Pippen honor is overkill

Basketball Betting Lines

08/26/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A statue honoring Scottie Pippen?

My, how our hero worship has fallen.

Before you start firing off the hate mail, understand I, like most NBA observers, loved Pippen's game.

He was the consummate "Robin" to the ultimate "Batman" in Michael Jordan. He was the best "Iceman," M.J.'s "Maverick" could ever ask for. But let's be honest, at the end of the day, Pippen was a sidekick.

A sidekick that will be forever be displayed permanently in the United Center when the Bulls unveil a bronze statue of Pippen toward the end of the 2010-11 season.

It's not Pippen's fault. In fact, the honor is probably more indicative of just how mediocre the Bulls were before and after the Jordan-era. It's not like everyone was clamoring for that Bob Love statue.

Pippen was the ultimate No. 2 option to basketball's best-ever No. 1. He entered the league as an athlete with a lot of holes in his offensive game. When he was done, Pippen had turned himself into a versatile player that could play four different positions and was a more than capable scorer. He was also the best perimeter defender of his era and used his freakish length to torture players in the open floor.

With Pippen as his lead running mate, Jordan was able to secure six championships for the Windy City along with six NBA Finals MVPs for himself.

Make no mistake, Pippen deserved his seven All-Star nods and his eight appearances on the NBA's all-defensive team. He certainly earned his six championship rings and his gold medal with the 1992 Barcelona Dream Team.

I'll even buy the fact that he was a Hall-Of-Famer, as he was officially enshrined on Aug. 13 in a class that included Karl Malone and the late Dennis Johnson.

But, that's where it should stop. Pippen belonged nowhere near the NBA's 50th Anniversary Team. In fact, if you pull up that 1996 list of the NBA's top 50 players, it looks like a game of "Which one doesn't belong" with Pippen sticking out like the sore thumb among a list of legends.

And he's certainly not the type of player that deserves Mount Rushmore-type treatment.

Some detractors have been far more critical than me.

You've probably heard the jokes by now...

What famous Pippen moment do you think will get immortalized? Pippen sitting on the bench, refusing to enter the game?

When are the other Jordan-era role players, like B.J. Armstrong, Steve Kerr, John Paxson, Dennis Rodman and Horace Grant earmarked for Madison Street?

That's not to say Scottie doesn't have a legacy.

In today's NBA, almost every league executive looks at the Jordan-Pippen Bulls as the blueprint for success. You need the superstar but you also need the complementary piece.

Kobe couldn't win without Shaq, until Pau Gasol came along. Shaq couldn't win without Kobe unless he was playing with Dwyane Wade, and LeBron fled Cleveland because Dan Gilbert and Danny Ferry were never able to get him a competent co- star.

Pippen wan an important part of NBA history. Let's just not play revisionist history and blow his place in the game out of proportion.

Starlukcasino Basketball Betting News

<< Will we see a Triple Crown in the NL?
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It has been 43 years since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski won a Triple Crown. But here we are, with a little more than a month left in the regular season, and we have a real shot of it happening once again. Only this time it c

<< Woods takes early lead at Barclays
Paramus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Playing the first group out, Tiger Woods fired a six-under 65 Thursday to grab the early lead during the first round of The Barclays, the first FedExCup playoff event. Woods, playing the first round after his d

<< Barca loans midfielder Sanchez to Getafe
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona announced Thursday that 23-year- old midfielder Victor Sanchez was loaned to Getafe for the upcoming La Liga season. Sanchez played 12 matches in the 2008-09 season for Barcelona, including th

<< Schalke signs Ghana defender Sarpei
Gelsenkirchen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Schalke acquired Ghana defender Hans Sarpei from Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday, and signed the 34-year-old to a two- year contract. Sarpei, who has also played for Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, playe

<< Mainz signs Risse on loan from Leverkusen
Mainz, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mainz acquired 20-year-old Marcel Risse on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, with an option to make the move permanent. Risse, a striker or midfielder, was signed on an initial one-year loan deal. He spent las

Charlotte football gets Morehead State as 1st foe >>
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -Charlotte has scheduled its first football opponent.The school announced Thursday it's agreed to a home-and-home series with Morehead State. The 49ers will visit the Eagles in their first season on Nov. 23, 2013. Morehead State

Clemens to be arraigned Monday on six counts >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Clemens will be arraigned Monday in U.S. District Court on six counts for his alleged false statements to Congress about using performance-enhancing drugs. An indictment handed down last Thursda

AC Milan, Real in Group G of Champions League >>
Monaco, Monaco (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AC Milan and Real Madrid, who have combined for 16 European championships, were drawn into Group G of the Champions League on Thursday. Real Madrid was the biggest club not among the top eight-seeded teams,

Rachel Alexandra highlights Personal Ensign Stakes >>
Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rachel Alexandra, 2009 Horse of the Year, gets back into action Sunday in the $300,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. The four-year-old filly will take on four female challen

Raptors stuck with Calderon >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In trying to trade Jose Calderon earlier this offseason, the message sent by Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo was clear; Calderon was no longer in the future plans of the organization. A deal that wo

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com