Not sure if there are any other CU fans here (Go Buffs!), but I just saw a link at the top of this blog for the Ralphie Report -- a CU blog here on the SB Nation. 

http://www.ralphiereport.com/

I'm ready for college football season.  I need something to kill some time until the NBA starts.  I can't get into baseball at all, hockey's still a while away and the Broncos are (sadly) going to suck this year.  Come on Buffs!

Was I the only one that was seriously disappointed with this game?  Not with the result obviously, but I was really looking forward to watching Ricky Rubio after all of the hype.  I kept hearing not only was he an offensive wizard, but he was a good to great defender.  He looked awful out there.  He had the one touch pass for the oop, but other than that he was getting abused out there.  I know he's only 17.  I know he was going against the best players in the world (namely CP3), but I was expecting him to at least show up.  I'm seriously bummed.

And the Gasol family has to be the ugliest family ever.

OK, I'm James and I'm a basketballaholic.  I watch way too much of it.  If you look at my DVR right now, you'll see last Saturday's Broncos game (which I can probably delete), the two Arkansas games from the NCAA Tournament that CBS College Sports just re-showed (gotta watch Sonny!) and about 5 summer league games.  That's it.  So obviously, I need mental help.

Anyway, I was just curious other than the Nugs, what teams do you enjoy watching?  Last season, I "adopted" four other teams -- all in the East or Central time zone -- that I would watch pretty regularly.  Orlando, Atlanta, Toronto and Memphis.  3 out of 4 ain't bad.  So what about this season?

* Orlando - as long as Dwight Howard is there, they're staying in my list.  Also, as much as I ripped on Turkoglu, he really picked it up last season.  It was a travashamockery that he didn't make the all-star game.

* New Orleans - CP3 baby!  If you don't enjoy watching him, you don't love life.  Chandler's a badass, West is an all-star.  Basically, this is the team that the Nugs tried to be and failed miserably. 

* Portland - I welcome our Trail Blazer overlords.  Watching them in January during their 12 game winning streak was amazing.  Brandon Roy is probably the most underrated player in the league.  Add Oden, Rodriguez, Bayless and Koponen (who I wish the Nugs would try to get) and you have a playoff team.

* Philadelphia - Andre Miller is my favorite player in the NBA and it'll be great to see him surrounded with a solid cast.  Add Brand to the mix, and it's even better.

I'm also excited to watch a little of Minnesota (Kevin Love!), Toronto (Bosh, O'Neal and Calderon make them scary) and Chicago (who every year suck me in, only to disappoint).  I used to love watching the Clippers, but now that my favorite team is Camby free, I'm not going to watch a team that has him.  The SOB is out of my life.

Grizz sign Josh Smith to contract.  Hawks have a week to match.  They'd better match.

Apparently, this must be 75 words long.  So I will now talk about why I want Josh to stay with Atlanta.  First, they're in the East.  I like teams in the East being good.  Secondly, I watched a lot of Hawks games last year.  I don't know why.  I really like Joe Johnson (The Armdaillo Cowboy!).  Josh Smith is one of the top 5 exciting players in the game.  Acie Law IV was great in college.  Al Horford is a badass.

That has to be 75 words, right?

Because hey, what better way to start a season than to lose at your most hated rival without your star player.  Awesome!

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/05/melo-will-be-back-for-nuggets-home-opener/

Also, Portland (who along with New Orleans gives me hope for the future of basketball) apparently has a brutal start to the season.  From the Blazers.com blog:

Wednesday morning the NBA schedule will be released. I've seen it, and was even pouring over it with Kevin Pritchard last week. One word describes the first six weeks of the season- brutal. I don't mean kind of difficult, I mean brutal. You'll understand what I mean when you see it, and I'm sure you'll agree. If this team comes through the first 24 games with a record anywhere near .500 it will be remarkable. You think I'm overstating that. Again, you'll see.

I guess a babtism by fire isn't necessarily a horrible thing. For this team's sake, let's hope not.

We also know that Xmas will give us Magic vs Hornets (yay!), Lakers vs Celtics (boo!) and Spurs at Suns (meh).  Hawks open the season at Orlando (which, provided Atlanta has removed their heads from their asses and re-signed Josh Smith should be fun).  Oh, and the Nugs play at Toronto on New Year's Eve.

EDIT - see my reply for the schedule that was just announced.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-spknix285780524jul28,0,7410321.story

The Knicks and Nuggets are discussing a trade that would send 2006 first-round pick Renaldo Balkman to Denver for point guard Taurean Green and small forward Bobby Jones, an NBA front-office source told Newsday last night.

The deal would mark the end of Balkman's mostly confusing tenure with the Knicks, who selected him with the 20th pick two years ago when Isiah Thomas said Phoenix would've swiped him if he hadn't. That scenario appears even more dubious now that the former coach of the Suns, Mike D'Antoni, is ready to ship Balkman out for little more than roster fodder.

Love it.  Absolutely love it.  He fills the Najera role off of the bench perfectly.  I'd like it if he were a little bigger because I'm not convinced he can do too much post defense, but I know he absolutely terrorized Melo whenever we played the Knicks.

I was hoping Bobby Jones would work out with the Nugs, but with us signing Dahntay Jones, it was pretty obvious Bobby was on the way out.  Now I hope that Chris Lofton picks up his play because we really need a young PG prospect to start working on.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_9972596

I know it's the league minimum, but I hate this deal.  First off, Andersen was awful.  Horrid.  Hell, we couldn't even play him on the road because Buzz knew he couldn't do anything.  More importantly, I think this might keep us from hanging on to Elton Brown who, unlike Birdman, might actually be able to contribute.

This better be purely a PR move.

Ugh.  Ugh ugh ugh.