LeBron James has made his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to sign with the Miami Heat as a free agent and while the teams involved have moved on, the mainstream sports media is still trying to milk the story for all its worth. The most recent salvo comes in a lengthy profile of James in GQ Magazine where the NBA’s most high profile free agent continued to rant about the city of Cleveland and Cavs’ owner Dan Gilbert. The result is an embarrassingly self absorbed pity party by a pampered athlete that gives reigning champion Brett Favre a credible challenge for its absurdity.

NEW YORK GIANTS AT NEW YORK JETS 8PM EST TV ESPN

CURRENT BETPHOENIX.COM LINE IN BOLD (JETS -3 TOTAL 33)

The Monday night preseason opener puts the New York Jets against the New York Giants in a Big Apple showdown.

The Atlanta Falcons used a solid fourth quarter effort from their reserves to top the Kansas City Chiefs 20-10 in the preseason opener for both teams. After a horrible first half for both first team offenses, the Falcons and the Chiefs headed to the locker room deadlocked 3-3. The Falcons reserves took over the second half and eventually opened up a 20-3 lead. Kansas City finally scored a touchdown in the waning seconds of the game to narrow the Falcons’ margin of victory but that was small consolation in an otherwise dismal debut for new offensive coordinator Charlie Weis.

The Major League Baseball season is winding down, and 5 of the 6 divisional races are still very close with no more than 3.5 games separating the top two teams. The Los Angeles Angels would like to make it six for six and are trying to get themselves back in the mix for the AL West title. They’ll face a tough challenge on Friday night as they take on the AL Central leading Minnesota Twins at Target Field. The Twins are trying to put some distance between themselves and the second place Chicago White Sox.

Kevin Harvick has had a lot of success on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit, but that hadn’t been the case at Michigan International Speedway. He’d never won at Michigan until Sunday when a fortuitous late race pit call allowed Harvick to take the checkered flag in the CARFAX 400. It was Harvick’s 20th career start at Michigan with a previous best finish of 2nd in 2003 and 6 top tens. The victory also clinched a berth in NASCAR’s championship ‘chase’ for Harvick #29 Pennzoil/Shell racing team.

With both teams in the midst of a forgettable season, the New York Mets and Houston Astros are looking to finish strong and build momentum for the future. The two teams will meet on Monday, August 16th at Minute Maid Field in Texas. The Mets are currently in fourth place in the five team National League East, leading only the lowly Washington Nationals. Houston is in fourth place in the six team NL Central, though that’s due more to the horrible play of the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates than to any success of their own.

The NFL preseason continues on Thursday night when the Carolina Panthers travel to Maryland to take on the Baltimore Ravens.