Deadspin: Josh Howard

Place Bets On The Next NBA Stoner

Leitch — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:10:14 EDT

This has certainly been covered elsewhere — most excellently by TrueHoop - but we really can't get over the "Josh Howard is a terrible person for smoking weed" meme. As Henry Abbott put it, "We're not alarmed that one young person smoked pot. We're alarmed that anyone admitted it." Fitting, not even Howard's sponsors really care.

Even if Howard is passing out birthday party invites right as his team is about to be eliminated, and generally playing poorly in the playoffs, we're not sure what weed has to do with it.

But that's all just a (not really) high-minded way to justify this gambling opportunity to bet on which NBA player will admit to weed use next. The favorite, perhaps not surprisingly, is Rasheed Wallace. But there's no worse bet than LeBron James at 40-1. Not a chance.

Sports Gambling Just Got Insanely Awesome [FanIQ]

Where, Uh, Whoa, Amazing Highs Happen

Christmas Ape — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:00:49 EDT

Dominating the headlines this Saturday is the shocking (shocking!) admission by the Mavericks' Josh Howard that he, like every one in the NBA who isn't J.J. Reddick, smokes trees in the off-season. Also: baseball players take steroids and politicians cheat on their spouses.

"Most of the players in the league use marijuana and I have and do partake in smoking weed in the offseason sometimes," Howard told The Michael Irvin Show on the local ESPN affiliate. "I mean, that's my personal choice and my personal opinion, but I don't think that's stopping me from doing my job."

Irvin then laughed and called him a lightweight.

Yes, marijuana is one of them there controlled substances so the league and Mark Cuban have wrung their hands until they're rubbed raw about meting out symbolic punishment. Not that DUIs are a problem or anything, Melo.

As long as weed is illegal there has to be disproportionate punishment for even daring to speak its name. That's why you have to be subtle about it, Josh, like Clipse and Pharrell. See, they make you think "Gangta Lean" is really about some hot chick. But there's a secret message you get only if you're superattentive like me: it's about weed!

Oh girl ya taste is
Sweet like mornin' dew
I would go crazy girl
If I couldn't have none of you

Hell yeah. She sounds HOTT!

I said ya from Jamaica
Straight outta my Mercedes trunk

Well, uh, now I'm kind of hoping it's not a girl, to be perfectly honest. The message here is be subtle. Or try drinking in your free time. No one loses their job for that!

Howard's Boner (Or, Why Refs Are A Natural Male Enhancement)

Leitch — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 11:00:06 EDT

Another reason that it would have been more fun to live in the early 1900s rather than now — also on the list: speakeasies, jalopies, no Internet — is the fact that they used the word "boner" to describe embarrassing mental missteps. We wish this were still true today; we'd have Buckner's boner, Webber's boner and, after last night, Howard's boner. Though, to be fair to the Mavericks' Josh Howard, his boner wasn't really his fault, as much as anybody's boner can be attributable to someone else, which we suppose happens quite often. But now we're stretching it.

After Miami's thrilling win over the Mavs last night, the story clearly breaks down into three: Dwyane Wade's genius, Howard's apparently phantom (to us, anyway) time out and the (also phantom, to us) foul call on Wade that led to the clinching free throws. We're at 3-2 in the series, and the final events might end up being what we all remember from the series. (Though we hope not.)

Meanwhile ... right now, this second, Mark Cuban has certainly written a blog entry that's full of a good $200,000 fine worth of bile, and he's sitting there, wondering if it's worth it to post it, whether to push the publish button ...

Heat 101, Mavs 100 [The Basketball Jones]

One Awfully Strange Way Of Celebrating

Leitch — Wed, 24 May 2006 11:30:29 EDT

We don't know how we missed this the other evening, but apparently, with seconds left and the Mavericks all set to celebrate, coach Avery Johnson ran down the bench to make a substitution. In all his excitement and hurry, he appears to have pulled a Reggie Evans on Josh Howard.

We feel so bad for Howard here. It's an outstanding moment, taking down the defending champs on the road, so much sweat and hard work, hey, look, it's coach, yeah coach, we did it, we —- arrrrrrrrr ....

Cup Check [Sportech]