Buy or Sell

WHAT WE'D BUY...IF WE HAD ANY MONEY

Sell: Parity in the NBA. During the offseason, the rich got richer and the poor, well, they sold everything that wasn’t nailed down.  The Spurs snagged Richard Jefferson from the woeful Bucks for some fresh towels and a new set of Gatorade jugs.  The Lakers signed Ron Artest.  The Celtics added Rasheed Wallace.  The Magic traded for Vince Carter.  And the list goes on…Mavs (Shawn Marion), Cavs (Shaq), Blazers (Andre Miller), Bulls (Ben Gordon).

Buy: The Bucks, Nets, Timberwolves, Bobcats, Kings, Knicks, Clippers, Warriors, and Grizzlies (read: nearly 1/3 of the leagues’ teams) all being really, really bad.   TJR has confirmation there are good seats still available for that mid-February Bucks-Nets matchup in the Meadowlands.

Sell: JaMarcus Russell ever being relevant as an NFL QB. Russell has regressed this season (if that’s possible) and his work ethic is somewhere just below Cheech & Chong’s.  After a 6-for-11, 2 interception performance in Sunday’s 38-0 loss to the Jets, he actually had the testicular fortitude to say “I don’t think it’s me personally. I really don’t.”  Hey JaMarcus, way to man up.

Buy: Mark McGwire making a difference as the St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach.  When not on the golf course, McGwire has spent hundreds of winter hours working with MLB players on their swings.  And regardless of what you think about his career, the guy did hit 583 homers so we think he knows what he’s talking about.

Sell: Boise State’s chances at a BCS bowl game.  The Broncos dropped behind TCU in the latest BCS Rankings.  If TCU wins out, they’ll get the nod over a Boise State team with no one relevant left on the schedule.  And we wouldn’t be shocked to see Notre Dame win out and beat both of them out for a BCS bowl game.

Buy: A national championship game that includes the USC Trojans if for no other reason than saying otherwise is just boring.  Here’s what we see:  Texas falls this weekend in Stillwater.  Iowa loses November 14th in Columbus.  Cincinnati drops a game to either West Virginia (Nov. 13) or Pittsburgh (Dec. 5), and USC faces the winner of the SEC Championship game for the title.