The curious case of Manti Te'o and Lennay Kekua -- A few questions for Mr Te’o

So first things first, we have to clear a little business out of the way. Regular readers of this column will recall a certain Heisman trophy winner being dragged through the mud for basically being of apparent poor character. Well now, Johnny Football doesn’t come across too bad now, does he?! It takes a big man to say sorry, and, Johnny Football, I am sorry. You are definitely not the least reputable character amongst that Heisman class.

No, that dubious title now belongs firmly to Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o.

Last night the Internet almost exploded under the weight of the Manti Te’o story. You could literally hear it creaking. The story is that this past season many of us (basically almost all of us) believed fully that Notre Dame’s dominant linebacker Manti Te’o played out his magnificent personal season with the heavy weight of the death of both his grandmother and his girlfriend hanging over him. Some few people were aware there were cracks in the story around his supposed girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, the majority of us found out the depth and severity of those cracks last night.

There is no such actual human being as Lennay Kekua.

 Lennay Kekua: Never existed

Incredibly, it would appear either Manti Te’o or a team of crack hoax organisers that Te’o and his father Brian Te’o are blaming for the controversy were able to create a human being that Manti Te’o dated and grieved over, and that the entire main stream sports reporting media of the United States bought hook line and sinker.

It would appear that it is not just Donald Trump that struggles to obtain facts, like believable birth certificates, in Hawaii.

Whatever about the facts of the matter, which are still few and far between and often confused, there are enormous, gaping holes in the logic behind Teo’s story that he is victim of a hoax. The crazed race to find the real ‘facts’ behind all this is like a side story from the movie The Usual Suspects, you half expect the name Kaizer Soze to pop up somewhere beside the name Lennay Kekua. You almost need to cut everything else out and look at the issues around much of what Manti has said in the last 24 hours but most of all in the past couple of years, to fully understand the insanity behind all of this. 

Read more: Manti Te’o Notre Dame hoax is like an episode from ‘The Twilight Zone’

Say we take it that Manti is telling the truth, and he is just a poor young student athlete caught up in an elaborate hoax, well even then, there are gigantic gaps in the logic behind his supposed story. Consider the below for yourself. Obviously the main factor is that Manti and his father in particular have at very best lied in the past about actually physically meeting this alleged girlfriend. At best, Manti is a complete and utter idiot. At worst? Manti and possibly his father are an integral part of the hoax.

Let’s have a look through the problems in Manti’s alibi.

A couple of questions ‘From the Bleachers’ would like to ask Mr Manti Te’o

• Manti, we are sorry for your loss. A few questions for you, however. Notre Dame's athletic director Jack Swarbrick said you had learned of the hoax in early December. If that's the case then why are the public learning about it in late January? Is there a particular reason for this, other than a desperate attempt to play out the season without this controversy arising?
• Manti, Mr Swarbick has outlined how you told him that when you were at the ESPN awards on December 6th you received a phone call from a woman whose phone number matched Lennay Kekua's. He is widely quoted as saying "When he answered it, it was a person whose voice sounded like the same voice he had talked to, who told him that she was, in fact, not dead." Manti, our question is, why did you wait until December 26th to inform your coaches of the hoax? Why did you wait three weeks to reveal the alleged hoax?
• Something that is really troubling us today Manti, it was reported by Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel that you would phone your sick girlfriend in her hospital room and you would dutifully stay on the line with her for hours on end as she slept through the night. A quote from the interview "Her relatives told him that at her lowest points, as she fought to emerge from a coma, her breathing rate would increase at the sound of his voice," Well Manti, what relatives? Where are they? Also, what hoax organiser has the time to pretend to be in a hospital bed and stay on phone with anyone, even the great Manti Te’o all night? We have all played a few pranks in our time, I may have called a friend’s house once pretending to be the Police but after 3 minutes myself and my buddies were on the floor laughing. Hours and hours of sitting on the phone with someone as they slept? Phone hoax’s just don’t last that long. So, are you lying, or embellishing the facts perhaps? Or did that call ever take place?
• ESPN senior columnist Gene Wojciechowski is on record as saying he couldn't find an obituary for your supposed lady friend Lennay Kekua. He also couldn't find any records about a car accident. These should have been obvious red flags, and because of this Mr Wojciechowski asked if he could contact Lennay's family. Why did you say they would prefer not to be contacted? Why did you tell Wojciechowski  the Lennay family didn’t want any further pictures of Lennay circulated also? Manti, if this was all a hoax, who on earth are you talking about? What family members? Who, exactly? If this is a hoax, why were the pretend girlfriends pretend family contacting you to tell you to tell the press to back off?
• Manti, the South Bend Tribune (story now removed) said you and your girlfriend supposedly locked eyes after the Notre Dame and Stanford game in 2009. The same paper later wrote that your father, Brian, said Kekua sometimes travelled to Hawaii to see you, though the family had never met her. I assume you know what we’re going to ask next Manti, basically, which is it, are you lying about having locked eyes with this supposed girlfriend, to make your college football career sound cooler, or is there something deeper and darker going on?
• Manti, back to that South Bend Tribune article, in it you were quoted as saying that you and your girlfriend met November 28th 2009 after Stanford's 45-38 victory over Notre Dame in Palo Alto, according to the South Bend Tribune: "Their stares got pleasantly tangled, then Manti Te'o extended his hand to the stranger with a warm smile and soulful eyes." Further to this you told the paper that Kekua, allegedly a Stanford student, physically gave you her phone number. Hey, you know what’s coming, right? If this is all a hoax, then how did all this physical interaction happen? You need to either explain that, or admit that you lied your backside off to the media.
• Manti, your Dad Brian told the Tribune in 2012 that "Every once in a while, she (alleged girlfriend) would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there." Manti why would your Dad lie about this? Or did you lie to him about it? Which is it?
• Finally, and we’re kind of angry about this one, after your hoax, virtual, alleged girlfriend died, you came out with this heart wrenching quote; "All she wanted was some white roses. So I sent her roses and sent her two picks along with that." – Manti, and we really want a straight, honest answer from you on this one, Manti, where did those flowers go? Where did you send them? To what physical address? 

You know what, you feel like you need a shower after considering all of the above.

What are we being left with, currently? Is this all a hoax created by friends of Manti's , as some kind of cruel joke? Was Lance Armstrong involved (to divert attention from him!)? Did an Alabama alumni foresee that Notre Dame would provide the final hurdle to the BCS and create this heinous hoax?

Possibly one of the few shreds left to Manti is that there is another way of looking at this. This is Manti te'o's private life. No crime (at least none we are aware of as yet) has been committed by Manti. Other than the curiosity of the public, Manti owes nobody an apology on any legal grounds.

The big problem of course is if this is a hoax, and if he is a victim, well then Manti has told a whole mess of lies.

So what are we left with?

First, Manti Te’o has to get in front of this and either a) explain why he said he physically met his ‘girlfriend’ on several occasions (if she was a hoax) or b) come clean and spill the entire beans on this ridiculous story.

There is another group that has some explaining to. The journalists who merrily reported on Kekua graduating from Stanford, the journalists who reported on Manti meeting with his ‘girlfriend’ on those occasions, the journalists who reported on her ‘death’, they have a lot of explaining to do. Have the upper levels of journalism really experienced that level a drop in journalists standards, analysis and fact checking, that a website like Deadspin is the authority on this completely insane story?

The final possibility is that President Obama created this hoax in his spare time between planning to take away all the guns that honest hard working Americans have been hoarding and further plans to change the state flag of Texas to that of Mexico.  Of course, we have no way of knowing if that is true or not. It could be. It might not be. We're just asking questions.

Questions the journalists who had access to Manti all season long should have asked.

What a mess.

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Comments
We love your comments! The communicative back-and-forth is one of the best parts of sports journalism. A couple of quick notes on same. This is a sports blog, and it deals with both the USA and Ireland, hopefully that answers a few questions! Also, your opinion is greatly valued, strong ones even more so, but if you revert to personal attacks or any kind of hate speech, your comment will be deleted. Repeat offenders will have their IP address banned.Thanks for all the great feedback to date! 

JJ Watt wags his finger and spits on the logo of the team that hung 83 points on his defence

JJ Watt

And so it goes, the NFL playoffs move forward to the final four, with many a hard lucky story and many a pretender left floundering in the wake of the four remaining teams. Where do we stack the Houston Texans? If their double-capitulations in New England are anything to go by, firmly in the latter ‘Pretender’ bracket. At least most of the Texans took their beating(s) like men. In general the Texans complimented the New England Patriots and promised they would improve next season. Standard stuff.

Read More NFL news here

Enter JJ Watt. You might recall Watt’s gormless face clogging up the airwaves ad-nauseum last week against the Bengals. For whatever reason the TV networks can’t get enough of the guys pillowy, vacant face. You might also remember him from last night’s game, stealing Dikembe Mutumbo’s ‘finger wag’ after making a tackle on a Patriot’s running back. He did this with his team in a serious hole, losing badly and facing elimination from the playoffs.

He wagged his finger despite the fact the defence he is an integral part of has this season conceded a total of 83 points to the team he was waving his finger at.

Read More: Ray Lewis the great illusionist: Ravens linebacker continues to avoid his own past

However,  it would appear that’s JJ Watt all over. Me first.

He would also appear to be lacking in either class or respect too. Watt is a bit of an overnight sensation, and I imagine most sensible Texan’s fans would agree he still has some work to do. The TV networks can force feed us his buffoonish face all they want, Watt made two tackles last night. Two. There’s clearly work to be done there. With that in mind, you would imagine Watt would be respectful of an opponent that is obviously streets ahead of his team right now, and has been for the last decade. An opponent that has put up 83 points on his defence this season.

Sadly, not so.

Before the game last night both Houston and Boston reports spotted that JJ Watt marched to the Patriots logo in center field and disrespectfully spat on it, before grinding his spit into the turf with his shoe. 

Perhaps worse yet, after the game Watt seemed to be trying to excuse this gormless action as something he does every road game. Sorry, that’s supposed to be an excuse? So, it’s OK that Watt spits on all his opponent’s logos? This pathetic, classless and disrespectful act will stand as the most impactful moment of JJ Watt’s postseason. Hopefully he enjoys that fact as he sits at home and watches the rest of the playoffs.

Read More: Say it ain’t so Brian -- Coach Kelly set for Philadelphia Eagles?

Perhaps the final word should go to Patriot’s linebacker Jerod Mayo, who summed the entire incident up in one concise sentence

"I really don't pay attention to him, I really don't care what he has to say. We're going to continue to work tomorrow,  and I don't know what those guys are going to do."

Bye bye, Houston..

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Objectification of Katherine Webb shows just how far behind the times US sporting media has fallen

The BCS bowl game Monday night sadly was not what you would call compelling viewing. For Notre Dame fans the writing must have been on the wall as the teams came out of the tunnel, and they suffered that scary moment of realisation that hits all teams from high school up through college. ‘Damn, those guys are huge!’.

The game was such a non-contest that the commentary team’s minds and mouths wandered. Brent Musburger and his broadcast partner Kirk Herbstreit decided to add some commentary to camera shots of AJ McCarron's girlfriend Katherine Webb. You know what, you be the judge. Here’s the video.



So, we hate to be ‘that’ guy, but, seriously? To borrow a well-worn and still hilarious phrase from Monday Night Football, C’mon man! Scarily, there has been little or no reaction from the media or the public, other than people laughing it off, excusing Musburger on the basis of his age, or worse yet, agreeing with his frankly disgraceful comments. To their credit, ESPN has admitted that the commentary was at the very least over the top. Their comment; "However, we apologise that the commentary in this instance went too far and Brent understands that."

For me this doesn’t go far enough. Not even close.

Musburger’s comments would have been at home in the 1950s when women were meant to stay at home, make the dinner and look pretty. His comments were the worst kind of passive-aggressive crap that may sound inoffensive at first to some, but when you think about it, his behaviour is the worst kind of sexist bullying that we would never like any women that are in our lives to be subjected to. It doesn’t matter that Ms Webb has gracefully brushed the comments off. The inane, archaic and blatantly sexist comments affect far more women than just herself. If you can’t see the problem with the comments, then you may as well stop reading now, as you and I are not going to agree on this.

The main problem is how Musburger objectified Ms Webb. His comments basically suggested that she was nothing more than something nice to look at, a painting on the wall, a sculpture, whatever. Worse yet, if you think about it, his further recommendation that ‘’ If you're a youngster in Alabama, start getting the football out and throw it around the backyard with pops’’ seems to be suggesting that you too can obtain a woman by doing that. You can get yourself one too!! Are we talking about watches here, or iPads or something? Musburger is guilty of the worst kind of sexist objectification. Just because he didn’t use any sexual slang or expletives doesn’t mean his comments weren’t sexist. 

''You too could own a Katherine Webb!!'' Brent Musburger

Most professionals who have to analyse and deal with sexism on a daily basis would have a field day with Musburger’s sexist comments. To the rest of us, they should at the very least be uncomfortable and perhaps leave us considering how we interact with the women in our lives on a daily basis.

Sadly, the Internet is reacting exactly how you would expect the Internet to react. The comments range from the confused ‘I don’t see what’s wrong here?!’ to the completely offensive ‘I would have said much worse!’ Those muddled fools are displaying exactly the cowardly bravado you would expect from the anonymity of the Internet. Here’s hoping that’s not actually how they think.

Going back to the ESPN reaction for a minute, and their tepid comment which seems to be agreeing with common decency, that Musburger’s sexist reaction was not OK. Is it enough for them to release said luke-warm statement? ESPN just sacked Rob Parker for inflammatory comments about race. Is race a more serious matter than sexism? Furthermore, is the US sporting media that archaic, stale and broken that is really is not going to react at all as an entity (I can’t find one single article anywhere on any sports site chastising Musburger)?

Take ESPN’s frankly minimal reaction to that of Sky Sports in England, when a similar controversy broke in 2011. Richard Keys and Andy Gray were the biggest soccer commentary team possibly in all of Europe, and both were sacked immediately in the aftermath of a controversy that saw them make sexist comments about a female official that were picked up on air. Gray’s comment in particular was very similar to Musburger’s seemingly senile ramblings. At the time, Gray said; "Can you believe that? A female linesman. Women don’t know the offside rule." Sky Sports acted immediately, sacking the two for that and other comments, and were almost unanimously applauded for doing so.

Why is it not OK in the UK and Ireland to make sexist comments to a wide audience, but, it would appear it is OK to do so in the USA? None of the fallout from this is funny, or acceptable. In this day and age we should not be accepting the objectification of a gender, male or female.

If you are one of the idiotic luddites who is laughing at this and boldly declaring ‘I don’t see what the problem is?!’, well consider for a second that it was your mother, sister, wife or girlfriend being salivated over by what sounded frankly like a disgusting old pervert, picture that and ask yourself, is that OK? Are you cool with that?

Completely unacceptable behaviour for anyone, and particularly for a senior ESPN analyst.

Let’s see if there is any further fallout, or if ESPN are going to play double-standards, and sack Rob Parker for a race related comment, while basically only slapping the wrists of Musburger.

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The Celtics hammer the Knicks and drive Carmelo Anthony to distraction

Madison Square Garden enjoyed some school yard basketball at its finest last night. The Boston Celtics came to town and Captain Paul Pierce led his team to a thumping 102-96 win over the New York Knicks, leaving the latter so frustrated that one of its stars morphed into a 15 year old bully. To say ‘Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Garnett got into an altercation’ is a little facetious as basically what happened was Melo decided to wait for Garnett at the Celtics team bus. See image below, and Comcast Sports Net New England has the 50 second video which is pretty funny to watch, we have that for you below also.

Here’s the video footage. Melo looks like an absolute idiot. A schoolyard bully. Apparently MSG security and the police intervened, according to a source. Good to know New York’s finest are being used to for the highest priority incidents only!

How did this all come to pass? During the feisty encounter, Anthony and Garnett were tagged with double technicals in the fourth quarter. When asked about the severity of the incident after the game Garnett played it down saying "No, no, man. Just basketball. Just basketball."

The Knick’s Amar'e Stoudemire kind of echoed Garnett’s attempt to play down the situation with his own comments; "It was more just talk. More talk more than anything. Words are pretty sharp, so when you say certain things, it gets under your skin and it gets you a little angry. And that happens to the best of us. We've got to make sure that we keep our composure and see if we can beat a team like Boston." So Garnett played it all down, as did Stoudemire.

Melo?

Melo felt compelled to take it further, and ran after the Celtics team bus, which more than anything shows he just isn’t used, to or prepared for, big game, playoff type atmospheres and occasions. Not having won anything in the NBA means he is basically still a naïve puppy. No doubt there is more of this brooding, sulky behaviour ahead for us to enjoy, until he finally puts his big boy shoes on.

Some sources are reporting that NBA fines are on the way for both players, however it is hard to imagine why KG would be fined, all he was doing was getting his bus, Melo was the punk like kid waiting for him by said mode of transport.

Some side notes on the ‘Maul At The Madison’. In the win,the Celtics perhaps offered other teams a blue print of sorts on beating the Knicks. After a terrible 3rd quarter, coach Doc Rivers demanded his troops guard the 3 point line better, and force the Knicks into the paint. The tactic worked beautifully, as the Knicks were kept to 16 points only in the crucial quarter. It would appear that if you stop the Knicks hocking up lazy 3s, they are relatively powerless to beat you.

One final note to those who would write off the Celtics this season. Last night’s win came without Rajon Rondo, who was suspended for the game by the NBA. Next time these two meet, Rondo will be on the court.

One can only imagine the painful, schoolyard fit Carmello will throw should the Celtics prevail again in just two weeks’ time, when the two protagonists meet again.


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The People’s lockout – send the NHL a message

Rejoice! The NHL is back. This column often strikes a sarcastic pose so we should clarify, we do think that is actually a good thing.  A great thing, in fact. The return of the NHL is terrific sporting news. Word on the street is that once the suits finish crossing and dotting their proverbials, we should have hockey on or between the 15th and 19th of January. As far as the NHL is concerned at that point the NHL fans, casual and loyal both, should dutifully put on their jerseys and make way in orderly fashion to their closest Ice Hockey rink to pay their hard earned money to watch the NHL product.

The NHL thinks it can basically slap whatever it wants on your plate, and you are going to gobble it up without any reservations. And you will be thankful. Although those within the league, extending from front office execs to heavy set ‘enforcers’ on the ice, are all striking the right conciliatory tones, you can bet that once the season starts and once their precious stadiums fill up, we will be back to square one.

Here’s the thing. This particular lockout is not only one of the greediest, it is also one of the stupidest in recent memory. Coming into this season, the NHL was in particularly super health. A short while before the lockout, league executives made a presentation to both owners and players demonstrating how the league hoped to add over $300 million in revenues over the next 2-3 years. The initiatives disclosed were many and varied, and included both the States and Europe also. The path forward looked extremely rosy and all the owners and players had to do was basically not sabotage it all.

Naturally, the league kick started the self-destruct process by locking the players out.  What happened next can be judged by whichever side you fall on, owners or players, however what is clear is that both sides have made mistakes.  This leaves us with the fans.

The fans are effectively almost powerless in this whole process. The NHL probably thinks the fans are exactly that, powerless. The fans watched patiently as the drama unfolded, and then watched in despair as both sides shovelled fuel apparently gleefully onto the flames. Now, as the fire subsides, the fans are expected to open up their wallets and march back into the stadiums. The fans are basically expected to act as if everything is OK.

Well, it doesn’t take me to tell you, everything is decidedly not OK! This is the third time the NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has locked the players out under his reign. The third time! That is simply ridiculous.

The fans should not accept this and the NHL might think they are powerless to do anything about it, however that is far from the truth. The fans of the NHL could deliver a nuclear bomb level statement with one simple act.

Don’t go to the first game your team plays at home.

Watch it on TV or the Internet, sure, you can’t expect loyal fans to miss a game, that’s asking too much. However, don’t go to the stadium. Let the league experience what it feels to be left helpless, as the fans have three times now because of the flamboyant, incendiary decisions Bettman has made.  Spend your money on your wife and kids, or yourself for that matter! Make a statement, make yourself heard, stay away from the home opener for your team.

Can you imagine the massive, sticky, messy egg this would metaphorically leave on the NHL’s face? Imagine for a second the wonderful message this would send, the fans will not accept being screwed around with any further.

A statement such as this would force the League, the owners and the players too, to think long and hard before screwing with the fans like this again. A simple act, easily organised and yet so powerful in its implications, would deliver a punishing, powerful warning blow to the greedy bellies of those who would mess so easily with the fans.

The NHL is back and that is a great thing.

Before you throw yourself into it fully, send the league a statement, that you won’t accept this kind of behaviour again. The NHL doesn’t really want you to, but you the fan has a voice, a powerful one.

Let it be heard.

Stay away from game one.

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Ray Lewis the great illusionist: Ravens linebacker continues to avoid his own past

Ray Lewis

It is hard to move today because of the deluge of sycophantic articles that have descended upon us after the announcement that Baltimore Ravens defensive player Ray Lewis will allegedly retire after this current NFL season. We are literally knee deep in adulatory prose being adorned on the lad. 90% of the articles being written about him are a complete whitewash in that they do not speak a single bad word about the chap. Even the 9% that do raise some quiet questions about his murky past still throw countless bouquets at him, blinding you with his impressive NFL statistics, or feel-good anecdotes about how he great he is in the Baltimore community. Wonderful. What a guy!

This column never thought it would say this, but we are among the 1% (at least when it comes to Ray Lewis).

You can throw all the statistics you want at us, you can attempt to drown us out with stories about Lewis helping Little Johnny, Billy or Mary in Baltimore, fine, whatever, however you will never remove the odious stain that is the events outside an Atlanta nightclub in January 2000.

You will never remove it, because Lewis has managed to get away with it without ever telling the truth about it. Instead Lewis has managed to rebuild his reputation completely with anyone who raises any questions about him being drowned out violently by his apologist, adoring legion of fans.

 

We are going to hear Ray Lewis called a number of things the next few days, as writers trip over themselves in a race to see who can complement him the most.  I believe Lewis is one thing for sure. A magician, an illusionist of the highest order. Lewis preaches one thing (an all-encompassing, suffocating dedication to spouting religious mantras) while practicing another. How many dedicated religious folk do you know have six children and (allegedly) zero contact with any of the four mothers of those children? Probably not many, right? The genius of Lewis is that he can act one way in his private life, but he still manages to maintain a highly polished, superstar image in his professional life.

Here’s the thing, there are no doubt many of you reading this thinking ‘Leave the man alone, he has suffered for his sins and he is rehabilitated’, the old ‘everyone deserves a second chance’ argument. No doubt there will be a number of angry emails from middle aged, white NFL fans from the Baltimore area rushing to defend their hero. I would ask those who would defend Lewis, has he really paid his dues? Has his ‘good behaviour’ the last decade really wiped away the stain? Those afore mentioned great acts of charity and all those wonderful gaudy NFL statistics pale in comparison to one thing, Ray’s incredible magic trick in turning his reputation around into levels reserved for the cleanest and most commendable superstars after the events in Atlanta in 2000.

Let’s revisit the facts for a second. Lewis was by his own admission present when Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar were stabbed to death. You can find the police reports anywhere on the Internet, and the basics are on his Wikipedia page, however I have just a couple of questions. If you are one of the angry Lewis apologists (with handles like ‘RavensDude69’ and ‘BaltimoreBomber69’) who enjoys shouting down all dissenting voices and who has clearly never actually thought about it, I would love it if you asked yourself these questions.

If Ray Lewis is innocent, then why did he and his posse ensure that his blood stained white suit, worn the night of the incident, ‘disappear’ and why has it never to this date been found? If he is innocent then why did he reach a very large financial agreement with the child of Richard Lollar, India Lollar, before a Civil case could be brought? In addition to that, why did Lewis pay off the Baker family? Why would someone who is innocent agree to pay off the families of the victims of a double murder? Seriously, ask yourself that for a second. If you or I are innocent when accused of murder, we spend the rest of our lives fighting tooth and nail to ensure we are cleared, right?

No innocent person ever pays out cash. If you are paying up, you did something. How on earth is such a simple fact completely eluding the Lewis apologists?

The prospect that is perhaps most galling is the almost nailed on certainty that Lewis will no doubt be hogging air time on US mainline sporting media sometime in the near future. Dressed no doubt dapper in a classy suit, watching his words carefully as he spits them out, Lewis will no doubt cut a fine figure, and his methodical rewrite on his own shady personal history will be almost complete.

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The Los Angeles Clippers demand your attention!

Every now and then this column likes to usher it's loyal readers in the direction of 'can't miss' value in terms of who's going to win what in the glorious little World of sports we all love so much. This is one of those times. The NBA is shaping up nicely for 2013, with basically six teams separating themselves from the pack and announcing their intentions to win the title. The Heat are winning games seemingly without breaking sweat, although they are under enough pressure that Dwayne Wade has started kicking opponents in the groin. Oklahoma look good again, as does anyone who has Kevin Durant in their squad, while the Lakers, Knicks and Spurs are obviously also contenders to some degree.

The LA Clippers however provide perhaps the most fascinating value to punters looking to get in on the NBA title or just Western title action. Now, let's print a Blake Griffin sized disclaimer here, we're not saying 'The Clippers will definitely win the NBA title' - what we are saying is, they represent serious value to do same!

The Clippers just tick a lot more boxes than many of those ahead of them in the current NBA betting. Form? Yes Sir, the Clippers are in seriously good form. They are just finished a 17 game winning streak where they routinely pounded the opposition into the court. With a winning percentage of .781 they are just behind Oklahoma and ahead of everyone else in terms of pure wins.

 The Clippers 17 game win streak

Statistically the Clippers are in fine shape. They rank 4th in the NBA in scoring while also ranking 7th overall in terms of giving up buckets, which is a nice balance. What this column loves about them most is they are 3rd in the NBA in assists, which means they are sharing the rock around, and, as we all know, sharing is caring!

They are young as a team, far younger than, for example, the Lakers, who Kob Bryant just called 'old' (no, seriously, he did). Their superstars are mostly all very young, including perhaps the brightest star, Blake Griffin. They are also, to date, healthy, unlike some of the other squads that are already breaking down through injury. Youth would stand well to them as the playoffs approach and the stamina of NBA players is tested.

Finally, the Clippers represent serious value.

For whatever reason, their form, talent and youth have not attracted the attention of the Vegas wise guys as yet, by and large. You can get the Clippers to win the NBA at 10/1 and to win the West at 5/1 still. Put that up against, for example, the Lakers, who are currently an obscenely poor value at 7/1, and you see what we are getting at.

Look, the Clippers are a young, talented and progressive sort, and right now the bookmakers haven't adjusted fully to them as yet. The 10/1 to win the NBA and the 5/1 to win the West represent super value to anyone that way inclined.

Grab either or indeed both, drop $5 of your hard earned wages on them and enjoy play like this, as you ride the value hopefully all the way to the title and the bank.



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