What about Big Brown's failure to win the Triple Crown?

I was with you all the way until you said the Tigers would be atop the AL Central. That's ignorant. You conveniently left out that Bonderman is now out for the season. The Indians have the best shot at winning the division if they can sort out their bats. But, given the uncertainty that has stricken the best division in baseball, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Royals make a run. Ugh.

10:05 - Law is boring. Let's talk about sports instead.

Kobe sucks!!!

Go back to law and stay away from sports.

Paul Pierce is a damn tough player; I agree.

But Kobe Bryant is hands down the best player in the NBA. Chris Paul is an amazing player and leader, and rightfully finished 2nd in the MVP voting. But Lebron James is bum who has no leadership ability and makes too many bad decisions on the court to be considered alongside the aforementioned. Yes, Lebron is physically gifted and a talented ball player. But he is not a leader. And he does not have half the basketball IQ of a Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, etc.

So.. in short... go back to law. Man, this website has truly taken a dive.

Big Brown's failure to win the Triple Crown is not a bold claim, so much as it is fact. Saying that Rick Dutrow will relapse to his alcholism and live in a barn again. That's a claim, albeit not all that bold. See ya, Rick!

If you don't remember, Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to the best record in the talent soaked Western Conference. He was the highest scorer in the league and his ability to hit big game shots when it mattered proved he was the most dominant player in the NBA, which equals MVP.

Again, WTF does this have to do w/ the law???

Ok, I agree with you on all three, but #2 is hardly a 'bold claim.' Everyone is saying how CP3 and LBJ were more deserving. A 'bold claim' would be to say how Kobe IS deserving of the MVP. (I'd love to hear that one.)

congrats on posting w/o clipart!

I hear Deadspin's SCOTUS coverage is amazing.

The White Sox may not win the AL Central, but Detroit? Bonderman is out for the year.

Doesn't Peter King have a column entitled "Monday Morning Quarterback" on CNNSI?
Also, Greg Easterbrook has a column entitled "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" on ESPN.

So stop ripping off column names.

I predict this "new feature" will last a month, tops.

CP3 = MVP
And nothing short of divine intervention will make the Tigers win the AL Central. Great ballpark, but the team don't got it this year.

terrible idea for a new feature...please reconsider

Who cares? This is a legal blog, not a sports blog. I don't want to read this crap. If you want to have it, take it off the main blog and put it over on the message board section.

This MMQ nonsense must cease. If I wanted to read someone's retarded musings about sports, I'd visit ESPN.com.

Stick to what you do best. This ain't it.

lets get rid of this new feature. if i wanted to argue with some idiot about sports, i would go to any bar in america.

or go to a sports website

Maybe you could start a new blog for sports, and leave this blog for the legal topics.

Has ATL jumped the shark?

Agree. You provide a good service, which is legal gossip. I expect a Monday morning post with something law-related, and hopefully juicy. Not sports. Take it away.

I'll take the "My Cousin Vinny" approach.

"Everything that guy just said is bullshit"
(sits down)

I rest my case.

Would anyone be interested in joining my campaign to get Wayne Chrebet elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

Yeah, sports is not what I come to ATL for. It doesn't take me any effort to scroll past it and ignore it, but I'd be bummed if I thought the effort spent on it was stopping ATL from posting law firm gossip.

Newsflash: this is a legal blog. Stick to what you do and leave the sports for sports blogs.

Kobe is better than Michael Jordan.
BTW, Texas sucks.

Lat, come on. This is terrible. It's been said many times over the course of the last six months or so, but you're really slipping here. What is this guy doing writing about the White Sox on a legal gossip blog?

Why don't you start a sport blog? I don't want to read this on this blog; it just clutters things up.

Lat's requirement that it be somewhat legal related isn't that difficult to meet.

ATL has taken serious turn for the worse. Keep your short-sighted opinions to yourself.

This is not the editorial page for the Clueless Sports Fan.

WTF - maybe we should turn to ESPN for our legal news. Let's keep the lawblog focused on the law!

I'd rather have SEN's entries on grammar.

Umm...is this still a legal blog?

If Latman and Kash so hurtin' for blog posts, that they have to resort to this?

Who cares about the southsiders...

The real question is, is this the year for the Cubbies?

yes, 10:30, ATL just jumped the shark......

i come here for law stuff, NOT sports. if i want to read about sports, i'll go to espn.

Agreed - I think we should stick to law here.

That being said, Paul Pierce is not tough. Anyone who has mildly sprained a knee knows that it hurts for 20 minutes then you get over it.

LaBronda James, aka Queen James, is the most overrated player in the history of the NBA. He's a product of media hype. He is the biggest crybaby in the league; gGets calls he doesn't deserve; travels half of the time he drives to the basket; and has an awful jump shot. Physically he is a freak. But that does not make him a great basketball player. See, e.g., Shaq.

Paul Pierce probably just got a cortisone shot and was good to go. True, playing the season after he was stabbed was tough, but Game 1 of the Finals this year--not tough.

Kobe is a legitimate choice for MVP. If he turns it on and the Lakers win 4 straight, would your views be any different?

If you think Dontrelle Willis is going to have a positive impact on the Tigers this season, you are sadly mistaken. People still remember when he was good, but that was like 5 years ago. Last year he was 10-15 with a 5.71 ERA.

The White Sox have had the best pitching in baseball, and it goes a lot deeper than Jose Contreras. If they don't win the division (unlikely), it will be Cleveland, not Detroit, that catches them.

Every place sucks except for NYC!

Every place sucks except for NYC!

Kobe Bryant sucks! I cannot wait for the Celtics to win the championship!

Anyone who thinks Lebron James is over hyped needs to seriously get their heads examined.

No thank you. I like sports as much as the next woman (Paul Pierce rocks! - Beat LA), but seriously, I come here for the law and to ESPN for sports. Let's stick to the topic - legal gossip.

If you've got a sports-related legal issue then, by all means, please post, otherwise let's stick to the theme of the blog - the law.

BEAT LA! BEAT LA! BEAT LA!

"That being said, Paul Pierce is not tough. Anyone who has mildly sprained a knee knows that it hurts for 20 minutes then you get over it."

Uh, PP got over it then hit a couple of big threes. How exactly do you conclude he's not tough?

or in the alternative... you can SCROLL PAST the articles you Dont want to read.

Signed,
Obvious

11:04, as long as he can drive to the whole and elevate, and of course, get calls from the refs, LeBronda is unstoppable. But his game is far from complete.

Guys in my high school used to get stabbed 11 times and then play 82 games. It was no big deal.

wtf is this shit? why dont you have celebrity gossip on here next? then some stock tips. then have a column on weather.

Edelman, you suggest that CP or Lebron should have won MVP. Fine. But how do you conclude Kobe is the worst MVP choice ever?

Nowitzki, Karl Malone (1997) and Dave Cowens are definitely on the short list. Kobe Bryant is not.

Who is this Edelman? Does he know this is a legal blog?

I think this is a great idea for a Monday Morning column.

PP is nowhere near the toughest player in the NBA. He most certainly comes off as a cry-baby after lacking the stones to even try to make it off the court on his own power - only to come back in the game 5 minutes later. He cracked under the pain of a temporary sprain and should never be mentioned as a "tough" player. Look up Tyler Hansborough if you want tough.

Actually Kobe shot 50% this year...

Lebron James is way overrated...he has no jumpshot. If he's not shooting well, Cavs lose. His whole game depends on his ability to get to the basket. He doesn't really make his teammates better. If he was something less that a man-child/beast, he would be a scrub.

Chris Paul is about one Big-Mac away from being Charles Barkley's illegitimate son...someone needs to do a DNA test. Anyhow, I don't know much about the Hornets, but I did watch him at Wake Forest, and I wasn't that impressed.

I thought Kobe Bryant shot 50% from the field this year.

Um, we don't come to this site for fucking sports talk. We come to hear about legal shit. Stop being a whore.

*note proper use of "we" above.

When can we get the latest news on Big Brown.

11:31, are you serious? We'll see how tough Hansbrough is once he finally gets his cup of coffee in the NBA. Pushing around the weak collection of big men in the ACC last year doesn't make him tough.

11:41, agreed. Hansbrough benefitted from getting all the calls in the ACC, which hurt him, and UNC, in the NCAA tournament. I'll never forget when tough boy "Psycho T" almost started crying on the court when the kid from Duke bopped him in the nose a couple years ago. Hansbrough better enjoy his last year at UNC, because he will fade off into NBA scrub oblivion once he enters The League.

11:41
True, Hansborough has not been proven. But at least he doesn't fall in a heap each time he feels minor pain.

The latest news on Big Brown is no news. There were no abnormalities in his physical, he simply didn't have it. A few people are beginning to refer to his perfomance in the Bellmont as the "Big Brown Stain".

1. Contreras isn't the White Sox's ace. Javy Vasquez took over that spot sometime early last season. Contreras is a lot closer to the Sox's #5 than their #1, which is no offense to him as their staff has been pretty darn good recently.

2. The Tigers are so so done. Their bats will probably come around at some point, but with the hole they've dug and the injuries to their already suspect pitching... stick a fork in em. The Twins on the other hand...

You gotta love NYCers and their lack of knowledge of anything sports related that's west of the Hudson

this is retarded... do lawyers seriously have no better place to talk about sports than on a legal tabloid?? WTF

Cravath is the Lebron James of the legal world.

Sports are about as relevant to my work as a lawyer as most of the stuff on this blog, so why not this? (You do what you can to revamp a lagging business model.)

Contreras is not the ChiSox's "ace". That would be Javy Vazquez. The Sox will win the ALCentral because (a) they are the rare modern era professional sports team whose superstars get along with each other; (b) the Twins and Royals blow; (c) the Indians lack cohesiveness (and Pronk lost his vitamins); and (d) the Tigers lack cohesiveness.

11:48 - Some people like talking about sports with other educated people; not simply those losers who sit around in the underwear and blog from their parents basement.

"Kobe Bryant is hands down the best player in the NBA.....Lebron James is bum who has no leadership ability and makes too many bad decisions on the court to be considered alongside the aforementioned"

You are fucking clueless. Start watching basketball. By the time this series is over, the Celtics will be NBA champions and will remember that the Cavs (i.e. Lebron plus nobody) came within one shot of eliminating them while the Lakers (i.e. Kobe plus a great supporting cast) did not come as close.

Take a look at Dontrelle Willis' numbers. The Tigers are better with him on the DL.

I have no problem with you writing about sports, but you should know something about sports before you do.

"Cease and Desist," proclaims Peter King, who currently writes a column titled Monday Morning Quarterback -- http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/peter_king/06/08/offseason/index.html?eref=T1

the "Contreras is the White Sox ace" thing must be based on the premise that "he's an ex-Yankee, so he must be better than those guys I've never heard of".

Idiot.

12:03, you're about 90 mins late. I already pointed this out.
See 10:21 above.

Categories of sports law douches:
1) Ex-jocks with actual athletic credentials (DIII athletes and above in real sports) that went to law school cause a career in athletics didn't pan out. These guys aren't really douches per se, but you'll often get the overcompetititve asshole that would use a lawyer's league basketball game to impress a hiring partner.

2) Arm chair warriors that decide that their calling in life was to be a "sports lawyer" or agent. These guys were marginal athletes in high school, at best. They became the starter on your law school basketball team just because they organized the league and picked the teams. As purists, they think they got something to add to the "game" from a business perspective. But, they're just tools that get eaten alive by the other guys who's just in it for the money. These guys usually end up in insurance defense, personal injury, or real estate closings. They're sports claim to fame will be volunteering as a little league coach or handling the closing of some ex-NFL'ers second wife.

3. Weenies whose grandfathers are those incoherent messes at the baseball games. You know the ones that wear 500 buttons with pictures of their favorite baseball players from the pre-negro league eras. These kids are the ones that start the "sports law clubs" at your law school to discuss cutting edge issues. They start these clubs because most normal sports fans don't give a shit about what they have to say about paul pierce, kobe, the white sox, etc. And usually when they bring up sports, it's in the most inappropriate forums - ie when you're at a nightclub scoping out the skanks (he's just tagging along), on legal gossip blogs, etc.

Guess where this edelman guy fits in.

12:27 = Div III athlete not-so-subtly stroking his own ego by including himself among the "ex-jocks with athletic credentials"

This website is going down the crapper...

If you can't converse about these things, good luck with getting a job/getting a promotion/not looking like a sillynanny at a cocktail party. And Lord help you if you ever ask how many points a grand slam is worth in baseball.

And that is the unifying theme. Class dismissed.

Explain to me why a person's desire to discuss legal topics on a legal blog means that they will fail to seem cool at a cocktail party when sports is discussed? Do you think people come to this website to learn how to engage in small talk at firm events? If so, Lat should put weather reports on this thing so that we can be prepared to talk about the warm weekend coming up. Don't be a douche. If you want to read a bunch of Celtic and Laker fans going off on eachother, go to ESPN.com. I guarantee none of those blogs are talking about new associate layoffs at Dechert. Moron.

javy vazquez is the #1 starter for the white sox.

I love the legal hook here - "lawyer's love to argue." That means abovethelaw is now a blog about - everything? Any topic on which argument is possible? That strikes me as uber-lame.

This isn't even good sports chatter. If I want to hear/talk about Paul Pierce I'll go to truehoop. I don't care what you think about sports - I'd rather hear from someone with inside info. Henry Abbot, who runs TrueHoop, has access to players, coaches, etc. You have Sportscenter.

Lastly, I agree with the commentator that objected to the name. Its either a rip-off or its a totally generic term. Either way, its lame.

Stick to law...you sound like a total D-BAG talking about sports.

12:16: Javy Vasquez is an ex-Yankee too. Idiot.

I honestly thought this post was some sort of ironic statement about the dwindling state of discourse in the legal gossip community. . . I'm shuttering as I realize it was played 100% straight.

You know when a guy who doesn't know anything about sports talks about sports, and it's really awkward? Yeah, this is like that.

This blog is making my Cravath hurt again. Damn it.

D3 is the special olympics of the NCAA

I wonder why this was greenlighted as an audition for the new writer? Shouldn't such things be kept in-house to prevent substandard posts?

Not an IP lawyer, but isn't there a possibility of copyright violation here in ripping off the title of Peter King's column?

Paul Pierce CP3 and LBJ

Chicago White Sox > Detroit Tigers

END OF FUCKING DISCUSSION!

Marc, we are totally on the same page. Paul Pierce = great, tough, MVP, etc. Tiger = about to make a comeback.

Share the passion. Show the swagger.

The White Sox are the one breath of fresh air in my otherwise boring, sedate law firm life. But despite my fanhood, they clearly have weaknesses. Their saving grace is the lack of competition in their division. The Tigers?! Come on. I agree with those who said the Indians are the only possible challenge, but I don't see them as a serious threat. The Tigers are clearly due for some improvement, but I don't see them coming in better than 3rd in the division.

So, were you just trying to bait White Sox fans here (which is dumb -- there are hardly any in biglaw, because the Cubs are the team of the Chicago establishment), or are you really that clueless about baseball? Maybe next time you should stick to what you know.

Lamar Odom a star? give me a break. Paul has almost as much around him as Kobe, and didn't have to integrate a key player and lose another key player mid-season. Lebron's team has less talent, but they also didn't have a very good season as a whole. Kobe was the best player in the NBA this season on the best team in the better conference. No-brainer for MVP.

Dontrelle willis? Clearly you haven'twatched baseball in at least 2 years the guy sucks. Oh by the way, Jeremy Bonderman is out for the season and if you haven't noticed Gary Sheffield is down for the count. The Tiger are an overrated hot mess. Just sayin'

Kobe can jump over Aston Martins.

Kobe FTW.

Guys at my high school used to add annoying, completely unrelated content to their websites all the time. It was no big deal.

Wow, you need to get your head out of the law books and watch a game on ESPN once in awhile.

By the way, your boy Dontrelle let up 8 runs in less than 2 innings......I smell World Series ring......

This has EVERYTHING to do with the law.

Kobey Bryant = rapist.

Paul Pierce = stab victim.

Chicago White Sox: criminal that they are a first place team right now.

All of you who can't just shut the fuck up and gloss over the sports article if you don't want to read it: should be stabbed in the face instead of paul pierce.

FYI Peter King on Sports Illustrated has a column named Monday Morning Quarterback.

This is dumb. Stop. Stop the sports.

Marc Edelman is a dumbest turd ever to grace the pages of ATL. His assertion that Kobe is the worst regular season MVP choice ever, even though Kobe is the best player in the NBA on the team with the best regular season record in the West, is proof enough. Lebron was nice this season, but the way the MVP voting works now is that your team has to win. Otherwise, Kobe would've been MVP the past 3 seasons over Dirk in 2007, Nash in 2006, and Nash in 2005. Edelman knows jack sh*t about basketball.

Edelman makes Billy Merck seem like a genius. He makes SEN seem like Joan of Arc, Madame Curie and Frida Kahlo all wrapped up into one.

Edelman, stick to your forte: masturbation.

9:45 PM wrote:

"Kobey Bryant = rapist."

Um, no.

Check the facts. And your spelling.

The girl went to Kobe's hotel room knowingly and willingly to have sex with him. She gave him head and he did her doggie-style and she loved it. It was only when he wanted to come on her face (in Kobe's words in the police transcript, "That's my thing") that she freaked. And he didn't even come on her face. He finished into a sock on his own after she left.

Doesn't sound like rape to me.

Especially when, later on, they discover the sperm DNA of like 3 different guys -- none of whom were named Kobe Bryant -- in her panties from that night. And then she shows up unmarried and pregnant to court with yet another guy's kid. Real chaste, innocent princess there.

Oh, why not, let's make it a comment clusterf*ck, shall we?

o.j. was innocent

Fyi, after getting shelled for 8 runs in his first start back, it appears that Dontrelle Willis will be helping Detroit "surge back atop the AL Central" from Class-A Lakeland of the Florida State League. Care to update your "bold claims"?

June 10th 1:08

You forgot the ******* umlaut. Get it together or you will never make partner. I promise. Zarathustra

The last comment was directed at June 9 rather than June 10. I'm watching you Thrasymachus. You sophists--i mean attorneys are all the same.