Jimmy Bramlett

It's one thing for me to rail against the NCAA and call them one of the shadiest cartels this side of Medellin. It's another to talk to a former "student-athlete" about what needs to be done about the system.

It has come to pass. The Clippers will not be renewing head coach Vinny Del Negro's contract when it expires on June 30.

Chris Paul was ejected with 2:29 remaining in the Clippers elimination game, the game out of hand. Dwight Howard was ejected early in the third quarter of his elimination game with the Lakers, their game also out of hand. So why hasn't there been the same amount of outrage against Paul as there was to Howard?

The Laker haters in town climbed aboard the Clipper bandwagon, and it got them to the same place: a first-round exit. Sure the Clippers might have been really exciting during the season. They might have won a franchise-record 17 consecutive games. They might have seemed more functional and exciting than the Lakers. But after the Clippers lost 118-105 in Game 6, "Lob City" is as dead as the Lakers.

We have an active gay athlete in a major North American sport. Jason Collins, 34-year-old center recently of the Washington Wizards, has come out. Holy shit.

When news broke on Friday that Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee, there were some murmurs when talking about the Clippers. Depending on how long Westbrook would be out, the Clippers have a possibility of facing Miami in the NBA Finals.

The Lakers flagship radio station was especially funny. Knowing that the team would essentially have to start Andrew Goudelock, the newly minted D-League MVP, and Darius Morris in their backcourt, they were trying to pump up hope that the Lakers could pull this game out.

If the Lakers had Kobe Bryant, maybe this series would turn out differently. But they don't, and here the Lakers are down 2-0 to the San Antonio Spurs in the first round after their 102-91 loss.

The Clippers have Chris Paul, the Memphis Grizzlies don't. Chris Paul hit a shot with hands all over him with 0.1 seconds remaining in the game to give the Clippers the 93-91 win for a 2-0 series lead.

There's no question about it: the Clippers and the Memphis Grizzlies first round playoff series will be the meat tenderizer series of the playoffs. In Game 1 things looked like a set of a gay porn shoot with the sweaty bodies collapsing all over the floor, limbs hanging on limbs. Last season the Clippers overcame a 27 point deficit in the second half to steal Game 1 in Memphis en route to a Game 7 win of the series.

Laker fans seemed awfully confident that the Lakers could upset the Spurs in the first round. I wonder how they feel after the Spurs took Game 1 91-79.

It's a bit difficult writing about a game that you're not attending, especially when the venue where you're covering a different game in a different sport has internet connectivity issues even though it went through a much-publicized $100 million makeover.