More Friday afternoon time-wasters.  You’re welcome.

- Link of the Week: Charles Barkley loosely admits he’s a dumbass.  I hope whoever was responsible for this got a surious raise.

- If you didn’t hate the Yankees before, now there’s news that Derek Jeter has dated six women on Maxim’s Hot 100 list.  Whatever.  Call me when he’s dated six of the top 10.

- This isn’t a great article.  I was just shocked to see Stephen A. Smith take the, um, other side of a racial argument.  Although he did pose the question, but you take what you can get.

- Your weekly dose of Tim Cowlishaw pessimism.  Can you believe he isn’t happy with the Mavs apparent choice of Rick Carlisle as their next coach?

- Not to be outdone, the Star-Telegram’s Randy Galloway weighs in on who’s the right man for the Mavs.

- This is getting out of hand.  T.O.  Tank Johnson.  The Pacman.  Now Chris Henry wants to join the Cowboys?  Any chance of Jerry Jones luring O.J. out of retirement?

- Rockets’ future: Is there a point yet?  I certainly don’t see the point.  Decent article.  Funnier title.

- I can only hope that one day Papa John’s or some other pizza franchise insults my city.

- What’s this?  Two mentions of the Rockets?  This free agent wish list from Jonathon Feigen of the Houston Chronicle puts us over the top on our quota of Rockets content for the summer.

- There has never been a greater truster of his teammates in the history of professional sports than Kobe Bryant.  At least the idea’s funny.  It’s good to see Stephen Hawking keeps up with pro hoops.

- It’s never a bad time to revisit the Ultimate Professor Highlight Video.

It’s Friday, and in an effort to further stifle any and all productivity, here are some fun/interesting/moderately entertaining links with which to kill the last few minutes and/or hours until the weekend.
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- Avery Johnson’s first interview after being fired Wednesday, with Randy Galloway from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

- Always the pessimist, Tim Cowlishaw paints a bleak picture for the Mavs in the near future.

- Interesting article on the merits of D-League affiliation.

- Mike Modano has added to his Stars legacy by accepting a new role this season, and has a near Western Conference Finals appearance to show for it.

- Oh, indeed.

- Here’s a video of members of the Houston Rockets giving their best Dikembe Mutombo impersonations. They still should have brought in Michael Wilbon as a guest impersonator.

- As of Day 2 of the NFL Draft, the Buccaneers have a whopping EIGHT quarterbacks on their roster. But you better believe they have high hopes for that eighth-string signal caller.

- Here’s a virtual tour of what exactly $1.1 billion will buy you these days, in the form of the new Dallas Cowboy’s stadium.

- It might be rebuilding time for a Texas baseball team that isn’t the Rangers, according to Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle.

- Is Dwyane Wade really dating Star Jones?? Surely the Chuckster can get to the bottom of this. I was really pleased to find out that ‘cougar’ somehow made the cut for Charles Barkley’s sometimes lacking vocabulary.