Wildish Speculation & Outlandish Guesses: The Dog Days of Summer Edition.

We've reached the dog days of summer here at The Diss, and sometimes it's hard to keep our focus on basketball. So we decided not to!

What is the biggest non-basketball related sports story at the moment?

Jacob Greenberg: LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES. Editor's Note: If anybody ever asks when The Diss. jumped the shark, point them to this comment. No seriously, the Little League World Series. For years I have lambasted this event as a shameless marketing ploy for ESPN, Riddell, and everything else that little league is associated with. And you know, I still basically feel the same way. But this year, a team from Petaluma, California is in it, which is in my home county. And they're exciting as hell! They hit a walk-off home run to beat New Jersey yesterday. I have no shame when cheering for 12 year olds.

Andrew Snyder: Football. Football. Football. It's coming, and I just shelled out for Sunday Ticket. It's going to be a good fall. Also, Tom Brady has a photo spread with a dog. NBD. Hopefully Giselle didn't get jealous.

Jordan Durlester: If I'm forced to continue to pontificate about the whole Melky situation I'm going to break into tears, so I'll choose to go positive and remind you all to get ready for the RichRod era to begin in Tucson. Bear Down!

Franklin Mieuli: Soccer is back! The English Premier League started up last weekend, the Italian, Spanish and German leagues are all going, and Europa League and Championship League football is here for the next nine glorious months.


What is the biggest non-sports related story at the moment?

Jacob Greenberg: Syria. What a mess. It's not just a civil war between the government and the rebels, it's now degenerating into a sectarian conflict, with Muslims now attacking Alawite Christian communities (President Bashar al-Assad, of course, is an Alawite). If Syria continues to descend into sectarian violence, Lebanon will likely become destabilized (in fact, sectarian violence has been reported there over the last few days). A destabilized Lebanon then puts Israel on edge, and when Israel is on edge...nothing is good. Things will get worse -- much, much worse -- in Syria before they get better. In the end, the atrocities of Libya will seem pedestrian to what is about to occur in Syria. The Arab Spring, man. Crazy effin' times.

Andrew Snyder: Working in the echo chamber of politics, I'd have to say Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" comment, and whether he'll drop out of the Missouri Senate race. Does The Diss do "legitimate rape" jokes? Editor's Note: No. Because i'm not sure about the legitimacy of the Dwight Howard trade... We'll have to wait for Akin to comment.

Jordan Durlester: As a proud member of the St. Louis community, I am disgusted by Mr. Akin's recent comments. Legitimately, pissed.

Franklin Mieuli: Politics blah blah blah Paul Ryan Medicare Obama Akin rape Republican National Convention Ron Paul Joe Biden flub blah blah blah.

Which dog days transaction will have the biggest impact on the upcoming season?

Jacob Greenberg: The Monty Williams extension was the latest in a series of brilliant moves from Hornets GM Dell Demps. I've made my love of the Hornets organization known, and Monty Williams has a lot to do with this. Unlike in Cleveland or Orlando, where a star's departure necessitated the firing of a quality coach, Hornets brass stood firm behind their decision-men (probably in part because Hornets brass, at the time, was the NBA brass), and they, in turn, did an excellent job keeping that franchise focused and moving forward. I ended up watching quite a few Hornets games last season despite the fact that their biggest name was Chris Kaman (at least while Eric Gordon was injured). Every single one of their players gave Monty Williams maximum effort, and his team competed night in and night out. Now, with Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson on board, and Eric Gordon and Austin Rivers ready to round out the backcourt, Monty Williams is the perfect guy to keep this project moving forward. Nice move.

Andrew Snyder: C'mon Darryl Morey. Waiving "Jorts" is never good for team chemistry, especially in Texas.

Jordan Durlester: AK47 is going to return to prime form and have a very solid year for the T-Wolves. I can't wait to jump on the bandwagon.

Franklin Mieuli: The Trail Blazers just hired Terry Stotts as head coach, and Jay Triano, David Vanterpool and Kim Hughes assistant coaches. Triano was recently the Raptors head coach, and Hughes the interim Clippers coach (the same man whose cancer treatments Donald Sterling infamously refused to pay for). Vanterpool is a European basketball veteran whose career is on a nice trajectory. Looks like a good staff to me.

There are still six weeks until training camp, and ten weeks until the season starts. Remembering how much everybody enjoyed the lockout-induced compressed schedule last year, would you prefer the current 82 game season with a shorter offseason, or the compressed 66 game schedule with a longer offseason?

Jacob Greenberg: I don't need games to be played to be an NBA fan. Sure, watching the players play is the most enjoyable aspect of the NBA, but it's not the only thing that I like. There will be enough basketball on per night to keep me sated once Halloween rolls around. In the meantime, I have Giants games to watch.

Andrew Snyder: I'm in favor of the 82 game schedule AND a longer offseason, for the primary reason that it gives Ricky Rubio more time to rehab. Hopefully I'll see his boyish posse of Spaniards rolling around Lifetime Fitness Target Center where I work out on a more regular basis, now that he's on the mend and probably won't be practicing with the team for the first few months. In the meantime... I have Red Sox games to watch articles to read which make our entire baseball team look like a bunch of middle school girls... Go Celtics!

Jordan Durlester: Move it back to 82 games. In hindsight, I'd much rather have more time between games than suffer through this painfully long drought. ***Note: I answered every question with a reasonable and topical response***

Franklin Mieuli: 82 games, if only so I don't have to hear whining about how the compressed schedule is the cause of every single injury known to mankind.