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Ginobili Regaining Form in Time for Free Agency Summer

7 hours 6 minutes ago |FanHouse Main

ORLANDO -- Regardless of what happens to the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs this spring, Manu Ginobili can't lose if he continues to play like he has the last four weeks.

Free agency should be very, very good to him.

The Spurs were dealt their worst loss in two years, 110-84 to the Magic Wednesday night, but Ginobili continued his climb back to the status he once held, which will make him an attractive target for all those teams with salary cap space that strike out on the biggest stars.

After LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer and Amar'e Stoudemire are gone -- and most likely will re-sign with their current teams -- Ginobili will be the next one standing in line.

"I'm feeling great. I'm confident, attacking the rim. I'm getting around people again. I'm better than ever at finding my teammates,'' he said after Wednesday night's loss. "Something has clicked.''

Ginobili, 32, struggled through much of the first half this season, raising red flags after he ended last season early with a stress fracture of his right ankle. The summer before, he sustained a bad ankle sprain at the Olympics.

Until the All-Star break, he was looking like damaged goods, which wasn't a good sign in his contract year. He is making $10.7 million this season.

NHL's Latest Cheapshot: Wisniewski Head-Hunts Seabrook

7 hours 26 minutes ago |FanHouse Main

On the eve of a potential grudge match between Pittsburgh and Boston, the National Hockey League was provided another senseless illustration of head-hunting that momentarily left a standout player senseless.

Anaheim's James Wisniewski crushed Chicago's Brent Seabrook into the end glass at 2:22 of the teams' game on Wednesday night in Anaheim. As Wisniewski left his feet and drove Seabrook's head into the glass with his arms, the Blackhawks and Team Canada defenseman looked concussed as his legs gave out and he crumbled to the ice. Seabrook later skated on his own to the Chicago bench but did not return to the game. A team spokesman called it an "upper body injury."

Wisniewski's hit appeared to be retribution for a check Seabrook leveled Anaheim forward Corey Perry with just a few seconds earlier. Seabrook, however, did not have the puck and was in a vulnerable position. The NHL will review the play and a suspension for Wisniewski is very possible.

FanHouse TV: Midwest Region Breakdown

8 hours 16 minutes ago |FanHouse Main

FanHouse TV's Dan Graziano and Hofstra coach Tom Pecora break down the Midwest Region and explain why it's the toughest region in the tournament. Find out what Georgetown and Ohio State have in common and why it may help them both. And just how good is Kansas? Our tourney expert faced the Jayhawks this season and lived to tell about it ... barely.
Click below to watch

Nolan Smith Hopes to Carry Duke, Father to Another Championship

10 hours 1 minute ago |FanHouse Main

Nolan Smith has eyes and ears.

He knows what's behind him, that Duke hasn't reached the Final Four since 2004. He's also aware what's in front of him, a possible second-round matchup in the NCAA tournament against Louisville. Smith's late father Derek was a nine-year NBA veteran who played on the Cardinals' national championship team in 1980.

Smith, however, is focused on the moment.

FanHouse TV: Kenny Smith Breaks Down Stretch Run

10 hours 16 minutes ago |FanHouse Main

FanHouse TV's Jordan Schultz sits down with NBA analyst extraordinaire Kenny Smith to discuss the NBA's stretch run. Is this the year that LeBron overtakes Kobe and the Lakers? How far can the young Oklahoma City Thunder go in the playoffs? And what do Dirk and the Mavs need to do to win the West?

Click below to find out

Tebow's Rapid Improvement Isn't Sleight Of Hand

11 hours 41 minutes ago |FanHouse Main

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Tim Tebow has again done the impossible. He didn't just unveil a new passing motion Wednesday, he unveiled a new body.

This one isn't cut in half like a magician's trick gone terribly wrong. That was just one of the many issues Tebow faced just five weeks ago.

"He was so disconnected, his lower and upper body at the Senior Bowl," said NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock.

It's always easier to impress scouts when your upper and lower torsos are attached. And in the most anticipated Pro Day in world history, Tebow showed he is definitely getting himself together.

He's not ready to apply for membership in the Manning family yet. But Tebow's passing mechanics have improved so fast, I couldn't help wonder why he couldn't have done it sooner? He could have. But all of Urban Meyer's horses and all of his men didn't try to put Tebow together again.

The question is, should they have? It certainly would have made Wednesday less of an all-consuming mystery.

Rangers Close Ranks Around Ron Washington After Cocaine Revelation

12 hours 13 minutes ago |FanHouse Main

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Texas manager Ron Washington tested positive for cocaine use during the first half of the 2009 season, but it didn't cost him his job.

Instead he went through nine months of drug rehabilitation after he told Major League Baseball executives, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels and club president Nolan Ryan of his transgression after taking a drug test but before the results of the test were known.

Daniels and Ryan considered Washington's offer to resign but ultimately opted to treat it as a one-time failure on Washington's part.

On Wednesday, with SI.com telling the Texas organization it was going ahead with a story on the failed drug test, the Rangers called their players in for an emergency meeting at which Washington told them of what he called a one-time lapse.

When Washington, who was in tears by the end of saying his piece, was done, third baseman Michael Young was the first of about a half dozen players to stand up and voice support.

"I've got his back,'' Young told the group, according to sources. "Anybody who doesn't feel that way isn't a Texas Ranger.''

More Coverage: Washington Admits Cocaine Use MLB FanHouse on Facebook

One Year Later, Ameer Ali Still Paying for Body Slamming Blake Griffin

12 hours 26 minutes ago |FanHouse Main

An incident from last year's NCAA tournament, long-forgotten by all but its most diehard observers, will cost Morgan State one of its starting forwards in the 15th-seeded Bears' first-round game against West Virginia Friday.

Ameer Ali was ejected from Morgan State's first-round game against Oklahoma in 2009, for flipping Sooners star Blake Griffin over his back in the second half of Oklahoma's 82-54 rout. However, Ali was also suspended by the NCAA for his next tournament game, which turned out to be against the Mountaineers, the No. 2 seed in the East regional.

In an interview with Baltimore's WVIE-AM radio Monday, Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman said that the school had been told of the punishment soon after the 2009 tournament had ended; Morgan State appealed and was denied. So Ali, now a sophomore who started 21 games and led Morgan State with 14 points and eight rebounds in a MEAC tournament semifinal win over Hampton last week, will sit out his second, and his school's second, Division I tournament game.

"The whole idea of the appeal was that the kid suffered a lot from it,'' Bozeman said. "He apologized for it, he obviously was ejected from the game, he received a lot of hate mail and some death threats, and he's gone through an awful lot for it.''

The NCAA turned down Morgan State's offer to discipline Ali for one or two regular-season games, Bozeman said.

Tebow Blows 'Em Away on Pro Day

12 hours 41 minutes ago |FanHouse Main

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Tim Tebow won a lot of big games at Florida Field during his epic career, but Wednesday's defeat of some of his biggest critics rates as one of his most impressive victories yet.

"To be honest with you," NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said after watching the new and improved Tebow model, "I was blown away."

The man under the microscope felt pretty good about it, too.

"There was a lot of pressure, but thankfully I've been in some other situations where there was pressure," Tebow said after the much-anticipated unveiling of his revamped throwing motion during the University of Florida's pro day. "That's the great thing about work ethic; when you want to change something, if you work on it enough, it'll change."

He definitely changed some perceptions about his stock in the 2010 NFL Draft.

John Calipari 'a Moment' Away From Bluegrass Backlash

13 hours 7 minutes ago |FanHouse Main

Once, that guy was Dean Smith.

Then, for years, that guy was Jim Boeheim, with Roy Williams and Bill Self dribbling closely in the rear.

Now John Calipari is that guy as the best college basketball coach never to win it all despite everything: 477 career wins at the age of 51, trips to the Final Four with programs that he built in a flash at Massachusetts and Memphis -- including that Memphis team sitting a few made free throws from a national championship -- and ridiculously talented rosters.

Consider, too, that Calipari enters this year's March Madness with a Big Blue target on his back in his first season at Kentucky.

All Kentucky coaches not named Adolph Rupp own such a fate, and Calipari even more so with a loaded team with lottery picks and standouts in general. His Wildcats also are a No. 1 seed for their opening game on Thursday night in New Orleans against East Tennessee State. And remember: The historically demanding fans of the Wildcats are loud, plentiful and occasionally vicious.

You wonder if Calipari's pipes are bursting from the pressure of it all. I mean, there was that rarity at the SEC Tournament. After Kentucky slipped past Mississippi State for the title, Calipari ordered his team NOT to cut down the nets.

FanHouse TV: South Region Breakdown

13 hours 16 minutes ago |FanHouse Main

Who's more important to another Final Four appearance for Duke, the players or Coach K? How much will Robbie Hummel's injury hurt Purdue's title chances? And which player in the bracket is being compared to Tim Duncan? FanHouse TV's Dan Graziano and Hofstra coach Tom Pecora break down the South Region.

Finally Meeting 'The Serena Line Judge'

18 hours 16 minutes ago |FanHouse Main

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- What I've always wanted to know was whether she was scared. Serena Williams, twice her size, stood over her, cursing, threatening and waving her racket at her, and for a while, that tiny woman just sat there in her chair, watching the whole thing without expression.

It was a journey to find the "famous" Serena Line Judge. I went from Chicago, where I live, to New York to Melbourne, Australia to Indian Wells. Well, I went to those places to watch tennis, too.

In the end, I got her by pure accident the other day, in front of a concession stand outside Stadium No. 3. I finally got to ask, and found out that yes, The Serena Line Judge was, in fact, afraid. Come to think of it, who wouldn't have been?

Serena had bullied an official. When Williams had finished her tirade, the U.S. Tennis Association said it would not produce the line judge for an interview, and would not divulge her name.

What could they tell me about her? She lives in Japan or China. That was not much to go on.

Well, the line judge organization wasn't giving up their judge's name. Then in Melbourne for the Australian Open, word came that she was there. She would be a line judge in the Hit for Haiti event that Roger Federer had put together. She would have a reunion with Serena, who was playing the charity event, and everything would be smoothed over.