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Notes from a trip to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

That's Nate Robinson's jersey hanging from the wall here at UNLV's Cox Pavilion. The reigning 2007 Vegas Summer League MVP had it retired today during a ceremony at halftime between the Knicks and Timberwolves game. He only appeared in two of New York's five games this year, but he was being honored in part for playing four straight years in the league.

He's the first player in Summer League history to receive the honor ... but for some reason, seeing his jersey hanging there cracks me up. Being named one of the best all-time players in a bunch of games that no one ever remembers seems like a backhanded compliment, no?

In any case, when asked about the ceremony last night, he seemed genuinely enthusiastic. "It's crazy, right? Yeah, it's kind of awesome. First time ever, so I'm glad I could be the first one. It's kind of cool. Maybe I'll set a new trend."

Keep reading for a better view of just how lonesome Robinson's jersey looks.

Jason Taylor wanted to play for a team that was in the playoffs last year, not in last place. Bill Parcells wanted to shape his roster in Miami with young, inexpensive players. Dan Snyder wanted to add a big-name star in Washington.

All three men got their wish today, as the Miami Dolphins traded Taylor to the Washington Redskins for a 2009 second-round pick and a 2010 sixth-round pick.

Taylor will become a starting defensive end for the Redskins, who just lost starting defensive end Phillip Daniels to a torn ACL. Snyder, the Redskins' owner, never hesitates to add expensive veterans, and Daniels probably hadn't been carted off the practice field yet when Snyder called the Dolphins to inquire what it would take to acquire Taylor.

And Parcells probably told him a second-round pick wasn't quite enough, so Snyder threw in that 2010 sixth-rounder, and the deal was done. And now Taylor, who has played his entire 11-year career with the Dolphins, is a Redskin.

Carson Palmer is a man of few words. Wait, did we say "few"? We mean "ill-chosen and recklessly incendiary." When on a Los Angeles-area radio show this past Thursday, the USC alum had this to say about Ohio State fans:

I cannot stand the Buckeyes.

Well, that's not a very nice thing to

It's amazing to hear what those guys think about that university and what they think about that football program and Tressel and all the crap I gotta put up with being back there.

Okay, you've made your point, Carso

I just can't wait for two years from now when SC comes to the 'Shoe and hopefully we'll have a home game that weekend and I can go up there and watch us pound on them in their own turf

Carson.

I'm really getting sick of it and I just can't wait for this game to get here so they can come out to the Coliseum and experience LA and get an old-fashioned Pac-10 butt-whoopin' and go back to the Big Ten.

Okay. Let's get you home.

Granted, the vitriol is probably comically overstated, as he was talking to sports radio jockeys in USC's backyard. Also, unlike some people, he didn't bring up genocide. Still, this being the age of the Internet, we're more than happy to share woofing like that when Carson Palmer's name is attached to it. We're not trying to discourage it, of course; this is ten thousand times better than the boilerplate "looking to go out there and compete" phrases that typically come out of athletes' mouths.

Palmer may, however, want to avoid taking shots at a team that's a heck of a lot more popular--and successful--than his Bengals.

If you knew who Ashley Harkleroad was a couple of months ago, you're probably a hard-core tennis fan. She's ranked No. 61 in the world and has never advanced past the third round of a Grand Slam event, and that means that she was known only those who follow the sport passionately.

But that all changed in May, when the news broke that Harkleroad was planning to appear in Playboy. The issue with Harkleroad on the cover has now hit newsstands, and you can bet she now has thousands of male fans who have never seen her play tennis.

For her part, Harkleroad says she hopes those Playboy pictures will change perceptions of female athletes' bodies:

"For me, I have a very natural body," Harkleroad said. "I'm an athlete who is fit and not very big-busted at all.

"I'm proud of that. I wanted to show that female athletes, who are fit and muscular, can have very beautiful bodies just like regular models."

For that, she may get some new female fans, too.

I am not going to share the lowest point of my life with you, dear reader, but I can promise you that it is vastly worse than being traded to Los Angeles to get paid millions of dollars to play basketball.

Which is what happened to Marcus Camby recently. It is also what he recently described to the Boston Globe as being the single worst thing that has ever happened to him.

A year ago, Camby dealt with the birth of daughter Maya three months premature. Camby then played well for a disappointing and highly compensated Nuggets team that was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the fourth straight season. The Hartford native recently learned about a "real-life family issue" back home that has caused great stress. And after playing the past six seasons in a city he had grown to love, he was surprisingly dealt.

"With everything I've been dealing with off the court, this is the lowest point of my life," said Camby.

I understand that professional basketball players are people too. And I understand that getting forced to move to another state is not the greatest thing in the entire world.

However, those are the breaks of getting paid millions to play a game you love. Sometimes, you are required to do things that you might not otherwise choose to do. And this is a Los Angeles Clipper team that, despite it's inability to keep Elton Brand on the team, is actively in pursuit of a roster that can be competitive next season.

So, Marcus: not "thrilled to get traded?" Sure. "Lowest point of your life?" That seems a bit of a stretch.

Via SBB

In my last post about Jose Contreras' trip to the disabled list, I marveled at the fact White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was able to string together 75 consecutive words without swearing. I'm pretty sure that's a career high for the Sox skipper. Though it also worries me because that's not the Ozzie Guillen we've all come to know and love.

Thankfully, even though Ozzie's cleaned up his language a bit, he has yet to stop holding grudges. Particularly against Texas Rangers, as Rangers closer C.J. Wilson joins a group that includes Buck Showalter and Vicente Padilla before him as somebody who just ticks Ozzie off.

A week ago today, in the last game before the All-Star break, Wilson came on to close a game in which the Rangers had a four-run lead. Well, after allowing three-runs to score, Wilson finally got the third out of the inning with the bases loaded and proceeded to celebrate as though he'd just won the World Series. Ozzie didn't like it and said something then, and now a week later with the Rangers set to come to Chicago, Ozzie would like C.J. to know he still hasn't forgotten it.

"You can be cocky, be yourself or have your own showtime," Guillen told Chicago reporters Friday. "But when you don't respect the opposition and do what he did, that's not professional. That's the reason I was screaming to him. When you're nobody and show people up like that. ... Wait till you're somebody in baseball, and then do whatever you want to do.

Notes from a trip to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Chris Mullin has had a pretty eventful offseason. He lost his star player (Baron Davis) to the Los Angeles Clippers, signed Corey Maggette, signed Ronnie Turiaf, and now is trying to decide whether to match the Clippers' offer sheet on Kelenna Azubuike. You'd never know the guy has so much on his mind at summer league though. He's been watching the games intently, keeping an eye out for talent, shaking pretty much everyone's hand, signing autographs and pretty much just taking it easy. It seems like everyone knows him and is happy to see him, stopping to shake his hand and chat with him. He did take a few minutes out of his time to talk to me about a few things, though, and gave me the scoop on the Azabuike signing. Almost.

MM: What's summer league like for a GM?

CM: Summer League is all about giving guys opportunities to show what they can do. You know, scoring, like they might not be able to in other situations, so you see what they're capable of. You can explore what they can do.

MM: What do you feel like Ronnie Turiaf brings to your club?

CM: Great experience, a lot of help on the boards, shot blocks, defense, guys that can do those things, but keep our pace. He's actually really fast. It's not often that you get big guys that can do that, so we think he's going to be really great for our team.

Second baseman Ray Durham spent the last five and a half seasons playing for the San Francisco Giants. I say spent because as of this morning, Ray was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. Of course, considering that the Brewers are about to finish up a three-game set in San Francisco, Ray won't have very far to go to join his new team.

Talks for Durham between the Giants and Brewers were first reported last night, and the deal was finalized this morning with the Brewers sending prospects Steve Hammond and Darren Ford to the Giants. As for what the Brewers plans are with Durham at the moment, they aren't saying.

Durham will probably start off as a utility reserve for the Brewers, but considering that he's hitting .293/.385/.414 it's very likely the 36-year old may replace Rickie Weeks at second base. Weeks is only hitting .218/.322/.367 on the season, and if he wasn't struggling so much, the Brewers would have never pursued this deal in the first place.

Also, the deal has not been officially announced because the Brewers still have to make a roster move to accommodate Durham's place on the roster. So, no, he will not be suiting up in a Brewers jersey today against his former team.

A back nine that will be remembered as one of the most solid finishes ever in windy conditions was what Padraig Harrington needed to win his second consecutive Open Championship.

Out in three-over 37, Harrington fought off a charging Ian Poulter and a struggling Greg Norman to claim his second major championship and put his name alongside the likes of Old Tom Morris, Bobby Jones, Peter Thompson and Tiger Woods as back-to-back champions of the Open.

"I was real good today," Harrington said after his round.

Padraig found his game at the turn, making birdies on 13, 15 and one of the best shots you'll ever see on the 17th hole to set up a short eagle putt that gave him a four shot lead heading to the 18th tee. A two-putt par on the last had the Irishman flashing a huge smile and that historic trophy for another 52 weeks.

Unlike last year, Harrington got to embrace and enjoy the walk up the 18th green, besting the field by four shots in a tournament that was up for grabs most of the day.

Questionable at the beginning of the week because of a wrist injury, Harrington was steady all week, posting rounds of 74-68-72-69 to join just Ernie Els on the list of golfers to break par in two of the four days.

A lot of critics were worried people would view this tournament with an asterisk because Woods wasn't a part of the field but that back nine by Harrington will shut the critics up. Impressive ball-striking, a putter that never cooled off and the experience you need to pull off the perfect shot at the perfect time has Padraig with his second Claret Jug.

While the weather continue to make the best golfers in the world look like municipal golf hacks, one Englishman is trying to win one for his country.

Ian Poutler and his pink pants rolled in a monumental birdie putt on the 16th hole, three-putted for par on the 17th and made the putt of the tournament for par on the 18th to post seven-over for the championship and be the leader in the clubhouse.

Always a bit of a strange character, Poulter did exactly what Ben Curtis did on his way to the Claret Jug in 2003. Survive the elements, make a couple of huge putts and go hang out in the clubhouse while everyone else makes bogeys on their way in.

Padraig Harrington is still leading by a shot over Poulter and has two par-5s left to make some birdies to put this away, but as we've seen so far this morning, anything can happen with the winds gusting like they are.

Harrington is trying to defend his title at Royal Birkdale while Poulter is trying to become the sixth Englishman to win the Open Championship in the last 58 years.

If you're around the computer and have some time to chat, head over to the live blog, where we're still amazed at Poulter and still concerned for Greg Norman.