A-Rod Wants to Stay in New York
BERMAN: The current landscape of the NBA could change drastically today as Dwight Howard is expected to make his final decision on where he will play next season. Andy Scholes joins us now with more in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Andy, what's your bet?</s>ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: If I had to make a bet, I would bet on Houston Rockets right now. You know, for the most part, NBA free agency period has been on standby, waiting for this Howard decision to be made. And reportedly, that decision is expected to go down today and a plenty of nervous fan base is waiting for it. Lakers, Rockets, Mavs, and Warriors are all the way to still be in the running. Now, yesterday, ESPN reported that the Warriors have aggressively been pursuing trades to free up cap room to sign Howard. And they believe that they have the deals in place to make it happen. Now, when free agency began, the Lakers were said to be adamantly opposed to signing and trading Howard to another team. But reportedly, they are rethinking that if he, in fact, chooses not to stay in Laker land. Now, the odd makers in Las Vegas, John, have the rockets as a favorite to land Howard and know the reason why I'm picking him to go to Houston. All right. The Alex Rodriguez era in New York isn't going to come to an end anytime soon. A-Rod in an interview with the -- with "USA Today," Rodriguez said, "Most people would say get me out of here, trade me, do anything. But I'm the crazy man who goes, I want to compete. I want to stay in New York. I refuse to quit." It looks like Yankees fans can forget about A-Rod retiring or negotiating a buy-out for the more than $100 million left on his contract. A Fourth of July tradition unlike any other. The Nathan's hot dog eating contest. Joey Chestnut is back to defend his title, and he crushed the competition once again. Jaws, as he's called, devoured his own record downing 69 hot dogs in 10 minutes. He's now in the competition seven straight times. John, 69 hot dogs amounts to over 1,100 grams of fat. I'm just astonished that anyone can eat that amount of hot dogs and walk away afterwards.</s>BERMAN: I find that to be terrifying. That video is shocking this morning.</s>SCHOLES: I can't even watch it.</s>BERMAN: Andy Scholes, I'm going to hold you to the Rockets prediction for Dwight Howard. I think he stays with the Lakers, but I'll probably be wrong. Andy Scholes, great to see you, man. We'll be right back.