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San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan's legacy is safe as one of the greatest players ever (Google Images via phoenix.fanster.com)

But for all intensive purposes, the Tim Duncan that basketball fans used to know and love (or tolerate if you were one of the types that didn’t like that he was ‘plain’ or ‘boring’) is done. Finished. Cooked.

This likely comes as no secret to Spurs fans. They’ve watched as Duncan’s game as incrementally deteriorated as his age (35) has advanced. That’s not to say he’s not a good player. He still is and was still able to average around 10 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game to go along with his modest 12 points per game in the Spurs’ first-round NBA playoff series loss to Memphis in six games, which the Grizzlies’ clinched 99-91 on Friday night at FedEx Forum in Memphis.

But for those of us who watched him be simply great over the last 14 years since being drafted No. 1 overall by the Spurs in 1997 but don’t see him on a daily basis like they do in San Antonio, this series was almost sad to watch. As Duncan missed point blank shots and failed to take over a game offensively the way he was once able to while Memphis forward Zach Randolph did whatever he pleased inside of 17 feet even when Duncan guarded him was depressing if you’re a Spurs fan, troubling if you’re just a casual observer who appreciates great basketball.

It’s OK. It’s not a travesty or a reason to hold a telethon. It happens. Great players get old. As far as I know, father time is undefeated in its battle with professional athletes. Former Spur David Robinson went through this very process towards the end of his career when Duncan arrived.

But goodness it was hard to watch as Randolph abused Duncan. Never did I ever imagine that I’d utter the phrase “Zach Randolph is better than Tim Duncan.” But in this historic series win for the Grizzlies, Randolph was just that. More times than not, he was the best player on the floor, a title that once belonged to Duncan in a stranglehold during playoff series.

I hope that when Duncan does retire (that may not be for a couple of years as he’s still under contract next season with the Spurs) that people appreciate him and what he accomplished. Throughout his career, rarely was his name the first uttered when you asked fans “Who’s the best player in the league?” when many of those years, he quite possibly was it.

No doubt that Duncan’s going to go down as one of the greatest players of all-time. Some would argue that he’s the greatest power forward ever. Consider the credentials:

• Four-time NBA champion.
• Three-time NBA Finals MVP.
• Two-time NBA MVP.
• 13-time all-star
• 9-time member of the All-NBA first team

Consistency was his hallmark. During his prime he was good for at least 22, 12 rebounds and 2-3 blocks per night. You could have just penciled it into the box scores. Some nights he’d bring you more. Rarely did he bring you less. For his first eight seasons, he never failed to average fewer than 20, 11 and two. He never played fewer than 66 games and played at least 90 percent of the Spurs’ regular season games all but two seasons.

In the playoffs, during his prime, he was even better. He may have not made the SportsCenter top ten too many nights, or had the top selling jersey or the highest TV rating, but he was a winner and the Spurs and the NBA were better for having the Big Fundamental.

So while the Spurs ponder what to do before next season and where their future may be as Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker age another year, I’d like to tip my cap to Tim Duncan. Thanks Tim. It was a fun ride to watch, for those of us that did.

Here is a glance at a gigapan from the 2011 NCAA Final Four. It’s from the national championship game between Connecticut and Butler, played April 4, 2011 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX. It was shot by Sports Illustrated photographer David Bergman. It’s 450 photos taken across a 38-minute span of the entire arena. Basically, you can zoom out and see the wide shot or you can zoom in and see just about everybody that was in the building (including me).

I was fortunate enough to be in the building working. My back is to the camera, front row of press row, about four seats to the left of the CBS broadcast crew of Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg and Steve Kerr. And in front of my personal favorite writer, SI’s Joe Posnanski (who was in the seat directly behind me in the second row). Only in my home city can I have a better seat than perhaps the best sports columnist in the country. And I did make a point to turn around and introduce myself. Directly to my left is my main man, Houston Chronicle columnist Jerome Solomon whom I admire greatly and to the left of him is the St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell, who is also a terrific writer.

Definitely click on the link above to explore the gigapan. As for my five seconds of gigapan fame, see below:

from phone

Let’s try a link: Houston Cougars. Hmm. Can’t find the link command. #fail

Even though it’s a mobile app, you would think something as simple as a link shortcut would be there. I know the coding for linking but that’s besides the point. Oh well. Still a decent app, but that needs to be remedied.

And my link from the cell phone is still not working. That’s unfortunate.

This is a test post from my WordPress Android app. I hope it works.

We’ll even try attaching a picture to see how that works. And let’s throw in a link to chron.com

As I popped in the latest edition of the No. 1 selling basketball video game, NBA 2k11, into my Playstation 3 upon purchase, a special something awaited me.

After hitting “start” to get through the game’s startup screen, it happened. The screen went black. The crowd went nuts. The Alan Parsons Project song “Sirius”  began to play.

Da-da-da

da-da-da-da

If you were a fan of Michael Jordan or the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The music with which former Bulls public address announcer Ray Clay used to play to accompany his introduction of the Bulls’ starters, plays and when the screen lights up, there is Jordan, in the tunnel of Chicago Stadium and he runs out as Clay yells

“From NORTH Carolina…..at GUARD…….6’6″…..Michael…..JORDAN!!!”

The crowd goes nuts, Jordan runs out to join his teammates and all of a sudden, you get a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Soon thereafter you realize that you’re in the 1991 NBA Finals: the Chicago Bulls vs. the Los Angeles Lakers. Jordan. Magic. Pippen. Worthy. Horace Grant. Byron Scott. The gang’s all there.

If you were a Jordan or Bulls fan, this is one of the coolest things you could ever experience in a sports video game as NBA 2k11 fully integrated arguably the greatest player of all-time, Jordan, into the video game.

It was two weeks ago when I first acquired my copy of NBA 2K11 and so far, I’m still having a blast with it. I haven’t even delved into online play or many of the other features and have simply spent time on the Jordan Challenge, a series of 10 scenarios that occurred during MJ’s career that you can replay and try to accomplish yourself.

If you were around to witness those moments, it’s tons of fun. Battling the ’86 Celtics with a mean starting five of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge is incredibly fulfilling, as is navigating the other nine opponents, including the Bad Boys Pistons, the ’92 Portland Trail Blazers and the late 90′s Utah Jazz teams just to name a few.

As I type this in the wee hours when I probably should be asleep, I’m through six of the 10 challenges, having just completed the “Double Nickel” game when Jordan dropped 55 on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in the midst of his return from baseball. Needless to say I’ve sacrificed some sleep hours here and there trying to get through the challenges.

But if your a sports video game fan and you harken for the days of yesteryear in the NBA and generally enjoyed those times when Jordan was dominating and there were so many other memorable greats, do yourself a solid and check out the game. It’s definitely worth it.

Thoughts, views and opinions are formed over time and often after one three-and-a-half-hour game that goes differently than you might expect, they are suddenly called into question or completely thrown out the window. I think that comes from what I call our “Microwave society” where everything is instantaneous – news, information, analysis and opinion.

I bring this up because I sense a little bit of uneasiness with UH’s 47-24 home loss to Mississippi State on Saturday.

Does the loss hurt for Cougars fans (of which I am one, since I’m an alum)? Sure. Were there some of the things seen on the field on Saturday night – namely the host of defensive struggles and the sputtering offensive attack with a true freshman quarterback making his first start – things to be concerned about? Absolutely.

But one thing that shouldn’t be forgotten is that the key mission for this season – winning the Conference USA championship – is still a reachable goal.

Many Cougars fans had dreams of a Bowl Championship Series berth coming into this season. After watching UH dismantle two Big 12 opponents last season and move to as high as No. 12 in the national rankings, you couldn’t help but think of the possibilities.

This season, that went down in flames the moment Case Keenum tried to tackle UCLA linebacker Akeem Ayers on an interception return, subsequently tearing his ACL and ending his senior season. The loss that accompanied it wiped out any dream of that happening.

That being said, while it would have been nice to pick up the win against Mississippi State, it wasn’t mission critical. The next game – for the Bayou Bucket against rival Rice on the road – is extremely critical. It’s a good challenge against an improved team. A win should lift the spirits of the Cougar faithful enough to realize that, while difficult, the most realistic goal that this team had coming into this season is still possible: a C-USA championship and a trip to Memphis for the Liberty Bowl.

The season starts en masse on Sunday. Here’s my picks for each division winner, playoff teams, conference finalists and the Super Bowl.
* – Teams with first-round byes

NFC Division winners
North: Green Bay*
South: New Orleans
East: Dallas*
West: San Francisco

NFC Wild cards
Minnesota
Atlanta

AFC Division winners
North: Baltimore*
South: Indianapolis*
East: New England
West: San Diego

AFC Wild cards
New York Jets
Cincinnati

NFC Championship
Green Bay over Dallas

AFC Championship
Baltimore over Indianapolis

Super Bowl
Baltimore over Green Bay

Ugh. That was painful. This is what sportswriting has done to me – made me more objective, which has me picking teams that I’m not particularly fond of to do good things. Don’t like the Cowboys, but with all that talent and coming off their first playoff win in over a decade, I see them going 12-4 and winning that division.

I’ve hated the Ravens back to the Brian Billick days, because I generally didn’t like him. It’s hard to explain, too. I guess because my teams always struggled against the Ravens and I thought it was silly that he got credit for being such a good coach when the one thing he was most qualified to coach (offense, coming over after a stint as Minnesota’s offensive coordinator during the “Three Deep” era) never was worth a darn during his tenure in Baltimore. On top of that, he never drafted or developed a decent quarterback.

Nonetheless, you look at the talent on that defense, the players they added on offense, particularly at receiver with Anquan Boldin, and a constantly improving Joe Flacco at quarterback…you add that all up and it looks like the makings of a Super Bowl champion to me. Yuck. I don’t particularly like purple, but it’ll be all over the place in February.

As for the hometown team, the Houston Texans, I picked them to go 9-7 and miss the playoffs. Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard all the analysts around the country, several of which are picking the Texans as their “it” team to take that next step into the playoffs and perhaps being a Super Bowl contender, a la the Arizona Cardinals in recent years. I just don’t see it. They haven’t made a ton of improvements over the course of the offseason (though they are fairly talented) and they even got weaker in the secondary after losing cornerback Dunta Robinson. The schedule is tough (based on 2009 winning percentages, it’s the toughest in the NFL) and they have yet to prove that they can consistently beat the teams in their own division, the AFC South.

In order to take the next big step, the Texans must do that and I’m not totally convinced that they will. But I hope they do.