What’s the Buzz?

BEVERLY HILLS (MI) — Lotsa buzz on the intrawebs about Class of 2010 Detroit (MI) Finney HS mystery man Isaiah Sykes. Sykes is 6’5” but has a wingspan of almost 7’! Even better, he’s probably not done growing. Isaiah flew under the radar last year, altho I don’t know how you manage to go unnoticed while averaging almost a triple-double in the Detroit PSL and you’re only a sophomore. He played at Detroit Chadsey, alma mater of former Flyer great Erv Giddings, but has transferred to the higher profile Finney program. BG and Coach Cornell Mann are on him and UD is in his top 7, but so are Tennessee, MSU, U of M, Syracuse, Connecticut and Oklahoma, which is pretty good company.

Here’s what I could find:

— Saginaw (MI) HS head coach Lou Dawkins comments on Sykes from a preview of Detroit Finney on his Best of the Best Prep Basketball Scouting blog:

“Yes, I was the first service to say Isaiah Sykes is one of the elite players in Michigan. Sykes not only has my eye, but he also has the eye of high-major college coaches! Tennessee will probably land him, his head coach Ray Reeves and UT’s assistant Tony Jones are cool, but others still have a chance, including Michigan State, Syracuse, and Michigan. Sykes has blew up to the point where, one D1 assistant told me he was the best player from Detroit in the last 10 years! Sykes is a 6’5, do everything guard, who may just be the top player in Michigan.”

Linky goodness to the blog: http://botbscouting.blogspot.com/

— Some MB scuttlebutt from SpartanTailGate.com:

http://www.spartantailgate.com/forums/jack-breslin-msu-basketball-recruiting-forum/341888-10-mi-sf-isaiah-sykes.html

Ft. Wayne (IN) sharpshooter Russell Byrd’s announcement for MSU on Friday effectively takes Izzo U out of the running for Sykes.

— More of the same from the UT MB:

http://forums.scout.com/mb.aspx?S=7&F=1398&T=3238947&P=1

— Jerry Meyer from Rivals.com has this to say about Sykes, courtesy of YahooSports.com:

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=rivals-247220&prov=rivals&type=lgns

— InsidePrepSport.com’s read on the guy:

http://insideprepsport.blogspot.com/2008/10/isaiah-sykes-unkown-guard.html

Stay tuned!

— Does Rick Bolus’ ranking of the best HS hoops players in the Buckeye State seem a little goofy to you or is it just me?

http://www.angelfire.com/ky/prephoops/0809/May08BolusOHBoys.html

Granted this list is from August, but I’m sorry Adreian Payne and Juwan Staten are not in “the next 25” in the freakin’ state of Ohio, cowboy.

— In case you didn’t know it, no matter how many stupid-ass commercials that FreeCreditReport.com runs on TV, their credit reports are not free –- if you listen closely, you will hear the announcer say that you are required to buy a “triple report” membership, whatever the hell that is. Here’s the only place where you can get one credit report per year from each of the 3 major credit monitoring companies and it won’t cost you a ****ed thing:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

— My new hero is Ken Mink, linkage courtesy of Mark Ryan the UD ex-pat in the Emerald Isle:

http://beyondthearc.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/22/1582620.aspx

— If you are into movies and appreciate brevity, then you will love “Four Word Film Review”:

http://www.fwfr.com/?link

— There’s messing up; there’s screwing up royally; and then there’s EPIC FAIL –- now in 10 fun-filled video installments:

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/10/22/top_10_epic_fail_funny_videos

— “Monster” Rick Tomlin pointed this link out to me over on the FlyerHoops.net MB –- it’s a MB all about memories of Dayton in the ‘60s and ‘70s:

http://www.daytonhistorybooks.citymax.com/board/board_topic/1550893/244051.htm?page=1

Like I told Rick, I didn’t grow up in the Gem City, but Mrs. Swampy and I did live there for 10 years during that time frame, so we remember a lot of this stuff.

— Here’s a lengthy tome on “Why We Can’t Imagine Death” from the noted humor magazine Scientific American:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=never-say-die&page=5

— ESPN’s Chris Berman would have a lot of fun with this kid’s name:

http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3747106

I can just hear Boomer now: “Bak, Bak, Bak, Bak, Bak.”

— The hard-luck and yet uplifting story of former Red Sox pitching prospect Greg Montalbano from the Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2008/10/16/a_pitch_for_life/?page=3

— Everybody’s worst nightmare: Sarah Palin as President:

http://www.palinaspresident.us/

— And, finally! A form of political advertising that I can believe in:

http://commercial-archive.com/node/145968

Where can I contribute?