There’s plenty to rant about this week in the sports world. Not only were the Olympics hot and heavy, but the NBA’s trade deadline has come and gone as well. There’s also just a few weeks left until Selection Sunday. Here at Bankroll Sports, we’re ready to take out the trash and call out the stiffs that wrecked the sports world for the week that was.

Rap Sheet Picture of the Week
Phoenix Suns’ F Amare Stoudemire, who has to be wondering why he’s still stuck in the desert for the duration of the season.

Hey, Canadian Ice Hockey Team… What gives? You’re the host nation, you’re playing on your own ice in front of tens of thousands of your fans, and you’ve clearly got one of the best sets of 23 guys ever assembled on the same ice. Why the heck do you need a shootout to get past Switzerland and then do you lose to your arch rivals, the United States Hockey Team? That’s awfully unacceptable, eh? Now, as the #6 seed in the tournament, you’ve got to take out Germany just to earn the right to get into the quarterfinals of this draw, while the US and three other teams that played better than you did during the group stages are resting and watching.

We’ve already done some ranting when we talked about out NBA Trade Deadline Report Card last week, but there’s no way that we can’t continue to rant on the Phoenix Suns for the way that they handled the Amare Stoudemire situation. Phoenix clearly doesn’t want Stoudemire’s contract hanging around any long, and in spite of the fact that he leads the team in scoring, they talked for three weeks about getting rid of him. That angered the big man and took away some effective games from him. And when all was said and done, Phoenix traded him to… oh that’s right. The Suns never did move him. Now, Phoenix has a few more months of Stoudemire’s contract and, assuming that he doesn’t exercise his $17M option for next year, will be left with nothing but some extra cap space for 2011.

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What’s up with the Houston Rockets anyway? Wasn’t this team supposed to get a heck of a lot better by getting rid of Tracy McGrady and bringing in a bunch of pieces to the puzzle that were supposed to make this a playoff team? Don’t blame Kevin Martin and Jared Jeffries. Martin’s put up 27 combined points in his two games as a Rocket, and Jeffries was one rebound shy of a double-double on Sunday, but all that was accomplished this week was a dud loss in the Bayou and a smack down at the hands of the Pacers at home. That won’t get Houston to the playoffs. The only thing that that will do is move HC Rick Adelman a lot closer to the unemployment lines.

Just two weeks ago, a lot of college basketball pundits thought that the Villanova Wildcats had a gripe to be the overall #1 seed of the upcoming NCAA Tournament (click here for our latest look at the March Madness odds). Now, losses to Pitt on the road and at home against UConn have them spiraling out of control heading towards the Big East Tournament. It’s bad enough that the Cats would probably be on the #2 line if March Madness started today, but coming up is a roadie at the Carrier Dome. Yikes! Things could get a lot worse before they get better for Villanova.

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Even though the 2010 NBA trade deadline wasn’t as active as some might’ve thought, there is still plenty of room for discussion. Here at Bankroll Sports, we’re issuing our grades for how teams did under the pressure of Thursday’s deadline.

New York Knicks: A+: There weren’t any teams that did a better job at the deadline than the Knicks. New York knew that it wasn’t competing for a championship this year, but it did successfully dump the salaries of Jordan Hill, Jordan Jeffries, Larry Hughes, Nate Robinson, and Darko Milicic in exchange for a couple first rounders and having to deal with Tracy McGrady’s garbage for the next couple months. Add G Sergio Rodriguez to the mix from Sacramento, and New York knows that these prudent deals can set it up nicely for a run at both LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in the offseason.

Houston Rockets: A: The Rockets really answered the trade by the Mavericks by adding a host of talent from the Knicks and Kings in that three-way deal. Plus, they’re rid of Tracy McGrady now as well and will pick up a couple of picks from New York in the future. The biggest question for HC Rick Adelman is whether he’ll be able to find roles for all of his new starts.

Dallas Mavericks: B+: Any time you can pick up an All-Star, you tend to pull out the stops, but did the Mavs give up a little too much by dealing Josh Howard and Drew Gooden to DC? Caron Butler had better push Dallas into the playoffs an give F Dirk Nowitzki a good counterpart, or Mark Cuban may be regretting this move. All in all though, the Mavericks are probably a better team now than they were before the All-Star Break.

Cleveland Cavaliers: B: The question here isn’t whether GM Danny Ferry would’ve preferred Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire coming to town or not. The question is whether LeBron James would’ve rather have Stoudemire over Antawn Jamison. Still, as we suggested in our article a couple days ago, Cleveland needed to do something to make sure that The King stayed happy, and this move only made things a heck of a lot harder for the rest of the teams in the Eastern Conference. If the Cavs don’t win the East now, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Utah Jazz: B-: The Jazz get a decent grade for not making a move that they might’ve regretted. Utah is probably going to make the playoffs, and had it dealt Carlos Boozer, that might not have ultimately been the case.

Miami Heat: C: Kudos to the Heat for not giving up too much to get either Amare Stoudemire, Antawn Jamison, or Carlos Boozer. Miami just needs to convince Dwyane Wade that it is really in it to win him another championship, and it might take a big free agent signing to do just that.

Sacramento Kings: D: Who knows what the Kings were thinking by trading away Kevin Martin and Sergio Rodriguez. There wasn’t a heck of a lot that came back Sacramento’s way. It’s pretty clear that the Kings came out as the butt of that three-team deal with the Rockets and Knicks.

Washington Wizards: D-: If you’re a Washington fan, what reasons do you have to show up to the games anymore? No more Gilbert Arenas, no more Antawn Jamison, and no more Caron Butler. The only good news is that this team couldn’t get much worse than it already was, so it may as well try to start over again.

Phoenix Suns: F: No one deserves a worse grade than the Suns at the trade deadline. How on earth can you sit there and shop Amare Stoudemire for weeks and weeks and ultimately do nothing? Take a box of basketballs for him for crying out loud! Now, their leading scorer is disgruntled and probably will be for the rest of the year. Phoenix may not make the postseason, and if that’s the case, heads should role in the desert.

The day was December 27th, 1964. The Cleveland Browns beat the Baltimore Colts that day 27-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium to win the NFL Championship Game.

Forty-six years and 51 days later, the city of Cleveland continues to wait. The Browns haven’t won anything since then and don’t have any reason to believe that they can win a title any time in the near future. The Indians had their moments, but have since watched a pair of Cy Young Award winners get traded in back-to-back years as the rest of the teams in the AL Central just flew past them. The Cavaliers have sniffed a shot at a championship, only to be squashed by the Spurs in four games.

As the popular saying goes, “Cleveland Rocks.” But let’s face the truth here…

Cleveland Sucks.

The only thing that is keeping the pulse of the Cleveland sports world together is watching #23 do his thing night in and night out for their beloved Cavs. The city of Cleveland hasn’t had anything to be this happy about since the moment that another #23 ripped their hearts out and made a poster out of Craig Ehlo.

It’s rare that there is one specific moment in time in the sports world that can change an entire city. Normally speaking, like in the Super Bowl with the city of New Orleans, those moments happen on the field, the court, or the ice when they do happen.

But the city of Cleveland has embarked on its biggest moment in decades, and that moment won’t happen at Progressive Field, Cleveland Browns Stadium, or Quicken Loans Arena. It’s going to happen in the office of GM Danny Ferry.

The NBA’s trade deadline is just mere hours away. With every passing second that the Cavaliers don’t make a move, the prospects of doom and gloom are coming.

It doesn’t matter what Ferry does, as long as he pulls the trigger on SOMETHING. Will it be Washington’s Antawn Jamison? Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire?

Someone. Anyone… as long as he is fit for The King.

Make no bones about it: If the Cavaliers don’t win an NBA Championship this season and they don’t make some sort of a move to bring a legitimate superstar to Cleveland for the long haul, the best thing that has come to town since Elvis entered the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame is, for all intents and purposes, leaving the building.

LeBron James, a free agent to be assuming that the Cavs don’t resign him before the end of the season, wants nothing more than to be a winner. He transformed a team that was god awful into one that was on the verge of a championship in just a few years. He’s the hometown boy and the chosen one. With every thunderous dunk, every eye-popping pass, every crossover dribble, and every swish, LeBron captures the hearts of his fans and has Cleveland prepared for another triumph.

He has scored 14,608 points, brought in 3,083 rebounds, and dished out 3,607 assists in his career to date, all at the ripe age of 26. But if these last few years have proven nothing else, it’s that the league’s most talented player, possibly ever in the history of the sport, can’t do it by himself.

Cleveland is riding a 13-game winning streak and easily has the best record in the NBA at 43-11 coming off of the All-Star Break. Still, it doesn’t quite certainly separate the Cavs from the Magic… or the Celtics… or the Lakers… or anyone else in the Western Conference for that matter.

Normally speaking, Oakland Raiders’ owner Al Davis’ motto would be correct: “Just Win, Baby.” But for once, winning isn’t the most important thing for the Cavaliers. Keeping James happy is.

Ferry and the rest of the brass of the Cavs are worried about blowing up team chemistry, as a squad that is built on defense might be harmed by the acquisition of either Jamison or Stoudemire, neither of which are exactly proficient on the defensive end of the court. And it’s true that Stoudemire could up and leave town right after the season is over with a championship ring or not on his finger.

None of that matters, though. Ferry has to think about the future, even if it does destroy the present. The Cavaliers could have ten more years of selling #23 jerseys and all sorts of memorabilia that says, “J-A-M-E-S” on it. Ten more years of flashbulbs, “Ooh”s , “Aah”s, and screams of joy for quite possibly the greatest player of all-time.

The clock is ticking though, Cleveland. The time for a championship might not be now, but the time to save yourselves is here. Keep LeBron happy. If he wants Stoudemire, go get him. If he wants Jamison, go get him, too. Whatever you have to do to convince The King to stick around in your city.

… Because if you ultimately do nothing and don’t turn up with a golden trophy on your mantle this year, LeBron will be gone, and on March 30th, 2056, I’ll be writing another article on how the city of Cleveland has gone another 46 years and 51 days without a championship.

The NBA All-Star Game tips off on Sunday night at the brand new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in “Big D.” Basketball’s brightest stars all come together in this fantastic spectacle between the best in the Eastern Conference and the best in the Western Conference. Bankroll Sports takes a moment to look at the odds for and predict the All-Star Game MVP, which is a job that has become a lot harder since last year’s winner and three-time All-Star Game MVP, G Kobe Bryant won’t be playing in the game. Last season’s co-MVP C Shaquille O’Neal didn’t make the Eastern Conference roster.