Norcross, Georgia running back recruit, Alvin Kamara, received an interesting proposal from Alabama in his mailbox. The four-star recruit had a mass amount of letters, all from ‘Bama.

“There were 105 letters from Alabama,” Kamara told Rivals.com.

Crazy.

“I counted!” Kamara said. “And I took pictures. I was shocked. I didn’t expect there to be that many in the mailbox. When I opened it, it was overflowing and some of them fell out.”

Kamara says he will store them in a shoebox. It looks like Alabama were really roll tiding with their letters and it really looks like they want Kamara because of the mail. Kamara thinks so himself.

The 5’10,” 190-pound running back has also gotten offers from eight other schools, most recently Mississippi State.

“It’s still exciting [getting new offers],” Kamara admitted. “Every time I get one, I’m like ‘Yes!’”

Kamara came off a solid season last year with over 1,500 yards rushing, which earned him an offer to Syracuse in the fall. Who knows where he will go? I think he should take Alabama, though, if I were him. It’s not everyday when a college offers you a scholarship to your school…in 105 different ways.

Kamara says the Roll Tide are recruiting him the hardest.

“I’ll say Alabama, just based on what other schools are doing and what Alabama is doing,” Kamara said. “I went there [for junior day] and it went well. I liked the atmosphere. It’s SEC football. It’s big-time football. You can feel it when you go up there.”

Take a look at all the letters Kamara got:

Also, if you haven’t seen this kid on the gridiron, take a look at the video below:

Danny Granger was on fire for the Indiana Pacers, as he scored 32 points after returning from injury, beating the New Jersey Nets in a 93-88 victory. Indiana improves to 18-12, and they finally get a win after going on a four-game losing-streak.

However, during the second quarter, a strange occurrence happened as the power went out. Indiana was leading at 33-32 and all of a sudden, there was no lights on:

Come on Bankers Life Fieldhouse!

H/T That NBA Lottery Pick

The Detroit Lions face some key offseason decisions. The decisions they make will shape the future and determine whether they will move forward or fall back next season. One of the bigger decisions will be what to do about Cliff Avril.

Avril, a defensive end, had a career year with 11 sacks, 6 forced fumbles, 3 recoveries, an interception and 2 touchdowns. Avril benefited from playing alongside Ndamukong Suh, but he has always produced. Now that he’s a free agent, Avril is looking to cash in. And who can blame him. In the NFL you get the money while you’re hot.

He discussed his situation in an interview with Rich Gannon and Adam Schein on SiriusXM NFL Radio today. He wants to remain a Lion, but he won’t come cheap.

“I just want to be paid as one of the guys that’s helping the team grow,” Avril said. “I want to be there. We have a young D-line. But I know it’s a business, and you only hit free agency once or twice in your career, so you definitely have to take advantage of it.”

“There’s no such thing as a hometown discount in the NFL,” he said. “Once you can’t play anymore, they’re going to let you go, so you definitely have to strike gold when you can.

“That said, if they and another team present the same thing, I’d definitely stay with the Lions.”

“I kind of think the Lions will try to do the right thing, I guess,” he said. “A lot of teams don’t think the Lions will let me hit free agency. But a few teams have called.”

He also said he would favor a team that focuses on the defensive line rather than linebackers or safeties. That would work in Detroit’s favor.

This is what scares me as a Lions fan. Eventually players will want to get paid and there won’t be enough to go around. That could stunt the growth of this team.

The circumstances are Lincredible. The meteoric ascension to stardom is one of a kind. The hype is more than deserved for this Linderella story. The shock of Lin measured a 9.0 on the Richter scale after his game winner on Tuesday night in Toronto and who knows how long we will feel the after effects.

Still, why are we so flabbergasted by Jeremy Lin?

Asia’s version of Tim Tebow has been dissected about as much as, well, the real Tim Tebow. Most human beings on the earth haven’t gone the past 2 weeks without asking how the hell this kid didn’t get his opportunity sooner. In this age of youtube sensations, endless video scouting and advanced statistics, it is almost unfathomable to have a talent as sensational as Jeremy Lin go undrafted and sit on the end of the bench, about to get cut.

I, as well as you, have read and heard the endless discussion as to why Lin’s talent was missed by most everyone. Yeah, he is Asian. Yeah, he is scrawny. Yeah, he doesn’t shoot well. We get it.

What I still don’t get is why we are continually shocked by these mega-talents who were oh so close to bagging groceries at their neighbourhood Hy-Vee? Because we shouldn’t be.

Not anymore.

Jeremy Lin’s story may be mind-blowing but the thought that he could just as easily be out of the NBA right now instead of taking the Big Apple by storm isn’t. There are too many examples of talented individuals who have taken their respective sports by storm for us to be truly surprised anymore. To continue to be in disbelief as to how these guys aren’t noticed is like being stunned that Lindsay Lohan is back in rehab or that Kim Kardashian is trying to exploit another NBA player for even greater fame (FYI, Kim Kardashian is rumoured to be going on a date with Jeremy Lin).

Prior to Linsanity, Tom Brady was the poster boy for mis-evaluated talent. We all know about the 199th overall pick turned GQ, supermodel dating, touchdown throwing golden boy of the NFL. How did Tom Brady get passed on 198 times in 2000? Crazy? Not so much.

Talent is constantly under and over estimated. In another shocking development, the sun will set in the west tomorrow evening.

There is a very thin line between the big leagues and coaching high schoolers. The line is thinner than most professional athletes would like to believe. Most professional athletes live off of the belief that it was their own exceptional talent and hard work that allowed them to reach the top of the sports world. They need to believe it.

Arian Foster’s pompously narrated ‘self-made’ story on the show E:60 is a prime example of this. He went from undrafted running back to arguably the best in the NFL.

Little do most of them really know about the great deal of luck that made it possible for them to excel and make those millions of dollars. The overweight guy on his couch, hollering at the TV could very well have been overlooked. That’s just the nature of sports though. There are so many talented athletes and so few spots that there is bound to be missed talent.

Sometimes though, that almost missed talent turns into a superstar.

Everyone is now on the watch for the next Jeremy Lin. His Linsational story has made people wonder how many more like him are out there. There is probably someone on a college bench waiting to be the next Jimmer or a division II potential superstar lighting it up in relative obscurity somewhere in Omaha.

Stephen Curry, the son of former NBA veteran Del Curry, only received offers to play at Davidson, Virginia Commonwealth and Winthrop. He became a college superstar, the 7th overall pick in the NBA draft and, aside from the injuries, is excelling for the Golden State Warriors. His brother Seth went to Liberty University before Stephen Curry’s stardom forced scouts to take notice of Seth’s ability. Seth is now the starting for the Duke Blue Devils.

Again, Jeremy Lin’s story is exceptional but, in the end, he’s simply another missed talent. Continue to be amazed at the aura, the man, and the legend that is Jeremy Lin.

Just don’t be so surprised that he slipped through the cracks.

Agree? Disagree? If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, please feel free to reply in the comments section below. Or you can e-mail me at cross_can15@hotmail.com. Also, follow me on twitter @paintstheblack and I will happily return the favour.

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Peyton Manning is destined to go into the NFL Hall of Fame! After multiple neck surgeries and uncertainty regarding his recovery and contract, is it time to retire?

Hall of Fame catcher and all-around good guy Gary Carter has died of cancer, according to a tweet by New York Times columnist Richard Sandomor. He was 57.

Carter, who played for the Giants in 1990, was a true ambassador of the game.

Back in the days before fantasy baseball, I grew up playing Strat-O-Matic with my friends, and Carter (who was a Montreal Expo then) was one of those guys I always wanted to “draft” on my team.

He came up with the Expos after being selected in the third round of the 1972 draft and spent his first 11 years in Montreal. He eventually played for the Mets (1985-’89) and Dodgers (1991), too.

I remember Carter being the runner-up to Giants pitcher John Montefusco in the 1975 NL Rookie of the Year voting following a season in which he batted .270 with 17 HR and 68 RBI in 144 games.

But while The Count’s career soon fizzled, The Kid’s caught fire.

In 19 big league seasons, Carter batted .262/.335/.439 with 324 HR and 1,225 RBI. He smacked 20 or more home runs in a season nine different times. A good-hitting catcher with fantastic skills behind the plate, Carter hit .284 with 31 HR and 84 RBI as a 23-year-old. (Remind you of another young catcher who can hit, Giants fans?)

Carter was named to the National League All-Star team 11 times, won three Gold Gloves, and five Silver Slugger awards.

By the time Carter got around to playing in San Francisco, his skills had diminished. Still, he joined the likes of Brett Butler, Kevin Bass, Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, Matt Williams, Robby Thompson, Jose Uribe, and ‘Big Daddy’ Rick Reuschel in the Giants’ Opening Day lineup in 1990.

Carter batted .254 with 9 HR and 27 RBI in just 92 games with the Giants that year. But, frankly, I didn’t care. I remember thinking how cool it was just to see him in the orange and black. He was riding into the sunset of a terrific, Hall of Fame-bound career. (For those of you too young to remember Gary’s days in San Francisco, think about how you felt when we got Randy Johnson for a year. It was a lot like that.)

The Culver City, Calif. native retired from baseball two years later with—who else?—the Expos. Like I said, Carter was definitely one of those throwback guys who understood team loyalty.

It took six tries, but he was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003, appearing on 387 out of 496 ballots (78 percent).

His plaque in Cooperstown reads:

As (Gary) Carter’s game improved, so did the fortunes of the (Monreal) Expos. Led by ‘The Kid,’ a nickname Carter acquired as a result of his youthful exuberance and ever-present smile, the team steadily improved from 107 losses in 1976 to back-to-back second place finishes in 1979 and 1980.

Carter was diagnosed with brain cancer eight months ago and his condition went from “brave to extremely grave” last month, according to Bill Madden of the New York Daily News.

An MRI showed several new spots where tumors had appeared and Carter had to cancel his appearance at his annual charity golf tournament.

Carter, a devout Christian, was quite the philanthropist. He established The Gary Carter Foundation and—according to its website—raised “over $622,000 toward charitable purposes, including $366,000 to local elementary schools for their reading programs.”

Carter is survived by his wife, Sandy and their three daughters, Christy, Kimmy and D.J. He will always be loved by fans like me, who got to see a true legend play.

Rest in peace, Mr. Carter.

Written by Troy Nelson via FeedCrossing

LeBron James says that we shouldn’t rule out the possibility of him returning to his old team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. With the Miami Heat, James has a solid shot at multiple NBA titles, but he’d love to return to Cleveland sometime to play there again.

“I think it would be great, it would be fun to play in front of these fans again,” James said. “I had a lot of fun times here. You can’t predict the future. Hopefully you continue to stay healthy. I’m here as a Miami player and I’m happy where I am now but I don’t rule that out in any sense. If I decide to come back, hopefully the fans will accept me.”

Dwyane Wade sees the possibility as well, but he doesn’t want to be a part of it.

“Anything is possible,” Wade said. “Hopefully I’m retired.”

James is under contract with the Heat for two more years and can have two more if he agrees to an option. James hasn’t spoken to Dan Gilbert, the Cavaliers’ owner, since June 2010 when he made his notorious ESPN TV special, “The Decision.” However, I don’t know if Gilbert would want him back, especially with that letter he wrote the day James made his announcement to take his talents to South Beach.

“I don’t hold grudges, I hold them a little bit but I don’t hold them that long,” James said. “He said what he said out of anger. He probably would want to take that back, but I made a mistake, too. There’s some things I’d want to take back as well. You learn from your mistakes and move on.”

Would Cleveland take him back? They probably would. I wouldn’t be surprised and they would take him back in a second. He would fit well if the team still has Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson there.

However, I don’t see this happening unless the Big Three in Miami split up, and that probably won’t happen unless they get old and beat up like the Boston Celtics are right now. I could see James returning to Cleveland once he’s in his mid-30′s and towards the end of his career probably. Would be nice to fix things up.

What do you think about this, Cleveland fans?

According to ESPN.com, the Miami Dolphins have agreed to a three-year deal with CFL star running back, Jerome Messam.

Messam was a solid player for Edmonton last year, having 1,057 yards and winning the Most Outstanding Canadian award. Messam was the first player in the league since 2000 to rush for over 1,000 yards.

Messam will join a nice running back rotation with the Dolphins, who also have Reggie Bush and Daniel Thomas. The Dolphins have done exceptionally well when it comes to CFL players. A good example is Cameron Wake, as they have turned him into one of the top, young pass-rushers in the game.

Who knows what they could do with this CFL star? Best of luck to Messam, and welcome to the National Football League!

Well let’s see what happen in the NBA this past week. And remember, it’s mostly off the court stuff.

News

Allen Iverson is willing to play for lower level basketball teams with the idea that he’ll play himself back into the NBA. Link to story. I really think that Iverson is just too old to play. I also think that he’s out of chances. He was saying the same stuff last time he was in the league. When he ended up with the Grizzlies, he must have thought that he would start. Grizzlies weren’t having that though and so Iverson left.

He came back to the Sixers in a nice little reunion but even there the best role for him was coming off the bench. The question that will always remain is if Iverson is willing to come off the bench and even just be a bench warmer. I don’t think he’s going to be able to play at a high level but I think he thinks he still can. He will have to come to the realization that he’s not the player he used to be in his Philly days.

It would seem he’s out of money. I don’t even know how. What will he do with the rest of his life? It’s a real shame. In a ironic twist, the player whose nickname was “The Answer” he himself doesn’t have an answer as to how to live life of a retired basketball superstar. Good luck Allen.

Another article I found interesting was the owner of the Wizards somewhat blasting the Wizards’ bloggers for not posting about their recent victory. Link to story. Now, Ted Leonsis was diappointed that none of the bloggers, yes fans like you and I, did not post about the victory in Portland. Now, Portland is 3 hours behind D.C. A 7pm start in Portland would be 10 pm over here. So, an average NBA game is about 2 1/2 hours long, maybe 3. So, the game would end at 12:30 am. I don’t know the actual starting time but in a hypothetical situation, that’s what East coast fans go through for western games.

I used to run the Wizards Basketball blog that used to be here at Hardcourt Mayhem. So, I know what it’s like to cover the Wizards. And because of this, I sort of take this as a shot to me as well as other Wizards bloggers. This goes for all bloggers that blog about their teams. I live in New Jersey. I have a life. This blogging is not a job, it’s a passion. At the same time, 12:30am is late, and some people are tired or have work in the morning. Ted himself said he couldn’t even stay awake during the game. Give us bloggers a break Ted. We’re doing the best we can to expose your team. Oh and it’s all free of charge. It’s like that saying “You get what you’re paying for”.

And it’s not like the Wizards are a hot team right now anyway.

Welp Glen Davis and Orlando Magic fans are not getting along. Link to story.

Our last news of the day comes from the white house. We all know that Obama is an NBA fan. And it would appear he has come under the Lisanity as he is now monitoring what Lin is doing on the court. Link to story.

Rumors

So it looks like J.R. Smith will be on either the Clippers or Knicks. The Clippers would probably have a better time with Smith. The Knicks have Anthony, and Amare and I doubt there will be enough ball movement for Smith to be able to do what he does. Smith has been a spark off the bench though so if he came to NY, he’d probably resume that role. Seems like Smith would just be abetter fit with the Clippers. They lost Billups to injury and are starting a small lineup. Smith may end up starting for the Clippers. Plus, it’s Lob City. And as athletic as Smith is, he’d be able to throw down a few slams himself. Seems pretty perfect to me.

When you have an Asian NBA player, people are bound to make some puns, especially with the race.

It first started with Jason Whitlock last week after Jeremy Lin put up 38 points on the Lakers. The Fox Sports columnist said, “Some lucky lady is going to feel a couple inches of pain tonight.” Obviously, we know the racial stereotype in that statement, and that is something I definitely do not want to get into.

Just like Yao Ming, as he was called the Great Wall (hence, because he was from China), MSG Network decided to do something of their own: calling Lin the Knicks’ Great Fortune.

In the image graphic to the left, Lin is in the middle of a broken fortune cookie. We can all see the racism in here, but I’d call it accidental. However, what was the network thinking when they posted that? Didn’t they ever think that it could cause any controversy.

Even though the fortune cookie was invented by America, it is based on the Japanese cracker. But please, we need to stop with the racial puns.

Let’s just stick to Linsanity, Lincredible, and all of that.

H/T to The Post Game for catching this image.