All you Knickerbocker fans sweating it out today waiting for The Decision, should it not go your way, relax. Former Knick and current member of the team’s front office, Allan “The Allan Houston Rule” Houston is not worried.

According to the Greenwich Time, when asked about Lebron coming to the Knicks, Houston told a GT photographer this morning, “If we don’t get him, it’s not the end of the world.”

I’d say that ranks somewhere between lacking and devoid of on the confidence scale, New York.

However, take stock in the fact, Knicks fans, that the only reason we have to believe that Allan Houston was ever in the know was that for a fleeting couple of hours we thought that the press conference might happen at his house. Don’t let yourself get too wrapped up in what he says (or Chad Ochocinco…or Jared Dudley).

Check out New York’s last-ditch effort to get Lebron on DIME.

Before you get too excited, let me just preface by saying that the Pre-Showdown brunch is $5,000 per, and the After-Match drinking with Nash and Claudio Reyna requires a minimum $250 donation. If you’re only a high roller in training like me and you’re in Lower Manhattan tomorrow, you should probably consider just going down to the free event. I’ll be the guy snapping pics with the HTC Incredible and scowling at Tony Parker. Here’s the full detail:

NBA stars.  Soccer’s best.  An urban field.  A sweet 8-a-side game of futbol in the middle of a city benefiting children’s programs on three continents.

Steve brings his passion to play in this innovative match that any sports fan will love.  Showcasing athletes from two sports, Showdown is the beautiful game at its most creative.  With international rosters that have included Steve Nash, Thierry Henry, Claudio Reyna, Tony Parker, Adrian Mutu, Grant Hill, Ivan Cordoba, Baron Davis, Javier Zanetti, Ryan Babel, Salomon Kalou, Simone Sandri, Martin Nash, Mathieu Flamini, Edgar Davids and Chris Bosh the Showdowns are events not to be missed!

The Showdown in Chinatown is a free to the public event located on Chrystie St. and Stanton St. on the lower east side.  Steve Nash, Claudio Reyna, Tony Parker, Simone Motto, Brandon Jennings, Giuseppe Rossi and more!

Chris Bosh is allegedly decent, but I bet I can capture a photo of him looking goofy. Check out this recap video from last year’s tournament featuring Bosh:

Go to stevenash.org/showdown to learn more about the Steve Nash Foundation and Claudio Reyna Foundation.

Currently, there are NBA memorabilia items up for auction on ebay that are both priced higher and more ridiculous – for example, a framed, vinyl-copy of the Thriller album signed by Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan. However, this has to be the most curious case of trying to cash in on a superstar’s early accolades that I’ve seen since last year when I found someone selling eight scrapbooks of Lebron James complete press clippings for $250 K. For just under five grand you can purchase a set of four yearbooks from Lower Merion High School, in Ardmore Pennsylvania, from 1993-96.

It’s no coincidence, that during that four year span, the Lower Merion “Aces” varsity basketball team was led by Kobe Bryant. He was also voted to Homecoming King and Most Likely to Succeed his senior year. (A+ to the seller for including every single shot of Kobe from each book in the listing.)

Redacted: Bears mentioning that First Cuts posted this find yesterday – someone selling an 8th grade yearbook that Kobe signed for $9,995.00! His message: “Blosom, you are a good dancer and very sympathetic. Love, Kobe Bryant.” (H/T @chrislittmann)

That Malcolm X by Edward Jackson is part of Grant Hill’s extensive collection of fine African American art. But first off, wasn’t he fantastic last night? I can’t remember a game where I saw someone disrespect Kobe with so many mid-range jumpers. His team is still going to lose the series, but I’d love to see Hill keep up.

Even though the Suns appear to be on their way out of this year’s NBA playoffs, Grant Hill, painting and sculpture aficionado, is just starting to pique as a renaissance man. For instance, we recently learned that Hill signed on to executive produce a documentary about Duke basketball. He discussed his philosophy on having passions outside the game with USA Today this week:

Hill doesn’t believe he’s the exception among NBA players in his unique interests, which include exhibits for 20th century African-American art.

“A lot of times they’re scared to comment on it or to share their interests with the public,” Hill says of other athletes. “We should. It’s encouraging to see that. When I shared my art collection there were a lot of positives that came from that. Hopefully it showed a lot of other athletes it’s OK if you have a hobby or interest you’re involved in. Use your platform as an athlete to expose, to share, to bring knowledge to people.”

That was deep Let’s be honest, Hill’s going to have to have another assassin’s game and Phoenix needs to win game three in anyone other yours truly is going to acknowledge that Grant Hill, film auteur, art connoisseur is in the midst of a renaissance. Otherwise, it’s just an aging athlete doing stuff with money.

Immediately following last night’s NBA Draft lottery, columnist David Steele, posted on Twitter asking that armed guards keep Michael Jordan from coming anywhere near D.C. until the draft is over. Wizards fans who remember when Jordan drafted Kwame Brown with the #1 pick in 2001 do not find this statement one bit outlandish.

I thought it worthwhile to revisit that hot debacle, and my research led me to discover that not only did Kwame expect, presumably, that he would average more than 10 points per game more than once (10.9 ppg, his career high in 8 years in the league), but he also thought he might get a chance to shine alongside M.J.

Here’s an exert from a June ’01 article in USA Today:

One of those dreams is possibly playing with Jordan, who is contemplating a comeback this season. Broken ribs 2 weeks ago slowed Jordan, but he is getting in condition to play again.

“I had to make my (selection) as if Michael Jordan will not be playing,” Jordan said. “If I decide to play, it’ll only add to what we’ve done.”

Brown is eager to play with Jordan.

“Who else has a chance to say that their boss is the best player ever,” Brown said. “If he plays, I can learn a lot, and I can still learn from him even if he doesn’t.”

Jordan did in fact return during Brown’s rookie season to lead the team in scoring with 22 ppg in 60 games, Brown contributed 4.5 ppg in 57.

Without getting too carried away with the hindsight here, what’s appropriate to describe these statements? Lousy with delusions of grandeur?

Apropos of nothing other than that Wizards fans have been having entirely too much fun today.

In photo: Raymond Towler, the other guy, enjoys the National Anthem before last night’s Celtics-Cavs game while standing on the court alongside a afflicted looking Shaq. (Did Shaq know what was coming?)

He’s wearing the number 52, because that’s his age. Prior to last week, the last time Towler was not an inmate was when he was in his early 20s.

Yesterday, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer reported that Towler, a lifelong Cavs fan who used to watch games on a 13-inch television while locked up, would be the Cavs guest of honor at the game last night after being released after serving 29 years for a false conviction that he raped an 11-year old girl.

(Sidebar: Falsely convicted of Murder. That’s the only false charge that comes to mind that’s on-par with being falsely convicted on raping an 11-year old girl)

The Cavaliers set him up nice: treated him and his family to a dinner in the VIP lounge, he stood on the floor during pre-game warm-ups, they let him take two three-pointers (he made one), and the team even showed up for two quarters of their playoff game.

Considering the Cavs lost Towler’s homecoming game 120 – 88, I can’t decide whether his reaction would be positive – because hey, no more heinous crimes on my record, woot – or if he’d rail on the team like any other diehard fan. I’d say any margin less than 20 is guaranteed good tidings from the guy who just got out of prison after falsely being convicted of raping an 11-year old (Man, I still can’t get over how awful that is). But torched then cauterized by 32 points in game five of a playoff series? I’m not sure even a newly freed man is going to be able to take the bad with the good.

I couldn’t care less what Mike Brown and Lebron James have to say about last night’s game, I want to hear this guy’s post-game quote.

Photo via ESPN.com

Momentous day in history. On this date in 1979, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird went head-to-head in the Championship game of the 1979 NCAA Tournament. The game pitted Bird’s Indiana State University Sycamores (33-0) vs. Magic’s MSU Spartans (25-6). Here’s the final minute of the game that Michigan State would win with Magic being named MVP, followed by some other classic Bird vs. Magic moments…

I agree with First Cuts, I like the shirt.

Smooth moves by Common on there too, but who’s cooler than Boom Dizzle? (Certainly not Diz Gibran, the M.C.)

For the love of pete, vote for Baron to be in NBA JAM.

I was going to spend my self-allotted blogging time today writing haiku about NFL Wildcard weekend, but then the levee broke and EA announced the glorious return of NBA JAM for Wii – you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for playoff poetics.

“NBA JAM is one of the most recognizable franchises in videogame history,” said Peter Moore, President, EA SPORTS. “Diehard fans of the original game have been asking for a remake for more than a decade. We’re very excited to give them their wish this year with the return of this iconic franchise.”

Forget Namath’s daughter. Forget McGwire on steroids (thanks for the heads up, Capt. Obvious). Forget Ochocinco’s truck on steroids. This is the sports story of the day.

In a fun little twist, EA is letting you vote on which three players you’d like to be featured for the Kings, Clippers and Thunder. For instance, on the Clips, you can pick between Baron Davis, Blake Griffin, Al Thornton, Chris Kaman and Eric Gordon and Marcus Camby.

EA should probably just start working on the beard renderings now, because I don’t think Boom Dizzle has to worry that much about getting picked for BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA, the next generation. However, if I’m Baron, should I be somewhat offended that they’re putting it to a vote? He’s a ten year vet in the midst of serious 2010 campaign. And yes, there are some electric young guns to choose from here (and one older gentleman), but Baron is an established star, plus he has 2-3 other nicknames with the word boom in them.

For the record, I voted for Davis, Blake Griffin, and Camby for nostalgia.