These old school Shaquille pics are awesome. He was so…ShaqSvelte. We just can’t recall why he seemed so much bigger than everyone else even back then. Did the whole league get huge?

Is it awkward that Dwight now wants to be the modern day Superman, and they both established that persona with the Magic?

Which former Magic teammates, in their prime, would win this 2-on-2 battle: Shaq and Penny vs. Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis?

And a little Shaq-Fu for nostalgia’s sake.

While scouring the world wide web for Syracuse content, 4th & Forever came across Dave “The Sports Painter” Choate and immediately fell in love with his style…his Syracuse-heavy content was pure bonus. We love the Dr. J, the Jonny Flynn vs UCONN pieces shown here, the Jordan and even the Eddie Murray. We could do without all things Red Sox, however.

Needless to say, that 6OT game between ‘Cuse and Uconn needed to be tributized in every medium. Not only did Hasheem get Thabeet here, it seems he is one step away from Europe.

As life-long Orange(men) fans, we can quite plainly say this 2010 team is the best we’ve ever seen Syracuse put on the floor. The team that won it all in 2003 had, obviously, amazing talent and a future NBA all-everything in Melo, but this team is just that: a team. It doesn’t feel like we have that insane liability on the court…the guy who could single-handedly win or lose games with his reckless play. 2010 has a team full of guys who pick each other up, and as a group can overcome most all of Scoop Jardine’s ridiculous decisions down the stretch. We love Scoop, honest, but do sometimes wonder, as he’s fouling guys shooting three pointers down the stretch (multiple times), what (or if) he is thinking.

That said it is high time we pay tribute to the 1996 Syracuse squad that advanced past Kansas in front of a hostile Denver, CO crowd to make the Final Four. High time we pay tribute to Al McGuire and his bit of “french pastry”.

It would really be a shame if this team who opened the season with an exhibition loss to Division II Le Moyne and has since gone 6-0 against Top 10 teams doesn’t play into early April and end up with some nylon neckwear.

Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo, or “Deke” more familiarly, is apparently alive and well…and still getting that weak-ass-shit out of here! Check this article about Senator Mutumbo the Onion ran. They are, after all, America’s Finest News Source.

This video courtesy of “Ahmad Squad”, yes that Ahmad…Mr. Clair Huxtable, is sort of painful, but worth watching if you like Birdman at all. We do. We made a tee about him. Unfortunately, you may need to draw in his new wispy mustache as it has come after the tee was designed. That is the danger of trying to capture an evolving icon such as he…it becomes an obsolete snapshot of the past with each new tattoo.

Anyway, just watch the video and tell us his “car” isn’t somehow absolutely perfect.

We mean that in the best of ways. We may have poked fun via a “Witness Protection Program” tee, but that was more of a shot at Nike than The Chosen One. Mostly at Nike, anyway.

Lebron’s game is like nothing the league has ever seen. Really. He is 6′9″, weighs as much as most centers, can out jump any wingman and beat most any point guard down the floor. Yesterday, he Frankensteined Dwight Howard with a crazy two hand block against the glass and then took the ball coast to coast for a driving layup. Not sure anyone in the NBA could have made that back-to-back play as effortlessly…that said, this pregame stuff is kind of ridiculous. The video below is a glimpse into the world of Lebron. Do you think he charges his teammates to come up with their own handshakes and present them to Lebron for approval, or does James script each one and send them home to study and rehearse? Poor Delonte. I’m sure he spent more than a few sleepless nights wondering about the Square Dance Rap he has to perform. For what it’s worth, the kid in the suit that looks like Shaggy from Scooby Doo is Coby Karl…BSU product and Nug’s coach George Karl’s son.

This Valentine’s Day we wanted to profess our never-really-closeted love for sports, but didn’t think we could do a better job than that which Justin Timberlake did in 2008 at the ESPYS.

So, not exactly unlike that timeless classic Roxanne, we will let let JT be our Steve Martin who was Rick Rossovich’s Cyrano de Bergerac. I guess that makes sports our Daryl Hannah…but like our  Splash Daryl Hannah, not our Blade Runner Daryl Hannah.

The video below is a few years old, so it functions like a moderate to poor video quality time capsule. It does, however, get our Valentine’s Day message across. We love sports. And the capping on the Celts is just a bonus.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Love Always,
4th & Forever

Pretty interesting article from Wired about how playing sports related video games helps athletes come game time. Following that logic, I feel well prepared to fight an army of zombies after the hours spent playing Resident Evil.  Read the article here: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/01/ff_gamechanger/

Yesterday was when the highly touted and hyper-pursued high school athlete standouts finalized their college choices and signed letters of intent. National Letter of Intent Day is not yet a federal holiday, but may be soon. Though that would ruin the spirit of these kids signing their letters in packed HS cafeterias or gymnasiums. The pressure many of these kids endure must be intense. Do you recall the young man from Nevada and his Letter of Intent Day fleece? We do. We were touched. We hope he is well, wherever he landed. We actually hope Cal came to their senses and gave him a scholarship.

Sentiments aside, BSU football stole a great recruit from the likes of Notre Dame, UW and Stanford yesterday. Though the BSU incoming class is only 10 deep, it boasts some potential talent about which 4th & Forever is wicked excited. Click here to watch a 10:00 highlight reel of the Hawaiian recruit BSU landed. He attended the same HS as President Obama…for what it’s worth. And the same HS as my freshman year roommates…which assuredly is worth much less.

BSU is in the height of the Gonzaga growth curve and making no missteps in their efforts to build a perennial program. Go Broncos.

SI’s Joe Posnanski climbs onboard the 14-0 BSU National Champions train and though we’re not entirely sure he’s talking about 4th & Forever here, we’re also not entirely sure he’s not:

“Nobody can stop people from Boise State from selling “National champions” T-shirts. Nobody can stop people from buying those shirts. And nobody can say those shirts are wrong.”

Get your National Champions shirt today, and dare someone to say you’re wrong. Maybe not in the AP, or the coaches poll or the BCS…but BSU tops 4th & Forever’s season-ending poll. And that’s saying something.