user.

There is no joke about heroin if Reid has a heroin problem, then he needs to seek help before he throws away his 21 years of life away. I’m not sure if Reid has a heroin addiction but if he does, he needs to fix it before it gets worse.

World Wrestling Entertainment Owner Vince McMahon has had a history of sending past employees to rehab.

McMahon should do the Fliehr family a favor and get Reid the help that he needs before he joins the fraternity of deceased wrestlers which lost “Playboy” Buddy Rose today.

Reid is only 21 years old let’s hope that he makes it to 22, which is 302 days away.

Andrew Martin Cause of Death Revealed

Derek Pivko — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:03:36 -0400

Former professional wrestler, Andrew Martin, died March 14^th just four days sky of his 34^thbirthday. The toxicology reports conducted in Hillsborough County, Florida discovered that Martin overdosed on Oxycodone.

Martin who was known in the wrestling world as “Test” and “The Punisher” became the latest loss in the wrestling world.

According to police reports, Martin was found in his apartment after a neighbor saw him lying in the middle of a room for hours. Police responded to find the 6-foot-6, 280 man who once entertained thousands every fans every Monday dead before the age of 34.

While the police investigated his apartment, they found steroids and painkillers. It was no surprise to find out today that the cause of death was an overdose on Oxycodone. Police also believe that he died in the middle of dinner since a half eaten pizza was also discovered.

Apparently the pizza wasn’t to die for as Martin’s life was taken away too shortly. As many wrestlers are.

Monday Night Videos is in the middle of making a life entitled The Circus: Live Fast, Die Young. In 2007, Martin was interviewed by this documentary film to discuss the young deaths in professional wrestling.

In a bone chilling interview Martin talks about 2007 was the worst year of his life explaining how he went to eight funerals in the past year saying how he shouldn’t be going to funerals at his age.

You can watch the interview by clicking this link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBdDKwqa8ZI

Martin will not be the only wrestler to die this year. I am sure that there will be others. However, when is the wrestling industry going to clean up its act?

The answer might be never. As the title of the upcoming movie The Circus says, the wrestling industry is a circus.

There are thousands of wrestlers, those who have retired and those who are currently wrestling. There are guys like Jake “The Roberts” who might as well have a tattoo written “Living Dead Proof” written across his forehead after the years of drug and alcohol that this man has gone through. However, as of today Jake is still alive and yet people like Martin are buried six feet under.

It’s a shame that the wrestlers that I grew up watching are no longer alive. Wrestlers such as Crash Holy, Eddie Guerrero, “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith, the list goes on and on. However, at the end of the day the only thing that Martin becomes is another statistic in an uncured problem that will continue to spread in the years to come.

Hero of the Underground: The Story of Jason Peter

Derek Pivko — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 10:28:40 -0400

Warning: The following article contains language which might be unsuitable for young readers. Prior to this article being written, I seeked approval from a Desk Editor at Bleacher Report. In the event of a curse word appearing in my article, I have placed an asterisk (not like the one that Barry Bonds should be given, but an asterisk next to any vowels.)

Imagine waking up tomorrow morning knowing that a book was being published about your darkest secrets being exposed to millions of potential readers. What would someone think of you if they really got to know the real you?

What are you hiding from people? Jason Peter “the self-proclaimed, the beast that society seems to worship- the football warrior, the All-American, the baddest motherf*cker in God’s own universe,” hides nothing in his 289 pages of Hero of the Underground.

When you open up to the first page and your eyes see this, “I wasn’t afraid of death. How could I be? I lived under death’s shadow very day.When you swallow 60 Vicodin, 20 sleeping pills, drink a bottle of vodka, and still survive, a certain sense of invulnerability stays with you.” You know you’re not reading your average book. As you’ll learn is nothing average about Jason Peter!

I read his book twice once in November and I just finished his book a few days ago. Each time I read his book I was mad that I finished. I kept looking at the blank pages thinking, “I want more, this book should never end.”

Why did I want more? Because I never read anything like this before. I grew up in a sheltered area in a town called Sparta, NJ, where my neighbors drove nice cars and lived in nice houses.

One of my neighbors (ok he lived three miles down the road) was Brad Pitt at one point. Jason grew up an hour and a half away from me in Middletown, NJ located on the New Jersey Shore (it is not called the ocean, it’s the Jersey Shore, get it right people) where he was the middle child of three brothers.

All three of his brothers received football scholarships to prestige colleges Nebraska and Notre Dame. However, a swimming accident left Jason’s younger brother Damien paralyzed, causing an end to what would have been a promising football career for Damien at Notre Dame.

Jason followed his older brother Christian to play football at the University of Nebraska. Christian and Jason had the opportunity to be coached by one of the greatest college football coaches of all-time, Tom Osborne. It wouldn’t surprise me one day if the state of Nebraska is named Osborne one day.

During Peter’s stay in Nebraska he led Nebraska to three National Championships in a span of four years, including beating future NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning and the Tennessee Volunteers, 42-17.

After winning the National Championship, Jason prepared for the upcoming NFL Draft where he was projected to be a top 10 draft pick according to the so called “experts.”

With the 14th pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, The Carolina Panthers selected Jason Peter. Jason expressed utter disappointment when he fell out of the top 10. However, this motivated Jason to show the other 13 teams that they missed out on him.

Jason had a rough time adjusting to his new lifestyle in Charlotte. He barely attended training camp because his agent was having problems negotiating a contract with the Panthers organization. Peter’s contract would be signed five days before the start of the regular season.

One thing that Jason would learn over the course of his brief NFL career was how to bribe doctors into giving anything he wanted in exchange Peter’s would return the favor of giving the doctor some signed NFL memorabilia. It didn’t matter if he asked for Oxycontin, Dilaudid, Vicodin, or Xanax, whatever he wanted, he got.

In December of 1998, Jason had his first of several surgeries of his NFL career. When he woke up from surgery, he was in more pain than when he walked in front door of the hospital.

He immediately screamed for a nurse where he was given morphine to tolerance the pain. When he left the hospital he was given a bottle of Vicodin which become his new best friend in the span of months.

Two months later, he was back in the surgery room. This time he needed work on his left shoulder. This surgery prevented him from any physical training until the end of April which set him back in the Panther organization since his teammates were hitting the weight room weeks after the season ended.

The inability to perform his job started to depress him where the only thing that kept him from going insane was the painkillers.

While Jason was rehabbing from his surgeries, the press would eat him up to the point that they questioned his dedication to the Carolina Panthers organization.

In March of 1999, Peter’s had his first run in with the law after getting arrested for DUI after leaving a club around three o’clock in the morning. His DUI arrest was be published in newspapers, where his already less-than-stellar name would hurt his image once again.

The phrase, “Jason, I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to operate,” became a regular conversation with him and doctors. After an injury against the New Orleans Saints his head coach George Seifert told him it was time for him to call it a career.

Prior to his retirement in 2000, Jason was taking over 60 Vicodin’s a day compared to the recommended take one or two every four hours (although you should consult your doctor to how much Vicodin you should take).

Peter quickly moved out of Charlotte after his NFL career folded. He didn’t take the news well, one day while driving on the Jersey Turnpike a pile of questions started circling in his head as he drove up to a tollbooth.

He wanted to get on the E-Z Pass lane, when he asked himself, “What the f*ck am I doing?” Peter was in no rush to get anywhere because he decided by tomorrow morning he’d be dead. The thoughts of suicide often haunted his dreams.

After moving out of Charlotte he ended up renting an apartment in New York City where he started to experiment with cocaine.

If Jason wasn’t high on drugs in his apartment, you could find him at the hottest nightclub in the city with a gorgeous actress by his side. He’d bring home any girl to his apartment to continue snorting cocaine while having meaningless sex.

In order to escape the cocaine and club scene Jason would go to his parent’s house almost every weekend.

However, everything would be waiting for him when he got back to the city that never sleeps.

When Jason returned home he had hundreds of pills scattered around his apartment and he knew where each and every pill was. The only thing that he looked forward to was getting high, it was the only thing he thought about to the point where he was paranoid about them.

“Sometimes I would have these crazy fantasies of what would happen in the case of a war or a natural disaster. What if a rogue state nuked the United States? What would happen to me? Where would I get my tablets from then?

"Yeah, my main concern in the event of a nuclear attack was “Will I still be able to get my drugs? You should try it sometime. If you think that sounds funny, or weird, you just try it.

"The first time you ever run low on those motherfucking tablets, the blood turns to ice water in your veins, then the cramps and the hives and the shitting, and finally you brain turns into a lump of white hot shrapnel. F*ck. A nuclear warhead couldn’t scare me. I knew what real fear was.”

It sounds funny at first, but until you realize that he’s isn’t trying to be funny, the humor comes to a close. One day while he was at his parents’ house he burned through his pills too quickly and ran out.

In a panic, he ripped apart his parents’ house searching for his father’s Vicodin. He was no longer a professional athlete, instead he was a professional junkie.

“Along with the painkillers, I was snorting cocaine at epic levels. That was the only thing that got me out of the house and into the nightclubs so I could try to drink and f*ck the misery out of myself.

"The next morning, when I’d wake up in a ménage of coke-smeared mirrors and nude, snoring strippers, I would truly know the meaning of the word “misery.”

Never in Peter’s wildest dreams did he think that this was the way his life was going to be in his mid to late 20’s. One day when it was at his parent’s house he decided to attempt suicide figuring he needed to put an end to his misery.

“I had already taken thirty Vicodin and was halfway down on a bottle of Grey Goose. I was not scared.

"Taking one last look at the place, the home I grew up in, the home I had spent many glorious, carefree summers in, I emptied out the bottle of painkillers and shoved them, five at a time, into my mouth, knocking them back with great gulps from the bottle of vodka.

"I figured that an additional 30 Vicodin and 20 Ambien I had on me should do the trick. When I swallowed everything, I took another good solid hit from the booze, killing it. My guts gurgled and rumbled, ominously.”

Jason Peter would not die.

He couldn’t believe how he survived his own suicide attempt, it was later explained by doctors how his body had built up a heavy drug tolerance where the average person would have died.

However, Jason Peter isn’t your average person.

What I’m about to say next is something that I don’t want you try but to just listen to what Jason just did. I bet if you went home put numerous amounts of painkillers in your mouth while chugging a bottle of Grey Goose vodka, with 30 Vicodin and 20 Ambien that you wouldn’t live to see the next day.

When Jason got up he realized that he was shocked to find out he was still alive, yet he never felt so miserable in his life.

Jason just attempted suicide, reality starts to shine in a little bit. He wonders maybe this is the day that his life would turnaround for the better. With tears in his eyes he called his older brother Christian and told him what happened.

When Christian rushed over to find Jason all they could do was hold each other in their arms. Jason never thought he’d never be able to touch his older brother again. They tried to calm one another down but when someone overcomes surviving their own death it’s almost impossible to calm somebody down.

Jason decided that it was time to enter rehab. One of his ex-girlfriends told him a long time ago about Sierra Tucson a rehab center located in Tucson, AZ that saved her life. His younger brother Damien made the call and that evening they were both on a plane to Tucson.

It was recommended that Jason should continue using the pills until he showed up at Sierra Tucson. Jason threw the pills in his mouth like candy on the plane while drinking alcohol like he was drinking bottled water. He ended up spending a lot of time in the bathroom on the airplane throwing up and sh*tting viciously.

A stewardess became worried about his condition. Damien alerted the stewardess saying his brother is terrified of flying and somehow the stewardess decided to buy it and told him to not worry saying that they are in great hands.

Meanwhile Jason’s hands were busy holding onto the toilet as he continued to throw up whatever came out of his body.

Once they finally got off the plane at Tucson International Airport they had a good 50 minute drive until they arrived at Sierra Tucson.

Jason had no idea what to expect when he checked into Sierra Tucson. Little did he know that he was in for a tough time. He was put in a room with two people, one who was detoxing from a lifetime of alcohol abuse and this other guy that Jason had no idea what his problem was but it didn’t sound good.

Jason then explains the other guy in the room by the name who went by the name Michael.

“Of course, when we talk about my roommates, we have to mention Mike. Mike wasn’t a junkie. Mike was technically medical staff, although whether he had a PhD or a GED, I don’t know. Mike looked like the world’s most pissed-off bouncer.

"He was paid to sit in a chair in the corner of the room to make sure that nobody died. Every so often, if Stan, Enrique, or I fell silent for too long, he’d yell over, 'You still with me, boys?'"

To make a long story short about Peter’s rehab stint in Sierra Tucson, didn’t work out for him. The only thing that Sierra Tucson did for him was diagnose him with more illnesses.

In a sick twisted humor, Peter’s elaborated about one of his meetings with his shrink. “I accidentally talked myself into being diagnosed with another condition: sex addiction. Yes, folks, I was not only was a junkie and a f*ckup, now I was an anorexic nymphomaniac, too.”

I never met a 245 pound anorexic person in my life and probably never will, hopefully. During his visit in Sierra Tucson he attended meeting for sex addicts where he learned about this one person who found it impossible to go through a day at his job without sneaking off into the bathroom to masturbate six or seven times a day.

After attending these meetings, Jason knew he wasn’t getting the right treatment and checked out against medical advice.

Throughout this book, I learned just how much Jason’s family cared about him. Despite the numerous times that he broke his families hearts, including giving a mother a heart attack (which will be discussed later on), his family never gave up on him.

Jason knew he was hurting his family and he tried his best to listen to his family because it broke his heart knowing what he was putting them through. When his brothers and a childhood friend made an unexpected visit to his apartment one day, Jason took off running.

However, later on Jason returned to his apartment to discover his brothers and friend were still there.

They weren’t going to leave until they talked to him.

His brothers wanted Jason to speak counseling. They tried arraigning an appointment with his brother’s shrink Dr. Deptford. In what might be the funniest line in the entire book we learned that Dr. Deptford was booked solid.

Let me show you what why I laughed when Jason found out he couldn’t talk to Dr. Deptford right away. “Business must have been good, I thought. There’s no shortage of crazy people in New Jersey.”

For the first time I have to agree with Jason, having lived in New Jersey for almost my entire life I must say the craziest people I have ever encountered were from New Jersey, Jason Peter being one of them.

Dr. Deptford finally met with Jason where he told Jason straight up that he needed to go back to rehab. I probably could have told him that and I only have an Associate’s Degree as of today.

Jason would head off to another rehab center this time located in Pennsylvania, home of the worst drivers in the United States but that’s a different story. Jason’s rehab center was about two hours and forty-five minutes away from his parent’s house although they never came to visit.

How could they visit, he barely stayed there.

One thing that Jason learned about checking into rehab centers is that they will search looking for any type of drugs. Jason learned this from Sierra Tucson so he became sneaky when he taped twenty Vicodin on the tongue of his left shoe and ten Ambien on the tongue of his right shoe.

The main difference between Sierra Tucson and Marworth was how strict Marworth was. Jason was told that he was not able to talk with the opposite sex and if he did (or got caught) he would be asked to leave.

They did this because they believe if a female can support a drug habit without a man to help her that now isn’t the time for a man to help her.

It makes sense in a way but I would go crazy I can’t go a day without talking to a female. But I do understand the circumstances and what Marworth was trying to accomplish.

I’m not going to talk about Marworth that much since he only stayed there for five days. However, some of the funniest stories in the book came from his stay at Marworth.

In fact, one of my favorite moments in the book comes when Jason is at a meeting where he is exposed to an alcoholic to the point where’d he drink mouthwash to clear up his delirium tremens whenever the liquor store closed.

Later on in the day when Jason returned to his room he found out he was getting a roommate. And who was that roommate going to be?

The man who drank mouthwash!

Jason decided he wasn’t going to put up with this guy and he packed up and got the hell out of Pennsylvania to head back to city that never sleeps. It turns out Jason wouldn’t sleep much either. One night Jason was at a party when he received a phone call from somebody that he met at Sierra Tucson telling him about a rehab center in Utah.

Jason’s friend convinced him to come out just like any male friend would do, by telling him there were gorgeous females working there (even if they were Mormon).

The next day Jason was on a plane to Utah which happened to be the same weekend of the Sundance film festival. Jason ended up sitting next to director Spike Lee who became furious with Jason during the flight. Jason’s nose was bothering him due to the cocaine usage so during the entire flight Spike kept hearing Jason huffing and puffing.

I could only imagine what was going through Spike’s head but he kept silent because let’s be honest, Jason could have put Spike in a body bag if the two got in an altercation.

Jason actually had a successful stay at Cirque Lodge for the most part. Like any straight male, he enjoyed the company of the beautiful woman while he tried to get his drug habit under control. What Jason admired about this place was how they managed him during his stay.

What made Cirque Lodge stand out from Marworth and Sierra Tucson was that they weren’t there to diagnose him instead their focus was to keep him off drugs while teaching him to start a new life.

However, the one bad thing about drug rehab is that you are introduced to others with similar problems as yourself. Jason would encounter people who told him about how they got high. One person told him that there was no better feeling than coke and smack (heroin) together.

Jason completed his fifty days at Cirque Lodge and believed that he would be able to conquer his demons. He had his car shipped over to the Lodge where he would do a road trip to Los Angeles, CA to visit a friend he met during his stay at Sierra Tucson.

It seemed Los Angeles was the ideal place for him and his friend would be the perfect connection for him since Jason wanted to get into acting.

Jason’s friend was David Rosenberg whose family comes from a well-respected movie-making family in Hollywood. In exchange for getting Jason some auditions, Jason would be David’s personal trainer so he could get rid of his beer gut.

However, before any of this happened Jason would have to get there first. Jason was looking at a nine hour and forty minute drive from Sundance, Utah to Los Angeles, California that would be a day’s drive, or so he thought.

After five hours into his journey his phone went off. This time it was a former friend of his from the NFL asking him where he was at. Jason told him he was in route to California while his friend was in Las Vegas urging him to stop by.

The trip to Los Angeles would be put on hold since Jason was going to Sin City, the perfect place to go after exiting a rehab program!

Eight hours after exiting Cirque Lodge Jason was sitting in his hotel room with two eight-balls of cocaine staring back at him. The entire night in Vegas flew by thanks to the cocaine and alcohol.

Jason would hit up the casinos, strip clubs and night clubs while snorting lines of cocaine with siliconed dancers in the VIP section. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t what Cirque Lodge wanted him to do after exiting rehab although Jason never really did tell what he was supposed to do after leaving the Lodge but I am only speculating.

I’m probably right since the very next morning he left Vegas in disgust. The angrier he was the faster he drove as he made it to Los Angeles in record time. He needed to talk to David since he thought he had it together. However, after reading Jason’s book I wonder if anyone living in Los Angeles has it together.

Jason arrived at David’s house located in Bel Air while the two talked about their stay at Sierra Tucson. This is when David turned out of character when he told Jason that he has a friend who has some killer blow (cocaine).

Everything that he learned from Cirque Lodge was officially out the window since within the hour both David and Jason were cutting out lines of cocaine while doing some heavy duty drinking.

Los Angeles seemed almost as welcoming as Las Vegas was to him the night before.

However, driving out to Los Angeles turned out to be one of the worst ideas he ever made. David introduced Jason to his friend/drug connection. Zora, from the description that Jason gives us, could have starred in the 2004 release of the movie The Stepford Wives.

Zora introduced Jason to the most dangerous drug in the world, Crystal Meth. What made matters worse was the people that were hanging out with Zora and Jason. One time while Jason was over Zora’s house he was smoking Crystal Meth was an on-call EMT doctor.

This is why I stated earlier if anyone had Los Angeles had their stuff together. If anyone that is reading this lives in Los Angeles and are taken to a hospital my ambulance do me a favor ask if anyone by the name of Mickey is in the ambulance with you.

Mickey was hanging out with Jason for an hour when his beeper went off and he sprung into action barking instructions to the person on the other side of his cell phone, he would be reporting to a bloody freeway pileup while high on crystal meth, unbelievable. You really can’t make this stuff up.

During his stay in Los Angeles, Jason would call home to check up with his family he’d continue to tell his rehearsed lies saying that things were going really well. Jason truly was becoming a professional liar, too bad that doesn’t make any income because he would have made a killing off that.

Despite the fact that he was wasting away at life, Jason knew he was a wreck. After hanging out with this one girl who reminded him of past relationships, the girl pointed out that they were bad for each other or in her own words, they were poison for another.

The poison hadn’t leaked into Jason’s head just yet as he was wise enough to understand he needed help, he needed to go home and confront his family for the first time in months.

When Jason returned home he was physically and mentally drained from his stay in Los Angeles. His mother knew that his stay in Los Angeles was nothing but lies. As his addiction was not only a poison to himself but to his family as well.

His mother looked like she could have had a mental breakdown at any moment while his father continued to live in misery.

Jason decided to head back to Cirque Lodge under strict rules thanks to his new counselor. He wasn’t able to have a car, he had a rigid and uncompromising schedule. Jason knew this wasn’t going to work out from the get go just because his counselor was female.

Jason felt that he couldn’t fully speak his mind to her, or expect her to understand his problems.

His second stay at Cirque Lodge lasted for forty-five days.

Jason decided to form his own way of recovery compared to the 12-step programs that numerous rehab centers attempt on their patients. Jason’s six step program was: no cocaine before 5:00, no cocaine after midnight, attend the gym regularly, no more pain pills, keep tight with Katrina (a girl he met at Marworth), keep your parents happy.

You could probably guess who well his six step program worked. The first step that went out the door was the pain killers. Jason explains that the pills were hard to get off, and he only did the pills on the days that he needed a break from cocaine.

When you’re a drug addict and you’re used to being on drugs that when you’re not them it makes the minutes and hours of the day an eternity. Jason would slowly realize his method was a hoax as he battled to get through the day staying clean.

If Jason wasn’t seeing Katrina during the weekend, he would freebase, a drug term for when the drugs are absorbed into the lungs where it reaches the brain in about five seconds.

The rush becomes more intense compared to sniffing the cocaine. However, the effects don’t last as long. It’s amazing what you can learn when you pick up a book and read sometimes.

Jason’s relationship with Katrina was short lived after Jason thought it would be a funny idea to show up to an Alcohol Anonymous New Years Eve Party high on cocaine. He figured it would be funny instead it would be anything but funny, more like humiliating.

It wouldn’t take long for Jason to find himself a new girl it was easier than shooting fish in a barrel. However, these girls weren’t the type of girls that you would want to bring home to your parents.

Jason met a girl named Diane at a strip club and he was immediately drawn to her looks. You know looks don’t always mean everything from what I’m told. However, when all you want is a quick screw, finding a girl at a rundown strip club might be your best option.

Diane would be a relief to Jason since he no longer had to cover up his drug habit anymore since Diane joined in on the drug activities. After the strip club would close it was common for Jason to bring the party back to his place where at any time there would be four strippers in his bedroom.

However, they were as visible as ghosts because the only eyes he would lay on were Diane’s.

So much for the quick screw, Diane would last for about a year. When the party ended and the other dancers went to wherever home was for them, Diane stayed with Jason.

When describing Diane, Jason said, “That f*cking body of hers, it was crazy making. She was the kind of woman who could drive a guy to murder or the creation of great f*cking symphonies.

"After a few days of us hanging out in my apartment, getting high, talking about everything and anything, I thought, 'This chick is gonna be the f*cking death of me.' Honestly, I didn’t care.”

So once again Jason wasn’t worried of death because he apparently had everything he wanted with Diane. She had the luxury of reintroducing him to smoking heroin. Jason tried this once when he was living in Charlotte but had a bad experience with heroin after spending the night throwing it up.

After staying up for 24 hours, doing speed and crack he thought why the hell not try some heroin? This is kind of hysterical (in an awkward way) because earlier in the book, Jason thought crack without heroin just doesn’t make any sense, thinking it was a waste of time.

Diane pretty much lived at Jason’s apartment to the point where it was debatable as to questioning who had the worse drug habit Diane or Jason. Towards the end of this relationship I would have to say Diane by a long shot.

During this span, the only thing she wanted was to have sex with Jason and do drugs. However, the sex would die off after a while because neither had the physical energy to have sex. The only thing that they could do was get high.

I couldn’t imagine a more disgusting couple off the top of my head then them. They shared everything together in that apartment, it was amazing that they actually ate because the way Jason described this relationship was doing drugs 24/7 or nursing the other person when they got sick from the drugs.

Over the course of a year this was what the relationship led too. That is until one night...

One night while Diane was lying in bed, sweat soaking through the sheets, as she battled to come off of heroin she broke down. She started to search like a scavenger looking for rocks of crack in which she might have dropped. Jason said to cut it out as she was going crazy. The word crazy isn’t the right word as to explain what happened next.

Diane scaled up to the balcony, threatening to commit suicide, and Jason couldn’t bear to watch as he ran for the streets. Jason never saw her again, thinking that she probably killed herself, Jason didn’t want to see himself like Diane, as this lifestyle was getting old.

However, he wouldn’t clean up overnight. Even though the lifestyle of his had run its peak it was the only thing that he knew.

In a final attempt to get cured he talked to his Aunt which told him about a new procedure called rapid opiate detox. It was a costly procedure and even though Jason had burned through his wallet with purchasing drugs over the course of time, the money never ran out.

What this procedure would did was it knocks you out for 72 hours with heavy sedation, and you are put on another drug into your system which vacuums the heroin right out of you. This would speed up the withdrawal so it’s over within 72 hours. And you wake up, cured!

Alleluia praise the lord!

You know when something appears to go to be true, it probably is. Jason needed a miracle to clean up his act and this wouldn’t be his miracle. It truly is amazing what Jason does to try and clean up his lifestyle. I’m sure that this rapid opiate detox does work for almost everyone.

Then again not everybody is Jason Peter as this is only one Jason Peter.

Jason would arrive in Orange County, California to a luxury rehab center called Beau Monde which surprised me when I found that it has since closed down. However, Jason would make the greatest arrival of all-time, he was flying in with “style” or at least a style that any drug user would drool over.

Jason hired a private plane which cost $30,000 and he paid for this with no hesitation.

$30,000 is a lot of money and for him to pay for him with a swipe of a credit card makes me a little jealous. However, never do I want to go through Jason went through. Apparently money really doesn’t buy happiness since I don’t think you could define the term misery any better than illustrating a picture of Jason’s face in the dictionary.

Jason would fly out of a small airport located in Teterboro, NJ. The night before he left for California, he hired a limo to drive him into New York City to pick up 10 eight-balls of coke and seven bundles of heroin. Jason wasn’t finished. He also hired two female escorts to come along with him for the flight.

I could only imagine what was going through the limo drivers head or if the limo driver even knew what he was doing. God forbid, they got pulled over by the police and searched the limo to find a massive amount of cocaine and heroin that would be enough to lock up both them up life pending an investigation.

Nothing bad happened during the trip into the city and everything went according to plan. However, during this time 9/11 wasn’t too long ago and the thought of going through security freaked Jason out. I’ll let Jason describe what he did to get through security.

“There was a bulge in my pants as we waited to board the plane at Teterboro but as beautiful as the girls were, they weren’t the source of it. No, the bulge was the thick packages of drugs that I had taped to my pubic area with masking tape. I figured that if there was some kind of security check, maybe the airline would have the decency not to rummage around in my balls looking for contraband.”

Jason’s paranoid thoughts about going through security vanished when he didn’t even have to go through security, so now he could create a new bulge in his pants with two lovely escorts by his side.

Jason went straight for his pants when he pulled out “the good stuff” and by judging by the girls faces when they saw cocaine and heroin coming out his pants, it was like Christmas to them.

Jason immediately told the girls that the heroin wasn’t for them but they could have all the coke their nostrils could handle. Jason figured any escort appreciates some cocaine every once in a while. “You show me an escort who doesn’t do coke and I’ll show you a politician who never told a lie.”

Jason truly knew how to go to rehab in style, he spent $30,000 on the jet, approximately $3,000 on the cocaine and heroin and probably a good bundle of cash on the two escorts.

One thing that didn’t cross Jason’s mind was that this plane would have to stop at some point to refuel. The plane would refuel in Missouri, as Jason and the escorts became paranoid that the pilots would see the drugs and report them to the police.

In an effort to shut two screaming girls up, Jason did what any good guy would do. In the event that the police did show up he would say that all the drugs were his so that the girls wouldn’t get in any trouble.

You think Jason was a nice guy? Just wait 'til you find out what the pilots did for him them. Not only did they not alert the police but they even cleaned up the place a little bit where there was a neat stack of heroin and another neat stack of cocaine, it was as if pilots see this on a regular basis.

Wait, do they?

“God bless America,” one of the girls said as they got back on the plane and headed to California where Jason would go through the worst pain he ever experienced in his life.

After Jason arrived in Orange County and was taken to Beau Monde, he was immediately thrown into rapid opiate detox, where he’d wake up 72 hours later in pain that morphine just couldn’t fix.

Apparently the doctor made a “little” mistake when talking to Jason about his heroin usage. The doctor scribbled down that Jason was doing two to three bags of heroin a day. When it actuality Jason was doing using two to three bundles of heroin a day. For those who are wondering a bundle contains 10 bags, you do the math. It’s quite the difference.

The doctor couldn’t believe, and he stupidly asked Jason if he was sure that was used that much a day. Just imagine the look in Jason’s face when he responded back to the doctor. I’ll let you use your imagination on that one.

The morphine would start to kick in to where Jason could actually feel it this time knocking him out into a “nice” sleep.

That “nice” sleep ended as soon as he woke up, every part of his body hurt as every nerve in his body screamed for relief.

Jason didn’t get cured like he envisioned he only felt pain that he didn’t think he could encounter. He screamed at the doctor as the doctor told him that a period of adjustment is expected and that there would be no more sedatives for the time being.

Jason called his mother telling her that this in anger saying how this didn’t work and that he was leaving. His mother tried to calm him down as she tried calling the doctor in a panic to help her son out. The doctor told Jason’s mom that he wouldn’t be able to leave since he was in no condition to walk.

This is where the Incredible Hulk formerly known as Jason Peter appears.

When you tell Jason Peter that he can’t do something, he will prove you wrong. After 15 minutes of staggering around Jason got out of his room wearing a horribly buttoned, untucked shirt with all his belongings roughly shoved into a suitcase.

Jason would become the first patient that Dr. Benway would ever lose. The nurses couldn’t believe they were talking to a “standing” Jason Peter. You try being on so much morphine that would please someone who does two to three bundles of a heroin a day and try getting out a bed and attempting to walk four feet let alone the distance that Jason walked.

Jason called a limo service to pick up.

He knew that Los Angeles wasn’t too far away from Beau Monde. Despite the condition that Jason was in, he noticed something about his driver that only a drug addict would spot.

Jason knew that the driver had crystal meth on him and Jason was craving it like a starving man needing food to stay alive. So instead of driving to Los Angeles, the driver pulled over and jumped in the back of the limo and smoked crystal meth with Jason just 15 minutes after walking out of rehab.

Once again there will never be another person like Jason Peter or at least I hope not.

When nightfall hit, Jason ended up in his natural habitat, a four-hundred-dollar-a-night hotel this time located on Sunset Boulevard.

Jason turned on the television as he relaxed on the bed with everything a crystal meth used would need, a glass pipe, cooking ladle, aluminum foil with a nice combination of cocaine and heroin. Not once did Jason think about his family, at any moment he did think of his family he’d banish the thoughts with drugs.

Eventually Jason had enough of the mind-games going on his head and decided to call his drug buddy/limo driver to bring him to a new destination hoping Beau Monde would eventually be his final destination.

Jason did eventually show up at Beau Monde despite some minor/major altercations leading up to the event such as showing up late, but the important thing was he got there.

After a screaming match with a lady over an intercom, the lady informed him that he couldn’t check in since the doctor wasn’t there, therefore he couldn’t be let in.

Not be able to get into Beau Monde because he was hours late of his expected check in time of 6 PM. When he arrived at 2 AM, you think about it; he was only eight hours late. Well that was late enough and was told to come back at 9 AM.

Jason in a frantic mood called his brother Christian telling him what happened. Christian told him he better show up at 9 and Jason told him he would. However, if you have been following Jason’s story of telling someone he would do something you only know that he was full of it.

Jason would leave in the limo and arrive at another hotel where Jason slept for three days straight only to be awakened by security guards after his mom figured out where he was staying. Jason immediately called his mom completely going off on his mother.

He displeased that his own mother thought that he was dead. However, all she was like any good mother would do was worried about her son.

After hanging up with the phone with his mother who was holding back tears, Jason did what he did best, he got higher. After figuring out that Jason hadn’t checked into Beau Monde the phone rang once again this time his brother called with bad news.

He told Jason that Mom was sick and in the hospital, thinking that she might have had a heart attack.

Enough was enough, Jason was going to rehab and this time he wasn’t leaving until he knew he could survive without the one thing that ruled his life for the last few years, drugs.

It was like as if nothing happened days before when he showed up at the gates of Beau Monde screaming at the lady talking on the Intercom. He was greeted warmly by the same lady that he walked out in during his last stay at Beau Monde.

It was a busy morning over at Beau Monde when asked what he should do someone recommended for him to hang out by the pool for a while. I bet Jason hadn’t sat by a pool in a few years, he was then shown to his room which was a stone throw away from the indoor pool.

Jason originally believed he’d stay there for thirty days when he actually ended up staying there for a year. Instead of doing to a 12-step program where he would be lectured on how it was his disease talking to him.

Jason was given a personal treatment plan where he had a measure of control over what he was doing which gave him a sense of faith feeling that he could really change.

The detoxification process was nowhere as extreme as it was in the past. This time he was given a drug called Suboxone which dissolves under your tongue and gives you a less high feeling compared to morphine or heroin and makes it an easier to stop taking. Suboxone can cause death if you do overdose from it.

However, the thought of killing himself had longed escaped the mind of Jason Peter.

The longer he stayed at Beau Monde, the more freedom Jason had to roam around. He was able to come and go, spend the afternoon at a movie theater or spend hours sitting in a coffee house. He knew he could do this because he didn’t have the urge that he once had to get high.

The news of Jason making progress delighted his family which they told him to stay as long as it took.

During his stay at Beau Monde, he made an appearance on a HBO series called Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Jason would appear twice on the show while being treated at Beau Monde.

The interview was done over a course of a day with a guy named Bernard Goldberg, who Jason recognized right away because Bernard had once done a negative piece on Nebraska back in the nineties.

In between takes, the two would not talk with one another as they sat in silence as the camera crew and the director would line up the next shot.

During the interview, Jason let it all out acknowledging he abused painkillers, crack and heroin and admitting that he was in fact a junkie.

After the interview was over, Jason became worried about the interview because the only people that knew of his problems were his close friends and family and now anyone who turned into the show would find out about his story.

Once the piece aired on television, he watched it with his counselor Heidi. He sat there nervously as he watched himself talk openly on the television that he was indeed a junkie. After the piece ended, he was shaken up but Heidi told him he did well.

After the show aired, he became a recognized face in Orange County. Wherever he went people would come up to him tell him that how great it was to tell his story.

A follow up story was aired months later where this time he got to know Bernie. The two talked during the breaks and had a couple of laughs together, they would actually become friends after the interview.

Towards the end of the show, Bernie would lean across to Jason slightly and told him, “I hope you make it.”

The key word in the last sentence was hope...A word that Jason had once abandoned was now brought back into his life.

What kind of heroic story doesn’t end with the guy getting the girl? This story would end with Jason meeting the girl of his dreams.

Sarah was described as the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and he knew that this was the girl that he waited his whole life to meet. The two hit it off right away after a friend of Jason’s introduced him to her.

It was around this time that Jason bought a puppy which became a symbol that not only was he able to take care of himself, but he could take of somebody else as well.

Jason’s puppy Hank was busy seeking immediate attention and Sarah would give Hank all the attention he wanted.

Jason liked the fact that Sarah was a dog lover as the two would talk about family, something which Jason was blown away by when Sarah started talking about how close she was with her family.

After meeting one another, Jason didn’t want this to end as he immediately called her asking to get together again. It what seemed like a lifetime to him the two got together again, this time Jason spilled his guts about his past.

He was worried that she would find out by her just googling his name on the Internet and find out what he had been through.

This had to be hard for him to do but it had to be done. Sarah was a taken back a little, because I’m sure never in her lifetime that she would ever have this conversation with anyone. The only thing that she wanted to know was if he was all done with everything. Jason without doubting himself told her that he was done with everything.

Great, he passed the first test but how would her parents react to their daughter dating a former junkie? Instead of his family responding how he expected. He expected his parents to ask Sarah if she thought this was a good idea.

Instead they thought about his poor mother, thinking about what she must have went through.

After that touchy conversation with meeting her parents, the two became inseparable. They went to her nephew’s baseball games, went out to dinner with her family, just to prove that he could be trusted with their loving daughter. It was then when Jason said the words he had been waiting to tell Sarah the three magic words, “I love you.”

Never did he think he’d see the day that he would be getting married but after everything he has gone through I think marriage was only bound for happen. Everything was going right for Jason it only a matter of time until he fell in love.

During the ceremony Jason started looking at everyone in attendance. Everybody that in attendance he had once hurt, he looked at his brothers, his parents, his friends and now he looked into the eyes of someone that mattered to him the most and the two said, “I do.”

My response to Hero of the Underground

Believe it or not, there is a lot more to the story of Jason Peter. What I covered in the is only the basics of Hero of the Underground.

I didn’t go over how he broke down in a hospital when he saw his brother Damien sitting in a hospital dead paralyzed after telling himself to brave for Damien.

However, broke down the moment he saw his little brother’s goal of playing at Notre Dame end after a freak accident. There is so much that I left out because I don’t want to give away his entire story.

I really hated the fact that this book had to come to an end. I have never enjoyed a book the way I enjoyed reading his life story. While I read this book I asked myself what kinds of people are reading his book.

I have an excellent long term memory but my short term memory is pretty much shot. I remember watching Jason Peter play at Nebraska back in the '90s.

I remember the fact that he was from New Jersey and I thought that was cool enough. I remember asking my parents where Middletown, NJ was and they said somewhere down the shore.

I don’t know why I asked so many questions when I watched Nebraska play against Peyton Manning and the Tennessee Volunteers but for some reason I did. I became an instant fan of someone that I didn’t even exist the day before.

One day last semester when I sitting in my Criminal Justice class the my mind went down memory lane and Jason Peter entered my mind. So I did what any person would do when the question of “whatever happened to so and so” enters their mind, I googled his name.

The word shocked couldn’t explain what I found. Right after class I walked over to the school bookstore and ordered Hero of the Underground. I got it the following Monday and I finished the book in ten days. I couldn’t his story was fact and not fiction.

I’ve used some of the pain killers that Jason abused in the past for surgeries that I’ve had, and I’m sure you the reader have used pain killers before. Last June I had a surgery performed here in Tucson. It was a real pain in the ass in my opinion, those who know me probably just got a good laugh out of my last statement.

After the surgery I got prescription for Oxycodine and the only directions I was given came on the label, take one tablet every six hours as needed for pain. When I returned home to New Jersey I met with my main doctor where I was given another prescription for Oxycodine.

This time my doctor looked me straight in the eye telling me this is something that I shouldn’t mess around with and take only when I was in pain. Wow, why couldn’t the one doctor in Arizona tell me this? I’m actually looking at the bottle that I was given it’s empty I don’t why I haven’t thrown it out yet, it’s been on the to do list.

The last time I would used Oxycodine was back in October when I was involved in a little car accident.

I don’t really understand how someone should become addicted to pain killers. However, after reading this book, I view the game of football from a different prospective. I realized that no athlete is ever 100 percent and that some athletes rely on pain killers such as Oxycodine or Xenax and could get a prescription quicker than it took me to write this last sentence.

I never answered my own question before, who else has read this book. I know it’s been a New York Times bestselling book. But why? Do people enjoy reading about someone being miserable and live to tell about it?

Has one of his readers ever battled drug addiction and want to read how Jason overcome his countless addictions? Has a die-hard Nebraska Cornhusker fan bought his book to think it was about all-about the dynasty that Nebraska built in the 1990’s to only never read the book and just put it on the shelf to collect dust?

Everyone has a different story as to why they do the things they do. Jason decided to share his story. I do fear that some people who read his book and it only gave them ideas to steal their parent’s pain killers or to wonder what it was like to get high off crystal meth compared to smoking marijuana.

I hope that if someone did have that idea that they finished Jason’s book. Jason didn’t risk his life this for entertainment.

This guy was miserable why would someone want to live the lifestyle that he lived? I wouldn’t wish my own worst enemy whomever they be (if I even have one or one day do have one) to go through what he went through.

I’m sure Jason has had people tell them that his book changed their lives. It made me somewhat realize what drug addicts go through. I don’t think anyone can really understand what someone has gone through unless they themselves have gone through it themselves.

It’s amazing that Jason doesn’t have a disease like HIV after the countless needles that he put in his body over the years. What’s even more remarkable is that he is a survivor. I think he survived because of the fact that despite the punishment that he put his family through, they never gave up on him. Remember the word hope?

Another thing that I learned during my reading of his book that just because what you have today doesn’t mean that it is going to be there tomorrow. Jason made his living using his body and when his body said game over, his life almost said game over as well.

It’s nice to hear that Jason is still clean, he currently lives in Nebraska where he is a college football legend. He currently works for ESPN Radio, I guess his mom was right that he would do well in broadcasting. I guess he hasn’t said any f-bombs on the radio since he hasn’t been kicked off the air yet.

If you haven’t read his book read it. It’s not an easy read, you might have to put it down sometimes since it might a little graphic at times. However, this is a true story and Jason Peter told it all in 289 pages what do you have to say about that?

Pac-10 Basketball Preview: Arizona Wildcats

Derek Pivko — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:05:54 -0500

The thought of Brandon Jennings, Jerryd Bayless, Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill, and Jeff Withey in the starting lineup for the Arizona Wildcats was a fantasy.

In reality, it was never going to happen. Brandon Jennings never picked up a textbook and failed his SATs, Bayless went to the NBA after his freshman year, and Withey transferred after Lute Olson’s retirement.

This leaves Budinger and Hill in the fantasy lineup. Both players are expected to leave at the end of the season, as both have futures in the NBA. Budinger is expected to shoot about 40 percent of the team's shots this year. Meanwhile, Hill looks to dominate the boards and be another go-to guy.

In the absence of Bayless, we have Nic Wise. Wise has returned for his junior season after rumors circulated back in May that he was transferring. Wise brings speed and experience to the point guard position. If Wise can stay healthy and not get banged up against his opponents, then he might just be the most valuable player on the team.

One thing that you cannot coach is speed, and Wise can run circles around several point guards in any conference. Wise is expected to be the iron man of the team, as he isn’t going to be sitting on the bench unless he is in foul trouble.

Now the question is, who gets the final two spots? Arizona has a talented small forward in Jamelle Horne who could start for almost any other Pac-10 school. However, with Budinger playing the small forward position, it looks like Horne will be the sixth man.

After a roller coaster summer and the loss of several recruits, Arizona signed recruits Kyle Fogg, Garland Judkins, and D.J. Shumpert to fill the losses of what could have been a very talented recruiting class. Fogg, Judkins, and Brendon Lavender are in position to battle for the shooting guard position, which was held by Jawaan McClellan.

In an exhibition game against Incarnate Word, we saw the very first of the 2008 Arizona Wildcats. With Wise and Hill not in the lineup due to being late for practice, Interim Head Coach Russ Pennell had to make a last-minute substitution to the starting lineup.

One player that took the opportunity in Hill’s absence was Alex Jacobson. Jacobson, a redshirt freshman, has lost 15 pounds from last season and held his own against Division II Incarnate Word. If Pennell decides to use Hill as a power forward, we could see Jacobson move into the starting role of center, which was shared by Hill and Kirk Walters last season.

One thing that we learned from tonight’s game is that Jordan Hill is the same player from last year. Hill continues to have foul trouble as he did last season. If Hill gets in foul trouble this year, Arizona doesn’t have a replacement for him, unless you move Horne or Shumpert over to the power forward position.

Shumpert, a Tucson native, might be what former Wildcat Bret Brielmaier was to the Wildcats. Brielmaier was an undersized power forward. Shumpert was a last-minute addition to the Wildcats.

One player that Arizona is very high on is Zane Johnson. Johnson, a good friend of Jerryd Bayless, is known for his three-point shooting. Johnson is looking to get some valuable minutes off the bench and hopes to have a better season than last season.

Finally, there is Fendi Onobun. Onobun enters his senior season at Arizona after averaging 8.8 points per game last year. Onobun could sneak into the starting lineup this season if he plays his cards right. Onobun is a veteran influence to a very young Wildcat team. Onobun is one of two seniors on the team, the other one being David Bagga.

Arizona is expected to finish fourth in the Pac-10 this year. UCLA is favored to return to the Final Four once again this year. Arizona State, who was stunned after not being selected to the NCAA Tournament, does return James Harden, who could be a top five pick in this 2009 NBA Draft. USC also continues to be a steady team in the Pac-10 that no team will be taking lightly, even with the loss of O.J. Mayo.

This is not the same Pac-10 conference as last year. A lot of the all-stars from last year are gone, but the Pac-10 dribbles on in what should be a memorable season.

NCAA: No Clue About Arizona, Lute Olson Leaving

Derek Pivko — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 06:59:24 -0400

Media continued to swarm the University of Arizona yesterday as if Senator John McCain was on campus. However, McCain was nowhere to seen. Instead, the sudden retiring of Lute Olson shocked the state of Arizona as fans were hoping this was just a mistake.

There was no mistake, at the age of 74, Lute Olson has called it a career.

Lute Olson might be gone from the sidelines but the University of Arizona still has a season to play. It was reported yesterday that Russ Pennell, the former basketball announcer of Arizona State University, was named interim head coach over Mike Dunlap.

Olson hasn’t coached a game since the 2006-2007 season. Arizona will never find another coach like Lute Olson, Olson was the guy that turned his college into Point Guard University. Now Arizona is known as “No Clue About Arizona.”

Jordan Hill woke up on Thursday morning, turned on ESPN and found out that his coach was taking a leave of absence. By the end of the day, Hill found out Olson was gone for good. How could someone say that they are returning to eventually leave less than a month before the start of the season?

Olson talked to Chase Budinger and Nic Wise about coming back for their junior seasons. Budinger was projected as a mid-first round draft pick and Wise was planning on transferring back to his home state of Texas. Olson said he would be their coach long after they left Arizona.

Wise and Budinger are back but Olson is not. Arizona has two players that are first round NBA material this year in Budinger and Jordan Hill. Players like Jamelle Horne and Nic Wise could end up transferring after the end of the season. That is four starters that might not be back next season, which is starting to sound like Indiana’s team of last year.

Then there are the recruits. Arizona has three players that are committed to play for Lute Olson’s Wildcats, not Russ Pennell’s Wildcats. On Friday, 2009 recruit Solomon Hill uncommited from the program, which fellow recruit Mike Moser did on Thursday following the announcement on Olson’s retirement.

The last player remaining on the 2009 recruiting list is Abdul Gaddy. Gaddy had already uncommited from Arizona back in May but then signed back later in the summer. According to Abdul Gaddy Sr., UCLA and Washington have been in contact with Gaddy about his intentions. Gaddy is ranked as the second best point guard in the 2009 class according to ESPN.

Fans are disgusted about what has happened in Tucson. Across the Internet there are message boards saying firing Athletic Director Jim Livengood and that they think Mike Dunlap didn’t take the position because he is leaving too.

Once again these are only rumors surrounding the Internet community, but these talks have been going around campus. On Friday, the talk of the school was about Lute Olson. Television cameras continued to come up to student’s faces asking about the future of Arizona.

How can you talk about the future when the present hasn’t happened yet? The best answer I heard on campus was someone said that they should hire Bob Knight as the next head coach. Knight did retire from Texas Tech last season but said that he hasn’t left coaching for good.

If Arizona does decide to continue to search for a new head coach for next season the biggest names that are being considered are: Steve Kerr, Jim Rosborough and John Calipari. The only thing is none of these guys are Lute Olson.

Olson’s retirement put a dark cloud around the Tucson community and this cloud might continue to darken the community for years to come.

Breaking News: Lute Olson Takes Another Leave Of Absence.

Derek Pivko — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:39:40 -0400

He fooled us once, he fooled us twice. Lute Olson has cried wolf and has left the University of Arizona once again.

For the second year in a row, Lute Olson has stepped down as head coach at the University of Arizona while Associate coach Mike Dunlap who was hired back on May 13th is now the interim men’s basketball coach.

Dunlap, who once ran a hundred mile marathon, will battle a race on the sidelines in hopes that he doesn’t become the next Kevin O’Neill. O’Neill was hired last season with the intention of becoming head coach once Lute Olson retired. O’Neill was named interim head coach on November 4th, 2007 after Olson took his first leave of absence.

O’Neill led Arizona to a first round exit in the NCAA Tournament with a loss to West Virginia. O’Neill is now back in the NBA as an assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies.

It hasn’t been confirmed that Olson is leaving Arizona for good but Arizona has already begun a nationwide search to replace Olson.

With the basketball season less than a month away, the Wildcats now wonder is the 2007 season coming back to haunt them?

Kurt Warner: Midseason NFL MVP?

Derek Pivko — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:47:59 -0400

Whoever said the number 13 was unlucky never met Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner.

Almost nine years to the exact day, Sports Illustrated hit newsstands nationwide with Kurt Warner on the cover with a caption that read, “Who Is This Guy?” This guy has taken the NFL by storm by winning a Super Bowl and league MVP in his first full season as a starter with the St. Louis Rams.

Warner might not be a first ballot Hall-of-Fame quarterback, but he will carry the Arizona Cardinals back into the playoffs for the first time since 1998—a major turnaround for a team that thought Matt Leinart was going to be their franchise quarterback. The Cardinals have given all the responsibilities to Warner, and haven’t looked back.

Ed Thompson a writer at Scout.com ranks Kurt Warner as the best quarterback in the league. Others may argue, but you can’t take away the stats. Warner is averaging around 285 yards per game and completing 70 percent of his passes.

The bye week for the Arizona Cardinals couldn’t come at a better time. The Arizona Republic is reporting that Anquan Boldin might be ready for their Oct. 26 game against the Carolina Panthers.

This is even better news for Kurt Warner since Boldin is his favorite target. And although Warner hasn’t had Boldin for the last few games, he has still found a way to get his team into the end zone.

Heading into the bye week, The Arizona Cardinals are sitting in a division that is having an off year. The Seattle Seahawks, who have dominated the NFC West the past four years, have taken a nose dive as the Cardinals have a two-game lead in the division, even with the injury to Boldin.

The remaining schedule for the Cardinals favors them pretty well. The combined record of the rest of their opponents is 23-31. However, they do face playoff contenders such as New York Giants at home and travel to Gillette Stadium to face the New England Patriots in what should be a cold December afternoon.

In my opinion, the Arizona Cardinals should finish the season 11-5, and walk away with the NFC West title.

The only thing that could hurt the Cardinals is injuries, which are the NFL’s worst enemy (second to Adam Jones.) If Warner can continue the Pro Bowl-caliber season that he is having and avoid the injury plague, he will lead the Cardinals into the playoffs, where the real NFL season begins.

Nic Wise, Wisely Waiting in the Shadows for the Arizona Wildcats

Derek Pivko — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:35:02 -0400

He’s not Jerryd Bayless or Brandon Jennings. Many University of Arizona fans dreamed of a Bayless and Jennings combo. Instead Jerryd Bayless was drafted by the Indiana Pacers then traded to the Portland Trail Blazers on draft night and Brandon Jennings is playing basketball in Italy next year.

So much for the team combo that everyone was dying to see. With neither Bayless nor Jennings in the lineup, we look for a new leader, introducing Nic Wise.

Wise could have started on almost any Pac-10 team last year minus Arizona and UCLA. Wise has the speed, intelligence and passing ability to be a break guard at Point Guard University also known as the University of Arizona.

Wise averaged 29.4 minutes per game with 9.2 points per game including 4.4 assists per game last year. It is expected that all these stats will go up now that he will be the starting point guard for the next two years.

Wise is entering his junior year and has accepted the role as captain for Lute Olson’s squad next year. Although the talk of a National Championship is probably out of conversation, Arizona still needs to recover from the train wreck of last season. Little does everyone know is that Arizona was a turnover away from losing Wise as well.

One thing that frustrated Wise last year was the lack of starting role on his team. Despite averaging 29.4 minutes a game, he wasn’t starting every game. This was also the same reason why former guard Lucas Laval Perry left the team after five games last year.

Perry left Arizona to return to his home state of Michigan where he will be eligible to play in January. Wise was interested in returning to his home state of Texas where he could have replaced the sophomore sensation D.J Augustine instead Wise came back to Arizona.

Then again did anyone really think that Wise was going to transfer? His younger brother Dondre Wise plays a few miles away at Pima Community College where he was fourth on the team in scoring; Nic also was fourth on the team in scoring at Arizona this past season.

Although it’s doubtful that Arizona will recruit Dondre for next season with the recent signing of another Texas combo guard in Garland Judkins.

The season is only a few months away and a lot can happen in Tucson, Ariz. Lute Olson returns after a year hiatus and is 19 wins away from 800 wins.

Olson will have to rely on his three returning starters Nic Wise, Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill to get his team ready for the upcoming season. The Wildcats will also return Jamelle Horne, Zane Johnson, Fendi Onobun, David Bagga and Alex Jacobson.

The Wildcats also bring in three new freshmen Jeff Whitney, Brandon Lavender and Kyle Fogg. For a recap on who’s who in Arizona stay tuned…it’s only getting hotter in Tucson.

NBA 2009 Preview: A Who's Who For Next Season

Derek Pivko — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:12:37 -0400

The class of 2008, or should I say the freshmen class of 2008, decided to throw out its education and declare for the NBA Draft. Honestly, though, if it wasn’t for new rule forcing basketball players to finish at least one year of college, half of this class would have been drafted last year.

Instead this draft class was one of the strongest draft classes in recent memory. With this draft class it’s only going to make the NBA better for next season. With a bunch of fresh new faces entering the league this season it looks like the NBA might be getting a new face lift when it comes to different teams making the playoffs.

Last year in the Eastern Conference we saw two teams make the playoffs with a losing record. The Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks are very thankful to play in the Eastern Conference. However, will they be able to make the playoffs this year with faces like Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley the top two picks in the NBA Draft heading to the Eastern Conference?

Free agency hasn’t started yet but this draft class might be the reason why some teams will be playing in May and other teams will pull a Miami Heat of 2008 by losing the rest of the games in hopes of landing someone like Blake Griffin, BJ Mullens, Demar DeRozan and Brandon Jennings to say good-bye to their college careers and go to the NBA (that is if Jennings does in fact go to college and not play in Europe next season).

Despite winning 4 of their final 25 games they only landed the second overall pick the NBA Draft. Which proves once again having the worst record in the league you will not get the top pick in the draft. At least the Heat won their final game of the season.

This brings up an interesting observation, who will be the worst team in the NBA next year? My opinion, it is the New York Knicks. I’m sorry for you Knick fans but I think your team is just doomed.

The one good thing the Knicks have done was getting rid of Isaiah Thomas, however, that is not enough. You have to clean up the mess that he has made and that isn’t going to be overnight. I have never seen someone dismantle a team so badly than what Thomas did.

Thomas was like the European version of the black plague where everything he did was wrong and not just wrong but god-awful. Whether it was the signing of Jared Jeffries, the trade of Eddy Curry, which helped the Bulls draft LaMarcus Albridge (who was then traded to Portland in exchange for Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Khryapa) and Joakim Noah both players could turn out to be better players than Eddy Curry.

Then there was the sexual harassment case involving a team employee, which led to the eventual firing of Thomas.

Let’s face it there was nothing good out of the Isaiah Thomas' tenure with the Knicks and because of that the Knicks are in trouble. The hiring of former Suns head coach Mike D’Antoni is a sign of good things to come but not next season.

And with the sixth pick in the NBA Draft the Knicks drafted Danilo Gallinari whom not a lot of people are sold on. Then again the last thing the New York Knicks need is another guard.

With that said what does the rest of the Eastern Conference look like? The Eastern Conference looks to be making some changes next year as we might see the return of the Chicago Bulls making their return to the playoffs.

Didn’t everyone say last year that the Bulls were contenders in the Eastern Conference? So that didn’t happen but look at what they got in reward, Derrick Rose.

Rose said prior to getting drafted that he wanted to win the MVP award in his rookie season.

I don’t even think that Rose will win Rookie of the Year Award thanks to Greg Oden coming back. Then again I do salute Rose for his confidence but the closest person to win the MVP award as a rookie was Chris Paul and he didn’t even come close to winning the award.

The reigning NBA champions Boston Celtics looks to be the team to beat not just in the Eastern Conference but also in the NBA alone. The Celtics look to have another good season left in them including the Detroit Pistons who are not getting any younger. The Pistons youngest starter is Tayshaun Prince who will be turning 29 after the all-star break.

The Pistons are also interested in acquiring Baron Davis who will be 30 by the end of the season. If the Pistons want to win they have to do it next year, but they will have to get past the Celtics and let’s not forget about the Los Angeles Lakers who will have Andrew Bynum back on their team after missing most of the second half of the season due to injury.

What does the rest of the league look like? Let’s take a look at the Eastern Conference first.

Atlantic

1) Boston Celtics—Nobody will be able to compete with the Celtics in this conference who went 14-2 last year in Atlantic conference. With the return of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce the possibility of three peat doesn’t look that difficult.

2) Toronto Raptors—The addition of Jermaine O’Neal is either going to be a hit or miss for the Toronto Raptors. In my opinion the Raptors got the worse end of this trade. Although they got better in size they got nothing at the guard position. I don’t think Jose Calderon is the their man at point guard but if O’Neal can stay healthy whether he comes off the bench in replacement for Bosh or starts, he could help guide the Raptors to another playoff berth.

3) New Jersey Nets—I can see why the Nets traded for Richard Jefferson as they are saving money for the future. They did have a rather successful draft if Brook Lopez does in fact succeed for them. Lopez averaged 19.3 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game, I don’t think he’ll be able to match those stats from Stanford but he could be a nice addition to the roster as well as Ryan Anderson and Chris Douglas-Roberts.

4) Philadelphia 76ers—The 76ers didn’t have any secret going into the draft they needed a big man and they got one in Marreese Speights the big man from Florida. I expect the 76ers to slip a little bit this year in the rankings as they are not quite ready to be a playoff team.

5) New York Knicks—Enough said…

Central

1) Detroit Pistons—This could be the last year that you see the Pistons in the top spot as they are the fountain of youth that they once were six years ago. Cleveland will be chasing them for the top spot in the conference not like last year when Cleveland was 14 games behind the Pistons for the top spot in the conference.

2) Cleveland Cavalries—LeBron James and company need to get back to the Eastern Conference finals. They acquired J.J. Hickson and Darnell Jackson in the NBA Draft, which could help find their replacement for Ben Wallace a man of no offense.

3) Chicago Bulls—The baby Bulls look like they will be outsiders sneaking into the playoffs this year. The only thing that will hurt the Bulls once again is inexperience. They have the talent but is it too soon?

4) Indiana Pacers—I truly believe the Central Conference is the toughest division in the Eastern Conference. If the Pacers played in the Atlantic Conference they would have been the second best team in the conference. Instead the Pacers will see Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago ahead of them.

But that isn’t a bad thing, they have the talent to be something in the future. I really think high of TJ Ford and with Brandon Rush on the team they could make a real nice combo in the coming years.

5) Milwaukee Bucks—Well we know that they have enough small forwards but what else do they have? They still have Michael Redd and a potential NBA bust in Andrew Bogut. One player I do like on their team is Charlie Villanueva who I think is on the brisk of breaking out.

If the Bucks want to do something this year they will have to look for Villanueva to have a good season. Either that or they will be drafting in the top 10 once again next season.

Southeast

1) Orlando Magic—The Orlando Magic team will be the third best team in the Eastern Conference thanks to the Southeast division. I expect this division to play a game of musical chairs when it comes to rankings but Orlando will keep their spot on top of the division and can raise some eyebrows in the playoffs.

2) Atlanta Hawks—Did everyone forget that the Hawks took the Celtics to Game Seven in the first round of the playoffs? Then again everyone will remember how badly they were defeated by the Celtics in Game Seven.

But I think it was only the beginning for the Atlanta Hawks they should make the Southeast Conference very interesting to watch this season. They will have to prove that last year was not a fluke.

3) Miami Heat—The trio of Dwayne Wade, Shawn Marion and Michael Beasley will have to play well right away if they want to have a good season next year. They should struggle as they have nobody else besides the two on their roster and I repeat they have nobody else on their team including Alonzo Mourning and Jason Williams. Although with the addition of Mario Williams I might end up eating my own words by the end of the season.

4) Washington Wizards—The Wizards are on the verge of offering Gilbert Arenas a six-year contract worth more than $100 million. Why? The guy is coming off two knee surgeries within the past year. Obviously he is the face of the Wizards but a $100 million is a little too much. The free agent period starts this week and the Wizards do not want to see neither Arenas nor Antwan Jamison playing for a different team next year; for example the Philadelphia 76ers.

5) Charlotte Bobcats—Well at least last year they didn’t finish in last place. With the addition of Larry Brown to their coaching staff they could fight with Washington for the second to last spot in the division.

Western Conference

Northwest

1) Utah Jazz—The combination of Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer might not be John Stockton and Karl Malone but they are getting the job done. They also have talent surrounding the team with Kyle Korver, Mehmet Okur, Andrei Kirlilenko, Ronnie Brewer and now Kosta Koufos on the team.

This could be the most talented team the Jazz has ever had. The only problem is that the Los Angeles Lakers are one step better than them. Although a trip the Conference Finals is a fair argument for them this year.

2) Portland Trailblazers—Although this might be a little too soon it might also be now. The Trailblazers are on the verge of taking over in a few years. They are one of the youngest teams in the NBA and despite not having Greg Oden last year they still were 41-41. With that record they could have been a sixth seed in the Eastern Conference.

With the addition of Jerryd Bayless the Blazers look to earn a spot in the playoffs this year. Also, they will continue to get younger as they will be loaded with draft picks next year. Then again the draft class won’t be that strong as last year’s class.

3) Denver Nuggets—I thought the combination of Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson was going to be money in the bank for the Denver Nuggets. I thought they would be at least a fourth seed but for some reason that just didn't happen. They are one of those teams that look great on paper but can’t supply the demand that many are expecting them to do.

4) Seattle Supersonics—I’m not sure where this team will be playing in a few years but they will be interesting to watch. The addition of Russell Westbrook raised some eyebrows as every draft analysis thought Jerryd Bayless was coming here, but hey what do sportswriters really know?

5) Minnesota Timberwolves—Not a lot of people favored the trading of OJ Mayo but does Kevin McHale know something that they we don’t know?

Pacific

1) L.A. Lakers—The odds on favorite to win the West next year has to be the Lakers. Even without Bynum they advanced to the NBA Finals. But what team is satisfied with losing in the NBA Finals.

I’ve never met a coach in my life that is satisfied with losing. Look for next year to be the year of the Lakers. I’m making a bold statement right now saying that they should win over 60 games.

2) Phoenix Suns—What it is like to the leftovers of the L.A. Lakers? The Suns will not be able to compete with the Lakers next year as Shaq will continue to make fun of Kobe at clubs. Perhaps if Shaq wasn’t too busy rapping about Kobe and practicing his free throws and defense the Suns would be able to do something next year?

3) L.A. Clippers—I am very interested in seeing what Eric Gordon can do in his rookie season. In my opinion he could be the steal of this years draft and Gordon landed in a very interesting position as the Clippers fell in love with Gordon and believe he is their future. If he can produce, who knows perhaps the Clippers can steal the eight seed in the playoffs?

4) Golden State Warriors—Oh, what went wrong? A few years ago they were the talk of the league and now they are back to their usual position right near the bottom of the Southeast Division. Well at least they are not in last place.

5) Sacramento Kings—This team might win the lottery next year. I think next to the Knicks that they will be the worst team in the NBA. I love what they did in drafting Jason Thompson but they need more than Thompson to help their team.

Too bad they drafted Patrick Ewing’s son and not Patrick Ewing in general. I also see this being the year that they trade Ron Artest as they have more forwards than the Toronto Raptors.

Southwest

1) San Antonio Spurs—Everyone is tired of the Spurs, including the Spurs themselves. They are the oldest team in the team. They might be losing some players. In fact they will be losing some of their players but I think the Spurs still have enough gas in their tank to make one final run in the playoffs before they hand off the division to New Orleans.

2) New Orleans—Last year was a wonderful season for New Orleans. However, was it too soon? Will the winning of last year translate well into next year? Or will they slump somewhere during the season?

I expect a minor slump towards the beginning and the end of the season. I think they are a very talented team that will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years but teams like the Utah Jazz and the Lakers are not going away anytime soon. But one team I did leave out was the San Antonio Spurs…

3) Dallas Mavericks—For a team that slipped so badly last year I’m surprised I’m even putting them back up here. Then again I do think the world of Jason Kidd. I think Kidd has two years left in him before we say goodbye to a future first-ballot Hall of Famer.

4) Houston Rockets—They had one hell of a run last year. However, that was during the regular season. They haven’t done anything in the playoffs since Charles Barkley was on the team. Tracy McGrady in my mind is the most over-rated player in the NBA.

5) Memphis Grizzles—The Grizzles are playing the toughest division in the NBA hands down. You cannot argue that. The addition of O.J. Mayo will raise some eyebrows however they did trade Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown and I don’t think the Grizzles will be able to do anything this year…What else is new?

2008-2009 Playoffs

Eastern Conference

(1)   Boston Celtics over (8) Indiana Pacers, 4-1.

(2)   Detroit Pistons over (7) Atlanta Hawks, 4-2.

(3)   Orlando Magic over (6) Toronto Raptors, 4-1.

(4)   Cleveland Cavalries over (5) Chicago Bulls. 4-2.

(1)   Boston Celtics over (4) Cleveland Cavalries, 4-2.

(2)   Orlando Magic over (2) Detroit Pistons, 4-3.

(1)   Boston Celtics over (3) Orlando Magic, 4-1.

Western Conference

(1)   L.A. Lakers over (8) Dallas Mavericks, 4-2.

(2)   Utah Jazz over (7) Denver Nuggets, 4-1.

(6)   Portland Trailblazers over (3) San Antonio Spurs, 4-3.

(4)   New Orleans Hornets over (5) Phoenix Suns, 4-1.

(1)   L.A. Lakers over (4) New Orleans Hornets, 4-3.

(2)   Utah Jazz over (6) Portland Trailblazers, 4-2.

(1)   L.A. Lakers over (2) Utah Jazz, 4-2.

NBA Finals

(1)   L.A. Lakers over (1) Boston Celtics, 4-3.

In my opinion if Andrew Bynum was not injured during the second half of the year I think we would have seen the Lakers winning the NBA Championship. Instead the Lakers have to wait a year for a rematch that everyone would love to see once again.

Could you imagine what Game Seven of the NBA Finals would do for the NBA? With two legendary teams going at it one more time? Game Seven of the NBA Finals doesn’t happen very often.

The last time it happened was back in 2005 when the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Detroit Pistons. Prior to that the last time Game Seven happened was during the 1994 NBA Finals when the Houston Rockets went on to defeat Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks.

The Lakers haven’t won the NBA Championship since 2002 if you can believe it or not. That’s quite a drought for Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers but it looks like that drought will end next season.

What else is going to happen next year? Here are some of my ideas in bullet points.

· Ron Artest will be traded before the trade deadline.

· Kobe Bryant will win his second straight MVP award.

· Greg Oden will win Rookie of the Year and be on the NBA All-Star Team.

· Los Angeles and Boston will win more than 60 games.

· The New York Knicks will not…

· People will draft Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose way to high on their fantasy basketball teams.

It’s never too early to talk about next season. Training camp is set to open on Oct. 1st but that’s too far away for me. However, we will be seeing several NBA players starting on Aug. 8th.

That’s right the Olympics are coming and 2008 looks to be the year that Team USA brings back the gold medal back where it belongs. However, one thing that is bound to happen is injuries. Will an injury affect Team USA this summer? Only time will tell as they say, time is an allusion.

Wait who ever said that?