Hey you! Get off my McLeod

That's right. I combined a classic Rolling Stones song with my new favorite basketball player who ever hailed from St. John's, Duke and the Atlanta Hawks -- the one and only Roshown McLeod. "But Sean, don't you have his 1998-99 Fleer Brilliants rookie card stored away in a box somewhere?" Indeed I do young one. And I found it! There it is to the right of your screen. So why do I have this new found devotion to the greatest basketball player known as McLeod? Well the dude came and spoke to our Coaching of Basketball class on Tuesday. He was just hired this summer as an assistant coach for Tom Crean at IU, so they brought him to help us digest what defense is...well, that didn't really work.

"I never played much defense," McLeod said in his opening remarks, and we never got back on topic for the next 50 minutes as he proceeded to tell his life story. First of all, the guy has an ego the size of Lucas Oil Stadium. Had he not injured his knee and then ruptured his achille's tendon (sounds fairly painful) he claims he would be All-Star in the league right now. Well, that's doubtful. In class, he told us that all of his stats improved each year he was in the league (only 3 years by the way) and that he averaged 17 ppg in his last year so he was destined for glory. A quick look at his basketball-reference stat sheet shows some different numbers. Part of that is true, most of his numbers did improve but he only averaged 9.6 ppg in his last season in 2001. Whatever. I fogive any man who plays his highlight tape to his audience before entering the room to speak (note to self: create highlight tape to the song "Soul Man" and get any job I want).

Well he had quite a few good stories (Dikembe Mutombo and Steve Smith taking him shopping to buy suits; coaching high school basketball for $70,000 per year w/o teaching) but the best two stories had to do with some famous coaches. His high school was Bobby Hurley and one time McLeod hurt himself during a game and was sitting down with an ice pack on his hip. Hurley was pissed at how the team was playing, looked over at McLeod, took his ice pack and shattered it against wall, afterwhich he said, "You're not hurt until I say you're hurt." I will never forget that line.

The other story had to deal with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. It was during McLeod's senior season and Duke lost Elton Brand to a season-ending injury. Instead of being like most coaches who try to play the injury off so you're team doesn't worry about it, Krzyzewski entered the locker room by saying "What are we going to do now? We just lost our best player?" McLeod stood up and said, "Coach! I'm your best player. Just give me the opportunity to show you what I can do." Krzyzewski didn't say a word and just walked out. My respect for the Duke coach just went up 43 percent. Love it.

Anyways, it was an interesting class...on to the links

2 minutes...2-ah
Finally! Somebody did a decent in-dept look at the Pacers schedule this season. Was that so hard IndyStar? I didn't think so. In the words of Roshown McLeod, "You are pussies."

It's Beetles...with an A
Paul McCartney has just arrived for his big concert in Israel. Should be interesting to see if this whole terrorist threat actually plays out. I'm gonna be honest, I'm not sure how I would deal with Ringo being the lone surviving Beatle at this point. That can't be good for anybody.

Info for Bo
You need to buy this card immediately in honor of your favorite St. John's/Duke/Atlanta player.

I Me Mine
This segment is dedicated to other Sean Stevenson's in the world who somehow land in my news alerts. This Sean had an assist for the American Internation College team's lone goal in a 2-1 loss to the New York Institute of Technology. C'mon team! Sean can't do everything himself! Way to bring celebrity and greatness to our name!

Hello, Mr. Radio
I feel like I can't go wrong with The Hills in this section so here ya go...enjoy!

I can't believe there isn't a YouTube video of McLeod to put on here. Unbelievable! I'm boycotting YouTube for the entirety of this blog post until one is put up online. Also, check Joel's blogs for some cool pics of Mellencamp in Columbus this week. Peace out homies.