Jimmer Fredette: The new "King" James

The Sacramento Kings are facing a crisis which might result in the team relocating to Anaheim. The city needs serious help to save their team. Unfortunately, the local government probably won't be able to save the Kings. 

Sacramento can't depend on a democracy, they need a dictatorship. They need a King.

To Sacramento fans, I say, in this election year, change is coming. A new King is headed your way.

Noah saved the planet with an Ark, King James is on his way to save Arco from beyond the arc.

In Provo, UT, he is revered reverently as The Jimmer...

Bradley makes changes; USA in Gold Cup final

US soccer is looking a lot better these days. Coach Bob Bradley is finally making better decisions.

Moving to a 4-5-1 formation, using Clint Dempsey as an attacking midfielder, has been brilliant. I've always felt the way to cover up our weakness at forward, was to overload our midfield with attacking players, creating strength in numbers.

Jermaine Jones, Alehandro Bedoya and Sasha Klestian are working well together with Michael Bradley in the middle and Clint Dempsey attacking at the top.

Bradley used Freddy Adu, yes that Freddy Adu, who made an immediate impact in Wednesday's 1-0 victory over Panama. He isn't always beautiful, but he is constantly in attack mode. Adu adds creativity to our team that we normally lack. I have always liked his mindset, even if his skill set doesn't always back it up.

There is still work to be done, but these adjustments on the fly are proving very effective…

Who will draft Jimmer? Part II

It happens every year. A player is projected to be drafted in one spot and then climbs 10 spots over night.

Did he get any better? No. Did he have an amazing last minute work out? No. Did he suddenly grow taller, jump higher or learn to shoot better? No.

Obviously, it's none of these things. Instead, teams become enamored with a player and fear some other team in front of them will draft a player they think will be the hidden gem of the draft. So, they trade picks and move up to draft the player higher than expected.

This year's benefit of last minute trade talk and paranoia? Jimmer Fredette..

Rory McIlroy: The next Tiger?

When Rory McIlroy choked away a 63 hole lead at Augusta in April, I felt incredibly bad for the young golfer and wondered if he'd ever be able to overcome one of the biggest meltdowns in major golf history.

After this weekend's US Open, I no longer feel bad for McIlroy. The 22-year-old kid from Northern Ireland responded to a historic collapse at the Masters with a historic win at Congressional this weekend.

From one of the the worst collapses ever to the largest Open win ever. Talk about going from extreme to the other.

The easy angle here would be to talk about how Rory is the next Tiger. Lets not get ahead of ourselves. No, instead, Rory is what Tiger should have been…

US Soccer on shaky ground in the Gold Cup

Following a lackluster 1-0 victory against Guadeloupe, the US Men's Soccer team has advanced to the elimination rounds of the Gold Cup... Barely. 

The odds on favorite to win the tournament, the US didn't even advance first out of their own group. The games they did win, the team looked disinterested once they owned a lead. 

That being said, the US did advance and will take on Jamaica this Sunday. However, advancing out of the group stage isn't something the Americans should celebrate. Not in a region as weak as CONCACAF, which fields teams like Guadeloupe who FIFA doesn't even recognize as an independent nation.

So, while I was tough on Bob Bradley following the US's 4-0 loss to Spain, I'm not willing to completely pull back my criticisms of a coach who has left many question marks hanging over his own head...

Behind Enemy Lines: Visiting Yankee Stadium

I hate the Yankees. So it's hard to say anything positive about my first experience at Yankee stadium. I'm a realist though and try to see each situation for what it is, regardless of my own bias. So as I walked into Yankee stadium on Tuesday to watch a Sox-Yankees game, I tried to check my hatred at the door and take in the experience as a neutral observer.

When I say neutral, I mean almost neutral; I wore a bright red Red Sox t-shirt and cheered for the Sox the entire game. I was very happy the Sox won 6-4 in a game in which Jon Lester got the W and Papelbon got the save (both are on my fantasy team).

By the time I left, I still hated the Yankees, but left with mostly positive impressions from my three and a half hour experience. Here are those impressions, in no particular order…

Visiting Fenway: Baseball's best stadium

In the eighties the Seattle Mariners were terrible. So, despite growing up near Seattle, I was a Red Sox fan. I watched every Sox game I could find on TV, checked their box scores daily in the paper, had Sox pennants, coffee mugs, posters and other memorabilia throughout my room.

Basically, I was a pretty good Sox fan before becoming a Mariner's fan in 1995. With that in mind, last Friday, I crossed off an item on my bucket by attending a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. And I fell in love.

Bob Bradley owes me money

If you don't follow soccer, the USA played Spain on Saturday in Foxboro, MA. Following a 7-hour flight from Utah and a 25 mile drive from Boston, I was in attendance.

***HISTORY LESSON:

Spain won the World Cup last year and boasts one of the deeper and more talented rosters in recent memory. Two years ago, the Americans pulled off a shocking 2-0 upset of Spain, ending Spain's record unbeaten streak of 35 straight games, including 15 consecutive victories.

With that upset in mind, Spain brought their best squad, minus a few injuries, and many thought they'd be out for revenge. On the flip side, US supporters viewed this as an opportunity to prove the 2-0 win wasn't a fluke and that US soccer is for real.

After watching the game, I came to the following conclusion: Head Coach Bob Bradley owes me money.

Paying college football players

For years, Jim Tressel was an example of so many things you wanted out of college coach. He was humble, modest in victory, gracious in defeat, displayed character and integrity, and refused to give in to the pressures to change his style of coaching… Or so we thought.

Day by day we learn more about a slew of cover ups to go with a laundry list of violations which appear to have been going on from years. Yes, Jim Tressel's fall from grace over the past several months has been a sad story for all of us to watch.

It's sad for two reasons: