We begin Odds & Ends this week with LeBron James and his frustration with sleeved jerseys.

In Cleveland’s game against the Knicks on Wednesday night, James decided to rip the sleeves on his black Cavaliers jersey in the second quarter after missing a three-pointer. Before ripping the sleeves,he was 4-for-23 from the field, afterwards,he was 9-for-23.

“I was just frustrated with myself, I was just off rhythm a lot tonight, and the jersey was the only thing I could go to,” James said. “I couldn’t do nothing to my face.”

James has expressed his dislike for sleeved jerseys before and last season the Cavaliers didn’t wear any sleeves at all for the entire year.

“I’m not making excuses, but I’m not a big fan of the jerseys,” James said in March 2014, “Every time I shoot it feels like it’s just pulling right up underneath my arm. I already don’t have much room for error on my jump shot. It’s definitely not a good thing.”

Ultimately,James’ act to me is the signal for the end of what is and has been a bad fashion move for the NBA. Sleeves do not belong on basketball jerseys and to be honest,fashion in the NBA has gotten much worse.

We’ve got teams wearing colored jerseys against each other and even the Atlanta Hawks are mixing and matching different color jerseys with shorts. Somebody needs to straighten out the league’s on-the-court fashion statement and they need to do it fast.

Also,can teams start wearing white at home again? Whatever happened to that?

We’re at the midway point of the NFL season and my biggest disappointment so far is the Detroit Lions. This is a team that I thought would go far this season, not to the Super Bowl,but as far they’ve been in like 50 years. Unfortunately things haven’t gone very well with them at all. The offense hasn’t been very productive and the defense has dropped off big time. The losses of Nick Fairley and Ndamukong Suh have affected them mightily and no,Haloti Ngata is not the best replacement.

This week the team decided to relieve general manager Martin Mayhew and president Tom Lewand of their duties in the front office. Owner Martha Firestone Ford says the team is “beginning a national search for the best leadership to manage our team going forward”,but refused to take questions regarding the structure of the front office.

Honestly,the Lions have been a mess forever and it doesn’t surprise me that every time they take a step forward,they take several steps back. I’m sure their fans have had enough of this for as long as anyone can remember. Until this team puts capable people in charge and does everything in it’s power to contend for and win a Super Bowl,expect this kind of thing to continue to happen to them.

I couldn’t believe it when I saw what Aqib Talib did towards the end of the game in the Broncos-Colts game.

With less than three minutes to go after a run by Frank Gore,there was some pushing and shoving between the two clubs and Talib poked Colts tight end Dwayne Allen in the eye,which he was penalized for and in my opinion should’ve been ejected from the game for. He was later penalized for berating an official.

These two penalties were critical because it allowed the Colts to sit on the ball on offense for the rest of the game. Denver never got the ball back to even try to attempt a comeback to tie or win the game. Indianapolis handed Denver its first loss of the year by winning 27-24.

“You’re taught since little league football to play to the whistle within the boundaries of the game,” Allen said. “I just felt like Aqib, who is a heckuva player, Pro Bowl player, a guy of his caliber I look up to, went outside the boundary of game and decided to take a cheap shot.

“Out of nowhere, I saw something and it went into my eye,” Allen continued. “First time I’ve ever been poked in the eye intentionally when I’m not on the bottom of the pile. Very blurry. My eye is still really sore.”

Not to take away from anything that the Colts did to win a much-needed game, but Talib cost his team a chance to win by doing what he did. He not only should’ve been ejected,but he should be fined and possibly suspended. If the Broncos are looking for reasons why they lost,all they need to do is look at No. 21 on their roster.

“It is what it is, we got the L,” Talib said.

Yep,yep you did. Sucks,doesn’t it?

Speaking of the AFC South, they are just god awful this year.

Last year it was the NFC South that was bad with the Panthers winning it with a 7-9 record. This year,the AFC South may be winnable with that many wins,maybe even less. At press time,the Colts lead it with a 4-5 record,followed by the quarterback-less Houston Texans with a 3-5 record, then you have the Jaguars an Titans with identical 2-6 records. I was at dinner with a friend Sunday night and on the television it had the Jaguars listed as “In the Hunt” for a playoff berth with a 2-6 record.

In the hunt? Really?

I understand that once every couple of years,you’re going to have a division full of futility with teams who aren’t playing well. While I agree that if you win your division that you get to play in a playoff game, you shouldn’t be able to host one with a piss poor record like the Panthers had last year, or the Seahawks in 2010,or the Chargers in 2008. If the winner of the AFC South wins the division with a record of .500 or less, they should be on the road for Wild Card weekend. It’s only fair to the team with more wins than them and it would just feel right.

If matters related to football in St. Louis weren’t bad enough, they’re now about to get worse.

San Francisco 49ers tailback Reggie Bush is suing the city a week after suffering a possible career-ending knee injury after slipping on concrete that surrounds the field at the Edward Jones Dome in the team’s loss against the Rams. The stadium is owned and operated by the city of St. Louis’ Sports Authority and Convention Bureau.

According to CBS Sports, Bush’s suit will likely seek gross negligence given the potential danger of having such a slippery surface about the playing field, the source said, especially considering this was not the first incident of this sort to take place there. The previous week that same surface claimed Browns quarterback Josh McCown and a shoulder injury.

The Rams are pushing to have the surface changed before their next home game against the Bears this coming weekend.

Honestly, Bush has a case. What the hell is concrete doing surrounding the field? This stadium has had all sorts of issues in its two decades of existence. From its lack of amenities to the field catching fire earlier in the season and now this. No wonder the Rams want to leave!