This has been quite a week

The Michael Jackson news came down in the middle of yesterday's show. Today I'm sure you'll be hearing his music all over the place. Heck, we even played Rock With You to close my program yesterday. Think about it, though. When was the last time before his death that you heard Michael Jackson's hits on the radio? I've been amazed for years how rarely any of the biggest selling album of all time gets played. I still hear Eighties cheese like "Come On Eileen" a few times a year, yet I couldn't begin to tell you the last time I heard anything besides Billie Jean from Thriller or any of the numerous hits from the two post Thriller albums. Michael Jackson's death yesterday prompted people to finally reexamine the brilliance hidden beneath fifteen years of bizarre episodes and creepy behavior. Could he have pulled off his "fat Elvis" late career resurgence? Probably not, and it's a shame he may have wound up killing himself trying to. He gave a lot of people some amazing moments, and it's that more than his actual death that has them feeling emotional today. Joe Posnanski, the outstanding columnist for the Kansas City Star, sums the situation up far better than I could possibly hope to.

Nick Calathes wound up in Dallas as I predicted yesterday he would, but took a different path than expected to get there. After the Lakers sold their pick and the other good teams at the end of the first round took foreign players (so they wouldn't have to sign them), he fell to the 45th spot and then Dallas traded some cash and a draft pick to get him. Mark Cuban mentioned on his Twitter feed that Dallas felt Calathes was a first rounder - wish they would have taken him there so my prediction would have been fully accurate. We'll see how Calathes does overseas. I'm still far from sold on him having enough athletic ability to succeed as a pro.

The Orlando Magic traded for Vince Carter, a 32 year old who has shown in the past he's so selfish he will quit on his team and try to sabotage them intentionally. Bringing him in virtually ensures they will lose Hedo Turkoglu. Carter will face the pressure of playing at home - some guys can handle it, others can't. The Magic thinks this is a great move, but I'm not sold this makes them better in 2010.

Nick Saban currently has six years remaining on his contract at four million dollars per year. Alabama somehow looked at that and concluded it wasn't enough, so they've opened up extension negotiations. Saban claims it's his last job, and maybe he's telling the truth. I think there's a better chance of Tim Tebow transferring to Tuscaloosa for his final season than Saban lasting a decade there though, so this seems unnecesssary. Historically Saban's teams struggle when they have expectations to deal with. This year's squad will be interesting to watch.

Saban's old stomping ground continues to add celebrity owners. First it was Gloria Estefan, now it may be Bon Jovi as well to get a small piece of the Dolphins. I'm just curious who the supposed "prominent rapper" they're targeting turns out to be. Dolphins owner Lil' Wayne sounds really catchy, plus he can tattoo the logo on himself like he did with the ESPN logo. Thanks for reading - have a great weekend and I'll see you back here Monday.