That's a tough one to swallow.

Don't get me wrong; I wish them well, and I understand that kind of money is hard to say no to.  But there is something wrong when you have a league that continues to bring in guys inexperienced and not ready to play at that level, and it results in a product that continues to get worse year after year.

To be perfectly honest, Raymond Felton is the only Tarheel that I am confident will have some success in the league.  His ballhandling ability and competent decision making at point will help him stay in the league.  However, it's ironic that the guy with the least amount of experience (Williams) will more than likely be the first Tarheel picked in the draft.

I don't know if the age limit that has been proposed will work (a good number of kids will just go semi-pro overseas or head to the NBDL) but something's got to give.

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UPDATE:  A good point by Adam Gold at 850TheBuzz.  ESPN and all of these national sports reporters are so full of crap, claiming that they broke the story that all these guys were going to leave (including NBC-17 Raleigh, who claimed Williams was going to stay, which was hilarious considering he will have the highest pick of all of them). 

The Buzz broke that story Tuesday Afternoon, and those fools fell in right behind them because they knew The Buzz is a local station and thus didn't have to acknowledge them nationally.  Everyone in the Triangle knew these guys were going to leave, so it isn't news to us.  You got to love how journalists take credit for stuff they didn't do (that goes for you too,  Mitch Albom).

That's the only way to explain this:

Enter Maxine Waters. Waters has poisoned racial politics in Los Angeles for years; she essentially declared the Los Angeles riots a strike against racial injustice. Never saw a cop she doesn’t think is a racist. Yet here she was at the hearing declaring herself absolutely fed up with the race war between Hispanics and blacks that is raging on the streets of downtown L.A. “Why isn’t anyone talking about the Mexican Mafia (a gang of illegal Mexicans that controls the California prison system)?” she thundered. ‘I don’t care if you’re pink or purple or white or black or brown, I want you out if you’re committing crimes.’ There is no excuse not to control the border, she said. ‘I’m a liberal with a capital ‘L’,’ she said, ‘but I’m sick of it.’

Yeah, so this was something I didn't expect, and I'm sure no one else did either.

But you should have.  One thing Molotov over at Booker Rising has been on top of is the growing conflicts of interest between the black community and the illegal alien population that continues to grow in the United States.  Particularly in the South, illegal aliens are taking jobs away from black people more than any other group.  And in North Carolina, they were trying to pass a bill allowing illegal aliens in-state tuition status, which would have been detrimental to black people trying to get into schools in the state.

There's also this:

Waters' timing was impeccable. A day after she spoke, 100 black and Hispanic students at Jefferson High School in South L.A. attacked each other in a race- and gang-driven brawl; three days later, the same thing happened, this time, students also hurled bottles at the police. Principal Norm Morrow told the Los Angeles Times:"We just have a lot of issues with race," said Morrow. "It's coming out of the community, into the school." Cops in riot gear now patrol the school.

Actually I've heard some rumors that the Black/Mexican conflict was heating up in California.  I haven't been able to confirm this, but word is that Mexican gangs have pledged to kill over 2,005 black men this year.  It's more of a street rumor, but I've heard it more than once.  Maybe Waters didn't hear about this, but she sees the growing rift between the two groups and is taking note.

We haven't heard the last of this issue.  I wouldn't be surprised if we hear more black politicians speak out about the illegal immigration issue in the near future.

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UPDATE:  This will probably be the first of many updates on this issue.  I've doing some websurfing and found this from Dan Stein from last month.

I attended a Capitol Hill hearing today on "Interior Immigration Enforcement Resources." No one could have missed the fact that Democrats are preparing to pounce on the Bush administration's failure to fully fund authorized detention space and ICE enforcement agents. Time after time, Congresswoman Maxine Waters -- a newcomer to the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims -- underscored the hypocrisy in the administration's failure to live up its public commitments to improve overall immigration enforcement. Her comments were echoed by Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and California Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez. Strange coming from people with no real track record supporting immigration enforcement.

So Waters has stepped up her voice for border enforcement.  A surprising name in there is Loretta Sanchez.  After all, Sanchez won her seat after losing several times under her now-former husband's name, Brixey.  She dropped the name in order to sound as if she was Mexican in order to attract that voting bloc.  If she continues to stay on that platform, I don't see her winning reelection.  The Hispanic lobby will do whatever it takes to keep the borders flowing with illegals.

I'll have more later.

Considering the rightful outrage many conservatives have had over the obstruction of several initiatives over the last few months by so-called Republican "moderates" (I'd rather call them lukewarmers) - the latest being George Voinovich and Lincoln Chafee's public misgivings that have held up the nomination of John Bolton - I've found it quite ironic that Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords announced his retirement yesterday.

The idea that Jeffords is retiring due to health problems is hot garbage, of course.  The real reason why he is retiring is because his political career is DOA.  The night he made that backdoor deal with Tom Daschle to give him a chairman seat in that committee was the night he committed political suicide.  Facing opposition from both Democrats and Republicans during reelection, being the most impotent member of the Senate, and not to have the support and cash flow that would arise from a political committee doomed Jeffords to a fate that was obvious to anyone.  "Retiring" would at least allow him to save face.

Jeffords switching parties hurt the Republicans at first, but it ended up being the best thing that could have happened to them.  Jeffords fell on his own knife after threatening to do so for so long, and thus the Republicans could move on with one less nuisance within their own party.  Although Jeffords wasn't ran out of the party like he claimed, the Republicans recaptured the Senate with a stronger majority than ever and are better off without him.

If Senator Frist and the rest of the Republican leadership had backbone, they would place even more pressure on the RINO group.  After all; they need the Republicans more than than the Republicans need them.  If they want to follow the path that Jeffords took, then go right ahead.  The only one that is possibly untouchable is John McCain, who won reelection easily last year.  The Democrats would be happy to see a couple of them announce they are "independents", and then would try to snatch their seats during reelection.

I have no problems with these senators voting against the party line.  The problem is doing so without basing it on principle or to improve your politicial (and popular) standing.  If the Republican Party is truly a conservative party, and is willing to follow a conservative agenda, then they'd give these senators an ultimatum:  show us your vote, or we'll show you the door. 

But the Republicans will never do that because they are more interested in political success rather than conviction.  What's ironic, however, is the fact that it will be the obstruction of these senators - and the apathy of the Republican leadership towards them - that will cause the Republican Party to lose the Senate.  They can't get anything done due to the fence riders.

First of all, I'd like to say that this has been one of my better days on the blog.  This is only my second time breaking over 100 visits to my blog in one day that wasn't Instalance inspired (note:  visits, not hits),  so that's a good thing.  I suspect it was due to my sports posts over the last couple of days, so I hope to continue writing throughout the spring and summer months up into football season.

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Well the NBA Playoffs are set, and this is probably the most wide-open playoffs since the strike-shortened season in 1999.

I'm glad the Nets made the playoffs, beating a Celtics team that had their third-string in there at the end of the game.  No, it wasn't an impressive win but I'd rather see Jason Kidd and Vince Carter in there than Lebron James getting swept by the Heat in a brave but futile effort.  Don't get me wrong; the Nets will fall too, but they might pull a couple of wins out of the hat before they succumb to Shaq and Wade aka Donkey Kong and Mighty Mouse.

I'm still sticking to the premise that Lebron won't be in Cleveland after next season.  Well, he has three more years left on that deal, but I don't see Cleveland keeping him that long.  If they're smart, they'll trade him to New York, which I'm sure is where Lebron wants to go anyway.  Or in a surprise move, he might go to the Clippers, which has some tradeable guys on their roster.

Also, my Bobcats finished the season with a good win over the Detroit Pistons tonight.  That win made them 18-64 for the season, which is better than a good number of expansion franchises created over the last 15-20 years.  Personally, I thought they should have won about 10 more, if they weren't choking down the stretch constantly throughout the year.

Now they need to concentrate on the draft, and pick up a good guard that can bring the ball down the court and make something happen.  I would love to see Arizona guard Salim Stoudamire become a Bobcat, as I think he or Louisville's Francisco Garcia would make a great fit.

Today I got a phone call from the library.  They told me Brian Anderson's book, "South Park Conservatives" was ready for me to pick up.

I've read the intro and part of the first chapter.  If I don't procrastinate, I should have the book done by the weekend.  Once I do, I'll write up a lil report.

Men In Black is still on hold, though.  I won't get that until mid-May.  I might go ahead and buy it.  Are there any other books I should keep an eye on?

   - If you checked the scoreboard at the top of this page this morning (that's if they haven't updated to tonight's games), two games that should have grabbed your interest in the NBA was the Cavs win over Boston 100-86 and the Nets beat the Wizards 109-101.

These teams are vying for the last spot in the NBA Playoffs, and both have one game left.  The Nets have the tiebreaker advantage, which means they only need to beat Boston and they're in.  Cleveland needs to beat Toronto at home and then hope for the Nets to choke.

   - I watched the Cavs/Pistons game over the weekend, and it was obvious to everyone in attendance and watching it on television that Lebron James isn't happy with the situation in Cleveland.  You really can't blame him.  They got rid of his help in the frontcourt with Carlos Boozer, they got rid of a decent coach in Paul Silas in order to keep Jim Paxson happy only to end up firing him, and he's pretty much doing everything on the court by himself.  On the last play of the game everyone stood around waiting for Lebron to make a play.  No one stepped up to get the ball, or to set a pick, or do anything.

Lebron is a pretty cool guy, so he isn't going to trash his team like other primadonna superstars would.  It also wouldn't make any sense because they still have a chance to make the playoffs.  But I don't see Lebron staying in Cleveland after next season if they don't get him some help and show some kind of competence in their front office.  If he leaves, he'll probably head to the Knicks, where he'll make even more money off of his endorsement deals (I recall Jay Mariotti saying he has a top market clause on that $94 million dollar Nike contract of his which will make him even more money)and they're willing to get him what he needs to contend for a NBA title.  I wouldn't be surprised if Isiah Thomas hasn't started talking to Lebron already.

850 The Buzz, the sports radio station in the Triangle, is reporting on their blog that Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants, and Sean May - the nucleus that led North Carolina to the National Championship - will enter the NBA draft.  According to sources at the ACC Sports Journal, Felton and McCants (McCants announced last week) will sign with an agent, making them ineligible for college play.  May hasn't yet.

Felton and McCants aren't big surprises.  Everyone knew they were leaving this year.  However, I am very disappointed with Sean May, who said he was staying for his senior season on championship night, at the rally at the Dean Dome the day after, and throughout the season.  I guess the money had more credibility than his word.

As for the Tarheels, this marks the first time in NCAA history that the national champion will lose their top seven scorers for the draft:  three seniors and four underclassmen.  Roy Williams will have to start from scratch next year.  I expect 2006 will be a rough year for the Tarheel Nation.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a German which was considered the frontrunner from the start, has been elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

If you don't know the legend of Ron Mexico, here's how it goes...

Michael Vick was sued by a former girlfriend last month for knowingly giving her herpes.  According to the suit, she contracted the disease back in 2003, and found evidence showing that he knew he had it way before then.

According to the court documents, Michael Vick used the alias "Ron Mexico" in order to check into a clinic.  And the name has stuck.  People are getting into the Ron Mexico craze so much that the NFL banned the name from being used in their online Pro Shop.  No matter; because someone created RonMexico.com, and I'm sure they're making a killing through selling t-shirts and all kinds of merch via CafePress.

OkayPlayer found a "Ron Mexico" name generator that's pretty cool too.  Put your full name in the box and let it rip.

My name was Rock Nauru.  Good.  This might come in handy if I ever need to go to the clinic.  Well, you know; to go witness to the heathens and stuff. ;-D

Starting in 2006, the football tradition known as Monday Night Football will move to ESPN after 35 seasons on ABC.  ESPN, ABC's sister station, will pay $1.1 billion to the NFL over the next eight years.  Meanwhile, NBC brought the rights to Sunday Night Football, which will keep a feature football game on broadcast television and brings football back to NBC.

<sarcasm> This was brilliant.  After all, it worked for the NBA, right? </sarcasm>

Personally I am sick of ESPN, and I'm sure others are as well.  While it may get a decent booster at first, I bet the ratings after a year or two won't be any better than Sunday Night Football's ratings are now.  I understand ABC was losing serious money on the game every year, but it could have been saved.  I guess nobody's ever heard of signing a lower contract.  I'd rather have the show moved to CBS or NBC on Monday nights rather than to cable.

So, will Theisman, McGwire, and Patrick move to NBC, or be out of a job? (I'm sure Michaels and Madden will move to ESPN).  My guess is they'll be out of a job.  It's unfortunate, because I find them entertaining.  NBC shouldn't be TOO bad, or at least they can't do a worse job than CBS is doing right now.  It should be interesting to see if they keep the tried and true method they had before they gave up their NFL rights to CBS.  And I'm sure Dick Enberg has already gotten the phone call and is ready to go into the booth.