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After a summer of heated negotiations, the Portland Trailblazers have signed All Star shooting guard Brandon Roy to a five year contract extension. Roy will be in the final year of his rookie contract in the 2009-2010 NBA season, and locking up the services of their ‘franchise player’ was the teams top summer priority.

The on court success and off court class of Brandon Roy may have saved the Portland NBA franchise. The Blazers slumped from their glory years of the 1970’s and 1980’s as the 1990’s progressed, eventually pulling together a roster consisting of character challenged reprobates that earned the moniker JailBlazers for their frequent legal transgressions.

In the late 1990’s, Portland owner Paul Allen finally had enough and cleaned house. The new management was given the charge to put together a roster that would not only win games, but win back the Rose City fans. The acquisition of Roy will likely be looked at as the turning point for this effort. The Blazers acquired Roy on draft day 2006 for Randy Foye, and would go on to win the NBAs rookie of the year award.

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Cigar Shop, CA: High Status

When it comes to sitting down and relaxing after a satisfying day of doing whatever it is that makes one feel productive, there’s nothing better than smoking a favorite cigar with friends. The other day, a few of us were doing just that at our favorite Cigar Shop, CA when an argument came up over the status symbol a cigar provides.

Good old Micky piped up and said out of the blue that there was no prestige left in cigar smoking since anyone can now find one at a variety of places. There was a time, Micky lamented, when it was a more exclusive “club”…being a cigar smoker.

Cigar Shop, CA: Johnny Faces Off

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Lately there have been multiple television shows and stories on the Internet as well about potential disasters that could drastically change the way the world is today. No one wants to believe that such a thing is possible, but really, you are just living in denial if you don’t at least consider that some big event could change the way we survive from day to day and not for the better. This is not to say that something is going to happen, maybe not in our lifetime, but one day it probably will for one reason or another.

A global disaster caused by something like an asteroid or a meteor strike has changed the earth before and it could happen again if you believe what scientists have said about past events. Something like that would change things instantly and who knows to what degree. It could affect half of the world or all of it. If you survived, how to do think other people that survived would behave towards you? Wouldn’t you think that you needed a gun to at least have a chance of protecting your family and supplies if you are fortunate enough to have them?

It only takes looking back at the way things were going when hurricane Katrina hit in the United States almost five years ago to understand how quickly people can panic in a drastic situation such as that was. Just imagine if that was happening on a global scale because of a biological outbreak or a nuclear crisis. It would probably be sudden and there would be nothing that could be done to make things right anytime soon. When food supplies and fuel began to run out, people would be every man for himself and that means what little you might have would have to be protected and that usually means having a gun.

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The bad news for the Baltimore Ravens in their 2009 NFL regular season opener was that their vaunted defense gave up 24 points despite holding a decided advantage in every other statistical category. The good news was that their offense was more than up to the task, answering with 38 points and a franchise record 501 yards. All told, the Ravens opened their season on a winning note beating the Kansas City Chiefs 38-24. Quarterback Joe Flacco threw for a career high 307 yards in the victory.

NFL sports betting devotees who took the +13 points with the Chiefs as a road underdog were hard luck losers as the Ravens managed to cover the pointspread by a single point. The win evened Baltimore’s ATS record over the past three seasons at 18-18, while the Chiefs fell to 14-19 in the same timeframe. The 62 combined points scored easily exceeded the posted total of 37. Despite Baltimore’s reputation as a defensive powerhouse they’ve shown a decided bias to the OVER in recent years, with 22 OVER verdicts in their last 35 games.

Afterwards, Joe Flacco was clearly happy with the opportunity to throw the ball more than usual:

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It was only a matter of time until golf GPS units hit the courses of the United States and other parts of the world. After all, golfers love gadgets, tend to be fanatical, are always looking for an edge, spend a lot of time replaying the game in the clubhouse, and receive a lot of golf-related gifts.

All the units and down loadable programs provide access to tens of thousands of courses in the US. It is simple to make an online visit to the manufacturers site to ensure that your favorite courses are in a unit’s database before choosing it. Some units also tell you how far you are from a listed course, which can be useful information if you are thinking about visiting.

Previewing a course, plotting the hazards and measuring the distances to the greens, keeping the day’s scorecard and saving the data in your personal history, being able to track the length of your shots, and seeing hidden aspects of the course ahead are some of the neat features of a golf GPS.

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Ever since he burst onto the MMA scene Joe Lauzon has been working to earn respect. Hes lost only once since then–to top contender Kenny Florian in a bout that earned fight of the night honors–but for some reason hes had trouble being taken seriously as a top contender in the UFCs lightweight division. In the main event at the UFC Ultimate Fight Night in Tampa, Lauzon withstood a game challenge from late replacement Jeremy Stephens to earn a 2nd round submission victory.

Lauzon was in control of the fight throughout, but Stephens gave a good account of himself despite his opponents obvious technical superiority on the ground. Lauzon appeared to be on the verge of ending the fight midway through the second with a ground and pound assault that he attempted to transition into a rear naked choke. Stephens fought back with a vengeance despite his disadvantageous position and opened a nasty cut on Lauzon’s forehead with an elbow strike.

As puddles of crimson gathered anytime Lauzon’s head neared the mat, he gained a new sense of urgency not wanting to lose on a stoppage due to the cut. He regained control on the ground and from full mount twisted into a nasty arm bar. Stephens tried to extricate himself, but was eventually forced to tap giving the bloody Lauzon a hard fought triumph.

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