4 Quarters Radio: May 6 1st Quarter

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The first-quarter curriculum for May 6:
--All alone in the studio, Scott's free to lay into the NBA Playoffs. He ponders why one of his former co-hosts has suddenly gotten drunk on a little bit of success and why Boston fans are so low on hope that they're excited for a walking glacier to return to the lineup.
--Bobby calls up for a little UFC discussion, happy over the success of his picks (4-1) at UFC 130. Steven Seagal's bid to return to solid bad-ass cred also comes up.

Featured music: "Never As Good As the First Time" by Sade. Stick around at the end for a brief snippet of the track, and help the show out by purchasing the full download if you like it.

4 Quarters Radio: April 29 4th Quarter

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The fourth-quarter curriculum for April 29:
--The crew resumes NBA talk, spotlighting the best single-player performance of the first round.
--The fellas also discuss whether the Bulls, Lakers, and Spurs should have been removed from championship conversation after Round 1. And yes, obviously, one was completely removed.
--Five problems for potential MLB contenders are spotlighted, and Scott and Mack discuss which one is the biggest red flag.
--The Dodgers' ownership situation is examined, and the biggest question is how quickly Frank McCourt should sign up for Financial Peace University.
--In the Epic Fails, one MLB franchise aids identity thieves everywhere, an NBA icon gets hurt by tripping on a sunbeam, and a baseball manager tweets angry.

Featured music: "Can't Be Satisfied" by the Steve Miller Band.

4 Quarters Radio: April 29 3rd Quarter

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The third-quarter curriculum for April 29:
--Bobby gets some time to stretch out on his UFC 130 picks. Also beginning: the Great UFC Wing Wager Part II.
--The fellas examine the Madden cover bracket and discuss Peyton Hillis's upset win. A potential nomination for another EA Sports title's cover comes up in the conversation.
--In Medal Stand, Los Guys talk trash, and the people who did so better than anyone else. Unsurprisingly, someone busts out a total homer pick, but at least he can back it up.
--The guys start into some NBA playoff conversation, weighing the possibility of the Memphis Grizzlies ending the Spurs prematurely. One host still was not convinced, and therefore, we now call him "wrong."

Featured music: "Electric Love" by Dirty Vegas.

4 Quarters Radio: April 22 4th Quarter

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The fourth-quarter curriculum for April 22:
--Scott and Mack move into the NBA Playoffs, and Mack starts by getting plenty torqued over the Bulls' lackluster showings against the Pacers. Both guys ponder how the Bulls have been able to escape.
--Mack sounds like he's cooling off on his pick of Oklahoma City for the NBA Finals, while Scott is beginning to warm up to the idea.
--Mack is prepared to go out on one other limb in the Western Conference, while Scott appears worried that the team's star is more capable of shooting his team out of the playoffs.
--A national radio host's "surprise pick" gets debunked by that team's one-man-band appearance.
--In the Epic Fails, Mack piles on a pitcher committing the Balk From Hell, while Scott shakes his head at a popular cliche taken way too literally.

Featured music: "Prayin'" by Plan B.

4 Quarters Radio: April 15 3rd Quarter

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The third-quarter curriculum for April 15:
--The fellas return to the NBA Playoffs talk, covering the rest of the first-round series and getting into the teams they expect to see in the Finals. Mack has an early start to the ascent of a new power in the West, while Andrew sees one last shot at glory for the league's oldest team.
--The trumpets herald a rousing game of Medal Stand, and Los Guys ponder their top candidates for NBA Coach of the Year. Mack works hard to be different, and presents a very worthy alternative candidate.

Featured music: "Goin' Down" by The Pretty Reckless.

4 Quarters Radio: April 15 2nd Quarter

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The second-quarter curriculum for April 15:
--While the fellas wait for the call from MTSU football coach Rick Stockstill, they move into handicapping some of the NBA playoff series. Scott's despondent over the Pacers having to face the Bulls, and there's a surprising undercurrent of excitement for Philly against Miami.
--Once Coach Stock calls, Scott gets the questions right into spring practice. Stockstill discusses the quarterback competition and how the offense is improving in terms of ball security from last season's turnover-prone mess.
--Scott hounds the coach until he actually names a few guys who thrust themselves into discussion for starting spots. Also, Stock offers a possible successor for MTSU's ongoing line of dangerous pass rushers.
--New coordinators Willie Simmons and Steve Ellis get discussed in terms of their impact on their first spring in their positions.
--Finally, Scott asks the coach's opinion about his former receiver Garrett Andrews suing the NFL.
--The fellas skip the 10-minute warning and head straight into Whodaman. Bobby stays local, giving props to the MTSU baseball team for hanging tough against the top team in America. Mack shouts out to the MTSU lacrosse team (who knew?) while the others head to the pros. Andrew honors skill in cream-pie application and Logan gives love to a pitcher who can rip, while Scott gives respect to a coach who improved his team after losing a big name.

Featured music: "Will Do" by TV on the Radio.

4 Quarters Radio May 24: 1st Half

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On the May 24 edition of 4Q, Scott, Joseph, and Trent discuss the return of the performance-enhancing-drug epidemic. Brian Cushing, Floyd Landis, and even Saint Lance himself come in for a little ridicule. The second quarter leads the guys into the NBA Conference Finals, and one team owes Scott a half-hour refund. In Whodaman, a dentally-challenged skater earns his Tough SOB card. Excised music: "Once In My Life" by Black Sunshine and "I Get Lifted" by George McCrae.

4 Quarters Radio May 17: 1st Half

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4Q's summer debut is a lonely place, as Scott spends 90 minutes by himself after signing off with Joseph, who calls in from Memphis to talk NBA Conference Finals. They discuss who they pick in each series, then move on to LeBronapalooza, handicapping where they think LeBron should go. Soloing in Q2, Scott gets in rants on John Calipari screwing with the NBA (again), whether Mike Brown and Mike Woodson should and should have gotten fired. He finishes up with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's opinion that the NBA needs to raise the entry age to 21. Let's just say that great minds think alike. Whodaman is kind of old news, but it's only the 19th time something has happened in 120 years, so it deserves props. Excised music: "As We Enter" by Nas & Damian Marley and "Girl You're Nice and Clean" by Buddy Guy.

LeBron's Lament: Does the King Need to Stand By Someone Else's Throne?

What's the difference between LeBron James and Ken Griffey Jr.?

Junior has the decency to go back to the clubhouse to catch himself a nap (allegedly). LeBron was seen several times during last night's Eastern Conference Semifinal Game 5 standing off by himself near the three-point line, totally uninvolved in what was happening with his team's offense or defense.

When he tried to involve himself, it was usually by way of a 20-foot jumpshot rather than trying to assert himself at the rim.

Is he injured, distracted, or overwhelmed? Any of the three are understandable.

His elbow's probably painful, he's got the entire future of the NBA clinging to his summer travel itinerary, and he's got all the questions coming his way for whatever failures occur with the Cavaliers. And he appears to be getting tired of the questions.

The elbow will heal, his decision will come and go, but if he stays in Cleveland, he'll still have all the questions.  There's only one place he can go to escape some of them.

Contrary to everyone's expectations that LeBron and Dwyane Wade are destined to ride off into the sunset on twin bullet trains to New York, that won't get either of them where they want to be.

If LeBron's getting annoyed with the tone of the questions he's getting in his hometown, what the hell does he think is going to happen in New York? The Post, Times, and News will all line up to take whacks at him just as enthusiastically as New York Magazine is trying to woo him right now. He'll be the three-swings-for-a-quarter derelict car that every writer will be smashing with a verbal sledgehammer.

No one will feel sorry for a guy whose nickname is "The King" and whose interest in becoming that rarest of animals, the billionaire athlete, is well-known. Nike won't be able to save him from the press in New York.

But Miami? Miami is D-Wade's town. So why would LeBron go there?

Precisely for that reason. It's D-Wade's town. D-Wade will get a great deal of the questions when things go wrong, much like Michael Jordan shouldered most of the burden in Chicago. Anywhere else, even including D-Wade's hometown of Chicago, it's still LeBron and Wade, in that order.

Most of the free agency speculation about this summer has focused on LeBron going somewhere with a guy like Wade or Chris Bosh who can be Robin to his Batman, Pippen to his Jordan, Baba-Looey to his Quick Draw McGraw. Now, if he's tired of having all the disappointment and vitriol laid at his feet, maybe LeBron's more open to being the Pippen to Dwyane Wade's Jordan.

James has said often that a championship is the ultimate motivation. With as little energy as he showed in Game 5, it certainly seems that he's doubting his current team's championship potential. What he needs is a player who's strapped a team to his back and knows what it takes to get a ring. A player with the killer mentality to dominate a game singlehandedly, and still do it on the biggest stage of all. Right now, there are only two such players in the NBA.

One is Kobe Bryant. No, LeBron's not going to be a Laker.

The other is Dwyane Wade, who's had firsthand experience of carrying a team to the top of the mountain, practically by himself.

As good as LeBron is, we've got to go back to 1994 to find a team that was able to win the NBA Championship without two or more players who could be considered "stars." Even then, it's not unfair to say that Hakeem Olajuwon's Rockets won because they were in that trough while Michael Jordan was hitting pop-ups in Birmingham, and they were winning the Finals over an equally one-man Knicks team. So, him winning a championship with the likes of Mo "This Guy Was an All-Star? Srsly?" Williams, Antawn "Wait, There's a Second Round?" Jamison and Shaquille "Twitter Gives Me Another Excuse To Not Practice Free Throws" O'Neal may have been recklessly optimistic.

All of this is predicated on the thought that "The King" is no longer comfortable with the accountability that fans and media demand in return for his claim to the throne. His words after Game 5 sound like those of a man who wants to let someone else carry the load for a while.

He knows where he can find somebody who knows how.

4 Quarters Radio May 4: 1st Half

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After a couple of weeks off from podcasting, mostly due to technical problems, 4Q returns with the May 4 episode, the final one of the spring semester. Scott and Joseph welcome a new co-host (likely to be replacing Joseph in the near future) by the name of Trent Gander. The three talk some NBA playoffs in the first quarter, including why the Spurs are boring and what the Jazz need to have any chance against the Lakers. In the second quarter, it's all about Nowitzki, Ovechkin, and whether they deserve all the blame for their teams' playoff chokes. In Whodaman, Scott cracks a nicely off-color joke in honoring a historic accomplishment. Excised music: "The Smidge" by the Hold Steady and "Come Clean" by Greg Laswell.